CHAPTER XIIL 



MINAS GERAES. 



ROUTE TO ST. JOHN D' EL REY. 

 A.D. 1817. 



BOUNDARIES OF THE PROVINCE. RIDE TO VARGEM. PATRULHA. EXQUISITE 



SCENERY. REGISTER OF MATH/EUS BARBOZA. TREATMENT THERE. POST- 

 OFFICE. DISTORTED MODE OF THINKING. TAXES AND PRODUCTIONS OF THE 



PROVINCE. ST. VINCENTe'. JUIZ DE FORA. GOLD WASHING THERE. COUNTRY 



TO ANTONIO MOREIRA. AGRICULTURE OF MINAS GERAES. INSTANCE OF 



REVENGE. CHAPE'o d'oUVAS. NEW COMPANIONS. ROUTE TO CURRAL NOVO. 



TATA TREE. CULTURE OF BARLEY. POISONOUS MILK. WONDERFUL ACCOUNT 



OF ENGLAND BY A PORTUGUESE. DOMESTIC CIRCUMSTANCES. MAN OF THE 



WOODS. CAAMBOEIROS. PIGMIES. AHY'. SAPONACEOUS STONE. CRUELTY TO 



ANIMALS. CAMPO. CHURCH THERE. EXTENSIVE VIEW. SERRO DO MANTI- 



aUEIRA. THE TABLE LAND OF BRAZIL. CORGOS. HERBAGE OF THE DOWNS. 



SNAKES. SHEEP. GUIDE's HOUSE, FAMILY, AND RELIGION. EXTREME 



THIRST. ARRIVAL AT ST. JOHN d'eL REY. 



AT a short distance from the Register we entered upon the Capitania 

 of Minas Geraes, one of the most important Provinces of Brazil. It 

 is divided into four Comarcas, or Counties, vrhich, as is usual in South 

 America, have for their boundaries the Agoas Vertentes; or that line 

 which, running between the heads of streams, naturally separates the 

 waters flowing into one large river from those which descend to a differ- 

 ent bed. The Comarca of St. John D' El Rey extends, therefore, over 

 the whole basin of the Rio Grande and its tributary waters, that of 

 Sahara to the utmost springs of the St. Francisco, that of Villa Rica to 

 the heads of the Rio Doce, and that of Serro Frio to those of the 



