[13] The oil, in consequence of not being well refined, is black and sooty.
[14] Three leagues from Sorocaba, which is twenty leagues distant from the capital. S. Paulo is the famous mountain of Varessoiba. It contains such an abundance of iron, solta e á garnel, (loose or in heaps), that ten foundries, each melting 10,000 quintals per annum, would not exhaust it in a century; and it has wood for charcoal, which the same number would be unable to consume in that space of time. A company of Swedish miners was established here in 1810, but the undertaking was frustrated by intrigue.
[15] According to a statistical report, dated 1811, the city of S. Paulo contains 4017 houses, (fogos, hearths); 5219 whites (males), 6319 whites (females); 377 free negroes, 485 free negresses; 1967 male, and 1914 female captive negroes; 2394 free mulattoes, 3279 free mulattas; 745 male, and 896 female captive mulattoes; making the whole population 23,764. In this year (1811), the births were 1301, the deaths 785, the marriages 233.
[16] Probably the coloring matter arises from the decomposition of the hornblende; I have frequently observed a mass of granite having its surface decomposed into a red clay, in which the particles of mica were hardly perceptible, while the compact rock below contained a very fair proportion. These granites contain hornblende with mica.
[17] In one part of the town is found a beautiful species of decomposed granite, consisting of extremely white feldspar, quartz, and very little mica.
[18] Mandioca requires a dry hot soil, of a sandy nature.
[19] This generous root requires but little preparation to make it serve as a substitute for bread. When taken out of the ground they wash and scrape it clean, and then rasp it on a coarse grater of iron or copper, press the juice from it, and place it on a hot surface, a shallow copper-pan for instance, four or five feet in diameter, or a clay one, with a brick fire underneath; while drying it is constantly stirred, and when the moisture is completely evaporated, it is immediately fit for use. If preserved from wet, it will keep good a long time. In broths and soups it becomes gelatinous, and affords rich nourishment; it is particularly good when eaten with cheese. The wild or spurious mandioca, called Aipim, is little inferior, when roasted, to fine chesnuts. The Portuguese introduce it at table, boiled as well as roasted.
[20] Its leaf is shaped like a heart.
[21] The Spur-winged Plover. In the Spanish territories they are called disperteros (awakeners), on account of the noise they make when disturbed in the night. A flock of them in any plantation answers the purpose of an alarm-bell against thieves.
[22] Fr. Gaspar da Madre de Deos.