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#35 Near Jundicuara,
an estate in the district of Ubatuba,
between Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.
Latin translation by
Ben Hennelly
Benjamin Mary, our illustrator, was held for several days on the estate
of Jundicuara, on the border of the provinces of Rio de
Janeiro and Sao Paulo, by the extraordinary magnificence
and luxuriant growth of the Serra
do Mar's forests near the ocean, which we tried to adorn with
our friend's praises in describing etching #34.
He asserted that the lifetime of no artist would suffice for him to
fix, as it were in a picture, the simply outstanding and amazing features
that the plant life exhibits here -----remarkable for its incessant
and untiring exertions in procreation. Therefore, he tried to represent
only in general, the beautiful character of the trees and bushes, and
likewise the splendid nature of the regions, without giving laborious
care to particulars. The picture is, in a certain way, another life
of the whole forest, full of natural vitality.
Etching #35 shows the edge of a primeval forest, such as very often
appears in these lands right in the vicinity of the estates, whose buildings
are erected either in a cleared section of forest or in a natural meadow.
Trees several centuries old stand thick, rising up 60 to 80 feet, and
together with the bushes interspersed among them form an almost impenetrable
wall. A small river slips forward, between its low banks of sandy mud,
out from the deeper shadows of the forest. There is a simple bridge
over it, made from just a few beams; this kind of bridge -- called a Pinguela -- is more common in these impassable regions than
bridges put together from stones. The sun's brilliant light, entering
from the forest's edge, now illuminates the fully cloaked bushes and
the tree peaks in an astonishing manner, and now increases the darkness
of the shadows. One viewing the picture sees first on the left, in the water, a certain Nymphaea that bears
white flowers, the Aguape of the inhabitants. One  sees on the
other bank a shrub with enormous leaves and branches that hang out over
the stream. Benj. Mary called it Solanum.
Behind it rises a palm, perhaps Euterpe
edulis, though its trunk usually ascends not straight as in
the etching, but with curves.
Another tall and thickly
foliated tree, which Benj.Mary called Louro, might be considered Cordia or Gerascanthus,
by which name in any case several species of this genus are known there.
Among these Passifloreae and Cucurbitaceae creep up high. To the right in front is a Begonia noteworthy for its fat rhizome and large leaves. The tree crosswise over the river is from the Urticeae,
either Pharmacosycea or Urostigma.The
thinness of its greenery, as well as the multitude of pseudo-parasites
from the Orchideae, Cactaceae, Bromeliaceae, Aroideae,
and further a bush of a true parasite, Coussapoa perhaps, seem to indicate the old and already withering age of the tree.
From the shrubs behind this tree hang down wreaths of Mikania,
so closely woven together that they prohibit entrance into the forest.
#35 of 42 expedition commentaries
 
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