I myself only saw three during
my stay in the Brazils, all of which were over in an hour and a
half. The lightning was almost incessant, and spread like a sheet
of fire over the greater portion of the horizon; the thunder, on the
other hand, was inconsiderable.
Clear, cloudless days (from 16th September to 9th December) were so
rare, that I really could have counted them; and I am at a loss to
understand how so many travellers have spoken of the ever beautiful,
smiling, and blue sky of the Brazils. This must be true of some
other portion of the year.
A fine evening and long twilight is another source of enjoyment
which may be said to be unknown: at sunset every one hastens home,
as it is immediately followed by darkness and damp.
In the height of summer the sun sets at about a quarter past 6, and
all the rest of the year at 6 o'clock; twenty or thirty minutes
afterwards, night sets in.
The mosquitoes, ants, baraten, and sand-fleas are another source of
annoyance; many a night have I been obliged to sit up, tormented and
tortured by the bite of these insects. It is hardly possible to
protect provisions from the attacks of the baraten and ants. The
latter, in fact, often appear in long trains of immeasureable
length, pursuing their course over every obstacle which stands in
the way. During my stay in the country at Herr Geiger's, I beheld a
swarm of this description traverse a portion of the house. It was
really most interesting to see what a regular line they formed;
nothing could make them deviate from the direction they had first
determined on. Madame Geiger told me that she was one night awoke
by a horrible itching; she sprang immediately out of bed, and beheld
a swarm of ants of the above description pass over her bed. There
is no remedy for this; the end of the procession, which often lasts
four or six hours, must be waited for with patience. Provisions are
to some extent protected from them, by placing the legs of the
tables and presses in plates filled with water. Clothes and linen
are laid in tightly-fitting tin canisters, to protect them, not only
from the ants, but also from the baraten and the damp.
The worst plague of all, however, are the sand-fleas, which attach
themselves to one's toes, underneath the nails, or sometimes to the
soles of the feet. The moment a person feels an itching in these
parts he must immediately look at the place; if he sees a small
black point surrounded by a small white ring, the former is the
flea, and the latter the eggs which it has laid in the flesh. The
first thing done is to loosen the skin all round as far as the white
ring is visible; the whole deposit is then extracted, and a little
snuff strewed in the empty space. The best plan is to call in the
first black you may happen to see, as they all perform this
operation very skilfully.
As regards the natural products of the Brazils, a great many of the
most necessary articles are wanting in the list. It is true that
there are sugar and coffee, but no corn, no potatoes, and none of
our delicious varieties of fruit. The flour of manioc, which is
mixed up with the other materials of which the dishes are composed,
supplies the place of bread, but is far from being so nutritious and
strengthening, while the different kinds of sweet-tasting roots are
certainly not to be compared to our potatoes. The only fruit, which
are really excellent, are the oranges, bananas and mangoes. Their
celebrated pine-apples are neither very fragrant nor remarkably
sweet; I certainly have eaten much finer flavoured ones that had
been grown in a European hot-house. The other kinds of fruit are
not worth mentioning. Lastly, with the two very necessary articles
of consumption, milk and meat, the former is very watery, and the
latter very dry.
On instituting a comparison between the Brazils and Europe, both
with respect to the impression produced by the whole, as also to the
separate advantages and disadvantages of each, we shall, perhaps, at
first find the scale incline towards the former country, but only to
turn ultimately with greater certainty in favour of the latter.
The Brazils is, perhaps, the most interesting country in the world
for travellers; but for a place of permanent residence I should most
decidedly prefer Europe.
I saw too little of the manners and customs of the country to be
qualified to pronounce judgment upon them, and I shall therefore, on
this head, confine myself to a few remarks. The manners seem, on
the whole, to differ but little from those of Europe. The present
possessors of the country, as is well known, derive their descent
from Portugal, and the Brazilians might very aptly be termed
"Europeans translated into Americans;" and it is very natural, that
in this "translation" many peculiarities have been lost, while
others have stood forth in greater relief. The strongest feature in
the character of the European-American is the greed for gold; this
often becomes a passion, and transforms the most faint-hearted white
into a hero, for it certainly requires the courage of one to live
alone, as planter, on a plantation with perhaps some hundred slaves,
far removed from all assistance, and with the prospect of being
irrevocably lost in the event of any revolt.
This grasping feeling is not confined to the men alone; it is found
among the women as well, and is greatly encouraged by a common
custom here, agreeably to which, a husband never assigns his wife so
much for pin-money, but, according to his means, makes her a present
of one or more male or female slaves, whom she can dispose of as she
chooses.
