may take this opportunity of remarking that it is the custom in the Brazils to hire the mules without muleteers—a great mark of confidence on the part of the owners towards travellers. Arrived at their destination the animals are delivered up at a certain place fixed on by the proprietor. We preferred, however, to take a muleteer with us, as we were not acquainted with the road, a piece of precaution we regretted the less, on finding the way frequently obstructed with wooden gates, which had always to be opened and shut again.
The price for hiring a mule was twelve milreis (£1 6s.).
As we arrived at Porto Sampajo by 2 o’clock, we resolved on going on as far as Ponte do Pinheiro, a distance of sixteen miles. The road lay mostly through valleys covered with large bushes and surrounded by low rocks. The country wore a general aspect of wildness, and only here and there were a few scanty pasture-grounds and poverty-stricken huts to be seen.
The little town of Ponte de Cairas, which we passed, consists of a few shops and vendas, a number of smaller houses, an inconsiderable church, and an apothecary’s; the principal square looked like a meadow. Ponte do Pinheiro is rather larger. We experienced here a very good reception, and had an excellent supper, consisting of fowls stewed in rice, flour of manioc, and Portuguese wine; we had also good beds and breakfasts; the whole cost us, however, four milreis (8s. 8d.).
3rd October. We did not set off till 7 o’clock: here, as everywhere else in the country, there is no getting away early in the morning.
The scenery was of the same character as that passed the day before, except that we were approaching the more lofty mountains. The road was tolerably good, but the bridges across the streams and sloughs execrable; we esteemed ourselves fortunate whenever we passed one without being compelled to stop. After a ride of three hours (nine miles), we reached the great Sugar-Fazenda {38} de Collegio, which in its arrangements is exactly like a large country seat. To the spacious residence is attached a chapel, with the offices lying all around; the whole is enclosed by a high wall.
Far and wide stretched the fields and low eminences, covered with sugar canes: unfortunately, we could not see the mode of preparing the sugar, as the canes were not yet ripe.
A planter’s fortune in the Brazils is calculated by the number of his slaves. There were eight hundred of them on the plantation we were viewing—a large property, since each male slave costs from six to seven hundred milreis (£60 to £70).
Not far from this fazenda, to the right of the high road, lies another very considerable one, called Papagais; besides these we saw several smaller plantations, which lent a little animation to the uniformity of the scene.
St. Anna (sixteen miles distance) is a small place, consisting of only a few poor houses, a little church, and an apothecary’s; the last is a necessary appendage to every Brazilian village, even though it only contains twelve or fifteen huts. We here made a repast of eggs with a bottle of wine, and gave our mules a feed of mil, for which a cheating landlord, Herr Gebhart, charged us three milreis (6s. 6d.)
Today we did not proceed further than Mendoza (twelve miles), a still more insignificant place than St. Anna. A small shop and a venda were the only houses at the road-side, though in the background we perceived a manioc-fazenda, to which we paid a visit. The proprietor was kind enough first to offer us some strong coffee, without milk (a customary mark of attention in the Brazils), and then to conduct us over his plantation.
The manioc plant shoots out stalks from four to six feet in height, with a number of large leaves at their upper extremities. The valuable portion of the plant is its bulbous root, which often weighs two or three pounds, and supplies the place of corn all through the Brazils. It is washed, peeled, and held against the rough edge of a millstone, turned by a negro, until it is completely ground away. The whole mass is then gathered into a basket, plentifully steeped in water, and is afterwards pressed quite dry by means of a press. Lastly it is scattered upon large iron plates, and slowly dried by a gentle fire kept up beneath. It now resembles a very coarse kind of flour; and is eaten in two ways—wet and dry. In the first case, it is mixed with hot water until it forms a kind of porridge; in the second, it is handed round, under the form of coarse flour, in little baskets, and every one at table takes as much as he chooses, and sprinkles it over his plate.
4th October. The mountain ranges continue drawing nearer and nearer to each other, and the woods become thicker and more luxuriant. The various creeping plants are indescribably beautiful: not only do they entirely cover the ground, but they are so intertwined with the trees that their lovely flowers hang on the highest branches, and look like the blossoms of the trees themselves. But there are likewise trees whose own yellow and red blossoms resemble the most beautiful flowers; while there are others whose great white leaves stand out like silver from the surrounding mass of flowery green. Woods like these might well be called “the giant gardens of the world.” The palm-trees have here almost disappeared.
We soon reached the mountain range we had to cross, and on our way often ascended such elevated spots that we had a free view extending as far back as the capital. On the top of the mountain (Alta da Serra, sixteen miles from Mendoza) we found a venda. From this spot the distance to Morroqueimado is sixteen miles, which took us a long time, as the road is either up or down hill the whole way. We were continually surrounded by the most magnificent woodlands, and were only rarely reminded by a small plantation of kabï, {39} or mil, that we were in the neighbourhood of men. We did not perceive the little town until we had surmounted the last eminence and were in its immediate vicinity. It lies in a large and picturesque hollow, surrounded by mountains at an elevation of 3,200 feet above the level of the sea. As night was near at hand, we were glad enough to reach our lodgings, which were situated on one side of the town, in the house of a German named Linderoth; they were very comfortable, and, as we afterwards found, exceedingly reasonable, seeing that for our rooms and three good meals a-day we only paid one milreis (2s. 2d.).
5th October. The small town of Novo Friburgo, or Morroqueimado, was founded about fifteen years since by French, Swiss, and Germans. It contains not quite a hundred substantial houses, the greater part of which form an extremely broad street, while the others lie scattered about, here and there.
We had already heard, in Rio Janeiro, a great deal of the Messrs. Beske and Freese, and been particularly recommended not to forget to pay a visit to each. Herr Beske is a naturalist, and resides here with his wife, who is almost as scientific as himself. We enjoyed many an hour in their entertaining society, and were shown many interesting collections of quadrupeds, birds, serpents, insects, etc.; the collection of these last, indeed, was more rich and remarkable than that in the Museum of Rio Janeiro. Herr Beske has always a great many orders from Europe to send over various objects of natural history. Herr Freese is the director and proprietor of an establishment for boys, and preferred establishing his school in this cool climate than in the hot town beneath. He was kind enough to show us all his arrangements. As it was near evening when we paid our visit, school was already over; but he presented all his scholars to us, made them perform a few gymnastic exercises, and proposed several questions on geography, history, arithmetic, etc., which, without exception, they answered very carefully and correctly. His establishment receives sixty boys, and was quite full, although the annual charge for each boy is one thousand milreis (£108 6s. 8d.).
6th October. We had at first intended to stop only one day in Novo Friburgo, and then continue our journey. Unfortunately, however, the wound which the Count had received on our excursion to Petropolis became, through the frequent use of the hand and the excessive heat, much worse; inflammation set in, and he was consequently obliged to give up all ideas of going any further. With my wounds I was more fortunate, for, as they were on the upper part of the arm, I had been enabled to pay them a proper degree of care and attention; they were now proceeding very favourably, and neither dangerous nor troublesome. I had, therefore, no resource left but either to pursue my journey alone, or to give up the most interesting portion of it, namely, my
