so 



Prince Maximilian's 



forest, but he met with no Indians, and was obliged, for want 

 of provisions, to turn back without success. 



On the othei- side of the Lagoa in Ciri, near the above- 

 named huts, our four soldiers took leave of us. We now pro- 

 ceeded from the sea and entered a fine wood, where here 

 and there we encountered plantations. These places are, no 

 doubt, subject to the depredations of the savag-es ; but all the 

 inhabitants are sufficiently armed. The wood became con- 

 tinually more beautiful; the high slender stems wove with 

 their boughs a thick shade, so that the path, overgrown on all 

 sides, appeared similar to a narrow harbour-walk. On the 

 higher, dry boughs of the ancient lofty trees, we saw a great 

 number of Falcons seated, watching for their prey, particularly 

 the bad coloured [Fulco JBlumheus, Linn,) which is here] very 

 common. The white Milan, with the Fork-tailed Falcon 

 (Falco iFurcatus, Linn.) one of the most beautiful of the birds 

 of prey belonging to the country, flew also in abundance over 

 the wood. 



We should have had excellent sport at the place but for 

 the musquitoes, by which our hands and faces were imme- 

 diately covered, while our mules and horses suffered exceed- 

 ingly from the stinging-flies, {Matnccas.)* We soon arrived 

 at open meadow lands, where bogs and Lagoas swarmed with 

 ducks, mews and herons. At noon we gained the river 

 Itapemirim, on the south bank of which lies the Villa de Itape- 

 mirim. It is seven leagues distant from Murihecca,\ a small 

 and still new place, and has some good houses, but can only be 

 styled a village. The inhabitants are partly poor planters, 

 who have their establishments in the neighbourhood, and 

 partly fishermen, with a few mechanics. The captain com- 

 mandant, or commandant major of the district of Itapemirim, 

 usually resides at his adjoining fazenda; in the town itself 

 lives a serjeant major of the provincial militia. The river, in 

 which some brigs lie, is narrow; but it allows some trade in 

 the produce of the, plantations, consisting of sugar, cotton, 

 cofi'ee, rice, and some maize and wood from the forest. A fall 

 of rain in the mountains gave us an example of the dangerous 

 and rapid floods which take place in the rivers 'of the Torrid 

 Zone ; for the stream, on a sudden, almost overflowed its banks; 

 it is, however, always somewhat more considerable than the 

 Itabapuana, The hills from which it flows are conspicuous at 

 a distance by their remarkable, indented, conical summits ; 

 and are called Serra de Itapemirim^ They are knowrf on ac- 



* Southey writes improperly Muluga. 



t Lehre mentions this country under the name of Tapemirt/, See his 

 Travels, p. 45. 



