5.54< TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



mal kingdom, too, sleep here more soundly and 

 longer than in more northern latitudes ; and even 

 the plants, by closing and drooping their flowers 

 and leaves, announce, more than among us, a sus- 

 pension of the animation awakened by the sun. 



From Corrego Seco we followed the road through 

 a high broken country, partly bounded by massy 

 granite mountains, passed Belmonte, and at last 

 reached the country-seat of Padre Correa, with 

 whom we had become acquainted when he passed 

 through Mandiocca. This worthy ecclesiastic, a 

 native of Brazil, is a model for his neighbours, by 

 his activity as a farmer. He has proved by plant- 

 ing extensive nurseries, that the colder climate of 

 these more elevated districts is favourable to the 

 culture of European fruits. In his plantations, 

 figs, peaches and grapes in particular, ripen to 

 perfection, and in such abundance, that he supplies 

 the market at Rio, and annually gains large sums 

 by the sale. This enterprising man has established 

 another profitable branch of industry by the skill 

 of his slaves, whom he treats with very great hu- 

 manity, and who manufacture large quantities of 

 Swedish iron into horse-shoes, and other articles 

 for sale. We here met for the second time with 

 the mountain rivulet of Piabanha, which, though 

 pretty considerable, is not navigable, on account of 

 its rocky bed, to its junction with the Rio Paraiba, 

 which has its source far off in the province of S. 

 Paulo. Passing over hills of gneiss and granite. 



