NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



343 



style of Brazil ; the mountains were even sublime, and most luxuriantly 

 clothed; the valley not flat, but abounding with small round hills, 

 possessing considerable attraction, when viewed separately ; and when 

 forming a whole, in combination with other points, presenting one of 

 the finest landscapes which the eye ever beheld. Its extent is about ten 

 miles, and in the midst of it stands the Church of St. Nicholas. 



The pleasure which we found in the contemplation of this scene 

 determined us to ascend the river as far as our vessel could proceed ; but, 

 during three hours of hard labour, we advanced only two miles, for the 

 natural strength of the current had been increased by a violent thunder* 

 storm. About the same hour every afternoon we had noticed the 

 formation, progress, and discharge, of a similar cloud, among the moun- 

 tains in our front, but had not, until this day, been overtaken by it. 

 On our return to the city we learned that the weather, during these 

 same periods, had been perfectly serene ; and having previously settled it 

 in our opinions, that these storms occurred from the same causes which 

 formerly operated to produce similar phenomena at Rio de Janeiro, we 

 were confirmed in the conjecture that the improvement which has taken 

 place in the climate of the lower bay is chiefly owing to laying open the 

 forests and clearing the land; — an advancement in agriculture, which has 

 not yet, in any considerable degree, reached these mountains. 



Of ten decent houses, below the church of St. Nicholas, four are 

 vendas, sufficiently filled with the crews of Saveiros ; a circumstance 

 which shows that the population and commerce of the neighbourhood 

 must be considerable. Here the river is about forty yards wide, and is 

 joined by a stream nearly half as large ; down both of them are brought 

 for exportation vegetables, fruit, milho, and fire-wood. Hence also are 

 procured those long stems of the Tacoara, of which the ladders are made 

 used by builders in the city, Cazal says, moreover, that the valley 

 receives, on account of Bananas alone, for the culture of which it is 

 celebrated, the sum of seventy thousand Cruzados, about eight thousand 

 pounds sterling, yearly. I suspect that some gross mistake has crept 

 into his calculation, for that sum would nearly purchase the whole 



