76 



JOURNEY FROM CAPE FRIO 



excite admiration ; while tnimosas and justicias, in the bushes below, 

 diffuse a delightful perfume. Here we found large nests of the 

 termites, eight or ten feet in height — a sufficient proof of their age. 

 Our beasts of burden gave us fresh trouble, by sinking deep in 

 several boggy places : we were also tormented by the sting of veno- 

 mous wasps, called marhnhondos* . Their sting causes a swelling, 

 attended with severe pain, though not of long duration. The beau- 

 tiful bugi?iviUcea Brasiliensis was here adorned with red blossoms ; 

 and bignonias, covered with a profusion of large gold-coloured 

 flowers, decorated the dark tops of the loftiest trees. 



In a large marshy meadow we saw the jabirii (ciconia Americana, 

 or tantalus loculator, Linn.), and herons of various species, particu- 

 larly the snow-white egret, stalking about. The cattle here wade 

 deep into the water, and feed on grass that grows in the marshes. 

 A large snake, six or eight feet long, the green cipo ( coluber bicari- 

 7iattis), darted by us in the high grass M'ith the rapidity of an arrow; 

 and a flock of maracanas (psittacus Macavuafina, Linn.) settled on 

 the bushes on the margin of the meadow. A horseman whom we 

 met communicated the welcome intelligence, that our hunters, whom 

 we had sent before, had already shot a great number of beautiful 

 birds ; on which we rode deeper into the wood, and refreshed our- 

 selves with wild oranges ( laranja da terra ), which have a mawkish 

 sweet taste -j'. Their flowers emitted a most delicious odour, and at- 

 tracted a great number of humming-birds. On leaving the wood, we 

 had before us an open meadow, where, on a gentle eminence, stands 

 the spacious fazenda of Campos Novos, properly called Fazenda do 

 Re. Near the dwelling-house of the owner, a captain, the huts of 

 the negroes extend in a square, and form a little village. This 



* Mawe erroneously calls them mirabunde, p. 134. 



t Oranges, to be good, must be grafted, even in Brazil ; if suffered to grow wild, the 

 fruit is flat and rather bitter. 



