VIRGIN FOREST.) Leaving Soc^go, we rode to another estate on the Rio Macfe, which was the last patch of cultivated ground in that direction.

The estate was two and a half miles long, and the owner had forgotten how many broad.

Only a very small piece had been cleared, yet almost every acre was capable of yielding all the various rich productions of a tropical land.

Considering the enormous area of Brazil, the proportion of cultivated ground can scarcely be considered as anything compared to that which is left in the state of nature: at some future age, how vast a population it will support! During the second day's journey we found the road so shut up that it was necessary that a man should go ahead with a sword to cut away the creepers.

The forest abounded with beautiful objects; among which the tree ferns, though not large, were, from their bright green foliage, and the elegant curvature of their fronds, most worthy of admiration.