TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 105 



a sandstone, similar to that at Ypanema, baskets 

 out in several places. Except two small hamlets 

 of inconsiderable houses in a beautiful, open, and 

 flowery plain, there are scarcely any traces of 

 human cultivation j for the forests, in the cleared 

 parts of which the plantations of the inhabitants 

 are situated, are at a distance from the road, in the 

 hollows and valleys. We were assured that in 

 these forests the tree grew which produces the 

 Peruvian balsam {Myroxylum peridferum L.) and 

 which is called Capriuna or Casca de Ytu. We 

 were not so fortunate as to obtain a sight of it. The 

 Villa de Ytu, the capital of the comarca of the 

 same name, and the residence of an ouvidor with 

 whom we had become acquainted at Ypanema, is 

 situated at the foot of a hilly and pleasant country, 

 and consists of several rows of small and regularly 

 built houses. Some streets are paved with slabs of 

 a bluish grey compact limestone, six feet in length, 

 which is said to be quarried in the neighbourhood. 



From Ytu we advanced N.W. by the side of 

 beautiful thick woods, and enjoyed a dehghtful view 

 of the valley of the Tiete, which is now entirely 

 cleared of the forests, and planted with sugar-cane, 

 beans, maize, &c. The vine, too, thrives here as 

 well as in Sorocaba. About a quarter of a league 

 from Ytu, we passed a wooden bridge over the 

 Tiete, which makes its first considerable fall not 

 much farther down. From this place the road 

 ascended into the mountain, which here, too, con- 



