Our soldiers having, with their wonted alacrity, provided mules, we set out at an early hour, and entered upon a much more level road than that of the preceding day. We passed along several valleys, the surface of which presented clay and decomposed granite, in some places more ferruginous than in others. There are numerous sheds all the way for the refreshment of travellers and their cattle. This day’s journey being only sixteen miles, we soon completed it, arriving about noon at the ferry of Paraibuna. This river, though as wide as the Thames at Westminster, is unnavigable, by reason of the large rocks which impede its course. The ferry-boat arriving, we went into it with all our mules, and were conveyed with oars and setting poles to the other side, where we found a Register for the examination of passengers, their passports, and property. The place is guarded by a few old soldiers, under the command of a lieutenant, who, though in ill health, shewed us every attention. Our soldiers got us a dinner cooked at a _venda_[34], kept by a young man originally from Oporto; we took tea and supped with the commandant, who assigned to us an apartment in the Register. He was very civil, and seemed highly pleased to see us, frequently exclaiming, “Os Inglezes são grande gente,” (the English are a great nation). We were gratified by this and other national compliments which he paid us, and not less so by the respect which every one who came to visit us testified for our country, as being in alliance with a Prince to whom they were enthusiastically devoted.
The Register is a substantial edifice of wood, built on posts to preserve it from the overflows of the river, which frequently inundate the sandy flat on which it stands. It contains a few rooms, which serve as barracks for the guards, and has a handsome gallery fronting the ferry. The station is low, and in summer is said to be very hot and unhealthy; a circumstance which, joined to the indolence and poverty of the inhabitants, may sufficiently account for the general appearance of debility observable among them. The little employment they have arises chiefly from the passengers who frequent this great thoroughfare, and from the numerous troops of mules which are continually arriving on their way to, as well as from, the interior. The barges of the ferry are as fine vessels as any I ever saw used for the purpose; and indeed they ought to be, for a considerable toll is paid, not only for every mule, or other beast of burden, but for every person crossing the river. The annual amount collected yields, no doubt, a handsome profit to the renters; but it might be considerably augmented if a regular road were opened to Canta Gallo, which is only eighteen leagues distant.