CHAPTER II 



de Janeiro — Excursion north of Cape Frio — Great 

 Evaporation — Slavery — Botofogo Bay — Terrestrial 

 Planarise — Clouds on the Corcovado — Heavy Rain — 

 Musical Frogs — Phosphorescent Insects — Elater, 

 springing powers of — Blue Haze — Noise made by^aStiutterfly — Entomology- 

 Ants — Wasp killing a Spider — Parasitical Spider — Artifices of an Epeira- 

 Gregarious Spider — Spider with an unsymmetrical Web. 



RIO DE JANEIRO 



April ^th to July ^tli, 1832. — A few days after our arrival 

 I became acquainted with an Englishman who was going to 

 visit his estate, situated, rather more than a hundred miles 

 from the capital, to the northward of Cape Frio. I gladly 

 accepted his kind offer of allowing me to accompany him. 



April Zth. — Our party amounted to seven. The first stage 

 was very interesting. The day was powerfully hot, and as we 

 passed through the woods, everything was motionless, excepting 

 the large and brilliant butterflies, which lazily fluttered about. 

 The view seen when crossing the hills behind Praia Grande was 

 most beautiful ; the colours were intense, and the prevailing tint 

 a dark blue ; the sky and the calm waters of the bay vied with 

 each other in splendour. After passing through some cul- 

 tivated country, we entered a forest which in the grandeur of 

 all its parts could not be exceeded. We arrived by midday at 



