AND JOURNEY TO THE RIO DOCE. 



173 



a small yellowish frog*, which like many animals of this kind, pro- 

 duces its young above the ground ; we frequently found its small 

 black larva?. It cannot appear surprising, that reptiles belonging to 

 the earth bring up their young in this country on trees, since in 

 many parts of this quarter of the globe, which abounds in singular 

 phenomena, even the human species live in trees ; for instance, the 

 Guaraunes, of whom an interesting account is given us by Humboldt, 

 After resting for some time we continued our journey till late in the 

 night, and found ourselves at last, by moonlight, in a sandy, flat, 

 open tract near the mouth of the Rio Doce. The Uxo soldiers, Avhom 

 we had taken as guides, lost their way, and we were obliged, weary 

 as we were, to wait a long time before they found the right track, 

 which took us to the Quartel da Regencia. This is a military post ot 

 five soldiers, stationed at the mouth of the river to forward orders 

 along the coast, to convey travellers over the river, and keep up the 

 communication with the village of Linhares. We passed the night in 

 the tolerably spacious house of the soldiers, in which there were 

 several rooms with wooden tressels, and a tronco -f. These people 

 fare very ill; fish, mandiocca flour, black beans, and sometimes a little 

 salt meat, are their only food. They are all people of colour, Creoles, 

 Indians, Mamelukes, or Mulattos. The morning had scarcely 

 dawned, when curiosity impelled us to go and see the Rio Doce, the 

 most considerable river between Rio de Janeiro and Bahia : at this 

 time, the full stream rolled proudly and majestically to the sea ; its 

 vast mass of water flowed in a bed which appeared to us to be twice 

 as wide as the Rhine, in its broadest part. In a few days however it 



* A new and nondescript species of small frog, /lyla Inteola, of a pale yellowish colour, 

 with a darker stripe through the eye. 



t The tronco is a military punishment. It consists of a long board, placed upright on its 

 edge, in which are cut a row of round holes ; through these the head of the delinquent is 

 put. The board closes round the neck, and the man is obliged to lie horizontally on the 

 ground. 



