TO VILLA DE ST. SALVADOR. 



87 



cultivated cocoa-tree (cocos nucifcra) loaded with fruit, a great 

 rarity in this part of the country. Our way then passed through 

 plantations of mandiocca, where the plants were placed among the 

 felled and burnt wood, and the earth regularly drawn round the 

 roots, as we do with potatoes. We then came to marshy tracts, 

 overgrown with upright white-flowering bignonias, and lofty trees. 

 The ruins of a once considerable edifice, which we here perceived, as 

 well as the general appearance of the environs, led us to infer that 

 these parts were formerly in a much higher state of cultivation. Here 

 too we had an opportunity of observing an incredible number of the 

 ur uhu cdiYnon vulture, (vultur aura., Linn.) which had assembled 

 round a carcase, and were so far from being shy, that they divided 

 their booty amicably with a large dog, and were not at all disturbed l)y 

 our presence. Here also we saw large flocks of long-tailed parrots, 

 (maracanas and perrikittos), which, with loud cries, made all kinds of 

 evolutions in the air. All those which we shot had their bills stained 

 blue by a certain fruit, that was just now ripe. In some parts of the 

 forest, where the trees w^ere very high. M e shot toucans ; and gene- 

 rally saw, on the topmost dry branches of the trees, single birds of 

 prey on the watch, especially the lead-coloured falcon, (falco phim- 

 beus, Linn.) which pounces with bold and rapid flight upon its 

 prey. 



Among other trees that we observed here, M'as that which the 

 Portuguese call tento*. It has dark green feathery foliage, and bears 

 long broad pods, with beautiful deep red beans, which the Portuguese 

 use for counters at cards. We did not obtain a sight of its flower. 

 The sandy thickets of these parts produce a number of interesting 

 plants. In the marshy places we found a tree eight or ten feet high, 



* This is the ormosia coccinea. Jacks, in the Transactions of the Linnean Society. A new 

 species, first found in Guinea. It is not in Willdenow. 



