Wednesday, 30.—I took leave of my friend and fellow passenger Mr. Fearon, to join Captain Lyon at Mr. Raynsford's in Rua Pescadores, from whose house we were to set out. Every thing being ready about noon, we mounted our mules, and formed a very respectable cavalcade, our party for the interior consisting of Captain Lyon, Mr. Sharpe, Mr. A. Walker, and myself, with a train of loaded mules, we were also favoured by the escort of Messrs. Raynsford, and Lewis, on our first day's march. The latter gentleman is a Prussian Jew, and has amassed a considerable property in this country by dealing in precious stones, in addition to which traffic, he has a general store at Gongo Soco. He has also a brother a dealer in jewels who lives at Villa Rica. How is it that other men cannot succeed so well as those of the Jewish persuasion? Is it that their intelligence, penetration, and discrimination, are superior to other men? Or is it solely owing to their less scrupulous integrity? My own conviction has always been, that want of success in any particular pursuit or profession, has arisen in most cases, out of an absence of that firmness which enables a man to reject the pleasures of the world, and the world's frivolities, for the sake of the one purpose to which he should rightly devote all his energies. When men practise a rigid course of self-denial in this respect; immolating all vain desires upon the altar of science, or of interest, they seldom fail to attain the utmost point of their ambition.
I found myself very weak, and much reduced by the low regimen which I had necessarily observed during the violence of my inflammatory cough. A blister had also been kept open on my breast during the whole time of my sojourn at Rio de Janeiro, this had only received its first dressing just before I mounted my mule, and I had not got clear of the city before the inflamed state of my chest, so dried up the dressing, that the irritation produced was like a red hot iron applied to the surface: this torture I was compelled to endure for more than three hours, before I could obtain any relief. About four o'clock we arrived at Venda Nova, or Traja, also known by the name of Willis's, it having been kept by an Englishman of that name. It was much patronized by the English, who frequently made excursions of pleasure to this place, distant from Rio de Janeiro four Brazilian leagues or sixteen English miles. We were well supplied here with provisions, but our lodgings were of a very inferior description, all the party, excepting myself, being literally, and actually, necessitated to exclaim
"My lodging is on the cold ground."
The only imitation of a bed-place was considerately resigned to me. It consisted of a crib in a small room, no larger than a closet; however, as the horizontal position still continued most distressing to me, a bed of down could not have procured me repose, for I do not think I ceased coughing for three consecutive minutes the whole night. And it was no small aggravation to my misery, to know that I was the means of disturbing all my friends in the next apartment. Under these circumstances, I heard the summons for preparation, at a very early hour, with infinite satisfaction, and, ill as I was, though the morning was extremely raw and cold, I rejoiced to find that we were all in the saddle before daylight (half-past five)—Mr. Raynsford, on his return to Rio de Janeiro, and our own party for the Mine Country. Soon after noon, we arrived at Manganga, a distance of four leagues (16 miles), having passed over a very level country, where the heat of the day was equal in intensity, to the cold of the morning; the thermometer being, at one time, upwards of 90°. F. This change was to me delightful, as heat agrees with me at all times, and more particularly while suffering from an indisposition, the prevalent symptom of which is a sensation of chilliness. I found my strength very inadequate to bear much fatigue. Our accommodation, however, was better to-night than the preceding one, and Captain Lyon being well known on the road, acquainted with the language, and a man of very agreeable manners, we found every one ready to do their utmost to serve him, especially the fair sex. In speaking of the fair sex—or rather, in this case, the female, but not fair—a pretty young negress came to solicit charity, for the purpose of enabling her to make up a sum of money to purchase half her freedom, the other half having been left as a legacy, by her deceased master. This is doing things by halves with a witness: who would have thought of such piece-meal generosity, except a thrifty Brazilian Portuguese.
Friday, August 1.—Soon after daylight, we set off again with our whole party: and at eleven, we rested a short time to refresh ourselves at a venda,[[52] ] which stands at the foot of a rugged and precipitous range, called the Serra Santa Anna (or St. Ann's Mountain), which we afterwards passed over, and arrived, about three o'clock, at a respectable farm-house, in the village of Botaës, where we remained for the night, having travelled four leagues to-day. Captain Lyon called my attention this afternoon, to the note of a bird in a wood, when passing over the mountain, named the Ferreirinho (little Blacksmith), from the resemblance of the note to the ringing sound of a smart blow from a small hammer on an anvil, terminating in a sharp whistle.
Saturday, 2.—Notwithstanding the inconvenience I had suffered during the journey of the two preceding days, I felt an increase of strength, and an abatement of my cough. Fortunately for me, we passed the night in a warm valley, and did not start this morning till nine o'clock, from which time our journey over the mountain proved very pleasant, for it must be remembered, that this is the winter season in this country; and that the coldness of the nights continues unabated until the rising sun begins to exert its influence. We left Mr. A. Walker, with the loaded mules, to follow; Capt. Lyon being anxious to proceed at a quicker rate. Almost immediately after leaving the farm, we began to ascend the Alto de Serra, where, in some places, a false step of the mule would have precipitated both the animal and its rider into one of the fearful chasms that occasionally yawned beneath our path. We were frequently placed in very awkward situations, for we met with several caravans of loaded mules, winch were generally conducted by the voices of the muleteers, who dash on at a fearless rate; and, in some of these passes, at the imminent risk of overturning the travellers whom chance places in their way: I was frequently obliged to jerk my foot suddenly out of the stirrup, and allow my leg to pass behind on the back of the animal on which I rode, to avoid these unceremonious assaults; while, on the opposite side, I was pressed against the rugged surface of an overhanging ridge.
When we arrived at the top of the mountain, we made a halt at a blacksmith's shop, for the purpose of getting Captain Lyon's mule bled, the muleteer having declared that he had the pest; but the word pest appertains here to all sorts of animal ailments; for example, there was a fowl sick at this place, and on asking what was the matter with it, we were told that it had the pest; the fowl's disease proved to be the pip. Indeed, this convenient word pest, was indiscriminately applied to all diseases which the people did not understand. It reminded me of La Fleur, in the Sentimental Journey, who, when he could not get his horse to pass the dead ass, cried "Pest!" as the dernier resort of his vocabulary of exclamations. In the afternoon, we made a short halt at a venda within twelve miles of Botaës, to refresh ourselves, which was kept by an Englishman named John M'Dill, who had formerly lived at Gongo Soco with Captain Tregoning. He had recently settled here on a small estate, which he was clearing for a coffee plantation. About sunset, we crossed the Rio Parahëiba, over a long wooden bridge, about a mile beyond which we put up for the night, where we had but very indifferent accommodations. We had ridden five leagues, or twenty miles, to-day.
Sunday, 3.—We set off at five this morning, and arrived at the town of Valencia at nine, where we stopped for breakfast. Nearly all the inhabitants of the town collected to comment upon us, and it so happened, that I was the principal object of curiosity in the whole group: this unlooked for distinction, arose from two circumstances, first, my wearing a long beard; and secondly, my blindness. These peculiarities produced numberless exclamations, as, "How could I travel? Why did I travel? Why did I wear a long beard? Was I a Padrè?—or, a Missionary?" and so forth, until they became so pressing that we were glad to get housed, with closed doors, to keep these troublesome inquisitors at a respectful distance.
I can well understand, that a simple people, whose experience is limited to their own habits, and who have never had an opportunity of inter-mixing with other nations, must have been startled by the novelty of a beard; but their astonishment at the sight of a board, was not greater than mine, on discovering that they were destitute of an appendage, which, in the torid zone, is at once an article of luxury and utility. The people of the East invariably wear beards, not merely as a national custom, but as a matter of necessity; and, for my part, I can testify, that I found it an indispensable protection to the neck, and the lower part of the face: after a day's journey, the luxury of immerging the face in cold water, leaving the beard half dry, was most refreshing, the evaporation producing a very reviving and agreeable effect. In addition to my beard, I had the farther protection of a broad brimmed straw-hat, the crown of which was deeply wadded with cotton wool, and which completely screened me from the piercing rays of a tropical sun.
Having occasion for some castor-oil, I sent to an apothecary to procure it, which amused the people exceedingly, who declared their astonishment at our simplicity, in sending to a doctor for an article so common here, that it is generally used for lamp-oil, and to obtain which, it is only necessary to gather the beans from the plant, which grows wildly and luxuriantly in this country, and express the juice in the ordinary way.