

BRAZIL. 



BRAZIL. 



102 



well aa in the plain of the Rio das Amazonas, and produce ripe 

 grapes twice a year, in June and in December. Pine-apples are some- 

 times found wild in the forests near Pant, but they are cultivated in 

 the districts north of 30, and near Pard attain an extraordinary size, 

 with an exquisite flavour. 



About a hundred varieties of palms are found in Brazil. They 

 abound in the northern provinces, and perhaps every one of the 

 numerous species may be applied to some useful purpose. The most 

 useful is the coco-palm (Cocoa nucifera, Linn.), which is common along 

 the coast between 10 and 20 S. lat., and principally valuable on 

 account of the ' cairo ' or outer part of the fruit, of which ropes of 

 great strength are made. The Coco de Dente', or oil-palm (Elacit 

 (fuinfenain, Linn.), which has been brought from Africa, grows not 

 mily like the coco-tree on the coast, but also to a considerable distance 

 from the shore, and yields an oil which is used for lamps and culinary 

 purposes. The leaves of the piacaba-palm (A ttalea funifera., Mart.), 

 which grows wild between 10 and 20 S. lat., are an excellent substi- 

 tute for hemp, which does not .succeed in these parts of Brazil. 

 Cables made of these leaves are much preferred to those made of 

 cairo, being three times as strong. 



A singular feature in the vegetation of Brazil is the leafless parasite 

 plant*. " They are all comprehended underthegeneral name of 'timbo ;' 

 they rve for basket-work, and are beaten into tow. Their juice is 

 used in tanning : being bruised and cast into the lakes and rivers, 

 they stain the water with a dark colour, and intoxicate or poison the 

 fish. These plants twist round the trees, climb up them, grow 

 downwards to the ground, take root there, and springing up again 

 cross from bough to bough and tree to tree, wherever the wind carries 

 their limber shoots, till the whole woods are hung with their garland- 

 ing, and rendered almost impervious. The monkeys travel along this 

 v.-ild rigging, swing from it by the tail, and perform their antics. This 

 vegetable cordage is sometimes so closely interwoven that it has the 

 appearance of a net, and neither birds nor beasts can get through it. 

 are as thick as a man's leg, their shape three-sided, or square or 

 round ; they grow in knots or screws and every possible form of con- 

 tortion. Any way they may be bent; but to break them is impos- 

 sible. Frequently they kill the tree which supports them ; and 

 sometimes they remain standing after the trunk which they have 

 strangled has mouldered in their involutions." (Southey.) 



Of the native vegetation of so extensive a country as Brazil it is 

 -ible to give any exact idea without going into numerous details 

 t'r which thin a not the place. Those who are desirous of making 

 themselves acquainted with this subject will find the most valuable 

 ! i still very incomplete sources of information to be the fol- 

 lowing : A uguste de St. Hilaire's ' Voyage dans 1'inte'rieur du Brdsil ; ' 

 the ' Travels' of Martins and Spix, and of Prince Maximilian of Wied 

 Ts'cuwieil : the ' Pflanzen und Thiere des tropischen America, ein 

 Natur^i-iii. il, I.'.' i,f Dr. C. V. Ph. von Martins; the ' Apcrcu d'uii 

 i: dans I'intiTi'-iir du I'.ri'sil, la I'mvimv cisplatine et les Missions 

 dites du Paraguay,' by Auguste de St. Hilaire, published in the 

 ires du Museum,' vol. ix. ; Gardner's ' Travels in the Interior 

 ', I'.nizil;' and Wallace's 'Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro,' 

 1853. 



AB o small a proportion of Brazil is cultivated, and by far the 

 greatest part consists of extensive plains, very thinly wooded and fre- 

 Iy without trees, the pastures are extensive, and one of the prin- 

 cipal sources of wealth is in the domestic animals. The best pastures 

 are to the south of 20 S. lat., in Rio Grande do Sul, San Paulo, and the 

 southern districts of Minas Qeraes. The herds of horned cattle are 

 here immense, and their produce, consisting, besides live stock, of 

 . jerked beef, tallow, horns, and horn-tips, is exported in great 

 quantities. As soon as the animals are skinned the hides are spread 

 on the ground, slightly salted, and dried in the sun. The flesh is cut 

 in'o thin slices, salted, and dried in the air. Thus prepared it is 

 ! ' Carne seca do SertSo,' ' Passoca,' or ' Carne charqueda,' and is 

 carried from the southern provinces to the northern, where it is con- 

 sumed by the poorer classes, and especially by the negroes. Butter 

 l>: in San Paulo, and cheese in Minas Qeraes, but neither is good. 

 By far the greatest part of the cattle live nearly iu a wild state, and 

 are not milked. Cattle-hair is exported from Rio Grande do Sul. 



Horses are numerous in the southern provinces, but less so in San 

 Paulo than in Rio do Sul. The number annually exported to the 

 north is vaguely estimated at about 50,000 head. They are of a 

 middling size, from 12 to 14J hands high, but strong, lively, and 

 swift. Those reared in Espirito Santo, and called ' Campos ' horses, 

 are beautiful animals, and last longer. Even near the equator, in the 

 province of Pard, good hones are reared. Mules are only reared in 

 the southern provinces, but in great numbers. The sheep are in little 

 repute, the meat being ill-flavoured and the wool of indifferent quality. 

 Goats are more numerous, and kept for their milk. Hogs are kept in 

 numbers. Monkeys are among the wild animals used for food 

 by the Indians. A great number of monkeys live in the forests along 

 the Amazonas, where Spix observed twenty-five different species, 

 ome of very small dimensions, and there are doubtless several other 



-;.. , ,. 



i Ptlj'-r wild animals, many of which are used for food, are different 

 specie* of the anta or tepir, the porcupine, the nasica, deer, the Bra- 

 zilian hare, armadilloes, the great and small ant-eaters, several kinds 



of sloths, didelphysa, pacas, and agoutis, and the wild boar. Besidea 

 these there are hyaenas, jaguars, ounces, tiger-cats, coatis, squirrels, 

 rats, &c., and two or three kinda of bats, the vampirea and the 

 quandiru, which stick to domestic animals in the night-time, and 

 suck their blood. Of birds Brazil possesses a wonderful variety. The 

 largest bird is the American ostrich or emu, which is found in nume- 

 rous flocks on the table-land, and ia caught for its flesh and eggs as 

 well as for its feathers, of which different articles are made, as fana, 

 &c. Among birds of prey the king-vulture and the harpy-eagle, which 

 are found iu the whole district of the lower Amazonas, are the most 

 remarkable ; there are also many varieties of eagles, hawks, kitea, and 

 owls. The other birds are more remarkable for the beauty of their 

 plumage than their voice. The most beautiful are the toucans, the 

 tanagras, the numerous species of the parrota, chatterers, and ravena 

 of different colours, as also the Balearic crane, different shrikes, king- 

 fishers, wood-peckers, and hummmg-'birds. Many varieties of birds are 

 suitable for food, and especially the different kinds of pigeons, which 

 are caught by steeping grain in the poisonous juice of the mandioc- 

 root. 



The numerous lakes at the southern extremity of Brazil in the 

 province of Rio Grande do Sul are at certain seasons covered with 

 water-fowl, especially geese and ducks ; this ia still more the case 

 with the numerous lakes in the plain of the Amazonas, where the 

 Indians kill great numbers of storks, cranes, ducka, &c. 



Fish must be considered as one of the most important sources of 

 wealth to Brazil. Whales, which in the southern hemisphere approach 

 much nearer to the equator than in the northern, and come as far as 

 15 S. lat., formerly yielded considerable profit, but thia branch of 

 industry has much declined. Farther south, on the coast of Rio 

 Grande do Sul, the Phyteter macrocephalus (Linn.) ia frequent, and 

 yields spermaceti in abundance. Among the fiah caught along the 

 coast the garopa is the most important. It attains the length of from 

 12 to 20 feet, and is very well tasted. It is most abundant along the 

 shores of the province of Bahia, where great quantities are anuually 

 caught and exported. But the quantity of fish in the Amazonaa and 

 its large tributaries as far up as the cataracts is truly astonishing. 

 Mr. Wallace found 205 species of fish in the Rio Negro alone, and 

 these he says he is sure " are but a portion of what exist there." It 

 is to be observed, too, that moat of the fishes of the Rio Negro are 

 different from those found in the Amazonas ; indeed " in every small 

 river and in different parts of the same river distinct kinds are found." 

 In many places the inhabitants, Indians as well as European settlers, 

 gain a considerable portion of their subsistence by fishing, in which 

 the Indians display much ingenuity. The larger fiah are salted and 

 dried, and in this state consumed by the lower classes ; from the 

 smaller fish oil is extracted. The largest species are the pirarucu 

 (^in/in /lii-urucA, Spix), which for size and quantity may be compared 

 with the cod of our seas, and the pirarara (Phraclocephaius bicolor, 

 Agass.). The dolphin (l)elphinus Amazonian, Spix) is not found 

 towards the mouth of the Amazouas, but occurs farther up the river. 

 It is from seven to eight feet long, and is caught by the natives for the 

 oil which is extracted from its fat ; the flesh is hard and haa a disa- 

 greeable taste. The lamantin or manati (Manatus Americanus, Cuv.) 

 was formerly found even in the smaller rivers along the coaat between 

 Rio Janeiro and Maranhao. It is now sometimes seen in the Rio de 

 S. Francesco, but ia common in the Amazonas and its northern larger 

 affluents. From its resemblance to an ox it is called by the Portuguese 

 peixe-boi (ox-fish), and by the Spaniards vaca marina (sea-cow). In 

 the Rio Amazonas, according to D'Orbigny, it is sometimea 20 feet 

 long, and weighs from 70 to 80 cwt. One fish often yields 480 or 500 

 gallons of oil, and its flesh, which resembles fresh pork, is excellent. 

 Mr. Wallace, however, states that he saw none exceeding seven feet 

 in length. Sausages are made of it, and sent to Portugal as a delicacy. 

 It is a very peaceful animal, and rapidly decreasing in numbers. Its 

 greatest enemy is the alligator, of which there are several species in 

 the rivers and lakes of Brazil. 



There are several apecies of turtlea in the Rio Amazonaa, but that 

 called Tartaruga graude (Emys Amazonica, Spix) is moat common. 

 Its flesh generally weighs from 9 to 10 Ibs. The farma in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the river have places well fenced, in which they are kept 

 and killed aa they are wanted. On some sandy islands of the Rio 

 Amazonas, as well as the Madeira, Rio Negro, and Yupurd, the turtles 

 lay their eggs when the water ia lowest : the eggs are gathered, 

 broken, and by means of a slow fire reduced to a fat substance, called 

 ' Manteiga de Tartaruga,' which i extensively used all over Brazil. 

 About 20,000 pota of this fat, each containing 60 Ibs., are annually 

 made, and several thousand persons are occupied in ita preparation. 



Snakes are common in Brazil, and aoine are of great size, but the 

 number which are poisonous, according to Freyreiss, is not very large. 

 Lizards are very numerous. 



The insects of Brazil are remarkable for the beauty of their colours, 

 and their size, especially the butterflies, in respect to which Brazil is 

 unrivalled both as regards numbers and beauty : Mr. Bates obtained 

 1200 species in the valley of the Amazonas. Some of the insects are 

 very destructive to fruits or furniture, as the anta, of which one species 

 is fried and eaten as a delicacy. The variety of Culeoplera is very great ; 

 but with the exception of the extraordinary harlequin-beetle and the 

 gigantic Prioni and Dynattei, they are generally of small size and 



