290 TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



a direction in hours 3 and 4 of the miner's com- 

 pass, and an inclination of about 30°. The gra- 

 nite consists here of much grey and silvery mica, 

 white quartz, and white or reddish felspar. These 

 parts, though only thinly peopled, seem to be more 

 diligently cultivated than all those through which 

 we had hitherto travelled. We saw here and there 

 very extensive plantations of maize, the most im- 

 portant production in these mountains, which here 

 yields from fifty to sixty fold. Several European 

 colonists have attempted, in the colder regions of 

 these mountains, to grow flax, which has been 

 attended with great success ; but it is not pro- 

 bable that this plant will be very extensively cul- 

 tivated, considering the abundance of cotton, and 

 the little demand for linens, which at present are 

 not much used bv the Brazilians. On a consi- 

 derable eminence behind Bananal we observed an 

 evident transition of the gneiss into mica slate, 

 which has its direction in hour 3. We found on 

 the road casual fragme]its of a compact brown 

 iron-stone, which passes into drused hematite. To 

 the south of Bananal, several other chains of moun- 

 tains, which are almost parallel to each other, and 

 all thickly wooded, run from the west towards the 

 ocean. We passed, in two days' journey, the first 

 of these, the outlines of which are more rounded, 

 and of more agreeable form, having between them 

 some light valleys, with pools and rich meadows. 

 We everywhere observed the same species of rock, 



