in the roof and walls as well as we could with skins, it was two hours before we could manage to keep a candle lighted. Towards midnight the storm ceased, when we kindled a large fire in front of the house, which helped to warm and dry us. On the following day we examined the collections that had been wetted, and as the sun shone brightly, we dried them by spreading them out on the sheets of paper in which they were packed; this task having occupied nearly the whole day, we passed the following night under the same shelter. In the afternoon I took a walk a little way along the banks of a small stream which flows into a large marsh, lined on each side with Buriti palms, and other trees and shrubs, where I collected a number of fine plants. Next morning before starting, Mr. Walker, in searching for a ring to fasten into the end of one of our trunks, had a very narrow escape from being bitten by a rattle-snake: the ring had been laid down in a corner of the room, and putting his hand to search for it in the dark, he felt something soft which he was just about to lift, when to his horror he discovered it to be a rattle-snake. No time was lost in killing this frightful reptile, which was found to measure nearly five feet in length; I had slept all night within two feet of it. We left this place on the morning of the first of June, and after travelling about a league, came in sight of some houses which were supposed to be Formozo, but were informed the place was called Campinhas, and that we had left the former place behind us a little to the westward. Half a league further on, we halted during the middle of the day, in the house of an Indian, at a place called Pasquada; when we arrived, the man was absent working in his plantation, but his wife received us with great hospitality, immediately sending one of her boys with a large basket of oranges and another of sweet potatoes, and a few eggs, treating us in a very different manner from that to which we had been for some time accustomed. From this place we went on about two leagues, and encamped for the night under a large tree, called by the inhabitants Folha larga (_Salvertia convallariodora_, St. Hil.). The nature of the country still continued to be very much the same as that we had traversed since we had reached the table-land of the Serra. On the dry grassy flats, I met with a few specimens of the beautiful Amaranthaceous plant which Martius has described under the name of _Gomphrena officinalis_, and which is well known to the people of the country by its vernacular name of Para-todo. It has a large tuberous root, which is very much used as a purgative, and as its name implies, is considered good for every complaint. The stem is about a foot high, hairy and leafy, and bears at its extremity a large compact head of crimson flowers. We passed a miserably cold night being obliged several times to get out of our hammocks, in order to warm ourselves at the fire.