334 TRAVELS ON THE RIO NEGRO. [November, 
— thus telling a lie for themselves instead of for Senhor 
Chagas. 
The next morning I reached Wanawaca, the sitio of 
Manoel Jacinto, and staid to breakfast with him, luxu- 
riating in milk with my coffee, and “ coalhado,” or cur-, 
died milk, pine-apple, and pacovas with cheese, — luxu- 
ries which, though every one might have, are seldom met 
with in the Rio Negro. His sitio is, perhaps, the pret- 
tiest on the river ; and this, simply because there is an 
open space of grass around the house, with some forest 
and fruit-trees scattered about it, affording shade for the 
cattle and sheep, and a most agreeable relief to the eye, 
long fatigued with eternal forest. 
When I consider the excessively small amount of la- 
bour required in this country, to convert the virgin forest 
into green meadows and fertile plantations, I almost long 
to come over with half-a-dozen friends, disposed to work, 
and enjoy the country; and show the inhabitants how 
soon an earthly paradise might be created, which they 
have never even conceived capable of existing. 
It is a vulgar error, copied and repeated from one 
book to another, that in the tropics the luxuriance of 
the vegetation overpowers the efforts of man. Just the 
reverse is the case : nature and the climate are no- 
where so favourable to the labourer, and I fearlessly 
assert, that here, the “primeval” forest, can be con-, 
verted into rich pasture and meadow land, into culti- 
vated fields, gardens, and orchards, containing every 
variety of produce, with half the labour, and, what is of 
more importance, in less than half the time than would 
be required at home, even though there we had clear, 
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