RIO JANEIRO. 77 
To the westward he pointed out a peak said to be eight thousand feet 
in altitude, and which is the highest of the range. So far as is 
known, no one has gained the summit, although Mr. Gardner, an 
English botanist, by following the tracks of the tapir, had reached 
within a few hundred yards of it, after two days' hard labour, and 
found that the vegetation resembled that of temperate climates. 
Time did not admit of our gentlemen making the attempt. All that 
could be done was to ascend the hill pointed out by Mr. March, in 
the vicinity of his house, as never having been ascended, and which 
is one thousand two hundred feet above it. This was accomplished, 
although with difficulty. On this trip they met with fallen timber, 
but the Brazilian woods, in general, were remarked as being much 
more free from it than our own. No change in the vegetation was 
observed. The route through this pass is much more difficult for 
travellers than that of Estrella, but to the admirer of nature more 
interesting. From the base to the summit of the mountains the 
virgin forest extends. The main chain here is much broken ; the 
peaks appear more in the form of columns or pipes, and are quite 
inaccessible, casting a dark shade upon the deep and wooded valleys 
beneath. After being hospitably entertained they came back, crossing 
over to the island of Pagueta, where they had an opportunity of 
examining the large shell heaps which are fished up out of the bay, 
for the purpose of burning for lime, and were not a little surprised at 
the numbers of different genera which composed them. 
The results of these two expeditions were the addition of a great 
number of very interesting plants to our collection. These will be 
treated of in the Botanical Report. 
A few days before our departure, we made a trip to the top of the 
Corcovado. The naturalists who were of our party, observed that 
almost a total change had taken place in the plants since their last 
visit, about a fortnight before. I took with me the necessary 
instruments to measure its height, and we all amused ourselves 
with collecting plants, insects, lizards, &c. We took the road that 
turns off near Gloria, and even before we began to emerge from the 
city, several novel kinds of ferns were observed growing on the 
house-tops and walls. We soon entered coffee plantations, groves of 
bananas, tamarinds, mangroves, and orange trees. A vast variety of 
plants were pointed out to me by Mr. Brackenridge, among them 
the beautiful Vochysia, with its splendid yellow blossoms, showing 
conspicuous among the rest. After a fatiguing walk we reached 
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