70 



JOURNEY eFROM RIO DE JANEIRO 



and badly paved, contains several houses of a very neat and pretty 

 appearance. The slip of land on which it is built is marshy near the 

 lake, and nearer to the sea deep sand, which produces shrubs of 

 various kinds. We here discovered some new plants ; among others, 

 two shrubby andro??iedas^, one with a pale yellow, the other having 

 a rose-coloured flower. The whole surrounding country is intersected 

 with great lakes and marshes, and is on this account said to be subject 

 to fevers ; the inhabitants however affirm that the v iolent south winds 

 greatly purify the atmosphere. 



The inhabitants of this place are principally supported by the ex- 

 portation of farinha and sugar. This country, as well as that about 

 Rio de Janeiro, was formerly inhabited by the powerful tribes of the 

 Tupinambas and Tamoyos, which in Lery's time were in alliance with 

 the French against the Portuguese. vSalema attacked them in 1572, at 

 Cape Frio, where they sustained a signal defeat, upon which they 

 retired into the interior. The Portuguese subsequently settled on 

 this spot. In the latter half of the 17th century a small number of 

 them lived here, and the village of St. Pedro had been previously 

 founded. 



Being invited by a Captain^ who resides at St. Pedro, to visit his 

 sugar-manufactory, we embarked with him, accompanied by Mr. 

 Carvalho and a priest. Rush mats were, as usual, laid at the bottom of 

 the canoes to sit upon. Vessels of this kind were used by the Tupi- 

 nambas and the other aboriginal tribes, and have been retained by 

 the Portuguese. They are made of a single trunk of a tree, ex- 

 tremely light ; the Indians manage them with admirable dexterity. 

 They are of various sizes : some being so narrow, that those on board 

 must be very careful how they move, for fear of upsetting them ; 



* Professor Schrader of Gottingen, has recognised these two plants to be new, and a 

 hitherto undescribed species of this genus. 



