CiiAr. V. EXCURSION TO MURUCUPI. 185 



I saw several of this in wet weather on tlie bcacli, 

 which, on being approached, always made straightway 

 for the water, where they swam with much gi'ace and 

 dexterity. Florinda one day caught a Helicops whilst 

 angling for fish, it having swallowed the fish-hook with 

 the bait. She and others told me these water-snakes 

 lived on small fishes, but I did not meet Avitli any 

 proof of the fact. In the woods, snakes were con- 

 stantly occurring : it Avas not often, however, that I saw- 

 poisonous species. There were many arboreal kinds 

 besides the two just mentioned ; and it was rather 

 alarming, in entomologising about the trunks of trees, 

 to suddenly encounter, on turning round, as sometimes 

 happened, a pair of glittering eyes and a forked tongue 

 within a few inches of one's head. The last kind I 

 shall mention is the Coral-snake, which is a most beau- 

 tiful object when seen coiled up on black soil in the 

 woods. The one I saw here Avas banded with black and 

 vermilion, the black bands having each two clear white 

 rings. The state of specimens preserved in spirits can 

 give no idea of the brilliant colours which adorn the 

 Coral-Snake in life. 



Petzell and I, as already mentioned, made many ex- 

 cursions of long extent in the neighbouring forest. We 

 sometimes went to Murucupi, a creek which joasses 

 through the forest about four miles behind Caripi, the 

 banks of which are inhabited by Indians and half-breeds 

 who have lived there for many generations in perfect 

 seclusion from the rest of the world, the place being 

 little known or frequented. A path from Caripi leads 



