NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



461 



direction, is a considerable work extending over several acres of ground, 

 established with the same view, but conducted in a different mode. It 

 is formed on the declivity of a gentle hill, and rises only a few yards 

 above the neighbouring meadows. The soil is composed of red clay, 

 in which is imbedded a large quantity of quartz, which appears to have 

 been subjected to some degree of friction, but not enough to give it that 

 form which is generally denominated rounded. The crown and face of 

 the hillock are cut into trenches, with perpendicular sides about two feet 

 deep, eighteen inches wide, and as manj^ distant from each other. Into 

 these a stream of water is conducted, which, separating the clay from 

 the stone, and carrying it off to the lower ground, leaves the pebbles in 

 the trenches. These are taken out and carefully examined, broken into 

 fragments, where there is any appearance of advantage, and washed in 

 the bowls as before. I examined a great quantity of the spar, but 

 found it quite as difficult to detect metallic appearances as I had done 

 formerly to distinguish the copper contained in the dross at Amlwch, 

 which was evident to a practised eye. Works of this kind are called 

 Ijavras de talha aberta, and are sometimes conducted upon a very exten- 

 sive scale. 



From the poor creatures, who in tliese modes loiter their time aw^y^ 

 searching for the precious metal, up through the various ranks of society 

 to the most wealthy, nearly all the people of the place are engaged in 

 mining speculations, or in some way connected with them, and, if we 

 may judge from appearances, gain from them only a miserable compen- 

 sation. Many have lost, in late years, the wealth which their predecessors 

 had acquired, and some are fallen into absolute ruin; not, I should 

 imagine, because the mines are exhausted, the rivers bring down sands 

 less rich than formerly, or because the cascalho is more difficult to find, 

 or yields a smaller proportion of gold ; but because labour has become 

 higher, the price of slaves is advanced, agricultural produce is more in 

 request, and has given a value to the surface of estates. The 

 ideas, too, of the people, are undergoing a revolution, that common 

 change which the establishment of the Government in Brazil has 



