i8 RIO DE JANEIRO, [CHAP. n. 



abounded with beautiful objects ; among which the tree ferns, though 

 not large, were, from their bright green foliage, and the elegant curva- 

 ture of their fronds, most worthy of admiration. In the evening it 

 rained very heavily, and although the thermometer stood at 65, I felt 

 very cold. As soon as the rain ceased, it -was curious to observe the 

 extraordinary evaporation which commenced over the whole extent of 

 the forest. At the height of a hundred feet the hills were buried in a 

 dense white vapour, which rose like columns ol smoke from the most 

 thickly-wooded parts, and especially from the valleys. I observed this 

 phenomenon on several occasions : I suppose it is owing to the large 

 surface of foliage, previously heated by the sun's rays. 



While staying at this estate, I was very nearly being an eye-witness 

 to one of those atrocious acts which can only take place in a slave 

 country. Owing to a quarrel and a lawsuit, the owner was on the 

 point of taking all the women and children from the male slaves, and 

 selling them separately at the public auction at Rio. Interest, and not 

 any feeling of compassion, prevented this act. Indeed, I do not 

 believe the inhumanity of separating thirty families, who had lived to- 

 gether for many years, even occurred to the owner. Yet I will pledge 

 myself, that in humanity and good feeling he was superior to the 



f common run of men. It may be said there exists no limit to the 

 blindness of interest and selfish habit. I may mention one very 

 trifling anecdote, which at the time struck me more forcibly than any 

 story of cruelty. I was crossing a ferry with a negro, who was un- 

 commonly stupid. In endeavouring to make him understand, I talked 

 loud, and made signs, in doing which I passed my hand near his face. 

 He, I suppose, thought I was in a passion, and was going to strike 

 him ; for instantly, with a frightened look and half-shut eyes, he 

 dropped his hands. I shall never forget my feelings of surprise, 

 disgust, and shame, at seeing a great powerful man afraid even to ward 

 off a blow, directed, as he thought, at his face. This man had been 

 trained to a degradation lower than the slavery of the most helpless 

 animal. 



April iSfA. In returning we spent two days at Socego, and I 



employed them in collecting insects in the forest. The greater number 



of trees, although so lofty, are not more than three or four feet in 



circumference. There are, of course, a few of much greater dimension. 



Senhor Manuel was then making a canoe 70 feet in length from a solid 



trunk which had originally been no feet long, and of great thickness. 



\ The contrast of palm trees, growing amidst the common branching 



' xkinds, never fails to give the scene an intertrnpical character. Here 



1 the woods were ornamented by the Cabbage Palm one of the most 



- beautifuljpf its family. With a stem so narrow that it might be clasped 



with the two hands, it waves its elegant head at the height of forty or 



fifty feet above the ground. The woody creepers, themselves covered 



by other creepers, were of great thickness : some which I measured 



were two feet in circumference. Many of the older trees presented a 



very curious appearance from the tresses of a liana hanging from their 



boughs, and resembling bundles of hay. If the eye was turned from 



