On the afternoon of the following day, we arrived at another fazenda called Cabeceira, the distance between the two places being about four leagues and a half. On this journey, the country still continued to rise, and about half a league before reaching this place, we passed over a bare Serra of considerable height, the ascent of which was rather steep, although the road over it is excellent, being so constructed that carts can cross it without difficulty. That portion of the mountain in which the road has been made is a soft brownish-coloured clay slate, but at no little distance on each side, the more lofty summits of the Serra consist of black compact limestone. The bushy campos through which we passed in the forenoon, were beautifully adorned with a fine plant, belonging to the natural order Compositæ, which grew in the greatest abundance, and reached to the height of about five feet, the Chresta sphærocephala of De Candolle; it has large leaves, which, together with the stem and branches, are covered with a white woolly substance, and is much branched at the top, each branchlet being terminated by a large globose compact head of purple flowers. As there was a good watering place in a wood a little beyond Cabeceira, we preferred going there, rather than remaining at the house, to which we were invited by the owner. During the whole interval since we had left the province of Goyaz, we never suffered for want of water as we had done in the dry provinces of the north. In every part of the country through which we were now travelling, we found in nearly every valley a little stream of clear, cool, and delicious water, and during our future progress it became even more abundant. We were now only two leagues and a half distant from the Villa de Formigas, but owing to the badness of the roads, we did not reach it till nearly one in the afternoon, notwithstanding we left our encampment at an early hour. The country was rather hilly, and the road stony, but it presented one great advantage to the traveller, which I knew well how to appreciate, in the bridges which are to be found crossing all the little streams that intersect the roads. They are constructed of wood, and however rude, they save the traveller much trouble, and prevent the risk of damage to the luggage, as we too often experienced on our journey between Arrayas and San Romão. Immediately on entering the Villa we passed over an excellent bridge of considerable span, one of the best I had yet seen in the interior; it crossed a small river which passes through a portion of the town. Having letters of recommendation to the Vigario of the district, Padre Antonio Gonsalves Chaves, I proceeded at once to his house, where we met with a most hospitable reception; an excellent breakfast was immediately prepared, and good quarters provided us, in an empty house belonging to him, adjoining the one which he inhabited.
The Villa of Montes Claros de Formigas, is of small dimensions, containing a population of about 1,000 souls, but in respect to its situation, the arrangement of its streets, and the neat and clean appearance of the houses, it far exceeded any Villa I had seen in the interior. It is distant from Rio de Janeiro and Bahia upwards of two hundred leagues, and about fifty from the Cidade Diamantina; until the year 1832, it ranked only as an Arraial, but in that year it was elevated to the dignity of a Villa, and is now the chief town of the Comarca of the same name. The site on which it is built has been well chosen, being a slightly elevated plateau, in the centre of a large valley, which is surrounded on all sides by an irregular ridge of hills of considerable elevation. The greater part of the houses are arranged in the form of a very large square, much longer than broad, of which the south side is still incomplete. At the north end of this square stands the only church the Villa contains, near which is an excellent roofed market-place, for the sale of provisions brought from the country; at the south-end of the space fronting the church, is a large jail not yet finished. The small river that passes it, called the Rio Vieira, falls into the Rio das Velhas, yielding the town a very good supply of fish, similar to those found in the Rio de San Francisco. The Villa contains a few shops, where European goods are sold; these goods were formerly brought from Bahia, but Rio de Janeiro seems now to be the principal resort of the merchants, who take with them in exchange to the coast its chief produce, saltpetre, which is found not only in the soil in certain parts of the surrounding Sertão country, but in caverns in the limestone rocks, of which the low mountains in the vicinity are principally formed. The fazendeiros in the country around Formigas, occupy themselves principally in the rearing of cattle and horses, which are for the most part driven to the Bahia market. They also cultivate a little mandiocca and Indian corn, but no rice, the dry nature of the country not being suited to its growth.
I remained only two days in Formigas, being now very anxious to reach the gold country, where I expected to find letters from England awaiting my arrival: I should otherwise have made a longer stay here, in order to recover from the effects of the bruise I received on my leg at San Romão, which, in consequence of my being obliged to ride every day on horseback, had become so greatly inflamed and swollen as to cause me much pain and inconvenience, and totally to prevent all chance of making any excursions on foot in the neighbourhood of the Villa. During my stay I received many kind attentions from the Vigario, who readily afforded me the use of his library, which, though small, contained a good selection of Latin, French, and Portuguese works. From him I received the following information respecting the unfortunate impostor Douville, the pretended author of the travels in the interior of Africa:—[14]
In the year 1836 he visited Formigas, and lived for some time in the house of the Vigario, passing himself off as Dr. Douville, and gaining much money by the practice of medicine: he also trafficked in the buying and selling of horses, notwithstanding that he said he was sent to Brazil by the king of France, on a mission to investigate its natural productions and curiosities, and to construct a map of such portions of the empire as he chose to visit during his travels. He boasted much of his African journeys, exhibiting everywhere a gold medal, which he said he received from the Geographical Society of Paris, subsequent to the publication of his work. The Vigario, as well as other persons of intelligence in Formigas, suspected him to be an impostor, concluding that he was not the real Douville who was said to have travelled in Africa, but another person who had got fraudulent possession of his papers, &c. He generally charged exorbitant sums of money to those he attended in his medical capacity, and it was owing to an instance of this kind that he met with his death. Somewhere near the Rio de San Francisco, he was called upon to attend a fazendeiro who was ill, and with whom he bargained to effect his cure for the sum of 200 mil-reis, about twenty-five pounds sterling; but in the end the patient died, notwithstanding which, he insisted on receiving the stipulated sum, and after some time, the heirs of the deceased yielding to his importunities, gave it to him. They did not, however, intend it should remain long in his hands, for when Douville embarked to go down the river, they sent a man after him, who killed him one night as he was asleep in his canoe, and robbed him not only of the 200 mil-reis, but of everything he had in his possession; thus he fell at last a victim to his own gross impostures.
We left Formigas on the morning of the 13th of July, and after travelling about half a league we reached the mountain range, by which the valley is bounded, its structure being a dark compact primitive limestone. The ascent, which is very gradual, is well wooded with small trees, but on reaching the top, we entered upon an undulating open barren country, with only here and there a few clusters of trees in hollow places; to these isolated woods, the name of capoes is given, an appellation which is highly poetical, being derived from the Indian word Caapoám, which signifies an island. These island-woods form a peculiar feature in the upland, open, undulating campos of the province of Minas Geräes. The trees which compose them, chiefly consist of different species of Myrcia, Eugenia, Vochysia, Anona, Laurus, Styrax, &c., intermingled with climbing shrubs, such as Bauhinia, Paullinia, &c. The soil in which these trees grow, is often so swampy that it is difficult to get among them, nor can this be done without risk, on account of the large boa constrictors which frequent these places.
After a journey of about three leagues through this description of country, we came to a small stream in a hollow, where we determined to halt for the remainder of the day, as we had been told the next watering-place was about three leagues further on. The spot we selected for our quarters was under the shade of some small trees, but we had scarcely unloaded one horse, when we found ourselves covered with carrapatos, and on examination discovered that both the grass and ground were swarming with them. No time was lost in abandoning this spot, and ascending again to the open campo, we obtained shelter under the wide-spreading boughs of a large Jatobá tree. In the grassy fields I found a pretty little melastomaceous shrub with rose-coloured flowers; and on the slanting face of a hill which led down to one of the island-woods, I collected no less than five species of the genus Eryngium. During the night a cold wind blew over the table-land where we slept, from the effects of which we endeavoured to protect ourselves, by means of a large fire that we kept burning, but which we had some difficulty in maintaining for want of dry wood. Towards morning we were all aroused by the barking of our large mastiff dog, and the screaming of some one he had attacked. Our encampment was close by the side of the public road, and the dog had sprung upon a poor black man who was on his way to Formigas from the diamond districts, and who had set out on his journey at this early hour to escape the heat of the day.
On the following morning we went on to the next watering-place, which was a spring in a wooded hollow. The country through which we passed was very different from that we had traversed on the previous day; the first half of the three leagues was through an elevated, but rather thickly wooded country, on leaving which we ascended a low Serra, covered with a stunted shrubby vegetation; to these elevated shrubby tracts the inhabitants of Minas Geräes give the name of Carrascos.[15] Many of the shrubs seen here, belonged to forms that were quite new to me. One of the most remarkable of these was a fine new species of the curious genus Lychnophora, belonging to the natural order Compositæ, and is peculiar to the mountains of Minas Geräes, and which, together with the Vellozias, give a decided feature to their otherwise peculiar vegetation. This shrub is about six feet high, with numerous branches issuing nearly horizontally from the upper part of the stem, each bearing a cluster of narrow leaves about half a foot long. The whole of the plant, with the exception of the upper sides of the leaves, is everywhere covered with a dense coat of long brownish-coloured wool, which, in places where it grows abundantly, is collected by the inhabitants to fill their beds and pillows. I afterwards met with some other species, having their leaves so very narrow that at first sight they resemble the Scotch fir, the likeness being increased by their habit of growth, which is somewhat similar. In the afternoon we made a journey of three more leagues, through a hilly, barren, grassy country, and halted for the night in a hollow by the side of a small stream, a little beyond a fazenda called Viados.
After travelling about a league on the following morning, through a flattish country, we arrived at the Arraial de Bom Fim, an irregularly built village, consisting of a church, and about forty or fifty houses, many of which have a very dilapidated appearance. We stopped here no longer than was necessary to give a feed of corn to the horses, of which they stood greatly in need, the pastures through which we now were passing affording very little nourishment. The principal shop in the village of Bom Fim belonged, as it did twenty years before, when it was visited by M. Auguste de St. Hilaire, to Colonel Pedro José Virciani, the proprietor of a large fazenda about two leagues distant, where he resides, the shop being entrusted to a person in whom he confides; this practice I found to be not uncommon with rich fazendeiros in this province. From the Vigario of Formigas I obtained a line of route from this place to the Cidade Diamantina, but being here informed of another road having the double recommendation of being both better and shorter, I determined on giving it the preference; by so doing it became necessary to pass the fazenda of San Eloi belonging to the above-mentioned Colonel Virciani. On arriving there I sent one of my men to ask leave to remain till the following day, which was granted; but on learning that I was a foreigner, he immediately ordered two good rooms to be prepared for me and my men, in a house adjoining that in which he resides. On being introduced to him, I found him to be an elderly man, of hale appearance, and of very pleasing manners. I passed the evening very agreeably in his house, when he informed me that M. Auguste de St. Hilaire remained a day and night with him during the course of his journey to the Rio de San Francisco. Although he made no mention to me of the circumstance, I afterwards learned that some observations made by that learned traveller and botanist, in the account of his visit to San Eloi, had much offended this worthy man. The obnoxious passage was the following:—“Pendant tout le temps que je passai chez le Capitaine (for he was then only a captain) Virciani, la maîtresse de la maison ne se montra point; cependant, tandis que nous mangions, je voyais un minois féminin s’avancer doucement à travers la porte entr’ouverte; mais aussitôt que je jetais les yeux de ce côté, la dame disparaissait. C’est par une curiosité semblable que les femmes cherchent à se dedommager du peu de liberté dont on les laisse jouir.”[16]
The same lady was still alive, and I saw her every time I was in the house, but twenty years had made great alterations on the pretty face of which St. Hilaire had only a few glimpses. She had, however, several daughters grown up, who were no less shy than the mother was in her younger days. As soon as the colonel ascertained that I was acquainted with the practice of medicine, he talked upon no other subject, being, as he said himself, a Curioso, which is the appellation given to those who dabble in any profession, without having been regularly educated to it. As a number of his slaves were indisposed, I accompanied him on a visit to each in succession, his object being to ascertain whether he was treating them properly, and to have my advice respecting their complaints. His usual guide in these matters was a Portuguese translation of Buchan’s Domestic Medicine. I found all over Brazil, individuals possessed of no better information, who made a livelihood by their practice of medicine, passing from town to town, and from fazenda to fazenda, many of them, like their brethren in Europe, making large sums of money by their pretended skill in this science.
This fazenda was one of the best I had then seen in the interior; the colonel’s house, which was of two stories, those of his slaves, his store-houses, and other offices, were arranged in the form of a square; near the house was a garden, in which most of the common European vegetables were cultivated with great care, and yielded good crops. It was here that, for the first time since I left the coast at Aracaty, I saw water employed to drive a wheel, as a substitute for manual labour, in the grinding of mandiocca, &c. This wheel was about fifteen feet in diameter, and was well supplied, on the overshot principle, with water from a small stream that passed at some distance, conveyed in a well-constructed wooden aqueduct: this power served alike for the grinding of mandiocca, of cane, of Indian corn, and for bruising castor oil seeds. The colonel every year prepares a considerable quantity of castor oil, which is of better quality than any I have seen made in other parts of Brazil; it is used principally for burning in lamps, but a little is also employed medicinally. The property belonging to Colonel Virciani is well adapted both for the rearing of cattle and the cultivation of sugar-cane, and it is from these sources that he principally derives his large income. The mandiocca, Indian corn, &c., which he cultivates, are grown in quantities, not more than sufficient for the consumption of his household and slaves. Besides an abundant supply of corn for my horses, for which he would not accept payment, the colonel provided me with a small quantity of tea, as my stock was then nearly exhausted, and none could be purchased either in San Romão, or Formigas. Colonel Virciani and his family used it constantly, procuring at intervals an entire chest from Rio de Janeiro.