\\\t PRINCETON, N. J. /O ■ / ''Cjt % Purchased by the Hammill Missionary Fund. Division Section Number FZ 5.1 3 .W45Z V. Z THE CAVE-CIIURCn, ROCK, AND VII.I ACE OK SAO BOM JK.7.1S DA I.APA. EXPLORING AND TRAVELLING THREE THOUSAND MILES THROUGH BRAZIL FROM RIO DE JANEIRO TO MARANHAO WITH AN APPENDIX CONTAINING STATISTICS AND OBSERVATIONS ON CLIMATE, RAILWAYS, CENTRAL SUGAR FACTORIES, MINING, COM- MERCE, AND FINANCE ; THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE, AND PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF BRAZIL. BY JAMES W. M. INST. C.F.., A WELLS, ILLUSTRATED WITH NUMEROUS REPRODUCTIONS OF THE AUTHOR'S SKETCHES, AND ORIGINAL MAPS AND SECTIONS. IN TWO VOLUMES VOL. II. iLontimt SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON CROWN BUILDINGS, 188, FLEET STREET 1886 \_All rights reseiied] LONDON; PRINTED BY GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, LD., ST. John’s house* clerkenwell road* e.c. I CONTEXTS. CHAPTER I. FROM JANUARIA TO MANGA DO ARMADOR. I Our united troops — A pleasant ride in the forest — Fazenda de Mo- cambo — A Brazilian gentleman — Luxurious quarters — Produce in excess of demand — Cheap land — Invisible ladies — British weather — Evidences of cultivation — A cattle farm — A fortunate shelter — Rough fare — A sudden storm — Limestone hills — A varied country — Village of Jacare — A river trader — Chaff— We astonish the natives — A ddtour — A trial to one’s patience — Fantastic forms of limestone— A struggle amidst thorns, brambles, and swamps — A vaqueiro’s house, grimy quarters — A musical disturbance — A wet morning, a wet day, and a flooded country — Hospitality refused — A refuge — A damp night’s lodging — A goodnatured black — A welcome to sun- shine again — IManga do Armador — Low type of inhabitants, a riverside Wapping — Effects of malaria — Probable future im- provement in climate of River Valley CHAPTER II. FROM MANGA DO ARMADOR TO CARINHANHA. Another wet march — Difficulties of passing flooded streams — Orchids — A varied vegetation — A jararaca-assu snake — A sensible woman — Generous and kind hosts — Valueless mutton — An industrious and contented man— Fazenda de Tabud — Another ugly crossing — Cattle districts — Ponte de Lagoa — Mosquitos — A dreary night— Carousing black neighbours — Dismal squalor — A haunt of the demon sloth — The riverside A 2 IV Contents. PAGE road — The rising of the waters — The boundary of Minas Geraes and Bahia — The Rio Carinhanha— The city and its inhabitants — Secluded lives of the females— A long delay— Programme of explorations to be made — Climate — Idle lives — Improvidence — A vessel is chartered for a voyage down the river — Good-bye to old Tommy .18 CHAPTER III. FROM CARINHANHA TO BARRA DO RIO GRANDE. Departure from Carinhanha down the river — The Ajojo — Head winds — A mosquito-infested port — First night on the river — An early start— River etiquette — An impromptu sail — The shores of the river— The crew — Flooded lands — A sunset on the river — Great appetites of the crew — A misty morning — Sao Bom Jezus da Lapa — A curious rock — Who are we? — A hospitable padre — A riverside vicarage — A Brazilian Mecca — The crew ashore — Across country on a raft — The flood— A falling barometer — A squall — A dirty night — Mosquitos again — A night voyage — Sitio de Matto— Proposed capital of new province — The island of fear — Urubii — A sleepy city— A local magnate — The Brazilian student — A night ashore — moun- tainous country — The Carnahuba palm — Bom Jardim — An excellent situation and healthy climate — Morro do Pard — An adventure — A bad lot — A geographical bootmaker — A dreamy night voyage — A riverside squatter — The war of the Guimaraes — Cidade da Barra 30 CHAPTER IV. FROM BARRA DO RIO GRANDE TO BOQUEIRAO. Adeos — The yacht — Intruders — A swampy land — A night in a lagoon — A convenient “explorer's” bed — Water-lilies — Difficult navigation — Estreita da Serra — Hot weather — A toilsome pro- gress — A river-scene — The splendid physique of the bo.atinen — Patient toilers — A tramp along the shore — An uncouth reception — A river blocked with fish — Slow travelling — On mule-back again — A jovial companion — Boqueirao — A picturesque situation — A possible future — A vill.age school- master — Indolence of the Boqueiraoenses — pleasant even- ing — Navigation of the Rio Grande, etc. ... . . 58 C()NTKX rs. CHAl’TKR \'. liOQUEIR.lO TO SANTA RITA. My new troop — I pass for anti-Christo — The Rio Preto — Mew class of country — A park-like land — Marsh birds — mid-day halt — An accident — Tamandua — An exquisite evening scene- Rodrigues the tropeiro — Good times — .A soap tree — Estreita — A contented and homely family — Gallinha d’ Agua — A mandioca mill — A batuque dance — A missing mule — Countless butter- flies — A prosperous people — Brazilian homes — Santa Rita — A hearty reception — Productions of Santa Rita — The street — Public officials — Various routes to Goyaz and the Tocantins — Dangers and difficulties threaten — Finding a strayed mule — The Santa Ritanas — A wet day in Santa Rita .... CHAPTER VI. FROM SANTA RITA TO FORMOS.A. Senhor Francisco — A medicinal plant for dropsy — Wooded lands — Peixe — Cattle-farmers — Donna Chiquinha and the Motucas — The Brazilian Tzetze — A cavalheiro d’industria — A successful gambler — A cold in the tropics — A rich soil — In the forest — A tired mule — Feroz attacked — Prompt revenge — Formosa — A friend in need — Intruders — A rainy season — The verdant village of Formosa — A pretty riverside — The tedium of delay — A prosperous farmer — Indolence of the natives — Doubtful ownership of land — The unknown Sapao — Preparations for entering wild districts — A cultivated valley — Death of Donna Chiquinha — A Brazilian wake — A Brazilian leather leggings — Rodrigue’s temerity — Signs of fine weather — A morning’s shooting ........... CHAPTER VII. FROM FORMOSA TO THE MOUTH OF THE RIO SAPIO. Additions to my troop — Don Quixote — Forebodings of disaster — A wandering goldsmith — A cattle-farm — Approach to the Geraes — The Burity palm groves of the Sapao and its mouth — Santa Maria — Indian raids — The last houses — A charming situation — Prospects of adventure — Rodrigue’s alarm — Difficul- ties of deciding upon a route — The Rio Sapao — Jose Grosso I'ACB 73 89 no V) Contents. CHAPTER VIII. FROM THE MOUTH TO THE SOURCE OF THE RIO SAP.vO. r/ The valley of the Sapiio — No more roads — Signs of game — The morasses of the Burity groves — First night in the wilds — Sand- stone hil s of the Geraes — Picturesque country — Vampire bats — Runaway animals — The Geraes — Tree-lilies — Indications of saline earth — A glorious country for a ride — Macaws — A night alarm — A tapir — A glen of sylvan beauty — The Cabc9a de Frade, a ground cactus — A grim solitude — A phosphorescent fungus, Jlor de coco — Construction of the fort — An escape from a centipede — Deer-stalking — Ant-hills and bees — Great quantities of honey — The Don reports signs of Indians — Day- break in camp — Fording a morass — A novel method of deer- hunting — Indications of peccaries — A splendid climate— Lovely nights— Abundance of game — The swamp of the Nove Galhos — Head-quarters of the peccaries — An awkward situation — Peccaries v. dogs— An obstructed route — The valley again — Preparations to receive the enemy — The camp — The attack of the peccaries — A fierce onslaught — A wild, weird scene — An anxious moment — The retreat of the peccaries — The Don becomes deaf — The garrison reinforced — The battle renewed — Rodrigue trembles — A long night of excitement — The siege is laiscd after great loss by the enemy — Description of the peccaries — Corn in Egypt— Burity wine — A perplexing sight — A beautiful valley — The source of the Sapao— An inte.esting geographical discovery — Mysterious green grass— Pig-sticking — An ant-bear speared — The ant-bear described — Difficult travelling — Sufferings of the mules — An ascent — The lakes of the valley of the watershed — The equal altitude of flat-topped eminences — The watershed of the Sao Francisco and Tocantins — Denudation of the Western country — A grand country for cattle-breeding — A clump of Pindahibas i CHAPTER IX. FROM THE SOURCE OF THE S-ATAO TO MATTO GRANDE. Goyaz entered- Prairies — The gigantic fortress-like bluffs of the Chapada de Mangabeira — The Rio Diogo — Marching through solitudes — The tearing anacondti — The corn almost exhausted — Difficulty of following a route — Crossing the Corrego do Buraco do Diabo — A night-sccnc in camp — An uncertain route, and corn all gone — Strangers in sight— A council of war— A Contents. reconnaissance — The vegetation of the hill-tops— A world of brown grass- A puzzling prospe t — Signs of distant habitations — The trail of the strangcro — A Burity frond raft — On the track of the strangers— An exhilarating atmosphere — Healthy cattle — Arrival at a house — Peace or war? — A sturdy family of back- woodsmen— The strangers discovered — The outlawed Araujos — A kind and hospitible host — Anybody's land — The Sapao found to be a short cut to Goyaz — A lonely habitation — Josd do Matto Grande and his family— Escape from a long sojourn in a wilderness — A borderland farm — .Arrival of my troop — A night under a roof again — An exploration and hunting party — A skirmish with the peccaries — Chased up a tree — A few exciting moments — The anaconda snakes of the marshes — Habits of the peccaries — Exploring the country . . . . 148 CHAPTER X. FROM MAXrO GRANDE TO PORTO FRANCO. Isolated hills — Limestone formation — An undulating country — The Rio Somninho the source of the Sommo — Excellent cattle and grand grazing-’ands — Charming woods — .-kbsence of fevers — Espirito Santo village — Top-boots from a snake-skin— A fine specimen skin — Bicho de pv — An independent village — .A troublesome road — Boa Esperan^a — A sertaodjos farm — An enterprising Brazilian — A night with baratas or cockroaches — .A Brazilian pioneer — Dangers of river bathing — .A tiresome ford — A stormy night under canvas — Bob escapes drowning — Hard work in crossing a stream — .A rocky country — Vestiges of the old plateau — A rough bit of road — An adventure with a rattle- snake, and another with a huge stag — A party of travellers — The good-natured Geralistas of Jalaoao — The barren gerdcs — Arrive at Porto Franco — The farm at Porto Franco — I become wearied with my travels — Dull times — Cattle-raising at Porto Franco — A wild plantation — Good treatment of slaves — Climate — Costliness of salt — Indians and missionaries — A raft is con- structed — Good-bye to my follow ers — The crew of the raft . 169 CHAPTER XI. FROM PORTO FRANCO DOWN THE RIO DO SO.MNO TO THE TOCANTINS. .Adeosito Porto Franco — On the Rio do Somno — Our first pancada — Camp ashore— Indian cookery — .A perilous prospect — .A Contents. PAGE viii gusty evening — A jaguar’s roar — Morning on the river — The banks of the Somno — Curious bees’-nest — Birds and animals of the river-side — Pancadas- -Feroz. and his swimming powers — A wild cat shot — Cooking under difficulties — A rough night — Bad prospects — Approach to the rapids — Shooting the r.ipids of ‘‘ O Funil” — Imprisoned in the valley of the river — Grand scenery — Borne onwards in a rush of waters — A sudden and terrible spectacle — In the vortex of the Apertada Hora— A few- breathless moments — On the rocks — A w-ild struggle — A narrow- escape — Disappearance of the r.ver — An unexpected outlet — Splendid behaviour of the crew — Loss and damage — A solitude — An in ersecting mountain range — An uncomfortable night — Signs of diamonds — Peccaries again — A cautious advance in the woods — Sent up a tree — Skirmishing — Pork for dinner — Patience, and obedience of Feroz — The wild banana — Monkeys — Life on the Somno — Bob’s damp bed — A hot day — A squalid farm — The Rio Perdido — The shores filled with animal life — The lower Somno — Reach the Tocantins . . . . .192 CHAPTER XII. FROM PEDRO AFF^NSO TO CAROLINA DOWN THE RIO TOCANTINS. -Arrival at Pedro Affonso — An indifferent host — Too late for the last “bote” — The botes and traders of the Rio Tocantins — An old Indian settlement — Indian boys — The Montaria The new crew — Frae Rafael and his mission — The Coroado Indians — The country around the village — A tender craft — My tent is sacrificed — Adeos, Pedro .Affonso — Cramped accommodation — Paddles of the Tocantins 7 ). .Sao Francisco — The shores of the Tocantins — A murderous rascal and his home — Persecution of the Indians and unpunished crimes of the interior of Brazil — Well-watered lands — Bico de Toucano and his resources — On the river Tocantins — .A woeful loss — Uselessness of the in- habitants — Arrival at Carolina — .Advised to abandon the voyage to Para — The city and its inhabitants — Disappointment in obtaining a troop for the journey overland — Scarcity of g.uiie — .A hilly neighbourhood — Gold and copper districts — A churcli festival — A negro festival 214 CHAPTER XIII. FROM CAROLINA TO CHAPADA. Departure from Carolina — Poor means of land travelling in North Brazil — Chasing cattle— -A compliim-ntary escort — .A merry camp— A hilly, elevated country — Picturesque hills — Ange- lin o — An industrious negro — Castle Hill — A curious formation Contents. IX — My fellow-traveller — A thinly-inhabited country — Rough tracks — In the woods in the darkness — A scramble in the dark — Joao Nogueiro— A copper region — Our wretched pack- horses- Dewy nights in camp — A march on foot — Scarcity of game — A charming camp — A strange tree — The Serra da Cinia an important range — A mountain path — A rattlesnake — Misery of travelling with poor animals — A tiring tramp — A palm forest — Morro do Trade— Timidity of countrywomen — A welcome rest — An untidy farm — Good news: a fresh horse — Flat plains and deep valleys — In a butcher’s shop for the night — Copper indications — Trezedellas — Arrive at Chapada . 237 CHAPTER XIV. FROM CHAPADA, DOWN THE RIO GRAJAHU, TO VICTORIA ON THE RIO MEARIM. A pleasant family — Chapada children — A rich copper region — The sessions at Chapada — Trade — A white Indian — We charter an igaritc — A grand departure from Capada — Our new craft and its crew— The river Grajahu and its beauties — A camp by the forest — Howling monkeys — A quiet solitude — Mosquitos again —Animal life of the river-side — A mountain of whetstones — A hill of satin spar — A foul place — A night voyage — Snags — Buried alive — A night of torment — Botes of the river — In the forest — Ferocious fish ; the piranhas — A. race— A tortuous river — Morro do Oratorio — Fishing — Vegetation of the shores — Gam- mella Indians — First habitations since leaving Chapada — Hidden beauties — Pium sand-flies — Snags — An Indian anecdote — An exchange of compliments — The effect of a revolver — A morning mist — Torments of sand-flies — A day’s journey to gain 600 yards — A useful parasite — An evening scene — A collision with a snag — Boarded by fire-ants — Amidst the bush in the darkness — A perfect inferno — Continual torments — The Director of Indians — Valuable natural productions of the forest — Indian village — Sobradinho and its tenants — A landslip — Itambeira Indians — Fever appears — A grand forest — Brown river-water — Untiring paddlers— An alligator and the Piranhas — A Penelope — A lost dinner — A dense bush — An Indian alarm — A noisy night with frogs — Dangers of a sleep on a sand-bank — Mournful tokens — The deadly climate of the river in certain seasons — More copper indications — A grand copper region — Ingativas— A diver bird — A farm abandoned through mosquitos — A long day’s work — A weary night — Inhabited lands — Brilliant distinctness of tropical X Contents. i'Ar;K scenery — An industrious couple — A capoeira dc pahnerias—.\ haunted lake — The submerged lands of the mouth of the Grajahu — A steaming-hot locality — On the Rio Mearim — No land to camp on — A slow and fatiguing journey — Arrive at Victoria — Rough quarters 259 CHAPTER XV. FROM VICTORIA TO M A RANH AO. S. Antonio’s day at Victoria — The town and its Padre — Good-bye to my companion — On to Arary — A bustling port — An influential trader— Portuguese hospitality — Passage booked to Maranhao — An evening thunder-storm — An unusual scene — A return from the wilderness — A gossip with a frank young lady — A marshy country — A considerable proprietor — The navigation of the lower river and its trade — A crowded craft — Kindness of mine host — Rough accommodation — A dreary scene — A tidal wave — A river steamer — In the bay of Sao Marcos — Land at Maranhao — A return to civilization — Difficuhies in leaving the port— A helpless countryman and a kind and useful Brazilian official — On board the Bahia — An attack of fever at sea — Bob’s disgust and departure to his home — Adieu to poor Feroz — Lost, stolen, or strayed . . .297 Appendix A. — Survey of the Rios Paraopeba and Upper Rio Sao Fran cisco 31 1 Appendix B.— Exploration of the Tocantins— S.to Fran- cisco Watershed; from Carinhanha to the Valley OF THE PARANAN 313 Appendix C. — Climate 316 Appendix 1 ).— Gold and Diamond Minino . . . .325 Appendix E.— Railways 332 Appendix F. — Central Sugar Factories. .... 344 Appendix G.— The Pa.st, Present, and Future of Brazil . 347 Appendix 11 .— The Pi'ivsical Geography of Brazil • 359 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS. PACE The cave-church, village, and rock of Sao Bom Jezus da Lapa Frontispiece An evening thunder-storm i A matutor on a chilly morning i8 The North Square, city of Carinhanha 26 Sailing down the Rio Sao Francisco 30 In the lagoons of the Rio Grande 58 Sunset on the Rio Grande 65 Marsh birds : the Jabiru-moleque stork, the Quem-quem, and the Ja?ana 73 The wooded valley of the Rio Preto, near Formosa . . . .89 Buritirana and Burity palms and the Rio Preto at Santo Maria . 1 10 A peccary “ at bay ” 119 The camp stormed by peccaries 134. Pig-sticking in Goyaz 140 An “ indio manso ” (a friendly Indian) 148 A night-scene in camp in the wilds of Goyaz 153 Sighting strangers in the wilderness • I55 A nan'ow escape from drowning 169 The Morro do Munducuru 180 Departure from Porto Franco on the Rio do Somno . . . .192 In the rapids of the Apertada Hora 203 On the Rio Tocantins 214 The city of Carolina, Rio Tocantins 231 A midnight festival at Carolina 236 Crossing the arid table-lands of Maranhao 237 Crossing the Serra da Cinta 250 The pra?a of the town of Chapada ....... 257 Manoel the pilot 260 A.n Indian 277 A field of sugar-cane . ■ 2gy The port of Arary, Rio Mearim 299 List of Illustrations and Maps. xii MAPS AND SECTONS. I'AGE Sketch map of route from the source of the Rio Sapao to the Rio Tocantins, and a section showing elevations of land . . . 148 Sketch map of route from Carolina to Chapada, and a section showing elevations of land . 237 Longitudinal section of formation level of railway in the valleys of the Rio Paraopcba and upper Rio Srio Francisco . . . • 31 1 General map of Route from Rio de Janeiro to Maranhao, showing configuration of surface of country, and a section showing eleva- tion of land traversed. A physical map of Brazil. THREE THOUSAND MILES THROUGH BRAZIL. CHAPTER I. FROM JANUARIA TO MANGA DO ARMADOR. Our united troops — A pleasant ride in the forest — Fazenda dc Mocombo — A Brazilian gentleman — Luxurious quarters — Produce in excess of demand — Cheap land — Invisible ladies — British weather — Evidences of cultivation — A cattle farm — A fortunate shelter — Rough fare — A sudden storm — Limestone hills — A varied country — Village of Jacard — A river trader — Chaff — We astonish the natives — A detour — A trial to one’s patience — Fantastic forms of limestone — A struggle amidst thorns, brambles, and swamps — A vaqueiro’s house, grimy quarters — A musical disturbance — A wet morning, a wet day, and a flooded country — Hospitality refused — A refuge — A damp night’s lodging — A good-natured black — A welcome to sunshine again — Manga do Armador — Low type of inhabitants, a riverside Wapping — Effects of malaria — Probable future improvement in climate of River Valley. January 2yd. — This morning our united troops made a goodly show as we defiled out of the city. Besides our three selves we had nine men, one boy, twenty-seven mules and horses, and three dogs, Feroz, Caranca, and Pequeno. Soon after leaving the town, the road gradually leads away from the river-side, passing many habitations and long level tracts of inundated land, the openings in the low scrub being the only indications of the VOL. II. B 2 Januaria to Manga do Armador. road ; this extended for eight or nine miles, when the track entered a forest of splendid trees, where a fairly good and broad waggon-road offered us a pleasant canter ahead of the mule-train. Even the dogs, by their gambols and joyful barkings, seemed to appreciate the merits of a dry wide road in the pleasant shade. The forest w'as singularly free from the usual dense undergrowth, and many charming glades and openings between the grand trees formed many scenes of sylvan beauty. Con- spicuous amongst the trees were giant buttressed gammeleira, many of them wreathed in ma.ssive encircling llianas, such as the vionstera deliciosa, and bedecked w’ith brilliant flow'er- ing crimson bromelias. Delicate tree and other ferns, and gnariroba and jeribd palms softened with their feathery foliage the dark outline of the massive trunks. Cipos or creepers hung in long pendent lines like the cordage of a ship, or formed graceful curves from tree to tree ; numerous orchids, parasites, mosses, and lichens decorated the trunks and branches, to such an extent that almost every tree was a garden in itself. At the end of twenty miles, the even ground of the forest changed to rolling hills of a more upland country that had been cleared of its primitive forest and turned into pasture- land. We soon afterwards arriv’ed at a substantial, two-storied fazenda, the Fazenda de Mocombo.' Along its wide front, extended on the first floor, a pleasantly shaded verandah where an old gentleman in a dressing-gown was .seated in a rocking-chair ; and on our requesting permission to speak with the proprietor, he replied, ''Son sen criado" (I am your servant), and further desired us to dismount and enter.. We presented our cards and briefly explained our nationality and ' This place is indicated on maps as a villaj;e or small town. Not at all an uncommon mistake is it to thus misrepresent the most impori.ant estates as villages. Mocombo, like (^uilombo, is a retreat of fugitive slaves. Luxurious Quarters. o purposes, and that our large troop would shortly arrive. The old gentleman courteously apologized for not rising from his chair, sa}’ing, “ So?/ in/iito ve//to e doente" (I am very old and ill) ; but, with a kindly smile, he expressed his pleasure to receive us, and all the poor accommodation of his house was at our disposition, clapped his hands, and directed his negros to take the animals and prepare for the rest of the troop. Our worthy host was a Senhor Marcellino — I regret I have forgotten the rest of his name — a well-educated gentleman and representative of the cla.ss of educated Brazilian planters. I shall long remember and be grateful, not only for the personal comforts bestowed upon us, but for the genial courtesy and kindliness expressed by this kind old gentleman in every word and deed. That night we revelled in the almost forgotten luxuries of a well-appointed bedroom and a civilized table : to meet such a place as this in these back- woods is like finding a jewel in a dust-heap. The verandah overlooked a prettily arranged flower and fruit garden in the front of the house, where we found many an European garden flower growing in great luxuriance. Beyond the garden, the ground stretched far away in great rolling grassy downs, dotted with many herds of browsing cattle ; the tall straight trunks of a neighbouring forest and the blue outline of distant highlands completed the picture ; by the side of the fazenda a clear stream of water murmured a monotone as it flowed amongst the stones of a pebbly bed, and created the pleasant music of the splash of the falling water of an adjoining water-wheel. In our pleasant circumstances, with what an appreciative mind a traveller can enjoy the peaceful surroundings of such a scene in the quiet of the evening, when the lights of the western sky assume the pearly greys and delicate azure tints of the short twilight of these regions, and the first chill mists of night appear in filmy clouds like snow-white wool. Our host unfortunately had to retire early, but before doing so he told us in conversation that his family had occu- B 2 4 Januaria to Manga do Armador. pied lands in and around Januaria for many generations, and had been planters in the good old mining and colonial times, when agricultural produce was scarce and very valuable and slaves were cheap ; now, he says, we are all planters or traders, and produce more than we can profitably dispose of ; he further told us that he owned an adjoining estate of rich forest and pasture-land with a good house, fences, and farm buildings on it ; the area was very considerable — in fact, he hardly knew its extent ; for this he said he would accept 200/., for there were many more sellers of land than buyers. I know we all saw with regret the sun rise the next morn- ing and necessitate our departure from the most comfortable quarters we had met with since leaving Tabolciro Grande. There were some female occupants of the fazenda, for we heard their voices, but they were as removed from sight as if they were the inmates of an Eastern harem. As usual in many of the better order of fazendas in the country, we were only permitted to pay for the corn the animals had consumed, but I knew that some of the blacks would have a merry time after we had left ; for it is rarely that these poor slaves in these country aigenhos can obtain a few luxuries to soften their dreary lives. Unfortunately we were not enabled to get away so early as anticipated, for a sudden and violent downpour of rain prevented the loading of the mules for some hour.-', as it is always advisable in travelling not only to “ keep your powder dry,” but your baggage also. Late in the morning, however, the united troop formed the order of march, and away we once more jog, jogged, splashing through the muddy road and turbulent little streams ; a drizzle still was falling, the sky was overcast with masses of piled up leaden-coloured clouds, and the vegetation dripped with moisture from every leaf as we again entered the sombre .shade of forest. A rainy day in Brazil seems to have much more depressing effects than even to a tourist in an out-of-the-way village, say British Wkathkr. 5 ill the west of Ireland, for in these tropical countries one gets so accustomed to the glare and brightness of the sunshine, the brilliant skies, and foliage glistening in the fierce light, that whenever a day of the drizzling British climate occurs, down goes the thermometer, up goes one’s liver, everything becomes damp, and chilly, and muddy, and every one looks pinched, cold, and disagreeable. Here in the forest, as we ride along splashing in the mud> carefully drawing mackintoshes over every corner of our limbs, for the wet leaves of branches occasionally sweep our faces, and ornament our noses with drops of crystal water ; detached clouds of mist glide like phantoms through the trees, and the drip, drip, drip of water is heard everywhere ; then sometimes a mule, without apparent reason, would stampede off into the adjoining bush, jam and crush the baggage against the trees, the noise creates other stampedes and confusion of all the troop ; all our careful arrangement of mackintoshes arc no longer regarded as each of us struggles amongst the wet bushes to catch the recalcitrant mules, and reform the troop ; of course, on such occasions it always rains harder, so on we go, wet, chilly and muddy, to an unknown camp. In this forest- land, we passed in the lowlands many clearings of exhausted or existing cultivated plots of maize, beans, tobacco, cotton, castor-tree, and mandioca ; the soil is exceedingly rich and well watered, and the country is admitted to be very salubrious, yet land can be obtained here in comparatively almost any quantity and quality, forest, grass, or scrub, for a mere bagatelle. In the afternoon we emerged from the almost continual forest on to undulating hilly ground, grass-clad hills, and wooded, watered valleys, combining all the elements required for cattle-raising or agriculture in admirable combination. At about 3 p.m., after travelling about eighteen miles, we arrived at the currals and adobe houses of a fazenda nestling in the shade of great gammeleira trees and paddocks of fruit-trees : oranges, bananas, papau\ ginipapos, jaboiicabaSy 6 Januaria to ]\Ianga do Armador. &c. The sky had cleared, and the sun’s rays brightened up the scene, the place looked homely and prosperous, akhough to an English farmer’s eyes it would have appeared very untidy. On riding up to the door of the residence, a general stampede of all the female occupants took place ; doors and window shutters were hurriedly closed and fastened as we approached. Some blacks engaged in yoking oxen to a bullock-cart informed us that the “senhor ” was not at home, that his name was Marcellino de Sa, a breeder of cattle and manufacturer of rapadura (bricks of sugar), and that a short distance beyond was an empty house that we might occupy for the night. Continuing our journey over more hills of grass and scrub, and streamlets and woods in the bottoms, we even- tually crossed a stream lOO feet wide, flowing over a flat rocky bed, with banks of gravel, and ascended the rise of a hill on the opposite side, and there found our new quarters, quite a new large house with a tiled roof, adobe walls, shuttered windows, and the door standing invitingly open ; truly we had no reason to regret Senhor Marcellino’s absence, such quarters as these were to be duly appreciated in such weather as we might expect at night. It was a lively and bustling scene, as mule after mule arrived and the process of unloading and carrying the baggage into the house went on ; then man and horse stretched their stiffened limbs. Each of the mules as soon as relieved of its burdens, after a good sniff and examination of the ground, walks round the selected spot once, and then slowly goes down on its knees, and turns over on its back for a good roll in the sand. Whilst the dinner was in proce.ss of preparation, my two companions and I adjourned to the stream at the bottom of the hill for a plunge and a swim in the pellucid water. The jM-eparations for dinner were not made by a cook in a white blouse and cap, in a modern kitchen, but by black and A Squall. / nnicldy Bob ; in a pail of water, beans, dry beef, and salt pork were indiscriminately soaked, and a little of the accompanying dirt extracted before being put in the saucepan or on the fire. The house was admirably situated, and commanded extensive views of well-diversified scenery all around ; at the foot of the hill was the stream of clear water, clear even then in the rainy weather ; beyond it in all directions appeared rolling hills, some clad with fine forests, others with grass or with low scrub between thickets of trees and groups of palms. Away to the west about ten or twelve miles, appeared the dark outline of an irregular range of elevated hills, forming probably the bluffs of the Western Sao Franciscan table- land. As the sun set dark banks of clouds gathered over these heights, shadowing their blue outlines to dark purples and greys ; as the clouds advanced the shadows extended over hill and dale, then slanting lines of pale grey appeared be- tween clouds and hills, thunder crashed, and jagged lines of vivid light flashed, slight puffs of wind were occasionally felt, a distant hoarse murmur was heard, the clouds rapidly extended, enveloping earth and sky in a pall of grey mist, more and more puffs of wind, a few heavy drops of warm rain fell, then the leaves whirled in the air, palms and trees bowed, and with a hoarse cry the storm of wind and rain, and crashing thunder and vivid lightning was upon us. Thankful we were as we sat in the semi-darkness with door and window closed to have such a sanctuary. How the wind howled around, and the vivid flashes of lightning illumined the interior of the room, followed by terrific salvoes of heaven’s artillery ! Soon, the thunder became fainter and more dis- tant, and the rain and wind ceased as suddenly as it com- menced. On opening the door, behold a starry night and streamlets of water coursing madly down the hill ; the thunder muttered in the distance, as the clouds and mist disappeared to the east, and the tropical squall was over. It was not long after the crash of the storm had ceased 8 Januaria to Manga do Armador. before the house echoed to the measured notes of its sleeping tenants. January 25. — It was a welcome sound that awoke us with the first glimmer of daylight, the steady crunch of the mules enjoying their feed of corn. It is always a relief to find on awakening that no animals are missing. Once more jog, jog, on the road to the north. It was twelve miles to J acare,^ a small village situated on the banks of the river. We passed through a rough and varied district, forest and second-growth being the main features of the vegetation ; on the way were many strange and weird hills of limestone rock, worn and chased by ages into towers and pinnacles and other fantastic forms, the interstices being filled with a variety of a huge blue cactus, and by other vege- tation too numerous to specify. The road was alternately rugged from rocks and roots of trees, slippery from the rain, and soft and swampy in the hollows ; we passed not more than a half-dozen roadside habitations on the way. The arraial or hamlet of Jacar^ consists simply of one street of scattered houses and huts facing the river, and con- tains about 300 souls ; almost every habitation has its own compound in which grow many of the fruit and other trees common to the district. A wide straggling road largely overgrown with grass, forms the main thoroughfare ; a few large trees grow on the riv'er-banks, under the shade of which arc discussed local politics and the crops, and form collec- tively the village ale-house and c.xchangc mart for the transaction of business with the river- traders. A tumble- down old barn of a church is of course the indispensable adjunct to the village. On riding up to the door of the most comfortable-looking house, the owner invited us to enter and partake of the inevitable coffee ; then ensued the usual questions as to our business, ages, salaries, &c. In the meantime all the village ^ Allif,Mtor. Village of JacarP:. q gossips crowd round the door, the usual gaping, listless, idle group. We heard that we should find ahead many habitations by the riverside, but that the road skirting the river was flooded, and it would be advisable to take a guide to show us through the woods around the hills of Itacaramby, a little further on. A halt was necessary to rest the animals and to shoe many of them after the rough ride of the morning. A stroll through the village showed us the usual life of these riverside hamlets. A trader’s barca was at the muddy praia surrounded by a number of brown and black women, chaffering with the pedlar for a cotton dress, needles, ribbons, flaming red or blue shawls, &c. ; at the moment he was show- ing them, to their intense delight, a straw hat, trimmed with the brightest of ribbons and imitation flowers ; they could not find the wherewithal to purchase it, and the hat was restored to its box, amidst the sighs and regrets of the women. “ Ai ! Sta. Maria ! Que chapeo bonito ! Quc coisa Hilda ! A i di viim, isto nOo c para pobrcs coino nos." (Ah ! Holy I\Iary ! What a lovely hat ! What a pretty thing ! But, dear me, this is not for poor people like us.) Hard by, under the shade of trees, another group of men were tinkling guitars, and shouting their impromptu songs, that we found were descriptive of the arrival of the inglczes (ourselves), their white skin, the great troop, the fat mules, our land far away where lived all the rich people and no poor ones, &c., &c., concluding each refrain with “Olhe! as mochas estao olhando ” (Look ! the girls are watching you). The latter observation created a giggle amongst the dark Jiouris of the barca, between whom and the songster ensued a mild form of banter. A countryman with a horseload of beans and salted suru- bim was going from house to house to find a purchaser, a few cattle and pigs were browsing on the bush by the river-banks, a few loungers at the doorways, and half-clad women leaning in the windows, or working the old pillow lace, and the lo Januaria to Manga do Armador. sounds of the shrill piping chant of the village school, completed the rest of the life of the village, as it appeared to us. In front of the village extended the broad and turbid waters of the flooded river, bearing many a snag on its flow- ing surface, and excepting the barca at the praia, no other craft was visible, either up or down the grand mass of water. During our perambulations we had been accompanied by all the Dioleques ^ of the village, who listened with astonished eyes and open mouth to our conversation with each other in English. I do not think a single object of our costume escaped their observation and remarks; they darted ahead and about us, like village boys at home around an arriving circus caravan. Taking a guide with us, at 2 p.m. we filed out of the village into lower ground, inundated from the high water of the river ; the flood extended for a long way inland, the bush and trees of the banks alone indicating their margins ; for two miles we splashed through this pea-soup-looking water, when our guide led us off to the left, on to higher ground, and entered apparently a pathless forest ; as he went on hacking with his facdo* a way through bush and briar, and we saw our long troop of mules with their projecting packs, and in front the pathless matted bramble, it certainly did appear puzzling how we were to get on. Upon asking our guide what v/as his object in plunging into this maze, he informed us that an elevated mass of rock we had perceived in front of us, and known as the Morro dc Itacarambi, ex- tended to the river’s banks, and the road at its foot is only passable when the river is not flooded, and that somewhere in the forest there was a path that passed to the rear of these hills. A few of the men were called up with billhook and knife, to assist the guide to clear the way. Slowly we forged ahead, the ground in many places being treacherously soft and boggy, in which the animals sank, and were with diffi- culty extracted ; the trailing vines and thorny bramble tore Coloured boys. ^ ■* Large wood-knife. Curious Limestone Formation. i i our clothes and faces, the animals got squeezed in between trees, or crushed against trunks of trees, and immediately a mule meets an obstacle to his progress he is at once seized with a frantic desire to go ahead with all his force ; result, something gives way and down come the packs, and away goes the mule into the midst of bramble and briar ; add to it all, a hot steamy fetid atmosphere, like that of a hot- house, foul exhalations from the swampy soil, and myriads cf mosquitos. Verily it was a good trial to one’s patience and philosophy. After an hour of vexatious and laborious work we came alongside the precipitous walls of the Morro, towering above the woods in pinnacled and otherwise fantastic forms of lime- stone rock, worn by the weather of ages into strange and weird shapes like the ruins of old castles ; immense candelabra cactii in the hollows of the rock added their strange forms to the hobgoblin appearance of the place. It was a queer scene to see us struggling and working our way in the close pestiferous heat, amongst the trees and vines of that grim solitude; but time and patience effect wonders, for in another hour we found the long-sought-for trail, but hardly better than the pathless jungle we had passed, for it was thickly obstructed by roots, quagmires, trunks of trees, creepers, and bramble ; however, it afforded us an indication that we were in the right direction, as the prospect of passing a night in such a locality would have been anything but pleasant. Four miles only, we afterwards were told, was the estimated distance through that tangled maze. This Morro de Itacarambi is a strange feature of the country ; it is an elongated mass of limestone rising abruptly from a plain, for we had travelled around it inland from river- bank to river-bank, and all the way found the ground around it practically flat and swampy. It stands there a solitary remnant of the land that once filled the v^alley of the river, a grim vestige of bygone ages. The limestone hills on the road to Jacare are precisely of a similar formation. 12 Januaria to Manga do Armador. As the sun became low in the west we emerged once more into daylight and open space ; before us stretched a broad expanse of swamp, bounded on the east by a belt of forest that excluded a view of the river, and on the west by rising ground covered with cerrado scrub. Learning that a cattle farm was at the further side of the swamp, about two miles distant, we pushed on our panting weary animals, splashing through the flooded land, and often floundering in the many quagmires ; finally we reached the Sitio de Itacarambi, the outlying station of a cattle fazenda, and residence of a cow-herd {vaqiiciro). It consisted merely of an open shed with a corner partitioned off by mud walls ; at the rear was the cattle curral, knee-deep in black fetid mud that extended to the floor of the open shed. All around outside the ground was marshy, wet, and muddy. The vaqueiro willingly consented to shelter us for the night, his roof and dry floor being very acceptable in such a sloppy neighbourhood, albeit the odours of the mud of the curral were not those of Araby the bless’d. That night Bob had to “ hurry up ’’with his messes, for our long day’s ride of twenty-four miles had created appetites that an alderman would have envied. After dinner as we enjoyed the fragrant weed, in the dark- ness rendered visible by the dim smokey light of a solitary lamp of cotton-wick placed in the shallow iron cup of castor-oil, and by the flickering light of a log-fire, we forgot the fatigues of the day, and the squalor around us, and one and all dropped off into dreamland ; unfortunately our slumbers were not to last long, for the house was .soon after invaded by a number of carousing friends of our host, who noisily entered regardless of his sleeping guests; songs and dances were soon started, accompanied by a rub-a-dub-dub symphony on a drum, constructed out of the hollow trunk of a tree, on the e.xtrcmities of which shceii-skins had been stretched. Many and hearty were the blessings we called down upon the strangers, and the air became blue w itii the observations ; finally, our host, noticing our restlessness (it A VERITARLE PlirF.NIX. 13 evidently occurred to him for the first time that perhaps we might not appreciate the concert), blandly inquired if the turmoil was inconvenient : the answer he received immediately cleared away all doubts. When he suggested to his friends that the estraugeiros (foreigners) perhaps might want to sleep, the rough, but good fellows immediately desisted, and calm and peace ensued. January 26th . — This morning there was rain, steadily pour- ing rain and drifting clouds of mist and drizzle, that shrouded from view all distant objects and made the air damp and chilly. The men presented a benumbed appearance when they arrived with the mules from the adjoining pasture, their heads and .shoulders carefully enveloped in their fionclios, but legs and feet bare, their faces were blanched and blue, and their teeth chattered with cold. No, their faces were not exactly blue, their brown comple.xions assumed more of a drab, or dirty yellow tinge ; dripping with wet, they looked like turkey-buzzards after a shower. They took very kindly to a dram of cachara, tossing it off without a wink, with a sigh of .satisfaction, and '‘Ah! agora 0 bixo morreo ! ” (Ah ! now the bixo has died) — that awful insect that is always being killed, but only dies to again resuscitate, a veritable Phceni.x amongst insects. One by one the animals were led into the shed and loaded under cover. Breakfast over, and an extra ration of rum served out to the men to keep off the chills, away we filed off in the driving rain and flooded land. Fortunately, we obtained a guide from amongst last night’s visitors, otheiavise it was very doubtful if we should have been able to find our way through the water that covered the land. All day we splashed through the water, always keep- ing by the river-banks, then all submerged. It rained all day; the sky overcast with grey clouds and leaden in its hues, the surrounding country all obscured in driving mist and rain, and the chilly, damp air, altogether formed anything but a conventional Brazilian picture. The adjoining country is low-lying grass land, intersected 14 Januaria to Manga do Armador. by bushes and occasional clumps of woods. The few poor huts we passed were flooded and deserted ; water, water everywhere, and not a place to' rest. In the afternoon the weather became worse, violent gusts of wind swept by and rain poured in torrents, accompanied by thunder and light- ning ; several deep holes of small streams had with great difficulty been crossed ; in one case, the packs were unloaded in the wet and mire, and carried across on the men’s backs, the animals swimming across ; everything, man and baggage, was thoroughly soaked, but there was no alternative but to proceed ; we might just as well have camped in a shallow lake as to have stayed there. At 4 p.m. we sighted a vaqneiro's house on dry ground, called Poco de Lavagem, but the owner being away, the female occupants would neither appear nor answer to our summons, and remained silent and invisible behind the closed doors and windows. After a consultation it was decided to push on again, as higher ground was reported to be had further on. The pack-mules were with difficulty driven away from the inhospitable house, grunting as a mule will grunt when he is disgusted. The rain still came down in torrents, and the water in places became so deep that the mules were almost swimming ; we were in despair when wc thought of our clothes, stores, &c., and saw the bo.xes and trunks continually dip into the water, blot a human being had been met the whole of the long day. P'ortunately, towards the late afternoon the waters shallowed, and at last, in the fading light of this gloomy day, dry ground was reached, and better still, a house with an open and empty (large open verandah) in the front of it. On knocking at the door it was found to be closed and fastened, and no one replied. Wc could not, however, stand upon ceremony, and hastily got the baggage under cover of the friendly roof. How wet, cold and hungry we all were! with some difficulty wood was obtained from a thicket hard by, and A Damp Night’s Lodging. 15 there was soon a welcome fire burnin", over which Bob soon prepared some dampers of farinha {bejoo) that stayed our ravenous hunger until the beans were ready ; from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m is a long day’s ride through rain and flooded land all the way, without a halt for rest or refreshment. In the evening the owner of the house, a black man, and his wife, a mulatto, arrived. We tendered our apologies for our occupation of his verandah (then well filled-up with our- selves, men, saddles, and baggage) ; he good-humouredly told us to make ourselves at home, and that his “ house was at our orders.” As we saw no more of him that night, perhaps he thought it just as well not to kick against the pricks ; it would have required a good many owners to have turned us out into that dark wet night. We had to make ourselves as comfort- able as the limited space afforded ; we certainly had a sound thatch roof overhead, but from the open front and sides the driving moisture -laden wind blew upon us all night. Well- aired beds were not de rigueiir that night. Although I have mentioned the chilliness of the air, I found the thermometer registered 70° (F.) in the day, and 65° (F.) in the evening. It is really not the temperature that makes one feel cold ; it is the excessive and penetrating dampness of the air, that seems to have a peculiar affinity to one’s bones. That night, after the mules had had a feed of corn, they were turned loose in the darkness to find a pasture for them- selves, and early in the morning every one appeared in camp, waiting for another ration of maize, evidently having fared but poorly in the night ; but corn, it is well known, constitutes the sum-total of a mule’s earthly happiness. On our host informing us that the Arraial da Manga do Amador was only four miles distant, we made an early break- fastless departure, in order to reach that place and rest the mules for the day, and dry our sopping effects. A clear bright morning followed the wet of the previous day ; how welcome was the sun again after such a day ! and as we cantered along ahead of the mule-train we felt inclined 1 6 Januaria to Manga do Armador. to shout, like Massaniello, “ Hail ! smiling morn,” for verily the distant hills, the foliage, and river were gilded and bright with the burnished rays of the morning sun ; but as it ascended in the heavens, its heat eventually developed such a steam from the saturated ground, that the atmosphere became like a vapour-bath, the wind died away, and the temperature became close, hot, and stifling. On the borders of pools of water, rapidly evaporating, myriads of butterflies covered the moist ground, rising in clouds as we rode through them, like a fall of variously- coloured snow ; they were of many varieties, but the common brimstone colour predominated. Manga do Amador was at last sighted, situated on high ground by the river-side.’ On arrival we succeeded in ob- taining a large and fairly-clean empty house, where, as soon as the troop arrived, the wet baggage was unpacked, and clothes and stores extended in the sunshine in a yard at the rear ; such a cleaning and drying of clothes and persons, for we all felt such very way-worn travellers. The village is built upon two elevations, eighty feet above the river, and consists of a dilapidated old church, and about fifty or sixty houses or ranchos occupied by the variously- coloured, mixed races of the country, hodesf cabras‘‘ caboclos^ and negros. I did not see in the whole village any semblance to a white skin ; even the more well-to-do indicated by their flat faces and lank black hair, their Indian origin ; there seemed to be more than the usual apathy in this place, and scant of civility, they had barely energy enough to favour us with the usual inspection, or wearily turn their limp lounging forms towards us as we passed. It is eighty miles from Januaria by tlie river ; the bluffs of the banks arc thirty-four feet above ordinary water-level. Bode, a male goat, is a slang term for a mulatto. ■ Cabra, a female goat, is a common name for any coloured individual, but only applied to the lower classes. a countryman, but the name infers generally an Indian origin. A Riverside WAri'iNo. 17 There was a great predominance of ill-favoured mulatto and caboclo women, tricked out in all the coarse finery of country-embroidered chemises, many-coloured ribbons and gorgeously-coloured cotton-skirts ; nearly all were tinkling guitars, and swinging in hammocks in their grass-thatched, mud-walled huts. This place is a species of riverside Wapping, or Southsea of the olden time, and a favourite place of call for the bar- queiros to have “a day ashore ; ” but there being no ships in port, perhaps accounted for the more than usual want of animation. In all these riverside settlements a traveller cannot help noticing the emaciated frames and listless countenances of many of the inhabitants, due in a great measure to repeated attacks of sezocs, or inaleta, as the intermittent fevers are variously termed. A wholesome life, and a few local efforts might probably prevent the development of the disease ; but an utter neglect of all hygiene, poor diet, e.xcess in drink and debauchery, late hours, and the squalor and filth of the habita- tions are a direct invitation of the sickness in a malarious district. As a proof that the fevers can be greatly avoided, it will be observed that all the wealthier classes are compara- tively robust, and free from the complaint even in districts that have a bad name ; there are, however, some localities, like the Upper Sao Francisco, that, in its present wild state, are simply untenable, no personal care or precaution being suffi- cient to guard against an attack of the endemical fevers. The rich red earth of the river bluffs, and the many fine trees in the clumps of woodland that surrounded the village, indi- cate the excellence of the soil. When this grand natural highway of inland Brazil becomes developed by thrifty and energetic immigrants, what a paradise it must necessarily become ; the fevers will disappear, as they have disappeared in many parts of the United States, by occupation and cultivation of the land. VOL. II. C CHAPTER II. FROM MANGA DO ARMADOR TO CARINHANIIA. Another wet march — Difficulties of passing flooded streams — Orchids — A varied vegetation — A jararaca-assu snake — A sensible woman — Generous and kind hosts — Valueless mutton — An industrious and contented man — Fazenda de Tabua — Another ugly crossing — Cattle districts — Ponte de Lagoa — Mosquitos — A dreary night — Carousing black neighbours — Dismal squalor — A haunt of the demon sloth — The riverside road — The rising of the waters — The boundary of Minas Geraes and Bahia — The Rio Carinhanha— The city and its inhabitants — Secluded lives of the females — A long delay — Programme of explora- tions to be made — Climate — Idle lives — Improvidence — A vessel is chartered for a voyage down the river — Good-bye to old Tommy. Refreshed and reinvigorated after a day’s lounge, the early morning saw us once more on the march, but gusts of wind and a heavy leaden sky gave indi- cations of another wet march, and as we descended gradually from the wooded bluffs of the Manga to again flooded lowlands, the rain came down in violence, as though it had been reserving its force for us to fairly get under way. At two miles out we came across an ugly swollen stream, showing only the bush-tops above water to indicate the neighbourhood of the banks. It had to be crossed, however, somehow. By searching, the men fcund a tree-trunk three feet under A niatuto on a chilly morn inn. Difficulties of I'ording Flooded Streams. 19 the rushing water, that served as a bridge for foot-travel- lers ; a number of saplings were lashed together to serve as a long firm handrail, the ends being secured to the bush on each side of the stream ; then ensued the wearisome work and delay of unpacking all the baggage and transporting it on the men’s backs, the submerged trunk serving as a bridge ; we were carried across in similar baggage fashion ; then after one or two exceedingly narrow escapes from drowning, all the animals were safely swum across ; all the time the rain poured down pitilessly. On the other side of the stream the ground was higher and not flooded, and covered with a magnificent forest growth. I never saw so many orchids and other objects of interest as in this forest ; especially noticeable was a grand vine bearing bright crimson passion flowers. One orchid, whose flowers I plucked, pos.sessed a perfume like heliotrope. Often the only answer to any inquiries for local names of these plants is “ tuna flor atod," or “ uma coisa aiod," i.e. “ a useless flower,” or “ a useless thing.” ‘ One might easily have filled any number of pages in only attempting to describe the varied vegetation, the great quantities of variegated leaf plants," the maze of tree-trunks, the coiling, festooned, all-embracing vines, the buttres.sed trees, trees tali and smooth as a scaffold-pole, or studded with spikes like the mamma de porco^ here where every tree or palm, or sapling, or vine is different to its neighbour, only a series of drawings, or a volume of description could really convey an idea of these woods. On the road through this forest, the men killed a large jararaca-assu, five feet nine inches in length, “o • ' A very good story was once told me of an English mining engineer, who came out to report upon a mining property in Brazil, and under- standing nothing of Portuguese, he described, in his report, a certain species of rock as being known to the natives by the name of pedra ntodp or, in other words, a useless good-for-nothing stone. * Xanthoxylon, sp. ^ Caladittm, gen. C 2 20 Manga do Armador to Cariniianiia. A mid-day halt was made during a cessation of the rain in a piece of open rolling hill-country by the side of a small swiftly flowing rivulet. Long sheets of water bordered by cerrado, or grass, or clumps of wood, was the type of country traversed in the afternoon. At 4 p.m. we arrived at a comparatively neat and bustling cattle-fazenda, situated on a gentle rise from the lowlands, and surrounded by cerrado. At the door of the house a neatly dressed young woman was standing, who, strange enough, did not run away on our approach. On inquiring if we could obtain pasturage for the animals, she informed us that although her husband was not at the moment at home, she expected him to arrive shortly, and that we were quite welcome ; there was good pasture close by, and would we dismount, enter, and take some coffee. Here was a change indeed ! what varieties of people one meets in a day’s march, and how difficult it is to generalize a nation by the individuals one becomes associated with, for here was a country-woman who fled not at sight of strangers. Inside the house there were many indications of thrift and activity ; the furniture was naturally plain and simple, yet there was an air of comfort rarely met with. We were shown into a large room with tables, chairs, and benches, and were told it was at our disposition ; a neighbouring clo.scd shed received the luggage, and the tent was rai.scd for the men. Seeing a number of sheep wandering about, I asked our hoste.ss if we might purchase one. “ I’lirchasc one of those useless animals } What for ? ” I explained that we should duly appreciate their flesh for dinner. “ Deos me livrcl' she replied with astonishment, “ what cat those bixos ! why you may have a half-dozen if you like ; but sell them we cannot, as they are valueless.”'' ' 'I'hc country ISrazilians have a curious antipalliy to mutton that is Kind PKori.K. 2 I W hilst \vc were carefully superintending the grilling of kid- neys and mutton-chops, our host arrived, a good-looking active young man of twenty-five or twenty six years of age, and as near a white man as the country-side can produce. He was very cheery and kind, and endeavoured to do all in his power to make us comfortable. He had e.xcellent beds made up for us of sacks filled with leaves of the husks of maize, and that, I can assure any one, is not to be despised, especially when accompanied by rugs, pillows, and clean %lieets. Our host told us he had been married eight years, and was then twenty-six years old ; he had inherited the lands from his father with a few slaves ; he owned many herds of cattle and cultivated a rora ; that he enjoyed excellent health, and with his wife and children he was, as he really appeared to be, perfectly happy and contented ; he had enough to supply his simple requirements, and every year his stock was increasing. W'e chatted on until late in the evening, and our host and his wife were apparently so interested in our conversation that they were loth to leave us ; we sat around a fire in the yard, some on chairs, some on logs, some on hides, and roasted sweet mandioca in the fire ; thesenhora eventually fetched her guitar, and favoured us with songs that, if rather high-pitched and nasal, were at least kindly meant. Our best thanks and kindest remembrances to the fazendeiro de Tabua. January 2gth . — On leaving Tabua the next morning we experienced again rough treatment by the weather, for as we entered a second growth of forest (forest bush and scrub), down came the rain again, and also in a short distance another ugly stream, the Riacho de Colindo, appeared as a bar to our progress ; its steep slippery banks, and deep simply incomprehensible ; they themselves can give no reason, beyond the fact that they have never been accustomed to it. It is quite within the last twenty years that mutton can be obtained in the butchers’ shops even in Rio de Janeiro. I remember that in Pernambuco in 1868 to 1873 the only mutton procurable was what could be obtained from the passing Royal Mail steamers. 22 Manga do Armauor to Carinhaniia. swiftly flowing waters appeared almost impassable. After a long time and much difficulty a tall jacarandd sapling was . felled, and hauled into a proper position across the flood, to serve as a pingmlla^ and by its help, with time, labour, and patience, the opposite shore was finally reached with all the baggage. Further on the country becomes more and more open, long stretches of grass sward and thin cerrado-covered hills appear, and frequent roadside habitations, chiefly small cattle- stations or herdsmen’s huts, indicate a purely and simple cattle district. Twenty-four miles of steady jogging found us at sunset at Ponte da Lagoa, a small retiro or cattle-station belonging to a neighbouring fazenda. My companions and I were a long way ahead of the troop, the sky was becoming black with the massing of clouds of an approaching wet night, and the small hut of the retiro, tem- porarily crowded with odorous field-hands and their friends, afforded not the slightest shelter for our large party. It was level betting which arrived first, baggage or rain : it was almost dark before both arrived at the same time ; it was a dead-heat between them. The two tents were hastily raised, but not before we were freely sprinkled and bespattered with mud ; a small lean-to of boughs and grass was constructed for Bob’s kitchen shelter. The wet grass and soil of the interior of the tents were not the most enviable places for repose, but in them, neverthele.ss, we had to lay our hides for beds, and make the most of circumstances. The air was extremely hot and stifling, and to our sorrow we soon found filled with torturing mosquitos, in such numbers that all thoughts of .sleep were impossible. Seeing that our black neighbours in the rctiro were evi- dently equally tormented, by the clouds of cow-dung smoke issuing from their roof, I sent to beg a quantity, which they Pinguclla is a common term used to exiness :i tree or a thrown across ;i stream for the use of foot-passengers. A Dreakv Ni(;iir. willingly gave us from a store they had collected. We soon had this burning in and outside of the tents. The smell, or the smoke, of burning cow-dung, is certainly most effective in driving off mosquitos — in fact, the most efficacious remedy used in Brazil ; as soon, however, as the smoke ceases, the mosquitos return with reinforcements ; consequently it is a choice between being half-suffocated with the fumes or of suffering the insects to inflict their worst. Whilst awake, we sneeze, cough, the eyes smart, and we rub our tingling bodies until sleep relieves us, then the fires expire, and the mo.squitos recommence their attacks. What with the close hot steamy atmosphere, our fatigues, smoke, hard beds, and mosquitos, it was a long and weary night, and the morning found us in a feverish state of body and mind. Our black friends had evidently determined to make a night of it, for we heard their guitars, voices, and the hand-clapping and shuffling of feet of the batuque dance all the night long. January ^ot/i . — The cool air of dawn, the morning coflee, and a bucket of water to a certain extent refreshed and cooled our feverish and smarting bodies. The broad light of daylight revealed an abject .scene of dreary di.scomfort in the hut of our neighbours, a smoke- begrimed, old and rotten rancho, the thatch decayed, and festering with age and damp, the whole almost totteiing with decrepitude ; logs, refuse and rubbish, rotten hides and rotten .saddles, encumbered the interior and surroundings ; rank gra.ss and bush partially hid from view the wretched abode ; the inhabitants appeared wan and sickly from their last night's debauchery, evidently having drunk heavily of the fiery cachaca, as most of them were yet “ half-seas over.’' These are the conditions that promote and foster the intermittent fevers.* ® It is a false idea that the Brazilians have, of drinking inordinate quantities of raw spirit as a preventitive of ague. The custom only disturbs the constitutional functions, debilitates, and renders them more liable to the infection. 24 Manga do Armador to Carinhanha. Near the hut was a poor weed-overgrown ro^a ; where tall castor-oil-trees mingled their beautiful foliage with the tall stems of Indian corn, beans struggled for life with coarse weeds, grass and samambaha bracken ; small plots of ma7iioc were almost indistinguishable in the chaos of plants, decayed and broken fences, and all the other evidences of idleness and neglect. Gladly we departed from such a haunt of the demon sloth. A steep descent by a zigzag, slippery path, knee-deep in mud, brought us to a foaming stream, fortunately not deep, and which we were enabled to ford with but a slight wetting to the baggage. Four miles more of open country interspersed with hollows filled with brambley scrub and woods, brought us to the Corrego de Escuro, another similarly ugly place to what we had experienced on each of the last two days. Two or three hours of hard and anxious work, however, saw us again on the other side. Beyond the Corrego de Escuro the road follows the crest of the river-banks for two or three miles, the adjoining land is extremely low, and away to our left the floods covered many miles of country. On our right were the turbid waters of the Silo Francisco ; we were on a ridge with water on each side ; the river was evidently rising, for in many places we could see the waters breaking down barriers and invading new areas ; many parts of the road were already under water for considerable distances, the bushes being the only evidences of the e.xistence of tert'a finna in the vast expanse of waters. Another four miles brought us to higher ground and the Fazenda de Escuro, a small cattle-farm by the riverside. Bushing on over two more miles of flat, partially inundated land brought us to the Rio Carinhanha, where we le