AND JOURNEY TO THE RIO DOCE. 



179 



diocca does not succeed so well in these parts. Mr. Calmon has 

 been very serviceable to this country, by his judgment and activity, 

 having encouraged the people by his example to cultivate the ground. 

 With seventeen slaves, (at least this is his present number,) he has 

 cleared a considerable tract of forest, and proved, by the flourishing 

 state of his plantations, that the soil on the banks of this river is ex- 

 tremely fertile, and well adapted to all kinds of crops. We passed 

 one day (Decem[)er 28th) very agreeably here, both the ensign and 

 the lieutenant exerting themselves to entertain us. 



Linhares is still a very inconsiderable settlement, notwithstanding 

 the pains, which, as we ha\ e above stated, the late minister Count 

 Linhares took for its improvement. By his order the buildings were 

 erected in a square, upon a spot cleared of wood, near the bank of 

 the river, and on a steep cliff of clay. The houses of the place are 

 small, low, coA cred at top m ith cocoa or uricanna leaves, of earth 

 and not plastered. It has yet no church, and mass is read in a small 

 house. In the middle of the square formed by the buildings, there is a 

 wooden cross, to form which the head of a pretty large sapucaya tree, 

 that grew there, has merely been lopped off, and a transverse beam 

 nailed to it. The inhabitants have laid out their plantations partly 

 in the wood surrounding the village, partly in the islands in the river. 

 Mr. Calmon was however the first, and is still the only person who 

 has established a faze?id(i and a sugar-house. When he was going to 

 settle here opposite to Linhares, he took thirty or forty armed men, 

 and attacked the Botocudos, who were assembled in a body, resolved 

 to dispute the ground with him. One of these savages was killed ; 

 but it soon appeared that this horde, which numbered 150 bows, 

 could not be driven away by force alone ; another mode was there- 

 fore adopted ; they were threatened in the rear, and by this stratagem 

 induced to retreat. vSince that time they have given him no farther 

 molestation during the three years that he has resided here. If this 



