2S2 EXCURSIONS AROUND EGA. Chap. IV. 



the lake, and then found ourselves on a restinga, or 

 tongue of land between two waters. By keeping in sight 

 of one or the other of these there was no danger of our 

 losing our way : all other precautions were therefore 

 unnecessary. The forest was tolerably clear of under- 

 wood, and consequently easy to walk through. We had 

 not gone far before a soft, long-drawn whistle was heard 

 aloft in the trees, betraying the presence of Mutums 

 (Curassow birds). The crowns of the trees, a hundred 

 feet or more over our heads, were so closely interwoven, 

 that it was difficult to distinguish the birds : the prac- 

 tised eye of Bento, however, made them out, and a fine 

 male was shot from the flock-; the rest flying away and 

 alighting at no great distance : the species was the one 

 of which the male has a round red ball on its beak 

 (Crax globicera). The pursuit of the others led us a 

 great distance, straight towards the interior of the 

 island, in which direction we marched for three hours, 

 having the lake always on our right. 



Arriving at length at the head of the lake, Bento 

 struck off to the left across the restinga, and we 

 then soon came upon a treeless space choked up with 

 tall grass, which appeared to be the dried-up bed of 

 another lake. Our leader was obliged to climb a tree 

 to ascertain our position, and found that the clear 

 space was part of the creek, whose mouth we had 

 crossed lower down. The banks were clothed with 

 low trees, nearly all of one species, a kind of araca 

 (Psidium), and the ground was carpeted with a slender 

 delicate grass, now in flower. A great number of 

 crimson and vermilion-coloured butterflies (Catagramma 



