S58 



NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



instantly set the whole head in a blaze, and the crackling twigs formed a 

 harsh counter to the surf-like roar of the flame below. While the fire 

 spread itself eating the forest all around, and became more active by every 

 breeze, the remaining stumps in its immediate rear, stood like piles of 

 living coal, and seemed to writhe as under the influence of a liquid 

 poison, creeping through their veins. The wintry appearance of those 

 naked branches, which preserved their station, and of the ground thickly 

 strewed with ruins and black ashes, while flames surrounded me, and the 

 heat of the atmosphete was almost intolerably oppressive, formed a con- 

 trast which cannot be described, an incongruous scene of desolation, 

 which no art can represent. 



Such accidents arise sometimes from the carelessness of travellers, 

 sometimes from lightning, occasionally, it is said, from the natural 

 spontaneous generation of fire. To this latter cause a conflagration was 

 attributed, which occurred in 1796, on the summit of the Tengua, 

 burned for nine months, and induced many to imagine, that a volcano 

 had burst forth there. The succeeding rains quenched it, but the spot is 

 still distinguished by the diminutive size of the trees, and the colour of 

 the foliage. How the conflagration commenced which I had witnessed, 

 no one thought it worth while to inquire. Greatly as it impressed my 

 mind, it seemed to pass almost unnoticed in the neighbourhood ; because 

 it not only had not touched, but had not even endangered any farm or 

 plantation. When I pointed out to some peasants the ashes which were 

 falling at several miles distance, they coolly replied, — " ah ! some part of 

 the forest has taken fire, but we shall soon have rain." 



Attending while at Pirasenunga to the preparation of Farinha, the 

 present seems a suitable place for introducing a brief account of the 

 process, by which so important a part of the food of the country is made 

 ready for use. It has been mentioned, more than once, that it is made 

 of the Cassava Root, called in Brazil Mandidca, and by the Indians 

 Mandij. The external part of the root being scraped off*, the remainder 

 ground to a pulp, is put into a Tipity, a sort of basket made of the 

 Tacoara, in the shape of those which bring currants from the Mediterra- 



