34 



PROVINCE OF RIO DE JANEIRO. 



capital, now comprehends the ci-devant capitania of St. Thomls, half of that 

 of St. Vincente, and a portion of Espirito Santo. It is bounded on the north 

 by the latter, from which it is separated by the river Cabapuana, and by the 

 province of Minas Geraes, from which it is divided by the rivers Preto and 

 Parahiba, and in part by the serra of Mantiqueira ; on the south by the Atlantic 

 Ocean, which also washes its eastern limits ; and on the west by the province 

 of St. Paulo. It is estimated to be sixty leagues in length, from east to west, 

 near its northern extremity; and twenty-three leagues of medium width, 

 reckoning from the fortress of St. Cruz, at the entrance of the bay of Rio de 

 Janeiro, to the river Parahibuna, and to have fifty leagues of southern coast, 

 from Cape Frio to Cape Trinidade, which is near three leagues to the west of 

 Point Joatinga. It is divided by the Organ Mountains into two parts ; North- 

 ern, or Serra- Acima, (Mountains above,) and Southern, or Beira-Mar, (Sea-coast,) 

 which latter is subdivided into four, and the former into two districts or territo- 

 ries, as follows : — 



A line drawn from south to north, commencing at the fort of Lage, at the en- 

 trance of the port of Rio, passing up the middle of the bay, by the river Inhumirim 

 upwards, and on to the origin of the Piabanha, descending by it to the Parahiba, 

 divides the province into east and west. 



Mountains. — All the districts of this province, with the exception of 

 Goytacazes, are picturesquely mountainous, and present an infinite variety 

 of novel, sublime, and wondrous scenery, of which no verbal description 

 can give an adequate representation. The Organ Mountains, so called 

 from the similarity which their pyramidical heads, in various parts, bear to the 

 front of an organ, are the principal. That portion of them which assimilates 

 more distinctly to the object from which the whole range derives the name is 

 an approximation of precipitous pointed masses, separated by profound winding 

 and narrow valleys, through which romantic openings the way leads from 

 Beira-Mar to the district of Canto-Gallo, without having to ascend any compa- 

 ratively high elevations in traversing them. This is, indeed, the region of 

 solemn and poetic sequestration. Its unchanged and primeval condition would 

 appear to afford a suitable retirement for such as have acquired a calamity-in- 

 duced distortion of the mind, — a misanthropical distaste to society and the world. 



Beira-Mar, 



Ilha Grande. 

 Rio de Janeiro. 

 Cape Frio. 

 Goytacazes. 



