30 CHARLES DARWIN 



runaway slaves, who, by cultivating a little ground near the 

 top, contrived to eke out a subsistence. At length they were 

 discovered, and a party of soldiers being sent, the whole 

 were seized with the exception of one old woman, who, 

 sooner than again be led into slavery, dashed herself to 

 pieces from the summit of the mountain. In a Roman 

 matron this would have been called the noble love of free- 

 dom : in a poor negress it is mere brutal obstinacy. We 

 continued riding for some hours. For the few last miles the 

 road was intricate, and it passed through a desert waste of 

 marshes and lagoons. The scene by the dimmed light of the 

 moon was most desolate. A few fireflies flitted by us; and 

 the solitary snipe, as it rose, uttered its plaintive cry. The 

 distant and sullen roar of the sea scarcely broke the stillness 

 of the night. 



April pth. We left our miserable sleeping-place before 

 sunrise. The road passed through a narrow sandy plain, 

 lying between the sea and the interior salt lagoons. The 

 number of beautiful fishing birds, such as egrets and cranes, 

 and the succulent plants assuming most fantastical forms, 

 gave to the scene an interest which it would not otherwise 

 have possessed. The few stunted trees were loaded with 

 parasitical plants, among which the beauty and delicious 

 fragrance of some of the orchideae were most to be admired. 

 As the sun rose, the day became extremely hot, and the 

 reflection of the light and heat from the white sand was very 

 distressing. We dined at Mandetiba; the thermometer in 

 the shade being 84. The beautiful view of the distant 

 wooded hills, reflected in the perfectly calm water of an 

 extensive lagoon, quite refreshed us. As the venda 1 here 

 was a very good one, and I have the pleasant, but rare 

 remembrance, of an excellent dinner, I will be grateful and 

 presently describe it, as the type of its class. These houses 

 are often large, and are built of thick upright posts, with 

 boughs interwoven, and afterwards plastered. They seldom 

 have floors, and never glazed windows; but are generally 

 pretty well roofed. Universally the front part is open, form- 

 ing a kind of verandah, in which tables and benches are 

 placed. The bed-rooms join on each side, and here the 



1 Venda, the Portuguese name for an inn. 



