MR. weie's jofrnal, ^§79 



LXIX.— MR. WEIR'S JOURNAL. 



{Continued from page 572.) 



I ]\[AY here mention that the general features of the greater 

 part of this province are wlde-spreacling campos or natural fields, 

 and strips of forest bordering the rivers. The breadth of these 

 forests varies greatly, according to the size of the rivers and from 

 other circumstances. From the river Tiete the wood perhaps 

 extends on each side for 3 or 4 leagues. Where the surface is 

 hilly it is also generally partly "U'ooded ; but on the whole the 

 country is flat, the only hills visible from here being the range I 

 am now on the road for. 



Dec, Slst. — Wet morning. Did not start. In the afternoon 

 went through some of the forest on the Rio CJaro. Growing on 

 the margins of the river I found No, 136 (Ciiphea sp., near 

 C. Melvillei). The flowers are large and scarlet; \he plant grows 

 ^ a height of about 3 feet, and, if not already in cultivation, is 

 worth sending home. In the forest collected specimens of No. 

 137, a melastomaceous shrub, 5 to 6 feet high, with white flowers, 

 but unworthy of cultivation ; and in open places near the river 

 No. 138, an Ipomcea, with white flowers ; and No. 139, a species 

 of Ageratiurti with flowers of a dull red colour. 



Jan. 1st — Left Rio Claro. Road through small campos, with 

 intervening rivers and forests. Put up for the night at a fazeuda 



near the road, 



Jan. ^nd, — Started early in the morning, and about half a 

 league from the fazenda we came to the large campo which 

 stretches away from the foot of the Serra or range of hills in a 

 north-easterly direction. We tried to reach the nearest point qi 

 the Serra by taking a direct route across the caippo, but finding 

 the ground in places to be marshy, we were obliged to turn back 

 to the beaten path we had left. Here we saw the process of 

 burning the long tough withered grass on the campo. This is 

 often done to afford a crop of young herbage for the cattle, as 

 they will not eat the old hard and dried grass of the natural 

 campo. Have not been able to reach the hill to-day, as I hoped 

 to do in the morning, and have put up at a small venda on the 



campo three leagues from any other house. 



Jaw. 3rci,— Reached and ascended the Serra., and have fixed 



