462 



NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



introduced ; new scenes are hereby opened, and new views suggested 

 and encouraged. 



The individual Mine which gave being to this town, and raised it to 

 celebrity, hence such masses of wealth have been extracted, and such 

 treasures poured into Portugal as astonished every other kingdom of 

 Europe, is situated v^^ithin the town, very near to the Government- 

 house. It is nothing more than a deep pit, with perpendicular sides, 

 about twenty-five feet over, and nearly round, formed in a whitish sort 

 of sand-stone, which contains some pyrites. Its situation is, as it were, 

 in the focus of the hills, which rise in great majesty behind it, and form 

 the Serro of Lenheiro. The waters, in the rainy season, descending 

 from these heights, congregate and centre in this pit. Artificial channels 

 are also cut, in various directions, and some of them to a great distance, 

 to convey to the same spot waters which would not naturally find their 

 way thither. Thus, by nature and art, the pit is filled when rain falls, 

 by the superficial waters, and the surplus passes over the Northern 

 brink, where it has worn some rough and irregular channels, and after 

 flowing little more than a hundred yards, down the side of a steep 

 declivity, attains the level of the river. At my first visit to this natural 

 storehouse of treasures all its channels were dry, and the stagnant water, 

 of a dirty green colour, did not rise to within ten feet of the brink. 

 This reservoir is said to be common property, a source whence any one 

 may extract what he can find. During the dry season, therefore, a 

 number of people sometimes determine to set slaves to work with chain- 

 pumps, to draw out as much of the water as they can, and then grope 

 in the hollows of the uneven bottom for the metal which it may contain. 

 On such occasions it is soon found that there is evidently some commu- 

 nication with the interior waters of the mountain, for if the labour be 

 intermitted, the water in the pit returns to its usual elevation. 



This circumstance perpetually deters the people from commencing 

 such operations, because they are always expensive, and may be unavail- 

 ing. A general opinion is entertained that the waters of the mine are 

 connected with those of the river, and that it is necessary to exhaust the 



