180 TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



stance, iron goods, beaver hats, pottery, cheese, 

 maize, beans, marmalade, pork, and bacon, which 

 is used instead of butter and. lard, and is a staple 

 article in the trade of the province. 



The climate of this capitania on account of its 

 elevated situation, is very temperate, and favour- 

 able to European fruits. During our residence in 

 Villa Rica, the thermometer varied very much ; 

 in the morning before sunrise it was at 12" R., 

 at noon at 23°, in the evening at 16°, and at 

 midnight at 14°, The barometer rose and fell 

 between 23 and 25.50 ; the whalebone hygi-o- 

 meter varied from 55° to 70".* The weather was 

 very pleasant, but often cooled by sudden thunder- 

 storms. During the cold months, June and July, 

 the plantations are sometimes injured by night 

 frosts ; thus, in the year before our arrival, a con- 

 siderable part of the crop of banians, sugar-cane, 

 and coffee was frozen. The winds blow from 

 various directions, and are never accompanied 

 by great heat, but frequently thick fogs, which 

 often envelope the summits of the neighbouring 

 mountains. The heat is accordingly less through 



* Mr. Von Eschwege (V. Moll's new Annals of Mining, 

 vol. iii. No. 3. p. 338.) observes, that Fahrenheit's thermometer 

 in the heat of summer, never rose above 82° in the shade at 

 noon, and in the winter, never fell below 54°. His barometer 

 fluctuated between 26.564 and 26.090 (English). He observed 

 at Rio de Janeiro, a magnetic inclination of 28" 44' 30" S., and 

 21 vertical oscillations in a minute ; at Villa Rica, he found the 

 inclination to be 29^ 31', the oscillations in a minute 20.8. 



