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condition of the streets. All the principal trade of Bahia, indeed I may say 
of Brazil, is carried on by Europeans. An immense number of varieties of 
the human race are to be seen in this city ; slaves were formerly brought 
from all parts of Africa, and also from Madagascar, these crossing and 
recrossing with the Portuguese race have produced all possible tints 
and gradations of colour. The Brazilians are generally a weak race, but 
some of the blacks of Bahia are the strongest men I have ever seen. 
On the evening of my arrival I captured my first Brazilian insect, a 
beautiful green Blatta. As we were dining it flew in through the open 
window, and pitched on the cloth. 
.Next day I went out collecting, and entering a small wood T found numbers 
of splendid insects entirely new to me. Suddenly I heard a shrill whistle, 
which I concluded came from some railway near, but upon closer inspection 
I found it proceeded from a Cicadse, perched on the trunk of a tree, — this I 
soon transferred to my collecting bottle, and endeavoured to find the female, 
but without success. It must be remembered that only the male Cicadas 
produce sound, and this proceeds from a complex arrangement of plates at 
the base of the posterior coccse. 
On this day also I saw for the first time the Tiu, a large edible lizard, the 
flesh of which is extremely white and better than that of any capon ; I felt 
some little repugnance to it at first, but found it so good that I never after- 
wards missed an opportunity of shooting and eating it. After a residence 
of about two months in Bahia, I went to Valencia, a sandy district, where I 
took many good species of Coleoptera. After a fortnight's stay there I went 
to Ilheos, one of the oldest towns in Brazil, situated about two hundred 
miles south of Bahia. At Ilheos I remained nearly two years, during which 
time I sent home several collections of insects, and I believe upwards of fifty 
species of Orchids, and other plants. Of about two thousand plants which 
I obtained, five hundred did well, and are now in the Gardens at Kew, those 
of the Eoyal Horticultural Society, and the collection of Mr. Wilson 
Saunders. 
During my stay at Ilheos, I explored a part of the river Itahype, in a 
canoe. At nearly every mile we had to drag the canoe up a rapid, above 
which we generally found a beautiful still basin, sometimes of great width, 
surrounded by magnificent trees covered with innumerable species of Parasites, 
or rather Epiphytes. Amongst the most distinctive features of the Brazilian 
forests are the Aracese, a family, of which "Arum maculatum" is the British 
representative. But how different are the tropical forms. Growing up to 
a height of fifty or sixty feet, they branch out on all sides, and send off roots 
in all directions. These roots are used by the natives for making baskets 
and cords ; they are very tough and elastic, and are sometimes found forty 
feet in length. 
