We now took leave of the good people at the _fazenda_, and returned to Villa Rica by the way we came. I had, with great difficulty, procured a few pounds of butter, made after the new process, as a present for Dr. Lucas, the Judge, which arrived perfectly fresh and sweet. On passing Lavras Velhas, as we returned, we were shown some excellent cinchona, very like that of Peru, and said to possess similar properties in a high degree. From the specimen we saw, there was every reason to believe, that, if fairly introduced into practice, it might be administered in many cases with as much success as Peruvian bark; and, as great quantities might be procured here, the experiment is certainly worth attending to by medical men. I sent a parcel of it home, but by some accident or other it was lost at the Custom-house.
In many parts of our route we might have collected insects, but they require so much attention and care in preserving them for conveyance so great a distance, that I gave up the pursuit. It appeared to me extraordinary, that I had not, since my arrival in Brazil, seen (except in the cabinets of the curious,) more than one _curculio imperialis_ (diamond-beetle), though I had frequently searched for them in almost every variety of plantation.
During my absence from Villa Rica one of my soldiers had procured me a full pound of native bismuth in lumps, none of which exceeded an ounce in weight. It is frequently found in this state, which proves that it is out of its place, as it originally occurs in veins. Many pieces of pyrites, and various iron ores, were also brought to me.
I had commissioned some persons to collect land shells for me during my absence, and was now to my great gratification presented with six, of a fine chesnut brown color, with beautiful pink mouths, belonging to a new variety of the helix. Having kept them a few days, without taking out the animals, I was surprised to find that one of the latter had laid two eggs. I had before imagined that they were oviparous. I took one of the shells in my hand, while the animal was crawling, when it immediately folded itself, and entered very quickly, in which exertion another egg was deposited in the mouth of the shell. All the eggs were about the size of a sparrow’s. These were the only land shells I had seen on this journey.