TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 103 



CHAPTER III. 



JOURNEY FROM S. JOAO DE YPANEMA TO VILLA RICA. 



1 HE plan which we had laid down for the prose- 

 cution of our journey, was to reach Villa Rica by 

 the end of the rainy season, and then during the 

 dry months to make excursions in various direc- 

 tions through the sertao of Minas Geraes during 

 the dry season. The road leads first to Ytu ; but 

 we previously paid another visit toVilla de Sorocaba, 

 where the capitao mor had already prepared a 

 house for us, because he hoped that we should pass 

 some weeks there, and benefit the neighbourhood 

 by giving medical advice. We could not however 

 accept his invitation, though our presence would 

 have been more advantageous to the place, as the 

 only surgeon was ill. We were introduced to this 

 patient ; he was a mulatto, a gloomy hypochondriac, 

 whom a few applications of magnetism threw into 

 convulsions, and then into a sound sleep. After 

 we had prescribed the medical treatment necessary 

 for him, we immediately set about purchasing the 

 mules of which we were in want. These animals 

 may be obtained of superior quality, and on the most 



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