At Chapeo d’Uva we slept as usual in a public rancho, and from this place we made a journey of about three leagues, and halted at a large rancho near the village of Entre os Morros. The road was excellent, being part of the new line, then in course of construction, from Rio to Ouro Preto by way of Barbacena. About two leagues and a half from Chapeo d’Uva, we passed the first toll-bar I met with on a highway in Brazil. All animals, whether loaded or unloaded, pay here thirty reis a league, which is the sum also charged for foot passengers. The distance hence to the next toll-bar is ten leagues, and the whole amount has to be paid here for the distance to the next bar, which was then the termination of the finished part of the road. The legislative assembly passed a law, three years prior to this period, authorizing the provincial assembly of Minas Geräes to make new roads through the most populous districts, and a loan was soon afterwards raised, of upwards of £40,000 sterling, to carry this law into execution. These ten leagues that I found completed in the end of the year 1840, were undertaken on the worst part of the Minas road, the country through which it passes being for the most part low and marshy. So great is the traffic on this route, that the amount collected at the toll-bars was at this time sufficient to pay the interest on the loan; and in the course of a few years it was expected that a tolerable cart-road would be completed from Rio de Janeiro to the capital of the Mining district.
Shortly after passing the toll-bar, we crossed the Rio Parahybuna on a temporary bridge, erected until a permanent one for the new road, which was in course of construction, could be finished: the abutments are already substantially built of stone, but the arch was to be of wood. On the banks of the river I found a beautiful species of the genus Petræa, climbing among the branches of the trees; and in a marsh, at a little distance from the stream, a fine species of Franciscea, which grew where the water lay about two feet deep; it was very plentiful, and literally covered with its beautiful purple blossoms. On the third day afterwards, we passed the second toll-bar, and again crossed the Rio Parahybuna, at the place where it divides the province of Minas Geräes from that of Rio de Janeiro. The river is much broader here than at the former place, and there is an excellent bridge over it, consisting of several small arches; the abutments and piers are built with stone, and the arches are of wood; the whole is roofed over to protect the wood-work from the influence of the weather. Shortly after crossing the river we halted for the night at a little hamlet called Paiol. The country on both sides of the river is very hilly, and before we reached Paiol, we crossed a rather high Serra, called the Serra das Abobras, which is composed entirely of gneiss rocks, large blocks of which often render the path difficult to pass over. Before we reached the Parahybuna, the road sides were covered with a beautiful species of Bugenvillea, which being at that season in full flower, was a great ornament to the woods, the large rose-coloured bracts of its flowers rendering it a very conspicuous object.
Our next journey brought us to the Villa de Parahyba, which is situated on the N.W. bank of the river of the same name, which we crossed here in a boat. The mules were not unloaded, but were taken over in a large flat punt, which conveyed about fifteen at a time. A strong iron chain was stretched across the river, at the height of a few feet above the water, to which the punt was attached by a smaller chain with a ring on it, so as to allow it to run from one end to the other, and prevent the boat from being carried down the stream, which runs with considerable force; the punt was then pulled over by a rope, an operation in which three blacks were employed. About four years before I visited this place, a stone bridge had been begun a few hundred yards from the ferry, but the erection of it was going on very slowly; the northern abutment and three piers were all that were then finished. The foundation on which it is built is good, the bed of the river at this place being formed of gneiss rock, the strata of which are nearly vertical. At the ferry, ninety reis (three-pence) were charged for each animal.
Three days after we passed the Rio Parahyba, we arrived at a large fazenda called Padre Correa, the distance between the two places being about seven leagues; the road in many places was very bad, and the country still continued hilly and densely covered with virgin forests.
The fazenda of Padre Correa is situated in a hollow surrounded by bare hills; the building, consisting of the dwelling-house, a small chapel attached to it, the rancho, and a venda, form nearly three sides of a large square, in the centre of which stands a very large tree, a species of wild fig, which a little above the root divides into two stems of nearly equal size. On a height to the east of the fazenda, are seen two large rows of the Brazilian pines, which add much to the beauty of the place; a small river called the Piabanha, that passes near it, falls into the Parahyba. An extensive manufactory of horse-shoes, and such iron implements as are used in the country, is carried on at this place. Our next journey brought me once more in sight of the sea. The road between Padre Correa and the pass of the Serra d’Estrella, which is a continuation of the Organ mountains, was then under repair; the workmen were Germans, who lived in a small village by themselves: we also passed through a small miserable village called Corrego Seco. The country very much resembles that I have elsewhere described, between the Organ mountains and the Swiss colony of Novo Friburgo, being very hilly and covered with magnificent virgin forests. From the top of the pass, there is a fine view of the country around Rio de Janeiro, and of the bay with its numerous verdant islands. On reaching this spot, I stood for a long time admiring the scene of my first labours in Brazil. My feelings, on looking down on the magnificent view before me, were such as would be experienced after returning to my native country, for everything brought to my recollection the remembrance of past times, and of kind friends; the Sugar Loaf, the Corcovado, the Gavea, and the Peak of Tijuca, were rearing high their cloudless summits, as if to welcome me back to a place of civilization.
The most elevated part of this pass is about 3,000 feet above the level of the sea; the descent of the Serra, from its zigzag nature, is about a league in length; it is well constructed, being paved with large blocks of stone, and is kept in excellent repair; as it was rather steep in some places, and the road was good, I preferred walking down it to riding. A little beyond the foot of the Serra we passed Mandiocca, the estate which formerly belonged to M. Langsdorff, the late Russian consul-general in Brazil, and celebrated traveller: it now belongs to the government, and has been converted into a gunpowder manufactory. The Estrella pass is much better than that of the Organ mountains, but by the latter the journey to Minas is shortened by about sixteen leagues. A little way beyond Mandiocca we halted at a large rancho, whence, after having arranged the collections that had been made on the journey, I started alone for the Porto d’Estrella, with the intention of embarking there in the evening for Rio de Janeiro, so as to have a place prepared for the reception of my luggage, previous to its arrival. The distance I had to ride was about three leagues, through a flat, generally marshy country, quite like that between Piedade and the beginning of the ascent to Mr. March’s estate.
It was late in the afternoon when I arrived at the village of Porto d’Estrella, and as boats can only start for the city after the sea breeze has ceased to blow, I found that I had arrived much too early, and not having yet dined, I looked out for a place where I could procure something to eat. On enquiring of the lad at the venda from whence the boats start, I was told they were in the habit of preparing repasts for travellers, and that if I wished him to do so, he would provide a dinner for me. After waiting with no little patience for upwards of two hours, I was at last shown into a small dirty back-room, when a dish of fish fried in oil, and Perão, a kind of thick paste prepared from mandiocca flour, were set before me; but everything was so dirty, that very little sufficed to satisfy my appetite.
Nearly all the goods to be conveyed into the interior, are shipped at Rio, in large boats called Faluas, and landed at this village, the packages being all of the same weight, so that they may counterbalance each other, when put upon the backs of the mules that are destined to carry them inland; there is therefore much activity here, as a day never passes without the arrival and departure of several large troops. The chief articles brought to this place from the interior, are coffee, cheese, bacon, quince marmalade, &c. The village is a long, dirty, straggling place, with few inducements to detain the traveller. About seven o’clock in the evening I was informed that the boat I had hired was ready to sail, but I had no sooner got on board, than a heavy thunder-storm came down from the mountains, and put off our starting for an hour. The village is a mile distant from the sea, being built on the banks of a small river called the Inhomerim; and so slow was our progress that it was eleven o’clock before we reached its confluence with the bay. At this point a very good inn exists, which, as I experienced on another occasion, affords very good accommodation. As the land-breeze was very faint, the boat had to be rowed nearly all the way, and on this account it was about four o’clock in the morning before we reached the city. Not wishing to disturb any of my friends at so early an hour, I remained in the boat till six o’clock, when I went to the house of Messrs. William Harrison and Co., and received from my old friends there a kind and hearty welcome back to Rio de Janeiro, after an absence of more than three years.
Two days afterwards (on the 2nd of November, 1840), Mr. Walker arrived with all my luggage in good condition. Knowing from former experience how ill-suited either an hotel or a boarding-house is for a naturalist to carry on his operations in, I determined to hire a small house; and in the district called Catumby, which is in the immediate vicinity of the city, I found one that in every respect answered my purpose. Having furnished it economically, I had my collections removed thither, and as they amounted to about 3,000 species, including upwards of 60,000 specimens in Botany alone, it took me about three months to classify and properly pack them, previous to their being sent to England.
During this residence in Rio, my time passed away very pleasantly, the agreeable society which I mingled with, making sufficient amends for the solitude and privations of the three preceding years. The days were generally devoted to my collections, and the evenings were spent with the families of some one or other of the many resident English merchants. I had also the pleasure at this time of making the acquaintance of Dr. Ildefonso Gomez, a talented Brazilian physician, who, when a young man, accompanied M. Auguste de St. Hilaire on his first journey to the mining districts. His house, which is in the country, and only a mile from my residence, was always open to me, as it ever has been to all scientific men who have visited Rio. I likewise spent many agreeable hours with my near neighbour M. Riedel, the Russian botanist, and companion of M. Langsdorff in his journey through the interior of Brazil, and we made several excursions together to the woods in pursuit of objects connected with our favourite science.