After enjoying a comfortable night in the hospitable mansion of my friend, Senor Miguel, I went this morning with his son to set a gill-net for fish, and thence across the river to gather some grapes. This planting is made from cuttings of vines in the United States, and is now bearing a crop of fine fruit. The vines are arranged upon a large wooden frame, and appear vigorous and healthy, though upon the low land near the river, which is certainly not a very favorable site for the grape culture.
That celestial fruit, the jaboticaba, was also found growing in the same locality, but only a few remained of the abundant crop which the trees are said to have borne this year.
Several other varieties of fruit trees were seen, but it not being the season of maturing, I had no opportunity to test their qualities.
On returning to the gill-net quite a number of small fish were entangled in its meshes, and Senor Guilherme has since visited it again, getting quite a full mess for the entire family. Some of them, called cascudo, are a new order of fish to me, having a hard skin with scales like the pike or gar, and a very large broad fin upon the back, spreading out like a fan.
The sun was shining brightly during our walk, but it subsequently clouded up and rained.
Senor Miguel showed me this afternoon a field in which cotton and sugar-cane had been planted together, the crop of cotton being gathered some months ago, and the cane being now cut so as to permit the cotton to make another crop from the old stalk.[[31]]
Saturday, January 13, 1866.
All things being provided for a tour of observation, Senor Miguel, his son Guilherme and myself embarked in a large canoe at 9 o’clock this morning, to ascend the Ribeira. The margin of the river on the way to Xiririca presented many desirable locations which I had not been able to see when coming down in the night. A short stop was made at the village, where a letter was delivered to Senor Bernardo José Cabral, that should have been presented on my first arrival. Other letters were left for parties who were not at home.
On resuming our ascent of the river, a short visit was made to the farm of Senor Francisco Alvares da Silva, where his interesting family received us cordially, and one of his daughters gave us several pieces of music on the piano. He regaled us with excellent grapes of various qualities, the germs of which were imported from the United States. A few stalks of cotton from American seed were growing finely in his yard. But I was most interested in his coffee field, where trees from three years to twenty years growth presented a most exuberant crop of berries, and certainly present as good a prospect for a large yield of coffee as any of the trees seen in the best regions of Campinas, Lemeira and Rio Claro. These trees are growing in a sandy soil, upon a high bank of the river, and there is an excellent crop of corn in the intervening space, with good cane adjoining.
Our progress up the river enabled me to see again the lands on the banks, which had been seen in my first descent, and further observation impressed me even more favorably.