Remember the Rainforest tm

#42 Prospect from a garden of the suburb Mata-Cavallos, toward the aqueduct of Sebastianopolis, today the city of Rio de Janeiro

Latin translation by Ben Hennelly

Although I have already presented several illustrated views from the close vicinity of Brazil's capital, it did not seem unfitting to choose out also this sketch from the large number provided by my friend Benjamin Mary. It portrays the remarkable form of the hills made from granite on which part of the city itself is constructed, and which by virtue of their appearance and location especially effect that the city excels equally in its loveliness as in its character, and at the same time probably that it is more healthful.

Red granite

I also wanted to offer a side view of the lower part of Sebastianopolis' aqueduct, a work of the greatest importance; the enormous mass of its components is on a par with its purpose and results. But finally -- and this is the primary reason why I selected this view -- I wanted to show you, right before your eyes, so to speak, that even near the city the cultivation of gardens is disposed and regulated far less by art, method or adherence to rule than in our lands, but is rather a certain happy consortium of governing nature and prudent industry. For though there are found gardens too that, with their straight sequence of sections and regular planting rows, display nature altogether subject to human reason, nonetheless the people of Brazil, who possess an open spirit that bends to circumstances, and who not unjustly boast of their fatherland's stunning beauty, prefer to keep paradise-gardens in the manner of the English, gardens that often, in one part or another, run out into the liberty of fields.

A garden of this kind does not differ from nature's will, except for thecultivation of domestic and imported trees and flowers; and in the process of cultivating this region, it is well worth noting that in Brazil, which is itself adorned with a remarkable wealth of plants both useful and lovely, nonetheless a majority by far of the trees and herbaceous plants found in such a garden (like the Jaca tree) have been brought from Asia, from the islands of the West Indies, or from some other foreign region.

Jaca tree
Thus are found trees and shrubs: from Asia and oceanic India, Averrhoa Carambola and Averrhoa Bilimbi, Artocarpus incisa and Artocarpus integrifolia, Mangifera indica, Piper nigrum, Caryophyllus aromaticus, Cinnamomum dulce and Cinnamomum Cassia, Melia Azedarach, Vacchelia Farnesiana, Poinciana pulcherrima, Tamarindus indica, Moringa pterygosperma, Nerium Oleander, Jatropha Curcas, Jambosa vulgaris, Aleurites triloba, Punica Granatum, Cordyline parviflora, Arenga saccharifera, Amygdalus Persica, Citrus Aurantium and Citrus medica; from Africa, Aloe vulgaris and Aloe dichotoma, Coffea arabica, various Pelargonia; from the islands of the West Indies and other lands of the New World, some Cerei and Opuntiae, Yucca gloriosa, Fourcroya gigantea and Fourcroya cubensis, Quassia amara, species of Spondias, Mammea americana, Lucuma Caimito, Theobroma Cacao, species of Anona, such as Anona Squamosa, Anona Reticulata, Anona Cherimolia, and Persea gratissima. I omit others.

#42 of 42 expedition commentaries

Averrhoa carambola (Star fruit) and Averrhoa bilimbi

Artocarpus incisa (Breadfuit tree)

Artocarpus integrifolia (Jaca tree)