TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 3^5 



getation is ex'ceedingly ricli and luxuriant, and 

 combines the forms of the mountain forests with 

 the more deKcate ones of the campos and the 

 swamps. Large plumerias, echites, and other full- 

 flowered apocyneae, splendid hamelias, and high 

 rhexias, covered with magnificent purple flowers, 

 give to this district, in some parts, the appearance 

 of a fairy land. At the time we passed through 

 them, however, these plains seemed to be poor in 

 animals, particularly insects. The mountain con- 

 sists of gneiss, sometimes with much black shorl. 

 Before we reached Mogy das Cruces, a small village 

 abouttwo miles from Taruma, we saw, in many places, 

 a reddish sandstone, which alternates with layers of 

 clay. We gradually descended considerably, and at 

 the bottom came to the river Tiete, the dark brown 

 water of wliich flows here much more slowly than 

 farther to the north-west, where it has many falls, 

 till its junction with the Rio Parana. At Mogy 

 we were received with much cordiality and kind- 

 ness by the capitao. These good people enter- 

 tained ideas of the Germans similar to those that 

 the Greeks formerly had of the Hyperboreans. 

 They were therefore interested, not only by the 

 distance of our northern country, but by our ex- 

 ternal appearance. The female part of the family 

 examined our dress with the simplicity and grace 

 peculiar to the Paulistas, praising the fairness of 

 our complexions, which is much admired here. A 

 workman belonging to this family had been bitten a 



