336 TRAVELS ON THE RIO NECxRo. [Novewber, i 
j 
I unhesitatingly affirm, that two or three families, con- ^ 
taining half-a-dozen working and industrious men and ; 
boys, and being able to bring a capital in goods of fifty i 
pounds, might, in three years, find themselves in the | 
possession of all I have mentioned. Supposing them to i 
get used to the mandiocca and Indian-corn bread, they ff 
would, with the exception of clothing, have no one | 
necessary or luxury to purchase : they would be abun- i 
dantly supplied with pork, beef and mutton, poultry, | 
eggs, butter, milk and cheese, coffee and cacao, molasses 
and sugar ; delicious fish, turtles and turtles’ eggs, and 
a great variety of game, would furnish their table with | 
constant variety, while vegetables would not be want- 
ing, and fruits, both cultivated and wild, in superfluous | 
abundance, and of a quality that none but the wealthy 
of our land can afford. Oranges and lemons, figs and j 
grapes, melons and water-melons, jack-fruits, custard- * 
apples, pine-apples, cashews, alligator pears, and mam- 
mee apples are some of the commonest, whilst numerous | 
palm and other forest fruits furnish delicious drinks, | 
which everybody soon gets very fond of. Both animal ' ' 
and vegetable oils can be procured in abundance for 
light and cooking. And then, having provided for the 
body, what lovely gardens and shady walks might not 
be made ! How easy to construct a natural orchid- 
house, beneath a clump of forest-trees, and collect the 
most beautiful species found in the neighbourhood ! 1 
What elegant avenues of palms might be formed ! What j 
lovely climbers abound, to train over arbours, or up the ^ ^ 
walls of the house ! , 
In the whole Amazon, no such thing as neatness or 
