50 



TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



whether the sandstone here was proof against fire, 

 because they had not yet attempted to smelt. A 

 difficulty which will oppose the extending of the 

 manufactory is the want of proper wood for fuel ; 

 for though the low valleys, the banks of the streams, 

 and the iron mountain of Araasojava itself, are 

 covered with wood, it is probable that this will soon 

 be exhausted if the manufactory continues to work 

 to a great extent. The directors have, it is true, 

 made the regulation, that every inhabitant of these 

 parts must furnish a quantity of charcoal in pro- 

 portion to the extent of the land cultivated by him ; 

 but this means, without the due planting of new 

 woods, and a judicious management of those which 

 already exist, cannot prevent a future scarcity of 

 fuel. By plantations of the paraiina (perhaps an 

 acacia ?), a kind of wood which produces a very 

 good charcoal, they would prevent the necessity of 

 employing many different kinds of charcoal ; which, 

 by an unequal communication of carbon to the iron 

 in the process of smelting, probably make it of 

 unequal density, and consequently brittle in some 

 places. The ore appeal's to be good, and contains 

 partly ninety per cent. ; yet we frequently heard 

 complaints in Brazil that the iron extracted from it 

 was too brittle, and that many instruments made 

 of it were not durable. When the best method of 

 treating the ore, especially in the operation of re- 

 fining, is discovered, and the exportation facilitated 

 by making a good road or canal to the coast, Ypa- 



