CHAPTER VII.
CRATO TO PIAUHY.
Preparations for the journey—Leaves Crato—Passes Guaribas—Reaches Brejo grande—Discovers more fossil fishes—Passes Olho d’Agoa do Inferno—Arrives at Poço de Cavallo—Crauatá—Cachoeira—Marmeleira—Rosario—Os defuntos—Lagoa—Varzea da Vaca—Angicas—Crosses the boundary line of the province of Piauhy—Arrives at San Gonsalvo—Campos—Lagoa Comprida—Difficulties of the Road—Reaches Corumatá—Conabrava—Arrives at Boa Esperança, a large estate owned by an excellent clergyman—Is now in the midst of the great Cattle Districts—Nature of the Country described—Marked into two Kinds, Mimoso and Agreste—Passes Santa Anna das Mercês—San Antonio—Cachimbinho—Vegetation of the surrounding Country—Reaches Retiro—Buquerão—Canavieira—Crosses the River Canindé and arrives at Oeiras, the Capital of the Province of Piauhy.
After my return to Crato, all my collections were despatched for the coast by the 10th of January in order to be shipped for England, and I prepared every thing in readiness for our journey, which I was assured might now be undertaken with safety, as it had rained nearly every day since the beginning of the month. I was, however, prevented from leaving so soon as I had anticipated, owing to the necessity of dismissing my servant Pedro. He had now been about a year in my service, and as he was intelligent and useful, and we had travelled together more like companions than master and man, and as he had moreover acted with great kindness and attention to me during several slight illnesses, I always treated him with much indulgence, and certainly would not have parted with him, had he not returned that indulgence with ingratitude. For some time before this, he had conducted himself as if he imagined I could not do without him. It was on a Saturday that I intended to leave Crato, and on the morning of that day, I sent him to purchase several articles for our journey, but he did not return till two o’clock in the afternoon. Being still desirous of starting, I told him to fetch the other men who were to accompany us, and to bring the horses from the pasture; in reply, he said that he would go for them, but that I might start with them myself, as he did not intend to leave Crato till Monday; this being more than I could reasonably bear, I instantly discharged him. Fortunately at this very moment, I had a visit from a young Englishman, Mr. Edward Walker, who had come up to Crato while I was at Barra do Jardim, to take charge of a Rapadura Engenho in the absence of the owner, who, although a man upwards of forty years of age, was about to proceed to the College of Olinda, in order to study for the church. During two years before this, Mr. Walker had been travelling over the interior of Ceará, and in the north of Piauhy, selling European goods, but about two months before he came to Crato, he had been robbed of all he possessed, and had no other resource left than to accept of the situation he then held, so that he might earn the means of enabling him to reach the coast. That occupation not being to his taste, he at once offered to accompany me as my assistant; I had therefore to purchase two additional horses for him and his trunks, and as there was some difficulty in procuring such as would answer our purpose, it was not until the fifteenth of the month that we could leave Crato. The day previous to my departure was occupied in taking leave of my good friend Capt. João Gonsalvez, his wife, and daughter, and of my other friends.
It was four o’clock in the afternoon before we could start, and we passed the night at an Engenho, called Guaribas, at the foot of the Serra de Araripe, its distance being about a league and a half westward of Crato. On the following morning we resumed our journey soon after daybreak, and shortly afterwards ascended the Serra during a heavy shower of rain, over a part considerably lower than that a few leagues to the eastward. The breadth of the Serra here is about thirty miles, the first half was very similar to other parts of it which I had previously visited, being quite level and open, the vegetation consisting of rather large and thinly scattered trees, and in many parts covered with an abundance of low shrubs. The most common tree here was a fine species of Vochysia, which I had only met with sparingly before, and which has a fine appearance, from its dark green, shining leaves, and spikes of bright yellow flowers, which terminate the branchlets. The more westerly portion is very thickly wooded with small trees, large tracts of which are burned down every year, to allow of a more abundant supply of herbage for the cattle and horses which are sent here to pasture during the dry season. When about half way across, we halted under a tree to breakfast, having brought a large calabash full of water for the purpose of making tea, but we might have saved this trouble as we found an abundant supply in the hollowed stump of a tree; it was found to be of good quality notwithstanding that one or two frogs were swimming about in it. The western descent is very gradual, and ends in a long narrow ravine, which leads into Brejo Grande, a large valley surrounded on all sides, except to the westward, by branches of the Serra. Towards the western extremity of this valley, we arrived at the house of Colonel Manoel do Barros de Cavalcante; I had been requested by his son who lives in Crato, to visit him, as he had been very ill for several days. He is the chief person in this district, which is not very thickly populated, where he officiates as justice of the peace (Juiz de Paz); on visiting him I soon found that he suffered from a severe attack of acute rheumatism, for which I bled him freely, and administered the usual remedies. In a marshy place near the head of the valley of Brejo Grande, we passed a large group of beautiful palm, which I had met with in only a few instances below Crato, but which I afterwards saw in the greatest abundance in the swamps of Piauhy and Goyaz; it is called Buriti by the inhabitants, and is the Mauritia vinifera of Martius. This palm is not only the most beautiful, but one of the loftiest in the country; the leaves are fan-shaped, and form a large round ball at the top of the stem, after the manner of the Carnahuba. It produces a great number of nuts about the size of a small egg, covered with rhomboidal scales arranged in a spiral manner; between these scales and the albuminous substance of the nut, there exists an oily pulp of a reddish colour, which the inhabitants of Crato boil with sugar and make into a sweet-meat. In Piauhy they prepare from this pulp an emulsion, which, when sweetened with sugar, forms a very palatable beverage, but if much used, it is said to tinge the skin of a yellowish colour. The juice of the stem also forms a very agreeable drink, but to obtain it, the tree must be cut down, when several holes about six inches square, three deep, and about six feet apart, are cut in the trunk with a small axe, which in a short time become filled with a reddish coloured liquid, having much the flavour of sweet wine. During my travels in Piauhy, we used occasionally to cut down these palms in order to obtain the juice.
During the night it rained very heavily, and in the morning it was still so wet that we could not resume our journey; indeed, Colonel Barros strongly recommended us to delay our departure till the following day, as the river to the west of his plantation would be much swollen by the rains; besides, the state of the road would not allow us to reach the place where we proposed to remain for the night. In the afternoon I visited another deposit of fossil fishes, about a mile distant from the house, being conducted by one of the colonel’s sons, a very intelligent youth, and found it to be exactly similar to the others already described; the few specimens here obtained did not differ from those found on the eastern side. During this walk I met with a large species of Jatropha, which is frequent in the dry woods, and is known by the name of Manacóba; it forms a small tree from ten to twenty feet in height, and the roots, which are far more woody than those of the mandiocca, are in times of scarcity converted into farinha. The valley of Brejo Grande is chiefly planted with sugar cane, rice, and mandiocca, but only a very small part is yet under cultivation.
The weather having continued fine, I took my leave on the following morning of Colonel Barros, whom I found considerably better. After expressing himself deeply obliged to me for the relief I had given him, he wished to make me some compensation, but as I would not accept money, he insisted on my taking about half a bushel of rice, and a number of rapaduras, as an addition to our stock of provisions. About a league from his house we passed through a small hamlet (povoacão) called Santa Anna, consisting of about half a dozen houses and a small church. The road was very good all the way, presenting, for the most part, a natural pavement in the shape of a horizontal bed of limestone in thin layers. After travelling about four leagues, we reached a place called Olho d’Agoa do Inferno, situated on a slightly elevated part of a narrow valley, and consisting of three or four houses. At this place we halted to take breakfast under the shade of a huge Cassia tree, which was literally covered with large panicles of golden blossoms. Like the first league of this journey, the last was found to be very good, but the intermediate distance passes through a flat country, where for nearly the whole way the horses sank to their knees in water and mud. We crossed the river mentioned by Colonel Barros several times, and it was manifest by marks left by the water on the banks, that it had been greatly flooded the day before; it was now not more than two feet deep. The lower portion of the country through which we passed is well wooded, the large trees consisting chiefly of Mimosas and Erythrina covered with numerous brilliant scarlet flowers, and the thick-stemmed Barriguda; some of the latter are of great size, the singularly swollen portion of their stems measuring about twenty-four feet in circumference, while the upper and lower parts were not more than eight. The additions made to my herbarium this day were numerous; one of the most beautiful being a shrubby species of Allamanda, about six feet high, bearing abundance of large violet-coloured flowers, not unlike those of Gloxinia speciosa, and which I have called Allamanda violacea, from the colour of its flowers, those of all other species being yellow; an infusion of the root of this shrub is a powerful purgative, and is chiefly used in malignant fevers. About Olho d’Agoa do Inferno grows in great plenty a new species of Coutarea, which bears large white flowers, and called by the inhabitants Quina Quina branca, from its bark having been found to be an excellent remedy in cases of intermittent fevers, which greatly prevail in the marshy plains of the province of Piauhy. Almost every traveller who goes into that province carries away a quantity of this bark, and I remarked that nearly all the trees by the road-side had large portions of their stems stripped in consequence.
We left Olho d’Agoa in the afternoon, and shortly afterwards entered a country very similar to that between Icó and Crato, but as the rain had been falling for nearly a month, everything was quite green. The rapidity with which vegetation advances in these deserts, after the first few showers, is quite astonishing; the annual grasses spring up through the white sand, the trees burst into leaf and bloom, and the perennial herbaceous plants, which during the drought were apparently destroyed, throw up their flowering stems in an incredibly short period. In crossing a small stream on this journey I observed the rock, forming its bed, to consist of gneiss, cropping out towards the west; beyond this place sandstone again made its appearance, but scattered over it are an immense number of large angular blocks of gneiss. After travelling three leagues, we reached a place called Poço do Cavallo, and put up for the night at an unfinished house, which, though roofed over, was open at the sides. Besides ourselves two other travelling parties had also taken up their quarters here. In a marsh near us a whole legion of frogs were holding their nightly concert, and so loud was their noise, that I found some difficulty in going to sleep. Shortly before reaching this place, I collected specimens of a fine large tree which I afterwards found to be very common in the district; it belongs to the natural order Meliaceæ, and is called by the Brazilians Cedro, from the wood resembling both in colour and smell that of the true Cedar; the wood is very much used for making doors, tables, and various articles of furniture. The leaves and flowers possessed so strongly the odour of garlick, that the atmosphere was rendered disagreeable to breathe. The pastures for our horses were now excellent, the new grass being from four to six inches high, and very abundant. To the botanist it was quite delightful to travel through such a country, for nearly at every footstep something new and beautiful was added to my collections; the only drawback was the difficulty of preserving the specimens, owing to the great humidity of the atmosphere, and the want of proper means of drying the paper, as the sun now seldom shone out brightly.
The following morning set in with rain, but we resumed our journey about seven o’clock, when it cleared up; we had not, however, gone far when the rain began again to fall heavily, which, notwithstanding the protection from my umbrella, soon drenched me to the skin; we were obliged to travel two leagues before reaching any house, so thinly is this country inhabited. The place we arrived at was called Crauatá, consisting of only three very small houses, and as the rain continued without intermission, we determined to stay, if possible, in one of them during the remainder of the day; but we found only one room could be spared, which was so very small, that it would not contain more than my luggage, much less our party, which now consisted of four persons; our only remedy, therefore, was to go on in the midst of the rain to a place called Cachoeira, about a league distant. On our arrival here we found it consisting of four houses, all, with the exception of one where we obtained leave to put up, similar to those at Crauatá. This belonged to a person who had resided four or five years in Philadelphia, about eighteen years previously, and who still spoke a little English; on finding we were Englishmen, he gave us a hearty welcome, and all the accommodation his house afforded, doing all in his power to render us as comfortable as possible; shortly after our arrival the rain fell in torrents, so much so, that a small rivulet which we crossed immediately before reaching the house, soon became impassable for horses, and had we been detained one hour later, we should have been obliged to remain on the opposite side without shelter. The rain ceased at four o’clock in the afternoon, but the very loud thunder which accompanied it continued nearly the whole day. The road from Poço do Cavallo to Cachoeira passes through an almost level country; many parts of which are well wooded with large trees, the most common being a species of Cæsalpinia, some large Mimosas, the Cedro, the Barriguda, and another kind which is very common, though not so large, called by the inhabitants Imbúzeiro; it is the Spondius tuberosa, Arrud., producing abundantly a fruit about twice the size of a large gooseberry, of an oblong shape, and of a yellowish colour when ripe; beneath its coriaceous skin there is a juicy pulp, of a pleasant sweetish acid taste. Like the Mangába this fruit is only fit to eat when it is so ripe as to fall to the ground, when a large quantity may be eaten without inconvenience; during our journey to the Campo country of Piauhy, where it ceases to grow, we were seldom without a daily supply of it; a dish much esteemed in the Sertão, called Imbuzada, is prepared with milk, curds, sugar, and the pulpy part of this fruit. The tree throws out long horizontal roots, which do not penetrate very deeply into the earth, and upon these are found, at short distances, round black-coloured tubers about eight inches in diameter, consisting entirely of a white cellular substance which is full of water; these, which are evidently intended by nature to supply the vegetation of the tree during the dry season, are often dug out by travellers for the sake of the water they contain, each tuber yielding about a pint of excellent quality. Another wild fruit common here, as it is also about Crato and Pernambuco, is produced by a tree growing to the height of from thirty to forty feet, called Pitombeira; it is the Sapindus esculentus, St. Hil.; the fruit is produced in large bunches, resembling in size the common grape; the outer covering is hard, but the embryo, or kernel, is covered with a thin transparent, sweetish, acid pulp, which alone is eaten; the kernels are said to poison turkeys if eaten by them. Next day, the twentieth of January, we left Cachoeira, early in the morning, and after travelling about five leagues we arrived at a Fazenda, called Marmeleira, where we rested during the middle of the day. Shortly after leaving Cachoeira we began to ascend a small Serra, by a very gradual inclination, but owing to its rocky nature the road was very bad in many places. This range consists of gneiss, the stratification of which is nearly vertical; large blocks of the same kind of rock were very commonly seen along the road, but on the ascent of a small hill I observed many round blocks of a coarse whitish-sandstone. On the journey we crossed several rivers, which although very small, or wholly dried up in the arid season, were now so much swollen by the recent rains, that we could with difficulty pass some of them. After crossing the Serra we entered a fine valley about a league in length, well wooded with large trees, and having a small river running through the centre of it; the end to the westward was pretty well cleared of trees, and there is a little hamlet called Rosario, beyond which we had nearly half a league to travel before reaching our resting-place. On this journey were found several new species of the beautiful genus Angelonia, one of the most remarkable being a fine climbing shrubby species (A. bracteata, Benth.); on dry rocky places I observed several kinds of Cactus, which are not so common on the western side as they are on the east of the Serra de Ibiapaba. The genus Loasa, so very common in Chili and Peru, has only few representatives in Brazil; one which I have called Loasa rupestris, was found here in rocky places by the side of a stream just before we reached our resting-place; like other species of this genus, the whole plant stings very powerfully, and hence, in common with other stinging plants, it is called by the inhabitants Cançançao. As the sun shone out brightly during our stay at Marmeleira, we were enabled to dry all our clothes and other things that had been soaked by the rains. Here I prescribed for the mistress of the house, who was in a very delicate state of health; in return for this we were abundantly supplied with milk, which at this season is plentiful. In the afternoon we travelled three leagues further, and towards dusk arrived at a place consisting of a few small houses called Os Defuntos, near which is a marsh abounding with frogs; the loud and disagreeable sounds they produced could only be compared to the half-howling, half-barking noise of a large kennel of hungry dogs. On some trees near the marsh several large owls were seen, attracted no doubt by the frogs, which they are said to destroy in great numbers for food.
On the following morning after travelling about five leagues through a level and rather open country, we arrived at a place called Varzea da vaca; when about a league beyond Os Defuntos, we passed a fazenda called Lagoa, belonging to Senhor José Pereira de Hollanda, the person who without leave took the loan of my horse during my stay in Crato. His place derives its name from a lake in the vicinity of the house, which is much frequented by wild duck and other water-fowl. Before reaching Varzea da vaca, we passed several other fazendas, where large herds of cattle were seen grazing in the open Campos. Varzea da vaca is a hamlet consisting of about eight houses, but within the district that bears that name, they reckon about sixty; the residents are almost all cattle farmers, some of the poorer families only possessing half a dozen head, whilst others own upwards of a hundred; they also have small plantations of Indian corn, rice, mandiocca, and french beans. The inhabitants of the house in which I was to put up, appeared to be very poor; the building was small and very ill-constructed, having only a large opening in one side, that served for entrance, without any door to keep out either wind or rain; it consisted of only two apartments, the inner one being occupied by the family, the other one by my party and that of another traveller who also remained here for the night, which proved to be stormy; in order to shelter ourselves from the wind which blew in at the door, I was obliged to hang before it one of the large skins used to cover the loads on the horses. In the afternoon I shot several birds, and also met with some curious annual plants which had sprung up in the sandy Campos.