256 TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



want of oxen trained to the work, this gave them 

 sufficient ground to prove the unfitness of Euro- 

 pean agriculture on the BraziUan soil. Many had 

 not yet seen a plough ; some would not allow the 

 justice of the observation, that the soil gained in 

 fertility by being loosened, and by the chemical 

 influence of the atmosphere, because the virgin 

 forests, the surface of which had been the same 

 for thousands of years, afforded the most fertile 

 land ; others doubted whether the oxen, which 

 Mn Von Langsdorff had procured from Minas, 

 possessed strength to bear, even for a few days, 

 the hard labour of ploughing; some again lamented 

 the loss of time of the negroes that must be em- 

 ployed. In truth, the use of the plough in these 

 and the more northern districts which cultivate no 

 corn, and have not yet lost their original fertility, 

 appears less to be recommended than in the capi- 

 tanias of S. Paulo, and Rio Grande do Sul. As 

 the productions of the earth chiefly cultivated here 

 are not sown but planted, and on that account do 

 not require the surface of the ground to be so 

 uniformly prepared, the negro works with the hoe 

 much more effectually and easily than it would be 

 possible for him to do with the plough, the use of 

 which is besides rendered more difficult by the 

 many roots, and the unburnt trunks remaining in 

 the plantations. Though our friend had at present 

 only about twenty negroes, he had not only se- 

 cured the subsistence of his family by the cultiva- 



