Travels in the Brazils. SJ 



Ferro CaOf and crossed the little river by a wooden bridge. 

 We now followed the course of the sea shore to Ponta da 

 Fruta, where several dwellings, situated in a copse, presented 

 the appearance of a scattered Povoacao. The inhabitants, 

 colonists from Portugal, and negroes, received us well. They 

 support themselves with difficulty by their plantations and 

 fishing. Not far from Ponta da Friita, on a distant mountain, 

 is seen the monastery of Nossa Senhora da Penha, near Villa do 

 Espirito- Santo, which lay about five leagues off. Woods, mea- 

 dows, and groves, are interspersed with large marshes of reeds; 

 where numerous white and other herons I'esort, and many 

 new plants invite the stranger. On the grass of the sandy 

 bank of a lake, I found, in great numbers, the Opo-ser- 

 pent,* which has its name from the slender, flexible nature of 

 its form. It is of a dark olive-green, yellow on the under side, 

 five or six feet long ; and though perfectly harmless, the 

 Brazilians, who hate all snakes, destroy it wherever they meet 

 it. I found here the skeleton of an immense individual of 

 this species in a corrupted state. At the little river Jucu, 

 over which is a long ruinous bridge, we found on the sea a 

 fishing village, rode through a beautiful primitive forest, and, 

 finally, reached Villa do Esperito-SantOy on the river of the 

 same name. 



CHAPTER VII. 



RESIDENCE IN THE CAPITANIA AND JOURNEY TO RIO 



DOCE. 



Villa velha do Espirito Santo, Cicade de Victoria, — Barr a de Jucu 

 -^Araqatiha — Coroaba — Villa Nova de Almeida — Quartel do 

 Riacho — Rio Doqe — Linhares — and the Botocudos inveterate 

 enemies. 



ilHE river Espirito Santo, which discharges itself into 

 the sea with an impetuous force, hath its rise amongst the 

 mountains on the confines of the Capitania of Minos Geräes, 

 and winds itself in many meanderings through the vast primi- 

 tive forests of Tapuyas downwards ; on the borders of which 



* Coluber bicarinalus : probably a new species chiefly distinguished by a 

 IÖW of keel-like scales on t)otb sides of the back 



