48 



RIO DE JANEIRO. 



preserving the same form ; and, in spite of their 

 black faces, they really looked handsome. 



Thick woods, but containing no very high 

 timber surround the estate, which is only par- 

 tially cleared for agriculture. I did not venture 

 to explore them in search of monkeys, parrots, 

 and rattle-snakes, with which they are said to 

 abound ; and even if I had had that inclination, 

 it would have been rendered a more perilous 

 undertaking from the state of the weather than 

 from any other cause. The glass stood always 

 at 90° in the shade, and there was no wind ; 

 so that if one had escaped the bite of a rattle- 

 snake in the woods, it would only have been 

 because one was destined to be stifled to death 

 before one arrived there. 



On the following day I returned to Rio, in 

 company with two or three of the guests, and 

 the marquis kindly furnished me with an active 



