394 



NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



large bowls which are used as baths. The smallest part of its stem was 

 eight feet above the ground, and there the circumference measured four- 

 teen feet. Immediately below this line, the roots begin to project in the 

 manner of buttresses, and produce that kind of timber which is particu- 

 larly esteemed in forming the knees of large ships. These terminate in 

 the roots, which run along the surface of the ground, and appear above 

 it in a circle of seventy-six paces, each of which was intended to measure 

 a yard. One of these roots, at the distance of sixteen feet from the 

 body of the tree, rose wholly above the soil, its girth measured there 

 four feet. The branches, which begin to expand immediately above the 

 line where the trunk was measured, extend on each side thirty-five feet, 

 so that the whole head forms a well clothed hemisphere of more than two 

 hundred feet in circumference. 



From hence, we ascend nearly a thousand feet ; are then only four 

 miles from Pampulia ; and look down upon the singularly beautiful vale 

 of Cebolas, with its highly ornamental lake. I paused to admire, and 

 compare it with other scenes of a similar kind, thought of other lakes 

 in Brazil and of those in Westmoreland, but this is different from, and 

 excelled them all. I should call it the Studley of this country unadorned 

 by art. When returning, I paused and looked again, and took my leave 

 of a spot, where nature has been lavish of beauty, with regret that I 

 should probably behold it no more. At the bottom is a large establish- 

 ment, whose owner has contrived to make the lake a reservoir to his mill ; 

 the water, when it has done the Avork which genius has compelled it to 

 perform, escapes through a narrow dell toward the North-East. 



The road now becomes exceedingly indirect, and winding from West 

 to North and North- West, passes over gentle elevations of about three 

 hundred feet ; a little further on, the scene was enlivened by a party 

 going out to hunt; the dogs were strong, healthy, and spirited, and to 

 my great surprise possessed their scent in perfection ; whereas th^ iSnest 

 European breeds in Rio become listless and scabbed, their spirit and 

 aeuteness of scent decays; on first coming to the country, they need 

 training afresh, for they will pursue, with equal avidity, the finest game 

 and the sorriest vermin. 



