224 



AMAZONIA AND LA PLATA. 



site, subject to torrid heats and to visitations of yellow fever, which in 1892 

 carried off nearly 3,000, or about one-sixth of the whole population. Campinas 

 boasts of being the birthplace of the composer, Carlos Gomez, and since 1817 the 

 municipality has squandered vast sums on a commonplace church intended chiefly 

 as a repository -for the superb woodcarvings to which an artist of Minas Geraes 

 devoted his whole life. 



Sugar, till recently the chief agricultural product, is now mainly replaced by- 



Fig. 96. — Coffee Plantations North of S. Paulo. 

 Scale 1 : 3,(K)0,000. 



W Miles. 



coffee, which thrives marvellously on the " red soil " covering a great part of 

 the northern and eastern districts. The school of agriculture founded near 

 Campinas serves chiefly for the instruction of planters, while the railway system 

 owes its existence entirely to this industry. 



The main branch, running north of Campinas, passes the important towns 

 of Casa Branca, S. Sinuio, and Riberao Prelo. The last named, of quite recent 

 origin, is already the centre of the most extensive coffee plantations in the world. 



