1851.] 
FAVOURABLE CLIMATE. 
337 
cultivation has ever been tried. Walks, and avenues, 
i and gardens have never been made ; but I can imagine 
how much beauty and variety might be called into ex- 
istence from the gloomy monotony of the forest. 
“ England ! my heart is truly thine, — my loved, my native earth ! ” 
! But the idea of the glorious life which might be led 
‘ here, free from all the money-matter cares and annoy- 
ances of civilization, make me sometimes doubt, if it 
.i ^ ^ ^ ’ 
: would not be wiser to bid thee adieu for ever, and come 
I and live a life of ease and plenty in the Rio Negro, 
j This district is superior to any other part of the 
I Amazon, and perhaps any other part of Brazil, in having 
I a climate free from long droughts. In fact, the variable- 
ness of rain and sunshine, all the year round, is as 
I great as in England itself ; but it is this very thing which 
j produces a perennial verdure. There are parts of the 
I Rio Negro where the turtle, the peixe boi, and all sorts 
I of fish abound ; advantages, for which many persons 
j endure the tormenting “carapanas’’ of the Solimoes, 
I 
I but which can be had here without any insect torment, 
I and with a far superior climate for agricultural purposes. 
All cultivated products of the soil are so scarce, that 
I they meet with a ready sale at good prices, not only in 
I the city of Barra, but also to passing traders, who have 
no time or means for cultivating them themselves. To- 
1 bacco, cofiee, molasses, cotton, castor-oil, rice, maize, eggs, 
j poultry, salt-meat, and fish, all kinds of oils, cheese, and 
butter, can always be sold, — the supply being invariably 
I below the demand, — and, besides providing clothing and 
other extras, which in this climate are a mere trifle, might 
i be made to produce a handsome profit. To do all this, 
I z 
