420 The Diamond District of the Serro do Frio. [ APRIL, 



the figures, their singularly wild and picturesque costume, their savage 

 air, heightened by the red glare of the fire, produced a pictorial effect, 

 which only the pencil of a Salvator or a Murillo could delineate. On 

 one occasion the harmony of the evening was interrupted by a serious 

 brawl. A miner, a tall, morose-looking fellow, took fire at the atten- 

 tion paid by Francisco to a pretty mulatto girl, who was travelling 

 under his protection, and on whom the handsome person, and fascinat- 

 ing powers of the guide made considerable impression. The jealousy 

 of the miner was aroused, and he applied to F/ancisco the opprobrious 

 terms of cigano (gipsy), and grempeiro (smuggler) ; the former re- 

 torted, by the term " baeta," an allusion to the coarse fabric of his 

 poncho, and one which no miner can patiently endure. In an instant 

 his knife was out, and but for my timely interference, in another I 

 should have been deprived of the valuable services of my guide. On 

 the following morning Francisco, aware of the vindictive character of 

 his countryman, struck into a route only known to himself; and on 

 the evening of the same day, the ninth since we left Villa Rica, we 

 arrived at the Villa do Principe, situated almost on the verge of the 

 Diamond District. 



The country through which we had travelled was, perhaps, the 

 richest on the face of the globe. In the year 1750, the produce of the 

 gold mines in Minas Geraes was estimated at upwards of six millions 

 sterling, produced almost solely by the simple operation of washing in 

 the mountain streams. But the moral and social condition of the inha- 

 bitants of these auriferous regions was at the lowest ebb. The extra- 

 ordinary wealth accumulated by some of the earliest mining adventurers, 

 the fabulous legends they left behind them, have so dazzled the 

 imagination of their descendants, as to totally unfit them for all the 

 ordinary occupations of social life. On our line of route many of the 

 hills were pierced like honeycombs ; and in every direction we saw 

 streams diverted from their course for the purpose of gold washings. 

 Thus they dream away their existence in pursuit of a shadow, and 

 neglect the more solid advantages of agriculture, in a land in which 

 the productions of every soil and climate would almost spontaneously 

 flourish. 



On leaving the Villa do Principe, the geological features of the coun- 

 try were completely changed ; it was dreary and barren, and full of 

 embedded stones ; the trees had no longer the same luxuriant growth ; 

 the mountains were bare and black, and their tops exposed to the 

 benumbing influence of a cold, bleak wind. We were now within 

 sight of the mountain boundary of the far-famed Valley of Diamonds ; 

 and fatigued by a hard day's riding, I felt anxious to arrive at our 

 halting-place for the night. " Who," said I to the guide, as we toiled 

 up a steep ascent, "is this Illustrissimo and Valerosissimo Capitam de 

 Cavalleria" (for such was the hyperbolical superscription of my letter 

 of recommendation), " with whom we are to take up our quarters for 

 the night ?" t( Senhor," replied Francisco, with gravity, " he hum 

 homen da chapa tern venda ;" (he is a man of property, and has a 

 venda, a chandler's shop on a large scale) ; " but," he added, " he muito 

 impertinente," (he is very curious) j a sufficient reason, I thought, tired 

 as I was, for declining the honour of his acquaintance, even though we 

 passed the night on the summit of the Sierra. Avoiding, therefore, the 

 habitation of this personage by a considerable detour, for his dignity 



