The Piráuh and Piába, of both of which I have already spoken, are as abundant here as they are below the Falls of Paulo Affonso; besides these, there must be many others which I had not an opportunity of seeing. During the whole time we remained in San Romão, we lived principally on fish; indeed, it is so abundant and so cheap, that fresh beef is rarely offered in the market. The navigation of the river being uninterrupted from this place to the Falls of Paulo Affonso, many canoes are continually passing up and down; their principal cargo up is salt, from the manufactories which exist on the vast saline flats on both sides of the river below Porto do Salgado; this is partly sold for money, and partly exchanged for hides, tobacco, &c.
As it was essentially requisite to arrange and pack the large collections made during our journey from Arrayas, and as our long journey now began to manifest its effects on the men, as well as on the animals, I determined to give them a sufficient rest, by remaining a fortnight at San Romão; accordingly the horses were sent to pasture on a large island in the river, immediately opposite the town; this island is about half a league long, and a quarter of a mile broad; the pasture there was not very good, but the horses remained much safer than in any other place. Horse stealing is so very common in this quarter, that scarcely a troop arrives, from any distance, that does not lose one or more animals; before our arrival, we became aware of this fact, and were advised to put our troop on the island for safety. As the country was greatly dried up around the town, by the effects of the long drought, I did not here add much to my collections; and, indeed, a slight accident that occurred to me, prevented my walking about so much as I should otherwise have done. A few days after we arrived, I went to pay a visit to a gentleman, when in going up a few steps at the door, my foot slipped, and my leg came with considerable violence against the sharp edge of one of the brick steps; the wound, although small, troubled me greatly, for owing to the fatigue I had previously undergone, and the innutritious nature of our food, my body had evidently fallen into a somewhat scorbutic state. I did not finally recover from the effects of this accident till nearly two months afterwards, when I rested several weeks in the house of a kind friend in the Gold District.
CHAPTER XII.
SAN ROMÃO TO THE DIAMOND DISTRICT.
Leaves San Romão—Passes Guaribas—Passagem—Geräes Velhas—Espigão—Caisára—Cabeceira—Arrives at the Villa de Formigas—Town described—Account of the impostor Douville—Country around rich in botanical products—Passes Viados—Arrives at the Arraial de Bomfim—Reaches San Elo—Sitio—Comes to a Gold Working called Lavrinha—Crosses the River Inhacica—Reaches As Vargems—Registo do Rio Inhahy—Bassoras on the river Jiquitinhonha—Examines a Diamond Mine—Formation in which the Diamond is found—Mode of Working it—Arrives at the Arraial de Mendanha—Town described—Ascends the Serra de Mendanha—Reaches Duas Pontes—Arrives at the Cidade Diamantina, formerly the Arraial de Tijuco, the Capital of the Diamond District—Town situated on side of Hill—Description of its Population—Their mode of Dress—Its cold Temperature—Productions of its Neighbourhood—Mining for Diamonds, formerly a privileged Monopoly, now is open to all.—Character of Miners—Extent of Diamond Mines—Privilege of Slaves there employed—Climate very Healthy—Women very Handsome—Complaints incident to its Climate—Loyalty shown by its Inhabitants—Fatality among Horses.
The province of Minas Geräes is not only one of the largest in Brazil, but one of the richest, its natural resources being very considerable. It extends between the 14th and 23rd degrees of south latitude, and between the 41st and 53rd degrees of west longitude, the four more westerly degrees, however, include but a very narrow corner; on the east, it is bounded by the maritime province of Espirito Santo; on the north, by those of Bahia and Pernambuco; on the south, by those of Rio de Janeiro and San Paulo; and on the west, by that of Goyaz. It is naturally divided into two very unequal portions by a mountain chain, that runs from south to north, in which exist the Gold and Diamond mines, for which the province is so celebrated. The country to the east is mostly covered with virgin forests, while that to the west, which is flatter, chiefly consists of pasture lands, much of which, however, is covered with Catinga forests, forming one of the largest tracts in Brazil, to which the name of Sertão is given. In order to reach the Cidade Diamantina, the capital of the Diamond district, which it was now my intention to visit, it was necessary to make a long journey through this desert-like country; the road most frequented, is that which runs southward along the east bank of the Rio de San Francisco, and the north of the Rio das Velhas, a large tributary of the former, which takes its rise in the Gold country; the other, which is a far worse road, leads through the Sertão in a south-east direction; but I preferred it, because it would sooner bring me into the mountainous regions of the Diamond district.
On the 1st of July, preparatory to our departure, my horses were brought over from the island to the east side of the San Francisco, and early on the following morning the luggage was all at once passed over, in a large ajojo, two canoes lashed together. All being now prepared, I had resolved to proceed immediately, but on collecting the animals, my own saddle horse was not to be found; all that day was spent in search of it, but the only trace left, was the leathern strap, by which its fore legs had been secured, and which was found in the wood unbuttoned at both ends, and as this could only have been done by some person, we came to the conclusion that the horse was stolen; I, therefore, resolved to lose no more time in looking after it. About midnight we were awakened by a black man, who had assisted my men in the morning’s search, who came to inform me that a horse similar to mine, had been seen during the day, tied to a tree in the wood considerably further up the river. Early next morning, I despatched one of my people in that direction to look for it, who returned in about an hour, bringing the horse with him; it was evident it had been taken there, in the hope of its remaining concealed, until an opportunity occurred of carrying it away altogether. I now lost no time in commencing the journey, and making a short stage of about a league, rested, during the middle of the day, at a fazenda called Guaribas. The first half league was through a flat thinly-wooded tract, which is generally overflowed by the river, during the rainy season; I saw some fine large trees in this wood, of a species of Triplaris, and an arboreous Bignonia, destitute of leaves, but covered with flowers not unlike those of the Foxglove, in shape, size, and colour. The underwood here consisted chiefly of different kinds of Mimosa, Acacia, Bauhinia, Cæsalpinia, &c., and an immense number of Lemon trees, loaded with fruit; this tree has here become quite naturalized, and the cattle that pasture in the woods are so fond of the fallen fruit, that when killed, their flesh smells strongly of it. The other half league led through a thickly-wooded Taboleira. At Guaribas, I occupied myself with skinning a very large howling monkey, which Mr. Walker shot the evening before, on a tree on the banks of the Rio de San Francisco; and in the afternoon we advanced another two leagues, and arrived at a fazenda, called Passagem. The road was dreadfully bad, in consequence of the underwood which choaked the almost untrodden path; on this journey, every little twig and blade of grass was loaded with carrapatos, in balls, often the size of filberts, and we became completely covered with these annoying insects; the banks of the little stream near the house, in particular, were swarming with them. In the afternoon, we passed two small lakes which were full of wild ducks, but we were too much annoyed by the badness of the road to lose time in shooting any of them, although they appeared to be very tame; they are smaller than those which frequent the lakes of the north of Brazil.
The fazenda of Passagem, at which we stopped, belongs to a person who resides in San Romão, whose acquaintance I made during my stay there; the vaqueiro in charge of it, had orders not only to entertain us for the night, but to guide us to the next fazenda, which is three leagues distant. It was my design to leave early on the following morning, but my mortification was extreme on finding that my riding horse again was not forthcoming with the others. As the country around the house was covered with a thick Catinga forest, abounding in many places with a small kind of Bamboo, of the leaves of which the horses are remarkably fond, we concluded he would be found grazing somewhere near at hand, but all the forenoon was in vain spent in search of him; the vaqueiro, who was a most obliging man, and well acquainted with the country, then mounted his horse, in quest of the lost animal, but he returned in the evening, without having been able to find the slightest trace of him. All the following day was again spent in a useless search, and, as the pasturage at this place was very bad, we went on in the evening, for the sake of other animals, to Geräes Velhas, the fazenda to which the vaqueiro had orders to conduct us. He remained here with us all night, and next morning, I sent one of my men back with him, to have a last search for the missing horse, being unwilling to proceed without him, as he was one of the best belonging to my troop; but on the following day, the man returned without having obtained the slightest intelligence of the lost animal. I entertained no doubt that the thief who had been disappointed on the former occasion, had now followed us, and at last made sure of his booty. The country between Passagem and Geräes Velhas consists principally of a flat Taboleira, which for the most part is covered with a tall grass, a species of Andropogon, from six to twelve feet high. For the next four days after leaving Geräes Velhas, our route was through a very thinly inhabited country, consisting sometimes of low Catinga forests, at others, of Taboleiras cobertas, and not unfrequently of woodless grassy hills, on which that species of Callopisma, called Boca do Sapo, and the beautiful Chresta pycnocephala, grew profusely, both of which were then in full flower. In passing through bushy grassy tracts in the Sertão, the ears of the traveller are greeted, from early dawn till night, by the loud cries of a large gallinaceous bird, called by the inhabitants, Seriema; they generally go in pairs, and by keeping among the long grass, they are seldom seen; like the Ostrich of the country (Emu), they run with great quickness. St. Hilaire compares their cry to that of the turkey, but I find in my Journal, that I have frequently remarked it to be like the yelping of a whelp. They build their nest in the low trees, and lay two eggs; as their flesh is not much esteemed, they are seldom sought after by the sportsman; and on this account are frequently heard uttering their peculiar cry in the immediate neighbourhood of houses: it is the Dicolophus cristatus of Illiger.
In passing through a little hamlet, called Espigão, which consists of about a dozen scattered houses, belonging to people of colour, I met with a horse dealer, with whom I exchanged two of my horses, that were a good deal exhausted, for two better ones, giving him a sum of money to boot; but as he saw I was almost driven by necessity to make this exchange, he, of course, contrived to have the best of the bargain, in which respect the Brazilian horse-dealers very much resemble those of more civilized countries. On leaving Espigão, we travelled all the afternoon, and the whole of the next day, before we came to any habitation; it was dusk when we arrived in sight of it, and it was not without some difficulty, owing to the badness of the road, and our not knowing which path to take, that we at length reached this fazenda, called Caisára. I was much disappointed to find this portion of the province so thinly populated, and exhibiting but few indications of native industry; although many tracts appeared equally well adapted for the rearing of cattle, as the greater portion of Goyaz, we saw scarcely any animals distributed over its surface. There seemed abundance of excellent pasturage and good shelter for cattle, and notwithstanding that the upper parts of the hills were sometimes bare, the valleys appeared to be well wooded. When I asked for quarters for the night, at this place, I was told by the owner, an old mulatto, that if we chose, we might sleep under some orange trees, to which he pointed, at a little distance from the house. Thither we accordingly went, but just as we were getting the horses unloaded, he came down to inform us, that although he gave us liberty to sleep there, he would not on any account allow us to make a fire. The nights in this part of the country being too cold to admit of sleeping in the open air without artificial warmth, I determined to keep aloof from a man who was so uncivil and inhospitable, and therefore moved away from his orange trees, carrying off all our equipage to the high road, which passed by the house, where we kindled a large fire, by the side of which we slept, but most uncomfortably, as the ground was covered with carrapatos. Next morning before we started, the owner of the fazenda came out to visit us, and no doubt being ashamed of his conduct, he begged I would not mention to any one the manner in which we had been received, which was entirely owing to the smallness of his accommodation; but this was evidently a mere excuse, as his house was by no means small. The true reason for making this apology, was his having ascertained, from one of my men, the nature of my profession, for he brought with him one of his daughters, to solicit my advice respecting a complaint under which she had laboured for some time. I was also asked by him to visit one of his slaves, who for many years had been prevented from working, by a complaint not uncommon in Brazil, Sarcocele; this, however, was the most remarkable case I had ever witnessed, exhibiting an enormous mass of solid flesh in a pyriform shape, that reached the ground, weighing nearly as much as the rest of his body. The wretched being who was thus affected was a man still in the prime of life, and suffered but little, except from the inconvenience it caused him.