The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1892-07-24
ROMANTIC COUNTRY
A Palmer's Pilgrimage Along the
Brazilian Coast.
rHE BAY OF "ToDos os SANTOS
Brazll's Oldest City and the Second in Size
Though Not In Commercial
Importance.

BAHIA, Brazil, June 1l.-ISpecial cor
respondence OF THH HERALD. EVERY day
since we set foot in Rio de Janeiro. three
months ago, has been a dog day, the damp,
sticky, moldy heat in no wise to be gagged
by the Thermometer (Which seldom rises
above 80 degrees) and every night has
been worse than the days, darkness bring
ing no alienation of the cIammy discom-
FORT but increased activity to the wrig-
Cling, crawling, squirming aud singing
pests that infest this lovely Ito look att
inferno. Feeling that nothing short of q
sea voyage would relieve the lassitude
brought on by SO long breathing the oxy-
genless air, we determined to run TO
Bahia, another Brazilian coast city, 1000
miles north from Rio.
CAPE FRO,
few hours out from the ssRiver Of jan
usry," when the colossal peake Of Tljuca
and the Sierra dos Orsoas which We have
learned to love like human friends, have
grown din and DINNER and finally vanish
from view-we find ourselves abreast of
Cape Frio of school geography fame,
which In those days we were enormously
taught to pronounce Fro-oh. The hugh
mass OF granite towering perpendicuiarly
out OF the water marks the SPOT where the
coast line forms right angle by turning
abruptly TO the north. A much needed
lighthouse stands at its foot, and the cause
OF its building lies rottiug below, the re-
mains OF the English frlgate Thetis. You
remember how the homeward bound YES
sci, running az ten knots an hour was
dashed against this bulwark in the dark
ness OF night and reduced to kindling wood
IN an instant, and how most of the officers
aud crew managed TO save themselves by
crawling up the mighty precipice out OF
reach OF the dashing spray. and clinging
to projections of rock till rescued two days
days later by passing ship.
SAN SALVADOR.
Not far above this point the broad Para
n1ba rushes to the sea, and our ship turns
into 1t, having business to transact at San
Salvador. a fiourishing village on its left
bank, twenty miles above. The surround
ing region, known as the Cempos dos Coy
atakazes (plains of the Goyataksz Indians),
is extremely fertile and produces the best
sugar made in Brazil. We had only an
hour ashore, Tut that is enough TO view the
little city, with Its well-paved streets and
comfortable casas shaded by mango trees.
Though the world knows comparatively
nothing of San Salvador, it Is much more
progressive place than Santos, and its COM
merce quite as extensiye-in sugar, rum
and rice, instead of coffee.
COAST OF THE HOLY GHOST.
A few leagues beyond the disembogue- |
ment of the Parahiba, we find ourselves |
sailing close along the shore of classic |
ground, the greatest Espirito Santo (Holy |
Ghost) province, which embraces the
ancient captaincy OF that name and part Of I
Porto SECURE. This is the portion Of Bra
Is. fiQh ra1 49, |
drst Donataries settled; yet it is far more
thinly populated than in aboriginal days
aud almost wholly unimproved. It's rich
soil Is adapted to sugar cane and coffee and
its forests are full of the most precious
woods and useful drugs; yet vast tracts
are still roamed over by savsges, who
make occasional plundering raids upon
few settlements. 1t is the old story of un-
thrift. true of all tropical countries where
nature has furnished the people with plenty
10 live on without work where the banana
and black man flourish side By side
Inc Portuguese are not an INDUSTRIOUS
'ace and o. course not much In
he line Of progress can be
expected from the negroes, the only work
ny class in the country. But the last half
century marked some Improvement, even
lere. Not counting the nomad Indians.
here are over 100000 people, (mostly
armers) in the vast province and railroad
S talked of. In 1910 there were only seven
primary schools in the whole territory, and
low there are l47 schools, mostly sustained
y the government. Along The cost, bow
yer, in al tue Thousand miles between
no and Bahia, there is not single port or
ity OF consequence, or road worth the .
ame, leading into the interior, or a navi-
ated stream except the Parahiba. So far
8 l can learn, the only civilized person
Who ever Travelled over this portion OF the =,
Brazilian coast was Prince Macmillan of
seuwied, and that was many years ago. ..
lie was naturalist as well as an author,
nd none in either line has exhibited more
nthusiasm ana perseverance, than did his
ighness; the book which he subsequently
ave to the world is the best in !
eed the only account, of the people
nd scenery in these wild regions. Says :
e: Though scratched and manned by
lorns, soaked by rains, exhausted by ex
essive perspiration caused by the intensej
eat often furnishing ami always in deadly ,
eril, the traveller is more than repaid-he :
delighted beyond words to express, by Z
lie magnificent vegetation
GREAT VARIETY OF PALMS
OF one sort of vegetation, that which
specially distinguishes Brszil-the palm
zee, we obtain some rRvishing glimpses
ON afer. 1t is said that there are up- T
ards Of five hundred varieties of the palm
South America, and Notwithstanding the
,mmon character which they possess as a
ass, there is the most striking difference
stween the various kinds--the feathery
1patis, dropping over the waters edge:
le giant mIritis, stretching straight and
ue to its green dome like the columns of =
temple; the graceful Assais, shooting
ryward like rocket; the Baccaba. or =,
Inc palm, from which the flowers
roop in long crimson cords, set at 7,
tervals with bright green bsrTies; the
,coanut palm, whose flowers burst from n
Ie sheath In such z long, heavy plume of
eamy bios sons that a strong man coulu +,
IT lift il, and others TOO numerous to
entlon. No wonder the palm tree has G
sen named the prince of the Vegetable
ingdom.n 1t ought also to be called the G.
'ecial province OF South America, for it
finishes the natives remote from cities ci
ith nearly all the necessaries of life.
AXE for example the hut OF az Amazon v
q Indian. ltf rafters are formed by TIE
raight. tall leopoldina pulchra palm; it is :
atched with leaves of the carana palm:
Q doors and framework are the split
ems OF tho iriartea exhoriga palm. From
other species he takes the wide bark
at grows beneath the fruit for cloth.
ON which to make his scanty dress
is swinging bed Is woven from the fibers
several pains, ana so Is ais bowstring
d fshline. The comb which he uses in
orning his head is made from the hard
bod OF palm, and his tish-hooks from the
ines of the same. He makes caps for his
ad, bags in which to carry his iarrito of
ably poison and most treasured
ather ornaments from the fibrous spatbes
the manicaria sacoifesa. From eight
ecies he can obtain intoxicating LIQUOR:
1m others he receives harvests of fruit
at serve for food. BY burning the little
Is of the lara assn, he produces substi-
te for salt He gets his cylinder for
ueezing mandioca pulp from another
lose wood resists the action of tho poison