CHAPTER XI.
ARRAYAS TO SAN ROMÃO.
Departure from Arrayas—Reasons for preferring the Route along the Serra Geral—Passes Gamelleira—Bonita—Reaches San Domingo—San Joäo—San Bernardo—Curious Fact respecting the Rio San Bernardo—Passes Boa Vista—Country consists of very elevated table-lands—Its Natural Productions—Arrives at Capella da Posse—San Pedro—San Antonio—Dôres—Riachão—Animals greatly tormented by large Bats—Habits of these Vampires—Reaches San Vidal—Flight of Locusts—Passes Nossa Senhora d’Abbadia—Campinhas—Pasquada—San Francisco—Crosses River Carynhenha and enters the Province of Minas Geräes—Country described—Habits of the great Ant-eater—Passes Capão de Casca—Descent of the Serra das Araras—Reaches San Josè—Rio Claro—Boquerão—Santa Maria—Espigão—Taboca—San Miguel—Crosses River Urucuya—Passes Riachão—Arrives at San Romão—Town Described—Its Population—Habits of the People—Rio de San Francisco—Description of the different varieties of the Salmon tribe found in it.
The necessary preparations having been completed, we started from Arrayas on the afternoon of the 6th of May, my object being now to reach the Villa de San Romão on the Rio de San Francisco; but instead of proceeding southward along the western base of the Serra Geral as far as the parallel of San Romão, the road usually followed by the people of the country, I preferred the less frequented, and consequently the more difficult route, that leads along the Serra itself. My reasons for adopting this plan were, in the first place, because the low country to the westward had already been travelled over by Pohl and Burchell, and partly by Spix and Martius; and secondly, because I always preferred elevated regions, on account of the greater diversity of vegetation met with in such situations. We were accompanied for about half a league out of the Villa by a few of the more respectable inhabitants. Shortly after the return of my friends, we descended the Serra on which the Villa stands, by a very rocky path, but this descent was not nearly so great as the ascent on the opposite side, and although we now found ourselves in a comparatively flat country, we were still at a considerable elevation. After proceeding half a league, we encamped for the night under some trees by the side of a small stream; here we slung our hammocks, but soon after midnight the cold became so great, from the wind that blew down from the Serra, that we could not sleep; and long before daybreak we were glad to rise, and seat ourselves round a large fire, such as we always made it a rule to burn every night we slept in the open air.
A journey of four long leagues on the following day, brought us to the fazenda Gamelleira, where we passed the night under a large fig-tree, there being only one small house belonging to the vaqueiro. This fazenda belongs to a widow lady, Dona Maria Rosa, at whose house we spent some time during the middle of the day. Soon after leaving Gamelleira, we entered a virgin forest quite unlike any I had seen since leaving the Province of Rio de Janeiro, and which I little expected to find in the district where we were now travelling. It contained many large trees, covered with numerous parasitical Orchideæ. The forest was about a league in length, after which we entered upon an elevated thinly-wooded tract, where we halted to breakfast under a beautiful shady wild-fig (Gamelleira). In the afternoon we accomplished another two leagues, and passed the night at a fazenda called Mangê, the road leading over a thinly-wooded Chapada.
On the morning of the 9th, after a ride of a league and a half, we rested on the banks of a small brook under a group of Buriti palms. The first part of our journey we found to be hilly and stony, with intermediate well-wooded low tracts, but the latter part of it was through a most beautiful country of fine open grassy campos, with occasional large wide-spreading trees. In the afternoon, we travelled a league and a half through a country even still more beautiful than that through which we passed in the morning. We ascended a slight elevation that led to a flat Chapada, rather thinly-wooded, abounding in a rank kind of grass, a species of Andropogon, growing in large isolated tufts, and about three feet high, after passing through which we entered an open campo country. From the termination of the Chapada, there is a fine view of a large Serra, which runs from north to south, but not of great elevation and almost perfectly level as far as the eye could reach; this is the western side of the most elevated portion of the Serra Geral. It was not till some time after sunset, that we could find a convenient place for encamping, but the moon shone brightly, and we proceeded without inconvenience. The place where we halted at last was under some small trees near the side of a wood, but we little anticipated the plague we were about to encounter; in half an hour we discovered that it was swarming with the Carrapato Miudo, and so numerous that our bodies were soon covered with them. As it was now too late to shift our quarters, our only remedy was to set fire to the grass around our encampment. This being done we washed ourselves with a strong infusion of tobacco, which destroyed the Carrapato, and then with tepid water to prevent any bad effects from the tobacco, a remedy usually adopted by the vaqueiros whose occupations lead them daily into places infested by these annoying insects. Having thus secured ourselves from any further attacks from this pest, we slept soundly, and resuming our journey early next morning, we travelled three leagues and a half through a flat sandy bushy country, reaching about mid-day a small fazenda called Bonita, where we remained till the following day. The small house belonging to the proprietor of this fazenda is situated on a slight eminence, which commands a fine view of the surrounding flat country. He formerly lived in a somewhat lower spot at a little distance, but as his family suffered constantly from ague, he removed to this place, since which they have been free from this complaint, although the difference of elevation is not more than a hundred feet.
In the morning the Juiz de Paz of the district, who lives about two leagues to the north of Bonita, passed, and learning that we were strangers, and about to visit the Arraial de San Domingo, a little village two leagues and a half distant, he told me that he was on the way thither himself, and that his own house, which he only occupied during festa times, was much at my service during my stay there. The distance between Bonita and the village is said to be about two leagues and a half, but they proved to be very long ones. The road till within a short distance of the village is pretty level, and generally sandy, but it afterwards became more hilly and stony; it leads southward along the base of the Serra Geral, but generally a mile or more to the west of it; the top of the Serra still continued to be level with a precipitous face, the rock being of a reddish-yellow. Shortly after leaving Bonita, an elevated pyramidal peak of the same elevation as the Serra, is descried to the S.E. presenting a remarkable resemblance to some enormous work of art; it stands about a quarter of a mile distant from the Serra, and is placed upon a broad regular base.
We reached the Arraial de San Domingo a little before sunset, and took up our residence in the house of the Juiz de Paz. Like the rest of the houses it was built of large unburned bricks, with the partitions formed of wicker-work, plastered with clay, smoothed by the hand of the operator, and ornamented all over with the strokes left by his fingers. The village stands among some small hills about a league to the west of the Serra Geral; it is very insignificant, containing only about forty houses, a great many of which, belonging to the fazendeiros, are untenanted, except during the festas; a small limpid stream runs near it, which flows with great rapidity, but it contains no fish, as they are prevented from ascending by a cataract which exists at some distance below the village. We remained here two days, endeavouring to hire another man to assist in the management of my troop, but I had much difficulty in finding one, notwithstanding there were plenty of young men idling about, who had no disposition to work for a livelihood. It is a common saying in these parts, that for every ten who work, there are ninety who do nothing, and maintain a wretched existence by hunting and robbing their more industrious neighbours. Having heard of a man who had already made a journey to Minas Geräes, I sent for him, and found him willing to engage with me; but just as we were concluding the agreement his wife came up and abused me violently for enticing her husband away from her. She was a large mulatto woman, old and ugly, and what very much surprised me, a slave, while he, who was also a mulatto, was a freeman, and considerably younger. They had done little but quarrel during the six years they had been married, and he seemed now determined to get rid of her; he therefore told her, that though she had governed him for a very long time, she should do so no longer. We could not, however, get rid of her, till he promised that he would not remain more than a month with me; when that time expired, he did not feel inclined to return, but went on with me to the Gold District, when he got employment at one of the mines.
Everything being at length arranged, we started early on the morning of the 14th, and travelling southward, still keeping on the eastern side of the Serra, we arrived, on the forenoon of the following day, at a fazenda called San João, and as our provisions were nearly exhausted, I determined to obtain a fresh supply here, if possible. On making enquiries of the owner, he informed me that as he had no cattle near the house, it would be two or three days, at least, before a cow or ox could be brought from a pasture, which was seven leagues distant; to this of course I was obliged to consent, as we were now in a country where provisions were not easily obtained. In the afternoon, I went down to bathe in a little stream which passes at some distance from the house, and, seeing a plant in flower among some bushes on the bank, I went in among them to collect it, but when I came out again, I found that I had paid dearly for so doing, as my trowsers and shirt, as well as my hands and legs, which were bare, were thickly covered with small carrapatos. As no time was to be lost I again took off my clothes and rushed into the stream; it caused me much trouble to clear my shirt and trowsers of these annoying insects, and I afterwards took great care not to walk much about in this neighbourhood. It was not till the morning of the second day that a fine fat cow was brought, and although killed immediately, the flesh was not dry enough to be packed for two days more. The owner of the fazenda, Captain Faustino Vieira, we found to be of a very niggardly disposition, and much less hospitable than the fazendeiros I had generally met with in this province. Although his house was a good and commodious one, we had during our stay to put up in an open shed, which served to cover the sugar mill belonging to the farm. He was most exorbitant in his charges for all we had purchased of him, requiring one half more for the cow than its usual price in that part of the country; he charged in like manner for the farinha, and the Indian corn for my horses.