PROVINCE OF RIO DE JANEIRO. 



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fences of lime bushes, orange trees, and flowering shrubs. The ascent leading 

 between higher mountains was till lately very difficult of access, and the immense 

 stones which rendered it so are distributed on both sides of the way. From its 

 different winding points we were gratified with varied and pleasing views of the 

 valley, the city, and the bay, the waters of which presented a silvery hue, 

 caused by the rays of the sun just diffused above the horizon ; the tout ensemble 

 producing an animated and pictorial effect, in which the Pedra Mountain, 

 resembling a hay-cock, and detached from all others, formed a singular feature. 

 From the summit of the pass we commanded a view of the sea on the opposite 

 side, and had now to descend by a narrow road of the utmost intricacy, covered 

 with large stones, the horses at every step being liable to fall. It was, however, 

 a most romantic and delightful way ; and, although it could not boast of any 

 edifice beyond clay huts, it partook of all the grandeur of the mountain scenery 

 before mentioned, with even more of sublimity in the general and more versatile 

 combination and expression of its objects. A continued charm was produced 

 by a succession of waterfalls, forming a murmuring stream below, and hid in 

 the depth of its descending recesses from the eye by embowering trees, which 

 send' forth the music of its feathered inhabitants, variegated in rich and 

 beauteous plumage. Towards the bottom of the descent, stones of a prodigious 

 size were dispersed all around, the rividet had accumulated into a more con- 

 siderable body of water, and a lake, situated in the plain below, terminating 

 its course, presented a crystal mirror. We alighted at a farm-house, in the 

 veranda of which the neighbouring population were assembled at mass, and 

 proceeded on foot, by a rude pathway, along the skirts of a wood, at the end 

 of which a narrow opening through the rocks astonished us with the view of 

 those truly fine cascades. It was indeed a profound and perfect seclusion, and 

 the whole may be deemed one of the chefs-d'oeuvre of nature, its most fanciful 

 and wondrous operations being here conspicuously displayed. The fine plat- 

 form upon which the opening enters is nearly one hundred and fifty feet square, 

 and forms the centre of two cascades, the waters passing by a perpendicular 

 rugged precipice of one hundred feet in height, and, flowing in a stream across 

 it, descend by another of almost equal altitude. A fugitive bishop and his 

 followers, wandering over these unfrequented mountains, in the year 1711, when 

 the French had taken possession of the city, accidentally discovered this 

 recluse situation, so well adapted for their concealment. They cut out niches 

 in the rocks for the reception of saints, mutilated portions of which still 

 remained. A large stone table and a seat formed of the rock served as con- 



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