TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. ^79 



voluble in their speech, and have good lungs, take 

 upon them the office of the clerk or priest. Infi- 

 cionado is the birth-place of Father Durao, author 

 of the poem Caramuru, which celebrates the dis- 

 covery of Brazil. * 



At daybreak the following morning, we left this 

 place, which is gradually impoverished as the 

 mines are neglected, and set out for the Serra do 

 Cara9a. We were informed by a stone-merchant, 

 whom we had known at Rio de Janeiro, and who, 

 as we afterwards learnt, was hastening from the 

 diamond district pursued by police officers, that it 

 was advisable to pass the night at the house of the 

 guarda mor, Innocenzio, on the north-western de- 

 clivity of the mountain, and to ascend it on the 

 following day. The mountains of the Serra do 

 Cara9a lay to our left ; it extends to the length of 

 nearly three leagues, in the direction of north to 

 south, and towers above all its neighbours with its 

 bold rugged outlines. We_went round several of 

 its steep decHvities, and at length got sight of the 

 fazenda of the guarda mor, which stands on a 

 projection, resembhng at a distance a magnificent 

 fort, and commands all the adjacent country. 

 When we arrived in the spacious court-yard, the 

 master of the house cordially bid us welcome; 

 and, after he had shown us tho beautiftil prospect 



* Caramuru, poema epico do descubrimento da Bahia, com- 

 posta por Fr. Jos6 de S. Rita Durao. Lisboa, 1781. 8vo. 



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