NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



235 



and Silver also, are reported to have been found, but I saw no indications 

 of them. Native Sulphur was shown to me, where it was produced 1 

 endeavoured in vain to discover. 



This country is blessed with a fine Climate, more especially in those 

 parts of the interior where there are few marshes. The Winter begins 

 in May and ends in October ; at this season the prevailing winds are from 

 the East and South-East, frequently blowing with violence, and producing 

 frost and snow. In summer the air, particularly in the immediate neigh- 

 bourhood of lakes and watery ground, is sometimes intensely hot and 

 distressing, owing to the great quantity of vapour and the want of 

 ventilation; dense black clouds appear in the evenings, producing 

 thunder storms with rain and hail. 



Nature has here produced one of her slow, but irresistible operations. 

 On a careful examination of the Coast, it will convincingly appear, I 

 think, that it has formerly proceeded from the Castilhos Grandes, by 

 the West of the Lake Mirim, the River Gonzales, and the Lagoa 

 dos Patos, to the Maro of St\ Maria, near Laguna, and if so, all to 

 the East of this line is made ground, formed by sand driven up from 

 the ocean. 



The two lakes which form the chief features of this part of the 

 country, have probably been created by the rivers which flow into them, 

 repelling the sand accumulated at their mouths, by the occasional impe- 

 tuosity of their currents, until the bar was formed in the dead water 

 produced by the stream and the ocean. There the bank would gradually 

 rise above the high water mark, and compel the river to bend its course ; 

 and by constant acquisition, would grow broader and longer, and at 

 length, form an estuary within it. Thus the Saboyt;f , the Ygaroon, and 

 the Piratiflim, were forced to join before they reached the ocean, and 

 their united surplus waters to pass off Northward, forming in process of 

 time the river Gonzales. In like manner, the Jacuy, the Camapuam, 

 and other rivers, were compelled by accumulation of sand under the 

 lee of St*. Maria, to take a Southern course, and produced the larger 

 lake ; but this discharging the greater quantity of water, the stream has 



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