212 



NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



or that he is lame, or so extremely fatigued, as to be careless about 

 his safety. 



Across the Plains there is no perceptible track ; not so in the Woods, 

 where travellers, following each other, form a path, and generally render 

 it bad ; nor is it mended in the few places where it is roughly paved. 

 Close to the river Gonzales the road, such as it is, terminates in a strong 

 pen, where the cattle about to be taken over are secured, and from 

 which a rude double fence, forming a sort of lane, conducts so far into 

 the river as to take them off their legs. They are then guided by 

 canoas to the opposite bank, received into a similar inclosure, and the 

 toll is paid for them. Wherever there are wide and deep rivers, the 

 Government has established Ferries, at which persons attend at all hours, 

 to conduct passengers over ; this is properly a military regulation, 

 but not the less valuable for civil purposes. With like wisdom, 

 bridges are built on all public roads, where they are necessary, and 

 where the architects of the country are equal to the construction 

 of them. 



Having crossed the Gonzales, we find towards the North, between 

 the Passo dos Negros and the Lagoa dos Patos, a broad patch of swampy 

 land, the accumulated sediment of ages. In these fens are many houses, and 

 some considerable establishments ; amongst which the Farm of Pellotas 

 is said to occupy ten square leagues. The owner passes for a wealthy 

 and powerful man; his house is large, standing on elevated ground 

 behind the swamps, facing the East, and commanding an extensive view 

 of the country and of the Rio Grande. It is whitened, and being 

 backed by rich woods, forms a noble object from the water. The 

 river Pellotas runs below it, and is navigable for yatchs about 

 twenty miles; but they seldom, I believe, proceed higher than the 

 house just mentioned, which is not seven miles from the river's mouth. 



Our course was more Westerly, through a country essentially 

 different from that on the Eastern side of the Gonzales. Instead of 

 sands, partly consolidated, and in the course of time, forming broad 

 ' alluvial meadows, we found a country of a gently varied surface and a 



