AND AMONG THE BOTOCUDOS. 



283 



which in their sohcitude for their young, darted down, loudly scream- 

 ing, upon the intruders. We here built ourselves some small huts of 

 cocoa-leaves, in which we passed the night. The next morning we 

 pursued our route, the weather being serene and agreeable. We had 

 never before seen the bank covered with such beautiful and variously \ 

 interwoven plants. We were particularly struck with a splendid shrub, 

 which has a very close affinity with the trumpet-flower, f Bigjionia,) ] 

 with large bright red blossoms, which glowed like fire in the dark 

 shade. Climbing and parasite plants every where covered the lofty 

 ancient trunks with an impenetrable texture ; the young leaves of the 

 sapucaya trees were budding forth, of a delicate rose colour; and close 

 to the bank, where cecropia- trees like girandoles stretched out their 

 branches covered with palmated leaves, waved over the sands the 

 lofty tufts of the canna brava. Near to a deserted plantation we 

 came to the mouth of a small river, the Rio da Salza, or Peruacu, 

 which unites the Rio Grande with the Rio Pardo. The mouth of 

 the river Belmonte not being very favourable to navigation, a plan 

 has now been formed to render this channel navigable for canoes, by 

 removing all the obstructions, particularly the fallen trunks of trees. 

 In the dry season this channel is said to be very shallow, but when 

 the water is high, sufficiently deep. 



As we heard the cry of the araras in the neighbouring forests, we 

 could not resist the desire to make chace after them. We landed 

 some of our hunters, and were this time successful. One of the 

 hunters approached them cautiously, and killed two of these large 

 beautiful birds at one shot, the report of which re-echoed majestically 

 through the lofty forest. The hunters were here surprised at the sight 

 of a troop of little sahuis (jacchus penicillatus, Geoffr.), but which, 

 leaping like squirrels through the tops of the trees, hastened away too 

 quickly to be pursued. These little monkeys are very numerous in 

 the Brazihan forests ; one of the kinds most known is the simiajac- 



