My friend being desirous of having a few days’ shooting in the woods with one of the Germans, I determined to accompany them, in the hope of making some additions to my botanical stores. We set off early, entering the wood about a mile from the cottage. Here, as in similar situations near the town, I observed a great deficiency of herbaceous vegetation, and in a walk of about two hours collected only a few Ferns. In passing through this wood, we saw an enormously large tree, a species of _Lecythis_; the ground beneath it was covered with its curious pot-like capsules nearly as large as a man’s head, their resemblance to a pot being much increased by the large lid which falls off from the top of each when the seeds within are ripe. Most of those we saw were empty, the nuts having been taken out by the monkeys, who are very fond of them. Leaving this wood, we suddenly came upon another cleared valley, containing the ruins of several cottages; this, we were told, had been the first site of the settlement, but as the colonists were forbidden to cut any more wood in that direction, they moved their quarters to the place before mentioned. Near these dismantled dwellings we found abundance of pine-apples, and refreshed ourselves with some which were ripe, sheltering ourselves from the sun under the shade of an out-house which had formerly served as a place for the preparation of farinha from the Mandiocca root. Near this place I found two beautiful trees, one of them a species of _Vochysia_, covered with long spikes of bright yellow flowers, and the other the splendid _Moronobea coccinea_, literally covered with its globular crimson blossoms. In returning I collected specimens of a yellow-flowered _Palicourea_, called Mata Rato, not, however, the same plant which is known at Rio by the name of Erva do Rato. It proves, notwithstanding, that poisonous qualities are attributed to different plants of the same genus in different parts of the country. Close to the main land, and about thirty miles north from Pernambuco, there is a small island called Itamaricá, which on account of its fine climate and soil, and the abundance and superiority of the fruit produced there, is designated the garden of Pernambuco. I was desirous of visiting this place before leaving the province, and with this intention I started about the middle of December, and considered myself fortunate in having as a companion Mr. Adamson, a young gentleman who had been some years in the country, and was fond of botanical pursuits. To make the voyage, we had to hire a Jangada, one of the raft boats so common on this part of the coast; it was manned by a crew of three men. To a stranger it appears a very singular kind of craft, and had I not been well assured that, primitive as their construction seems, they are perfectly safe, I should have felt some hesitation in embarking on one of them.