[2]Echites atroviolacea, Stadelm., and E. crassinoda, Gardn.
[3] This species I have ascertained to be identical with F. affinis, Cambess.; F. pyrifolia, Presl.; and F. radicans, Miers.
[4] Vide Hooker’s ‘Journal of Botany,’ vol. iv. p. 5.
[5] Dr. Parigot appears, however, to have found coal abundantly in the island of Santa Catharina, in the south of Brazil. He was employed by the Government while I was there, to explore that country for coal, and in a pamphlet which he published in 1841; entitled “Memoria sobre as Minas de Carvao de Pedra do Brazil,” he mentions a bed about three feet thick, of considerable extent; but as nothing has since transpired on the subject, it may be doubted whether this coal is of any useful quality.
The coal which Spix and Martius inform us exists near Bahia, Dr. Parigot found to consist of beds of lignite; and the probability is that they are equivalent to that which I found at Crato.
[6] The fishes were found by M. Agassiz to be all new species, and he has described them in the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal for January, 1841. I also possess, from the same rocks, specimens of two species of very minute bivalve shells, a single valve of a Venus, and casts of a univalve shell, all apparently new.
[7] Some of the specimens I obtained at this place were of that species which M. Agassiz has done me the honour to name Cladocyclus Gardneri, and are about a foot in depth; one, which from its great size, I was obliged to leave behind, was still deeper.
[8]Echites tenuifolia, Mikan. Dipladenia tenuifolia, var. puberula, Alph. D.C., Prodr. 8. p. 482.
[9] See Professor Morren’s paper “On the production of Vanilla in Europe” in Taylor’s Annals of Natural History, vol. iii. p. 1.
[10]Echites virescens, St. Hil., Dipladenia Gardneriana, Alph. DC.
[13] This spelling is different from that made use of by St. Hilaire, his being Suruby. That which I adopt for this, as well as for the other species, is taken from a MSS. list given me by Padre Francisco Fernandas Vianna, of San RomÃo.
[14] For an exposition of this pseudo-African traveller, compared with whom Mendez Pinto was but a mere type, see the 10th and 11th vols, of the “Foreign Quarterly Review.”
[15] I shall here briefly enumerate the different kinds of forests and woods, which the inhabitants of Brazil distinguish by particular names. These are first, the Matos Virgens, or virgin forests, such as those which exist on the Organ Mountains, and indeed along the whole maritime Cordillera. To these also belong the Capoes of the Campo countries. Next to the virgin forests come the Catingas, the trees of which are generally small and deciduous, and form the connecting link between the virgin forests and the Carrascos, which grow on more elevated tracts than the Catingas, and consist of close growing shrubs about three or four feet high. These are all natural woods, very different from the next I shall mention, to which the name of Capoeira is given; such wooded tracts are formed by the small trees and shrubs, which spring up in lands that have been cultivated or prepared for cultivation, by destroying the virgin forests, which is generally effected by setting fire to them: the trees that then spring up are always very distinct from those which constituted their original vegetation.
[16] Voyage dans les Provinces de Rio de Janeiro et de Minas GerÄes, t. 2. p. 350.
[17] Since my return to England, I have described several of these curious plants in the sixth vol. of Hooker’s ‘Icones Plantarum.’
[18] For an excellent description of the diamond mines, and an account of the manner in which the workings were carried on while under the administration of the government, the reader is referred to the work of M. Auguste de Saint Hilaire, ‘Voyage dans le district des Diamans et sur le Littoral du BrÉsil,’ Paris, 1833.
[19] Martius, in speaking of the productions of Minas GerÄes, says: “Almost every kind of metal is found here; iron-stone, which produces ninety per cent., is met with almost everywhere, and it constitutes in a manner the chief component part of long chains; lead is found beyond the Rio de San Francisco in AbaitÉ; copper in San Domingos, near Fanado in Minas Novas; chrome and manganese in ParaÖpeba; platina near Gaspar Soares, and in other rivers; quicksilver, arsenic, bismuth, antimony, and red-lead ore, about Villa Rica; diamonds in Tijuco and AbaitÉ; yellow, blue, and white topazes, grass and bluish green aqua marines, red and green tourmalines, chrysoberyls, garnets and amethysts, principally in Minas Novas. But what has chiefly contributed to the great influx of settlers, and to the rapid population of this province, particularly of the capital, is the great abundance of gold which has been obtained for above a century.” Travels in Brazil, Lloyd’s Translation, vol. ii. p. 181.
[20] “Congonhas doit sa fondation À des mineurs attirÉs par l’or que l’on trouvait dans les alentours, et son histoire est celle de tant d’autres bourgades. Le prÉcieux mÉtal s’est ÉpuisÉ; les travaux sont devenus plus difficiles, et Congonhas n’annonce actuellement que la dÉcadence et l’abandon.”—Voyage dans le District des Diamans, &c. par Aug. de St. Hilaire; vol. i. p. 169.
[21] Phillips, Treatise on Geology, in Lardner’s Cyclopedia, vol. ii. p. 227.
[22] For view of the Organ mountains, and Mr. March’s fazenda, see Frontispiece.
[23] Among those which were introduced to England for the first time on this occasion, may be enumerated the following:—Siphocampylus betulÆfolius, G. Don; Pleroma Benthamiana, Gardn. and P. multiflora, Gardn.; Franciscea hydrangeÆformis, Pohl; Nematanthus longipes, Pohl; Gesneria salviÆfolia, Gardn., and G. leptopes, Gardn.; Clusia fragrans, Gardn.; Luxemburgia ciliata, Gardn.; Dorstenia elata, Hook; Prepusa connata, Gardn., and P. Hookeriana, Gardn.; Campomanesia hirsuta, Gardn.; Bidens speciosa, Gardn.; Bowmania speciosa, Gardn.; Anemia stricta, Gardn. MS.; Pteris sagittÆfolia, Raddi; Alstroemeria nemorosa, Gardn.; Euterpe edulis, Mart., and Corypha cerifera, Mart., from Maranham.
[24] The following is the statement of Baron Cuvier:—“Leur vol n’est jamais bien long; s’Élevant pour fuir les poissons voraces, ils retombent bientÔt, parce que leurs ailes ne leur servent que de parachutes.” Le RÈgne animal, Tom. 2, p. 287. Edit. 1829.
