MARTIUS ON THE BOTANY OF BRAZIL. 33 



novelties to the botanist. The plants belonging to this dis- 

 trict Martins calls Dryadts. Towards the north the Flora 

 of this mountain-range changes considerably ; so that many 

 of the species that grow in the south disappear, and other 

 related kinds supply their place. The three provinces that 

 have been most searched, viz., Bahia, Ilheos, and Rio de 

 Janeiro, have each of them certain peculiarities, yet in their 

 physiognomy corresponding forms. It appears too that the 

 Flora of Rio is distinguished above all others by greater 

 magnificence in form and colour. The mountain of this 

 region is in connexion with the extensive principal crest of 

 the former region by several spurs, which diverge from near 

 the 47° of west longitude to the north, and are called Serra 

 da Mantiqueira, das Almas, da Lapa, 8cc., and is compre- 

 hended by Eschwege, under the common name of Serra do 

 Espinha9o. On these spurs, oi' cross-branches, generally 

 appears a different vegetation from that of the mountain-dis- 

 trict itself, and that of the forests on the west, which mostly 

 exhibits that of the Catingas woods. 



IV. Regio CALiDO-siccA. North from the principal mass 

 of mountains of the Minas district, and easterly from the line 

 of mountains of the Serra do INlar, extends a large level land, 

 frequently rising into low hills, which, from the dryness and 

 uniformity of the climate and the absence of water, is occupied 

 by a very different vegetation from that hitherto noticed. The 

 mountain-formation is here mostly granite and gneiss, sand- 

 stone or chalk, and, though more rarely, " Dior it" and mica- 

 slate. The elastic sandstone, (Eschwege's Itacolumit already 

 mentioned,) which appears characteristic of the mining dis- 

 trict, is seldom seen here, nor is there found that abundance 

 of gold and of diamonds. On this account it is less inhabited 

 by colonists, and has received the name of Sertam (wilder- 

 ness) ; a word also employed to denote the thinly populous 

 districts in the very interior of Brazil. At Minas Gera^s 

 they designate by Sertam the tract of country situated wes- 

 terly and north-westerly from the peculiar mountain heights 

 so abundant in gold. The country here gradually sinks down 



Vol. IV.— No. 25. E 



