There are a variety of edible roots:—potatoes of various kinds; mandioca, of which is made the usual bread of the country; its plant, of which there are various sorts, is a shrub of one or more stems; the root, after being scraped and reduced to flour, is pressed until exhausted of its abundant juice, which is generally poisonous, and is ultimately toasted in a large earthern or copper vessel over a furnace till it becomes dry; this vegetable prospers well only in substantial soils: it is planted in little mounds of earth, by putting into each half the stock of the plant, which is a span in length. The aypim is a species of mandioca, whose root is boiled or roasted. The mendubim is a plant of little growth, with leaves similar to the French bean, producing beans at the root with a gray skin, which encloses from one to three small seed. The potatoe do ar, a creeping plant, without a flower preceding it, produces a fruit of irregular form, without stone or seed, is covered with a thin and green skin, and has the taste of the potatoe.
Besides the fruits mentioned there are many others, amongst which are the pine, or atta, the size of a quince, with a white, soft, and savoury pulp; the conde, which is of the size of the preceding, with the pulp equally soft, but not so white; the mammao is larger, with a smooth and yellow skin, and the pulp of the same colour; the pitomba; the mocuge; of the banana, whose length exceeds many times its diameter, there are three sorts, the whole having a thick skin, and clustered upon one stalk; the plant which produces them is of considerable growth, without either branches or wood in the trunk; the leaves are very long, slender, and smooth, with proportionable width, and the back fibres very thick; the trunk is formed of the leaves firmly woven together, being two or three yards in height, round, erect, and inflexible, the leaves branching out from it at the top. The pine-apple, resembling a pine, with various leaves in the eye, is of delicious flavour and aromatic scent; the plant from whose centre it issues is very similar to the aloe. The muracuja is of the size of an orange, oblong and regular, with a thick and hard skin, green on the outside and white within; it is full of gross and rather sour liquid, containing seeds similar to those of the melon.
The sugar-cane, mandioca, tobacco, and the matte-plant, are all indigenous, and now cultivated to a great extent with considerable advantage, furnishing many lucrative branches of commerce.
The indigo-plant and opuncia are met with almost in all parts; the first, which only prospers in strong soils, is yet cultivated but in few provinces. There are a diversity of peppers; that of Malabar, which only thrives in substantial and fresh soils, has been cultivated only within a few years.
The plant commonly called malicia de mulker (woman’s malice) is a creeping and thorny twig, with very small foliage, whose little leaves obtain their opposite one’s, when they immediately adhere, so that the twig is encircled, and remains in this state for a considerable time.
THE END.
DIRECTIONS FOR THE BINDER.
| 1. | Don John VI. and his Attendants | to front the Title | Page |
| 2. | Map of the Brazil | to front | [1] |
| 3. | View of the Western Side of the Bay of Rio | [9] | |
| 4. | Custom-House Negroes | [10] | |
| 5. | Convent of St. Antonio | [52] | |
| 6. | Convent of St. Theresa, Part of the Aqueduct, and a Sege | [53] | |
| 7. | Convent of Ajuda | [54] | |
| 8. | Pillars and Scenery near the Source of the Aqueduct | [56] | |
| 9. | House at the Bottom of the Orange-Valley | [57] | |
| 10. | A Miner, from the Province of Minas Geraes | 61 | |
| 11. | Bella Fonta, the Shacara of J. E. Wright, Esq. | [62] | |
| 12. | Palace of St. Christovao | [63] | |
| 13. | A free Negress, and other Market-Women | [71] | |
| 14. | Nightman, Water-Carrier, Washerwoman | [74] | |
| 15. | The Casa of a Padre, in Campinha | [85] | |
| 16. | The Rio Exchange, Trapiche, Grass-Waggon, and Gallows | [96] | |
| 17. | A Captain of Militia, in the Province of Rio Grande do Sul | [116] | |
| 18. | A Paulista and a Brazilian Mendicant | [176] | |
| 19. | A Map of the Comarca of Sabara | [277] | |
| 20. | An Officer of Cavalry, in Minas Geraes, and a Hermit | [283] | |
| 21. | Botocudo Indians about to cross a River | [299] | |
| 22. | A Brazilian Sedan-Chair, and a Person begging for the Church | [336] | |
| 23. | A Brazilian Sesta, or Afternoon Nap | [346] | |
| 24. | A Jangada, or Catamaran, near Pernambuco | [357] | |
| 25. | A Mattuto returning from Pernambuco | [385] | |
| 26. | Style of Houses at Poço de Penella | [388] | |
| 27. | Negroes impelling a Canoe with the Vara, and Scenery at Ponta de Cho | [389] | |
| 28. | The House of the Senhor d’ Engenho de Torre, near Pernambuco | [391] | |
| 29. | The Sugar Engenho de Torre, and a Plan of its Interior | [392] | |
| 30. | The Site and Remains of Fribourg-House, formerly the Residence of Prince Maurice, of Nassau | [393] |
MARCHANT,
Printer,
Ingram-Court, Fenchurch-Street.