TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 235 



and covered with a straw mat, or on his hammock, 

 and no covering but his own clothing. 



After our kind conductor had procured the 

 necessary mules and horses for our journey, we 

 left the busy village, and took the road which leads 

 northwards from this place to Minas. We were 

 soon in an entirely new scene ; we rode through a 

 low country, in a broad but unpaved road, between 

 hedges of the most various kinds of shrubs in full 

 blossom ; on the left hand we had a range of 

 mountains, covered with thick forests, and before 

 us one connected w^ith it, but higher ; the bold 

 projecting masses of rock, wooded only on the 

 sides, give the landscape a character peculiarly 

 grand. On this road, too, as formerly in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the city, we met with no great plant- 

 ations, which lie in the forests at a great distance 

 from the road ; but some scattered houses with 

 gardens proved to us, that the fertility of this beau- 

 tiful spot was duly appreciated. The broad valley, 

 gently declining towards the sea, is protected from 

 the cold winds, which come from the higher country 

 on the river Paraiba, by the chain of the Organ 

 Mountains (Serra dosOrgdos'), and it likewise enjoys 

 the advantage of being doubly warmed by the re- 

 flection of the rays of the sun from^ the mountain. 

 In the lower grounds, the sugar-cane thrives with 

 incredible luxuriance ; and we saw a particular 

 proof of the strength of the soii, in some stems 

 almost a foot thick, which having been deprived of 



