The quadrupeds of Cerro do Frio are common to other parts of Brazil. Mules are the principal beasts of burthen, and are much dearer than in the districts more to the southward. Horses are not so numerous, but cheaper, being in very little request, and used only on journeys of pleasure. Horned cattle are bred at a considerable distance, and brought for the consumption of the place. Sheep are almost unknown; hogs and goats are more plentiful; of dogs there are but few, and the race is very indifferent. Ounces are very seldom seen; there are not many deer; the danta, or tapir, is not uncommon.
Of birds there are a few varieties, but in no great numbers; partridges are rather common; we shot several in our way to the different mines, which proved good eating. Domestic fowls are in tolerable plenty, but by no means cheap, being eighteen-pence to two shillings each.
Of serpents, I saw only one, and it was harmless: but I was informed that the rattle-snake and the jararaca, both equally venomous, are common in this district. Lizards are very numerous, and the cayman, or alligator, is found in most of the lagoons and rivers.
Fish are extremely scarce in all the streams, owing to the quantity of matter with which their waters are impregnated from the numerous washings.
This district is in general free from that troublesome plague, the mosquito, as that insect is peculiar to low and swampy places, and does not bite with such disagreeable effect in elevated and airy situations. Bees are but little attended to, and are scarcely known; were the management of them better understood and practised by the inhabitants, they might be much increased, and wax might even be exported.
In closing my observations on this district, I may be permitted to add some particulars relative to the capital. The families whom I had the honor to visit appeared to live in great sociability. They frequently form tea-parties. The dress of the ladies consists almost entirely of articles of English manufacture, cotton-prints, straw hats, artificial flowers, jewelry, &c. Owing to the distance of Tejuco from a sea-port, piano-fortes have not been introduced here, or they would probably be in considerable demand; for the ladies in general have a taste for music, and touch the guitar with great spirit and elegance. Dancing is a favorite amusement, and all appear much pleased and animated with the English country-dance. The ladies seldom go abroad, except to mass, and then they are usually carried in a chair hung with curtains and a canopy, and suspended from a pole borne by two men. The sedentary habits of the females I have often thought injurious to their health; but, since English saddles have been introduced, they begin to take airings on horseback.
Warm baths are very generally used, being considered of great efficacy in removing recent colds, to which all persons here are liable, on account of the peculiar nature of the climate. They are invariably offered at night to travellers, as a means of relieving the pains occasioned by the fatigues of the day.
A continuance of ill health obliged me to take leave of my friends in Tejuco, and to return to Rio de Janeiro with all possible expedition. It will not be expected that I should relate all the particulars of my journey thither, as I retraced my former route with a few occasional deviations; I shall therefore confine myself to whatever I saw worthy of interest which I did not observe on my way to Tejuco.
Dr. Camara did me the honor to accompany me as far as San Gonçal, and showed me a work a short distance from the establishment, near the margin of a river of the same name. As I staid here one entire day with this gentleman, I had leisure to examine this singular situation, where I, for the first time, found mountains of sienite, incredibly hard, composed of hornblende and feldspar. About forty years ago this excavation, which was of considerable depth, was suddenly filled up by the bursting-in of the side, for want of proper support to resist the pressure of the incumbent stratum, which falling in immense masses, totally destroyed the works; and they remained in this state until about two years ago. As the wings of vague report are in general much longer than those of truth, this place had the reputation of being extremely rich in diamonds, and the apparent impossibility of clearing it, added greatly to the credit which was given to it. Old inhabitants came forward to say that they had been employed in the works when the accident happened, and that the diamonds found in them excelled in number, size, and fineness those produced at any other place. These reports soon reached the ears of the Intendant, who, within a year after entering his office at Tejuco, formed a plan of clearing and excavating the works. Such a stupendous undertaking was calculated only for a man of his superior talents and enterprise. He stationed there four hundred negroes under the direction of the best officers on the establishment; inclined planes were formed, and pulleys calculated to lift immense weights were erected. As some of the masses of sienite were too large to be raised whole, and the substance was so hard that steel would not stand to bore it, they were obliged to contrive means for breaking them. Recourse was had to large fires, with which the rocks were heated, and cold water was thrown upon them from tubs suspended by long pieces of timber formed somewhat like cranes. After six months of very heavy and incessant labor, the place was cleared. Let us for a moment reflect on the sanguine expectations which had been formed respecting the size of the diamonds, their number and brilliancy, the honors that would be conferred on the officers, &c. and we may judge what must have been the general disappointment, when, after the very bottom had been scraped, not a diamond was found! Thus ended this serious trial, made at great expense, labor, and risk; like many other speculations, built on the delusive stories propagated by old miners respecting places formerly worked, by which new adventurers are generally tempted, and frequently ruined.