1832.] RIO DE JANEIRO. 10 



CHAPTER 11. 



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

 — Botofogo Bay — Terrestrial Planaria; — 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 Juhj 5th, 1 832. — A few days after our arrival I 

 became acquainted with an Englishman who was going to visit 

 his estate, situated, rather more than a hundred miles from the 

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

 kind offer of allowing me to accompany him, 



April Sth. — Our party amounted to seven. Tlie first stage 

 was very interesting. Tiie 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 >niall 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 Soutliern 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 

 slaves, who, by cultivating a little g-ound near the top, con- 



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