86 



TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



before the cheerful company broke up, a guest 

 rose to compHment by some extempore verses one 

 of the company, and particularly the ladies, and 

 the whole party then broke out into the praise 

 of the poet, and of those whom his elegant address 

 had celebrated. 



Senhor Ferreira proposed to us to accompany his 

 wife on a journey to Curitiba, where she had to 

 make some domestic arrangements in a fazenda 

 belonging to him. This plan offered us many 

 temptations. The southern part of the province of 

 S. Paulo is for the most part mountainous along the 

 coast; it was formerly diligently worked for the sake 

 of the gold, and offered us an opportunity for the 

 most interesting researches, no less than the part 

 situated farther to the west, which, according to 

 the accounts of the Paulistas, possesses in a high 

 degree all the beauties of the campos. The 

 abundance and variety of the plants, which are 

 besides much more easily gathered and preserved 

 than in the woods ; and the number of large 

 beasts of prey, particularly of the family of the 

 ounces, of which we were told; and lastly, the salu- 

 brity of the climate would probably have induced 

 us to extend our journey still farther to the south, 

 into countries hitherto unknown and un visited by 

 any European traveller ; but we feared that we 

 should have too little time left to examine the pro- 

 per mine country, and the capitania of Bahia, or 

 that we should miss the best season of the year. 



