After resting a few days, I accompanied the Intendant to a small diamond work, called Corolina, and returned the same day. This work some years ago produced many good stones, but at present it employs very few people. The mode of washing is exactly the same with that practised at Mandanga.
At Tejuco some tolerably good barley was shown to me; it was not so heavy as that of our best from Norfolk, and was but little known. The Intendant uses it as provender for his mules whenever he can obtain it. On examining the sample, I could not but reflect that, if land so ill-managed produced such barley, how much superior would be the quality of the grain under good management.
At a subsequent period of my visit, the Intendant, with whom malt-liquor is a favorite beverage, expressed a desire to see some of the barley converted into malt, in order to brew beer, and, after repeated solicitations, I undertook to make the experiment. A quantity was procured which I endeavoured to prepare in the best manner that circumstances would allow. Having steeped it the requisite time, I put it on a cold floor, and managed it as is customary in our malt-houses; when it had germinated sufficiently, I dried it over a slow fire; afterwards, having cleansed it from the combs by rubbing, I crushed it, and finally mashed it. The infusion produced a tolerable wort, which, however, I did not deem sufficiently good, as it wanted saccharine matter: this deficiency I supplied by the admixture of a small quantity of sugar. It was then boiled until it was judged of a proper consistency, and a very pleasant bitter was added instead of hops. The fermentation I endeavoured to promote with leaven, which had been prepared a few days before, and, when that process had terminated, the liquor was put into small casks, which we stopped close. Though it might not prove good from the hasty manner in which the process was conducted, yet the mode of preparing it was exemplified, which was the main purpose of the experiment. It appeared to me by no means impossible either to make malt or to brew beer, if proper places were made under-ground, so as to ensure a moderate degree of cold for the operation of malting, and for the subsequent process. Sugar is here so abundant, that any quantity of saccharine matter might be added to improve the poorness of the malt; and it is highly probable that a very pleasant beverage might be made, which would relieve the inhabitants of this remote district from the necessity of having recourse to the metropolis for bad wines, and from the ill effects which proceed from drinking bad spirits distilled in the vicinity.
Many parts of this fine country abound in oranges, pines, peaches, guavas, and a great variety of indigenous fruits, both sweet and acid, particularly the jaboticaba, which is very rich in mucilaginous matter; yet no attempt has hitherto been made to obtain wine from any of them. Ginger and pepper grow here spontaneously, and many spices might probably be cultivated with success.
Grass for cattle was as dear at Tejuco as at Rio de Janeiro, and the small quantity which cost eight-pence would scarcely suffice a mule a day. The Intendant and the Captain of the cavalry had each of them about two acres under cultivation, of a species called Engorda Cavallos (fattener of horses), which grew from five to seven feet high, with a thick esculent stem, and long lancet-shaped leaves. It has a large fibrous root, and is well-calculated for stony ground where there is little earth; it even grew among rounded stones that had been washed three years before[49].
The Intendant, who had a taste for rural economy, and more particularly his lady, were very anxious to make their own butter and cheese, and expressed a great desire to be instructed in the process as practised in England, though milk was very scarce; and it was not without much difficulty that, after sending a few miles, about three gallons were collected. In the mean time such household utensils as were most fit for the purpose, having been made ready, and others procured, very excellent butter was produced, and afterwards a few cheeses were made, which there was every reason to suppose would prove good. The lady interested herself greatly in the experiment, not only performing part of the operations, with the assistance of her daughter, but inviting several of her friends in the town to see with what little trouble the processes were performed, and distributing the products among them[50]:—a rare example of industry! I am decidedly of opinion, that, were the females of Brazil better educated, especially in whatever relates to domestic economy, and were they accustomed to see the concerns of a household conducted with regularity and order, they would be better members of society; for I have ever observed in them that inquisitive disposition and desire of information, which may be called the first step to improvement. But what can be expected from ill-educated females, reared from their infancy among negras, in miserable houses, scarcely affording a shelter from the rain, or a shade from the sun, and destitute of every ray of comfort!
In 1815, some iron works were established at the Morro de Pilar, a mountain rich in ore, about twenty-five leagues south of Tejuco, on the road to Villa Rica. The Observador Portuguese, vol. xvii. p. 143, contains an interesting account of the festivities which took place when the first sample of iron was brought from thence to the capital of the Diamond District.
[CHAP. XIV.]
Some Account of the Districts of Minas Novas and Paracatu.—Of the large Diamond found in the River Abaiti.