2790 Insects. 



space of about four miles wide ; beyond the islands it has twenty 

 miles more width. All around the city are marshes, flooded at high 

 water, and choked up with the most glorious vegetation. About twelve 

 miles from the city the forest commences, which is so dense and end- 

 less that none but Indians and runaway slaves dare penetrate far 

 into it. Notwithstanding the marshes and sultry heat, the climate is 

 undoubtedly one of the finest and most healthy in the world. The 

 people of the country are idle and luxurious. The rich earth and ri- 

 ver produce the necessaries of life almost spontaneously ; scores of 

 delicious fruits grow wild in the woods. A few yards of ground round 

 the cottage yield roots for "farinha" (a kind of wholesome flour), 

 oranges, bananas, coffee, &c. : the ground is everywhere strewn with 

 fallen fruit. The city covers about as much space as Leicester, and 

 has about 20,000 inhabitants : almost every day has been a holiday 

 with them since I landed, being a catholic country ; troops of people 

 go about in procession with bands of music ; rockets, fireworks, 

 drums, church-bells, &c, are going constantly. The people are of all 

 colours, from the jet-black of the negro to the white of the European. 

 Children run about naked until about eight years of age ; and very 

 little clothing is worn by adults, except European tradesmen, who are 

 so particular with their dress-coats, polished boots, hats, &c, as to be 

 quite a nuisance. 



" But as to the productions of the country : it teems with all 

 the richest creatures in Nature : the gardens are overrun with mag- 

 nificent creeping plants to the tops of the highest trees ; tall palm 

 trees shoot up their arrow-like stems fifty to eighty feet high, crowned 

 with a magnificent head of leaves six to fifteen feet long. Birds are 

 by thousands; humming-birds are vibrating their gilded plumes at 

 the blossoms of the trees overhanging our house ; parroquets are chat- 

 tering everywhere, and others of beautiful plumage cross our path at 

 every step. Insects are in vast variety. Lizards are most numerous 

 in the centre of the city ; they are crawling over the walls of houses, 

 and they scamper over the pathways at every step we take. The ants 

 are the greatest nuisance ; I have hundreds of a monstrous kind, run- 

 ning about the wall of the verandah at my elbow, at the present mo- 

 ment ; they seize hold of everything eatable, and consume it in a 

 twinkling,— pieces of meat, &c, are seen moving, as if by magic, over 

 the table, carried off by them. But I might proceed in this style 

 through a dozen sheets and not give you the faintest idea of 

 the everywhere-present, the roving and active life in this wonderful 

 country." 



