TO THE RIVER ESPIRITO SANTO. 



135 



we all dismounted therefore to refresh ourselves, but to our great 

 mortification found the water in these lagoas rendered brackish by 

 the overflowing of the sea into them ; and a couple of clay huts, where 

 we hoped to be able to quench our thirst, were abandoned by the in- 

 habitants : however the pitangas, which grew in great abundance in 

 the neighbourhood, indemnified us in some measure for the disappoint- 

 ment. A path turning from the sea into a thick copse soon led us 

 into a lofty forest. I rode before our train, observing the beautiful 

 plants, and my thoughts engaged with the Tapuyas, who sometimes 

 infest these parts, when to my no little astonishment, I suddenly be- 

 held two naked brown men before me. At the first moment I took 

 them for savages, and was going to prepare my double-barrelled gun 

 to defend myself against any attack, when I perceived that they were 

 lizard-hunters. The planters who live scattered in these wilder- 

 nesses, are very fond of the flesh of the large species of lizard, called 

 in the lingoa geral of the Indians of the coast teiu (laccrta tegiiivin. 

 Linn.) They often go out therefore among the thickets and woods 

 in search of these animals, with a couple of dogs trained for this par- 

 ticular purpose. When the dogs approach a lizard, it darts with the 

 rapidity of an arrow, into the hole under-ground, which serves as its 

 abode, where it is dug out and killed by the hunters. The heat being 

 great, these men, whose skin over the whole body was burned so 

 brown by the sun that they might well pass for Tapuyas, went without 

 any covering. They carried axes, and had a couple of lizards, which 

 they had killed, nearly four feet in length, including the very long 

 tail. These hunters, who were well acquainted with the country, 

 assured us, that in less than an hour, we should reach the fazenda of 

 Murihecca^ where we intended to pass the night. We accordingly 

 soon passed through the fence which marked its boundary. In the 

 shade of the lofty forest we found beautiful plants : the fine convol- 

 vulus with azure blue flowers twined round the shrubs to a great 



