292 



NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



j iistified on the principle of necessary caution ; for these poor foresters 

 were often pillaged, more especially by soldiers who left their quarters, 

 and prowled about in the night. A more strict discipline, and the 

 appointment of patrols, now kept them in better order. 



Gradually turning from St. Antonio, more to the East, the country 

 becomes sublimely grand. Before us rise the massy pile of Tengua, the 

 cone of Boa- Vista, and the singular pinnacles usually denominated the 

 Organ-Pipes. The road winds round the foot of the hills to the plain 

 watered by the Iguasu, the Great Bay, a stream which falls into the 

 harbour of Rio, The soil of this plain is in general sandy; but being 

 occasionally overflowed in many parts, a black sediment is left, which 

 fits it for the growth of rice. The surface is broken by numerous 

 abrupt round hills, called from their shape half oranges. There were 

 many such in a farm which frequently became my temporary home. 



When my countryman and friend purchased this farm several years 

 ago, it was almost covered with forest trees. It contained nearly two 

 thousand acres, and the original cost, together with the expenses, which 

 were unusually high, was about seven hundred pounds. There were 

 upon it two houses, each surrounded with a small quantity of pasture 

 ground, with some coffee and fruit trees. After the necessary purchase 

 of slaves, the first object was to clear a part of the ground for planting, 

 and at the same time, procure timber for fences and for building huts and 

 offices. Mandidca was introduced on the sandy soils, Milho on the loamy 

 ones. Coffee Trees were multiplied on the clays, and the swamps prepared 

 for rice. The European modes of culture were, in many cases, mixed 

 with those of the country. A bed of clay was converted into bricks and 

 tiles, articles which at that time were in great demand. Different 

 coloured clays and earths were selected and used as pigments ; and one 

 kind seemed of such a superior quality, that there were hopes of advancing, 

 under proper management, from the fabrication of common earthenware 

 to something which might rival the porcelain of China. The surplus 

 wood was cut into billets, which were made up in bundles, and sold in the 

 city for fuel, at the rate of about three-halfpence for thirty pounds. In 



