In the densest parts of the forests near Sapê, the Jacutinga (Penelope Jacutinga, Spix), the fine large game bird so common in the forests of the Organ Mountains, was not unfrequently encountered in our walks, and brought home as trophies. The mountains here, as already mentioned, are composed entirely of a compact primitive limestone, similar to that existing at Natividade, and which I afterwards found extending many leagues to the southwards. The lower parts of these mountains are tolerably well wooded, but the upper parts consisting of sharp rugged peaks, surrounded by broken masses at their bases, are nearly destitute of vegetation, the only plants found here being a small wild Fig tree, a large prickly Cactus, a shrubby Trixis, a small Begonia, and a stinging Loasa. The heaps of broken rocks which exist around the bases of the peaks, are frequented by vast numbers of a small animal, greatly resembling a rabbit, and about the same size; it is allied to the Guinea-pig, and its flesh, which is white, is very good to eat. It is the Kerodon moco of naturalists, and is well known to the inhabitants by the name of Mocó.
It was in the afternoon of the twenty-sixth of February that we left Sapê for Arrayas, and after travelling two rather long leagues, we reached the foot of the Serra, at the point of ascent to the upland plain in which the Villa is situated. Here we bivouacked for the night, slinging our hammocks among some trees, by the side of a little stream which came from the mountains. On this journey, after leaving the more densely wooded tract which surrounded Sapê, we entered a wide open valley, situated between the Serra de Santa Brida and that of Buriti, which gradually became narrower until the two Serras united at the place of our encampment. This valley is very thinly-wooded, except along the margins of the many small streams which intersect it, and which join to form a small river that flows through its centre. I found this locality particularly rich in botanical productions, as it abounded with elegant flowering shrubs and trees, such as Pleroma, Crotalaria, Bauhinia, Diplusodon, Vochysia, Kielmeyera, &c. The ascent of the Serra, which was accomplished on the following morning, we found both long and tiresome, and very rocky. From the top of the Serra to the Villa, which is a league and a half distant, the road is of gentle declivity. I carried a letter from Senhor Lagoeira to a schoolmaster, who in a short time found an empty house for our accommodation, of a very inferior description, and little calculated to keep out either wind or rain; it was, however, the only one that could be obtained. Here we remained for about a week, until another, which on our arrival was occupied by a travelling merchant, became empty; it was far superior, and now fell to our use. As the season of rain was not yet nearly terminated, I remained in Arrayas nearly two months, during which time I amassed a splendid collection of the curious and beautiful plants, which are peculiar to the upland grassy campos of the interior of Brazil.
The Villa de Arrayas is very pleasantly situated in a hollow on the table-land of the Serra; it is surrounded nearly on all sides by low grassy hills, which are but thinly-wooded with small trees and bushes. The highest of these hills are towards the N.E. side of the town, and from behind them flows a beautiful stream that at all seasons supplies it with water; the inhabitants have a saying, that the place has neither bad water nor good roads (em Arrayas não tem agoa roim, nem caminhos bons), and this is truly its characteristic. The town is of very small size, the population not exceeding three hundred inhabitants, great and small. Here, as in other towns in the interior, many of the houses belong to the fazendeiros, who only occupy them during the festas; they are nearly all arranged before a large square, on the east side of which the only church is situated. On our arrival I was surprised to observe a house with glazed windows, a rare sight in the interior of Brazil, but on nearer inspection, I found that the place of glass was supplied by plates of talc, which is found abundantly in this neighbourhood.
During my stay among the people of this place I found them universally kind and obliging, so far as their limited means permitted, for the greater part are very poor; in most instances, however, this poverty is occasioned by their own indolence. It was with great difficulty that we could purchase any thing in the shape of provisions, and it is still a mystery to me, how the great mass of the inhabitants contrive to live; had it not been for the kindness of my good friend Senhor Lagoeira, who again sent me supplies of provisions, we should often have been in a state of starvation. Notwithstanding the smallness and the poverty of the place, it contains two priests, neither of whom seemed to be the worst fed of the community. There are three public schools, two of which are elementary, one for boys, the other for girls; in the third, Latin only is taught. Here, as in all the other towns and villages in the interior, the teachers are paid by government, and, consequently, the education of all classes is gratuitous; notwithstanding this, I was surprised to see the small number who take advantage of so favourable an opportunity for the education of their children. Those who live in the country, and who send their children to school, are obliged to board them in the town, which is generally looked upon as a great grievance. Here, as elsewhere, I met with very few who have a taste for reading, and, generally, the only books they possess are some small volumes of orisons. Even the libraries of the priests are confined to a few religious and classical works; and among these, a Bible is rarely to be met with, a mere abridgment of it supplying its place.
The rocks which compose the mountain range on which the town of Arrayas stands, all belong to the primary strata; these are nearly vertical, the little inclination which they present, being towards the east, that being the direction of the highest part of the Serra. The most westerly of these rocks have an arenaceous schistose structure, and these overlay a very compact greyish-coloured stratified rock, very much resembling gneiss, in which are imbedded innumerable rounded pebbles of granite and quartz, of all sizes from one to three or four inches, and which is probably equivalent to the grauwacke rocks of the old world. The limestone of which the western side of the Serra is composed at Sapê and Natividade, is not found here, but I again met with it to the south; in none of the rocks did I observe any appearance of organic remains.
From its elevated situation, the climate of Arrayas is much cooler than in the plains below, and the rains are both heavier and of longer duration; these always come from the N.E., beginning in October or November, and continuing till the month of April, or until a regular S.E. wind sets in, which is the first signal that the dry season has commenced. The rearing of cattle is the most ordinary occupation of the fazendeiros, their cattle meeting with a ready sale in the Bahia market; but they generally also cultivate a little sugar cane, principally for the manufacture of rum, which is extensively used among all classes of society, and of course meets with a good sale. Mandiocca, rice, and Indian corn, are also cultivated, both for family use and for sale in the Villa. All these productions, however, are grown in the low countries, principally along the foot of the Serra; around the Villa itself little or nothing is cultivated, notwithstanding that the soil in many places is favourable for small plantations. Both the climate and soil seem well adapted for the production of coffee, as the few small plantations that have been attempted yield good crops, without any care having been bestowed on them; in the garden belonging to the house in which I lived, there were about one hundred and fifty coffee plants, which in the end of April were loaded as heavily with fruit as any I have seen in the large plantations in the province of Rio de Janeiro. This article, however, can never be cultivated here to any extent, with a view to exportation, on account of its great distance from the coast. The Rio Tocantins offers the only water conveyance, and that as yet is only navigable for canoes of small burden. There are only two shopkeepers in the Villa, both of whom bring their goods from Rio de Janeiro. They go there once in two or three years, the entire journey generally occupying from six to nine months.
The diseases of this district are very similar to those which are common in the more northern part of the province. In the low country, which, during the rainy season, is full of marshes and swamps, intermittent fevers are prevalent, and are often fatal to those coming from the upland districts. As very few only can afford to purchase sulphate of quinine, the general mode of curing these fevers is by emetics and purgatives, and occasionally by bitter barks obtained from the trees in the woods; of these the one most commonly used is procured from the Strychnos pseudochina of St. Hilaire, a small tree which grows on the upland campos. A strong infusion of coffee with a mixture of salt is also sometimes administered. Though the inhabitants of the plains are constantly subject to the fever, they seldom die of the disease itself, but the effects which it produces on the constitution after a long series of yearly attacks, ultimately cut off a great many. The principal organ that becomes affected is the spleen, which is sometimes so much enlarged, that it nearly fills the whole abdominal cavity; when travelling in these districts, we seldom arrived at a house where I was not consulted respecting enlargements of this organ. The liver is more rarely affected: its affections are generally produced by intemperance in eating and drinking, and by the constant and immoderate use of tobacco. In the Villa intermittent fevers are unknown, in consequence of its being situated above the region of miasmata, unless they appear in cases where the infection has been imbibed below. The traveller before alluded to, who gave up the house for our use, left behind him an Indian servant, with no one to attend to him, and whom I found almost dead from the attacks of a severe tertian ague, but who soon recovered after being properly treated. This poor fellow was a native of the banks of the Amazon, and he remained in my service until my arrival in Rio de Janeiro. These fevers very often lose their intermittent character, and assume a malignant remittent nature. The prevailing diseases in the Villa are ophthalmia, colds, inflammatory complaints, rheumatism, and dyspepsia; paralysis also is common; and as a preventive, nearly all the people wear a thick twisted iron ring, made on the Saturday of the passion week (sexta feira da Paixão), and blessed by a priest. Goître is common, but not nearly so much as in Natividade and Conceição. Here they attribute it to the coldness of the water they use for drinking.
The country around Arrayas affords many prospects as highly picturesque and pleasing to the eye of a common observer as that of the naturalist; to the latter, however, it offers a double charm, owing to the great variety in the objects which such diversity of soil and situation presents for his investigations. My excursions in various directions yielded me upwards of three hundred species of plants, all different from any I had elsewhere collected. The dry upland campos afforded numerous grasses, which are nearly all coarse and rank, and not well suited for pasturage; these grasses do not form a close turf, as in Europe, but grow in scattered tufts, leaving greater intervals of bare soil than the amount of surface actually covered by them; this, however, is not apparent at first sight, for the culm is generally long, and when ripe, and seen from a distance, the campos appear as if covered with wheat or oats. Many flowering shrubs and beautiful herbaceous plants are found growing among the grasses; of the former Diplusodon and Kielmeyera are the most ornamental; one of the latter (Kielmeyera rosea, Mart.) grows in bushes about a foot and a half high, and produces numerous large rose-coloured flowers, from which it has obtained the name of Rosa do Campo. Of the herbaceous plants of these tracts, the most beautiful are those belonging to the Gentian tribe. A species of Lisianthus produces large blue bell-shaped blossoms, not unlike those of the Digitalis in shape; and towards the end of the rainy season, the fields are gaily adorned with two elegant species of Callopisma; one of these is more abundant than the other, and being intensely bitter, is used medicinally as gentian by the inhabitants of Goyaz, who collect it when in full flower, dried bundles of it being seen hanging up in almost every house; it is used, in infusion, in dyspepsia, and also to strengthen those who are recovering from fever. The trees of the upland Campos are mostly small, consisting chiefly of the beautiful Sicupíra (Commilobium polygalæflorum), Qualea grandiflora, and Q. parviflora, a Vochysia, Salvertia convallariodora, a Panax, an Albertinia, a Lafoensia, two species of Cecropia, the Mangába do Mono, the Cashew, and several species of Mimosa.
Towards the latter end of the month of April, the whole north of the province of Goyaz was thrown into a state of alarm, in consequence of information received from San Pedro de Alcantará, a small town in the extreme north of the province, near the banks of the Rio Tocantins, that a party of the troops of Raimundo Gomez, and the Balaio had crossed over from Pastos Boms in the province of Maranham, to Alcantará, and taken it by force; and that although the greater part of the more respectable inhabitants had fled to the woods, a number had been killed and robbed, while others had joined the rebels. Notice arrived at the same time that all the canoes which had descended from the central parts of the province towards Pará (April being the month in which they generally start), were taken, the owners killed, and the hides with which they were laden thrown into the river. It was immediately surmised that the canoes were captured for no other purpose than to ascend the river in order to devastate the towns and villages in this quarter, in the same manner as they had attacked those below. On the 22nd of April I was called to a fazenda about three leagues to the north of Arrayas, to visit a young lady, who was indisposed. When I arrived there, her father had just received a letter from the Vigario of Conceição, stating that a few days before, the robbers had reached Porto Imperial, a village on the Tocantins, only three days’ journey from the Villa de Natividade, and that the inhabitants of the latter place were flying in all directions. On my return to Arrayas, he sent by me a letter to the President of the Camara Municipal, containing the above information, who immediately called a meeting of the principal inhabitants to take into consideration what steps were necessary in this exigency; it was agreed that the National Guard should be called out by beat of drum, but although the town possessed such an instrument, unfortunately there was no one able to use it, until one of my men, a black from Natividade, asked my leave to offer his services. Accordingly the drum beat to arms round the town, but not more than half a dozen men made their appearance. Next morning they were again called out, when about a dozen assembled, nearly all without arms. These few were immediately put under drill by a fazendeiro who happened to be in town, and who, although bearing the rank of ensign in the National Guards, appeared quite ignorant of the task he undertook. The Juiz de Paz was immediately summoned from his fazenda, and expresses sent off to the city of Goyaz to inform the President, as well as the intermediate towns; orders were likewise issued to the different parts of the district to assemble the whole of the National Guard. In the course of four or five days above a hundred and forty men appeared in the Villa, the greater part of them armed with their own fowling-pieces, but there were no muskets, gunpowder, or ball in the place. Those who had no guns, armed themselves with their long knives, firmly tied to the ends of short poles; like the troops of Piauhy, they formed the most motley group imaginable, being of all colours, of all sizes, and without any uniform. They remained under drill for about eight days, at the expiration of which time, news arrived that the previous information had been premature, and that the rebels, amounting to about five hundred men, all well armed, were still in Alcantará. Immediately on receiving this information, the Juiz de Paz dismissed his troops, with the exception of ten men, kept as a guard for the protection of the Villa. In proportion to the number of inhabitants which this district contains, the number of National Guards assembled on this occasion, was greater than in any of the districts of Piauhy; but I had doubts whether one half of them would have responded to a second call, as these poor fellows who had been suddenly called away from their houses and families, most of them after a long journey which they had to make on foot, were not satisfied with the treatment they received from the authorities, for they found on their arrival, that no accommodation had been provided for them, except an old house, the walls of which were raised but little above the ground, where, more like pigs than human beings, they were all stowed together. Had the weather been fine, the greater part of them would have preferred sleeping in the open air, but unfortunately much rain, at this time, fell at night. Moreover, during the whole period they remained in the Villa, not one sixpence was expended in procuring provisions for them, and had it not been for the charity of some of the inhabitants, they would certainly have either starved, or been driven to take food by force. When some of them applied to the Juiz de Paz for provisions, he told them he did not like to appropriate any of the funds belonging to the town to such a purpose, as these were absolutely required for the erection of a new jail, which they had in contemplation! A few hours before their dismissal, they mustered in the church to hear mass, after which the Juiz de Paz gave each of them a glass of rum, and this was all the remuneration they received for their services. When the news first arrived that the rebels had reached Porto Imperial, several inhabitants of the Villa, who had previously boasted of the feats of bravery they would perform, should the enemy advance as far south as Arrayas, were the first to pack up their valuables, in readiness to decamp on a short notice; and none of the women were now to be seen with the rings on their fingers, or in their ears, or with the gold chains which they usually wear round their necks.
The proper season for travelling having now arrived, I became desirous to resume my journey, so as to reach Rio de Janeiro, if possible, before the setting in of the next rains. Thanks to the kindness of my excellent friend Senhor Lagoeira, who supplied me with the greater portion of our provisions from his fazenda, my funds had not been much encroached on during our stay in Arrayas. By my profession, I gained even more than was expended, by which I was thus enabled to add four fine horses to my troop, which now therefore amounted to sixteen in all. On the 4th of May I went to Sapê, to take leave of my friend, and to bring back my horses, which had been pasturing there since our arrival; knowing that I was about to leave, he had prepared an ox, and other articles of provision for our journey. The parting with this truly good person, with whom, in a strange land, I had lived on terms of intimacy, from whom I had experienced kindness that I could never have expected, and with whom I had no earthly chance of again meeting, produced a feeling of depression which hung over me many days after my departure.