ong use and the fierceness of the fires. But the
general good order that prevails, speaks much in favor of the tea
produced in this neighbourhood. The colonel showed me his warehouse,
where the tea is stored in iron jars, narrow-necked and closed by a
tight fitting stopper. I ventured to put some questions to Colonel
Anastosio respecting the sale of the produce. He gave me to
understand that he was by no means eager to sell; but, confident of
the good quality, he waited till application was made to him for it,
as the tea is thought to improve by time, and the price is kept up
by there being a small supply. With respect to the cost of its
production in Brazil, he said, this was so great that, to make it
answer to the grower, a price of not less than 2,000 reis, about six
francs (5s.), must be got for each pound. The whole labor in Brazil
is done by slaves, who certainly do not cost much to keep, but who,
on the other hand, work as little as they can help, having no
interest in the occupation. The slaves, too, bear a high price, and
the chances of mortality, with the exorbitant value of money in
Brazil, augment their selling value.

The Major da Luz kindly presented me with 300 young tea-plants,
which he had caused his negroes to pull up for me; and in an
adjoining farm, where an immense tract planted with tea is now
allowed to run to waste, being no object of value to the proprietor,
I was permitted to take all I could carry away; and in a single
day's time, M. Houlet and I, aided by some slaves, succeeded in
possessing ourselves of 3,000 young plants, which we carefully
arranged in bamboo baskets (here called cestos). To diminish the
weight, M. Houlet removed as little soil as possible; but carefully
wetted the roots before closing the baskets, and covered them with
banana leaves. In one garden, the largest I have seen devoted to the
growth of tea, but which is not particularly well kept, I saw that
the spaces between the shrubs were planted with _maize_, and the
bordering of the squares which intersect this vast plantation, and
the whole of which is inclosed with valleys of _Araucaria
Brasiliensis_, is formed of little dwarf tea-plants, which are kept
low by cutting their main shoots down to the level of the soil.

On the 8th of February I again embarked in the steam-boat to return