1832.] SOME NATIVE PLANTS. 35 



was drying. These buildings stand on a little hill, over- 

 looking the cultivated ground, and surrounded on every 

 side by a wall of dark green luxuriant forest. The chief 

 produce of this part of the country is coffee. Each tree 

 is supposed to yield annually, on an average, two pounds ; 

 but some give as much as eight. Mandioca or cassada 

 is likewise cultivated in great quantity. Every part of 

 this plant is useful : the leaves and stalks are eaten by the 

 horses, and the roots are ground into a pulp, which, 

 when pressed dry and baked, forms the farinha, the 

 principal article of sustenance in the Brazils. It is a 

 curious, though well-known fact, that the juice of this 

 most nutritious plant is highly poisonous. A few years 

 ago a cow died at this fazenda, in consequence of having 

 drunk some of it. Senhor Figuireda told me that he had 

 planted, the year before, one bag of feijad, or beans, and 

 three of rice ; the former of which produced eighty, 

 and the latter three hundred and twenty fold. The 

 pasturage supports a fine stock of cattle, and the woods 

 are so full of game, that a deer had been killed on each of 

 the three previous days. This profusion of food showed 

 itself at dinner, where, if the tables did not groan, the 

 guests surely did : for each person is expected to eat of 

 every dish. One day, having, as I thought, nicely 

 calculated so that nothing should go away untasted, to 

 my utter dismay a roast turkey and a pig appeared in 

 all their substantial reality. During the meals, it was 

 the employment of a man to drive out of the rooms sundry 

 old hounds, and dozens of little black children, which 

 crawled in together, at every opportunity. As long as the 

 idea of slavery could be banished, there was something 

 exceedingly fascinating in this simple and patriarchal style 

 of living : it was such a perfect retirement and independence 

 from the rest of the world. As soon as any stranger is seen 

 arriving, a large bell is set tolling, and generally some small 

 cannon are fired. The event is thus announced to the rocks 

 and woods, but to nothing else. One morning I walked 

 out an hour before daylight to admire the solemn stillness 

 of the scene ; at last the silence was broken by the 

 morning hymn, raised on high by the whole body of the 

 blacks ; and in this manner their daily work is generally 

 begun. On such fazendas as these, I have no doubt the 

 slaves pass happy and contented lives. On Saturday and 

 Sunday they work for themselves, and in this fertile climate 



