454 



A JOURNEY IN BRAZIL. 



are no rivers of any importance between the town and 

 the Serra of Monguba, to which we were bound, yet 

 in several places the little streams were swollen to a con- 

 siderable depth ; and, owing to the broken condition of the 

 bottom, full of holes and deep ruts, they were by no means 

 easy to ford. After a fatiguing ride of four hours, during 

 which we inquired, two or three times, how far we had still 

 to go, and always received the same answer, " uma legua," 

 that league never seeming to diminish with our advance, 

 we were delighted to find ourselves at the little bridle-path 

 which turned off from the main road and led us to the 

 fazenda of Senhor Franklin de Lima. The traveller is 

 always welcome who asks hospitality at a Brazilian coun- 

 try house, but Major Coutinho had already stayed at this 

 fazenda on previous journeys, and we shared the welcome 

 given to him as an old friend. The hospitality of our 

 excellent hosts repaid us for all the fatigues of our jour- 

 ney, and our luggage being still on the road, their kindness 

 supplied the defects of our toilet, which was in a lamentable 

 condition after splashing through muddy water two or three 

 feet deep. Mr. Agassiz, however, could not spare time to 

 rest ; we had followed a morainic soil for a great part of 

 our journey, had passed many boulders on the road, and 

 he was anxious to examine the Serra of Monguba, on 

 the slope of which Senhor Franklin has his coffee plan- 

 tation, and at the foot of which his house stands. He 

 was, therefore, either on foot or on horseback the greater 

 part of this day and the following one, examining the 

 geological structure of the mountain, and satisfying him- 

 self that, here too, all the valleys have had their glaciers, 

 and that these valleys have brought down -from the hill- 

 sides into the plains boulders, pebbles, and debris of 



