300 TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



none of the animals may conceal itself in the 

 bushes and remain behind. Our attendants, lively 

 Paulistas, did not fail to encourage each other by 

 calling and singing ; they joked on the possibility 

 of some venomous serpent lying in the road, till 

 the oldest of them, with an air of importance, 

 assured them that this was impossible ; because he 

 kept all dangerous vermin at a distance by a daily 

 prayer to St. Thomas. The chance of meeting 

 with poisonous serpents, which come out to look 

 for prey during the night, and prefer the lighter 

 road to the bushes, is certainly no inconsiderable 

 danger for those who travel during the night, more 

 especially where the little schiraraca {Bothrops 

 leucurus, nob.) is very common. A few days 

 before, while resting on a hollow tree, during the 

 noonday heat, we had lain upon one of these 

 venomous serpents ; fortunately it was caught in 

 time, and put into spirits of wine. At Malada, 

 consisting of a few poor huts, we asked in vain for 

 a night's lodging, for the common people in Brazil 

 do not sit up late at night, except on occasion of 

 their festivals {^fungoes). At Silveira, two leagues 

 from Tacasava, a similar halting-place for caravans, 

 we at last met with a fenced-in feeding place {pasto 

 feixado) for the cattle, and a roomy rancho, in 

 which we hung up our hammocks. 



We were, it is true, still among the mountains, 

 but the rounder summits are more detached ; and 

 as, instead of the gloomy forest, they are covered 



