14 



Prince Maximilian^s 



French and tnen* allies, tne Tupmamhas, and contributed to their 

 expulsion. The Jesuits afterwards brought the new converted 

 Goaytacsaes to this village, and the Indians who at present inlia- 

 bit it are their descendants. 



The walls and huts of San Lourenzo are formed of stakes and 

 lattice work, with the interstices filled up with clay, and the roofs 

 are covered with cocoa leaves. The furniture is very simple. 

 Mats spread on boards supply the place of beds. Occasionally may 

 still be seen the sleeping-nets, formed of cotton, which were for- 

 merly in general use among the Indians. Both these kinds of bed 

 have been adopted by the lower orders of the Portuguese, through- 

 out the whole of Brazil. Large pots, which keep water cool, are 

 every where used ; they are made of a kind of clay, through 

 which the water, slowly filtering, evaporates externally, and is 

 thus cooled internally. A cocoa-nut shell, cut through the middle^ 

 with a wooden handle, serves to lift the water. Some earthen 

 pots for cooking, (panellas,) and gourds for dishes, with trifling 

 articles of clothing, and ornament, and sometimes a musket, or 

 bow and arrows, complete the remaining domestic articles. 



The mandiocca (jatropha manihot, Linn.) and maize, ( milho j 

 which form a considerable part of the sustenance of these people^ 

 and which grow in abundance here, have been described so fully 

 by Köster and Mawe, that it is unnecessary for me to say more 

 of them. There are, besides, planted around the houses, some 

 spicery shrubs, (pimenteiras). Several kinds of capsicum, 

 of which one with oblong red fruit is called malagueta^ and ano- 

 ther with roundish red or yellow fruit, pimenta di cheiro, and 

 bubhes of ricinus, with their angular leaves, which supply the fa- 

 milies with oil expressed from their seeds, surround every dwel- 

 ling. Our botanist, M. Sellow, found, growing wild, near the re- 

 sidence of the Indians, a kind of cress, (lepidium,) which is similar 

 in taste to the European, and which the Indians assert to be a 

 good remedy in complaints of the chest. While M. Sellow was 

 making acquisitions in his department, I obtained some beautiful 

 birds, which the Indians offered for sale, shut up in wooden cages. 

 Among others, I purchased the violet and orange coloured tanga- 

 ra, which, in this quarter of Brazil, is called gatturania. 



After an interesting visit to St. Lourenzo, we returned, an^ 

 soon landed again near Mr, Chamberlain's country house, which 

 is situated in a little creek, shaded by orange and cocoa trees, 

 ( theohroma,) and mango trees, (mangifera indica. Linn.) larger 

 than our tallest oaks. We were astonished at the quantity of 

 wild fruits and nuts which grew on the shore, among which the 

 great cucumber-shaped fruit of the thorny bombax was particu- 

 larly abundant. Mr. Sellow has discovered that the brilliant 

 beetle ( curculio imperialis ) lives on the bombax tree. This is 

 one of the most beautiful insects in Brazil, .and, from the obser^a- 



