Dr. Shaw and Major Meriwether spent the night with me at Mr. Wright’s, and a cup of coffee being served to us very early we set out before 6 o’clock to the canoe of Senor Antonio Franco in company with Senor Street, for a trip across the water.
Mr. Wright’s double-barrelled fine English gun was taken along by the Major, and he had an opportunity of shooting at an alligator, (jacaré,) but it made its escape into the water.
Upon approaching the site of Senor Bastos, the canoe entered a sort of canal leading up into the land, and we then disembarked and walked a few hundred yards over a level, low, marshy plain to the house. Rice was seen upon one side presenting a healthy aspect; while on the other was a garden-spot that has received more than the usual attention, yet the vegetables did not look flourishing.
Vegetables do not usually grow well with us in any kind of soil without some artificial stimulus; and the art of manuring is almost unknown to these people, so that it is rare to see good vegetables.
The sugar-cane was also growing at a short distance from our path, but is a small variety with short joints, having a red or purple aspect, that is cultivated only for cachaça, (rum.) I infer from the specimen seen that the land has not the requisite fertility to produce the best cane.
The house upon this place is a large one-story building, having the rice and sugar apparatus under the same roof, worked by water-power. Most of the territory is mountainous and of little fertility; but the flat lands with proper management might be rendered productive and profitable.
Sunday, December 10, 1865.
I acquiesced in the arrangement for taking a voyage in the steamer to-day, though it was the Sabbath.
We visited the extensive establishment known here as Perique, in company with the proprietor, Senor Valencia, some twenty miles distant from the city of Santos.
The houses and grounds have been recently overhauled and renovated, presenting an attractive combination of extensive buildings, with a beautiful beach and delightful sea-breeze. The dwelling has eighteen rooms, besides a large dining-saloon and ample corridors, presenting an air of comfort that is rarely met with anywhere. There are also outhouses suited for the quarters of laborers and for all other purposes required on a fazenda.