A SEVERE WINTER IN MINAS GERAES. 317 



and after my return to Rio de Janeiro, I found, in the following 

 August, the index of my minimum thermometer 12 -5° centigrade 

 above zero, which thus showed me the lowest temperature at Rio 

 de Janeiro for about a year (since my departure), and assured me 

 also, that in Rio nothing abnormal in the temperature had existed 

 during the extraordinary cold of Minas Geraes. 



" However, the cold at Barbacena had been sufficiently intense 

 and prolonged to enter the houses, where water froze. In this 

 country, it is true, the houses have not as thick walls as in cold 

 countries, chimneys are wholly unknown, and cooking is done in 

 ovens. These conditions are amply sufficient for ordinary winters, 

 for the low temperatures of from 3° to 4° centigrade above 

 zero (32° Fahr.) . . . are only towards dawn, and have not 

 time to penetrate to the inside. After sunrise, the temperature 

 rises again very quickly, and these circumstances explain the 

 absence and uselessness of chimneys in the rooms. But, at the 

 same time, they show how abnormal was the phenomenon with 

 which we are now occupied, and explain the ease with which frost 

 can enter the dwellings. The Visconde de Prados was at Rio at 

 the time of the phenomenon ; but on returning to Barbacena in 

 the month of August, he found that the minimum thermometer 

 placed in his drawing-room (which had remained closed) registered 

 29-5° Fahr., that is, i'5° centigrade below zero. This indicates 

 how intense and prolonged the cold must have been outside. The 

 French vice-consul at Barbacena, M. Renault, told me that the 

 thermometer on the last day went down to nearly 6° centigrade 

 below zero, outside ; but this temperature only lasted for a very 

 short time. Nevertheless, evidently the temperature must have 

 remained some time at from 2° to 3° centigrade below zero during 

 this last night, otherwise the thermometer could not have gone 

 down to I '4° centigrade under melting ice, inside a closed frame ; 

 and, again, this was only explicable by the extreme low temperature 

 which had already existed for several days, when, on preceding 

 nights, the thermometer had been a little below zero (32° Fahr.). 

 Some sugar-cane plantations were destroyed, streams were frozen, 

 and many dead fish were observed. Some forests were entirely 

 frozen, as if they had been scorched by fire, and many young trees 

 perished. Many persons also fell victims to the cold, in the open 



