526 ANNUAL REGISTER, ISl?. 



Description of St. Paul's 



(From the same.) 



St. Paul's is situated on a pleas- 

 ing eminence of about two miles 

 in extent, surrounded on three 

 sides by low meadow land, and 

 washed at the base by rivulets, 

 which almost insulate it in rainy 

 weather ; it is connected with the 

 high-land by a narrow ridge. The 

 rivulets flow into a pretty large 

 stream called the Tieti, which runs 

 within a mile of the town in a 

 south-west direction. Over them 

 there are several bridges, some of 

 stone and others of wood, built by 

 the late governor. The streets of 

 St. Paul's, owing to its elevation 

 (about 50 feet above the plain), 

 and the water which almost sur- 

 rounds it, are in general remark- 

 ably clean ; the material with 

 which they are paved, is lamillary 

 grit-stone, cemented by oxide of 

 iron, and containing large pebbles 

 of rounded quartz, approximating 

 to the conglomerate. This pave- 

 ment is an alluvial formation con- 

 taining gold, many particles of 

 which metal are found in the chinks 

 and hollows after heavy rains, and 

 at suchseasons are diligently sought 

 for by the poorer sort of people. 



This city was founded by the 

 Jesuits, who were probably tempt- 

 ed by the gold mines in the vici- 

 nity, more than by the salubrity of 

 its air, which however is not ex- 

 celled by any on tiie whole conti- 

 nent of South America. The me- 

 dium of the thermometer here is 

 between .50 and 80 degrees ; in a 

 morning I have obs^erved it at 48, 

 and even lower, tiiough I was not 

 there in the winter months. The 

 rains are by no means heavy or of 

 long continuat'.ce, and the thundtr 



storms are far from being violent. 

 The cold in the evenings was fre- 

 quently so considerable that I was 

 obliged to shut my doors and win- 

 dows, put on more clothefi, and 

 have a pan of embers in the room, 

 there beinjj no chimneys. 



Here are several squares, and 

 about thirteen places of religious 

 worship, namely, two convents, 

 three monasteries, and eight 

 churches, the greater part of which, 

 as well as of the whole town, is 

 built of earth. The mode of erect- 

 ing the walls is as follows : a frame 

 is constructed of six moveable 

 planks placed edge-wise, opposite 

 each other, and secured in this 

 position by cross-pieces bolted with 

 moveable pins. Earth is put in 

 by small quantities, which the 

 workmen beat with rammers and 

 occasionally moisten with water to 

 give it consistency. Having hlled 

 the frame or trough, they remove 

 it and continue the same operation 

 till the whole shell of the house is 

 completed, taking care to leave 

 vacancies and put in the window 

 frames, door-frames, and beams as 

 they proceed. The mass in course 

 of time becomes indurated, the 

 walls are pared perfectly smooth 

 inside, and take any colour the 

 owners choose to give them ; they 

 are generally enriched with very 

 ingenious devices. This species of 

 structure is durable; 1 have seen 

 some houses thus built that have 

 lasted two hundred years, and most 

 of them have several stories. The 

 roofs are made to project two or 

 three feet beyond the wall, in order 

 to throw off the rain to a distance 

 from the base ; spouts might be 

 a moreeffectual preservative against 

 wet, but their use is little known 

 here. They cover their houses with 



gutter- 



