TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 267 



CHAPTER III. 



EXCURSIONS IN THE ENVIRONS OF VILLA RICA. 



I HE Itacolumi is the highest summit of the Serra 

 do Oiro Preto, the southern decUvities of which 

 form, with the Morro de Villa Rica, the narrow val- 

 ley in which the city is situated. To ascend this 

 mountain, we crossed the Ribeirao do Oiro Preto, 

 at eight o'clock in the morning, and reached the 

 summit at noon. The road leads upwards, 

 through pleasant green slopes, and sometimes 

 through low woods. The level part of the moun- 

 tain gradually extended, and we were on a wide, 

 gently rising plain, at the back of which is the 

 last summit of the mountain. The slope is covered 

 with campos, and scattered bushes, and here and 

 there the ravines and hollows are occupied by a 

 thick forest of low trees, with very luxuriant foliage. 

 These little woods, which in this part of the 

 country are called Capoes (corrupted from the 

 word Caapodo, island, in the Lingua Geral), as it 

 were, wood islands, are a peculiar feature in the 

 scenery of the campos, and for the most part con- 



