78 Mr Gardner's Geological Notes on the Interior 



From led I went to the Villa do Crato, which is about thirty- 

 four leagues to the south-west of the former place. Between these 

 two places the country is of a more hilly undulating character, 

 more abundantly wooded, the trees larger, and many of them 

 evergreen. Owing to these circumstances but few of the large 

 campos, which exist below led, are met with. The carriage of 

 goods between Aracaty and led is effected in large waggons, 

 generally drawn by twelve oxen ; but the hilly nature of the 

 country between led and Crato does not admit of this mode 

 of conveyance, the backs of horses, and even of oxen, being 

 made use of instead. Shortly after leaving led I passed over the 

 south-west end of the Serra de Pereira, at a place where it has 

 but a slight elevation, and consists entirely of gneiss. From this" 

 place to the Villa das Lavras da Mangabeira, a distance of about 

 ten leagues, the country is of a gently undulating nature, and 

 in many places well wooded. This villa, which is situated close 

 to the Rio Jaguaribe, takes its name from a number of small 

 gold workings (Lavras) which, from time to time, for many 

 years past, have been wrought in its neighbourhood. Nothing, 

 however, was done to any extent till about two years ago, when 

 two English miners were sent for by a company in the city of 

 Ceara, the capital of the province. They continued their 

 labours till about two months before I passed through the 

 place, having been recalled by their employers. I could not 

 learn what amount of gold they had obtained, but the persons 

 at whom I made inquiries remarked, with apparently much 

 truth, that they did not believe it was sufficient to repay the 

 expense, or the work would not have been abandoned. The 

 gold is here found in small particles, in a dark-coloured dilu- 

 vial soil at a considerable depth ; but the place being shut up I 

 had not an opportunity of examining it. 



At about eighteen leagues below Crato, I lost sight of the 

 gneiss rocks, and for tne next four found them replaced by a 

 grey-coloured primitive clay-slate. At the termination of this 

 the secondary stratified series begins, the few rocks which I 

 met with from thence to Crato consisting of a white coarse- 

 grained sandstone. 



The small Villa do Crato stands in the middle of a large 

 undulating valley, which is bounded to the south, to the west, 



