94 Prince Maximilian's 



six or seven straw huts with only one decent house form the 

 whole of this place. The house belongs to the commandant of 

 the district, a lieutenant of a regiment in the garrison of Espi- 

 rito wSanto. This station was considered as a sort of banish- 

 ment by the officer who had resided here some years, and who 

 complained bitterly of the want of provisions and of every 

 thing to make life agreeable, almost the only food to be ob- 

 tained being the flour of Mandiocca and fish. The passage 

 hence is dangerous, and our crazy canoe could scarcely be kept 

 from foundering. We noticed flights of cross-bills (Rhynchops 

 ISigra). On the fiirther side of the river, the plantations of the 

 Indians lie scattered about : their husbandry produces chiefly 

 Maize, Mandiocca and Baga (Ricinus) from which oil isobtained. 



Landing here, we took another ramble in the forest, where, 

 amongst a variety of flowers, swarmed the most beautiful but- 

 terflies ; we also met with a sort of pheasant, which is 

 an extremely shy bird and difficult t^Ke taken ; it is called 

 Jucupemba (Penelope MarailJ of Linnaeus. 



Returning to the coast, we proceeded about four leagues 

 further, and took up our quartejrs for the night at Quartel do 

 Riarcho. We found here various kinds of Facus, or sea tongue, 

 which are thrown up by the waves, and but few Conchilia, 

 On a cluster of rocks in the sea, the steel-bhie shining swallow 

 (Hirundo violaceaj had built his nest. On the coast lie, wide 

 from each other and scattered among the bushes, the solitary 

 habitations of the Indians, some of whom venture far out at sea 

 in their canoes, to procure fish. Quartel do Riacho is a military 

 station, having an inferior officer and six soldiers for the pur- 

 pose of sending forward the orders of government and con- 

 necting the post with Rio Doce. The officer here was an 

 intelligent man who gave an interesting account of the war in 

 the woods of Rio Do9e with the hostile tribe ot the Botocudos, 

 we were also informed that we now were near the borders of 

 the wilderness where this people dwelt. 



These savages, whose w^arlike spirit keeps the Portuguese in 

 continual alarm, have the character of being anthropophagi, 

 or man-eaters. And besides this horrid practice they are ex- 

 tremely treacherous, for whenever they enter any place with 

 apparently peaceful dispositions, they soon throw off" the mask 

 and display their hostile intentions, so that no good under- 

 standing can long subsist with them. Seven leagues and up- 

 wards on the Rio Do^e, for some years back, on the spot where 

 the Povoagao de Linhares is built, was a military post (Desta- 

 camento) with seven soldiers, and provided with some cannon 

 for the protection of the road to Minas. The savages at the 

 first were driven back efiectually, but becoming more and 



