236 



TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



the branches and roots, divided into several pieces, 

 and fixed in the ground to form a fence, had im- 

 mediately taken root, and shot out new branches. 

 They were stems of the pindaiba (^Xylopia friites- 

 cens), and several crotons ; this phenomenon is 

 the more remarkable, because the pieces which 

 were set in upside down grew as fast as the rest. 

 While the experiments of the botanical physiologer 

 in our ungenial climates afford him, only under 

 hard conditions, an insight into the concealed pro- 

 cesses of vegetation ; Nature in these countries vo- 

 luntarily solves those problems, and thus allows 

 him to look into her mysteries. In this point of 

 view, it would certainly be a very important under- 

 taking, to repeat here, upon a more extensive scale, 

 the experiments of Hales, Duhamel, Grew, and 

 Knight, in order to deduce from them general 

 laws of the growth of plants. 



At Piedade, a village consisting of several scat- 

 tered houses and a chapel, scarcely a mile from 

 Porto de Estrella, we issued from between the 

 thick hedges along the road, into a verdant plain 

 bounded by gardens, plantations, and meadows, 

 which were just then illumined by the brilliant rays 

 of the morning sun ; while in the back ground, the 

 massy summits of the Organ Mountains, were 

 veiled in the gloom of a forest, which was still in 

 shade. A solemn soothing repose was diffused 

 over this dehghtful spot, which seems to have been 

 created for the enjoyment of retired and cheerful 



