TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



135 



To the north, four miles beyond the Rio do 

 Peixe, near a soUtary chapel called Campo Bello, 

 where we found a great number of loose garnets of 

 the size of a hazel nut, the road to the Villa de 

 S. Joao do Principe divides into two branches ; the 

 western goes more into the valley by way of Boa 

 Vista, Brambinho, and the Arraial das Lavras de 

 Funil, it is more populous and rather longer ; the 

 eastern leads through the mountains along unfre- 

 quented by-paths. We preferred the latter, be- 

 cause we were unwilling to descend from this serene 

 region, where we could indulge without interruption 

 in those cheerful feelings which on mountains, as 

 it were, reanimate the soul of the traveller. The 

 friendly, truly patriarchal reception which we met 

 with on the summit of this lonely rock in a solitary 

 farm, the Fazenda do Corrego dos Pinheiros, was 

 in perfect unison with our feelings. They seemed 

 to be here much accustomed to the society of their 

 neighbours, and every one whom the owner had 

 given permission to unload was considered as a 

 guest, without having anything to pay for beyond 

 the maize for his mules ; this hospitality and 

 friendly disposition is met with in a great part of 

 Minas. 



We had scarcely entered it when a thunder- 

 storm arose with such extraordinary fury, that we 

 had double reason to congratulate ourselves on 

 having found an asylum under so hospitable a roof. 

 It was a sudden storm, such as very rarely occurs 



K 4 



