84i Prince Maximilian*^ 



did not amount here to more than 100,000 reis, (about SIL 

 florins), and are now risen to 2000 cruzados, without calculating 

 the exported sugar. The. independent wild Indians, particularly 

 the Goaytacases and the tribes of the Tapuyas, under which 

 are comprehended the tribes of the Puris and Maracas, used 

 formerly to harass this colony on the Iritiba very much ; but 

 the priest assured us, that these wild hordes had never again 

 appeared, since the institution of an annual festival with pro- 

 cessions and devotional exercises, celebrated on a certain day 

 throughout all the district to the Holy Ghost. Villa Nova is 

 itself a small place with some well built houses, but it became 

 more lively on the Sunday, as all the inhabitants of the neigh- 

 bouring country assembled to attend mass. 



The commanding capitam (Captain) of the provincial mi- 

 litia in this district belongs to the regiment of Espirito-SanctOy 

 whose chief. Colonel Fal9ao, is at Capitania. He came on 

 Sunday to visit us, and had the politeness, in consequence of 

 our inquiring about good hunters, to send some people ac- 

 quainted with the nature of the grounds ; and we found occa- 

 sion, besides these, to engage a skilful Indian. These men 

 procured us many interesting animals, and among the rest 

 several Saiiassu-apes, which cause their voice to be frequently 

 heard here on the banks of the river. Two of our huntsmen 

 found in the wood a large venemous serpent ; it lay tranquilly 

 in a deep hole where it could not be easily got; at one of the 

 hunters therefore mounted up a low tree, and thence killed it. 

 This handsome serpent, which is called in the country Curu- 

 cucu, attains from eight to nine feet in length, and a considerable 

 thickness, and has a yellow reddish colour, with a row of dark 

 brown rhomboidal speckles on the back. The form, scales, and 

 tail, shews that it is the great viper of the woods of Cayenne 

 and Surinam, described, though rather incorrectly, by Daudin, 

 under the name of Lachesis, * Its bite is much dreaded, and 

 said to cause death in six hours. 



From the Iritiba we nejct came to the river Goaraparim, 

 Marshy meadows and morasses extend themselves almost to 

 the sea, groves vary the scene, and noble forests sometimes 

 delight the traveller. Here the sea, the hilly coast of which 

 is covered with woods, is continually heard to roar. 



At one place we reached a most beautiful little wood en- 

 tirely consisting of Airi-palms. 



♦ Marcgraf mentions this serpent under the name Curucucu ; but in 

 latter times, Counsellor Merrem, one of our most celebrated Reptiliolo^ists, in 

 the first book of the Annals of the Watterauon Society, for Natural History^ 

 ba« described and sketched an imperfect skin of this creature, ,i 



