The worst plague of all, however, are the sand-fleas, which attach themselves to one’s toes, underneath the nails, or sometimes to the soles of the feet.  The moment a person feels an itching in these parts he must immediately look at the place; if he sees a small black point surrounded by a small white ring, the former is the flea, and the latter the eggs which it has laid in the flesh.  The first thing done is to loosen the skin all round as far as the white ring is visible; the whole deposit is then extracted, and a little snuff strewed in the empty space.  The best plan is to call in the first black you may happen to see, as they all perform this operation very skilfully.

As regards the natural products of the Brazils, a great many of the most necessary articles are wanting in the list.  It is true that there are sugar and coffee, but no corn, no potatoes, and none of our delicious varieties of fruit.  The flour of manioc, which is mixed up with the other materials of which the dishes are composed, supplies the place of bread, but is far from being so nutritious and strengthening, while the different kinds of sweet-tasting roots are certainly not to be compared to our potatoes.  The only fruit, which are really excellent, are the oranges, bananas and mangoes.  Their celebrated pine-apples are neither very fragrant nor remarkably sweet; I certainly have eaten much finer flavoured ones that had been grown in a European hot-house.  The other kinds of fruit are not worth mentioning.  Lastly, with the two very necessary articles of consumption, milk and meat, the former is very watery, and the latter very dry.

On instituting a comparison between the Brazils and Europe, both with respect to the impression produced by the whole, as also to the separate advantages and disadvantages of each, we shall, perhaps, at first find the scale incline towards the former country, but only to turn ultimately with greater certainty in favour of the latter.

The Brazils is, perhaps, the most interesting country in the world for travellers; but for a place of permanent residence I should most decidedly prefer Europe.

I saw too little of the manners and customs of the country to be qualified to pronounce judgment upon them, and I shall therefore, on this head, confine myself to a few remarks.  The manners seem, on the whole, to differ but little from those of Europe.  The present possessors of the country, as is well known, derive their descent from Portugal, and the Brazilians might very aptly be termed “Europeans translated into Americans;” and it is very natural, that in this “translation” many peculiarities have been lost, while others have stood forth in greater relief.  The strongest feature in the character of the European-American is the greed for gold; this often becomes a passion, and transforms the most faint-hearted white into a hero, for it certainly requires the courage of one to live alone, as planter, on a plantation with perhaps some hundred slaves, far removed from all assistance, and with the prospect of being irrevocably lost in the event of any revolt.