TO THE RIO GRANDE DE BELMONTE. 



263 



stark naked, and when he tied a handkerchief round the waist of the 

 women, they always instantly pulled it off again. 



The road from Trancozo to Porto Seguro has little variety ; fazen- 

 das are situated on the flat summits of high cliffs, of a bluish white, 

 red, or violet-coloured substance resembling clay,* and the tops of the 

 cocoa-trees that overshadow them, are seen waving in the wind. You 

 pass the Rio da Barra by a wooden bridge, which deserves to be men- 

 tioned as a rarity; and frequently have to ascend and descend the 

 high cliffs on the coast, because the rocks on the sea-beach are inac- 

 cessible. One of these places was so steep that we were obliged, in de- 

 scending, to unload the beasts, and to let down the chests singly. 

 Upon the sand below on the sea beach we found many specimens of 

 beautiful species of sea-weed, and some conchylia. People were 

 busy in seeking the eatable sea urchins, upon the banks of rocks from 

 which the water had retired. After we had gone three leagues, we 

 issued from a small thicket, and found ourselves on the river Porto 

 Seguro, on the north bank of which the red-tiled roofs of the lower 

 part of the Villa do Porto Seguro, topped by tall cocoa-trees, afford 

 a pleasing prospect. The upper part lies further back on an elevated 

 ridge, and nothing is seen of it but the top of the Jesuits' convent. I 

 immediately crossed the river to the villa, and obtained a lodging in 

 the town-house, in the upper part. 



Porto Seguro, in rank the first town of the district of Porto Seguro, 

 but yet less considerable than Caravellas, is a place of small import- 

 ance, of 420 houses, built in several detached parts at some distance 

 from each other. The principal part is small, and consists of a few 

 streets overgrown with grass, with houses for the most part low, and 

 of one story, those with two stories being very few in number. Here 



* This kind of Lithoniarga has been spoken of above, between the river Itabapuana 

 ami the Itapemirim. 



