TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 79 



thought of an expedition against the eastern pro- 

 vince of Chili. In a coimtry, cut off from the 

 neighbouring states, nay, even from the capital, 

 where political events are seldom heard of, every 

 military movement, however trifling, produces 

 general fear and alarm. 



At Porto Feliz, the bad construction of the low 

 houses, the walls of which are often covered with 

 a saline efflorescence, the nearness of the woods 

 and of the rivers, which are frequently covered 

 with thick fogs, cause goitres, intermitting fevers, 

 dropsy, and catarrhs, which are almost endemic. 

 We found the grown up persons bloated ; and the 

 children of our host, and some neighbours were 

 sufFei'ing from a malignant hooping cough (^Tosse 

 comprida), which we were told not unfrequently ends 

 in consumption. But the same causes which prove 

 injurious to the animal economy, greatly promote 

 the growth of plants. Maize and rice thrive in 

 perfection, and generally produce two hundred and 

 fifty fold. Rice is sown in the hollows, and parti- 

 cularly not far from the rivers, by rows in tufts.- 

 On our return fi'om Porto Feliz to Ypanema, we 

 met with a marshy spot in the wood, which was 

 thickly grown with the Canna indica, an agreeable 

 discovery, because it removed all doubts respecting 

 the original country of this universally spread ele- 

 gant plant.* In all these low woods, we observed 

 numbers of a beautiful black crane with a purple 



* Rob. Brown, in Tuckey's expedition to explore the river 

 Zaire, p. 477., likewise considers it as American. 



