278 TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



wrought iron costs here and in the neighbourhood, 

 1800 rees. Our friend Von Eschwege, frequently 

 complained of the difficulties of establishing a ma- 

 nufactory in this country, and assigned as a chief 

 cause, the aversion of the lower classes to follow 

 any fixed employment. 



From the iron-foundry, we went to the Arraial 

 de Bento Rodriguez, lying about two leagues and 

 a half to the N.E. The country is mountainous, 

 and the surface, for the most part covered with the 

 formation of the auriferous stratified iron-stone, 

 announced the industry of the gold-washers by 

 numerous trenches and open mines. We were 

 the more surprised to see in this village, as in 

 many others, but few traces of the comfort of the 

 inhabitants. The houses are ruinous, miserable 

 withinside, and the inhabitants look very wretched. 

 Everything indicates that the prosperity of this 

 district is past, and nothing remains but scat- 

 tered fragments of its former opulence. The sun 

 had already set, and the darkness of the tropical 

 night enveloped us, when we had to pass a very 

 rough and therefore dangerous ground, to reach 

 the large village of Inficionado, where we proposed 

 staying for the night. We found a great number 

 of the inhabitants assembled under the illuminated 

 images of the Virgin to say their Ave. This cus- 

 tom of the mother country is practised every even- 

 ing in Brazil with zeal, and an almost theatrical 

 solemnity ; the mulattoes, who in general are very 



