1848.] 



INSECTS CAPTURED. 



15 



over-issue of paper and its inconvertibility into coin. The 

 metallic currency, being then of less nominal than real value, 

 would soon have been melted down, so it became necessary 

 to increase its value. This was done by restamping it and 

 making it pass for double. Thus a vintem restamped is two 

 vintems ; a patac with one hundred and sixty on it counts for 

 three hundred and twenty reis ; a two-vintem piece counts for 

 four. The newer coinage also having been diminished in size 

 with the depreciation of the currency, there has arisen such a 

 confusion, that the size of the coin is scarcely any index to its 

 value, and when two pieces are of exactly the same size one 

 may be double the value of the other. An accurate examina- 

 tion of each coin is therefore necessary, which renders the 

 making up of a large sum a matter requiring m.uch practice 

 and attention. 



There were living on the premises three Negroes, who had 

 the care of the coffee- and fruit-trees, and of the mandiocca 

 field. The principal one, named Vincente, was a fine stout 

 handsome Negro, who was celebrated as a catcher of " bichos," 

 as they here call all insects, reptiles, and small animals. He 

 soon brought us in several insects. 0ns was a gigantic hairy 

 spider, a Mygale^ which he skilfully dug out of its hole in the 

 earth, and caught in a leaf He told us he was once bitten 

 by one, and was bad some time. When questioned on the 

 matter, he said the " bicho was " muito mal " (very bad), and 

 concluded with an expressive "whew-w-w," which just answers 

 to a schoolboy's " Ain't it though ? " and intimates that there 

 can be no doubt at all about the matter. It seems probable 

 therefore that this insect is not armed in vain with such 

 powerful fangs, but is capable of inflicting with them an 

 envenomed wound. 



During one of our exploratory rambles we came upon the 

 country-house of a French gentleman, M. Borlaz, who is Swiss 

 Consul in Para. Much to our surprise he addressed us in 

 English, and then showed us round his grounds, and pointed 

 out to us the paths in the woods we should find most practi- 

 cable. The vegetation here on the banks of the river, a mile 

 below Para, was very rich. The Miriti {Mauritia flexiiosd)^ 

 a fine fan-palm, and a slender species, the Maraja (Bactris 

 Marajd)^ a small prickly tree which bears a fruit with a thin 

 outer pulp, of a pleasant subacid taste, were both abundant, 



2 



