130 



TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



as broad as the Paraiba river, and flows from 

 hence to join the Sapucahy, and across which 

 there is a tolerably good wooden bridge. The- 

 bridge gate was not closed during the night, and 

 several of our mules, as is the custom of those ani- 

 mals, had returned back by the way they came, for 

 which reason we could not immediately pursue our 

 journey the following morning. It happened to be 

 a holiday, and about a hundred of the inhabitants 

 of the neighbourhood assembled in the church to 

 hear mass. This edifice, like most of the country 

 churches in Minas, is small, and built only of clay 

 and wood, without steeple, organ, or internal orna- 

 ments. The want of all these things gives to the 

 service a simplicity which, as well as the presence 

 of all the members of the families, even the youngest, 

 imparts to this religious assembly, in a country so 

 backward in civilisation, an affecting character re- 

 sembling the first Christian meetings. 



To the north of Arraial do Rio Verde we crossed 

 pleasant plains covered with lively verdure, and in 

 the bottoms with thick bushes. Numerous apes 

 called Miriki or Mono {Br achy teles IIyjpoxanthus'^\ 

 which inhabit the neighbouring forests, uttered 

 their loud and discordant cry : yet we did not 

 succeed in getting near to the noisy troop, for 

 at the slightest motion that they perceived in 

 the bushes, they immediately fled with dreadful 



* Spix, Sim, Bras. fol. tab. xxvii. 



