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Show 24 RlO DE JANEIRO. April, 1832. d 1 d yet the host of this horses, only cost 2s. 6 · per lea · . . venda beino- asked if he knew any thing of a whip whiCh on~ of the' party0had lost, gruffly answered, " How should I know · why did you not take care of it ?-I suppose the dogs have eat it.'' . Leaving Mandetiba, we continued to p~ss through an ~~- tricate wilderness of lakes ; in some of whiCh were fresh~ m others salt water shells. Of the former kind I fo~nd a .Limnrea in great numbers in a lake, into which, the mhabitants assured me, the sea annually, and sometimes oftener, ent~red, and made the water quite salt. I have no doubt man~ mteresting facts, in relation to marine and fresh w~ter a~Imals, might be observed in this chain of lagoons, whiCh skirt the coast of Brazil. M. Gay* has stated that he found in the neighbourhood of Rio; shells of the marine genera sol:n and mytilus, and fresh water ampullarire, livin.g together m brackish water. I also frequently observed m the lagoon near the Botanic Garden, where the water is only a little less salt than in the sea, a species of hydrophilus, very similar to a species common in the ditches of England : in the same lake the only shell belonged to a genus generally found in estuaries. Leaving the coast for a time, we again entered the forest. The trees were very lofty, and remarkable, compared to those of Europe, from the whiteness of their trunks. I see by my note-book, "wonderful and beautiful, flowering patasites," invariably struck me as the most novel .ohject in these grand scenes. Travelling onwards we passed through tracts of pasturage, much injured by the enormous conical ants' nests, which were nearly twelve feet high. They gave to the plain exactly the appearance of the mud volcanoes at J orullo, as figured by Humboldt. We arrived at Engenhodo after it was dark, having been ten hours on horseback. I never ceased, during the whole journey, to be surprised at the amount. of labour which the horses were capable of enduring ; 'it Annales des Sciences aturelles for 1833. ) April, 1832. VAl\iPJH.E BA'l'. 25 they appeared als~ to recover from any injury much sooner than those of our English breed. The Vampire bat is often the caus: ~f mu?h trouble, by biting the horses on their withers. The lllJury rs generally not so much owing to the loss of blood, as to the inflammation which the pressure of the saddle afterwards pr~duces. The whole circumstance hM lately ?een doubted in England ; I was therefore fortunate m being present when one* was actually caught on a horse~s bac~. ~ e were bivouacking late one evening near Coqmmbo, m Chile, when my servant, noticing that one of the horses was very restive, went to see what was the matter a~d fancying he could distinguish something, suddenly pu~ his hand on ~he beast's withers, and secured the vampire. In the mornmg, the spot, where the bite had been inflicted was easily distinguished from being slightly swollen and bloo~y. The third day afterwards we rode the horse, without any Ill effects. APRIL l3TH.-After three days' travelling we arrived at Socego, the estate of Senhor Manuel Figuireda, a relation of one o~ our party. The h~use was simple, and, though like a barn m form, was well smted to the climate. In the sittingroo. m gilded chairs and sofas were oddly contrasted with the whitewashed walls, thatched roof, and windows without glass. The house, together with the granaries, the stables, and workshops for the blacks, who had been taught various tra~es, formed a rude kind of quadrangle ; in the centre of whiCh a lar?e pil~ of coffee was drying. These buildings stand on a httle hill, overlooking the cultivated ground al}d surrounded on every side by a wall of dark green lux:riant forest. The chief ~roduce of this part of the country is coffee. Each tree Is supposed to yield annually, on an avera~e, two pounds ~ ~ut ~orne give as much as eight. Mand10ca or cassada 1s likewise cultivated in great quantity. Every part of this plant is useful : the leaves and stalks are • .This bat belongs to the genus Edostoma of D'Orbigny but is a new ~~~. , |