238 



NOTES ON ERAZII.. 



farther inquiry into the subject. He, who here marks his wish to 

 promote such investigation, is ignorant of the systems of Geology, and 

 professes no more than to see with his own eyes, and from what he sees 

 to form his owrv deductions. 



The journey from St. Pedro to Rio de Janeiro was broken off at the 

 Tramendahy, which river, or rather the Mambituba, the father of the 

 line, is the boundary between Rio Grande and the province of St. 

 Catherine. Here the passports and luggage are examined, and the former 

 endorsed, provided the officer on duty be able to write his name. 



Laguna has a secure port for small vessels, but the bar renders its 

 entrance difficult. It is a small town, prettily situated on the Eastern 

 side of a bay, yielding abundance of fish, some of which is exported. 

 It has some commerce with Rio de Janeiro, and attempts have been 

 made to transfer to it that of Porto Alegro. But though the circuitous 

 route of the Lagoa dos Patos and the Rio Grande would thus be avoided, 

 there is, on the other side, the serious obstacle of a land-carriage not to 

 be completed in less than five days. At a small distance inward is the 

 Morro of Santa Maria, called, in some English charts, the Morro of 

 St. Martha, the last abutment of the mountains, at their Southern limit, 

 which extends to the sea. A little beyond it is the great Eastern Serro 

 skirting the ocean. 



Tlie distance hence to St. Catherine's is ninety miles, along a moun- 

 tainous and wofdy road, through a country abounding in wild beasts, 

 and occupied by Indians hardly less savage. In these journeys through 

 the province of Rio Grande travellers are usually well armed ; the guide 

 seldom carrying any weapon besides his knife or a kind of short sword. 

 When meeting people unknown to us in the trackless plains, we contrive 

 to pass at a distance, with mutual looks of suspicious scrutiny. When 

 the parties are slightly acquainted, they advance slowly, and salute in a 

 formal way ; but when acknowledged friends are distinguished, they 

 gallop eagerly towards each other, and are loud and extravagant in their 

 compliments. What is doing, where going, and the general views of 



