216 



AMAZONIA AND LA PLATA. 



Fie 



89. — JUIZ DE FOEA. 



Scale 1 : 90,000. 



Zi;i€?W 



in the midst of coffee plantations, on a terrace stretching north of the Rio Para- 

 hyba ; LeopokUna, which has given its name to an extensive system of railways, 

 with terminus at Nictheroy, on the bay of Rio de Janeiro, and with numerous 

 branches ramifying through Espirito Santo and Minas Geraes ; Uba, also in a 

 coffee- growing district on the southern slopes of the Serra de S. Geraldo, which is 

 crossed by a winding railway at an altitude of 2,400 feet. 



On the Parana slope of Minas Geraes Barbacciut occupies a position analogous 



to that of Juiz de Fora on the 

 Parahyba slope. Standing at an 

 elevation of 3,680 feet near the 

 central divide of Brazil, it com- 

 mands the watersheds of the four 

 great rivers. Parahyba do Sul, Rio 

 Doce, S. Francisco, and Parana. 

 Barbacena may thus be regarded as 

 the central city of Brazil, and it 

 accordingly claims like Juiz de Fora 

 to be chosen as the State capital. 

 It presents a pleasant appearance, 

 spread out in araphitheatrical form 

 on the crest of a long ridge planted 

 with bananas and orange groves. 

 Several of the surrounding valleys 

 are frequented as health resorts by 

 the people of Rio de Janeiro during 

 the hot season. 



On the neighbouring heights 

 rises the Rio das Mortes, whose 

 name recalls the sanguinary con- 

 flicts of former times between the 

 Paulistas and the gold-hunters of 

 other provinces. This river flows 

 westwards in a valley where are 

 situated the twin towns of Tira- 

 de ntcs (formerly 8. José del Rey), 

 and 8. Joao del Reij, founded by the 

 Paulistas in the second half of the seventeenth century. Although no longer 

 important mining centres, these places have become busy market towns in the 

 midst of numerous German, Belgian, and Italian settlers, who grow corn and 

 tobacco, and also occupy themselves with stock-breeding and dairy-farming. 



The vine thrives in this district, though less exuberantly than in the 

 industrious municipality of Campanha, which lies to the south-west in a valley 

 draining to the Rio Grande. 



S. Joao del Rey is amongst the towns which aspire to the honour of being 





West. oF Gr 



2 Miles. 



