256 POPULAR GEOGRAPHY OP PLANTS. 



Vochysm, Anona, Laurus, Styrax, etc., intermingled with 

 climbing shrubs, such as Bauhinia, Paulinia, etc. But we 

 refrain from any attempt at botanizing in these island- woods, 

 for two excellent reasons; in the first place, the soil in 

 which these trees grow is so swampy that it is difficult to 

 get near them ; and in addition to this, we have had a hint 

 that such localities are very favourite haunts of boa-con- 

 strictors. They abound indeed throughout the whole pro- 

 vince, not only in marshy places and amongst Palm-groves 

 in swampy valleys, but they disturb our peaceful pleasure 

 in strolling along the wooded margins of lakes and streams, 

 by the preference they show for such beautiful spots ; they 

 are of prodigious size too, " sometimes attaining the enor- 

 mous length of forty feet." Being thus repelled by fear 

 from haunts which attract us by their beauty, we next 

 select a path which leads through a flat country of a still 

 different character, and unlike any we have as yet seen, 

 which is covered almost everywhere by a tall Grass (a spe- 

 cies of Andropogori) , measuring from six to twelve feet high, 

 where all day long we hear the loud yelp-like cry of a large 

 bird, called in Brazil the Seriema, which lives concealed 

 amongst this grass; a bird which rivals the ostrich and 

 emu in the rapidity of its pace. 



