On
landing, I took up my residence at an Italian hotel, in one of the
principal streets, but as this was not a place fitted to my pursuits,
as soon as all my luggage was landed, I removed to the boarding-house
of an old English lady, who had then been about thirty years in the
country. It was about three or four miles from the city, situated in a
beautiful valley which stretches from the suburb of Engenho Velho
towards the Corcovado mountain, and called Rio Comprido, from a small
stream so named which runs through it. Here I had my head-quarters for
about five months, and during that period my excursions extended in all
directions round the city. Frequent visits were made to the mountains,
which are all covered with dense virgin forests—to the humid valleys—to
the swampy tracts which lie to the north of the city—to the
sea-shores—and to the islands in the bay. From these rambles there
resulted a rich botanical harvest, besides numerous specimens
belonging to other branches of natural history. But as an eternal
spring and summer reign in this happy climate, and as almost every
plant has its own season for the production of its flowers, every month
is characterized by a different flora. It is, then, scarcely to be
expected that a residence of but a few months can afford more than a
very partial knowledge of its vegetable riches.
The
whole of the country around Rio is essentially granitic, all the rocks
being of that nature to which the name of Gneiss-granite has been
applied, from their possessing decided marks of stratification. The
mountains generally run in chains having no particular direction, and
are of all sizes, from slight eminences to mountains which rise from
2,000 to 3,000 feet above the level of the sea. The loftier of these
mountains, such as the Peak of Tejuca, the Corcovado, and the Gavea,
have their south-east sides bare and precipitous, while those to the
northward have a gradual ascent, and are wooded to their summit.
Notwithstanding the enormous length of time which the sides of these
mountains have been covered with their mighty forests, the alluvial layer of soil winch rests
on them is very thin. This, however, may be accounted for by the heavy
rains washing it, as well as the materials from which it is formed,
down into the valleys, where the alluvium is often
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