214 TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



of European manners and civilisation ; the venda 

 was furnished not only with some of the most 

 necessary provisions, such as bacon, sugar, brandy, 

 maize, flour, but also with cottons, lace, iron- wares, 

 and similar articles. In the evening, the captain of 

 the place, a Portuguese, as a special mark of atten- 

 tion brought us some fresh bread, which he had had 

 baked for us of wheat flour. The gold washed in 

 the Rio Piranga is so fine, that it often forms a 

 thin skin floating on the water, and therefore can- 

 not well be separated, except by amalgamation. 

 In performing this operation, they expose the 

 amalgam in an open crucible to the fire, and catch 

 the volatilised mercury in a pisang leaf, formed 

 into the shape of a cornet. 



The succeeding day we passed near to the Venda 

 das duas Irmas, the sandy gravel ground at the 

 union of the Rio Turbo and the Rio Piranga, and 

 rode into a mountainous and woody country. 

 Damp clouds and fogs frequently veiled the sum- 

 mits of the forests (Matto dos Puris) round us, and 

 reminded us of the autiiinnal season in our own 

 country. Towards evening we reached an elevated 

 and pleasant valley, and found a night's lodging in 

 a fazenda in the Capella de S. Rita. A much more 

 fatiguing journey awaited us the next day ; we had 

 scarcely traversed the well- watered valley when we 

 stood before the entrance of a forest, into which 

 the sun appeared never to have penetrated. The 

 gneiss and granite formation, which here basks out 



