TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



287 



iiado, where our people were impatiently expecting 

 us. Immediately at the foot of the Serra do Ca- 

 ra9a (in Cata Preta), we visited several other mines, 

 formerly very rich, in which the metal obtained 

 from the stones by stamping, is remarkable for its 

 grey yellow colour, and when properly smelted, 

 may be purified to the fineness of three-and-twenty 

 carats. The same evening, we set out for the 

 Arraial de Bento Rodriguez, and passed the night 

 in a rancho, where we again enjoyed a prospect 

 of the beautiful Cara9as mountain. The rancho 

 was full of Mineiros from Minas Novas, who were 

 going to Rio with cotton, and gave us a very 

 lively image of the wandering caravans. Gold is 

 everywhere found about Bento Rodriguez in red 

 cla}^, which is incumbent on quartz-slate. As the 

 mode of working these mines did not difl^er from 

 those we had already seen, we did not delay to 

 take the main road which leads to the city of 

 Mariana, three leagues to the south of Bento Rod- 

 riguez, to return to Villa Rica, where we happily 

 arrived on the 28th of April. 



Our collections had been considerably augment- 

 ed since we sent away the cases from Sorocaba, 

 and it was necessary, before we proceeded farther 

 on our journey, to send them to Rio de Janeiro, 

 which was the next coast town. The governor- 

 general, Manoel Conde de Portugal e Castro, who 

 had already had the kindness to countersign our 

 passports for the diamond district, and to give us 



