“The fruits of the country are remarkable for their variety as well as their abundance. Here are bananas, plantains, guyapas, onenas, oranges, citrons, lemons, pomegranates, many delicate species of the genus Eugenia, as the pitangas, jambas, and cromischamas; besides an infinite number of other plants, still in their natural state, which require only the industry of man to improve and add them to the comforts of civilized life.
“In short, by its situation, its climate, and its products, indigenous as well as exotic, this country claims distinction as the most happy and naturally independent, on the face of the globe.
“With regard to climate, there is no winter or summer. The heat is never excessive, and there is no sensible cold. The whole year appears a continual spring. The uninterrupted verdure, the vivid and varied color of the flowers which cover the highest trees of the forests, and which, appearing to change their form and aspect every month, constantly surround us with a new world, and fill the most insensible minds with astonishment and admiration.
“Culinary vegetables and roots, as cabbages, radishes, turnips, cucumbers, melons, French-beans, potatoes, maize, mandioca, bananas, and various other products of the first necessity, may be planted and gathered every day of the year in the mountains as well as in the plain. As heat and humidity exist here in the most favorable proportions, it will be readily concluded that vegetation must be extremely rapid. Of this there are extraordinary instances. Father Correia, one of the principal farmers of this province, settled at Estrella, has sown a measure of rice, and gathered more than 500 in return. The writer of these remarks was astonished at seeing rice grown on high lands which had not been inundated. It appears to be sufficient that the soil be humid, and that the rains do not fail. The common return for maize is 120 or 130 for one. The coffee plant is easily cultivated, and in favorable soils begins to bear fruit at the end of two years and a half. It is not uncommon to find plantations of coffee trees, which yield from ten to fifteen pounds of coffee a year. Grafts from peaches form, in two years, trees from two to three inches in diameter, loaded with fruit. Baron Langsdorff saw orange trees loaded with fruit, raised within three years from seed. In the government nursery at Lagoa de Tristes, may be seen alleys of mimosa lebbeck, black wood, the seeds of which were brought from the Isle of France. Within three years the trees grew to the height of from twenty to thirty feet, and in thickness from eight to ten inches in diameter.”
The description extends into a multitude of details; but enough, it is presumed, has been given, to afford an idea of the fine climate, the fertile soil, and the richly varied products of this province of Brazil.
[CHAP. VIII.]
Journey to Canta Gallo.
SOME time after my return from Santa Cruz, a circumstance of a singular nature took place, which occasioned me to undertake a journey to a district called Canta Gallo, distant about forty leagues from the capital, and one of the latest discovered in this part of Brazil. Two men reported that they had there found a mine of silver, and brought to the mint a quantity of earthy matter reduced to powder, from which was smelted a small ingot of that metal. This report being officially laid before His Excellency the Conde de Linhares, I was solicited to go to Canta Gallo, and investigate the business on the spot, the two men being ordered to meet me there. Before I proceed to relate the result of my inquiry, I shall briefly describe whatever I observed worthy of note in the course of the journey.
Being provided with a passport, and also a sketch of the route, taken from a MS. map in the archives, I departed from Rio on the 10th of April, 1809, accompanied by Dr. Gardner, the gentleman already mentioned as lecturer on chemistry at the college of S. Joaquim. Having to pass to the bottom of the harbour, towards the north, we embarked in a small vessel, and being favored with a strong sea-breeze, ran down to the entrance of the fine river Macacu, which we reached after a five hours’ sail. The wind then dying, our boatmen took to their oars, and proceeding up the river, we reached a house called Villa Nova, where numbers of market-boats for Rio, were waiting for the land-wind and the turn of the tide. After taking some refreshment here, we rowed onward until the river became so narrow, that the vessel frequently touched the bank on each side, and the men were obliged to push her along with poles. At day-break we reached Porto das Caixas, a place of great resort from the interior, being the station where the mules discharge their loads of produce from the many plantations in the neighbourhood. The town consists of several poor houses, and of stores where goods are deposited for embarkation. The stratum hereabouts is primitive granite, covered with fine strong clay. Leaving this place, we proceeded for some distance and came to a large swamp, which we navigated in a canoe, with very little difficulty, and shortly afterwards arrived at the village of Macacu. It stands on a small eminence in the midst of a fine plain, watered by a considerable stream, over which there are two good bridges. Though almost at the base of the chain of the mountains that forms a barrier along the coast, the neighbourhood affords some fine situations; the land, in general, consists of a strong clay, but appears much worn out. The commander, Colonel Jose, to whom I introduced myself, gave me a very polite reception, as did also the brethren of the convent, to whom I paid a visit. I passed the night at the house of the Escrivão, a worthy gentleman, whose hospitality I still remember with peculiar gratitude, because it seemed to proceed, not from a cold sense of duty, but from the impulse of a warm and generous heart.