On the 7th of October, also, we made only a short day’s journey of twenty miles, to the small town of Canto Gallo. The scenery was of the usual description, consisting of narrow, circumscribed valleys and mountains covered with endless forests. If little fazendas, and the remains of woods which had been set on fire, had not, every now and then, reminded us of the hand of man, I should have thought that I was wandering through some yet undiscovered part of Brazil.
The monotony of our journey was rather romantically interrupted by our straying for a short distance from the right road. In order to reach it again, we were obliged to penetrate, by untrodden paths, through the woods; a task presenting difficulties of which a European can scarcely form an idea. We dismounted from our mules, and my guide threw back, on either side, the low-hanging branches, and cut through the thick web of creepers; while, one moment, we were obliged to climb over broken trunks, or squeeze ourselves between others, at the next we sank knee-deep among endless parasitical plants. I began almost to despair of ever effecting a passage, and, even up to the present day, am at a loss to understand how we succeeded in escaping from this inextricable mass.
The little town of Canto Gallo is situated in a narrow valley, and contains about eighty houses. The venda stands apart, the town not being visible from it. The temperature here is warm as in Rio Janeiro.
On my return to the venda, after a short walk to the town, I applied to my landlady, in order to obtain a near and really correct idea of a Brazilian household. The good woman, however, gave herself very little trouble, either in looking after the house or the kitchen; as is the case in Italy, this was her husband’s business. A negress and two young negroes cooked, the arrangements of the kitchen being of the most primitive simplicity. The salt was pressed fine with a bottle; the potatoes, when boiled, underwent the same process—the latter were also subsequently squeezed in the frying-pan with a plate, to give them the form of a pancake; a pointed piece of wood served for a fork, etc. There was a large fire burning for every dish.
Every one whose complexion was white, sat down with us at table. All the dishes, consisting of cold roast beef, black beans with boiled carna secca, {42} potatoes, rice, manioc flour, and boiled manioc roots, were placed upon the table at the same time, and every one helped himself as he pleased. At the conclusion of our meal, we had strong coffee without milk. The slaves had beans, carna secca, and manioc flour.
8th October. Our goal today was the Fazenda Boa Esperanza, twenty-four miles off. Four miles beyond Canto Gallo, we crossed a small waterfall, and then entered one of the most magnificent virgin forests I had yet beheld. A small path, on the bank of a little brook conducted us through it. Palms, with their majestic tops, raised themselves proudly above the other trees, which, lovingly interlaced together, formed the most beautiful bowers; orchids grew in wanton luxuriance upon the branches and twigs; creepers and ferns climbed up the trees, mingling with the boughs, and forming thick walls of blossoms and flowers, which displayed the most brilliant colours, and exhaled the sweetest perfume; delicate humming-birds twittered around our heads; the pepper-pecker, with his brilliant plumage, soared shyly upwards; parrots and parroquets were swinging themselves in the branches, and numberless beautifully marked birds, which I only knew from having seen specimens in the Museum, inhabited this fairy grove. It seemed as if I was riding in some fairy park, and I expected, every moment, to see sylphs and nymphs appear before me.
I was so happy, that I felt richly recompensed for all the fatigue of my journey. One thought only obscured this beautiful picture; and that was, that weak man should dare to enter the lists with the giant nature of the place, and make it bend before his will. How soon, perhaps, may this profound and holy tranquillity be disturbed by the blows of some daring settler’s axe, to make room for the wants of men!
I saw no dangerous animals save a few dark green snakes, from five to seven feet long; a dead ounce, that had been stripped of its skin; and a lizard, three feet in length, which ran timidly across our path. I met with no apes; they appear to conceal themselves deeper in the woods, where no human footstep is likely to disturb them in their sports and gambols.
During the whole distance from Canto Gallo to the small village of St. Ritta (sixteen miles), if it had not again been for a few coffee plantations, I should have thought the place completely forgotten by man.
Near St. Ritta are some gold-washings in the river of the same name, and not far from them, diamonds also are found. Since seeking or digging for diamonds is no longer an imperial monopoly, every one is at liberty to employ himself in this occupation, and yet it is exercised as much as possible in secret. No one will acknowledge looking for them, in order to avoid paying the State its share as fixed by law. The precious stones are sought for and dug out at certain spots, from heaps of sand, stones, and soil, which have been washed down by the heavy rains.
I had found lodgings in a venda for the last time, the preceding evening, at Canto Gallo. I had now to rely upon the hospitality of the proprietors of the fazendas. Custom requires that, on reaching a fazenda, any person who desires to stop the middle of the day or the night there, should wait outside and ask, through the servant, permission to do so. It is not until his application is granted, which is almost always the case, that the traveller dismounts from his mule, and enters the building.
They received me at the Fazenda of Boa Esperanza in the most friendly manner, and, as I happened to arrive exactly at dinner-time (it was between 3 and 4 o’clock), covers were immediately laid for me and my attendant. The dishes were numerous, and prepared very nearly in the European fashion.
Great astonishment was manifested in every venda and fazenda at seeing a lady arrive accompanied only by a single servant. The first question was, whether I was not afraid thus to traverse the woods alone; and my guide was invariably taken on one side, and questioned as to way I travelled. As he was in the habit of seeing me collect flowers and insects, he supposed me to be a naturalist, and replied that my journey had a scientific object.
After dinner, the amiable lady of the house proposed that I should go and see the coffee-plantations, warehouses, etc.; and I willingly accepted her offer, as affording me an opportunity of viewing the manner in which the coffee was prepared, from beginning to end.
The mode of gathering it I have already described. When this is done, the coffee is spread out upon large plots of ground, trodden down in a peculiar manner, and enclosed by low stone walls, scarcely a foot high, with little drain-holes in them, to allow of the water running off in case of rain. On these places the coffee is dried by the glowing heat of the sun, and then shaken in large stone mortars, ten or twenty of which are placed beneath a wooden scaffolding, from which wooden hammers, set in motion by water power, descend into the mortars, and easily crush the husks. The mass, thus crushed, is then placed in wooden boxes, fastened in the middle of a long table, and having small openings at each side, through which both the berry itself and the husk fall slowly out. At the table are seated negroes, who separate the berry from the husk, and then cast it into shallow copper cauldrons, which are easily heated. In these it is carefully turned, and remains until it is quite dried. This last process requires some degree of care, as the colour of the coffee depends upon the degree of heat to which it is exposed; if dried too quickly, instead of the usual greenish colour, it contracts a yellowish tinge.
On the whole, the preparation of coffee is not fatiguing, and even the gathering of it is far from being as laborious as reaping is with us. The negro stands in an upright posture when gathering the berry, and is protected by the tree itself against the great heat of the sun. The only danger he incurs is of being bitten by some venomous snake or other—an accident, however, which, fortunately, rarely happens.
The work on a sugar-plantation, on the contrary, is said to be exceedingly laborious, particularly that portion of it which relates to weeding the ground and cutting the cane. I have never yet witnessed a sugar-harvest, but, perhaps, may do so in the course of my travels.
All work ceases at sunset, when the negroes are drawn up in front of their master’s house for the purpose of being counted, and then, after a short prayer, have their supper, consisting of boiled beans, bacon, carna secca, and manioc flour, handed