TOPOGEAPHY— QUELUZ. 



167 



from the old African tongues, and some of their families have lateral branches 

 in Dahomey, with whom friendly relations are still maintained. 



The Mineiros, or Geralistas, as the inhabitants of Minas Geraes are called, 

 descend partly from pure or mixed Paulistas, partly from Portuguese immigrants. 

 Besides these, all the nations of West Europe are represented in Bahia and the 

 other coast towns. But systematic immigration dates only from the middle of the 

 nineteenth century. The first attempts to settle the Mucury and Doce valleys 

 with thousands of German, Dutch, Swiss, and Alsatian colonists ended in disaster. 

 No preparations had been made to receive the strangers, most of whom perished of 



Fig. 65. — QtTKLUz Knot and Uppeb S. Francisco Basin. 

 Scale 1 : 4,000.01)0. 



60 Miles. 



typhus or ftimine, and the Mucury stations were long known by the name of 

 Carnijicina, the " Shambles." 



Since then immigration has been carried on more successfully, and numerous 

 settlements, chiefly of Italians, who are better suited for the climate, have been 

 founded along the routes leading from the coast to the uplands. Thanks to them, 

 the hitherto neglected State of Espirito Santo is being rapidly peopled. 



Topography — Towns of Minas Geraes. 



Qiielns, the town in the Upper S. Francisco basin which lies nearest to Rio de 

 Janeiro, stands some 3,000 feet above the sea near the sources of the Paraopeba. 

 Since its foundation in the middle of the eighteenth century, Queluz has passed 

 through the same vicissitudes as the other settlements of the district. First en- 



