When they have reached maturity, the abdomen becomes a bag about the size of a small pea, full of eggs, of a yellow colour, and the spot looks like a fester. Unless this bag and its contents are carefully removed, a bad sore may be produced; the feet of careless blacks not unfrequently get into so bad a state from neglecting to remove these insects, that amputation of the part becomes necessary. On this journey I made numerous new and beautiful additions to my botanical collections; when passing over a low flat hill, the top of which was rather rocky and bare, I found large patches covered with a dwarf fruticose _Cuphea_ with small leaves, bearing numerous purple flowers, and so much did this plant at first sight resemble the heather of my native hills, that I imagined I had found a species of that genus; although disappointed, this little incident recalled many pleasant recollections of home. It is a remarkable fact in the geographical distribution of plants, and not generally known to those who have not made that subject their study, that though heaths are very common in Europe and Africa, not a single species has hitherto been detected on the American continent, either South or North. This is the more remarkable, as the great mass of vegetation at the Cape of Good Hope is made up of these plants, nearly four hundred different kinds having already been found there. From Canavieira, a journey of six leagues brought us to the banks of the Rio Canindé, at a place called Passagem de Dona Antonia, and distant only a league and a half from the city of Oeiras. Our route was through an almost continued forest of Carnahuba palms, and as the Rio das Guaribas ran nearly parallel with it, and had recently overflowed the flat country on each side to a great distance, we found the roads very bad from the great deposit of mud, which had been left often more than a foot deep. In many places the palm stems shewed by their muddy appearance, that the water had covered them to the depth of upwards of twelve feet. At this season, intermittent and malignant fevers are very prevalent, from the malaria arising from the vast tracts of country left dry by the fall of the rivers. It being too late when we arrived to cross the river and reach the city before dark, we remained with some other travellers at the ferry-house for the night. Next morning, the 12th of March, all our luggage was taken over to the opposite side of the river, in a small canoe, which had to return several times, and afterwards the horses were swum over one by one. Passing through the flat sandy country covered with small trees and beautiful flowering shrubs, we reached the city of Oeiras about eleven o’clock in the forenoon. CHAPTER VIII. OEIRAS TO PARNAGUÁ.