1^6 TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



decomposition. The mica is of a silver colour, 

 or greenish ; the mass of the quartz is propor- 

 tionably small ; here and there veins of quartz 

 traverse the rock in manifold directions, and 

 these always abound in disseminated gold. The 

 Mineiros, however, do not look for and follow 

 them, except when the surrounding rock is so 

 entirely disintegrated, that it yields the profit they 

 seek, without being worked according to the proper 

 rules of the art of mining. 



The Villa Campanha, or properly Villa da Prin- 

 cesa da Beira, which we reached early in the day, 

 it being only four leagues to the north-west of 

 S. Gonzalo, is situated on a high hill, and is, next 

 to Villa de S. Joao d' El Rey, the most important 

 and populous place in the comarca do Rio das 

 Mortes. The gold mines in the neighbourhood, 

 some of which have been worked only a few years, 

 are among the richest that are now worked, and 

 have diffused great opulence among the inhabitants, 

 among whom we became acquainted with our 

 countryman, Mr. Stockier, brother to the governor 

 of the Azores. There are here many pretty houses 

 of two stories which have glass windows, one of the 

 most expensive articles of domestic comfort in the 

 interior of Brazil. But it appeared to us that lux- 

 ury and corruption of morals kept equal pace with 

 the progress of riches and commerce. As physi- 

 cians we had especially occasion to remark the in- 

 credible extent of syphilis, and its incalculably 



