TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



the cold season, though not in the immediate vi- 

 cinity of the city, yet in the higher parts of the 

 country ; but the cold never becomes so intense 

 and continued as to make it necessary to put up 

 stoves in addition to the chafing-dishes which are 

 in general use. On the large plains which extend 

 to the west and south of the capital, the winds are 

 observed regularly to blow from a certain quarter, 

 according to the position of the sun. Thus, when 

 it is in the northern signs of the zodiac, S.S.W. 

 and S.E. winds prevail : when it returns to the 

 south, the winds are less constant. The rainy 

 season commences along the coast, as in Rio de 

 Janeiro, with the months of October or November, 

 and continues till April ; the most rain falls in 

 January. In this month, when we resided in the 

 city, we often saw in the morning the neighbour- 

 ing hills covered with a thick and very cold fog, 

 which did not disperse till towards the hour of 

 noon, when the sun broke through it. In the in- 

 terior of the country, in the Sertoes, the wet sea- 

 son sets in later. At the beginning it rains only 

 in the night, then in the afternoon also, and lastly, 

 alternately by day and night, and sometimes very 

 heavily for several days, and even weeks, without 

 intermission. 



At the time that the united Portuguese and 

 Spanish commission of demarcation, which deter- 

 mined the frontiers of the dominions of the two 

 kingdoms, and the southern division of which, on 



c 4 



