TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 8^ 



and soon rots in the heavy, clayey, and colder 

 soil of the low grounds that are covered with wood ; 

 maize, on the other hand, everywhere produces in 

 abundance large and mealy grain. The soil and 

 climate of this country are peculiarly adapted to 

 the pine-apple ; the plants often grow wild, cover- 

 ing extensive spots of ground, and in some plant- 

 ations about the fazendas, the fruit attains an 

 extraordinary size and delicious flavour. They 

 very frequently make part of the dessert, either 

 fresh or preserved in sugar, and a very pleasant 

 and wholesome wine is made of them. A liffht 

 and agreeable wine is also prepared from the fruits 

 of the jabuticaba {Myrtus caulifiora, nob.), which 

 the settlers have taken from the woods on the 

 Tiete and Paraiba, and cultivated in their gardens, 

 and which is one of the best fruits in the country. 

 Our host boasted of his skill in the art of making 

 American wine, and our repast was generally' 

 concluded with some glasses of his manufacture. 

 Besides all the members of the happy and patriar- 

 chal family, every neighbour or stranger of their ac- 

 quaintance, who happened to pass that way, par- 

 took of the meal. The dinner consisted of simple, 

 but abundant dishes, with boiled beef or pork, a 

 roasted joint of the cavy or the armadillo, &c., which 

 the sons of the family had brought from the woods, 

 then the favourite dish canjica, lastly, a great 

 variety of preserved fruits, which in Europe would 

 be articles of the highest luxury. Sometimes, just 



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