224 TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



the East Indies, and from the saltpetre caverns on 

 the Rio de Francisco, and partly by the nature of 

 the charcoal which is here employed in the com- 

 position of the gunpowder. We are not certain 

 what charcoal they use here, but during our jour- 

 ney into the interior, where the obtaining of 

 powder from the coasts is very difficult, and on 

 account of the heavy duty on foreign powder, very 

 expensive, several of the inhabitants assured us 

 that they made for their own use very good powder, 

 by the wellknown mixture with the charcoal of 

 several kinds of corindiuva (Celtis). The inhabit- 

 ants, however, are prohibited from manufacturing 

 this powder, which is far inferior in strength to 

 the English. The country about the lake of Ro- 

 derigo Freitas, like the neighbouring suburbs of 

 Bota-'Fogo and Catete, is considered to be re- 

 markably healthy ; and many of the rich inhabitants 

 of Rio possess country-houses (chacras) on this 

 side, in which they pass the fine season of the 

 year. The road is therefore much frequented by 

 passengers on horseback and in carriages. This 

 part, where the inlets of the sea are less deep and 

 more exposed to the wind, is freer from the tor- 

 ment of the musquittoes than the opposite side of 

 the town ; for instance, the quarter of S. Anna. 

 Those troublesome and ravenous insects prefer the 

 thick bushes of the mangrove, and the morasses 

 which surround it, and are particularly annoying 

 before sunrise and sunset. 



