24 1110 DE JANEIRO. [CHAP. n. 



was in a passion, and was going to strike him ; for instantly, with 

 a frightened look and half-shut eyes, he dropped his hands. I 

 shall never forget my feelings of surprise, disgust, and shame, at 

 seeing a great powerful man afraid even to ward off a blow, 

 directed, as he thought, at his face. This man had been trained 

 to a degradation lower than the slavery of the most helpless 

 animal. 



April 18th. In returning we spent two days at Socego, and 

 I employed them in collecting insects in the forest. The greater 

 number of trees, although so lofty, are not more than three or four 

 feet in circumference. There are, of course, a few of much greater 

 dimension. Senhor Manuel was then making a canoe 70 feet in 

 length from a solid trunk, which had originally been 110 feet long, 

 and of great thickness. The contrast of palm trees, growing amidst 

 the common branching kinds, never fails to give the scene an 

 intertropical character. Here the woods were ornamented by the 

 Cabbage Palm one of the most beautiful of its family. With a 

 stem so narrow that it might be clasped with the two hands, it 

 waves its elegant head at the height of forty or fifty feet above the 

 ground. The woody creepers, themselves covered by other creepers, 

 were of great thickness : some which I measured were two feet in 

 circumference. Many of the older trees presented a very curious 

 appearance from the tresses of a liana hanging from their boughs, 

 and resembling bundles of hay. If the eye was turned from the 

 world of foliage above, to the ground beneath, it was attracted by 

 the extreme elegance of the leaves of the ferns and mimosre. The 

 latter, in some parts, covered the surface witli a brushwood only 

 a few inches high. In walking across these thick beds of mimosze, 

 a broad track was marked by the change of shade, produced by 

 the drooping of their sensitive petioles. It is easy to specify the 

 individual objects of admiration in these grand scenes ; but it is 

 not possible to give an adequate idea of the higher feelings of 

 wonder, astonishment, and devotion, which fill and elevate the 

 mind. 



April 19th. Leaving Socego, during the two first days, wo 

 retraced our steps. It was very wearisome work, as the road 

 generally ran across a glaring hot sandy plain, not far from the 

 coast. I noticed that each time the horse put its foot on the fine 

 siliceous sand, a gentle chirping noise was produced. On the third 

 day we took a different line, and passed through the gay little 



