424 



NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



whole arch is skirted by high and distant Serros. Those which were 

 farthest off were estimated, according to our best modes of calculation, 

 to be from fifty to seventy miles distant ; the nearest from thirty to fifty ; 

 the whole appeared naked and bold. The vegetation, which immediately 

 surrounds us, indicates that the climate has become colder ; the trees are 

 comparatively small, and flourish best in sheltered places; the heaths 

 and ferns are larger and more vigorous ; the aloes, which were in flower 

 last season, have been destroyed by the winter, or, according to the phrase 

 of the country, " have been burnt by the frost," and lie broken down 

 with their heads towards the North-East, a circumstance which indicates 

 that the South-west wind is the strongest or most prevalent. 



My gun to-day brought down, from its pendant nest, an Oriole, a 

 bird whose general hue is black, but which has, near the root of the 

 tail, a dash of lively flame colour. Its bill is yellow, and proceeds from 

 a greenish cere. I obtained also a Water-hen, with a blue plumage, 

 inclining to green ; its legs were red, but there was no portion of white 

 in the wings, nor a white tuft upon its head, as in those which are 

 found in the Iguapezu. The people thought themselves fortunate in 

 killing a very large and fat Cotia, and made from it an excellent meal. 



As we advanced the soil has changed to a clayey Shale on the tops of 

 the hills, and lower down to a good brown mould. In some places we 

 observed masses of feldspar, and in the streams a bed of granite. The 

 Thermometer, in the morning, was as low as 44|°, with cold and foggy 

 weather; at three in the afternoon it had risen to 80°; at ten in the 

 evening it was only 64" ; and before sun rising, the next morning, had 

 declined to 48°. The sky has been beautifully clear and blue throughout 

 the whole day, with fleecy clouds riding as lightly and as high above us 

 as they do in Rio or in England, although we must now be above the 

 level of their lower strata in either place ; they seem to depend, there- 

 fore, for their buoyancy, upon something else than the mere atmospheric 

 pressure. Our increased elevation is about eight hundred and fifty feet. 



The place of our rest this day, Antonio Moreira, was full of tra- 

 vellers going to Rio. They were very civil and inquisitive, and because 



i 



