232 



STAY AT MORRO d'aRARA, 



The pieces given me of this bark, with which the captain had been 

 cured, were peeled off very thick, and still fresh, so that they could 

 not be reduced to powder. We therefore cut them in small pieces, 

 and made a strong decoction, which we drank. The Portuguese, who 

 were used to the climate, received benefit from this remedy ; but we 

 Germans found that it only deferred the fit, which afterwards returned 

 with increased violence. As the want of suitable food was more and 

 more sensibly felt under those distressing circumstances, and I saw 

 that I should never recover my health while I continued to subsist on 

 black beans, and fat or salt meat, to which we were now confined, I 

 resolved to remove to the town, which I accordingly did on the 10th 

 of March. The high winds which prevail on the sea-coast at this 

 season, are far more conducive to health than the damp, close warm 

 air in the forests. Our passage down the Mucuri was very agreeable, 

 as we had no rain. In the town also provisions were scarce, as in- 

 deed there is in general much poverty in these parts ; the people had 

 nothing but mandiocca flour, beans, and sometimes a little fish : we 

 who were ill however had the good fortune to procure suitable food 

 by purchasing some fowls. As the Brasilian bark did not seem to 

 effect our cure, I sent a messenger to the Villa de St. Matthaeus, who 

 brought me back some genuine Peruvian bark. This, it is true, soon 

 put a stop to the disorder, but it was several weeks before we quite 

 recovered our strength. 



Mr. Freyreiss came with the rest of our people to the Mucuri at 

 the beginning of May. He had made a short stay at Linhares on the 

 Rio Doce, but had found the state of the settlement there very 

 different from what it was at the period of our visit. The Botocudos, 



to give to Dr. Bernstein, who undertook the preceding description. The use of it seems to 

 promise greater efficacy in weakness of the stomach than the other kinds of bark. He could 

 not employ it in intermitting fevers. ' 



