268 



NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



herbage appears luxuriant, and the face of the ground in general as 

 green as any in England ; while every hill is so covered and crowned with 

 trees, and these so rich in their fohage, as British scenery can seldom 

 display. Houses are every where scattered around, and at short distances 

 there are clusters of huts. The cattle are of the small dun sort, very 

 different from those of Rio Grande ; few horses were observed, but many 

 mules. Ant hills, not unlike those formed by the Termites in Africa, 

 are frequent ; Birds of exquisite plumage occasionally presented them- 

 selyes, and we saw one Coral Snake. 



The Estate of Santa Cruz, which is seven miles from one end to 

 the other, has a finely varied surface, and is watered by the rivers 

 Guandu, the Great Bay, and Taguiah, the Yellow Water. It formerly 

 belonged to the Society of Jesus, and was their principal establishment 

 in these parts; it is now the property and the occasional residence of 

 the King. The house, standing near the Western edge of the estate, 

 is small but well built, and being designed for a convent, makes only 

 a poor palace. A good chapel adds to its appearance ; miserable mud 

 huts, the filthy abodes of negroes, detract from it. The land seems 

 to have been cultivated with the usual energy of its former possessors, 

 and is said to have been rendered highly productive. There are still 

 traces of drains, and of a navigable canal. Yet amidst these, the 

 general appearance at present is more like that of an unregarded com- 

 mon, than the demesne of a powerful Monarch; horses, mules, and 

 oxen roam about it without restraint. 



The neglected state in which this Royal Park was permitted too 

 long to remain, proved a source of inconvenience and misery to every 

 planter and settler in the neighbourhood, who had not interest enough 

 at Court to make himself and his property respected there. While 

 I was at breakfast at a sort of small inn, a man rode to the door, 

 with the title and uniform of Captain, who put in requisition what- 

 ever the house afforded, ordered a quantity of grass to be provided 

 and delivered at the palace, and went away without even speaking of 

 payment When he was completely out of hearing, the poor fellow 



