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page 236 ---sugar cane---mystery of the upside
down plants---botanical physiology---Piedade---Serra dos Orgaos ---
They were stems of the pindaiba (Xylopia
frutescens), and several crotons;
this phenomenon is the most remarkable, because the pieces which were
set in upside down grew as fast as the rest. While the experiments of
the botanical physiologist in our ungenial climates afford him, only under
hard conditions, an insight into the concealed processes of vegetation;
Nature in these countries voluntarily solves those problems, and thus
allows him to look into her mysteries. In this point of view, it would
certainly be a very important undertaking, to repeat here, upon a more
extensive scale, the experiments of Hales, Duhamel, Grew, and Knight,
in order to deduce from them general laws of the growth of plants.
Port of Piedade, province of Rio de Janeiro
At Piedade, a village
consisting of several scattered houses and a chapel, scarcely a mile from Porto de Estrella,
we issued from between the thick hedges along the road, into a verdant
plain bounded by gardens, plantations, and meadows, which were just then
illumined by the brilliant rays of the morning sun; while in the background,
the massy summits of the Serra
dos Orgaos mountains, were veiled in the gloom of a forest, which
was still in shade. A solemn soothing repose was diffused over this delightful
spot, which seems to have been created for the enjoyment of retired and
cheerful contemplation of nature.
Carmelite chapel in the village of Piedade
page 237 ---Piedade---Mandiocca---architecture---
The variety of the light and of the foliage of the trees, which is seen
on the forests, on the slopes of the mountain, the blending of the most
diverse colours, and the dark azure and transparency of the sky, impart
to the landscapes of the tropical countries a charm to which even the
pencil of a Salvator Rosa and a Claude cannot do justice. The road gradually
rises, and when, after passing over low woody hills, we arrived, towards
evening, at the foot of the mountain, our hospitable friend bid us welcome
in his own domain.
Fazenda Mandiocca in the Serra dos Orgaos, province of Rio
Mr. Von Langsdorff had but just begun to cultivate
this fazenda (farm), which is of the great extent of more than a square
mile, but had been entirely neglected. A spacious shed for the reception
of the numerous caravans from Minas,
a store, where brandy is sold, a mill for grinding maize, and a small
dwelling-house for the proprietor, in the usual style of the country,
were erected on the road-side.
Farmhouse at Fazenda Mandiocca
These small country houses contain some
plain rooms with latticed  windows, or shutters; the roof generally projects
on one side, some feet beyond the wall, and resting on some pillars, and
a low wall, forms the veranda. Such buildings are commonly of lath connected
together by tough creeping plants (sipo), covered with clay,
and white-washed. The clayey soil may almost everywhere be made into good
bricks, or, if they are considered too expensive,
the broad leaves of several palms * make a light but tolerably secure
roof. The bounty of nature supplies all the necessary materials in abundance,
and only the lime is brought from Cabo
Frio.
* Particularly in the southern districts, the
species Geonoma.
 
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