AND JOURNEY TO THE RIO DOCE. 



165 



the produce of their plantations. They are mostly negroes, mulattos 

 or other, people of colour: there are very few whites among them; 

 they immediately complain to the traveller of their poverty and dis- 

 tress, which can arise only from idleness and want of industry, for 

 the soil is fertile. Too poor to purchase slaves, and too indolent to 

 work themselves, they prefer starving. 



Proceeding to the north, you come to a tract where you meet with 

 no more Creoles or mulattos, but Indians in a state of civilisation. 

 Their detached habitations he scattered in a shady wood of magnifi- 

 cent forest trees ; dark paths wind from one hut to another ; in the 

 crystal brooks which reflect the beautiful vegetation, you see the 

 naked dark-brown youth, with their coal-black hair, sporting and 

 playing. In this delightful wood, we found some beautiful birds ; 

 the green and gold jacamar ( galhula magna ) was sitting on low 

 branches near the water, on the watch for insects ; and unknown notes 

 resounded through the solitude. After we had travelled four leagues, 

 we issued from the wood, and beheld before us upon an eminence 

 above the sea the Villa Nova de Almeida. 



Villa Nova is a large village of civilised Indians, w hich was founded 

 by the Jesuits : it has a large stone church, and contains in its whole 

 district, nine leagues in circumference, about 1200 souls. The in- 

 habitants of the village are chiefly Indians, but there are also some 

 Portuguese and negroes. Many possess houses here, to which they 

 come from their plantations on Sundays and holidays only. In the 

 Jesuits' convent, . which now serves for the residence of the priest, 

 there are still some old works of that order, which is a rarity, as the 

 libraries* in all the other convents have not been taken care of, but 

 destroyed or dispersed. The Jesuits here formerly gave instruction 

 in the Ungoa geral ; their chapel, Dos Reys Magos, is said to have 

 been very beautiful. The place is dull, and seems not to be pop'ulous ; 

 much poverty also prevails there. The Indians derive their subsistence 



