From Sabará we went to Cuiabá, a mining establishment belonging to the Cocaes Company, about two leagues distant; the road for nearly the whole way runs up a narrow and very picturesque valley, along the banks of a small river. At the Cuiabá mine there were only two officers, Mr. Richards, the superintendent, and Dr. Morson, the surgeon, who is married to an English lady, by whom we were kindly received. The Serra de Piedade being still about two leagues and a half distant, we slept that night at Cuiabá, and started next morning about half-past six o’clock, accompanied by Mr. Richards. After crossing the small river which passes the mine, we almost immediately began to ascend the high country on the opposite side, and having travelled about two leagues, through a hilly, grassy country, destitute of trees, except in low hollow places, we crossed entirely from the eastern to the western side of the mountain chain, of which the Serra forms part, so as to reach the proper place of ascent; this we gained by skirting along the base of the Serra, but at a considerable elevation above the plain below, through a bushy stony spot. The first half of the way from this place is pretty steep, and leads over a rough hard reddish iron-stone tract, thinly covered with a few bushes of a species of Baccharis, and another of Lychnophora, while on the grassless stony surface of the ground, there were numerous species of Orchideæ, among them a beautiful Lælia with yellow flowers, a very prickly procumbent species of Cactus, and numerous large water-bearing Tillandsias. Leaving this region we came upon a flat space covered with large blocks of micaceous rocks, the layers of which are very tortuous. The road then winds along the western side of the mountain, close to the edge of some deep precipices, and finally ascends to a level spot, situated but a little way below the highest part of the mountain. On the extreme northern part of this flat there is a small church called Nossa Senhora de Piedade. Upon our arrival there, we found a party consisting of half a dozen women and two men, who had reached it a short time before us; we soon learned they had come to fulfil vows which they had made some time before. We saw large offerings of candles which they had presented to the church; and most of them had made promises to sweep the floor of the chapel, for we observed that the women in particular cut small twigs from the bushes in the neighbourhood, of which they made brooms, and with which they, one after the other, swept it, but in no very careful manner. Leaving our horses near the church, we ascended the highest peak, which is of a very rocky nature, and covered with a vegetation of small Orchideæ and Tillandsias. Ordering the refreshments we had brought with us to this place, we sat down on the rocks to breakfast; according to Spix and Martius, this mountain is 5,400 feet above the level of the sea. While skirting along the lower part of it, we felt very cold, in consequence of being enveloped in a mass of dense clouds which were rolling past us, discharging at the time enough of their contents to wet us not a little; I never, before this occasion, saw so distinctly the vesicles of which clouds are formed. It was not till about eleven o’clock, or nearly two hours after we had reached the summit, that these clouds began to disperse, and then we had a most extensive view of the country on all sides, which is of a very hilly nature, excepting on the west, where the flat Sertão district presents itself. Notwithstanding the magnificence of the view obtained from this point, the pleasure to be derived from overlooking a populous and richly cultivated country was wanting. But few houses came within range of the sight; and the Villa de Santa Luzia, about six leagues distant to the south, is the only town that can be descried, the others being hidden by the surrounding mountains. Two of the most prominent objects that strike the view, are the Serras of Cocaes and Caráça, the latter of which is the highest, and about eight leagues distant, in a N.E. direction.
On the eastern side of the mountain, close to the church, there is a small garden, which seems to have been well attended to in better times. I observed there a few stunted peach and apple trees, a few potatoes, and other European vegetables. The greater part of the garden, as well as the top of the Serra, in front of the church, is overrun with the common strawberry of Europe, and being then in fruit, we each obtained a handful. Several other European plants have become naturalized, such as the chickweed, Cerastium vulgatum. The church is kept by a middle-aged Mulatto woman, and a dirty-looking old white man, dressed in the manner of a priest, who calls himself a hermit, resides there also. Except the few vegetables which they cultivate, food comes all from below, and the water they drink is obtained from the numerous Tillandsias which crowd the rocky parts of the Serra, and which in the bases of their leaves, contain a large quantity of water, an ordinary sized plant yielding about a pint.
The Serra is rich in plants interesting to the botanist, but not nearly so much so as the Organ Mountains, in the province of Rio de Janeiro, owing, no doubt, to its great want of moisture. From the upper part, I obtained two fine shrubs belonging to the natural order Malpighiaceæ; a fine shrubby Styrax; a Cassia, about four feet high, which is very common near the middle of the mountain; a red-flowered Gaylussacia, and a Gualtheria, both abundant near the summit; a shrubby variety of Drymis Granatensis, several ferns, and a few mosses and lichens.
Shortly before we began to descend, the atmosphere became so hazy, that we could see only a short distance; this was caused by the custom that prevails at the end of the dry season of burning the campos, as this encourages the more speedy growth of a crop of new grass, after the rains have set in; it is also at this season that the wood is burned on the grounds which have been cleared for cultivation. After a very pleasant day’s excursion, we reached Cuiabá about dusk, and having spent the greater part of the evening with Dr. Morson and his lady, I was occupied till near midnight in preparing the specimens I brought with me from the Serra. On the following day we returned to Morro Velho. The mine of Cuiabá is very similar in its nature to that at Morro Velho, but wrought on a much smaller scale, and the ore moreover is not nearly so rich. During my stay at Morro Velho, I made many little excursions in the neighbourhood, and thus added largely to my collections.
On the morning of the 24th of September, after having taken leave of my kind friends at Morro Velho, we again resumed our journey. There is a direct road from this place to the city of Ouro Preto, the capital of the province of Minas, through which I wished to pass, but part of my luggage having been sent on from Cocaes to a village called San Caetano, situated about three leagues below the city of Marianna, I was obliged to proceed there first. It was my intention to return to Gongo Soco by the way I had come, but the day before we left, information reached Morro Velho, that the wooden bridge over the Rio das Velhas, at Rapoza, had fallen down. We were therefore obliged to return by the way of Sabará, which increased the journey about two leagues. We passed through Sabará without halting, and arrived in the afternoon at the Cuiabá mine, where we spent the night with Mr. Richards, and started again next morning after breakfast, reaching Gongo Soco between five and six o’clock in the afternoon. Almost the whole of the country between the two places, with the exception of the Serra to the N.W. of Gongo, consists of bare grassy hills, a few small woods only existing in the hollows. Being then the end of the dry season, the hills had a very arid and barren look, everything being burned up from the want of rain. The roads were covered with fine yellow dust, the débris of the clay slate of which the hills are formed; and we were nearly the whole way enveloped in a dense cloud of it, rising up from the horses’ feet.
At about half way between the two places, we passed through part of the Villa de Caeté, a miserable looking town of some size, situated in a narrow shallow valley, running in a N.E. direction from the Serra de Piedade, the Villa itself being distant from it about two leagues. This Villa, like many others in the mining districts, has all the appearance of having seen better days, as it contains the ruins of many fine houses, as well as one of the finest churches that exists in the interior, and St. Hilaire doubts even if there is one in Rio de Janeiro that may be compared with it.
On the day we left Gongo Soco, we passed through the Arraial de San João do Morro Grande, and halted for the night at a small hamlet called Barra, about a league to the S.E. of it. The country around, as well as the road we had passed over, was hilly, bare, and arid; a small stream passes through the village, the gravelly banks of which have been completely turned over in search of gold. Next day we made a journey of about two leagues; and about half a league from Barra we passed through the Arraial do Brumado, a long straggling village in a state of great decay. Leaving this place, we continued in an easterly direction till we arrived at the foot of the Serra de Caráça, and winding along the hilly base of its N.E. side, we reached, shortly after mid-day, the Arraial de Catas Altas, which is situated at the foot of the Serra towards its S.E. extremity. It consists principally of one long street, and like Brumado does not seem to be in a very flourishing condition. The hills around the village, and between it and Brumado, are covered with Capim gordura. At a considerable elevation on the Serra itself, there is a hermitage, called Nossa Senhora Mai dos Homens. The building was begun by a Portuguese in 1771, who was still alive, though above a century old, when it was visited by Spix and Martius in 1818; it is now converted into a theological seminary, but is said to contain but few pupils. This Serra was botanically explored by St. Hilaire, as well as by Spix and Martius, and found to be very rich in rare and curious vegetable productions; I wished also to devote a day to ascend it, but the weather was very unfavourable, as it rained heavily, and the upper parts of the mountain were enveloped in clouds.
Leaving Catas Altas, the road takes a southerly direction, along the foot of the Serra de Caráça; and after travelling about two leagues, we passed through the Arraial de Inficionado, another long narrow village, about the same size as Catas Altas, and, like it, in an obvious state of decadence. About a league further on, we arrived at the Arraial de Bento Rodrigues, where we took up our quarters for the night in the public rancho. The road, on this journey, was far from good, being both hilly and stony; I saw but little soil fit for plantations, it being generally of a clayey nature, intermixed with a coarse ferruginous gravel, or the débris of the schistoze rocks of the Serra; and everywhere this soil has been turned up in search of gold, but with the exception of a small mine between Inficionado and Bento Rodrigues, I saw no workings being carried on.
At about a league from Bento Rodrigues, we passed through a small village called Arraial de Camargos, which is situated among some hills on the side of a small river. We were now only three leagues from the place of our destination, San Caetano, which I was anxious to reach without further delay; but the road, which here passes through a bare hilly country, is bad, and the mules being only lately broken into work, we got on but very slowly, from their either lying down or going off the road. On this account it was about five o’clock in the afternoon when we reached the last house on the road to San Caetano, the distance between them being somewhat less than a league. At this house, the tropeiro wished to remain for the night, a proposal I would by no means consent to, especially as it threatened to rain, and the house was so small, and so badly covered, as to afford but very indifferent shelter. He, however, insisted on remaining, and would have done so, had I not threatened him with non-payment, when, very much against his will, he resumed the journey, and about dusk we reached the Arraial de Caetano, where I found all my collections in good condition, in the house of the tropeiro who brought me from Cidade do Serro, and who again agreed to take me to Rio. In passing through a small forest, not far from the Arraial, I collected specimens of three kinds of tree ferns, and added to my collection of Orchideæ a pretty sweet-smelling Epidendrum.