than
four hours. As I knew of no house to go to, I was obliged to pass the
remainder of the night in the canoe, tormented by mosquitos, which were
in such abundance that long ere morning I was forced to go on shore,
and walk up and down till daylight. The house in which I slept when I
passed through the village before, was now empty, but I was allowed to
occupy it, and as I could not get a cart to convey me to Peba before
the following evening, I had to remain here a longer time than I
intended. This interval I devoted to a few botanical excursions in the
neighbourhood, and thereby added several new plants to my collections.
On reaching Peba, I again had the use of the little hut which I
formerly occupied, and was obliged to remain there two days before I
could hire a jangada to take me to Maceio; that which I engaged was a
fine large one that had never been to sea; and on the morning of the
26th, having got all my collections and luggage put on board, we began
our voyage. Peba I found to be nearly, if not quite, as poor a place as
the Ilha de San Pedro, and not a single article of provision could be
purchased there. Its inhabitants are principally fishermen, and their
chief food is fish and farinha; a want of success in the fishery and a
bad crop of mandiocca had thrown them quite into a state of starvation.
On the evening before we started, Pedro contrived somewhere to purchase
a chicken; and when we embarked, our whole stock of provisions
consisted of one of its wings, and a few green cocoa-nuts. Before we
left, the owner of the canoe sent to Piassabassu to purchase farinha or
French beans, as sea stock for his men, but neither were to be
procured; the crew, therefore, consisting of three men, had to content
themselves with only a few green cocoa-nuts. It rained the whole of the
first day, but the elevated part of the jangada on which I lay, being
well roofed over with cocoa-nut leaves, I suffered but little
inconvenience in consequence. At night we did not put in to shore, as
is usual with these crafts, the men being as anxious as myself to reach
Maceio, but the wind being light, we could not make much progress.
During the succeeding day the winds were again light, but having
freshened towards evening we reached Maceio about 8 o'clock p. m. ;
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