S 44 TKiE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [February 2, 1891. 
orders from the traders in the towns, for the houses 
they represent in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, or Santos. 
■They are intelligent, energetic fellows, sociable, and 
^ oily in the evenings, and to the traveller visiting these 
Parts for the first time, they are living encyclopedias 
from which a great many notes of a very useful cha- 
racter, regarding the country one has to pass through, 
can be taken. 
0 Ananias ! your name since my early infancy is 
connected with one who did not object to suppress 
the truth, and now that five o’clock has struck end 
daylight is breaking in sparkling golden lines away 
behind these high hills, there is no appearance of 
the mules which you said would be waiting before 
we could get out of bed. We were so anxious to 
catch the cool of the morning that night shirt, pijamas 
and slippers were put in the saddle-bags the night 
before in case the packing of these should cause delay. 
1 could hear no champing of bits, no snorting of 
animals. I opened the front door opening to the 
street, then the back door leading to the yard— all 
is vacancy and silence, except for that sonorous but 
inharmonious music of sleep given off from so many 
organs all over the house. Nor did Ananias himself 
turn out until six o’clock, and I believe that if he 
had not to get up to receive payment of accounts 
from “ Comets ” and others who had to leave by a 
train about 7-30 a.m. we might not have seen him 
then. He coolly answered if the mules did not come 
soon they must have broken out of the “ Corral.” 
(The Ceylon word Kraal comes from this). 8 a.m. no 
mules — we take breakfast — and by nine they appeared. 
I do not wish to libel Ananias, for different from his 
namesake of sacred history he had not a wife to 
aid him in his sacred councils, but certainly, he gained 
abou' four shillings on each of us, by our being so 
1 ng in starting. 
Wa are at an altitude of about 2,200 feet above 
the sea, and the air is cool up till nearly mid-day. 
Our ride was over rather steep roads for three kilo- 
metres. At the back of a range of hills, covered with 
campo grass end chena, we came to the river Rio 
Pardo — about 10 a.m. This would be 3 miles from 
Sao Jos6, 
The Rio Pardo (Brown River) has a characteristic 
name, for rising in a range of high mountains — a 
continuation of the Serra Negra, which I have men- 
tioned before, as dividing the undulating plateaus of 
Sao Paulo from the rough mountainous campos of 
Minas Ger^es, and although running here slowly, shows 
by its brown water that it is fed by many a mountain 
stream, and has already received the drainage of 
many square leagues of land. Here its width is 
about 100 yards. 
There is a ferry boat here, but a more rickety affair 
could not be conceived. The construction is of two 
trees dug out placed parallel, about three feet apart, 
and a few loose boards crosswise on the top. We 
were not very confident that the other side would be 
reached without a ducking. I made sure our mules 
would object to this mode of crossing, but no ; the old 
negro who acted as ferryman got a hold of the reins 
and the auimal rode, with very little hesitation, 
jumped aboard, but we could not wish another four- 
legged passenger, for the loose boards were all curled 
.vith the sun and many were broken, and out of 
place, besides the canoes seemed to get their ballast 
increased by a considerable addition, of water, so we 
shoved off. To lessen the risk of foundering I had 
to give the boatman a hand in the rowing of our 
frail Graft and living cargo to the other side. The 
landing in the mud at the other side was a more serious 
matter. The only accident however was the soiling of 
my r ding boots and my clothes getting ornamented 
by some cakes mud having been thrown up 
through the floun dering of the mule in reaching terra 
firma. Oneby n' we had to cross, and this delayed 
ns very much, articularly since some of the other 
animals were eitli< r obstinate or not well educated iu 
crossing rivers in snoii a fragile craft. 
After croHsii g the Rio Pardo wo had to ascend a 
steep hill on pal na land. Then wo wont for five 
or six miles through some magnificent forest trees with 
trunks of large diameter and of collossal height, creep- 
ing shrubs with flowers of varied hues,- while the 
singing birds of all sizes and colours had not yet ceased 
their morning song, and mingling amongst the music 
of the forest the home of insect tropical life, and the 
shrill drones of the many orickets and cigaros (a 
large tree cricket) gave to these parts the enchant- 
ing charms which a traveller in the tropica loves to 
dwell amongst, but can with difficulty describe several 
hills of forest similar to this alternating with ridges, 
and plains of campo were crossed. The soil is of the 
rich Terra Rocha, the finest soil for coffee as yet 
known. All these forest lands are however in the 
hands of wealthy owners, and will by-aud-by be laid low 
for planting tho favorite coffee bush. There are still 
many square miles of these forest in these regions. 
These are not likely to change hands but they will 
be turned to profitable account by the present pro- 
prietors as soon as the labour difficulty is successfully 
solved. 
Game in the bird line was plentiful, both in the 
forest and on the wide expanses of oampos through 
which we passed that day, but we had started late 
in the day and had 36 miles to ride before dark, so 
we could not wait for shooting. 
All along this road there were neither resthouses 
nor bazaars (or vondas as they call them here). We 
stopped at a native hut by the side of our road and 
got an old negro woman to make us some coffee, 
while we discussed some fowls’ wings and legs, which 
Ananias bad supplied us with as a bite on the road. 
The day was cool and, barring tlie steep sides of 
bills, the stony fords, and the mud-holes , the journey 
was agreeable. We reached the end of our day’s ride at 
a town called Guaxupe about an hour before dark. 
Our route all day had been in a north-westerly direction, 
the province of Sao Paulo being left behind usat S. Jos^. 
Guaxupe is an Indian name, and is given to this 
small town of some 1,500 inhabitants and which boasts 
of only one church, while many of the same size in 
Brazil have three or four. There is an hotel called the 
“ Reteiro dos Vigantes ” (the Travellers’ Retreat). The 
culina ry and eating departments are on one side of the 
street and the sleeping and travellers’ retreating apart- 
ments, on the other. Our bath was taken in a large 
galvanized basin which we considered quite a luxury. 
A bullock had been that day killed, and we had plenty 
of rational food for this our first experience of Minas 
hotels. The hotel happened to be full and my friend 
and self had to sleep on the floor of the “ salle,” or 
sitting-room. Some pleasant days were spent here and 
I did not get promoted to sleep on a bed all the eight 
days I stayed at the Retreat. 
Coffee planting is the principal agriculture here. 
The planters have not suffered from the emancipation 
to the same extent as in many districts, as the principal 
labour has always been the carnarada or half-caste 
between the white and the Indian. Although not slaves 
they are accustomed to work in gangs. 
The landowners here hold only small pieces; the farmer 
in many cases works with his labourers in the field, 
and feeds along with them — thus getting the maximum 
amount of labour out of them. Coffee is dried in the 
cherry and sent to some central mill, or to some neigh- 
bouring proprietor who may have erected coffee cleaning 
machinery, to be prepared for the market. Many of 
these seemingly poor farmers are making money owing 
to the high price of coffee, and the railway coming eo 
near to them. The colonist system of labour is 
almost unknown here, but will gradually follow after 
its success in the province of Sao Paulo. As I have some 
duties in the interim which will occupy some five months 
I will not he able to return to the Coffee Districts 
of S. Paulo for that time, when I intend to give a short 
account of the greatest of Brazil’s coffee centres — that 
of Rebeirao Preto, and these notes will then come, 
to a close. 
You will have seen by the European papers that 
our elections have passed quietly over, the candidates of 
the Provisional Government having gained all along 
the line. The Deputies and Senators are now wend- 
ing their way to the capital, to take their places 
in Congress which is to meet in a few days, 
