On resuming my visit to the mint I took an early opportunity of stating to the acting governors my ideas respecting a new regulation for supplying mercury to the miners. One great impediment to the use of that metal, so essential in certain branches of the process, was the exorbitant price at which it was exclusively sold by the apothecaries, generally upwards of two shillings the ounce. I suggested that the mint should be the general depository for it, and that it should be issued from thence to the gold-washers without profit. By this regulation the article would be brought into general use, much to the benefit of the state as well as of private individuals. I also gave them models of earthen vessels, which might be made at a small expense, for evaporating and condensing the mercury, which, if universally adopted, would effect a great saving in the consumption of that article.
The remainder of my stay, previous to my journey to Tejuco, passed very agreeably. In the evening-parties to which I was invited, and which generally consisted of ladies and gentlemen, I observed that the English style of dress prevailed, particularly among the former. The houses of the higher classes in Villa Rica are much more convenient and better furnished than any I saw in Rio de Janeiro and S. Paulo, and are for the most part kept in the exactest order. Their beds seemed to me so elegant as to deserve a particular description. The posts were of fine wood, fluted or carved in various ways; the sides plain, the bottoms of boards or leather. The bed itself was of cotton, the sheets of fine linen edged with lace of home manufacture, full nine inches broad. The bolster was covered with fine muslin, the ends of which were edged also with lace. The pillows were made round at the ends and covered with pink sarsnet, over which was another of fine muslin, terminated with broad lace, which being starched and delicately managed had a very rich appearance. The coverlet was yellow satin of a Damask pattern, edged like the sheets and pillows with broad lace. The hangings were of the same materials, in the form of a canopy, without curtains. Not excepting the refinements of recent date in this article of furniture, I never saw beds so magnificent as those of the opulent in this captaincy.
Every thing being now in readiness for my departure, I waited upon the several inhabitants to whom I had been introduced, to express my thanks for the polite attentions they had shewn me, and received from them the most obliging assurances of friendship, and the kindest wishes for my welfare. I also, much to my regret, took leave of my valued friend and fellow-traveller, Mr. Goodall, whose affairs required him to go to St. João D’El Rey, and thence return to Rio de Janeiro. Never was a traveller more fortunate in a companion; always cheerful and in spirits, he had the happy faculty of regarding every thing on its bright side, and in all the various inconveniences of bad roads, wretched inns, miserable fare, and worse accommodations, he exemplified the truth of the adage that, “a merry heart hath a continual feast.” Being perfectly master of the language, and well acquainted with the character and manners of the people, he made himself at home every where, and generally contrived to draw from the conversation of those around him, some topic either for lively remark or instructive comment. These amiable qualities, the offspring of a cultivated understanding and an excellent heart, gave him a double claim to that respect and confidence which we ever entertain for those whom we distinguish by the name of friend.
[CHAP. XII]
Journey from Villa Rica to Tejuco, the Capital of the Diamond District.
HAVING previously sent letters to his Excellency the Conde de Linhares, giving him an account of my proceedings, I set out from Villa Rica, attended by the two soldiers and my negro servant. I passed through the city of Mariana, and entered upon the plain in its vicinity already mentioned, which, in the rainy season, is often entirely overflowed. To the left I observed a beautiful and romantic mountain, called Morro de Santa Anna, on which stood many small neat houses, surrounded by coffee-plantations and orangeries; its base was watered by a corvinha, or rivulet, the banks of which contain much gold, and are worked by the inhabitants of the mount. Passing onward, the road became very confined; and the land, though now covered with wood, appeared to have been formerly under cultivation. We here met a number of mules laden with sugar, destined for Villa Rica, or, if not sold there, for Rio de Janeiro.
We arrived and refreshed at a little village called Camargo, and passed an excellent house, situated near a rivulet of that name, where there is a gold-washing, which employs about two hundred negroes, and is said to be very productive. About a league farther we passed a poor little place called Bento Rodriguez, and about six in the evening arrived at a very considerable village, called Inficionado, which contains full fifteen hundred inhabitants. It had been more populous, but its mines having decreased, it was then on the decline. Finding no inn that offered any thing tolerable, I alighted at the house of a shopkeeper, who very civilly provided me an apartment to sleep in, and introduced me at supper to his wife, and three other ladies, whose society was very pleasant and cheerful. On the next day, after some trouble, my soldiers at a late hour procured mules, when I set out about ten o’clock upon a bad road, and, after travelling half a league, arrived at the Corgo do Inficionado, a fine rivulet flowing through a country rich in gold, particularly near the village of Santa Barbara, where washings appear in all directions. From hence to the village of Catas Altas, two leagues distant, is a tract of the finest open country I ever travelled in Brazil; it has many features resembling that between Matlock and Derby, and its mountains bear a strong similarity to those of Westmoreland. There are slips in some of them in which topazes are found, but rarely any of good quality. This district appeared equally suited for mining and agriculture, the ground being rich above as well as below. The village of Catas Altas, through which we rode, contains at least two thousand inhabitants, and is situated in a populous neighbourhood. The public buildings are well constructed, and the private houses in general appear very respectable, but bear evident marks of decay. We crossed the river which is broad but shallow, and has works on its banks of greater extent and under better management than any I had hitherto seen. The whole vicinity is irrigated by numerous rivulets, many of which are diverted from their courses to a great distance for the purpose of gold-washing. In all parts, even on the tops and sides of the hills, we observed operations of this kind going on; in the valleys there were many spots still rich in gold, which had not yet been washed.
Continuing about six miles over this naked country, we entered on a more confined road, and passing a village called Cocaes, proceeded half a league further in the dark, to the mansion of Senhor Felicio, the Capitao Mor of the district, where we alighted, having travelled this day above thirty miles. On being announced, I was immediately shown up stairs into a suite of handsome apartments, furnished with great magnificence, where I was introduced by the Capitao to his amiable lady and daughter. We were joined by Dr. Gomides, a man of talents and science, with whom I entered into conversation, and who afterwards showed me a fine collection of gold in various forms, some like duck-shot, others laminated with micaceous iron, others arborescent. He had also some specimens of stalactitic matter, on which nitre was forming, others of specular iron ore, and three or four fine pieces of chrome, which I at first took for realgar. From this gentleman I received considerable information respecting the mineralogy of the country, which is so difficult to be obtained accurate, that I found reason to reject all which did not correspond with what I saw. In the course of the evening the party was joined by the Count de Oeyenhausen, who commands a corps of cavalry in the district. He made many enquiries of me respecting England, that being the country in which he had received his education, and to which he seemed as much attached as to his native soil.
This large establishment, though still rich in gold, is worked by only two hundred negroes. One part of the estate is an auriferous mountain of schistus, containing beds of micaceous iron ore; the latter substance forms a thin stratum, which contains gold in grains laminated with it. It is singular to remark, that the cascalho, which generally, nay, almost invariably occurs in ravines and low situations, is here found at a very small depth below the surface on the summit.