EARLY USE OF THE KNIFE IN BRAZIL. 35 



which might appear. We were accompanied by 

 the son of a neighbouring farmer — a good speci- 

 men of a wiki BraziHan youth. He was dressed 

 in a tattered old shirt and trousers, and had his 

 head uncovered : he earned an old-fashioned gun 

 and a large knife. The habit of caiTying the 

 knife is universal ; and in traversing a thick wood 

 it is almost necessary, on account of the creeping 

 plants. The ft-equent occurrence of murder may 

 be partly attributed to this habit. The Brazilians 

 are so dexterous with the knife, that they can 

 throw it to some distance with precision, and with 

 sufficient force to cause a fatal wound. I have 

 seen a number of little boys practising this art as a 

 game of play, and from their skill in hitting an up- 

 right stick, they promised well for more earnest at- 

 tempts. My companion, the day before, had shot 

 two large bearded monkeys. These animals have 

 prehensile tails, the extremity of which, even after 

 death, can support the whole weight of the body. 

 One of them thus remained fast to a branch, and it 

 was necessary to cut down a large tree to procure 

 it. This was soon effected, and down came tree 

 and monkey with an awful crash. Our day's 

 sport, besides the monkey, was confined to sundry 

 siuall green pan-ots and a few toucans. I profited, 

 however, by my acquaintance with the Portuguese 

 padre, for on another occasion he gave me a fine 

 specimen of the Yagouaroundi cat. 



Every one has heard of the beauty of the scen- 

 ery near Botofogo. The house in which I lived 

 was seated close beneath the well-known mountain 

 of the Corcovado. It has been remarked, with 

 much truth, that abruptly conical hills are charac- 

 teristic of the formation which Humboldt desig- 

 nates as gneiss-granite. Nothing can be more 

 striking than the effect of these huge rounded 



