The chief productions of the country around Alagoas are sugar, cotton, and a little mandiocca. At the time of my visit great complaints were made of the scarcity of provisions, but it is impossible to feel much commiseration for the starving condition of the poor people, when it is known that it is entirely owing to their own want of industry that sufficient crops of mandiocca are not raised, not only for their own consumption, but for exportation to other parts of the country. There is abundance of ground around the city lying waste, which is well adapted for the growth of this plant, and but little labour suffices for its cultivation, but the indolent disposition of the people is such, that, with all the advantages which the country offers, they are contented to obtain just sufficient for immediate use and seldom look forward to the future. Towards the head of the lake, the country is said to be much richer than it is near the city, and it is in that direction that the largest and most productive sugar and cotton plantations are seen. The lake is not of sufficient depth to admit of vessels of any size, all traffic between the sea and the city is carried on in large canoes, and a small class of flat-bottomed sailing vessels called Lanchas. Opposite the city the lake is about a league broad, the water is quite fresh, and yields abundance of fine fish, which forms the chief part of the animal food of the inhabitants, to whom it is sold at a very cheap rate. Much fine timber is floated down the lake from the upper parts of the country for exportation along the coast; the two wooden bridges at Pernambuco are for the most part constructed of it.
During my rambles in this neighbourhood, I found several species of plants which I had not previously met with. In a small stream of beautifully clear water the curious Cabomba aquatica, Aubl., grows abundantly, which to the Botanist is a most interesting plant, as, both in habit and structure, it forms a transition link between the Ranunculus family and that of the water lilies. In the same stream I likewise collected specimens of a Marsilæa, a pale blue flowered Pontederia, and a large white flowered Nymphæa different from that which grows in the lake at Olinda. In brackish water a little above Maceio, a Potamogeton grows in vast quantities, which on comparison, does not seem to differ from the British P. pectinatus. We returned to Maceio by daylight, and I observed that the shores abound with Mangroves, principally Rhizophora Mangle, which reaches here to a much greater size than I have elsewhere seen it, some of the trees being, at least, thirty feet high, with stems proportionally thick; it presents a curious appearance, the large roots supporting the stems at the height of several feet above the water, and curving outwards and downwards; if the real top were not seen, we could almost fancy that the tree had been reversed; the long pendent radicles of the seeds are also remarkable, as they are thrown down to the ground while the fruit is yet attached to the parent plant. The wood of this tree is very much used as fuel, it burns extremely well in the green state; at Maranham little else is used for this purpose.
On the morning of the 20th of April I left Maceio, in a little vessel loaded with cotton, and arrived at Pernambuco on the evening of the 24th, taking Pedro with me, he having agreed to accompany me on my projected journey into the interior. The only thing which I observed worthy notice on the passage, was a mode of fishing that was new to me. Towards the evening of the third day, while running along between the reef and the shore, the vessel grounded on a sand bank, the tide being then about half ebb. Having laid down to sleep on the deck, I awoke about nine o’clock, and was surprised to see a great number of lights moving quickly between the shore and the reef, and extending as far as I could see. Our boatmen were at this time sound asleep, but as the tide was now out, and the ground around us dry, I made for the nearest lights, and found them to belong to a man and boy, both of whom were naked, each having a lighted torch in his left hand, a long sword-knife in the right, with a small basket suspended round the neck by a thick piece of cord. I soon discovered they were engaged in killing the small fish which the tide had left in the shallow pools of water inside the reef. They walked somewhat quickly along, holding the flaming torch pretty close to the water, by which means the fish, not above three inches long, were very distinctly perceived, and when seen, immediately struck with the sword, quickly picked up, and put into the basket. This man told me that all he expected to get, would scarcely suffice for the supper of the four individuals comprising his family. As the tide came in, the lights were seen receding towards the shore, and gradually becoming extinct. The material of which the torches are made, is the wood of a fine large arborescent species of Bignonia, to which the Brazilians give the name of Pao d’Arco, from the circumstance of its being used by the Indians to make their bows. They split this wood into thin splinters, a number of which are tied together, and when lighted, it burns with a very clear flame. Before castor oil was so much cultivated as it now is, this kind of light was extensively used by the country people, even in their sugar-houses and other works.