TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 157 



octahedrons from the size of a pea to that of half 

 an inch. 



The farm in which we passed the night is si- 

 tuated on the highest part of this mountainous 

 country, which, on account of its flat ridge, is 

 called Chapada. By this word they distinguish, in 

 Brazil, and particularly in the more southern pro- 

 vinces, every elevated plain or plateau. Though 

 they are seldom of considerable extent, yet they 

 so strikingly differ from the narrower mountain 

 ridges, which generally terminate in sharper sum- 

 mits, or groups of rocks, that the term has be- 

 come universal in the mouths of the people. In 

 the Lingua Geral, these elevated plains are called 

 Ita-beba, i. e. flat mountains. A great part of the 

 Termo of Minas Novas, and the province of 

 Goyaz, consists of such chapadas, which are there 

 characterised also by a peculiar vegetation. 



A few weeks before our arrival at the Fazenda 

 da Chapada, the owner had entertained Mr. Von 

 Eschwege, on his return from Rio de Janeiro to 

 his residence at Villa Rica, and was very friendly 

 and good-humoured, when he learned that we were 

 his countrymen. During the night we passed in 

 a closed room, we experienced a very great dif- 

 ference in the temperature ; Reaumur's thermo- 

 meter fell to 11°, though during the day, and in 

 the shade, it had risen to 20° and 21°. This pro- 

 portion of the temperature prevails almost univer- 

 sally in the higher parts of Minas Geraes, and 



