[137] “A sua gente he mais sabida que a nossa.”
[138] “Dizem, que Vm. he muito santo.”
[139] Labat, in the Voyage du Chevalier des Marchais, a Cayenne, &c. vol. iii. p. 253, gives an account of the bees which corresponds in some respects with mine. He says, “Elles n’ont point d’aiguillon, ou il est si foible qu’il ne peut entamer l’épiderme aussi sans préparation et sans crainte on les prend a pleines mains sans en ressentir autre incommodité qu’un leger chatouillement.”—I do not think those of Pernambuco would be found to be quite so harmless.
[140] I have seen a print in Barlæus representing this channel as still being open, and the fort situated upon an island which it almost entirely covers.
[141] I have been much blamed by one of my friends for not having eaten of the flesh of the jacarè; and indeed I felt a little ashamed of my squeamishness, when I was shown by the same friend, a passage in a French writer, whose name I forget, in which he speaks favourably of this flesh. However, if the advocate for experimental eating had seen an alligator cut into slices, he would, I think, have turned from the sight as quickly as I did. The Indians eat these creatures, but the negroes will not, no not even the gabam negroes who are said to be cannibals.
[142] In making use of the word Brazil, it must be understood that I mean to denote that portion of the country which I have had opportunities of seeing. The agriculture of the provinces of Rio de Janeiro and Bahia is doubtless in a more forward state than that of Pernambuco and the line of coast to Maranham.
[143] I insert here a description of a machine for rooting up the stumps of trees, by Cit. Saint Victor, member of the Society of Agriculture, for the department of the Seine.
“It consists of a bar of forged iron, about two feet eight inches long, one inch thick towards the handle, and of two inches towards the breech or platform. The platform, which is circular, is fourteen inches in diameter. This platform serves as the base of the chamber or furnace of the mine, which is three inches in diameter, and three inches eight lines in the length of its bore. The stopper or tampion, which serves as a plug to the mine, is of the same diameter, to enter within after a slight paper or wadding. It is attached by a chain to the gun or mortar, which last is eight inches in diameter. About two inches above is added a small touch-hole and pan. The hole is directed in an angle of forty-five degrees, and is primed with powder to communicate with the charge with which the chamber is filled up to the stopper. This engine may be cast even with more facility in brass or bronze, and in this case it must be a little thicker in all its dimensions, in order to afford a resistance equal to that of the forged iron.”
“USE OF THE MACHINE.”
“When the machine is charged with powder, a small excavation is made with a pick-axe, in the centre of the stump. The machine is then placed in it, so that the plug immediately touches the wood. Care must be taken to fill all the vacancies, either with stones or pieces of iron or wood, more especially beneath the platform of the machine, in order that the explosion of the powder may have its full effect on the stump, of which, if necessary, the principal roots should first be cut if any appear on the surface of the ground near the stump that is to be eradicated.”