This
Man Had Been Trained To A Degradation Lower Than The
Slavery Of The Most Helpless Animal.
April 18th.
- In returning we spent two days at Socego,
and I employed them in collecting insects in the forest. The
greater number of trees, although so lofty, are not more
than three or four feet in circumference. There are, of
course, a few of much greater dimensions. Senhor Manuel
was then making a canoe 70 feet in length from a solid trunk,
which had originally been 110 feet long, and of great thickness.
The contrast of palm trees, growing amidst the common
branching kinds, never fails to give the scene an intertropical
character. Here the woods were ornamented by the
Cabbage Palm - one of the most beautiful of its family. With
a stem so narrow that it might be clasped with the two
hands, it waves its elegant head at the height of forty or
fifty feet above the ground. The woody creepers, themselves
covered by other creepers, were of great thickness: some
which I measured were two feet in circumference. Many of
the older trees presented a very curious appearance from
the tresses of a liana hanging from their boughs, and resembling
bundles of hay. If the eye was turned from the world
of foliage above, to the ground beneath, it was attracted by
the extreme elegance of the leaves of the ferns and mimosae.
The latter, in some parts, covered the surface with a brushwood
only a few inches high. In walking across these thick
beds of mimosae, a broad track was marked by the change
of shade, produced by the drooping of their sensitive petioles.
It is easy to specify the individual objects of admiration in
these grand scenes; but it is not possible to give an adequate
idea of the higher feelings of wonder, astonishment, and
devotion, which fill and elevate the mind.
April 19th. - Leaving Socego, during the two first days,
we retraced our steps. It was very wearisome work, as the
road generally ran across a glaring hot sandy plain, not
far from the coast. I noticed that each time the horse put
its foot on the fine siliceous sand, a gentle chirping noise
was produced. On the third day we took a different line,
and passed through the gay little village of Madre de Deos.
This is one of the principal lines of road in Brazil; yet it
was in so bad a state that no wheeled vehicle, excepting the
clumsy bullock-wagon, could pass along. In our whole journey
we did not cross a single bridge built of stone; and
those made of logs of wood were frequently so much out of
repair, that it was necessary to go on one side to avoid them.
All distances are inaccurately known. The road is often
marked by crosses, in the place of milestones, to signify
where human blood has been spilled. On the evening of the
23rd we arrived at Rio, having finished our pleasant little
excursion.
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