iiE. weir's journal. 793 



drink and bathe in it from thirty leagues around. I visited the 

 Agua Virtuosa, and foutid it to be nothing more than a strong 

 spring of beautiful clear water boiling up from the ground in a body 

 about three feet in diameter, and risin<^ to a heidit of about a 



o *■- " "-^o 



foot above the level of the surrounding pool. It makes a 

 peculiar noise, something like the boiling of a large caldron. 

 The bottom of the pool is of white sand, which is being con- 

 tinually boiled up by the spring. The water is perfectly" taste- 

 less, and without anything to justify the supposition that it is 

 medicinal. It is situated in a wooded valley at tho foot of a 

 branch of the ranges of hills called tlie Morras da Araraguara, 

 The lucky proprietor of the land on which it is situated is 

 making a fortune from it. He has erected a Jiut over the 

 spring and a long range of sheds for the accommodation of the 

 patients who come to get cured by the Agua Yirtuosa. For this 

 accommodation, and for the benefit of the water, he charges from 

 each a sum about ecpal to an English shilling per day, besides the 

 profits arising from a venda which he keeps on the spot, and 

 which Is wholly supported by the patients. The virtues of the 

 water are doubtless fanciful ; but people come here suffering 

 from many different complaints, and after a fortnight's stay, go 

 away imagining themselves cured. 



The road from Brotas to the spring is chiefly over the campo ; 

 but there are also some strips of wood in the damper places, and 

 along the sides of streams. I collected specimens of tlie follow- 

 ing plants on tlie road. No. 259 {Securidaca sp.), a small spiny 

 shrub from the campo. The roots of this are very bitter, and are 

 used as a febrifuge. No. 260, a small [Laurus) tree, also from 

 the campo. No. 961, a Melastomad, irom the sides of streams. 

 No. 202 (Vernonia sp,), a shrubby composite from the wooded 

 campo; and No. 263 (Lychnophora $p.\ a tall naked composite, 

 growing also on the campo. 



July ^Oth. — Went on to-day to the village of Araraguara, The 

 road is over the same sort of country as it was yesterday. On the 

 wooded campo {campo serrado) here grows No. 204. It attains 

 the dimensions of a small tree. 



July 2]sf. — Went out to the river Jacare Succurii, which flows 

 past the village, to see a cascade which the stream makes by 

 falling over a succession of shelving rocks. It is very pretty, 

 hut I met with no plants to collect, the vegetation being the same 

 as that of the river Piperil at Brotas. In the afleruoon went 

 over some of the ground (campo and wood) near the village, and 



