Very little sugar is grown here: the principal articles of produce sent to the capital, are Indian corn, and pulse of all kinds, bacon, fowls, jaracandá, or rose-wood, ipecacuanha, and a small quantity of gold. In many parts of the neighbourhood is found a tree, the bark of which has been successfully used as a substitute for the quinquina of Peru.
In one of the frequent excursions I took in the neighbourhood of Canta Gallo, previous to my journey to the reputed silver mine, I obtained some information respecting the half-civilized aborigines of the district, from a man who employs himself in procuring ipecacuanha, and is a kind of chief among them. They reside in the woods, in a most miserable condition; their dwellings, some of which I saw, are formed of boughs of trees, bent so as to hold a thatch or tiling of palm-leaves; their beds are made of dry grass. Having little idea of planting or tillage, they depend for subsistence almost entirely on their bows and arrows, and on the roots and wild fruits which they casually find in the woods. The chief above-mentioned brought about fifty of these Indians to pay me a visit, which was not a little gratifying to me, as it afforded an opportunity of examining their features, and of conversing with the few among them who could speak a little of the Portuguese language. The dress of the men consisted of a waistcoat and a pair of drawers; that of the women, of a chemise and petticoat, with a handkerchief tied round the head, after the fashion of the Portuguese females. They bore the general characteristics of their race, the copper-colored skin, short and round visage, broad nose, lank black hair, and regular stature, inclining to be short and broad set. Being desirous to see a proof of their skill and precision in shooting, of which I had heard much, I placed an orange at thirty yards distance, which was pierced by an arrow from every one who drew his bow at it. I next pointed out a banana-tree, about eight inches in circumference, at a distance of forty yards; not a single arrow missed its aim, though they all shot at an elevated range. Interested by these proofs of their archery, I went with some of them into a wood to see them shoot at birds; though there were very few, they discovered them far more quickly than I could; and, cautiously creeping along until they were within bow-shot, never failed to bring down their game. The stillness and expedition with which they penetrated the thickets, and passed through the brushwood, were truly surprising; nor could any thing have afforded me a more satisfactory idea of their peculiar way of life. Their bows are made of the tough fibrous wood of the Iriri, six or seven feet long, and very stout; their arrows are full six feet long, and near an inch in diameter, pointed with a piece of cane cut to a feather edge, or with a bone, but of late more frequently with iron. They are loathsome in their persons, and in their habits but one remove from the Anthropophagi; a woman was gnawing at a half-roasted parrot, which was spiked on a stick, with the feathers scarcely burnt off, and the entrails hanging out[28]. They are not of a shy or morose character, but have a great aversion to labor, and cannot be brought to submit to any regular employment. Rarely is an Indian to be found serving as a domestic, or working for hire, and to this circumstance may be ascribed the low state of agriculture in the district; for as the farmers, when they begin the world, have seldom funds sufficient to purchase negroes at Rio, their operations are for a long time very confined, and frequently languish for want of hands. What benefits would result to the state, and how much would the general cause of humanity be served, if these Indians were civilized and domesticated! A tribe of idle and unsettled savages would be converted into useful and productive laborers; the whole face of the district would be improved; the roads, which at present connect it with the capital, would be cleared of the thousand inconveniences which now encumber them, and new ones[29] would be opened for the more expeditious conveyance of its produce.
During my stay at Canta Gallo I undertook a journey to the gold-washing at Santa Rita, distant about five leagues, in a north-east direction. After passing the uneven country in the immediate neighbourhood of the village, we arrived at the Rio Negro, a considerable stream formed by many rivulets, which empties itself into the Paraiba; on crossing it[30], we entered upon a fine open country, the fertility of which was evident from the luxuriant growth of the tobacco and other plants: but it lay in a state of almost total neglect, and the families thinly scattered upon it appeared in the lowest condition of indolence and misery. We proceeded a league farther, through a tract entirely destitute of inhabitants, and arrived about two in the afternoon at Santa Rita. The proprietor of the works received us very kindly, and conducted us through them while dinner was preparing. The washing is in a deep ravine, bounded at one end by an abrupt hill, and open at the other to the plain. The vegetable earth appeared extremely rich, being clothed with luxuriant verdure, and the hills on each hand covered with trees of all sizes. The stratum of cascalho, which lies under a bed of soil four or five feet deep, is very thin and uneven, being no where more than two feet thick, and in many parts not more than seven or eight inches. The incumbent soil is removed at great labor and expense, being dug out and carried away in bowls; and the cascalho is conveyed with great care to a convenient place for water, where it is washed by the most expert among the miners, in a way similar to that practised at the mines of Jaraguá. The proportion of gold produced was moderate: I was informed that it paid the master the rate of from fourteen pence to two shillings per day for each negro, which is a large profit, as the daily subsistence of one costs somewhat less than a penny.
The sides of the ravine towards the top were bare, and of different shades of color, being tinged by the water which flows from the vegetable matter above: in the bottom, on the surface that was yet unworked, lay some huge, half-rounded, amorphous masses. In the parts which had been worked, I observed two or three substances of the same kind, which being too large to be moved, the earth which imbedded them had been cut away, and they appeared like detached nodules. On breaking a fragment from one of them, with my hammer, I was much surprised to find it a calcareous substance, a solid mass composed of hexagonal crystals, with a small portion of brilliant specular iron ore. I presented this fragment to the proprietor, informing him that it was limestone, at which he was truly astonished, having never before heard of stonelime[31]; nor would he believe me until I proved it by calcination. The mountains, as I afterwards found, are of the same substance.
As I stood observing the heavy operation of cutting and carrying away the surface to get at the cascalho, it occurred to me that much time and labor might be saved by arching the work with brick; but, on suggesting the idea, I was informed that the sole or bottom was quite decomposed, and subject to much water.
There is reason to suppose that the stratum of limestone, below the earth in the bottom of the valley, is of very modern formation, and that, if not too thick to cut through, there might be found, between it and the granite stratum underneath, a bed of cascalho of prior formation, much richer in gold than the upper stratum.
After having investigated these works, we made an excursion of seven or eight miles, chiefly over a rich plain, abounding with the finest timber. On the margins of the rivulets which we crossed, I observed that the moss was incrusted, somewhat like the tuffa at Matlock; and, on more particular examination, I found a stratum of tuffa in all the valleys, a few inches below the surface, which, as I conjecture, must have proceeded from the deposition of calcareous matter by the overflowings of the streams after heavy rains. The hills, even at this distance, were composed of the same sparry limestone as at the gold-washing. It is much to be wished that the value of this material were duly appreciated at the capital, where the cost of the wood used in burning shells into lime, exceeds the price at which lime brought from Santa Rita might be delivered, if proper roads were made for its conveyance from this district to Porto das Caixas. Such an undertaking highly deserves the attention of His Highness’s ministers; the benefits likely to result from it are incalculable, and the expense attending it would be trifling; for in no part of the globe are roads made so cheap, or public works of any kind done on such moderate terms, as in Brazil.
This fine but almost uninhabited district produces spontaneously many valuable articles of commerce, which run to waste for want of hands to cultivate and gather them. Here is found that celebrated variety of the palm-tree, the long, serrated, lancet-formed leaves of which are composed of innumerable fibres, that rival silk both in fineness and strength. I bought some fishing-lines made of them for a mere trifle; and I have no doubt that, if proper means were employed to propagate the growth of the trees, this valuable substance might be produced in as great plenty, and at as cheap a rate, as flax is in England. I laid before His Highness’s ministers, a project for using it as a substitute for that article in the manufacture of fine cordage, and I shewed by experiment that it was fully adequate to the purpose.
We remained two days at Santa Rita and its vicinity, and on the third, set out on our return, taking the same route by which we came. In some parts we observed numerous flocks of birds, particularly parrots, and a few fine wild hens of the wood, and these were the only objects that engaged our attention. We reached Canta Gallo without having met with any monstrous serpents, or any other uncommon sights which travellers often see or fancy in a strange country.
After a few days’ rest, I set out, accompanied by a guide, to the supposed silver-mine, notice having previously been sent to the men to prepare them for my coming. We travelled for about two miles through a deep valley, and arrived at a rapid stream called Macáco, which runs between two almost perpendicular mountains of very inconsiderable height, along one of which the road leads for about a mile and a half. Having passed this gloomy and dangerous ravine, we proceeded half a league farther, and halted at a neat farm-house called Machado, with a portion of good and well-cultivated land around it, which looked like a garden in the wilderness. The owner, a native of the Azores, received us very politely, and introduced us to his lady, who, with her blooming family of daughters, was engaged in needle-work on materials of their own spinning. The neatness of their dress, and the general air of propriety and comfort in the apartment where they sat, strongly reminded me of my country; and when they regaled us with liquor made from the fruits of their own farm, the image of our domestic scenes in rural life was complete: I could almost have fancied myself transported from the rugged wilds of Brazil to the smiling vales of England.