NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



283 



house, where we were well received, and induced to change, in part at 

 least, the notion which common report had given us, of farmers' wives 

 in Brazil. The mistress of this house showed, not only great good 

 temper, but much knowledge of domestic and rural affairs. From the 

 summit of a hill, which we reached soon afterwards, we beheld a land- 

 scape which amply repaid the fatigue we had undergone. I have since 

 frequently visited the spot, for no other purpose than to look about me, 

 and inhale the pure breeze of morning, at which period the scene is 

 beheld in its utmost beauty. The road was, however, turned into a 

 different direction, before I left the country ; the new one, much more 

 confined, passes over one of the roughest ridges in this part of the conti- 

 nent. At the top of the hill, on the old one, we met a boy, whom we 

 engaged to conduct us through the wood to its Eastern side ; where we 

 beheld the hills near Rio de Janeiro, and quickly entered upon the plain 

 of Engenha Nova. This fine estate belonged to the Jesuits ; the late 

 owner resolved to sell it in small portions, hence many genteel houses 

 have been erected in desirable situations, the woods have been cut down, 

 the land enclosed, thriving fences planted ; and culture has proceeded 

 with such rapidity as to rejoice the well-wisher to the safety, peace, and 

 comfort of human society. 



Amidst the rougher parts of these scenes, while the forests were 

 every where falling beneath the axe, I frequently remarked, with surprise, 

 the wonderful contrivances of nature to repair her losses ; particularly the 

 avidity with which vegetables seek their proper nutriment. Many fallen 

 pieces of rock had lain so long as to collect on their tops a quantity of 

 earth, which had become the seat of plants, and even of trees. The 

 roots of some of these, extending beyond the limits of the stones, went 

 down their sides, and entered the ground at their base. Instances here 

 occurred in which svich roots enclosed, as in a sort of net-work, stones 

 upwards of twelve feet high, and as many broad and long. The parts 

 exposed had, in some measure, put off the appearance of roots, and were 

 covered with a dry scaly bark something like that of the stem. The effects 



which hard substances produce on the roots of trees cannot be unknown ; 



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