TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



167 



here, and has attracted the attention of the 

 Mineiros since mineralogists have enquired after it. 

 This stone in general is scarce, and is more fre- 

 quent in the mine of Capao than in that of Lana. 



Leaving Lana, we proceeded through narrow ra- 

 vines, past rugged declivities, and steep mountain 

 walls, and came to a place where the view, which 

 had hitherto been confined, suddenly expanded, 

 and showed a labyrinth of mountains and valleys 

 running into each other. The Itacolumi, covered 

 at its base with dark forests, and with its bare rocky 

 summit, towering above all its neighbours, com- 

 mands the whole country. A singular variety of 

 light and shade, fi-om the most brilliant sunshine to 

 the deepest gloom, was spread over the landscape, 

 the sombre and sublime character of which would 

 afford a subject worthy of the pencil of a Salvator 

 Rosa, or a Gaspar Poussin. Nature, by her profound 

 silence, seemed to harmonise with the frame of mind 

 into which we were thrown by the contemplation 

 of this grand scene. The mountains grew steeper 

 as we ascended, and we at last reached Trepui, a 

 much-frequented venda, a mile from Villa Rica, 

 where the caravans coming from or going to that 

 place are generally re-organised. Here we, too, 

 halted, partly to prepare ourselves for our entry into 

 the villa, and partly to examine the rivulet flow- 

 ing from the next hill into the valley below, and 

 which contains cinnabar. We, in fact, found several 

 small rounded grains of cinnabar uiingled with 



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