274 



AMAZONIA AND LA PLATA. 



depth of over 1-30 feet for several miles across the hills. Above the mining 

 village of Passaorem, near Ouro Preto, the hill has been carved into all manner of 

 fantastic shapes as if thrown up b}^ some volcanic eruption. 



During their days of prosperity the potentates of Minas Geraes displayed the 

 vulgar splendour which has at all times distinguished upstarts suddenly enriched. 

 They built themselves palaces, where sumptuous banquets were daily spread 

 before friends and all comers, and when the captain-general honoured their 

 table, he was usually served with a dish of caiigita, in which the grains of mtiize 

 were replaced by nuggets. At the processions of the Blessed Sacrament from 

 church to church the horses were shod in gokl, and in the courts pleaders sup- 



Fiff. 117. — GOLDFIELDS OF CENTRAL BrAZIL. 



Scale 1 : 1,200,000. 



9C\.. 





"•^^. 





,^ellû:Hor,konte VHo-c- 

 ' . Fa 



.r^-^ 



\5r5?J',*«y; 



\ ■-'■», 





x-% 



:\^^-^r 



20, : -, 







44° lO' 



Wist cp Gi-eenw^ch 



43° 10- 



18 Miles. 



ported their clients' cause by presenting the judges witli bananas stuffed with 

 gold. 



According to Gorceix, Minas Geraes alone yielded between 1700 and 1888 

 nearly .1,450,000 pounds weight of gold, worth about £74,000,000, and the total 

 product of the M'hole of Brazil appears to have fallen little short of £120,000,000. 

 At present the output is estimated at from £160,000 to £320,000 a year. Most 

 of the mining companies are English, and their operations are limited to the 

 region of Minas Geraes, north of the Queluz knot, between Ouro Preto and 

 Sahara. They no longer work the alluvial deposits of rivers, but attack the 

 auriferous reefs themselves, following up the lodes for great distances, and to 

 depths of hundreds of yards. The ores are conveyed by railways, or shot down 



