330 
THE TROPICAL ACRICULtURISt. 
[November i, 1890. 
drought or heavy bearing does not permanently 
affect it. All the same on all these coffee estates 
between Campinas and Mogymirim I prophesy 
scarcely any crop at all for season 1890-91, that 
is coming season. Labour seams plentiful enough. 
The planters hereabout were the first to avail of 
European colonists — indeed they were in a manner 
forced to try something, for the exodus of negroes 
from the cane plantations in the north, or indeed 
their introduction from any other province was 
stopped by putting a tax of £100 on every slave 
entering the province. This was in 1830. Judging 
by the number of labouring men’s houses one sees 
on all the estates, and the number of European 
children one sees playing about them, there does 
not seem to be a scarcity of labour here. 
At Jaguary station, 12 miles from Campinas, a branch 
line of the Mogyana railway goes to Amparo, north- 
about 20 miles, (31 ks) on the same gauge, 
to a rich coffee district, and from Mogymirim 
another branch goes north by a place called Penha 
to the boundary of Minas Geraes about 35 miles. 
I may here mention that from the end of this 
branch a line is under construction which goes 
along the other side of the Serra Negra, and con- 
tinues on the west side of the Serra Montiqueira, 
coming out at Barra da Pirahy on the D. Pedro 2o 
Railway. It is thought that this new line has a 
great future before it. It certainly opens up a large ex- 
tent of agricultural country and will compote largely 
with other companies for passenger and goods traffic 
to Rio de Janeiro, the distance being shortened 
from here to the lastnamed place, some 50 or 60 
miles. It will also pass by Ciximbu mineral water 
establishments, the resort of many invalids, and the 
water springs of Limbary, a sort of Brazilian 
Seltzer, which is bottled and sent to the large towns. 
Mogymirim is a very pretty, clean-looking country 
town, of some 4,000 inhabitants, and built on^rising 
ground above the level of the railway line. It gave 
the name to this railway. In these early days of 
railway construction the Company were doubtful if 
they could go beyond this district. They soon, how- 
ever, opened to Casa Brnnea, making their line lOG 
miles long from Campinas. On the extension to Cisa 
Branca [anglice white house), at 80 miles from Campi- 
nas, is the station of Casoavsl {ang. rattlesnake); from 
here goes a branch of the same company to Possos da 
Caldas (wells of Caldas) some 45 miles (77 ka). 
Possos da Caldas has been for many years a re- 
sort for invalids suffering from various chronio 
diseases. Sulphurous waters spring out of the ground 
at a very high temperature. I have for many years 
had a wish to visit this wells, and you will re- 
member our late lamented friend G. A, C. was to 
have accompanied me there in 1875, after our 
shooting excursion to the west, but at this long 
time I cannot now recall the reasons why we did 
not go. From where I lived the journey would 
have taken on mule back four or fiva days to go; and 
as long to come back. Now-a-days we have a rail- 
way all the way. lu the absence of personal ob- 
servation of tbia part, I can only give you second- 
hand information. Nosna Senhora da saude das aguas 
de Caldas (our lady of the health of the waters 
of Caldas— such is the literal translation) is the name 
of the village which has of late years sprung up 
around these thermal springs. The wells have long 
been known, but being situated in a wild almost 
inaccessible district, in the south of the Province 
of Minas Geraes. Few people visited them before 
the Mogyana Bail way was made. Being some 15 
miles outside the Province of H. Paulo, it was not 
within the zona allotted to tho Railway Company. 
That was not tho only reason however which de- 
layed tho construction of a branch railway to Possos 
do Caldas. Tho country is barren, sandy and rooky, 
and offers very little prospect of traffic, for goods 
of any desoription. The soil is not suitable for 
coffee, and the pastures are not fit for fattening 
bu locks. The Company got a guarantee from the 
Government of 6 per cent per annum. The line 
has not been open for more than a year, and in 
that year the reoeipts were some £2,000 less than 
the expenditure. The Company were thus justified 
in being reluctant to make this branch sooner. 
Hare are the figures in Brazilian money. You will see 
that coffee is nowhere an! animils are a small item : — 
Passengers 
..K52,398 
m 
Parcels and baggage 
. . 4,708 
520 
Animals .. 
366 
340 
Carriages . . 
3 
900 
Merchandise 
. . 41,613 
440 
Telegr.»phs 
.. 1,723 
620 
Store Rents 
19 
000 
Accessories 
354 
710 
Rl01,18l 
960 
Expenditure 
.. 120,591 
450 
Deficit . . 
..R19,409 
§499 
The merchandise mentioned, there would be general 
goods, to supply the local stores, hotels, vendas, &o. 
The Company after they saw the line was not 
paying commenced to run the train once in two 
days, but a paternal Government, anxious about the 
health of its people, ordered daily trains, and as 
Government guarantee 6 per cent of course they 
are bound to run them. The attractions of the 
place in those wild hiils, at an elevation of some 
4 000 feet (1,200 metres) above sea-level, ought to 
draw many passengers bent on pleasure only, but 
the unfortunate thing here is that the hot season 
which ought to send people to the hills is in this 
country always the rainy one, and the uncomtortable- 
ness of these hilly regions in wet weather is in the 
inverse ratio of their pleasantness in fine. Still 
enterprizing hotel-keepers offering comfort and 
luxuries at a fair price, which is rare here, ought 
to draw many visitors ; and I have no doubt when 
ths usefulness of these sulphur baths is 
better known, tourists and invalids will come from 
all parts of Brazil and from other countries to 
test their efficacy. Their history may be summed 
up as follows : — Some time during the last century 
when Brazil was a Portuguese colony and very 
thinly populated, some huntsmen on their chase 
after tapir, deer and wild boar were led by the 
accidents of the chase into a small valley sur- 
rounded by high hills. At the sides of this valley 
they discovered some eartlislips, and noticed 
su’phurous warm water oozing through them. It 
was afterwards found that these springs were almost 
similar to those at Caldas in Portugal. This 
gave the name to a town which sprang up some 
15 miles to the east, about 1813, and which is 
now the city of Caldas, and the county town of 
a large district. The efficacy of these waters in 
curing rheumatic disorders was known before the 
year 1815, for in that year a wealthy planter who 
had been obliged through sickness to experiment 
on his person their effects, set about purchasing 
a square Portuguese league of the land (16 square 
miles Eng.) with the springs in the centre. The 
Provincial Government laid claim to the land, 
but the original deed on which they relied, dated 
1795, could not be found, only a copy of it. The 
proprietor found diffioulty in retaining qu’et pos- 
session. In 1865 the rights of the Provincial 
authorities were again agitated, and to get rid of 
the annoyance tie owner or occupier gave, by deed 
of gift, some 250 acres (26J alqueires) in which was 
included the land on which were the wells and the 
village, and to settle tho question once for all the Fro, 
