were
ten miles distant from the Fazenda, and M. Lomonosof was too much
fatigued to be able to return. The place we selected was under the
shade of some large trees, near which grew abundance of the small
cabbage palm [Euterpe edulis, Mart.), the terminal bud of which
is so much made use of as a vegetable by the Brazilians. A hut was soon
erected, and thickly thatched over with the leaves of this palm. At
first we were dreadfully annoyed by mosquitoes and a little sand-fly,
but the kindling of a large fire in front of our hut soon dispersed
them. Palm leaves were spread upon the floor for our bed, and we had a
small log of wood for a pillow. It rained heavily all night, but we did
not suffer from it. We got up next morning by break of day, and
prepared to return home, as it still continued to rain. I was somewhat
amused at the vessel in which the blacks cooked their breakfast. It was
a pot made from a part of the thick stem of a bamboo, the bottom being
formed by the division which occurs at each joint. It is placed upright
on the fire, and so long as it contains water will not burn through.
Among the many uses to which the bamboo may be put, that is one which I
never heard of before nor have seen since. After a slight breakfast we
commenced our journey homewards; but before getting out of the forest,
M. Lomonosof, little accustomed to a hunter's life, became so
exhausted from fatigue, that it was with difficulty he reached the
place where horses had been ordered to be sent to await our return.
The
animals which inhabit the vast forests of the Organ mountains are,
perhaps, no less various than the forms of the vegetable creation.
Formerly the Ounce, or Jaguar (Felis Onca), used to be common,
but now it is only occasionally that its roar is heard at night, or
that cattle or sheep suffer from its depredations. The black variety,
to which the Brazilians give the name of Tiger, is still more rare. The
woods, however, abound with a very pretty species of wild cat (Felis pardalis). Monkeys are very numerous. In the morning the forests resound with the unearthly howling of the Barbado (Mycetes barbatus), which
is as large as an ordinary dog; they live in bands of many together.
There are several others quite as large, but they are seldom to be
seen. The
Flickr
Stumbleupon
Scribd
