26 



RIO DE JANEIRO. 



April, 1832. 



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 expressed 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 feijao 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 ap- 

 peared in all their substantial reality. During the meals, it 

 was the employment of a man to drive out of the room 

 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 

 of 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 the labour of two days 

 is sufficient to support a man and his family for the whole 

 week. 



