1848.] 



" CIGANOS:' 



39 



and a varied brown and white plumage. I shot two, but they 

 were not in goua condition ; and as they are plentiful on all 

 these streams, though not found at Pard, it was with less 

 regret that I threw them away. They keep in flocks on low 

 trees and bushes on the banks of the river, feeding on the 

 fruits and leaves of the large Arum before mentioned. They 

 never descend to the ground, and have a slow and unsteady 

 flight. 



In the Campos, about a mile through the forest, I found wax- 

 bills, pigeons, toucans, and white-winged and blue chatterers. 

 In the forest we found some fine new Heliconias and 

 Erycinidce^ and I took two Cicadas sitting on the trunk of 

 a tree : when caught they make a noise almost deafening ; 

 they generally rest high up on the trees, and though daily and 

 hourly heard, are seldom seen or captured. As I was re- 

 turning to the house, I met a little Indian boy, and at the same 

 time a large iguana at least three feet long, with crested back 

 and hanging dewlap, looking very fierce, ran across the path. 

 The boy immediately rushed after it, and seizing the tail with 

 both hands, dashed the creature's head against a tree, killing 

 it on the spot, and then carried it home, where it no doubt 

 made a very savoury supper. 



We here had an opportunity of seeing something of the 

 arrangements and customs of a Brazilian country-house. The 

 whole edifice in this case was raised four or five feet on piles, 

 to keep it above water at the high spring tides. Running out 

 to low-water mark was a substantial wooden pier, terminated 

 by a flight of steps. This leads from a verandah, opening out 

 of which is a room where guests are received and business 

 transacted, and close by is the sugar-mill and distillery. Quite 

 detached is the house where the mistress, children, and servants 

 reside, the approach to it being through the verandah, and 

 along a raised causeway forty or fifty feet in length. We took 

 our meals in the verandah with Senhor Gomez, never once 

 being honoured by the presence of the lady or her grown-up 

 daughters. At six a.m. we had coffee ; at nine, breakfast, con- 

 sisting of beef and dried fish, with farinha, which supplies the 

 place of bread ; and, to finish, coffee and farinha cakes, and 

 the rather unusual luxury of butter. We dined at three, and 

 had rice or shrimp soup, a variety of meat, game or fresh fish, 

 terminating with fruit, principally pine-apples and oranges, 



