318 HIGHEST POINTS OF THE CHAIN. 



it by the name of Serra do Espinha9o, and considers it as 

 the principal part of the whole structure of the mountains 

 of Brazil. This Cordillera loses itself northward,* between 

 Minas Novas and the southern extremity of the Capitania 

 of Bahia, in 16 lat. It is there more than 60 leagues re- 

 moved from the coast of Porto Seguro ; but southward, 

 between the parallels of Eio Janeiro and Saint Paul (lat. 

 22 23), in the knot of the mountains of Serra da Man- 

 tiquiera, it draws so near to the Cordillera of the shore 

 (Serra do Mar), that they are almost confounded together. 

 In the same manner, the Serra do Espinha9o follows con- 

 stantly the direction of a meridian, towards the north; 

 while towards the south it runs south-east, and terminates 

 about 25 lat. The chain reaches its highest elevation be- 

 tween 18 and 21 ; and there the spurs and table-lands at 

 its back are of sufficient extent to furnish lands for culti- 

 vation, where, at successive heights, there are temperate 

 climates comparable to the delicious climates of Xalapa, 

 Guaduas, Caracas, and Caripe. This advantage, which de- 

 pends at once on the widening of the mass of the chain, and 

 of its spurs, is nowhere found in the same degree east of 

 the Andes, not even in chains of more considerable absolute 

 height, as those of Venezuela and the Orinoco. The culmi- 

 nant points of the Serra do Espinhaeo, in the Capitania of 

 Minas Geraes, are the Itambe (932 toises), the Serra da 

 Piedade, near Sahara (910 toises), the Itacolumi, properly 

 Itacunumi (900 toises), the Pico of Itabira (816 toises), the 

 Serras of Caraca, Ibitipoca, and Papagayo. Saint flilaire felt 

 piercing cold in the month of November (therefore in sum- 

 mer) in the whole Cordillera of Lapa, from the Villa do 

 Principe to the Morro de Gaspar Suares. 



We have just noticed two chains of mountains nearly 

 parallel, but of which the most extensive (the littoral chain) 

 is the least lofty. The capital of Brazil is situated at the 

 point where the two chains draw nearest together and are 

 linked together on the east of the Serra de Mantiqueira, if 



* The rocky ridges that form the cataract of Paulo AfFonso, in the Rio 

 San Francisco, are supposed to belong to the northern prolongation of 

 the Serra do Espinhaeo, as a series of heights in the province of Seara 

 (frtid calcareous rocks, containing a quantity of petrified fish,) belong to 

 the Sejra dos Yerteutes. 



