Trmeh in the Braxils. 



farther northward, on Rio Grande de Behnontey it is named 

 Banna brava; and the natives use it in the fabrication of their 

 arrows. Such thickets often extend over whole districts. In 

 a small pleasant vale we found a wood of magnificent shady 

 trees, as the Cecropia, Cocos, Melasiomia, among which flows 

 the dark brown brook Irin, adorned with a picturesque bridge 

 of the trunks of trees. Toucans, and the Maitacca, {Psittacm 

 menstruus, Linn.) are here numerous. In the hollow of a tree 

 we found also an immense bush-spider, (Aranha Caranguech- 

 eira.) We rode next through a hilly country, diversified by 

 woods and meadows, and arrived in the evening at the last 

 height on the river Benevente ; where we were suddenly en- 

 chanted with a beautiful prospect. At the foot of a hill on 

 the northern bank stood Villa Nova de Benevente, — to the right 

 appeared the light blue surface of the deep, and to the left the 

 river Benevente, which spreads itself out like a sea, but all 

 around is dark lofty wood, beyond which rocky mountains 

 bound the horizon. 



Villa Nova de Benevente was built on the river Iritiba, or 

 properly Reritigba,* by the Jesuits, who collected here a mul- 

 titude of converted Indians. Their church, and the monastery 

 immediately connected with it, still exist : the last, where we 

 had our residence, is made into the Casa da Camara. It stands 

 on a rise above the Villa, and commands, particularly from the 

 northern balcony, a grand view. The sun set in the ocean 

 which lay before us, and changed its wide expanse into a sea 

 of fire; the bell of the monastery tolled loudly to the Ave Maria, 

 and every head was uncovered for evening prayer; — silence 

 reigned in the extensive plains, and the voices of the tamus 

 and other wild animals resounding across the river alone in- 

 terrupted the stillness of the night. A number of pretty little 

 brigs lay in the harbour, and led us to the false conclusion that 

 no unimportant trade was carried on, but we were soon cor- 

 rected. There is here very little traffic, and these ships had 

 only sought shelter from the wind. The Jesuits had at first 

 collected here 6000 Indians, and formed the most considerable 

 aldea on the coast ; but of these the greater part, driven away 

 by the severe regal services and by slavish treatment, dispersed 

 themselves into other countries; so that at present the whole 

 district of Villa Nova, including the Portuguese, does not con- 

 tain more than eight hundred souls, of whom six hundred are 

 Indians. But notwith&tanding the diminution of inhabitants, 

 the trade has since increased ; for the exports twenty years ago 



On Faden* s maps the river is called Iritibu; on Arrowsmitlis, Iriiiba; but 

 the villa is not marked on either. 



