and I to collect insects. The first eight miles lay through a broad
valley, covered with thick brambles and young trees, and surrounded
with lofty mountains. The wild pine-apples at the side of the road
presented a most beautiful appearance; they were not quite ripe, and
were tinged with the most delicate red. Unfortunately, they are far
from being as agreeable to the taste as they are to the sight, and
consequently are very seldom gathered. I was greatly amused with
the humming-birds, of which I saw a considerable number of the
smallest species. Nothing can be more graceful and delicate than
these little creatures. They obtain their food from the calyx of
the flowers, round which they flutter like butterflies, and indeed
are very often mistaken for them in their rapid flight. It is very
seldom that they are seen on a branch or twig in a state of repose.
After passing through the valley, we reached the Serra, as the
Brazilians term the summit of each mountain that they cross; the
present one was 3,000 feet high. A broad paved road, traversing
virgin forests, runs up the side of the mountain.

I had always imagined that in virgin forests the trees had
uncommonly thick and lofty trunks; I found that this was not here
the case. The vegetation is probably too luxuriant, and the larger
trunks are suffocated and rot beneath the masses of smaller trees,
bushes, creepers, and parasites. The two latter description of
plants are so abundant, and cover so completely the trees, that it
is often impossible to see even the leaves, much less the stems and
branches. Herr Schleierer, a botanist, assured us that he once
found upon one tree six and thirty different kinds of creepers and
parasites.

We gathered a rich harvest of flowers, plants, and insects, and