We took up our quarters at an inn kept by a Frenchman, a man of immense size, and well advanced in years, who informed us that in his youth he belonged to the body-guard of Napoleon. On the second morning after our arrival we resumed our journey, and at nine o’clock P.M., reached the Swiss colony of Novo Friburgo, about eight leagues distant. The first part of the journey leads through a level country which is well cultivated, but the road afterwards becomes very mountainous, particularly during the last two leagues, through a wild and romantic deep pass; though it was late before we reached the end of our journey, the brilliant moonlight enabled us to admire some of the beauties of the scenery.
The town of Novo Friburgo, called also Morro Queimade, is built in the form of a square, with the houses nearly all of one story; it is inhabited principally by natives of Switzerland, who emigrated to Brazil many years ago; several Brazilian families also reside here. About a mile to the west there is a small village in which the Protestant part of the settlers live. The greater number of the colonists, however, are scattered in the country for several miles round. They are very poor, having been placed by the Brazilian government in one of the worst possible places for the exertion of their industry, the situation being elevated more than 3,000 feet above the level of the sea, with a bad soil, and a climate quite unfitted for the cultivation of either coffee or sugar. Their principal crops are Indian corn, and a few European vegetables; they also make a little butter. The climate being very agreeable during the summer months, many families, both foreign and Brazilian, come here to escape the great heat of the city. The mountain scenery around is very fine, but is far from equalling that of the Organ mountains. There is a good inn in the town kept by a Swiss, where we put up during our short stay.
We left Novo Friburgo on the 6th of April, and returned to the Organ mountains. Passing in a westerly direction through a hilly, wooded country, we arrived in the afternoon at a small house situated in a valley by the side of a little stream, where we were glad to take up our quarters for the night, as it had rained heavily from about midnight: we could get nothing for our dinner but a few boiled cabbage leaves and rice. A short time before we arrived at this place, we passed through a dense forest of large trees, on the stems and branches of which grew immense quantities of the beautiful Gesneria bulbosa, the large panicles of which, consisting of numerous brilliant scarlet flowers, hung down over our heads in the path. Orchideous plants were also abundant; one of the finest of which, the Oncidium Forbesii, was in flower. On the following night we slept at a small estate belonging to Admiral Taylor, an Englishman, who has been long in the Brazilian service, whom I knew well, but we did not find him at home; and in the afternoon of the next day, after a ride of about three leagues, we arrived at Mr. March’s fazenda.
Notwithstanding that this visit to the Organ mountains was made at the same season as my previous one, the variety of the vegetation is so great, that I added to my collection several hundred plants I had not formerly met with. My general health, which had suffered a good deal from the fatigues of my long journey in the interior, and by pretty close confinement for three months in Rio during the hot season, improved wonderfully by my sojourn on the mountains. There were not so many English families here at this time as there were in 1837, and there was consequently less gaiety; but most of my leisure hours were spent agreeably at one or other of the cottages.
CHAPTER XV.
MARANHAM, VOYAGE TO ENGLAND, CONCLUSION.
Leaves the Organ Mountains and returns to Rio de Janeiro—Embarks for England with large Collections of living and dried Plants—Touches at Maranham—City described—Its Population—Public Buildings—And Trade—Geology of its neighbourhood—Visits Alcantarà—Sails for England—Gulf Weed—Its great extent and origin—Flying Fishes—Observations on their mode of flight—Remarkable Phosphorescence at Sea—Description of the singular animal that causes this phenomenon—Its curious nests—Scintillations at Sea caused by a very minute kind of Shrimp—Arrives in England—Concluding remarks.
Learning that there was a vessel in the harbour at Rio, about to sail for Liverpool, and being now anxious to return to England, I put my collections into order, and left the Organ mountains on the morning of the 25th of April, reached Piedade the same evening, and arrived in the city early next morning. Besides botanical specimens for the herbarium, I collected, during my residence on the mountains, a large number of the most beautiful plants in a living state to take home with me. They filled six large Wardian cases, but scarcely half of them reached England alive, owing to the boxes not having been properly constructed; many of those which survived are now widely dispersed, and are very ornamental plants.[23]