Source: Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle (1839), Chapter II — public domain (Project Gutenberg eBook #944). Reused here only to exercise the piece template's components; it is not a real dataset piece.
Excursion north of Cape Frio
APRIL 4th to July 5th, 1832.--A few days after our arrival I became acquainted with an Englishman who was going to visit his estate, situated rather more than a hundred miles from the capital, to the northward of Cape Frio. I gladly accepted his kind offer of allowing me to accompany him.
April 8th.--Our party amounted to seven. The first stage was very interesting. The day was powerfully hot, and as we passed through the woods, everything was motionless, excepting the large and brilliant butterflies, which lazily fluttered about. We arrived by midday at Ithacaia; this small village is situated on a plain, and round the central house are the huts of the negroes. As the moon rose early, we determined to start the same evening for our sleeping-place at the Lagoa Marica.
April 9th.--We left our miserable sleeping-place before sunrise. The road passed through a narrow sandy plain, lying between the sea and the interior salt lagoons. We dined at Mandetiba; the thermometer in the shade being 84 degs. As the venda1 here was a very good one, and I have the pleasant, but rare remembrance, of an excellent dinner, I will be grateful and presently describe it, as the type of its class. These houses are often large, and are built of thick upright posts, with boughs interwoven, and afterwards plastered. Yet the host of this venda, being asked if he knew anything of a whip which one of the party had lost, gruffly answered, "How should I know? why did you not take care of it?--I suppose the dogs have eaten it."
"How should I know? why did you not take care of it?--I suppose the dogs have eaten it."
| Year | Malaysia (USD bn) | Korea (USD bn) |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 22.8 | 37.9 |
| 2011 | 27.2 | 39.7 |
| 2012 | 26.1 | 41.3 |
| 2013 | 27.8 | 47.1 |
| 2014 | 31.0 | 51.5 |
| 2015 | 27.2 | 52.2 |
| 2016 | 26.6 | 52.3 |
| 2017 | 33.0 | 86.1 |
| 2018 | 45.8 | 109.8 |
| 2019 | 44.8 | 79.1 |
| 2020 | 49.3 | 82.9 |
| 2021 | 59.6 | 109.3 |
| 2022 | 78.6 | 112.8 |
| 2023 | 74.7 | 86.1 |
| 2024 | 76.6 | 120.2 |
| 2025 | 145.6 | 142.8 |
Lagoons, shells, and the vampire bat
Leaving Mandetiba, we continued to pass through an intricate wilderness of lakes; in some of which were fresh, in others salt water shells. M. Gay2 has stated that he found in the neighbourhood of Rio, shells of the marine genera solen and mytilus, and fresh water ampullariae, living together in brackish water.
Leaving the coast for a time, we again entered the forest. The trees were very lofty, and remarkable, compared with those of Europe, from the whiteness of their trunks. The Vampire bat is often the cause of much trouble, by biting the horses on their withers. The injury is generally not so much owing to the loss of blood, as to the inflammation which the pressure of the saddle afterwards produces. We were bivouacking late one evening near Coquimbo, in Chile, when my servant, noticing that one of the horses was very restive, went to see what was the matter, and fancying he could distinguish something, suddenly put his hand on the beast's withers, and secured the vampire.
Socego
April 13th.--After three days' travelling we arrived at Socego, the estate of Senhor Manuel Figuireda, a relation of one of our party. The house was simple, and, though like a barn in form, was well suited to the climate. The chief produce of this part of the country is coffee. Each tree is supposed to yield annually, on an average, two pounds; but some give as much as eight.
As soon as any stranger is seen arriving, a large bell is set tolling, and generally some small cannon are fired. One morning I walked out an hour before daylight to admire the solemn stillness of the scene; at last, the silence was broken by the morning hymn, raised on high by the whole body of the blacks; and in this manner their daily work is generally begun.
Rio Macae and its plantations
April 14th.--Leaving Socego, we rode to another estate on the Rio Macae, which was the last patch of cultivated ground in that direction. In the evening it rained very heavily, and although the thermometer stood at 65 degs., I felt very cold. As soon as the rain ceased, it was curious to observe the extraordinary evaporation which commenced over the whole extent of the forest.
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While staying at this estate, I was very nearly being an eye-witness to one of those atrocious acts which can only take place in a slave country. Owing to a quarrel and a lawsuit, the owner was on the point of taking all the women and children from the male slaves, and selling them separately at the public auction at Rio. Interest, and not any feeling of compassion, prevented this act.
| Year | Malaysia YoY % | Korea YoY % |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 19.0 | 5.0 |
| 2012 | -4.0 | 4.0 |
| 2013 | 7.0 | 14.0 |
| 2014 | 12.0 | 9.0 |
| 2015 | -12.0 | 1.0 |
| 2016 | -2.0 | 0.0 |
| 2017 | 24.0 | 65.0 |
| 2018 | 39.0 | 28.0 |
| 2019 | -2.0 | -28.0 |
| 2020 | 10.0 | 5.0 |
| 2021 | 21.0 | 32.0 |
| 2022 | 32.0 | 3.0 |
| 2023 | -5.0 | -24.0 |
| 2024 | 3.0 | 40.0 |
| 2025 | 90.0 | 19.0 |
Return to Rio de Janeiro
April 18th.--In returning we spent two days at Socego, and I employed them in collecting insects in the forest. Here the woods were ornamented by the Cabbage Palm--one of the most beautiful of its family. With a stem so narrow that it might be clasped with the two hands, it waves its elegant head at the height of forty or fifty feet above the ground.
April 19th.--Leaving Socego, during the two first days, we retraced our steps. On the third day we took a different line, and passed through the gay little village of Madre de Deos. All distances are inaccurately known. The road is often marked by crosses, in the place of milestones, to signify where human blood has been spilled. On the evening of the 23rd we arrived at Rio, having finished our pleasant little excursion.
Botofogo Bay and the Corcovado
During the remainder of my stay at Rio, I resided in a cottage at Botofogo Bay. It was impossible to wish for anything more delightful than thus to spend some weeks in so magnificent a country.
The existence of a division of the genus Planaria, which inhabits the dry land, interested me much. I found no less than twelve different species of terrestrial Planariae in different parts of the southern hemisphere.3 Some specimens which I obtained at Van Dieman's Land, I kept alive for nearly two months, feeding them on rotten wood.
The house in which I lived was seated close beneath the well-known mountain of the Corcovado. I was often interested by watching the clouds, which, rolling in from seaward, formed a bank just beneath the highest point of the Corcovado. This mountain, like most others, when thus partly veiled, appeared to rise to a far prouder elevation than its real height of 2300 feet.
