TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



221 



seems, as if such obscure and imperfectly organised 

 animals are assigned rather to the colder climates, 

 and superior forms in greater numbers to the 

 warm.er. Perhaps too, the depth of the ocean on 

 the coast of Brazil, which is much more consider- 

 able than in the Indian seas, may be a reason that 

 the marine animals appear more rarely. 



The powder manufactory, and the dwelling- 

 house of Senhor Joao Gomez Abreu, colonel of the 

 engineers, an amiable and well-informed Brazilian, 

 from Minas-Geraes, who has the superintendence 

 of this manufactory, and of the botanical garden, 

 lie in a tranquil and retired spot, surrounded on the 

 one side by wooded granite hills, and on the other 

 by the Lake of Roderigo Freitas, which is about 

 half a league in diameter. The abovementioned 

 botanic garden lies behind the houses. Several 

 fine avenues of bread-fruit trees, from the South 

 Sea (Artocarpus incisd), the shadowy yto (Guarea 

 trichilioides), and mango trees, lead through the 

 plantation, divided into regular squares, in which 

 the most important object of cultivation is the 

 Chinese tea plant. At present there are about six 

 thousand trees planted in rows, about three feet 

 distant from each other. The climate appears 

 favourable to their growth ; they bloom in the 

 months of July to September, and their seed be- 

 comes perfectly ripe. This circumstance, with the 

 similar attempts to cultivate other Asiatic plants, 

 in America, is another proof that the prosperity of 



