TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. ^77 



and buried fourteen workmen, and the water get- 

 ting in, made it impossible to work the mine any 

 farther. In the pleasant valley not far from the 

 village, a very compact light grey calcareous stone 

 stands out in large masses, and extends pretty far 

 up the mountain. In this, probably primitive, 

 limestone, which sometimes shows on its rifts a 

 mammillated coating of sulphur, there is a cavern 

 with stalactites, which has been transformed into 

 a Capella de Nossa Senhora da Lapa. * 



North-west of Antonio Pereira, Mr. Eschwege 

 has established a small iron-foundry, which is di- 

 rected by a German overseer. This establishment 

 manufactures the mica-slate containing irongiance, 

 which here forms considerable strata on and in the 

 white quartz-slate, and of which large blocks lie 

 scattered here and there on the surface. It is not 

 unfrequently covered with stratified red iron-stone. 

 The rock is very rich, yielding from sixty to eighty 

 per cent., and this place could supply all Minas 

 with iron ; but as many landholders prepare what 

 iron they require for their own use, and there are 

 besides several small furnaces in different parts of 

 the capitania, at times, also, large importations from 

 Rio de Janeiro, the daily produce is limited to 

 one or two arrobas, which are immediately manu- 

 factured into hatchets, axes, knife-blades, horse- 

 shoes, nails, and pickaxes. The arroba of un- 



* See Note 1. page 291. 

 T 3 



