Chapter I (3)

Although the soil of Coritiva is capable of producing the finest wheats, the inhabitants, for obvious reasons, persevere in cultivating mandioca. Wheat requires a series of preparations before it can be fit for food; it must be thrashed or trampled from the straw; it must be ground to flour, and afterwards divested of the bran, and must then undergo the elaborate process of panification. Mills and ovens are not among the first articles of convenience introduced into a territory, newly colonized and thinly peopled; but on the contrary, any substitute for the food, which they are instrumental in preparing, will be preferred, if it demand less care and labor. Hence the mandioca obtains the preference; it requires less culture than wheat, and when ripe, may be converted into nutritious _farinha_ in half an hour; indeed I have gathered, prepared, and eaten it as food in a less space of time. It is therefore no matter of wonder, that the inhabitants should continue to subsist on this aliment, and on pounded maize, rather than on bread made of wheat, which demands so much greater a share of attention and industry. Maize, or Indian corn, is grown in considerable quantities, for the express purpose of feeding pigs, which constitute a staple article for consumption. In every _fazenda_, salt pork, as well as fowls, is invariably to be found; and bacon is cured in large quantities, and sent to S. Paulo.

The breeding of horned cattle, is left in a great measure to nature, and is much less attended to than that of mules. Few cows are domesticated; and the little cheese that is made, if I may judge of the specimens I saw at S. Paulo, is of a quality almost disgusting. I did not see any butter made here, and indeed the few products of the dairy that are obtained, are considered of no manner of importance.

The inhabitants lead an easy kind of life, in a great measure free from the molestation of fiscal and municipal officers; they pay their tythes with great cheerfulness, in kind, specie being rarely seen. Their sole wants seemed confined to salt and iron; and it is much to be lamented, that from the distance of the nearest sea port, and the badness of the roads, these commodities are with difficulty procured. From the same causes, the improvements which this delightful country might derive from commerce have been retarded, and it is as yet very inadequately provided with the means of exchanging its superfluities, for articles of the first necessity.

The chain of mountains which bounds the plain of Coritiva, is washed at the base by a lagoon, communicating in a direct line with the fine harbour of San Francisco, where many merchant-ships have been constructed of the finest timber.

In this place, although rather in anticipation of the regular course of the narrative, it may not be improper to state, that, at the request of his Excellency the Condé de Linhares, I submitted to the Court a paper on the advantageous situation of Coritiva and the sea-port above mentioned. Among other points, I suggested that an establishment might there be formed for the joint purposes of rearing live-stock, and of salting and curing beef and pork for the royal navy; that the culture of wheat, and the manufacture of bread might be encouraged; and that a depôt might be formed at San Francisco, from whence grain with other articles of consumption might be shipped to any part of Brazil. Indeed no other part of the country offers such temptations to agriculturists; nor could a colony of them planted here fail to florish, if directed by common prudence and moderate industry. The climate is salubrious; the land consists of a beautiful diversity of hill, mountain, dale, ravine, and woodland, watered by numerous streams, which take their course, not toward the sea, but in an easterly direction, and flow into the great river Paraná. Here are beasts of burden in unlimited numbers, and a sea-port within two or three days’ journey. Here is land of the finest quality where a plough was never used; here are mules and horned cattle to be had on the cheapest terms; and yet the operations of making butter and cheese are either unknown, or are practised in such a slovenly manner, as to render the articles unpalatable. Here is the finest timber; here are fruits of every kind, except those peculiar to the tropical climates. What more then is wanted? An enlightened and industrious population to improve the blessings which nature has lavished on this district with so bounteous a hand. If agriculture, in the miserable way in which it is now practised, produces sufficient to exempt the people from want, what wonders might it not produce in Coritiva, if followed according to the improved system of Europeans! A numerous and industrious population would soon adopt this, and all the other useful arts of life; the silk worm would be propagated; the hidden stores of the precious products would be explored, and the interest of posterity might be excited by the exhibition of silk, gold, and diamonds, from the banks of the same river. Another luxury might be superadded; since, from what I have seen of the grapes grown here, there can be no doubt, that, where rocky lands occur, “the generous vine” would thrive in great abundance, and Coritiva might in no long period of time become the vineyard of this vast continent.

The cattle at Coritiva sell at various prices; oxen, much fatter and in better condition than those of the Rio de la Plata or of the Rio Grande de S. Pedro, may be bought for about 14s. or 18s. a head. The horses are in general finer than those of Buenos Ayres; mules for the pack-saddle sell at about 40s. and those for riding at from three to six pounds. There is, however great fluctuation in the prices, owing to the occasional scarcity as well as the occasional abundance of specie.

But to return from this digression to San Francisco. The chief occupations of the inhabitants are the cutting of timber, and other labors connected with ship-building. Vessels of large dimensions, and a number of small craft for coasters, have been built here by merchants of Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, and Pernambuco. When this trade is brisk, there is a great demand for the various classes of artisans whom it requires, and many negroes are employed. The wood used is so strong, and holds the iron so firmly, that ships built of it endure many years, and are in greater esteem with the Portuguese and Spaniards than those built in Europe. On this account, the harbour of San Francisco is likely to become of considerable value to Brazil; and as it is connected with Coritiva, the cattle of which have been found superior to those of Rio Grande, there is every probability, that at no distant period the Portuguese navy will be here supplied with salt provisions. This must, however, depend on the completion of the great road over the mountains, to which the present administration have laudably directed their attention, with a degree of zeal commensurate to the importance of the work in a national point of view.

I must not omit noticing another production in this district, which will rise in utility and value as the port of San Francisco improves. Toward the north there are woods of fine large pines, exceedingly hard, tough, and full of resin. They constitute a singular variety of the genus Pinus; the boughs branch off from the upper part of the tree only, and have tussocks of leaves at each extremity. A tree eighty feet high, for instance, will appear without branches to the height of about fifty-five feet; the branches there extend horizontally in every direction, with leaves at their extremities, the lowest and largest to a distance of fourteen or fifteen feet from the stem, and the higher ones gradually diminishing in length towards the top, which ends in a tuft of leaves, as a crown for the whole. These trees are very picturesque, and indeed beautiful; they grow to a sufficient size to serve as masts for ships of two or three hundred tons; I was told there were much larger ones to be found.

Resuming our voyage, we left San Francisco, and, passing the port of Cananea, arrived near the entrance of the harbour of Santos. The coast along which we sailed is low and flat, and on its verge are some poor fishing-huts, which rather add to the dreariness of its appearance. It is covered with lofty trees, which also fringe the mountainous scenery beyond it. Several rivers occur, of little note in geography, but highly advantageous to the settlers, as they pass the very doors of the dwellings, and afford easy means for the transport of produce from the interior. On nearing Santos, we passed several bold rocks, called the Alcatrazes, and a ledge or reef on which the sea broke furiously. The main land is very elevated and mountainous, so much so that the low grounds which extend from its base are scarcely perceptible from the heights next beyond them.

The harbour of Santos has a safe entrance, and is very secure; it is a strait, having the island of S. Vicente to the left, for the extent of half a mile, when it takes a different direction. Here is situated the port, which has good anchorage, with regular soundings towards the shore, which shoals gradually. The currents and eddies cause some inconvenience, and the high land occasions much variation in the winds, which perplexes mariners on their entrance into the narrows, but as the water is not deep, and the current far from strong, a ship is safe the moment her anchor is let go, and by means of a boat and kedge she may be placed in any situation the pilot chooses. The part called the narrows, is defended by two forts, on passing which there is a kind of lagoon of three or four leagues in length, almost full of mangroves, terminated by the town of Santos, one of the oldest European settlements in Brazil. In common with S. Paulo, it owes its origin to the first shipwreck on the island of S. Vicente. The river or lagoon has three or four fathoms water and a muddy bottom. Santos is a place of considerable trade, being the storehouse of the great captaincy of S. Paulo, and the resort of many vessels trading to the Rio de la Plata. It is tolerably well built, and its population, consisting chiefly of merchants, shopkeepers, and artificers, amounts to six or seven thousand souls. The situation is by no means healthy, as the country around it is low, woody, and frequently deluged with rain, by reason of the high mountains in its vicinity, which impede the passage of the clouds. Several rivulets flowing from the foot of these mountains intersect the land in various directions, and unite in one great river a little above the town of Santos. The rice of this district, which is grown in great quantities, is considered the best in Brazil, and the bananas are equally noted.

From this port the Spanish territories, as well as Rio Grande, receive several vessels loaded with sugar, coffee, rice, mandioca, &c. in return they bring chiefly hides and tallow, which are generally exported hence to Europe. The Portuguese send much of their produce to the Spanish colonies, and are generally ill paid, but the shortness of the voyage, and the want of other markets, tempt many young men to speculate, notwithstanding the heavy duties and the numberless petty obstacles with which their neighbours have impeded and encumbered this commerce. A Spaniard in his own country rarely allows even a shadow of justice to a Portuguese; he uses a thousand artifices for procrastinating the decision of a cause at issue between them, till the latter, when his patience is completely exhausted, finds that he is likely to derive nothing from the contest but immense piles of law-papers, frequently written on the most trivial points in litigation, and paid for at an exorbitant price. If he persevere after all this disappointment, it generally happens that another _alcalde_ or judge is appointed, and then the business is laid on the shelf. The injured Portuguese, after so much waste of time and money, is threatened with worse consequences, and frequently is obliged to leave the country in ruin and disgust.

As Santos is the embarking port of S. Paulo, its intercourse with that town is very considerable. In the course of a day several hundred mules frequently arrive, loaded with the produce of the country, and return with salt, iron, copper, earthen wares, and European manufactures. For the traffic of it’s immediate vicinity, it has the convenience of water-carriage, its river being navigable about twenty miles, up to Cubataõ, where an officer with a guard of soldiers is stationed to receive the king’s duties for the repair of the roads and other public purposes.

The governor of Santos being subject in all cases to the governor of S. Paulo, we applied to him for permission to go thither, which was immediately granted. It was now eight in the evening, and we were without an asylum for the night. I had several letters of recommendation, not one of which procured us any civility, and we found that the inhabitants were far from being courteous to strangers. We were willing to impute this to want of convenient accommodations, but it may be generally observed, that along the whole coast the same shyness prevails, while in the interior the people vie with each other in acts of hospitality. Perhaps in all countries this duty is most practised where the occasions for its exercise most rarely occur.

Being unable to procure a bed at Santos, we were obliged to engage a canoe to convey us up the river to Cubataõ, where we arrived at two in the morning, and were introduced into the guard-house for a lodging. The corporal being called, he accommodated us as well as he was able; we lay down on the softest planks we could find, and made pillows of our portmanteaus, but though much wearied we found ourselves little disposed to sleep on so uneasy a couch. At sun-rise, when we got up, an extraordinary and busy scene presented itself; before the guard-house was a large space of ground enclosed by the storehouse and other out-buildings, and here a hundred mules were in the act of being harnessed and loaded; the gentleness and tractability of these fine large animals pleased us much, and the expertness of their masters, particularly of the negroes, in placing and replacing the burdens, was truly surprising.

From the good corporal, who was commanding officer here, we received every attention, and much more civility than we had reason to expect from having experienced the unaccommodating disposition of the people in Santos, in much better circumstances than himself. He procured us a good breakfast, and furnished us with saddle-mules for our journey, at the rate of ten shillings each, the distance being eight leagues. Having obtained a guide we mounted, and proceeded about half a mile, when we reached the foot of the stupendous mountains we had to cross. The road is good and well paved, but narrow, and, on account of the rugged acclivities, is cut in a zig-zag direction, with very frequent and abrupt turnings, continually on the ascent. The trains of loaded mules which we met on their way to Santos rendered the passage disagreeable, and at times dangerous. In many places the road is cut through the solid rock for several feet, in others along the perpendicular sides, and it leads frequently over the tops of conical mountains, along the edge of precipices, down which the traveller is liable to be thrown into an impervious thicket full thirty yards below. These dangerous places are secured by parapets. After ascending for an hour and a half, during which time we made innumerable turnings, we arrived at a resting place, near which, at a spot a little lower than the road, we found water. This place, as our guide informed us, was only half-way to the summit; we were astonished at the intelligence, as the clouds were already so far below us that they obstructed our prospect. During our progress hither, we observed that the mules travel as quick on an ascent as on level ground; they much excel the horse in uneven roads with sharp turnings, and still more so in bad roads.

To attempt the geology of mountains so covered by vegetable matter would be a difficult task; the component parts of those along which we passed appeared to be granite, and frequently soft, crumbling, ferruginous sand-stone. Some picturesque streams bursting from their high sources form fine cascades, and in crossing the road force their way through many detached and round masses of granite. The woods are so thick in every part, except where the mules tread, that no soil can be seen; the branches of the trees in some places meet and form an arbor over the road, which shades the traveller from the heat of the sun, and shelters him from rain.

After resting for about twenty minutes we again mounted and resumed our ascent. The road presented at times four or five zig-zags above us at one view, and gave us fresh reason for astonishment at the completion of a work so fraught with difficulties. The millions of crowns which must have been expended in clearing the woods and thickets in its course, and in cutting through the solid rock for a considerable distance, as well as in paving it through the whole extent of the ridge, afford no mean idea of the enterprising spirit of the Brazilians. Few public works, even in Europe, are superior to it; and if we consider that, by reason of the scanty population of the district through which it passes, the labor bestowed on it must have been purchased most dearly, we shall hardly find one in any country so well completed under similar disadvantages.

In three hours we reached the summit, a plain of considerable extent, the lowest estimated height of which is six thousand feet. The surface is chiefly composed of quartz covered with sand. The sea, though distant twenty miles, seemed to us as if it washed the foot of the mountains; the level part of the coast and the port of Santos below us came not within the angle of vision. While we enjoyed this sublime prospect, we were refreshed by a cool breeze, which renewed our strength and spirits, and enabled us to pursue our journey with alacrity. Advancing about a mile and a half, we came to a part of the road which was cut several feet deep through the rock, and observed in this quarter many small streams, which, though contiguous to the sea, all flow in a south-west course to an immense distance, and, uniting, form the great river Correntes, which joins the Plata. This circumstance will sufficiently explain the form of this mighty ridge of mountains, namely, that the highest and steepest side fronts the sea, and that the other shelves more gradually and with more frequent outlets to the plains of the interior. This part of the road is lined by fine trees and large thickets on both sides. The heavy rains of the season (December) had damaged it in various parts; the readiest mode of repairing these breaks is to cut down several trees, about seven inches diameter, place them across, and fasten them down with hooked stakes. The mules which travel these rugged declivities, though far more hardy than horses, frequently fall victims to fatigue; we observed some dead by the way-side. In the course of our route we passed several parties of negroes and some of Indians, working at repairs in the road, or making new branches from it. Some of them I noticed with swellings in the neck, though very different from those I have observed in Derbyshire and other mountainous countries. In the case of these Indians there not only appeared that protuberance from the glands commonly called a wen, but lumps, of from half an inch to three inches in diameter, hung from it in an almost botryoidal form. Persons thus afflicted are called in the language of the country _papos_.

After crossing several rivulets and passing a few houses we arrived at a tolerable inn, belonging to an officer of militia, where we were soon provided with plenty of milk, coffee, and fowls. It is distant sixteen or twenty miles from S. Paulo, and may be considered as half-way between that town and Santos. The owner, who was much surprised to see Englishmen, treated us with every civility, and procured us a change of saddle-mules. While they were preparing, he shewed us a tract of land in front of his house, tolerably well cleared, where we took an hour’s shooting. We then proceeded through a much more open country, which bore the traces of former cultivation, and seemed of late to have been much neglected. As we drew nearer S. Paulo, the road improved, and was enlivened by a greater number of habitations in its vicinity. We passed two convents, which had the air of convenient houses, and were distinguished by large crosses erected before them. The land was watered by several fine streams; in one part we observed a quarry of ferruginous grit-stone, but we had not leisure to make much mineralogical research. S. Paulo, although on an elevated site, is not observed at any great distance in this direction. In its immediate neighbourhood the river runs parallel to the road, which it sometimes partially overflows, and covers with sand. To our left we saw a large _estalagem_, or inn, where numbers of mules are unloaded, and travellers commonly pass the night. It consists of a very large shed, supported upon upright pieces of timber, with separate divisions for receiving the cargoes or burdens of the mules, each traveller occupying as many as his goods require; and there is a piece of ground of about a hundred yards in circumference, planted with small upright stakes, at ten or fifteen feet distance, to which the bridles of the mules are tied while they are fed, saddled, and loaded. These _estalagems_ are common in all parts of Brazil.

On entering the town, although we had expected much from its being the capital of the district, and the residence of the governor, yet we were struck with the neat appearance of its houses, stuccoed in various colors; those in the principal streets were two or three stories high. Having arrived an hour or two before sun-set, we walked to the house of a gentleman, to whom we had a letter of recommendation; but he being absent, we were obliged to pass the night at the _estalagem_, where our mules had been put up. It was a miserable abode. The next morning we breakfasted with our friend, and were conducted by him to the governor, Brigadier General França Horta, who honored us with an invitation to dinner, permitted a perishable cargo of my friend’s property, which was lying at Santos, to be unloaded, and gave us a general welcome to his palace. We had the good fortune to find that two of his Excellency’s aides-de-camp, men of excellent character, had been educated in England. They assisted us in obtaining lodgings, rendered us every service that we stood in need of, and shewed an earnest desire to make our stay as agreeable as possible.

CHAP. V.

_Description of S. Paulo.—System of Farming prevalent in its Neighbourhood.—Excursion to the Gold Mines of Jaraguá.—Mode of working them.—Return to Santos._

S. PAULO is situated on a pleasing eminence of about two miles in extent, surrounded on three sides by low meadow land, and washed at the base by rivulets, which almost insulate it in rainy weather; it is connected with the high-land by a narrow ridge. The rivulets flow into a pretty large stream called the Tieté, which runs within a mile of the town, in a south-west direction. Over them there are several bridges, some of stone and others of wood, built by the late governor. The streets of S. Paulo, owing to its elevation (about 50 feet above the plain), and the water which almost surrounds it, are in general remarkably clean; the material with which they are paved, is grit-stone, cemented by oxide of iron, and containing large pebbles of rounded quartz, approximating to the conglomerate. This pavement is an alluvial formation containing gold, many particles of which metal are found in the clinks and hollows after heavy rains, and at such seasons are diligently sought for by the poorer sort of people.

The city was founded by the Jesuits, who were probably tempted by the gold mines in the vicinity, more than by the salubrity of its air, which, however, is not excelled by any on the whole continent of South America. The medium of the thermometer here is between 50 and 80 degrees; in a morning I have observed it at 48, and even lower, though I was not there in the winter months. The rains are by no means heavy or of long continuance, and the thunder-storms are far from being violent. The cold in the evenings was frequently so considerable, that I was obliged to shut my doors and windows, put on more clothes, and have a pan of embers in the room, there being no chimneys.

Here are several squares, and about thirteen places of religious worship, namely, two convents, three monasteries, and eight churches, the greater part of which, as well as of the whole town, is built of earth. The mode of erecting the walls is as follows: a frame is constructed of six moveable planks placed edge-wise, opposite each other, and secured in this position by cross pieces bolted with moveable pins. Earth is put in by small quantities, which the workmen beat with rammers, and occasionally moisten with water to give it consistency. Having filled the frame or trough, they remove it and continue the same operation till the whole shell of the house is completed, taking care to leave vacancies, and put in the window-frames, door-frames, and beams as they proceed. The mass, in course of time, becomes indurated, the walls are pared perfectly smooth inside, and take any color the owner chooses to give them; they are generally enriched with very ingenious devices. This species of structure is durable; I have seen some houses thus built that have lasted two hundred years, and most of them have several stories. The roofs are made to project two or three feet beyond the wall, in order to throw off the rain to a distance from the base; spouts might be a more effectual preservative against wet, but their use is little known here. They cover their houses with gutter-tiles, but though the country affords excellent clay and plenty of wood, very few bricks are burnt.

The population of this place amounts to full fifteen thousand souls: perhaps nearer twenty thousand[15]; the clergy, including all ranks of religious orders, may be reckoned at five hundred. They are in general good members of society, free from that excessive bigotry and illiberality which is the reproach of the neighbouring colonies, and their example has so beneficial an effect on the rest of the inhabitants, that I may presume to say, no stranger will be molested while he acts as a gentleman, and does not insult the established religion. His Excellency the Bishop is a most worthy prelate, and were the inferior orders in his diocese to follow his steps in cultivating the sciences and diffusing useful information, they would command greater respect from their flocks, and by that means further the interests of the religion they profess. Priests, so ignorant, can hardly escape contempt.

No endemial diseases at present prevail here. The small-pox formerly, and indeed of late, made great havoc among the inhabitants, but its progress has been checked by the introduction of vaccine inoculation. Surgeons attended at a large hall belonging to the governor, to which the public were invited, and the operation was performed gratis. It is to be hoped that the credit of this preventative will make its way among the people here, for they are not competent to enter into the merits of that controversy which injured it in Europe.

Here are few manufactures of any consequence; a little coarse cotton is spun by the hand, and woven into cloth, which serves for a variety of wearing apparel, sheets, &c. They make a beautiful kind of net-work for hammocks, which are fringed with lace, and form an elegant piece of furniture, being slung low, so as to answer the purpose of sofas. The ladies are particularly fond of using them, especially when the heat of the weather disposes them to ease and indolence. The making of lace is a general employment for females, some of whom excel in it. The shopkeepers here are a numerous class, who, as in most colonial towns, deal in almost every thing, and sometimes make great fortunes. Here are few doctors, but many apothecaries; some silversmiths, whose articles are equally indifferent both in metal and workmanship; tailors and shoe-makers in great numbers; and joiners, who manufacture very beautiful wood, but are not so moderate in their charges as the former classes of tradesmen. In the out-skirts of the city live a number of Creolian Indians, who make earthenware for culinary purposes, large water-jars, and a variety of other utensils ornamented with some taste. The greatest proportion of the inhabitants consists in farmers and inferior husbandmen, who cultivate small portions of land, on which they breed large stocks of pigs and poultry for sale. With these the market is generally well supplied, and in the fruit-season is also stored with pines, grapes, peaches, guavas, bananas, a few apples, and an enormous quantity of quinces.

Esculent plants are grown in great profusion and variety. Here is a favorite bulbous root called the _Cará_, which is equal to the best potatoe, and even more farinaceous than many varieties of that plant; it grows to about seven inches in diameter, and affords excellent food, either boiled or roasted. Fine cabbages, sallad-herbs, turnips, cauliflowers, artichokes, and potatoes are in abundance; the latter, though very good, are little used: the sweet potatoe is in greater request among the natives. Maize, beans, green-peas, and every species of pulse florish amazingly. Fowls are cheap, we bought some at three-pence and sixpence each; small pigs from one to two shillings; and flitches of bacon, cured after the mode of the country, at about two-pence per pound. Turkies, geese, and ducks are abundant, and reasonable in price; the latter are of the Muscovy breed, enormously large, some weighing ten or fourteen pounds. Here is a singular breed of cocks; they resemble the common English in plumage and shape, but they crow very loud, and continue their last note for 15 or 20 seconds. When their voice is good, they are much esteemed, and are sent for as curiosities from all parts of Brazil. The cattle are in general good, considering that so little attention is paid to feeding them; when their pastures are full of grass, they are tolerably fat, but when otherwise they become lean. A drove may be bought at 24s. or 30s. a head; beef at about a penny or three-halfpence per pound. The curriers have a singular method of blackening cow-hides and calf-skins: when they have prepared them for that operation, they search for some mud-hole at the bottom of a ferruginous stratum, a ditch for instance; with the mud they cover that side of the skin required to be stained; and they prefer this material to the solution of copperas, probably with reason, as the sulphate of iron formed by the decomposed pyrites acts more mildly in this state than when applied in the common way.

The horses are very fine, and in general docile; when well trained they make excellent chargers. Their size is from twelve and a half to fourteen and a half hands, and they vary in price from three to twelve pounds. Mules, as we have before observed, are considered more useful beasts of burden. The breed of sheep is quite unattended to, and mutton is rarely or never eaten. Here is a very fine and large breed of goats, whose milk is generally used for domestic purposes. The dogs are very indifferent, and of no distinct race.

In my walks round the city, I had frequent opportunities of examining the singular succession of horizontal strata, that form the eminence on which it stands. They lie in the following order: first, one of red vegetable earth of variable depth, impregnated with oxide of iron; below that, sand and adventitious matter of different shades of color, as ochre-red, brown, and dusky yellow, together with many rounded pebbles, which indicate it to be of rather recent formation; it varies in depth from three to six feet, or perhaps to seven, and its lower part is uniformly yellow: under this is a bed of exceedingly fine clay of various colors, but for the most part purple; the white and yellow is the purest in quality; it is interveined with thin layers of sand in various directions. Then succeeds a stratum of alluvial matter, which is highly ferruginous; it rests on a variety of decomposed granite, containing hornblende, the proportion of feldspar apparently exceeding that of the other constituents[16]. The whole is incumbent on fine grained granite. The sides of the mount are steep, and in some places nearly perpendicular[17].

The fertility of the country around S. Paulo may be inferred from the quantities of produce, with which, as I have stated, its market is supplied. About a century ago, this tract abounded with gold; and it was not until they had exhausted it by washing, that the inhabitants thought of employing themselves in husbandry. As they did so more from necessity than from choice, they were tardy in pursuing those improvements which other nations have made in this noble art, and, pining at the disappearance of the precious mineral, considered their new occupation as vile and degrading. Indeed throughout the whole of Brazil, the husbandmen have ever been considered as forming a class greatly inferior in point of respectability to the miners; and this prejudice will in all likelihood subsist until the country shall have been drained of its gold and diamonds, when the people will be compelled to seek in agriculture a constant and inexhaustible source of wealth.

I shall attempt to describe the system of farming which at present prevails in the neighbourhood of S. Paulo. It has been elsewhere observed that, in this extensive empire, land is granted in large tracts, on proper application; and we may naturally suppose that the value of these tracts depends more or less on their situation. It therefore becomes the first object of a cultivator, to look out for unoccupied lands as near as possible to a large town; good roads and navigable rivers are the desiderata next in point of consequence which he attends to. When he has made choice of a situation, he applies to the governor of the district, who orders the proper officers to mark out the extent required, generally a league or a league and a half square, sometimes more. The cultivator then purchases as many negroes as he can, and commences his operations by erecting habitations for them and himself, which are generally miserable sheds, supported by four posts, and commonly called _ranchos_. His negroes are then directed to cut down the trees and brushwood growing on the land, to such an extent as he thinks they will be able to manage. This done, they set fire to all they have cut, as it lies on the ground. Much of the success of his harvest depends on this burning; if the whole be reduced to ashes he expects a great crop; if, through wet weather, the felled trees remain only half burnt, he prognosticates a bad one. When the ground is cleared, the negroes dibble it with their hoes, and sow their maize, beans, or other pulse; during the operation they cut down any thing very much in the way, but never think of working the soil. After sowing as much seed as is thought requisite, they prepare other ground for planting cassada, here called mandioca, the root of which is generally eaten as bread by all ranks in Brazil. The soil[18] for this purpose is rather better prepared; it is raked up in little round hillocks, not unlike mole-hills, about four feet asunder; into which are stuck cuttings from branches of the plant, about an inch thick and six or eight long; these soon take root, and put forth leaves, shoots, and buds. When enough has been planted for the entire consumption of the farm, the owner, if he is rich enough, prepares means for growing and manufacturing sugar. He first employs a carpenter to cut wood, and build a mill with wooden rollers for crushing the canes, by means of water, if a stream is at hand, if not, by the help of mules or oxen. While some of the negroes are assisting the carpenter, others are employed in preparing ground in the same way as for mandioca. Pieces of cane containing three or four joints, and in length about six inches, cut from the growing stem, are laid in the earth nearly horizontally, and covered with soil to the depth of about four inches. They shoot up rapidly, and in three months have a bushy appearance not unlike flags; in twelve or fifteen months more they are ready for cutting. In rich virgin soil it is not uncommon to see canes twelve feet high and astonishingly thick.

The Indian corn and pulse are in general ripe in four months or eighteen weeks. The average return is two hundred for one; it is a bad harvest when it falls short of one hundred and fifty.

The mandioca is rarely ready to take up in less than eighteen or twenty months; if the land be suitable, it then produces from six to twelve pounds weight per plant[19]. They grow very little indigo in this neighbourhood, and what they have is of indifferent quality. Their pumpkins are of enormous size, and small ones are sometimes served up as table-vegetables, but more frequently given as food to the horses. Melons here are scarcely palatable.

In no branch of husbandry are the farmers so defective as in the management of cattle. No artificial grasses are cultivated, no enclosures are made, nor is any fodder laid up against the season of scarcity. The cows are never milked regularly; they seem to be considered rather as an incumbrance to a farm than a valuable part of the stock. They constantly require salt, which is given them once in fifteen or twenty days, in small proportions. The dairies, if such they may be called, are managed in so slovenly a manner, that the little butter which is made becomes rancid in a few days, and the cheese is good for nothing. In this essential department the Paulistas are deplorably deficient; rarely indeed is there to be seen a farm with one convenience belonging to it. For want of proper places in which to store their produce, they are obliged to lay it in promiscuous heaps; and it is not uncommon to see coffee, cotton, maize, and beans, thrown into the corners of a damp shed, and covered with a green hide. One half is invariably spoiled by mould and putridity, and the remainder is much deteriorated, through this idle and stupid negligence.

They feed their pigs on Indian corn in a crude state; the time for confining them to fatten is at eight or ten months old; and the quantity consumed for the purpose is eight or ten Winchester bushels each. When killed, the lean is cut off the sides as clean as possible, the fat is cured with very little salt, and in a few days is ready for market. The ribs, chine-bone, and lean parts are dried for home consumption.

The farm-houses are miserable hovels of one story, the floor neither paved nor boarded, and the walls and partitions formed of wicker-work, plastered with mud, and never under-drawn. For an idea of the kitchen, which ought to be the cleanest and most comfortable part of the dwelling, the reader may figure to himself a filthy room, with an uneven muddy floor, interspersed with pools of slop-water, and in different parts fire-places formed by three round stones to hold the earthen pots that are used for boiling meat; as green wood is the chief fuel, the place is almost always filled with smoke, which, finding no chimney, vents itself through the doors and other apertures, and leaves all within as black as soot. I regret to say that the kitchens of many opulent people are not in much better condition.

It may well be imagined that, in a country like this, a stranger finds the greatest comfort and enjoyment out of doors. The gardens in S. Paulo, and its vicinity, are laid out with great taste, and many of them with curious elegance. The jasmine is every where a favorite tree, and in this fine climate bears flowers perennially, as does the rose. Carnations, pinks, passion-flowers, cockscombs, &c. grow in great plenty; one of their most estimable shrubs is the Palma Christi, which gives fruit the first year, and yields abundance of castor-oil, which all families possess in such quantity, that no other sort is burnt.

Bees are by no means uncommon; they are easily domesticated, and, I believe, are perfectly harmless. Their honey is pleasant; the wax, particularly that generally sold, which is taken from their nests in old forest-trees, is very foul, but might be purified by a very simple process. The woods contain a great variety of animals of the monkey kind, and also beasts of prey, some of which have tolerably good fur. Among the latter may be classed a peculiar species of the otter. Insects are numerous, but the musquitos are not so offensively so as in the Rio de la Plata. The animalculum, called the niagua or jigger, is troublesome; it beds itself under the nails of the toes, and sometimes of the fingers, but it may easily be banished by extracting it and its bag of eggs with a needle, and filling the cavity with calomel or snuff, for fear any should have remained. Reptiles, I was told, were very numerous, but I saw few, except toads, which, in the evenings, crawl upon the foot-paths, and even infest the streets of the city. The _sorocucu_ or _jararaca_ (serpents) are said to be very dangerous.

The woods produce large and durable timber, well calculated for building. Of their trees, all of which retain their Indian names, some yield very fine gums. The _jacarandá_, called in England rose-wood, is here very common. Many of their shrubs bear beautiful flowers, and are very aromatic. Among the innumerable creeping plants which clothe the soil of their uncleared lands, there are some distinguished as infallible antidotes to the bite of venomous reptiles; one in particular, called the _coração de Jesus_[20], is universally esteemed.

Beyond the plain which nearly encircles S. Paulo, the country is hilly, or rather mountainous. Had the period of my stay been longer, I should have devoted some time to a geological tour in that district; but having urgent reasons to hasten my departure for Rio de Janeiro, I had leisure to make only one excursion of this kind. The governor invited me to visit the old gold-mines of Jaraguá, the first discovered in Brazil, which were now his property, together with a farm in their vicinity, distant about twenty-four miles from the city. We travelled along a tolerable, and in some places, fine road, in a southerly direction, for twelve miles, and crossed the Tieti. This river is here considerably larger and deeper than in the neighbourhood of S. Paulo; it has an excellent wooden bridge, free from toll. On its banks there are some situations truly enviable; fine rich virgin lands covered with timber, and capable of producing, not only the necessaries, but the luxuries of life, in a hundred-fold degree, if properly cultivated. It was melancholy to behold a territory, which, for its teeming soil and genial climate, deserves to be called a paradise, neglected and solitary, like that of Eden after the fall; while its infatuated possessors, like the offspring of Cain, hungering for gold, kept aloof from the rich feast which nature here spread before them.

After travelling onward four leagues, we arrived at the ancient mines of Jaraguá, famed for the immense treasures they produced nearly two centuries ago, when at the ports of Santos and S, Vicente, whence the gold was shipped for Europe, this district was regarded as the Peru of Brazil. The face of the country is uneven and rather mountainous. The rock, where it appeared exposed, I found to be granite, and sometimes gneiss, containing a portion of hornblende, with mica. The soil is red, and remarkably ferruginous, in many places apparently of great depth. The gold lies, for the most part, in a stratum of rounded pebbles and gravel, called _cascalho_, immediately incumbent on the solid rock. In the valleys, where there is water, occur frequent excavations, made by the gold-washers, to a considerable extent, some of them fifty or a hundred feet wide, and eighteen or twenty deep. On many of the hills, where water can be collected for washing, particles of gold are found in the soil, scarcely deeper than the roots of the grass.

The mode of working these mines, more fitly to be denominated washings, is simple, and may be easily explained:

Suppose a loose gravel-like stratum of rounded quartzose pebbles and adventitious matter, incumbent on granite, and covered by earthy matter of variable thickness. Where water of sufficiently high level can be commanded, the ground is cut in steps, each twenty or thirty feet wide, two or three broad, and about one deep. Near the bottom a trench is cut to the depth of two or three feet. On each step stand six or eight negroes, who, as the water flows gently from above, keep the earth continually in motion with shovels, until the whole is reduced to liquid mud and washed below. The particles of gold contained in this earth descend to the trench, where, by reason of their specific gravity, they quickly precipitate. Workmen are continually employed at the trench to remove the stones, and clear away the surface, which operation is much assisted by the current of water which falls into it. After five days’ washing, the precipitation in the trench is carried to some convenient stream, to undergo a second clearance. For this purpose wooden bowls are provided, of a funnel shape, about two feet wide at the mouth, and five or six inches deep, called _gamellas_. Each workman standing in the stream, takes into his bowl five or six pounds weight of the sediment, which generally consists of heavy matter, such as granular oxide of iron, pyrites, ferruginous quartz, &c. and often precious stones. They admit certain quantities of water into the bowls, which they move about so dexterously, that the precious metal, separating from the inferior and lighter substances, settles to the bottom and sides of the vessel. They then rinse their bowls in a larger vessel of clean water, leaving the gold in it, and begin again. The washing of each bowlful occupies from five to eight or nine minutes; the gold produced is extremely variable in quantity, and in the size of its particles, some of which are so minute, that they float, while others are found as large as peas, and not unfrequently much larger. This operation is superintended by overseers, as the result is of considerable importance. When the whole is finished, the gold is placed upon a brass pan, over a slow fire, to be dried, and at a convenient time is taken to the permutation office, where it is weighed, and a fifth is reserved for the Prince. The remainder is smelted with muriate of mercury, then cast into ingots, assayed, and stamped according to its intrinsic value, a certificate of which is given with it; after a copy of that instrument has been duly entered at the mint-office, the ingots circulate as specie.

My attention was strongly engaged by the immense debris or refuse of old washings, which lay in numberless heaps, and contained various substances that gave me strong hope of finding some interesting and valuable specimens of tourmalines, topazes, and other crystallizations, and also a rich series of rocks, which form the geognostics of the country. So strongly was I prepossessed with this hope, that I really fancied I had within my reach some of the finest mineral products of Brazil. Early one morning, before the sun became too hot for work, I set out accompanied by two or three men, with iron crows and hammers, whom I had engaged to assist me. We broke up immense quantities of quartzose and granite-like matter in various stages of decomposition, and others of a ferruginous kind, but after pursuing the operation for three whole days, until my hands could no longer wield the hammer, I was obliged to give up the search as fruitless; not a grain of gold did I find, nor anything of the nature of crystallization, except some miserable quartz, a little cubic and octahedral pyrites, and some very poor maganese! In short the substances presented so little novelty, and were in themselves so ordinary, that I hesitated whether I should carry them with me to S. Paulo. This disappointment at the first gold mines I had seen, not a little dejected me.

In company with the Governor and his lady, I now took a survey of the farm; we walked and rode through extensive plantations, the productions of which, as well as the mode of culture pursued, were similar to those I have already described. Our next recreation was hunting the deer. Let not the reader imagine that I am going to lead him a chase through miles of country with a pack of hounds and a joyous company of horsemen; the mode of hunting in Brazil affords no such diversion. Three or four men go out armed with guns and attended by two or three dogs; the men separate and wait in some open place; meanwhile the dogs quest among the plantations and thickets; if they find, they drive the game out, which the hunters immediately shoot. The deer are small, and of the fallow kind; but their flesh is not esteemed.

The wild animals of this district are chiefly monkeys, sloths, a variety of the porcupine, and opossums. These, and other predatory beasts, make great havoc among the poultry. Of the feathered tribe there are not many varieties; I shot several snipes and beautiful lapwings[21] with red horns on each pinion, about half an inch in length. Here are great numbers of parrots and parroquets.

The vampire-bat, so often described by travellers, is a most formidable foe to the horses and mules. If he gets access to them in the night, he fixes on the neck-vein, above the shoulder, and sucks it to such a degree as to leave the animal almost covered with blood, fanning with his wings all the while he retains his hold, in order (as it should seem) to lull the pain caused by his bite.

The garden has a bed of fine potatoes, which were planted three or four years ago by Mr. Quarten, from Gibraltar. They are suffered to grow and reproduce themselves from season to season, none being taken up unless when wanted for food. Cabbages and other vegetables for the table grow in abundance.

This farm has the advantage of very fine timber in its neighbourhood, and when the improvements, begun by the governor, are completed, it will be well provided with water, brought from a distance of six miles, in sufficient quantities to wash the hills, and to work the machinery of a sugar-mill. On the estate were employed about fifty negroes, and half that number of free Indians; the latter ate at their master’s expense, and earned about sixpence a day; but they appeared far less laborious and handy than the negroes. They were clearing grounds and making walks in a wood, which when finished will render the place a most agreeable summer retreat.

Among the many marks of kindness with which the governor honored me, I must not omit his repeated assurances, that in the event of war between our respective countries, which was then talked of, he would not detain me. After remaining here five days, which were rendered as agreeable as possible by the polite civilities of my host, we set out on our return in the order in which we came: the governor and his lady in a carriage drawn by four mules, his aide-de-camp and myself on horseback, and six dragoons in front, the guard usually attendant on an officer of his rank. We arrived at S. Paulo without any material occurrence.