CHAPTER IV.

ALAGOAS AND THE RIO SAN FRANCISCO.

The Author’s Motive for this Excursion—Voyage to the

Southward—Description of the Coast and Observations on the

great Restinga—Reaches Barra de S. Antonio Grande—Arrives at

Maceio—Description of the Town and surrounding Country—Resolves

to visit the Rio S. Francisco—Embarks in a Jangada and

coasts to the Southward—Batel—Lands at Peba—Journey thence

to Piassabassú on the Rio San Francisco—Ascends the River to

Penêdo—The Town Described—Productions of the District—Its

Population—Voyage up the River—Mode of Navigation—Arrives at

Propihà—Vegetation of the Country—Description of a Market

Fair—Dress of the People—Voyage continued to Traipú—Passes the

Ilha dos Prazeres—Barra de Panêma—Abundance of Fish of the

Salmon Tribe—Village of Lagoa Funda—Island of S. Pedro—Its

Indian Population described—Continues the Voyage—Fearful

Storm—Return to S. Pedro—Serious Illness and Detention

there—Scarcity of Food—Renounces in consequence all intention

of proceeding further—Returns to Penêdo—Scheme for Navigating

the Rio San Francisco—Reason why it never will succeed—Arrives

again at Maceio—Visits Alagoas—That City Described—Leaves

Maceio—Coasting Voyage—Singular Mode of catching Fish—Return to

Pernambuco.

The great object of my visit to the north of Brazil was to make a journey

from the coast to the high lands which lie on the eastern side of the Rio

Tocantins. This part of the country, which I was strongly recommended

to visit by Von Martius and others, on account of its botanical riches,

is distant from Pernambuco about 1,200 miles, and nearly directly west

from it. Although I was desirous to begin this journey I was advised by

persons well acquainted with the interior of the country not to undertake

it towards the end of the rainy season, on account of the difficulty

of finding grass and water for the horses after the period when every

thing has been scorched up by the burning sun of the dry season. Nor

is the period of the rains less exceptionable for the undertaking of a

long journey, since, during the four months which it generally lasts,

there are scarcely two consecutive dry days. It was now about the end of

January, and as the period of my entering upon my proposed expedition

would not be sooner than the end of June or beginning of July, to pass

the intervening time I determined to visit Maceio, a small seaport town

in the province of Alagoas, about half-way between Pernambuco and Bahia;

and from thence to make an excursion to the Rio San Francisco, and, if

possible, up that river to the great falls of Paulo Affonço. As no other

conveyance was to be had for Maceio, I was obliged to take a passage in a

canoe which was going down laden with goods.

It was about three o’clock in the afternoon of the 30th of January, 1838,

before I could obtain my passport, upon which I immediately embarked,

and after undergoing the necessary examination at a custom-house boat,

we got outside the reef, and ran down before the north-east trade-wind

till seven o’clock P.M., when we came to an anchor for the night, in a

small sandy bay about four leagues to the south of Pernambuco. During

the passage, we several times ran foul of the stakes of fishing pens,

which are common along the coast. I may here describe the nature and

appearance of the craft in which I was embarked; it was about forty feet

long and three feet broad, being the trunk of a large tree hollowed out;

a few feet at each end of it were decked over, and the little cabins so

formed were filled with parcels and provisions; when empty they served

as sleeping berths for the crew, which consisted of the master and two

men. It had a single, long, slender mast, to which a triangular sail was

fixed, the lower part of which was stretched out by a long boom; a little

below the gunwale on each side were lashed two logs of light buoyant

wood, nearly as long as the canoe, of the same kind of which jangadas

are made; while these enable her to carry more cargo, they serve also to

prevent her from upsetting, and give a place to walk upon, as the cargo,

in our vessel, rose two feet above the body of the canoe. It may well

be imagined that there was but little comfort in such a conveyance, as

I was obliged to sit constantly upon one of my trunks, with no other

shelter from the sun and rain than that afforded by an umbrella. On the

shore, close to where we anchored, two large fires were burning, by

the light of which we saw several people and three or four huts. I was

anxious to land here, to obtain, if possible, a place to sleep on, but

the master said he would not go on shore, as he was not on good terms

with some of the inhabitants, and did not choose to risk himself among

them. After supping, therefore, with the crew on oranges, farinha,

and boiled salt-fish, I wrapped myself in my poncho, and lay down on

my trunks, and slept, but certainly not comfortably, till morning. At

dawn of day we again got under way, and about eight A.M., passed Cape

St. Augustino, a rocky point, behind which the land rises from one to

two hundred feet above the level of the sea; this is eight leagues to

the south of Pernambuco, the intervening country being one continued

flat. During the whole of the day we ran down very close to the shore,

always keeping between it and the reef. The country is of an undulating

hilly nature, wooded with small verdant trees and shrubs, many of the

latter covered with flowers. The beauty of the coast, although a little

monotonous, was, notwithstanding, some recompense for a day of continued

exposure to the sun. At eight o’clock in the evening we again came to an

anchor, at a place where the master was well known; here we landed, and

I found that my quarters for the night were to be a smith’s work-shop;

next day, however, I ascertained that it was the best house in the place,

being formed of wicker-work and mud, while the others were composed of

stakes and cocoa-nut leaves. The following morning the master of the

canoe took me to the house of a relation, about two miles further along

the shore, where we met with a kind reception. As some of the cargo of

the canoe had to be landed here, and more taken in, we remained here

all day, which I did not regret, as it rained heavily till night; on

this account I was prevented from making an excursion into the country,

although I did not perhaps lose much, as, in one short walk, I found

nearly the whole herbaceous vegetation burnt up. The land here rises

higher than at any other place between Pernambuco and Maceio, the faces

of several low hills, exhibiting a kind of coarse grained sandstone rock,

exactly of the same nature as the reef which runs for several hundred

miles along the coast both to the north and south of Pernambuco. This

reef, which is covered with small shells and coralloid substances, Mr.

Darwin supposes either to have been formed by a bar of sand and pebbles

formerly existing below the water, which was first consolidated, and

then elevated; or by a long spit of sand, running parallel to the coast,

having had its central part consolidated, and afterwards, by a slight

change in the set of currents, having the loose matter removed, so as

only to leave the hard nucleus. Neither of these suppositions, I feel

fully satisfied, accounts for the origin of the reef, because, at the

place where we now were, I could trace, at low water, a rocky connection

between the reef and the rocks of which the hills were composed. It is

more probable that the reef owes its origin to the decay of the rock

between it and the shore, but in what manner I will not attempt to

explain. This sandstone, as I will hereafter show, belongs to the lower

series of the chalk formation.

We slept at the house of the relation of the master of the canoe, who was

a tailor by trade, and an acknowledged poet and wit: in the society of

whom and his family, consisting of several sons and daughters, the time

passed away most agreeably. Early in the morning of the following day we

again pursued our voyage, keeping, as before, close along the shore, and

at about two o’clock P.M., we arrived at Barra de S. Antonio Grande, a

small village about nine leagues to the north of Maceio, consisting of

about one hundred houses, the greater part of which are made of cocoa-nut

leaves, and are mostly situated on a projecting point of flat land,

bounded on one side by the sea, and on the other by a small river of the

same name as the village, both deriving their appellation from a large

bar of white sand which stretches across the mouth of the river at some

distance from the shore. The inhabitants live principally by fishing, but

I was informed on my arrival at Maceio, that it is a place much resorted

to by slave vessels for the delivery of their cargoes, and it certainly

appears to be well suited for such a purpose.

In the afternoon I took a walk a little way along the banks of the river,

but did not find much to interest me; like all other sandy parts along

the coast, the vegetation here consists of low shrubs mixed with a few

small trees; _Schinus terebinthifolius_ being by far the most common. One

of the most striking vegetable productions near the village is a large

wild fig-tree growing close to the river, beneath the shade of which

four large canoes, larger than the one in which I arrived, were being

constructed; this also forms a rendezvous for the gossips of the village,

who assemble there in the afternoon, beneath its wide-spreading branches

which reach nearly to the ground, thus shading them from the sun. The

leaves of the tree are about six inches long and three broad, with fruit

about the size of a large gooseberry. In the evening I strolled through

the village, and found that nearly all the inhabitants had turned out of

their houses to enjoy the beautiful moonlight and the delightfully cool

evening breeze; many of them were squatted on the bare ground, some were

lounging on mats, while others were stretched out on cocoa-nut leaves.

In most of these groups, one or more of the individuals, generally young

men, were amusing the others by playing lively airs on the guitar. As the

master of the canoe belonged to the village, I was invited to sleep at

his house, but as he could not afford me a bed, I was obliged to repose

on a hide in the corner of a small room; scarcely, however, had I fallen

asleep when I was awakened by legions of hungry bugs, that came pouring

out from the cracks in the mud walls; unable to endure this torment I

got up, and taking-the materials which formed my bed outside the house,

I shook them well, and spreading them in the open air, I slept there

comfortably till morning. This was the only time during the whole of my

travels that I was annoyed to any extent by this insect, which is not

nearly so common, or so abundant as the flea.

Next day, Feb. 4th, we left Barra de San Antonio Grande about mid-day,

and reached Maceio at five o’clock in the evening. Shortly afterwards

I delivered the letters of introduction I had brought with me from

Pernambuco to Mr. Burnet, the only British merchant in the place, who

kindly invited me to remain with him during my stay. The town of Maceio

is of considerable size, containing about 5,000 inhabitants; previous

to the independence of Brazil, when the Portuguese were expelled by the

Brazilians, the population amounted to upwards of 7,000, and as these

were the principal capitalists, the trade of the place has declined

considerably ever since. The town itself stands on a platform about

fifty or sixty feet above the level of the sea, and distant from it

about a quarter of a mile; but at a little more than a mile to the

north-east, there is a small village called Jaragua, close to the sea,

where there are two wharfs for the loading and unloading of goods, and

a custom-house. The bay of Maceio is of considerable size, forming a

kind of semicircle, and offering good anchorage for shipping. Formerly

much cotton and sugar were shipped from this port in British bottoms,

but now scarcely more than two or three English vessels visit it in the

course of the year, the greater part of this produce being sent either

to Bahia or Pernambuco. The country round Maceio is not so monotonous

and flat as that around Pernambuco; low undulating ridges of hills

reaching close to the sea, covered with a vegetation of low trees and

shrubs. During several walks which I took in the vicinity, in company

with a young Scotchman who had been sometime resident there as a medical

practitioner, I made many additions to my botanical collections,

particularly on a flat sandy tract to the north-east of the town. Among

these I may mention a fine _Diospyros_, a curious _Eriocaulon_, _Marcetia

taxifolia_, an _Eschweilera_ different from that found at Pernambuco,

and a _Melocactus_. Maceio is considered more unhealthy than Pernambuco

or Bahia, ague being of very frequent occurrence, particularly at the

beginning of the rainy season.

The Rio San Francisco being only thirty-two leagues to the southward

of Maceio, and learning that it was navigable, without interruption,

for upwards of a hundred miles, I resolved to visit it. A Portuguese

gentleman, however, to whom I was directed for information on the

subject, having, a few years before, made the voyage up to the great

falls (Cachoeira de Paulo Affonço), informed me that as it was then the

season at which the river rises to its greatest height, the head waters

being far to the south, he would not advise me to undertake the voyage,

in consequence of the dangerous navigation at the period of the floods,

as well as from the little chance there would be of my adding much

to my collection, from the dried up state in which I should find the

vegetation, owing to the long continued drought. Still I determined to

go, as nothing better presented itself to pass the time, and hitherto,

moreover, I had always found the difficulties of travelling much less

than they were represented to be. I considered myself fortunate in being

able to hire, as a servant, the black who accompanied the gentleman above

alluded to.

Having made the necessary preparations for the voyage, I engaged a

jangada to take me along the coast to the mouth of the river, and left

Maceio at five o’clock A.M., on the morning of the 15th of February. I

intended to leave at eleven o’clock the night before, at the rising of

the moon, but when I reached the beach with my luggage, the owner of the

jangada was nowhere to be found, although he had faithfully promised to

be waiting for me. I immediately sent Pedro, my black servant, in search

of him, who soon afterwards returned unsuccessful; and I had no resource

but to walk backwards and forwards on the beach till shortly before five

o’clock in the morning, when he made his appearance. On questioning

him about his absence, he told me with the greatest coolness, that as

I did not arrive exactly when the moon rose, he thought I should not

come till morning, and that, in order to pass the time, he had gone out

to fish. Having at length embarked, we soon lost sight of Maceio under

the influence of a strong north-east wind, and, coasting along a flat

shrubby shore, we arrived at night at the mouth of a small river, on the

south bank of which, about a mile up, there is a little village called

Batel. At this place, which is twenty leagues distant from Maceio, we

remained for the night. I preferred sleeping in the jangada to one of the

small cocoa-nut-leaf cottages that was offered to me, but I had reason

to repent of having done so. It was full tide when we arrived at the

village, and the jangada was brought close to the shore, so that when

the tide ebbed it was left dry. I did not then recollect that all muddy

shores covered with mangroves, particularly at the mouths of rivers,

abound with mosquitos, but I was soon reminded of the fact by being awoke

about midnight with my face and hands smarting and swollen from the bites

of those annoying insects. As I slept in my clothes without any covering,

I was obliged to shield my face with my pocket-handkerchief, and thrust

my hands into my pockets. Although I was thus in some measure protected

from their bites, it was long before I could again fall asleep, from the

continued humming noise, almost as loud as that of bees, which they were

making around me. When I got up at daybreak, after a restless night, I

found that besides the mosquitos, I was surrounded by thousands of a

small black sand-fly (_Merohy_), not much larger than a grain of fine

gunpowder, but whose bites are no less irritating than those of their

larger congeners. The morning tide, we found, did not rise so high as it

did on the previous evening, and it was with some difficulty that the

jangada was floated into deep water, which was not effected till nearly

nine o’clock, A.M. In crossing the bar at the mouth of the river, we had

to pass through a line of small breakers, three of which swept over the

elevated platform on which I was sitting, and drenched me to the skin,

thereby rendering the remainder of the voyage very uncomfortable. It was

one o’clock, P.M., when we reached a little village called Peba, which

is situated on the coast, about five leagues to the north of the mouth

of the Rio San Francisco: this was the termination of my sea-voyage, as

the heavy surf which breaks over the shallow bar of that river will not

allow jangadas to enter it. The village is situated a little way inland,

and is hidden from the sea by a high embankment of sand, which at this

place is very much drifted by the wind; it is, however, recognised at

a considerable distance, from the number of tall cocoa-nut trees which

grow near the shore. I was here particularly struck with a fact which

goes a great way to explain the phenomenon of the stem of a fossil tree

being found passing through several strata of sandstone rock. Many of the

cocoa-nut trees have their stems embedded to the depth of fifty feet and

upwards in the embankment of sand which stretches along the shore, and

in many places is several hundred feet broad; some of them, indeed, are

so deeply embedded, that the nuts can be gathered without climbing the

tree. Now as this sand has accumulated at different periods, particularly

during the prevalence of the north-east trade-wind, it must present, if

ever it becomes hardened, a vast number of irregularly horizontal beds,

through which the stems of the palms will be found to pass.

From a fisherman, whom I met on the shore, I obtained permission to

occupy an empty hut till the next day. While seated on the trunk of

a tree, which was lying on the beach at high-water mark, I observed

that on the shore here, as well as along the coast, crabs of various

sizes abounded; and, as I had to wait until my luggage was landed and

carried to the hut, I amused myself by watching the operations of a

small species, belonging to the genus _Gelasimus_ that was either making

or enlarging its burrow in the sand. About once in every two minutes

it came up to the surface with a quantity of sand enclosed in its left

claw, which, by a sudden jerk, it ejected to the distance of about six

inches, always taking care to vary the direction in which it was thrown,

so as to prevent its accumulation in one place. Having a few small

shells belonging to a species of _Turbo_ in one of my jacket pockets, I

endeavoured to throw one of these into its hole, in order to see whether

it would bring it up again or not; of the four that were thus thrown, one

only entered the hole, the others remaining within a few inches of it.

It was about five minutes before the animal again made its appearance,

bringing with it the shell which had gone down, and carrying it to the

distance of about a foot from its burrow, it there deposited it. Seeing

the others lying near the mouth of the hole, it immediately carried them,

one by one, to the place where the first had been laid down, and then

returned to its former labour of carrying up sand. It was impossible not

to conclude that the actions of this little creature, which holds so low

a station in the chain of beings, were the result of reason, rather

than of blind instinct by which the actions of the inferior animals

are generally thought to be guided, for man himself, under the same

circumstances, could not have acted with more judgment.

On the day following our arrival at Peba, I made arrangements with the

owner of an ox-cart to take me with my luggage to Piassabassú, a little

village situated on the north bank of the Rio San Francisco, and about

two leagues distant from its mouth. He promised to come early in the

forenoon, but, much to my annoyance, did not make his appearance till

five o’clock in the afternoon, shortly after which we started. We kept

along the sandy shore for about two miles, then went a little inland

and continued our route in a direction nearly parallel to the shore

through a flat, sandy, bushy country, in which _Mouriria Guianensis_,

Aubl., and several species of _Lauraceæ_, were very abundant. It was

indeed dark during the greater part of the journey, but on my return

I had ample opportunity of observing the nature of the vegetation. I

was not at all sorry, after we had once started, that we had been thus

delayed, as travelling in this country is far more pleasant in the

evening than during the heat of the day. Our cart was of a very primitive

construction, similar to that seen everywhere in the interior of Brazil,

and little different from that used by the Romans. It consisted of a rude

frame, supported on two wheels about five feet in diameter, constructed

of solid plank; and was drawn by six oxen, yoked in pairs, goaded on by

two drivers, each carrying a slender pole about ten feet long. One of

the drivers goes before to lead the way, while the other urges on the

oxen with his long pole. The axles are never greased, and the creaking

noise they continually make, which we heard at a great distance, is most

disagreeable; the reason given for not greasing them is, that the cattle

are so accustomed to the noise that they would not go on without it. It

was ten o’clock at night when we arrived at the end of our journey, and

as there was no place where a stranger could put up, and being without

introduction to any resident in the village, I was taken by our conductor

to the house of one of his acquaintances, where the only accommodation

to be obtained was in a small and very dirty apartment in the hut, which

did not much signify, as I slept in my own hammock.

Piassabassú is a small village, where the greater part of the houses

surround a large square with a church in its centre; these are nearly

all of one story, and, being white-washed on the outside, they present

a cleanly appearance. Many of those situated nearest to the river, were

abandoned on account of its flooded state, being then higher than it had

been since the year 1793, when the inundation reached to a still greater

height. On the morning after our arrival at this place I hired a canoe

to convey me to the Villa do Penêdo, seven leagues further up the river.

We started at eleven o’clock, A.M., but the current was so strong that

the canoe was obliged to keep close along shore to be able to make way

against it; a small sail, by which we were propelled, was often barely

sufficient to keep us from being carried downwards; at such times our

two men were forced to use their paddles. At Piassabassú the river is

about two leagues broad, but the opposite side cannot be seen on account

of a large island which stands in the middle of the stream; it was only

after we had proceeded upwards about half a league, that I first saw the

whole breadth of this magnificent river. The country, for about three

leagues, is flat on both sides, which the present flood had inundated

to a considerable extent. We passed large fields of sugar-cane, where

nothing was to be seen but the tops of the leaves, which, waving in the

stream, gave them the appearance of verdant meadows; where trees existed,

nothing but their upper branches were visible, and almost every house

that we passed had only its roof appearing above the water. The river

begins to rise in the month of October, which is the commencement of the

rainy season in the southern provinces, the sources of its origin, and

continues to do so until the end of March. At about five leagues from the

coast, the country, on the south side of the river, slightly rises, and

from thence to Penêdo it is of an undulating character, but the opposite

side still continues flat. After pursuing our course upwards about two

leagues on the north, we crossed over to the southern bank, in order to

obtain advantage of the breeze. A few sugar plantations exist on both

sides, but the vacancies in the forests made by the cultivated spots are

scarcely apparent. By the force of the stream, particularly in certain

turns of the river, the banks were greatly encroached upon by a continual

process of undermining, and we saw great masses of earth falling in, the

trees which grew thereon being floated down by the current. We did not

come in sight of Penêdo till within a league of it, when, turning round

a high rocky wooded point on the south side, the white houses were seen

brightly lighted up by the rays of the sun, which was then just setting

nearly opposite to the town. Shortly afterwards we distinguished Villa

Nova, a small town situated about half a league below Penêdo, but on the

south side of the river. As the Rio San Francisco divides the province of

Alagoas from that of Sergipe, it will be seen that the Villa do Penêdo is

in the former, while Villa Nova is in the latter.

It was too late when we landed, to deliver the letters of introduction

which I brought from Maceio, and, as the boatmen would not remain till

morning, I sent my man Pedro to look out for a house in which I might

lodge for the night. After being away for more than an hour he returned,

and told me that he had much difficulty in finding one, owing to almost

every house being crowded by the many families driven out of their homes

by the flooded state of the river. I should have preferred an empty

house, but as this was not attainable, I caused my luggage to be taken

up to the only one Pedro could procure, which I found belonged to a

young girl, who lived alone in it, following a profession which is not

considered so disreputable in Brazil as in most other countries. In

a small apartment of this house we therefore passed the night in our

hammocks, which were slung from one side of the room to the other. During

the voyage up the river I saw several large reeds in flower, and great

plenty of a large yellow-flowered _Jussiæa_. A little way below Penêdo,

_Machaonia spinosa_ grew abundantly, forming a good sized spiny shrub,

having large panicles of small white flowers, called by the Brazilians,

Espinha branea: of this I collected specimens, as well as of a species

of _Oxypetalum_, bearing large umbels of sweet smelling flowers, not

unlike those of _Hoya carnosa_.

On the following morning I delivered the letters of recommendation I

had with me from Maceio. One of these was to the chief magistrate of

the district (the Juiz de Direito), Dr. Manoel Bernardino de Souza

de Figueiredo, by whom I was most cordially received, and invited to

reside with him till an opportunity occurred for proceeding further up

the river. I returned immediately to my lodging in quest of my luggage,

but before this could be dispatched the Juiz returned my visit, and,

on discovering my poor quarters, he expressed much regret that I had

not proceeded directly to his house on my arrival. One of the greatest

inconveniences that a traveller meets with in Brazil, is the difficulty

of finding accommodation, for in none of the towns or villages throughout

this vast empire, does there exist an inn of any kind except in the

principalities of Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, and one or two others in the

mining districts, and even these are kept by foreigners. It will be long

before such conveniences come into general use, for the Brazilians when

they travel, always carry with them their own servants, provisions,

cooking apparatus, and beds; and it seldom happens that an empty house of

some description or other is not to be had in any village during their

journey: should they fail to do so, during the dry season they content

themselves by encamping under some large trees, slinging their hammocks

from one branch to another. It was in this manner that I afterwards

was forced to travel, often being for months together without sleeping

under a roof. The Brazilians are particularly attentive to any stranger

recommended to them, and, during the whole of my wanderings, I seldom

went from one place to another without letters, nor do I remember a

single instance in which I was not courteously received by those to whom

they were addressed.

The Villa do Penêdo, so called because it is situated upon an

elevated rocky point, on the north bank of the river, is about thirty

miles from its mouth. The rock on which it stands is a fine-grained

yellowish-coloured sandstone, the strata of which incline from east to

west. The streets are irregular but the houses are very substantial,

the principal ones being of two stories, and are for the most part

built of the same stone as that on which the town stands. It contains

about 4,000 inhabitants, the greater part of whom are very poor. There

are no less than six large and substantially built churches, to one of

which is attached a convent of Franciscan Friars, called Nossa Senhora

da Corrente, but it contains only three brethren. In the Comarco,

or district of Penêdo, sugar and cotton are the principal articles

cultivated, the greater part of the plantations being situated on the

margin of the river, below the town. Mandiocca, french-beans, and rice

are raised in sufficient quantities but only for consumption. Formerly

cattle were reared to some extent in the more inland parts of the

district, but this source of production has failed in consequence of the

occasionally excessive drought, and also because of the abundance of

a tick (_Carrapato_), which sometimes proves so great a plague that a

farmer loses his whole stock in a single season. During the Portuguese

dynasty, Penêdo was a flourishing place, but is now rapidly falling into

decay. The following census of the whole Comarco, which was taken in the

year 1837, I owe to the kindness of the Juiz de Direito, and I consider

is worthy of being quoted, to show the proportion which the different

races bear to each other in this part of the country.

Whites 22,045.

Free Mulattos 32,694.

Mulatto Slaves 4,531.

Free Blacks 10,113.

Black Slaves 10,876.

Native Indians 2,331.

------

In all 82,590.

Three days after my arrival at Penêdo, we heard that an empty canoe was

going up as far as the river was navigable, and accordingly I engaged a

passage for a small sum. Having made all the requisite preparations for

my voyage, I left Penêdo at one o’clock, P.M., on the 22nd of February,

carrying with me letters to some of the principal inhabitants of the

different places at which we were likely to stop. The canoe in which

we embarked was a very large one, being about forty feet long and four

broad. It is seldom that a single tree is of sufficient dimensions to

form a canoe of this size, but when such is not the case, they hollow out

the largest they can find, sawing it in two through the middle from stem

to stern, and then give it the requisite breadth by the addition of one

or more widths of planks between the two halves: in this same manner our

canoe was constructed. One end of the bow, for the length of ten feet,

was thatched over with cocoa-nut leaves like the roof of a house, which

thus served both as a place of shelter from the sun during the day, and

as a sleeping berth by night. It had only one mast, which carried two

large triangular sails of a very coarse cotton cloth, manufactured in

the country, and these were stretched out on each side by a long boom.

The sea-breeze generally reaches Penêdo about mid-day, blowing right up

the river, and, with the sails spread out in this wing-like fashion,

we went up the stream with great rapidity, notwithstanding that the

current against us was very strong. As it is dangerous for small canoes

to navigate the river when it is flooded, two of them are lashed side by

side, and thus united, they form what is called an Ajojo. At six o’clock

in the evening we reached the village of Propiá, situated on the south

side of the river, and seven leagues distant from Penêdo. It contains

about 250 houses, mostly small, and built of wicker work and mud; many of

those in the street parallel with the river were half full of water, and

consequently abandoned; such, also, we observed to be the case with many

houses which we passed during our voyage.

The most striking objects of vegetation which I observed on the banks

of the river, were many trees of considerable size, belonging to the

natural order _Leguminosæ_, bearing large spikes of light-purple flowers;

abundance of a curious kind of _Cactus_, reaching to the height of

from twenty to thirty feet, the great fleshy and naked arms of which,

stand out like the branches of an enormous chandelier. A most striking

difference was to be observed between the verdure of that part of the

country which, for upwards of four months, had been under water, and

the more elevated parts, on which no rain had fallen for nearly six

months. The latter had more the appearance of the deciduous woods of

Europe in winter, than such as grow within the tropics are generally

supposed to present. It was only here and there, that a tree was to be

seen covered with leaves, all the others having lost their foliage, owing

to the excessive and long continued drought. In sailing up the river,

the prospect would have been dreary, had it not been for the broad belt

of arboreous vegetation that clothed its margins. The country between

Penêdo and Propiá is of a low hilly character, but about two leagues

above the former place, a rather high ridge of mountains is seen on the

north side, about eight leagues from the river, called Serra de Priáca;

and about four leagues further up, a high conical mountain called the

Serra de Maraba is seen, rising from the surrounding flat country like

a pyramid, in a N.N.W. direction, about six leagues distant. A market,

or fair, is held at this village every Saturday, and as the owner of the

canoe wished to make some purchases for his return cargo, I was detained

here two days. On the morning after our arrival, I walked a little way

into the country behind the town, but found the vegetation so completely

scorched up, that not a green thing was to be seen. I then directed my

steps to the bank of the river, and collected specimens of two species of

_Cæsalpinia_, which were beautifully in flower, as well as a low shrubby

species of _Croton_, which is very common, its wood, when broken, having

a fragrant smell not unlike that of a _Calycanthus_.

The preparations for the fair created some bustle, as during the whole

of the previous day, particularly towards evening, canoes continued to

arrive from all quarters with articles for sale; and from the inland

part of the country numbers of horses came into the village laden with

merchandize. As I slept in the canoe, which was moored amidst a number

of others, I was awoke early on the morning of the fair, by the noise of

a motley multitude of men, women, and children of all colours, from the

deep black African, to the scarcely white inhabitants of Brazil. The

place where the market is usually held being then under water, the crowd

had assembled on an elevated part of the river bank towards the west end

of the town, opposite to which all the canoes were made fast alongside

each other. As soon as I was dressed, I took a walk through the crowd

to observe the kind of goods exposed for sale, and as might be expected

I found them extremely various, consisting, principally, of articles of

food and dress. Among others of inferior note may be particularized the

following as being the most abundant:—Farinha de Mandiocca, dried beef,

large fish, mostly sturgeon, from the river, dried in the sun, sugar

in large loaves shaped like cheeses, or in smaller ones in the form of

bricks, molasses in large leathern bottles, fresh beef, bananas, soap,

shoes, English cotton, cloth and prints, ropes made from the fibre of

native plants, tobacco, planks and posts for house building, earthen-ware

cooking utensils, and water pitchers, brought by the Indians, leather,

hides, rum, &c.

The great variety in the style of dress adopted by these people, is the

first thing to strike the eye of a stranger. The better classes wear

either light jackets and trowsers, or shirt and trowsers only, over

which they put a long dressing-gown of printed cotton, to which is added

during the cool of the morning and evening, a cloak of Scotch tartan.

They seldom wear stockings, but have their bare feet thrust into a pair

of brown leather slippers. The country people generally wear a broad

brimmed hat made of leather, and sometimes a leathern jacket; but most

commonly their only covering consists of a pair of thin cotton drawers,

which reach a little below the knee, and a shirt of the same stuff

hanging loose outside of them. The negroes usually dress in the same

manner as the whites, but the women have much more taste than the men,

many of whom appear literally in rags, though apparently as happy in this

attire, as if they were of the best description. I observed here more of

the aboriginal inhabitants of Brazil, than I had seen at one time before;

many of them bore evident signs of having a mixture of white, and others

of black blood in their veins, but not in sufficient quantity to destroy

the peculiar obliquity of the eyes, and the lank black hair of the

American race.

It was about three o’clock in the afternoon before we could leave Propiá,

and at eight we arrived at Traipú, another small village situated on

the north bank of the river, about seven leagues further up. At half

a league from Propiá we passed a small village called Collegio, and

at a further distance of two leagues and a half a still smaller one,

called San Bras, both situated on the north side of the stream. As far

as the latter village, the appearance of the country on both sides of

the river bears much the same appearance as that above Penêdo, but at

a distance of a about a league above San Bras, it becomes much higher,

the undulating ridges of hills reaching close to the water in many

places, thus diminishing the breadth of the stream, and, consequently,

increasing the rapidity of the current. The highest part of the country

is a hill opposite Traipú, the termination of a range called the Serra de

Tabangá. The effects of the drought on the vegetation were still greater

here than further down; as far as the eye could reach, nothing like a

forest was to be seen, both the hills and valleys being thinly covered

with small trees and shrubs, and all, with a few solitary exceptions,

denuded of their foliage. On the surface of the ground itself there was

no herbaceous vegetation, the red coloured soil alone being seen through

the withered bushes. Here and there along the banks a few houses exist,

but none were to be observed inland. The only objects that relieved the

eye in this desert-like region, were the green bushes which grew along

the inundated banks, and the grotesque _Cacti_ abounding in dry rocky

places. The latter are the most conspicuous objects that meet the eye

of a voyager; some of their trunks are of immense thickness, and their

branching tops reach to a great height above the surrounding vegetation.

These are certainly the most remarkable looking plants of the many which

clothe the surface of our globe, their huge fleshy branches seeming more

the work of art than of nature. It is only plants such as these, that

are able to retain their verdure during the long droughts to which the

country here is subjected. On the rocky places where these grow, there

are also many _Bromeliaceous_ plants, which in spite of the want of rain,

not only grow luxuriantly but produce their large red clusters of flowers

in the greatest perfection. The rocks on which these plants vegetate

are of gneiss, in thin layers of a dark colour, full of small garnets,

and cropping out at a very obtuse angle towards the south. We remained

for the night at Traipú, and at nine o’clock next morning resumed our

voyage, but as the wind was very high, we could make no way against the

current; at about half a league from the place of our departure we were

obliged to halt for some hours on the north bank of the river. This

afforded me an opportunity of landing, when I made a few additions to

my collections. Among these was a species of _Azolla_, which existed in

the greatest abundance, in a flat muddy place that was slightly flooded.

Here also I met with some of the largest _Cacti_ I have ever seen; one

in particular was of enormous size, the stem measuring upwards of three

feet in circumference, and unbranched to the height of about ten feet;

its entire height could not be less than between thirty and forty feet.

This and other large kinds of _Cactus_ are called by the inhabitants

of this part of the country Sheeke-sheeke, and their fleshy stems and

branches, after being stripped of their back and spines, are roasted

and eaten in times of scarcity; under similar circumstances they are

given raw to cattle. A little below this place on the south side of the

river, we passed an old gold-working, situated on the side of a low hill

through which a small ravine passes. It seemed to have been a long time

since it had been worked, as the heaps of soil which had been thrown out,

were covered with the low shrubby vegetation peculiar to the district.

Continuing our voyage, towards sunset we came in sight of a small island,

called Ilha dos Prazeres, on the top of which there is a church of the

same name. Opposite this island, on the north side, we passed the mouth

of a small river, called the Rio de Panêma, which takes its rise in the

Sertão of the province of Alagoas. On the upper side of the mouth of

this river there is a little hamlet, consisting only of a few houses,

called Barra de Panêma. A little further up we crossed over to the

south side, to land an old negro who had accompanied us from Propiá,

and it was with much regret that we were obliged to come to an anchor

for the night a little way above this place, for the river here takes a

turn to the northward, and although there was a strong breeze, we could

not succeed in getting our canoe into a position to enable us to avail

ourselves of the favourable wind, notwithstanding the best efforts of our

crew, which consisted of three men, assisted by myself and servant; an

exposure of our vessel to a side wind would have upset her, and she was

too unmanageable to attempt rowing.

On the following morning, before breakfast, I took a walk to a high

ridge of gneiss rocks, which is at a little distance from the river, and

found a variety of different kinds of _Cacti_. One of these was a great

_Melocactus_ much larger than the one which is so common near Pernambuco;

it grows in fissures of the rock where scarcely any soil exists, and its

tough roots penetrate to such a depth, that they can with difficulty be

withdrawn; living specimens of this (_Melocactus Hookerianus_, Gardn.)

which I sent home, now exist in the collections at Kew and Glasgow. While

lying in the canoe, waiting for the breeze, I heard a splashing noise in

the water as of heavy rain, but on looking over the side, I found it to

be produced by hundreds of small fish; so abundant were they, that having

no hook, I had recourse to a bent pin fixed to the end of a thread, and

thus in a few minutes I caught above thirty of them. I found them to

belong to the tribe _Salmonidæ_, of which they form a very diminutive

species, measuring from two to three inches in length, and from an inch

to an inch and a half in depth; they are called by the Indians Piába;

the two lower thirds of their depth is of a silvery-white, while the

upper third is of a pale lead colour, being in general appearance not

unlike a herring in miniature; they are extremely voracious and abundant,

especially in shallow water, where they are caught in numbers by

children; they make an excellent dish when stewed. From a young man who

was fishing in a shallow part of the river with a hand-net, I obtained a

few other kinds of fish, and among them one which is very much dreaded

by the inhabitants of the banks of nearly all the lakes and rivers in

the northern provinces; it is called Piranha by the Brazilians, and is

also one of the _Salmonidæ_, belonging to the genus _Serasalmo_. It is

commonly about a foot in length, but sometimes is as much as two feet

long, being very much compressed laterally, and very deep; the back is of

a dark brownish colour, and the belly yellowish white, both being thinly

marked with reddish spots; the lower jaw projects a little beyond the

upper, and both are armed with about fourteen flattish triangular-shaped

teeth, upwards of a quarter of an inch in length, and very short. It is

most voracious, and is consequently caught with difficulty. Many people

are often severely injured by them whilst bathing, and I have repeatedly

been shown the scars left by their bites. It is said that ducks

frequently lose their legs, in consequence of their voracity, and it is

even asserted that where they abound, cattle have been known to perish

from their attacks, when going into the water to cool themselves, or to

drink.

We resumed our voyage again about eleven o’clock in the morning, and at

once reached Lagoa Funda, a small village on the north side of the river,

the distance being about two leagues. It contains but very few houses,

and takes its name from a large deep lake which runs westward from it, in

a direction parallel with the river. During this voyage we came in sight

of a range of mountains called the Serra Pão de Assucar, bearing N.N.W.

of us; it terminates abruptly towards the W.S.W., and slopes gradually

thence to the E.N.E. and is by far the highest range in the district.

The country around us was now beginning to assume a verdant appearance,

several showers of rain having lately fallen. Shortly after our arrival

at this place, owing to the loss of the wind, we were obliged to remain

till five o’clock in the afternoon; when the sea breeze reached us, we

again started, and were enabled by half past six o’clock to reach another

small village called San Pedro. This is situated on an island of the same

name, which is about half a league long by a quarter of a league broad,

being flat, with a sandy soil; the upper end where the village stands,

is open, while the opposite extremity is densely wooded with bushes and

small trees.

I passed the night in the canoe, but could get little sleep owing to the

mosquitos which were very abundant. Early in the morning, I took a walk

over the island, and gathered a few plants; during the day the heat was

most intolerable, the thermometer in the shade about noon, indicating

99½°, and as there was not the slightest breath of wind, the oppressive

sensation amounted almost to suffocation, the air feeling as if it came

from the mouth of an oven. Not a soul was to be seen out of doors, and

the few goats and pigs on the island, as well as the dogs, sought the

shade of a few trees of _Zizyphus_ which grow by the side of the river

near the village. Everything was as still as midnight, the songs of the

small birds which I had listened to with delight during my morning’s

walk, and the loud shrill cry of the Gavata, a large water bird, as

well as the monotonous one of the Bem-te-ve, were now no longer heard,

even the trees were motionless, and the mighty mass of yellow water in

the river rolled slowly down unruffled by a breeze; all was indeed so

still, that one could scarcely help thinking that life had ceased to

exist. Having slung my hammock under a _Zizyphus_ tree, I remained in

it till the rays of the sun became less powerful. It was six o’clock

in the evening before the sea breeze reached the island, and it being

then too late to proceed on our voyage, we remained where we were for

the night. The sun had no sooner set, and the breeze become more fresh,

than the greater number of the inhabitants left their houses, and seated

themselves either at their doors or by the side of the river, to enjoy

the delicious coolness of the evening air; of course I followed their

example, and it was near midnight before I retired to rest.

The number of families on the island amounts to about forty, and they

are for the most part civilized Indians. On the evening of our arrival I

was presented to their captain, an old man dressed in a leather hat, a

pair of coarse cotton drawers, a shirt of the same material, and a pair

of leather sandals on his feet, who was sitting under a _Zizyphus_ tree

repairing a fishing net. From him I learned that the Indians on the

island are decreasing gradually in number, and he sighed when he told

me that the day was not far distant when his race would become extinct,

or at least be amalgamated with the other inhabitants. Those who still

remain unmixed, are short in stature and of a stout make; in disposition

they appeared gentle and obliging. I observed a church in the village,

but during my visit the priest was absent on the main land.

On the morning of the 28th, the second since our arrival, I again took a

walk over the island, and in the centre found a large tract covered with

a very prickly species of _Opuntia_, covered with the Cochineal insect.

I also collected several species of _Viscum_ and _Loranthus_, growing on

the branches of _Mimosa_ and _Zizyphus_ trees; while the sandy shores

of the south side of the island yielded me abundance of _Ehrenbergia

tribuloides_, Mart., and a Lupin-like kind of _Zornia_. The morning was

comparatively cool, but the day was calm and sultry, the thermometer

standing at 96° in the shade. As it was again six o’clock in the evening

before the breeze set in, we were once more detained. The setting in of

the breeze was accompanied with a curious appearance in the atmosphere;

the sun was setting in the west with a fiery redness, surrounded by a

mass of red coloured clouds, while from the eastward was seen approaching

an immense body of vapour; this, from the distance at which it was seen,

had more the appearance of smoke issuing from some great conflagration.

This body came slowly on before the wind till at last it reached us, and

we could see the small vesicles of which it was composed rolling past.

The wind for about five minutes was so hot that every one was glad to

take shelter from it, but it soon acquired its usual refreshing coolness.

On inquiring of the old captain whether such a phenomenon was often

observed, he told me that it was of frequent occurrence at the beginning

of the rainy season, and added, that long experience had taught him it

was always the forerunner of a great storm (_hum temporal_.)

On the following day, the first of March, we left the island, about

half-past five o’clock in the evening, and had not been gone an hour

before the sky towards the N.E. became darkened with a mass of black

clouds, the sure harbinger of a coming storm. We were then nearly in the

middle of the river, which was about a league broad; and as the storm was

approaching with great rapidity, the master of the canoe gave instant

orders to run her in to the north shore, but before we had reached the

distance, we were overtaken by a gust of wind which laid her nearly on

her broadside. A considerable quantity of water was shipped, and the crew

lost all command of themselves, one crying to do this, and another that,

without anything being done. The lower part of the sail on the lee side

was in the water keeping the edge of the canoe down, and had it not been

for my exertions and my man Pedro’s assistance, in seizing hold of the

rope by which the extreme point of the long boom is drawn up to the mast

head, and thus raising it out of the water, the canoe, to a certainty,

would have filled, and we should all have been inevitably drowned. Still

we were at some distance from the river bank, and the storm was setting

in with all its fury, the waves were dashing over the weather gunnel,

while the lee side was taking in great quantities of water. In the

meantime the sails had been stowed away, and seeing the danger of keeping

her broadside any longer to the wind, the master gave orders to run her

over to the other side of the river before the wind. We thus steered

in an oblique direction nearly three miles before we reached the south

side, and during this fearful interval the wind, the rain, thunder and

lightning were such as I had never before been exposed to. It was now

quite dark, but the vivid flashes both of forked and sheet lightning gave

a light, from time to time, as brilliant nearly as noon-day. The canoe

ran aground among some small trees to two of which she was made fast; the

rain continued to fall in torrents for nearly two hours, and from our

unavoidable exposure to its influence we were all drenched to the skin.

When the storm had entirely exhausted itself, we found that the wind had

died away also, and as we could not resume our voyage, we determined to

return with the current to the island of San Pedro. This we accordingly

did, and had to remain in our wet clothes during the greater part of the

night. In going down I observed a number of large meteors passing from

the N.E. to the S.W. following the course of the storm.

The two following days were again calm, with heavy thunder-storms in

the evening, so that we were compelled to remain all this time on the

island. A more serious event, however, now occurred to detain me among

the Indians. The day after the storm before mentioned, I found myself

feverish and unwell, and two days after this I was severely attacked

with dysentery, which is of frequent occurrence at this season, caused

no doubt by the sudden transitions of temperature. In the meantime a

favourable breeze had sprung up, and as I was far too ill to proceed,

the canoe was obliged to sail without me; I was thus left behind in

an old hut, the floor of which was still wet from having been a short

time before overflowed by the river. In this place I was confined to

my hammock for five days, during which time I was so ill that I never

expected to recover; from being in robust health, I was in the course

of a few days reduced to a mere shadow, with scarcely the power, when

I did get out of my hammock, to drag one leg after the other. I felt

severely the want of my medicine-chest, which I had left behind at

Maceio, not wishing in this excursion to encumber myself with luggage; my

only resource, therefore, was to trust to the remedial agents employed

by the people themselves. This I found to consist in the use of castor

oil, which is commonly made on the island, and afterwards a drink, _ad

libitum_, of strong lemonades of vinegar and white sugar. There was

only one venda in the village, in which the latter materials were to

be obtained, but where, strange to say, the only other purchaseable

article was rum. Nothing in the shape of provisions was to be had for any

consideration, and as our long stay here had completely exhausted our

stock, both Pedro and I were almost reduced to a state of starvation. Not

even a particle of farinha was to be had, and had we not been supplied

with a fowl or two by an old Indian woman, who attended very kindly upon

me during my illness, we should have been miserably destitute. While

still confined to my bed, I sent Pedro to another small village a few

leagues further up the river, to purchase, if possible, some provisions,

but he returned altogether unsuccessful. My chief regret was for this

poor fellow, for he was well and felt the pangs of hunger far more keenly

than I did. In the meantime a canoe fortunately arrived at the island

with a little farinha for sale, of which I bought as much, at four times

the usual price, as would suffice to take us back again to Penêdo,

for I had now renounced all idea of going further up the river. The

poor inhabitants of the island were themselves literally in a state of

starvation, their principal food being the fruit of _Geoffroya superba_,

the produce of a small tree growing rather abundantly on the south side

of the island. It reaches to the height of nearly twenty feet, and

produces a fleshy drupe about the size of a walnut; it is called _umarí_

by the Indians. In almost every house, whether Indian or Brazilian, I

observed a large pot of this fruit preparing, either indoors over a fire

made on the floor, or on the ground under a tree in the neighbourhood

of the house. As soon as they are nearly ready, groups of children in a

state of nudity, and half naked men and women seat themselves around the

pot, each furnished with two stones, a larger and a smaller one, for the

purpose of breaking the nut after they have devoured the outward fleshy

part; the taste of the kernel is not unlike that of boiled beans. Fish

is in general the staple food of these people, but it is difficult to

procure when the river is much flooded.

At the west end of the village there is a large wide-spreading _Zizyphus_

tree standing alone, and as these trees retain their dense covering of

leaves all the year round, their shade is sought after both by men and

animals during the excessive heat of the day. Under that of which I now

speak were to be seen a number of villagers of both sexes, the women

squatting on mats spread on the ground, and occupied in spinning with

a distaff a coarse kind of cotton yarn used principally as wicks for

tapers, which they make of a brown coloured native wax. The men are much

less industrious than the women, being generally to be seen standing

about in a state of idleness, or swinging in their hammocks either in

their houses or beneath the shade of a tree. Under the large _Zizyphus_

tree several hammocks are hung up every morning, and they are seldom

unoccupied. On Sundays the women lay aside their spinning apparatus,

but immediately after mass, groups of them may be seen playing cards,

at which they continue during the whole day; as they do not play for

money, they use only french beans as counters. Until I gained sufficient

strength to leave the island, I also spent much of my time under the

shade of this tree, either listening to the conversation of these people,

or answering the thousand and one questions put by them respecting my

own and other distant countries. These questions were often sufficiently

ridiculous, and I could often perceive that my answers were considered

stretches of the long bow, although they were too polite to say so;

nor was it only among the poor islanders of San Pedro, that I observed

this to be the case, for the same often occurred among those who were

considered well educated people. I remember once to have been conversing

with the President of one of the inland provinces about Steam Navigation,

and on telling him that many of the English Steam-boats were now entirely

constructed of iron, he did not say he did not believe me, but simply

remarked “that in Brazil, when iron was put into the water it always

sank.”

On the twelfth of March I took leave of my Indian friends, and embarked

in a canoe which I hired to take me down to Penêdo, having been exactly

a fortnight on the island. We reached that place on the morning of the

fourteenth, when I received a kind welcome from my friend the Juiz de

Direito. I landed several times during the passage, for the purpose of

making collections of living plants of the different kinds of _Cacti_,

which grow in great abundance on the banks of the river, wherever they

are rocky. At one of the places where we stopped, I observed several

fine trees of _Peltophorum Vogelianum_, Benth. This tree, which belongs

to the natural order _Leguminosæ_, reaches to the height of about forty

feet, and has a great branching top: the leaves are large but very much

subdivided, and very graceful, having more the appearance of the frond

of a fern, than the leaf of a tree. The racemes of flowers which grow

at the ends of the branches, are often more than a foot long, and the

flowers are of a beautiful golden colour; at a distance it presents a

more magnificent appearance, than almost any other tree I have seen. The

canoe was carried down the stream by the force of the current, but in

the afternoon, and during the greater part of the night, the sea breeze

blew so strong as to impede our progress. The boatmen, however, adopted

a plan to overcome this, which I have never seen elsewhere, nor even

heard of, and I will therefore explain it in a few words. Landing at a

place where the trees grew in abundance, the men set to work, and cut

off a considerable number of branches, which were tied tightly together

with cords, one end of a long rope was made fast round its middle, while

the other end was secured to the canoe. They then steered for a part of

the river where the current was strong, and threw the bundle overboard,

which being heavy from its green state, floated just below the surface

of the water, and in this manner being entirely out of the influence of

the wind, it received the whole force of the current, by which means the

canoe was dragged down at a rate little inferior to that by which we

descended during the calm of the day.

I remained at Penêdo eight days, and, thanks to the very great kindness

I received from the Juiz de Direito, my health rapidly improved, and

I was enabled to make several little excursions in the neighbourhood.

The Juiz is one of the few Brazilians I came in contact with, for whom

I entertain feelings of esteem and respect. I found him to be a man of

great intelligence, and well educated, having studied at the University

of Coimbra. Even among the litigious Brazilians he was respected as a

judge; and, indeed, both his opinions and actions were those of a mind

deeply imbued with benevolence. At Coimbra he had paid some attention

to the study of Botany, to which he was still partial, but more to

the theoretical that to the practical department. He had made the

acquaintance of M. Reidel and Dr. Natterer, both of whom had lived with

him some years before, when he was residing in Pará. In the society of

this excellent man, as well as in that of his brother, a priest who was

then on a visit to him from Bahia, in the perusal of his books, and in

visiting some families in the town, my time passed away very agreeably.

One day I went to Villa Nova, to visit a Colonel Bento Mello Pereira,

the owner of a large sugar plantation. After receiving an invitation to

return to dinner, I walked over to view his plantation, which was about

two miles distant, but did not meet with much to reward my toil, for the

sun was hot, and the country dry and sandy. I reached his house again

a little before two o’clock, that being the dinner hour, where I found

that two other persons, both belonging to the place, had been invited

also. The dinner was both substantial and excellent, being served up

with some degree of ostentation. We had a slave to wait upon each of us,

and before beginning, a little black fellow supplied us with water from

a large silver ewer in a silver basin to wash our hands, bearing round

his shoulders a long towel with which to dry them. After dinner he took

me to see a vessel he was building a little above the town; it was about

one hundred and fifty tons burden, and nearly ready for launching. He

intended her to trade along the coast, but principally to convey sugar

to Bahia; the planking consisted of _Pao Amarello_ and _Oiti_, said to

be the two best woods for ship-building in the north of Brazil. I do not

know to what genus the _Pao Amarello_ belongs, but the _Oiti_ is the

_Moquilea tomentosa_ of Bentham, first described from specimens which I

forwarded to him from Pernambuco.

A proposal has recently been made to establish a communication by steam

navigation, between the coast and the interior central provinces of

Brazil, by means of the Rio de San Francisco. Upon a mere inspection of

the map of this portion of the Empire, it would seem that every facility

for this specious proposition has been offered by nature; an easy, cheap,

although somewhat circuitous water conveyance leads directly from the

sea on the confines of the province of Pernambuco into the heart of

the inland, rich, and comparatively well-populated mining and diamond

districts, which are separated from the great markets of Rio de Janeiro

and Bahia by lofty mountain barriers, always difficult of access, and

where the means of transport are tedious and costly. I have great doubts

whether this plan will ever be carried into effect, in support of which

opinion I will adduce three very substantial reasons.

In the first place, the bar at the mouth of the river is about two

leagues broad, is always covered with a heavy surf, and has seldom more

than four feet of water on it. In the second place, at the falls of

Paulo Affonço there is a series of rapids and falls about sixty miles in

length, forming a serious obstacle to the progress of any navigation.

In the third place, there is a very limited population throughout the

intervening country, which is not likely to increase, owing to the desert

nature of the greater portion of the interior; from these causes the

amount of produce likely to be taken to the coast must, consequently, be

very small indeed, so that the enterprize would not be likely to succeed

in a pecuniary point of view, even were it otherwise practicable. Were

the interior of the middle portion of Brazil as fertile as is generally

supposed to be by those who have never visited it, hopes might be

entertained of its becoming hereafter a rich agricultural district, such

as the belt of country along the coast is found to be; in that case some

great national undertaking for rendering communication more easy, might

be looked for; but while it exists as a dry arid tract scarcely fit

for the rearing of cattle, it is not at all likely that any Brazilian

at least will sink his money in attempting to render the San Francisco

navigable. A company of Englishmen may probably be induced in periods of

infectious speculation to venture upon this attempt, for some of the late

ill-concerted schemes in Brazil have been far more absurd; in testimony

of which we may instance that monument of folly, the Rio Doce Company.

The North Americans, particularly those of the back settlements, are

celebrated for their inquisitiveness; but this seems to be a very general

failing with all those who are shut out from frequent intercourse with

strangers. A curious instance of this feeling occurred a few days after I

returned to Penêdo. I had brought letters from Maceio to a gentleman who

lived here with a married brother, they were among the most respectable

people in the place. Although not yet eleven o’clock, I found the lady,

a remarkably fine and good-looking woman, with her husband busily engaged

at cards, she lying in a hammock, while he was seated on a chair beside

her; she had recently been smoking, an almost universal accomplishment

among the ladies of the interior, as a long pipe was lying near her, and

the floor beneath bore strong indications of excessive expectoration. I

was desired to be seated, and was immediately inundated with a flood of

questions from the good lady who possessed great volubility of tongue.

Among a host of others I may enumerate the following. What countryman are

you? What is your name? How old are you? Are you a medical man? Are you

married? Are your father and mother alive? What are their names? Have you

any sisters? What are their names? Have you any brothers? What are their

names? Have all your countrymen blue eyes? Have you churches and priests

in your country? Do oranges and bananas grow there? &c., &c. If, however,

she was inquisitive about my concerns, she was not less disposed to

tell me much that related to herself. Thus she informed me that she was

married when she was nineteen years of age, that she was now five years

married, and in that time had presented her husband with a yearly gift,

all of whom were alive with the exception of one. Her husband, she said,

was thirty-six years of age, and she desired me to feel his pulse, as he

was always complaining of bad health. I soon discovered his complaint

to be indigestion, one of the most frequent ills that Brazilians are

subject to, arising, no doubt, from the enormous quantities which they

eat, and that generally not of the most digestive materials, as well as

from the heavy late suppers which they indulge in. I had then to feel

her pulse in turn, and she seemed much pleased when I told her it was an

excellent one. I afterwards became very intimate with them, and spent

many agreeable hours in their society; their brother to whom I brought

the letters was a lawyer, and a well-educated and intelligent man.

On the afternoon of the 21st I bade adieu to the Juiz, and my other

friends in Penêdo, and between eight and nine o’clock in the evening

embarked in a canoe which I had hired to take me down to Piassabassú,

which we reached after a sail of little more than four hours. As I knew

of no house to go to, I was obliged to pass the remainder of the night

in the canoe, tormented by mosquitos, which were in such abundance that

long ere morning I was forced to go on shore, and walk up and down till

daylight. The house in which I slept when I passed through the village

before, was now empty, but I was allowed to occupy it, and as I could not

get a cart to convey me to Peba before the following evening, I had to

remain here a longer time than I intended. This interval I devoted to a

few botanical excursions in the neighbourhood, and thereby added several

new plants to my collections. On reaching Peba, I again had the use of

the little hut which I formerly occupied, and was obliged to remain

there two days before I could hire a jangada to take me to Maceio; that

which I engaged was a fine large one that had never been to sea; and on

the morning of the 26th, having got all my collections and luggage put

on board, we began our voyage. Peba I found to be nearly, if not quite,

as poor a place as the Ilha de San Pedro, and not a single article of

provision could be purchased there. Its inhabitants are principally

fishermen, and their chief food is fish and farinha; a want of success

in the fishery and a bad crop of mandiocca had thrown them quite into a

state of starvation. On the evening before we started, Pedro contrived

somewhere to purchase a chicken; and when we embarked, our whole stock

of provisions consisted of one of its wings, and a few green cocoa-nuts.

Before we left, the owner of the canoe sent to Piassabassú to purchase

farinha or French beans, as sea stock for his men, but neither were

to be procured; the crew, therefore, consisting of three men, had to

content themselves with only a few green cocoa-nuts. It rained the whole

of the first day, but the elevated part of the jangada on which I lay,

being well roofed over with cocoa-nut leaves, I suffered but little

inconvenience in consequence. At night we did not put in to shore, as

is usual with these crafts, the men being as anxious as myself to reach

Maceio, but the wind being light, we could not make much progress. During

the succeeding day the winds were again light, but having freshened

towards evening we reached Maceio about 8 o’clock P.M.; the surf,

however, running so high along the beach that I would not allow the

jangada to run ashore, as by doing so my collections would have been

completely spoiled. The crew wished me to remain on board till the tide

went out, but I had suffered too much from hunger during the voyage,

to think of staying any longer; so leaping into the water with Pedro,

immediately after a large wave had passed us, we followed it, and reached

the shore before another had time to overtake us, but not without being

completely drenched. Leaving everything on board to be landed next day, I

immediately set off for the house of Mr. Burnett, about a mile distant,

and arrived just in time for tea, when, after changing my clothes I made

a most comfortable meal, being the first I had enjoyed for two days.

Wishing to see the city of Alagoas, the capital of the province, I

made arrangements for visiting it, and started from Maceio on the

31st of March. This city is situated on the south side of a large

lake, which runs inland about forty miles, and is about twenty miles

distant from Maceio. There is a narrow entrance to the lake from the

sea, about two leagues to the south of the latter place; but still

further to the southward, there is another inlet from the sea, which

runs northward to within a mile of the town, and by means of a small

canal which has been cut, canoes can now approach within a very short

distance of the houses. Accompanied by a young countryman, I embarked

in a light canoe about midnight, with the view of reaching Alagoas

early in the morning, and thus escape exposure on the water during the

heat of the day. My man Pedro was our only navigator, who used a long

pole, the mode usually adopted for propelling canoes, as the lake is

extremely shallow. As soon as we were fairly afloat on the canal, we

laid down in the bottom of the canoe to sleep, but failed to do so,

in consequence of the myriads of mosquitos and sand-flies that almost

fill the atmosphere among the mangroves which abound along the muddy

shores. At eight o’clock in the morning we came in sight of the city,

which is built upon a somewhat elevated situation, and as the houses

are rather large, and intermingled with numerous churches, and lofty

mango trees, it has really an enchanting appearance when seen in the

distance. In about an hour afterwards we landed, and as I had brought no

letters of recommendation, I despatched Pedro to look out for a house

where we could remain till morning, but he returned after being an hour

absent, with the intelligence that none was to be obtained. This did

not annoy me much, as we found an old house close to where we landed,

where I proposed to remain, especially as the weather was fine, the only

shelter we required being shade. Just, however, as we were about to

remove our luggage thither, the owner of an adjoining house perceiving

that we were strangers, invited us to take up our quarters with him,

an invitation which we readily accepted, as it would be not only more

comfortable, but would allow us greater freedom to walk about. Like most

other Brazilian cities in which I have been, Alagoas looks better from

a distance than on close inspection; and as in the instance of Penêdo,

it has all the appearance of having once been a much more flourishing

place than it now is, the expulsion of the Portuguese having given its

industry a death blow, from which it is not soon likely to recover. The

houses are for the most part built of stone, and many of them are what

are called _Sobrados_, that is, consist of more stories than one, but

many of them are falling into decay; even the principal streets are

overgrown with grass and other weeds, and have a deserted appearance.

The finest buildings are the churches and convents; of the former there

are eight, and of the latter two in number. It being the seat of the

provincial government, the President resides there, but as Maceio is the

chief place of trade, there is also a government house in that town for

his accommodation, when he visits it, as he frequently does, for the

transaction of business. The population of Alagoas amounts to about 6000.

On one or two occasions that I walked through the principal streets I

saw very few people, and they for the most part were bare-footed, ragged

mulatto and Indian soldiers, two of whom were keeping guard at the house

of the President.

The chief productions of the country around Alagoas are sugar, cotton,

and a little mandiocca. At the time of my visit great complaints were

made of the scarcity of provisions, but it is impossible to feel much

commiseration for the starving condition of the poor people, when it

is known that it is entirely owing to their own want of industry that

sufficient crops of mandiocca are not raised, not only for their own

consumption, but for exportation to other parts of the country. There is

abundance of ground around the city lying waste, which is well adapted

for the growth of this plant, and but little labour suffices for its

cultivation, but the indolent disposition of the people is such, that,

with all the advantages which the country offers, they are contented to

obtain just sufficient for immediate use and seldom look forward to the

future. Towards the head of the lake, the country is said to be much

richer than it is near the city, and it is in that direction that the

largest and most productive sugar and cotton plantations are seen. The

lake is not of sufficient depth to admit of vessels of any size, all

traffic between the sea and the city is carried on in large canoes, and

a small class of flat-bottomed sailing vessels called Lanchas. Opposite

the city the lake is about a league broad, the water is quite fresh, and

yields abundance of fine fish, which forms the chief part of the animal

food of the inhabitants, to whom it is sold at a very cheap rate. Much

fine timber is floated down the lake from the upper parts of the country

for exportation along the coast; the two wooden bridges at Pernambuco are

for the most part constructed of it.

During my rambles in this neighbourhood, I found several species of

plants which I had not previously met with. In a small stream of

beautifully clear water the curious _Cabomba aquatica_, Aubl., grows

abundantly, which to the Botanist is a most interesting plant, as,

both in habit and structure, it forms a transition link between the

_Ranunculus_ family and that of the water lilies. In the same stream

I likewise collected specimens of a _Marsilæa_, a pale blue flowered

_Pontederia_, and a large white flowered _Nymphæa_ different from that

which grows in the lake at Olinda. In brackish water a little above

Maceio, a _Potamogeton_ grows in vast quantities, which on comparison,

does not seem to differ from the British _P. pectinatus_. We returned

to Maceio by daylight, and I observed that the shores abound with

Mangroves, principally _Rhizophora Mangle_, which reaches here to a much

greater size than I have elsewhere seen it, some of the trees being, at

least, thirty feet high, with stems proportionally thick; it presents a

curious appearance, the large roots supporting the stems at the height

of several feet above the water, and curving outwards and downwards; if

the real top were not seen, we could almost fancy that the tree had been

reversed; the long pendent radicles of the seeds are also remarkable, as

they are thrown down to the ground while the fruit is yet attached to the

parent plant. The wood of this tree is very much used as fuel, it burns

extremely well in the green state; at Maranham little else is used for

this purpose.

On the morning of the 20th of April I left Maceio, in a little vessel

loaded with cotton, and arrived at Pernambuco on the evening of the 24th,

taking Pedro with me, he having agreed to accompany me on my projected

journey into the interior. The only thing which I observed worthy notice

on the passage, was a mode of fishing that was new to me. Towards the

evening of the third day, while running along between the reef and the

shore, the vessel grounded on a sand bank, the tide being then about

half ebb. Having laid down to sleep on the deck, I awoke about nine

o’clock, and was surprised to see a great number of lights moving quickly

between the shore and the reef, and extending as far as I could see. Our

boatmen were at this time sound asleep, but as the tide was now out,

and the ground around us dry, I made for the nearest lights, and found

them to belong to a man and boy, both of whom were naked, each having a

lighted torch in his left hand, a long sword-knife in the right, with a

small basket suspended round the neck by a thick piece of cord. I soon

discovered they were engaged in killing the small fish which the tide

had left in the shallow pools of water inside the reef. They walked

somewhat quickly along, holding the flaming torch pretty close to the

water, by which means the fish, not above three inches long, were very

distinctly perceived, and when seen, immediately struck with the sword,

quickly picked up, and put into the basket. This man told me that all

he expected to get, would scarcely suffice for the supper of the four

individuals comprising his family. As the tide came in, the lights were

seen receding towards the shore, and gradually becoming extinct. The

material of which the torches are made, is the wood of a fine large

arborescent species of _Bignonia_, to which the Brazilians give the name

of _Pao d’Arco_, from the circumstance of its being used by the Indians

to make their bows. They split this wood into thin splinters, a number

of which are tied together, and when lighted, it burns with a very clear

flame. Before castor oil was so much cultivated as it now is, this kind

of light was extensively used by the country people, even in their

sugar-houses and other works.