56 
TRAVELS ON THE AMAZON. [September, 
Arum before mentioned. They never descend to the 
ground, and have a slow and unsteady flight. 
In the Campos, about a mile through the forest, I 
found waxbills, pigeons, toucans, and white-winged and 
blue chatterers. In the forest, we found some fine new 
Heliconias and Brycinidce, and I took two Cicadas sit- 
ting on the trunk of a tree : when caught they make 
a noise almost deafening ; they generally rest high up on 
the trees, and though daily and hourly heard, are seldom 
seen or captured. As I was returning to the house, I 
met a little Indian boy, and at the same time a large 
iguana at least three feet long, with crested back and 
hanging dewlap, looking very fierce, ran across the path. 
The boy immediately rushed after it, and seizing the tail 
with both hands, dashed the creature’s head against a 
tree, killing it on the spot, and then carried it home, 
where it no doubt made a very savoury supper. 
We here had an opportunity of seeing something of 
the arrangement and customs of a Brazilian country- 
house. The whole edifice in this case was raised four 
or five feet on piles, to keep it above water at the high 
spring tides. Running out to low- water mark was a 
substantial wooden pier, terminated by a flight of steps. 
This leads from a verandah, opening out of which is a 
room where guests are received and business transacted, 
and close by is the sugar-mill and distillery. Quite de- 
tached is the house where the mistress, children, and ser- 
vants reside, the approach to it being through the veran- 
dah, and along a raised causeway forty or fifty feet in 
length. We took our meals in the verandah with Senhor 
Gomez, never once being honoured by the presence of 
