168 



AMAZONIA AND LA PLATA. 



richecl, then ruined by the decay of the mining industry, it has again prospered by 

 ao-riculture and stock-breeding. The cotton grown in this district, as well as in 

 those of Bomfim, Tamancliia, and Pitangiu/, which lie more to the west in the 

 Paraopeba and S. Francisco valleys, is used in the manufacture of highly valued 

 fabrics preferred to similar stuffs of European make. The village of Congonhas de 

 CfiDU^o, so named from a wild shrub resembling the Paraguayan Yerha maté, is 

 one of the chief places of pilgrimage in Brazil. 



OuRo Preto. 



Miguel Barnier occupies a central position in the mining district of Minas 

 Geraes. Westwards rises the Serra do Ouro, "Gold Mountain," and towards the 



Fig. 66. — OuEO Teeto. 

 Scale 1 : 30,000. 



1,100 Tarda. 



north-west another chain bears the expressive name of Serra da Moeda, " Money 

 Mountain." Otiro Branco, "White Gold," occupies in the east an upland valley 

 midway from Ouro Preto, " Black Gold," formerly Villa Rica, present capital of 

 the State dominated on the south-east by the picturesque twin-peaked Itacolumi. 

 Although lying in the Rio Doce basin, Ouro Preto belongs in its history, industrial 

 and commercial relations entirely to the region draining to the Upper S. Fran- 

 cisco. Owing its existence to the auriferous deposits discovered in 1698, it 

 stands on ground everywhere undermined by old galleries, in which is collected 



