Shortly after leaving Lavrinha, we began to descend the Serra, which on this side is of no great height. The road was very bad, turning and winding among large blocks of rock, and covered with loose stones, which rolled under the horses’ feet, and rendered our downward progress not a little dangerous. Having at length accomplished the descent, we found ourselves on a comparatively good road, and in a flat country, being in fact a large valley surrounded by hills, and presenting several small swamps where a few Buriti palms grew, but which, from their diminutive stature, compared with those we had seen in similar situations in the provinces of Piauhy and Goyaz, did not appear to thrive under the great degree of cold to which they are here exposed. After travelling about two leagues and a half, we halted during the middle of the day in a shady place by the side of a small rivulet, opposite a rounded knoll, which was covered with Lychnophora pinaster, bearing much resemblance to the Scotch Fir, and a large kind of tree-lily.
Proceeding in the afternoon through the same valley, which had now become gradually narrower, and which was bounded by two long ranges of bare grassy hills, we arrived about sunset, on the banks of a small river, called the Rio Inhacica, and took up our quarters for the night in the open veranda of a small venda, the only house in the place. We fully expected to have purchased here some addition to our stock of provisions, but the only article to be found for sale was rum. Not long after our arrival, however, a person belonging to the house returned from the river with a fine fish about a foot and a half long, which I gladly bought for a small sum, and it afforded us an excellent supper. While engaged in arranging my plants, and placing the specimens in paper, I was surprised to hear from the proprietor of the venda, a middle aged mulatto, who was standing by looking on, that he also was well acquainted with that kind of occupation, having been in the employment of Drs. Spix and Martius, during their excursions in the provinces of Minas Geräes, Goyaz, and Bahia. He spoke in the highest terms of the kindness he received from these travellers, and the pleasant life he led while in their service, the only drawback to which was the great trouble he often experienced in drying the paper for preserving their botanical specimens. This I could well believe, as I found from experience that the men did not at all relish such labour, being often obliged, in cloudy and rainy weather, to dry every day several reams, sheet by sheet, over the fire.
The mulatto, being the ferryman, passed the luggage safely over to the opposite side of the river in a canoe. We were again annoyed by our too frequent cause of detention, the straying of one of the horses, which was not found till near mid-day, so that we were not able to accomplish that day more than about three leagues. The country still continued flat, with the exception of one or two low, dry, gravelly hills that we passed over; in many places, particularly in the hollows, it was pretty well wooded with small evergreen trees. The day was very hot and sultry, and as I suffered much from a severe headache, I was extremely glad when we arrived early in the afternoon at our destination, which was a little hamlet, consisting of about half a dozen houses called As Vargems: we were allowed to take up our quarters in an open shed belonging to one of the houses, used for the preparation of farinha de mandiocca, in which process several persons were then employed. The wheel used for grinding the root was driven by a small water-wheel, which, although rudely constructed, answered the purpose extremely well, and saved much manual labour. The little streams of water, which are so frequent in the hilly districts of the province of Minas Geräes, afford the inhabitants great advantages over those of the dry northern provinces. This was only the second time I had seen water power applied to such purposes, but in travelling further south I found it generally used. The people belonging to the house where we rested, were nearly white, and appeared to be very poor, but they were very civil and kind.
A journey of about a league and a half from As Vargems, through a flat valley, bounded on the right by a high bare rocky Serra, brought us to another small stream called Rio Inhahy, which, being here of no inconvenient depth, the horses forded in safety with all the luggage. On a rising ground a little beyond the river, we observed a large house close to what appeared to be the ruins of a church; but we afterwards learned that it was a Registo, or place where all travellers, who passed into or out of the Diamond district proper, of which this is one of the boundaries, were duly examined, in order to prevent any contraband extraction of diamonds—a system of precaution that was chiefly in vigour prior to the independence of Brazil, when the workings of this precious stone were carried on entirely by the government. On reaching the house we found it uninhabited, and fast falling into a state of decay: we took possession of one of the largest apartments, which, being well roofed, afforded us better shelter from the sun than we could have obtained under the shade of a tree. It was late in the afternoon before we left this place, having employed the morning in repairing the horses’ trappings, and we did not accomplish more than half a league of our journey, our route being, for the greater part of the way, over a bare grassy hill, where I found a few shrubs in flower: we encamped for the night under some trees in a hollow, by the side of a little limpid stream. Another short journey of somewhat more than half a league, brought us early in the forenoon of the following day to a place known by the name of Bassoras and Areas, on the banks of the Rio Jiquitinhonha. Although this river is not very large here, we found it too deep to venture the luggage upon the horses’ backs; and as there was no canoe, no alternative remained but to have it carried over on the heads of the men; this occupied so much time, that we found it too late to proceed further before breakfast.
I was afterwards glad that we were obliged to remain here, as it afforded me an opportunity of witnessing the operations carried on in one of the largest diamond mines, if not the largest, at this time worked in the district. The principal house in this place belonged to Captain Jozé d’Almeida e Silva, who was also the proprietor of the mine. As no large tree could be found under which we could take shelter, I was directed to the house of the captain, who would be most likely to afford us accommodation, during the short time we intended to remain here; and seeing him at the door, I accosted him with this view, when he politely informed me that the only place he could give us was an open shed, to which he pointed, where some black carpenters were at work. About half an hour after we had established ourselves in this not very comfortable place, and while employed in arranging the collections made during my morning’s ride, the captain having learned the nature of my occupation, came over to offer me the use of an empty room in his house, but as all my luggage was now unpacked, I thanked him for his kindness, and declined his invitation: he, however, politely pressed me to remain all day, that I might see how the mining operations were carried on. About an hour after we arrived, a troop of several mules came in from one of his fazendas, with provisions for his slaves; and very soon after, he sent me a present of fruit, consisting of a basket of fine oranges, and another of Jabuticabas, both of which we greatly enjoyed, as we had not tasted fruit of any kind for a long time. The Jabuticaba is the fruit of a species of Eugenia (E. cauliflora, Mart.), which grows wild in the woods of the south of Brazil, and is also cultivated in most of the gardens in the diamond and gold districts. It is of a black colour, about the size of a greengage plum, of a pulpy consistence, and very refreshing.
The mine of Captain Almeida was close to the Rio Jiquitinhonha, upon an elbow of land that at one time must have formed the bed of the river. A mine in the neighbourhood had been worked by the government about forty years ago, which yielded, in the course of three years, not less than thirty-seven lbs. six drs. of diamonds;[18] the formation, as it is called, becoming exhausted at the end of this period, the mine was abandoned. In the expectation of similar good fortune, Capt. Almeida commenced operations near the same place, about seven months before my visit, with upwards of a hundred and fifty slaves, all of whom were hired from his neighbours. At an expense of about £1,000 sterling, he brought a small stream of water from a distance of a league and a half, opened a large excavation, and erected pumps, worked by a water-wheel, for the purpose of clearing the mine of water. The excavation was carried on to the depth of about thirty feet, without encountering any proper diamond formation, although on being washed it yielded a small number of stones of no great value. A short time before my arrival he commenced another excavation in the same neighbourhood, about forty yards square. The different kinds of soil through which it was necessary to cut, before reaching the deposit in which the diamonds were found, were, in the first place, about twenty feet of a reddish sandy soil, which was loosened by the hoe, and then washed into the river by a current of water, issuing from the small stream that served to work the water-wheel; below this was about eight feet of a tough yellowish clay, which was dug out by the hoe, and carried away on the heads of negroes, in flat wooden bowls about a foot and a half in diameter, no such implement as a barrow being known here; beneath this clay appeared a layer of coarse reddish sand, about two feet and a half in thickness, below which was found the peculiar soil that contains the diamonds. When this diamond formation consists of loose gravel, it is called Cascalho in the language of the miners, and Canga, when found in the shape of a ferruginous conglomerate; this bed varies from one to four feet in thickness, and the gravel of which it is composed, consists of small pebbles of primitive rocks, which from their rounded and polished nature have evidently, at some distant period, formed the bed of a stream of running water. These pebbles are of various kinds, but when there appears much of what they call Esmeril preto, a variety of tourmaline, the Cascalho is considered to be rich in diamonds. The Cascalho generally rests upon a substratum of a kind of hard clay called Pizarra, beneath which are found the solid schistose rocks which generally prevail throughout the whole diamond district. Sometimes Canga, or the agglutinated gravel, rests upon a rock called Marmore, which appeared, from the description of it given by Captain Almeida, to be a kind of limestone; and when this occurs, it is always found to be rich in diamonds.
The manner in which the washing of the Cascalho is carried on is the following: along one side of a pond of water is placed a range of eleven troughs, about three feet square, made of small straight stakes driven into the ground, the side next to the water being much lower than the others; the bottom is made of clay closely pressed down; the troughs are called Bacós, and into each of them a portion of Cascalho is put by a slave stationed there for that purpose; immediately in front of each Bacó stands a slave up to his knees in water, having a large flat wooden plate (Bateia) with which he dashes water upon the Cascalho with considerable force; by this means, and by stirring it at frequent intervals with a small kind of hoe, it is freed from the earth and sand with which it is mixed, when the larger particles of gravel making their appearance on the surface are taken out; it is during this process that the largest diamonds are generally found. Immediately in front of these troughs, and about three feet above the level of the ground, separate seats are erected for two overseers, each armed with a long leathern whip, who keep a strict look out that no diamonds are stolen. This labour is continued from morning till about four o’clock in the afternoon, when the Cascalho, thus washed and purified, is taken out of the Bacós, and carried to the side of a little stream of running water, to be finally washed. On accompanying the captain to witness the performance of this operation, which to the stranger is the most interesting process in diamond-mining, I found seven slaves seated on the side of a small canal about four feet broad, with their legs in the water nearly up to their knees; this little stream of running water is called the Lavadeira. Each of the slaves had a large flat wooden plate, similar to that used in washing the rough Cascalho, into which a small shovelful of the purified Cascalho was put by a slave stationed behind the others for that purpose. This done, the washer filled the Bateia with water, and whirling it round in a peculiar manner on the surface of the stream, the larger gravel rose to the top, and was carefully examined. This being repeated several times, he then placed the Bateia on his knees, the right knee being considerably lower than the left, when with his hand he threw water on the fine gravel, which was thus washed out with great care into the canal, continuing in this manner until the Bateia was empty; it is in this last process that diamonds are expected to be found. A small Bateia, containing a little water, was placed on a low pedestal between the two overseers, and into this the diamonds were put as they were found, which on this occasion amounted to eleven, all of which, however, were small. In the bottom of the Bateias is always found a small quantity of gold dust, which is carefully preserved.
Although diamonds are usually found in the diluvial gravelly soil above described, that is not, however, the matrix in which they have originally been formed. Whatever may be the case in other countries, I remained perfectly satisfied that here, they have originally been formed in the metamorphic quarto-schistose rock, of which the mountains in the Diamond district are constituted, and that they have, during a long series of years, been washed down along with the other débris, to the places where they are now found so abundantly. These rocks are rather soft in their nature, and of course easily disintegrated; hence the many wild ravines which intersect this range, excavated by the small streams that flow from it. Small masses of the rock have frequently been found containing diamonds imbedded in them; in the Cidade Diamantina I saw two beautiful specimens, in each of which one half of a small diamond was exposed; the extravagant price asked for them prevented me from purchasing either.
When we read in books, that the diamond is a production of the most recent geographical epoch, as stated, for instance, by Dr. A. Petzholdt, in Jamieson’s Journal, no. 68, we cannot help imagining that those who promulgate such opinions, have been led astray by travellers, who have listened to the idle stories of the uneducated inhabitants of Diamond countries, who almost all assert, that diamonds are regenerated in the course of a few years, in the soil from which others had previously been taken. This I found to be a very common opinion in Brazil; but those best able to form a just conclusion on the subject, for instance, such intelligent miners as Captain Josè D’Almeida e Silva, believe otherwise. It is true that he, as well as others, have frequently a second time washed the same Cascalho that had been worked when the government held the monopoly in its own hands, not because they believed new diamonds to have been since formed, but because they well knew that in those times the Cascalho was not so carefully examined as it is at present; indeed, notwithstanding the most careful scrutiny, it is believed that some diamonds still escape notice.