CHAPTER XIV.
OURO PRETO TO RIO DE JANEIRO, AND SECOND JOURNEY TO THE ORGAN MOUNTAINS.
Leaves Ouro Preto—Arrives at San Caetano—Passes Arraial de Pinheiro—Piranga—Filippe Alvez—San Caetano—Pozo Alegre—Sadly incommoded by a thunder-storm—Reaches Arraial das Mercês Chapeo d’Uva—Entre os Morros—Crosses Rio Parahybuna—And enters the Province of Rio de Janeiro—Passes Paiol—Reaches Villa de Parahyba—Crosses the River Parahyba—Mode of Ferrying described—Passes Padre Correa—Corrego Seco—Reaches summit Pass of the Serra d’Estrella—Magnificent view of the Metropolitan City, its Harbour, and surrounding scenery—Arrives at Porto d’Estrella—Embarks for the City and finally arrives at Rio de Janeiro—All the Collections brought from the Interior are arranged and shipped to England—The Author resolves again to visit the Organ Mountains—His departure for the Serra—Adds largely to his Collections—Ascends the loftiest peaks of the Mountains—Their elevation above the sea about 7,500 feet—Departs on an excursion to the Interior—Passes the Serra do Capim—Monte Caffé—Santa Eliza—Sapucaya—Porto d’Anta—Crosses Rio Parahyba—Passes Barro do Louriçal—San José—Porto da Cunha—Recrosses the Rio Parahyba—Reaches Cantagallo—Visits Novo Friburgo—Description of these two Swiss Colonies—Pleasant sojourn in the Organ Mountains.
Two days after my return from the city of Ouro Preto, we left the village of San Caetano for Rio de Janeiro, and having travelled in a S.E. direction about two leagues and a half, we halted for the night in a public rancho near a small fazenda. It rained heavily nearly all the way, and there was much thunder; our road was through a hilly country, the hollows only being thickly wooded; in marshy spots I observed some fine large Talauma trees, which are the Magnolias of South America, and whose large blossoms are equally fragrant. The rain continued all night, but towards morning the weather cleared up and allowed us to resume our journey. Besides the mules that were employed to carry my luggage, the tropeiro had many others loaded with coffee, an article which is now cultivated to a considerable extent in the province of Minas. Another journey of three leagues and a half, through a hilly, well-wooded, and rather thickly-inhabited country, brought us to the Arraial do Pinheiro, a small village surrounded by gold washings, which, however, are upon a very small scale. In the rancho, in which we passed the night, there were two large troops, one of which was conveying coffee to Rio, and the other on its way thence with salt for the interior. The woods through which we passed reminded me very much of those on the Organ Mountains, not only from their general appearance, but from the great similarity in the vegetation. Three or four beautiful kinds of tree-ferns, often reaching to the height of from thirty to forty feet, grew in humid shady places; and on the more elevated tracts were seen many large trees of an arboreous Vernonia, upwards of forty feet high, covered with large panicles of white flowers, which, along with the blossoms of a large Myrcia, perfumed the air with their rich odour.
Still following a S.E. direction, we reached the Arraial de Piranga, which is about three leagues distant from the village of Pinheiro; this Arraial, like many others we had passed before, owed its origin to the gold which existed in the soil of this neighbourhood; at one time great quantities were found here, but the workings are now nearly exhausted. The population consists of about 1,200 persons, most of whom are in great poverty; it has a dull and deserted appearance, but at the same time all the indications of former opulence; it contains three churches, and the greater part of the houses are large, and generally of two stories, a mode of construction not very common in the villages of Brazil; many of the inhabitants are now following agricultural pursuits. Our next day’s journey of about four leagues, through a country similar to that we had just left behind, but more thinly-wooded, brought us to a large fazenda, called Filippe Alvez. We were allowed to pass the night in the sugar mill, a large building open nearly all round; the mill was worked by a water-wheel about thirty feet in diameter, which at times was also used to put in motion a machine for pounding Indian corn; the latter, which was at work both by day and night, annoyed us not a little by its noise. Large tracts of land near the house had lately been planted with Indian corn and rice.
From Filippe Alvez, we went on to a small village called the Arraial de San Caetano, the distance being about three leagues. It is a small and miserable place, and although it contains a few shops, I could find no provisions to purchase, excepting farinha made from Indian corn. On this journey, I found a large species of Equisetum, the largest indeed that has yet been seen in the recent state; it grew abundantly in a wooded marsh near the road, and I measured one that was upwards of fifteen feet in height, the lower part of the stem being full three inches in circumference. Although of gigantic size, when compared with the other species existing at present on the earth’s surface, it is far from equalling those enormous remains, which are found in the fossil state in the coal strata, and known to geologists under the name of Calamites; many of these have stems as thick as a man’s body; indeed the difference in size between the recent species of Equisetum, and those which have existed at a former period of the earth’s history, is about as great as between a stem of wheat and the gigantic bamboos of the East Indies and of South America.
We travelled on the following day about three leagues, through a hilly country, which in some places was well wooded, but the greater part of it consisted of large cleared tracts which had formerly been under cultivation, but were now every where covered with the large brake I have before mentioned; this fern is not, however, entirely without use, for the young shoots cut into small pieces and boiled, or stewed with pork, are eaten by the inhabitants, and are said to be not only pleasant to the taste, but wholesome. We took up our quarters for the night in a large open rancho, near a fazenda called Pozo Alegre.
At this place we spent a most miserable night; about midnight we were awakened by a dreadful tempest of thunder, wind, and rain, which came from the westward. The rancho was open all round, and the end that faced the storm was unfortunately that where Mr. Walker and I had slung our hammocks. When I awoke a loud peal of thunder was rolling fearfully right over us; my hammock was swinging to and fro by the force of the wind, which was blowing a hurricane, and we were soon completely drenched by the rain, which fell upon us in streams from the roof. My greatest dread was that the old shed would be blown down upon us, but it fortunately withstood the blast; my collection of botanical specimens suffered very much, as the boxes in which they were packed were arranged in the middle of the floor, and this being considerably lower than the sides, it soon filled with water to the depth of six inches; in consequence of this the parcels in the bottoms of four of the boxes were greatly damaged. The storm lasted for an hour with undiminished force, and as soon as it abated we struck a light, for our fire had been completely extinguished; the water was quickly bailed out of the shed, and the boxes raised from the ground; a fire was kindled with some difficulty, around which we all crowded, for we were all suffering much from the cold; it now became a question how we were to sleep during the remainder of the night, as every thing available for a bed was thoroughly wet. For my own part I arranged some pieces of wood, that had been brought in the evening before for fuel, alongside the fire, and although the bed thus formed was not a very soft one, I contrived to pass the night tolerably well.
The next morning being still cloudy, without any appearance of the sun, I sent to the owner of the rancho to ask permission to dry my plants in the mandiocca stove; and, as he returned word that I might do so, we had everything taken there in a short time. On our arrival at the house, he seemed to have changed his mind, from what cause I know not, for he told me very plainly that we might go somewhere else, as he would not allow us to enter his premises; I have seldom been so much annoyed as I was at this conduct. This man, whose name was Major Domingos Josè de Barros, was about eighty years of age, a Portuguese by birth, and said to be worth upwards of a hundred thousand crusados; he was of a most miserly disposition, as indeed his whole appearance testified, his dress being old and of the coarsest materials.
We went on about half a league further, to a fazenda belonging to a son-in-law of the old miser, who was also a Portuguese, but altogether different in disposition. He immediately gave me accommodation for my luggage, and the sun shining out brightly shortly after our arrival, we lost no time in spreading out the collections that had been wetted the previous night. We were again visited by a thunder-storm in the afternoon, which prevented us from getting more than half of them dried. At this fazenda, where I received much hospitality, I remained the whole of the following day to complete the drying and packing of my collection, and next morning, a journey of about three leagues brought us to the Arraial das Mercês, a village which consists of a single street about a quarter of a mile in length. In a large square in the middle of it, are a few good houses of two stories, and the only church; this last is built of large unburned bricks, and being unplastered, has a very mean appearance when contrasted with the white-washed houses by which it is surrounded. The whole village has a much greater appearance of prosperity than any we had passed on the road from Marianna: the reason is obvious, the non-existence of gold in its vicinity. The country during this day’s journey was still hilly, and covered with virgin forests. We passed several fazendas, the houses of which were very ill-built and dirty, and very different from what I expected to find in this part of Brazil. Near these houses large tracts of forests had lately been cut down and burned, and the ground so cleared planted with Indian corn, which is the staple article of food in the southern, as mandiocca is in the northern provinces.
During the four following days, we accomplished about fourteen leagues, and arrived at Chapeo d’Uva, at which place the road by which he came, called the Caminho do Mato, or forest road, joins that of the ordinary traffic which passes through the city of Barbacena, and the campo district between it and the capital of Minas. Our route, on these journeys, was still through a hilly country, and the roads were extremely bad, passing for the most part through virgin forests, the trees of which, in some places, were very large, consisting principally of different kinds of Cecropia, Vochysia, Copaifera, Laurus, Ficus, Eugenia, Myrcia, and Pleroma. I also observed many kinds of tree-ferns and palms, the most abundant of the latter tribe being the slender cabbage palm (Euterpe edulis, Mart.), several of which we cut down for the sake of the long terminal bud, which when cooked is equal to asparagus in flavour.