282 
EXCURSIONS AEOUND EGA. Chap. IY. 
the lake, and then found ourselves on a restinga, or 
tongue of land between two waters. By keeping in sight 
of one or the other of these there was no danger of our 
losing our way : all other precautions were therefore 
unnecessary. The forest was tolerably clear of under- 
wood, and consequently- easy to walk through. We had 
not gone far before a soft, long-drawn whistle was heard 
aloft in the trees, betraying the presence of Mutums 
(Curassow birds). The crowns of the trees, a hundred 
feet or more over our heads, were so closely interwoven, 
that it was difficult to distinguish the birds : the prac- 
tised eye of Bento, however, made them out, and a fine 
male was shot from the flock ; the rest flying away and 
alighting at no great distance : the species was the one 
of which the male has a round red ball on its beak 
(Crax globicera). The pursuit of the others led us a 
great distance, straight towards the interior of the 
island, in which direction we marched for three hours, 
having the lake always on our right. 
Arriving at length at the head of the lake, Bento 
struck off to the left across the restinga, and we 
then soon came upon a treeless space choked up with 
tall grass, which appeared to be the dried-up bed of 
another lake. Our leader was obliged to climb a tree 
to ascertain our position, and found that the clear 
space was part of the creek, whose mouth we had 
crossed lower down. The banks were clothed with 
low trees, nearly all of one species, a kind of ara^a 
(Psidium), and the ground was carpeted with a slender 
delicate grass, now in flower. A great number of 
crimson and vermilion-coloured butterflies (Catagramma 
