228 THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 



of the naval officers or members of the scientific staff. The invitation was accepted by 

 Mr. Moseley, whose account of the excursions is as follows : — 



" The river steamers are small paddle-boats, old and dirty. The Caxoeira boat was 

 crowded with passengers, mostly Brazilians and negroes, but amongst them several 

 German Jews going up to buy diamonds. 



" The bay has all the appearance of an inland lake, there being several islands scattered 

 about in it covered with green to the water's edge. Near its mouth the banks of the 

 river are somewhat low but backed by hills, and here and there are mangrove swamps. 

 As the river was ascended the hills and cliffs on either hand soon became higher. They 

 are thickly covered with vegetation, but with cliffs and occasional rock masses showing 

 out bare amongst it. 



" The scenery on the whole is not unlike that of the Rhine, except that there are 

 no castles ; but the white buildings of sugar estates perched here and there on the tops of 

 the lower hills take their place. The far-off hills appear of the usual bluish green due 

 to distance, and successive ranges become gradually yellower as they lie nearer to the 

 eye of the observer, and show more and more plainly the forms of the vegetation clothing 

 them ; only in the actual foreground do the palms and feathery bamboos, planted in long 

 lines as boundaries, distinguish the scenery as tropical. The bamboos are especially con- 

 spicuous, from the bright yellow green of their foliage. The steamer left Bahia at 10 a.m., 

 and reached Caxoeira at 4 p.m. 



" Caxoeira consists of two towns, one on each side of the river, and both have the 

 usual white-washed houses and two or three churches, one broad street and several narrow 

 ones, with mostly dirty dilapidated two-storied houses, tailing off towards the country 

 into one-storied hovels. On the river, canoes hollowed out of a single tree trunk, simple 

 and trough-like in form and pointed at both ends, and large enough to contain six persons, 

 ply between the town and its suburb. 



" The hotel at which the night was spent consisted of a restaurant below and a long 

 barn-like chamber above, with a passage down the middle, and a series of small bed- 

 chambers on either hand, enclosed by partitions about twelve feet in height. As one lay 

 in bed one looked up at the bare rafters and tiles, and was apt to receive unpleasant 

 remembrances from the bats. Sleeping places arranged in the same manner are to be 

 found in an hotel at Point de Galle, Ceylon, and it is closely similar in all Japanese 

 houses. The great disadvantage is that the guest has to put up with the snorings and 

 conversations of all in the hotel. 



" In the evening, just outside the town, in a pond, a number of small toads were 

 making a perfectly deafening noise. The sound is like a very loud harsh cat's mew, and it 

 was difficult at first to believe that it could come from so small an animal. It is, however, 

 not unlike the extraordinary moan made by the fire-bellied toad of Europe (Bombinator 

 igneus), but much louder and with more distinct intervals between the sounds. The frog 



