whence
it was taken; at other times they are removed and hidden for a few
days, for the purpose of claiming a reward; and though I was frequently
well assured of this imposition, I never refused to pay the money,
knowing I should otherwise be worse off. All being now again ready for
leaving led, I took leave of all my friends, who gave me their hearty
wishes for a prosperous journey. The evening before my departure many
little presents were sent for my use during the journey, such as little
jars of sweet-meats, biscuits of various sorts, prepared from ground
rice and Indian corn, roasted fowls, &c; a custom I found to be
almost universal in the north of Brazil.
On
the evening of the second day after leaving led, we arrived at the
Villa de Lavra de Mangabeira, which is about ten leagues distant. A
little beyond Ico the road becomes very rough, frequently ascending
and again descending over rocky paths, on which account it is no longer
serviceable for the transit of waggons, all further traffic into the
interior being now effected either on horseback or, strange as it may
appear, upon oxen. The diversity of hill and dale renders this part of
the journey less monotonous, and although the herbaceous vegetation was
much destroyed by the heat, the greater part of the trees, which are
both large and more numerous, still retained their leaves; the most
abundant tree that I observed was called by the inhabitants Aroeira; it
is a species of Schinus, perhaps S. Aroeira, St. Hil.,
and reaches to the height of thirty or forty feet; as the stem grows
very straight, it is much used in house-building; at this time it was
destitute of leaves, but from the ends of its branches were suspended
clusters of small fruit of a dark colour, giving it very much the
appearance of the European alder when covered with its dark-brown
catlins. The other trees consist chiefly of large Acacias and Mimosas, Bignonias of considerable size covered with yellow and rose coloured flowers, a Triplaris, and, the most beautiful of all, a large Jacaranda, the
wide-spreading branches of which were densely covered with great
panicles of beautiful large blue flowers, not unlike those of the no
less splendid Gloxinia speciosa ; among these sometimes appear a few solitary Carnahuba palms, but in
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