On the following morning, after travelling about two leagues, we passed a small village called the Arraial do Morro de Gaspar Soares, which, contrary to the general custom in Brazil, is situated on the summit of a high hill. It is surrounded by other hills covered with Capim gordura, which, although it was then the end of the dry season was quite green, and presented a great contrast to the pastures of Ceará, Piauhy, and Goyaz, which in the same season are quite burned up. Here there was no sign of cultivation, although I was informed that at one time the whole of these bare campos were under culture till the Capim gordura took possession of them; new plantations have been formed at a distance by the cutting down of the virgin forests, which in time will have to be abandoned from the same cause. Notwithstanding the richness of these pastures but few cattle were to be seen grazing here. As we did not intend to stop at this village, and as the road passes along the foot of the hill on which it stands, I had not an opportunity of seeing it more closely, but it had a neat and picturesque appearance at a distance. On the road not far from each other, we passed two small iron works; these forges were established by government while Brazil was still a colony of Portugal, and the greater part of the iron they produced was sent to the diamond district for the use of the mines there; they are now in the hands of private individuals. About two leagues beyond this village, we finished our day’s journey at a venda called Ponte Alta, which has a public rancho attached to it. The country through which we passed was not very interesting to the botanist; by the side of a little rivulet near the rancho grew a fine species of Vochysia, covered with its long spikes of bright yellow flowers, and a Rubus, the fruit of which, when ripe, is green, and has somewhat the flavour of the strawberry.
From Ponte Alta, a journey of three leagues brought us to the Arraial de Itambé; the road led through a hilly but rather well wooded country, with a more varied general vegetation than any part I had passed over since leaving the diamond district. About a league and a half from Itambé, we ascended a hill of considerable height; and after journeying about half a mile through a low wood, we entered on an open tract with a moist sandy soil, which afforded me a large collection of very rare and interesting plants.
The Arraial de Itambé is situated in a beautiful valley, on the banks of a small river which bears the same name, and which we crossed before entering the village, over an excellent wooden bridge. The village contains from eighty to a hundred houses, and a church, most of which are in a state of great decay; indeed, the aspect of ruin and desolation was more apparent here than in any place of its size I have seen in Brazil, with the exception perhaps of the Villa de Parnagoá, in the south of the province of Piauhy; the appearance of the inhabitants was equally abject and miserable. The valley in which it stands is surrounded by high gently sloping hills, some of which are grassy and rocky, while others are covered with low woods. Beyond these hills, and about a league distant from the village in a westerly direction, a higher chain of mountains exists called Itacolumi; from the seven summits it presents, it also bears the name of Sete Pecados Mortaes; this range was once covered by forests, which about forty years ago were accidentally destroyed by fire. As at the Arraial do Morro, the neighbourhood of Itambé presents no signs of cultivation, if a few small gardens attached to some of the houses, containing some orange and other fruit trees, be excepted. Formerly gold washing was carried on to some extent in the bed of the river, but it is now found in such small quantities that the produce will not pay the expense of the labour.
From Itambé we went to a little hamlet consisting of about a dozen houses, and a small chapel called Onça, the distance being about two leagues and a half. The ascent of the Serra from Itambé was very rocky, and the country afterwards hilly. One of the few plants which I met with on this journey, was the really beautiful Mutisia campanulata, Less., a climber with pea-like leaves, and large heads of bright scarlet flowers, which are gracefully suspended on long footstalks.
Our next journey was very long, being a double day’s march, or about six leagues. The road led through an open, undulating, and very rich country; and we passed some large fazendas surrounded by extensive plantations of Indian corn; those parts of the country not under cultivation were covered with virgin forests, in which I observed, for the first time since I had left the Organ mountains, abundance of the Brazilian cabbage-palm (Euterpe edulis, Mart.). The sun was excessively hot all day, and there was scarcely a breath of wind stirring; in consequence of this I suffered much from a severe attack of headache. The place we stopped at is called Ponte do Machado, where there is an excellent rancho; the night was clear and cold, and when the men went out in the morning to collect the mules, the grass was covered with hoar frost; and the dew which had fallen on the leaves of the shrubs during the early part of the night, was formed into small icicles; this was the only time I observed ice in Brazil, and the first time in their lives that my men had ever seen it.
From Ponte do Machado, a short journey of two leagues brought us to the Arraial de Cocaes early in the forenoon, where we took up our quarters as usual in the public rancho, the village not affording better accommodation. Long before we arrived at this place, I had been informed that an English mining company possessed an establishment in the neighbourhood; and I now learned that it was situated on a high Serra, which bears the same name as the Arraial, and only about a quarter of a league distant. My stock of money was very nearly exhausted, and as I should have to pay my tropeiro on our arrival at the city of Ouro Preto, from which we were now only eleven leagues distant, I determined to apply to the chief commissioner of the Cocaes mine for some assistance. From Natividade, in the province of Goyaz, I had written to the house of Messrs. Harrison & Co., at Rio de Janeiro, who kindly acted as my agents during the whole time of my residence in Brazil, requesting them to forward all my letters and parcels to Mr. Herring, the chief commissioner of the San João d’El Rey mining company, and once at that place I felt certain that all my wants would be supplied, as Mr. Herring knew me personally, having had the pleasure of meeting him in Rio, in the beginning of 1837; but we were still about thirty-six leagues distant from the town of San João d’El Rey, at which place it was then my impression Mr. Herring resided. Coming as I did from the ‘far west’ of Brazil, I had of course no letters of recommendation to Mr. Goodair, the chief commissioner of the Cocaes mines, yet I resolved to solicit from him that aid which a countryman of my own could only be expected to supply.
As soon as my luggage was all properly arranged in the rancho, I rode up to the mine, but found that Mr. Goodair was out visiting some of the works at a distance, and was not expected to return for two hours, I therefore determined to await his arrival; and in the meantime I was invited to dine with Mr. Roscoe, one of the officers of the establishment. This gentleman, who is married to an English lady, had a fine family of several little flaxen-haired children, and they, and the dinner, which consisted principally of roast beef and English potatoes, made me feel as if suddenly transported to my own country. Shortly after dinner Mr. Goodair arrived, and after stating to him the object of my long journey, I candidly informed him of the unpleasant circumstances in which I was placed for want of money, and asked him for the loan of £25, for which I would give him an order on my agents in Rio; by doing so I told him he would confer an obligation, not only on me, but on those under whose patronage I was travelling, at the same time offering to show him credentials, which I purposely took with me, to prove that I was not an impostor. These, however, he would not look at, told me he was sorry that he could do nothing for me, but added, that as my agents in Rio were also the agents for the Morro Velho mining company, perhaps I might meet with some assistance there: “at all events,” he concluded, “the doctor there is a countryman of your own, a Scotchman, and he, perhaps, may feel inclined to do something for you.” After giving me this advice, he turned on his heel, and without even bidding me good day, walked out of the room.
As may well be imagined, my feelings were not a little hurt at this uncourteous treatment; it was quite optional on his part whether he would let me have the money or not, but I certainly expected a kinder reception. I looked back on my long and painful journey of more than two years’ duration, and my memory recalled the many acts of kindness I had received from people of the country who had never heard of me before, and I felt keenly the marked contempt with which I was treated by an Englishman, and the only one too, to whose benevolence I appealed during the whole course of my travels. My personal appearance might perhaps have influenced him, for the necessarily limited wardrobe with which I started from the coast was now nearly exhausted, nor would the state of my funds allow me to add to it. I was deeply sunburnt from exposure, and the fatigue of long continued travelling, innutritious diet, and latterly even little of that, together with much anxiety of mind, produced by the evil which I here tried in vain to remedy, gave me, I have no doubt, no very prepossessing appearance. Had Mr. Goodair, however, been of an obliging disposition, a little enquiry would have satisfied him that my object was not to deceive; the fact of my having arrived in the village with four attendants, and nearly twenty mules’ load of luggage, and the excellent credentials I possessed, carried with them sufficient evidence that this was not the case.
Learning from Mr. Roscoe, and Mr. Rigby, another officer of the establishment, from whom I received much civility, that Mr. Herring was chief commissioner of the Morro Velho mine, which was only about eleven leagues distant from Cocaes, I instantly determined to go and ascertain if any letters had been sent up for me from Rio de Janeiro. I expected to have been able to examine the geological nature of the mine, but the reception I met with put a stop at once to my intentions. Mr. Rigby, however, showed me over the surface works.
The mine is situated near the top of the eastern side of the Serra de Cocaes. In the year 1833, a lease for fifty years was bought by the present company; the former proprietors had worked it previously for a long period with much profit; in June 1834, the company began operations, and though these have been carried on with much perseverance, and at a great yearly expenditure, but very little gold has been extracted. At the time of my visit, the money laid out on the mine altogether exceeded £200,000. The manner in which the mine was worked, formed a great contrast to what I had previously seen adopted by the Brazilians; all the machinery was put in action by water power, and it was a most interesting sight to observe how one very small stream of water, brought from a distance of several leagues, was turned to so many useful purposes. In the first place it was made use of to drive a saw mill, then descended to the mill where Indian corn for the slaves was ground into flour, thence it was conducted to the blacksmith’s shop, to work the blast for a furnace, and the tilt hammer, after this it was led into a large vegetable garden for the purposes of irrigation, and thence conducted to work a machine for drawing ore from the mine. Leaving this it descended to drive a large pumping wheel, forty feet in diameter; besides which it kept in action two stamping machines for reducing the ore to powder, another machine for raising ore, a second forty feet pumping wheel, and lastly, it turned a wheel that worked a machine for ventilating the mine. The gold is found in a soft, friable, greyish-coloured, micaceous iron schist, which is called by the Brazilians Jacotinga: the principal shaft is about fifty fathoms deep. At the time of my visit, there were thirty English miners, about three hundred slaves, and thirty hired free Brazilians, at work in and about the mine.