CHAPTER II 



Rio de Janeiro 



Rio de Janeiro — Excursion north of Cape Frio — Great Evaporation- 

 Slavery — Botofogo Bay — Terrestrial Planariae — Clouds on the Cor- 

 covado — Heavy Rain — Musical Frogs — Phosphorescent Insects — 

 Elater, springing powers of — Blue Haze — Noise made by a But- 

 terfly — Entomology — Ants — Wasp killing a Spider — Parasitical 

 Spider — Artifices of an Epeira — Gregarious Spider — Spider with, 

 an unsymmetrical Web. 



\PRIL 4th to July 5th, 1832. — A few days after our 



arrival I became acquainted with an Englishman who 



was going to visit his estate, situated rather more 

 than a hundred miles from the capital, to the northward of 

 Cape Frio. I gladly accepted his kind offer of allowing me 

 to accompany him. 



April 8th. — Our party amounted to seven. The first stage 

 was very interesting. The day was powerfully hot, and as 

 we passed through the woods, everything was motionless, 

 excepting the large and brilliant butterflies, which lazily 

 fluttered about. The view seen when crossing the hills 

 behind Praia Grande was most beautiful; the colours were 

 intense, and the prevailing tint a dark blue ; the sky and the 

 calm waters of the bay vied with each other in splendour. 

 After passing through some cultivated country, we entered 

 a forest, which in the grandeur of all its parts could not be 

 exceeded. We arrived by midday at Ithacaia; this small 

 village is situated on a plain, and round the central house 

 are the huts of the negroes. These, from their regular form 

 and position, reminded me of the drawings of the Hottentot 

 habitations in Southern Africa. As the moon rose early, we 

 determined to start the same evening for our sleeping-place 

 at the Lagoa Marica. As it was growing dark we passed 

 under one of the massive, bare, and steep hills of granite 

 which are so common in this country. This spot is notorious 

 from having been, for. a long time,, the residence of some 



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