326 Explanation of a Fawn's Skull being found in a Tree. [Nor* J, 
siderable.) If I have delayed writing, 
it was that I might thoroughly ascer¬ 
tain every point of our situation for 
you to judge of. 
We are all well satisfied with our 
new country, and are treated with such 
liberality, that we feel as if we had 
always belonged to it. The district is 
intersected with lofty mountains, with 
pleasant vallies below them ; the forests 
are replenished with various kinds of 
animals, some of them troublesome, 
but none hurtful. 
On arriving at our destination, Mo- 
roqueiraado, we found tenements ready 
prepared for us, very neat and conve¬ 
nient. Our houses may be called the 
principal in New Friburgh, which is 
increasing as a settlement. Our lands 
are rich in vegetable productions; 
kidney beans and potatoes are in abun¬ 
dance. 
The whole colony is divided into a 
hundred families, from fifteen to eigh¬ 
teen individuals each. Every farm or 
portion of land contains about 750 
brasses (each six feet, ten inches) in 
length,- by 300 in breadth. Besides 
the farms, lands are given to all who 
apply for them, and as many as they 
desire. Throughout the whole country 
the air is very salubrious; we enjoy 
perfect health, and can easily put up 
with the great heats, which very seldom 
exceed 30 degrees. They are also mo¬ 
derated by a gentle, fresh breeze, felt 
throughout the day. The temperature is 
never cold, and we have here only two 
seasons, spring and summer. The-qua- 
lity of the soil is excellent, three degrees 
more productive than in Switzerland, 
and requiring infinitely less cultivation. 
Potatoes, kidney beans, green and 
dried rice and flesh ineat, with coffee, 
are what we chiefly live upon. Beef, well 
tasted, is not above 2£d.per lb. bread 3d. 
(five and six sous) but in still greater 
plenty is bog’s flesh, from Id. to l|d. 
per pound. We have no great call for 
wine, which sells at one livre, 10 sous 
a bottle; but the wines from Madeira, 
the Canaries and Portugal, are very 
good, as is also a brandy made of the 
sugar-cane, and all as cheap as in Swit¬ 
zerland. . 
What has been circulated in the Ga¬ 
zettes of Europe, respecting a mortality 
prevalent in our establishments, is 
wholly unfounded. We have had a 
sort of sickness or disease since our ar¬ 
rival in the New World, But an epi¬ 
demic, contracted in Holland during 
our long stay there, was caught by se¬ 
veral individuals, and whole families 
have become the victims of it. It was 
Pot till after some months residence in 
the climate of America, that the ma¬ 
lady disappeared. It carried off about 
a fifth part of our number. 
We cannot too highly extol the truly 
paternal conduct of the king. Our 
reception, by his commissaries,on land¬ 
ing at Rio Janeiro, was every way 
gracious : this was on the 28th of No¬ 
vember, 1819. All that was promised 
on quitting our own country has been 
scrupulously performed. During the 
first year of our arrival I touched 6 
francs a day, at the rate of 20 sous per 
head, for my whole family. At present 
we have only half of that sum, but this 
is compensated by many other advan¬ 
tages. 
According to this detail, which is 
every way consonant with fact, you 
will doubtless conclude that our sitiia- 
tion is agreeable, and leaves no wish to 
be gratified. One desideratum only 
remains to complete my satisfaction, 
and that is, that you were one of us, to 
share in our good fortune, which may 
be truly said to be enviable. Ours is 
tlie abode of peace and contentment, 
with no bad neighbours to disturb 
us, nor any thing to interrupt our 
quiet, except sometimes the apes and 
the parrots. As to the chicanery of 
law and its litigations, this is a second 
land of promise. No disputes here for 
a foot of land, much less an acre. 
Judges acting without pay, render 
justice to all indiscriminately whether 
rich or poor. We have a director and 
an inspector, both of whom evince the 
most friendly attentions towards us. . 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine . 
SIR, 
AVING read in your Magazine 
for September, 1821, the account 
of the extraordinary phenomenon of a 
fawn’s skull having been found in the 
solid wood of an asli-tree, I beg leave to 
suggest the. following explanation. 
If is well known that forty or fifty 
years ago, when timber was compara¬ 
tively of little value, tenants were per¬ 
mitted to cut off the tops of ash-trees, 
for the purpose of fire wood, and that 
trees so cut, are called pollards ; if how¬ 
ever, the operation be not repeated, the 
tree will by means of what are termed 
its leaders, recover from the injury, the 
wood forming above the crown, and 
growing nearly straight as before; but 
if the pith or heart is exposed to the 
effects 
