1832.] BIO DE JANEIRO. 19 



CHAPTER 11= 



ftio de Janeiro — Excursion north of Cape Frio — Great Evaporation — Slavery 

 — Botofogo Bay — Terrestrial Planarise — Clouds on the Corcovado — Heavy 

 Rain — "Musical Frogs — Phosphorescent Insects — Elater, springing powers 

 of— Blue Haze — Noise made by a Butterfly — Entomology— Ants — Wasp 

 killing a Spider — Parasitical Spider — Artifices of an Epeira — Gregarious 

 Spider — Spider with an unsymmetrical Web. 



RIO DE JANEIRO. 



April 4th to July 5th, 1832. — A few days after our arrival 1 

 became acquainted with an Englishman who was going to visit 

 1 1 is estate, situated, rather more than a hundred miles from the 

 capital, to the northward of Cape Frio. I gladly accepted his 

 kind offer of allowing me to accompany him. 



April 8th. — Our party amounted to seven. The first stage 

 was very interesting. The day was powerfully hot, and as we 

 passed through the woods, every thing was motionless, excepting 

 the large and brilliant butterflies, which lazily fluttered about. 

 The view seen when crossing the hills behind Praia Grande was 

 most beautiful ; the colours were intense, and the prevailing tint 

 a dark blue; the sky and the calm waters of the bay vied with 

 each other in splendour. After passing through some cultivated 

 country, we entered a forest, which in the grandeur of all its 

 parts could not be exceeded. We arrived by midday at Itha- 

 caia ; this small village is situated on a plain, and round the 

 central house are the huts of the negroes. These, from their 

 regular form and position, reminded me of the drawings of the 

 Hottentot habitations in Southern Africa. As the moon rose 

 early, we determined to start the same evening for our sleeping- 

 place at the Lagoa Marica. As it was growing dark we passed 

 under one of the massive, bare, and steep hills of granite which 

 are so common in this country. This spot is notorious from 

 having been, for a long time, the residence of some runaway 

 dares, who, by cultivating a little ground near the top, con- 



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