140 



A JOURNEY IN BRAZIL. 



Pimenta's " chacara," some two miles out of town, on 

 the Rua de Nazareth, where we were received with the 

 utmost kindness. Mr. Agassiz and Major Coutinho soon 

 returned to town, where no time is to be lost in begin- 

 ning work at the laboratory. I remained at home and 

 passed a pleasant morning with the ladies of the family, 

 who made me acquainted with the peculiar beverage so 

 famous in these regions, prepared from the berries of 

 the Assai palm. They are about the size of cranberries, 

 and of a dark-brown color. Being boiled and crushed 

 they yield a quantity of juice, which when strained has 

 about the consistency of chocolate, and is of a dark purplish 

 tint like blackberry juice. It has a sweetish taste, and is 

 very nice eaten with sugar and the crisp " farinha d'agua," 

 a kind of coarse flour made from the mandioca root. 

 People of all classes throughout the province of Pard 

 are exceedingly fond of this beverage, and in the city 

 they have a proverb which runs thus ; — 



" Who visits Pard is glad to stay, 

 Who drinks Assai goes never away.* 



August 12th. — This morning we rose early and walked 

 into town. Great pains have been taken with the environs 

 of Para, and the Rua de Nazareth is one of the broad 

 streets leading into the country, and planted with large 

 trees (chiefly mangueiras) for two or three miles out of 

 town. On our way we saw a lofty palm-tree completely 

 overpowered and stifled in the embrace of an enormous 

 parasite. So luxuriant is the growth of the latter that 

 you do not perceive, till it is pointed out to you, that its 

 spreading branches and thick foliage completely hide the 

 tree from which it derives its life ; only from the extreme 

 summit a few fan-like palm-leaves shoot upwards as if 



