SOUTH AMERICA. 43 



have been as silent as midnight, and all as still FIRST 



JOURNEY. 



and unmoved as a monument, had not the jabiru 



in the marsh, and a few vultures soaring over the 

 mountain's top, shown that it was not quite de- 

 serted by animated nature. There were no in- 

 sects, except one kind of fly, about one-fourth 

 the size of the common house fly. It bit cruelly, 

 and was much more tormenting than the mosquito 

 on the sea-coast. 



This seems to be the native country of the Arrow- Arrow- 

 root. 

 root. Wherever you passed through a patch of 



wood in a low situation, there you found it grow- 

 ing luxuriantly. 



The Indian place you are now at, is not the 

 proper place to have come to, in order to reach 

 the Portuguese frontiers. You have advanced 

 too much to the westward. But there was no 

 alternative. The ground betwixt you and another 

 small settlement (which was the right place to 

 have gone to) was overflowed ; and thus, instead 

 of proceeding southward, you were obliged to 

 wind along the foot of the western hills, quite 

 out of your way. 



But the grand landscape this place affords, 

 makes you ample amends for the time you have 

 spent in reaching it. It would require great 

 descriptive powers to give a proper idea of the 

 situation these people have chosen for their 

 dwelling. 



The hill they are on is steep and high, and full 



