118 TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



beds of quartz with black common shorl, seems to lie 

 upon sienite, which, in some points, chiefly in deep 

 valleys and declivities, is detached and exposed to 

 view. The greater part of this tract is covered 

 with wood, which surrounds the new plantations of 

 maize, mandiocca, and a little sugar-cane. The 

 other branches of agriculture are neglected, be- 

 cause the inhabitants can purchase almost every- 

 thing they require with the gold which they pro- 

 cure by washing. 



At S. Anna de Sapucahy, two leagues to the 

 north of S. Vicente, we found the gold- washing 

 (Lavras) of more considerable extent. At a dis- 

 tance they resembled skilfully erected fortifications. 

 Trenches several feet deep and broad, were dug 

 upon terraced declivities for the purpose of con- 

 ducting the rain water into the opened sides of the 

 red loam. The washed loam was here and there 

 thrown together in high heaps, or covered large 

 tracts of land, through which artificial furrows were 

 drawn. The whole presented a melancholy pic- 

 ture of wild desolation, in which even the roads 

 are not spared ; and a view of it is the more painful 

 to the traveller, since at the first place where he 

 sees gold obtained, he finds, instead of hard mo- 

 ney, paper currency and all the misery which it 

 produces. In the capitania of Minas Geraes, in 

 the place of the smaller current coin of 10, 20, 40, 

 80, 160, and 320 fees, there have been circulated 

 for about fifteen years, printed notes which are 



