494 



NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



sugar, which he intended to convey to Rio. The rencontre with a 

 known and agreeable fellow-traveller was peculiarly pleasant, though 

 quickly followed by regret, that our arrangements did not permit us to 

 pass the night under the same roof. During the short time that we 

 continued together, he collected, from behind the house, some good speci- 

 mens of the liquorice-root, growing wild ; and afterwards amused me by 

 pointing out the principal features of the immense landscape which lay 

 before us. 



The elevation of this spot we estimated at a thousand and fifty feet 

 above the level which we had left in the morning. The atmosphere, 

 too, was singularly transparent, though dotted with light fleecy clouds ; 

 this gave us a wide command of the country, to such a distance as the 

 eye seldom penetrates and rendered objects remarkably distinct. To the 

 South- West the detached Morro of St Joze was minutely visible, though 

 more than sixty miles from us in a right line. Far beyond it, forming 

 a broader angle, the horizon was dimly discovered, and appeared much 

 like that of the ocean. The undulations of the intermediate plain, 

 great and bold when among them, but now apparently diminished and 

 dwindled, added greatly to the beauty of the view, by the variety of 

 light and shade which they occasioned. Towards the East and South- 

 East, the mountains were near and woody ; that on which we stood 

 declining with a long gradual slope. Westward, in a line with its brow, 

 rose other Serros, lofty and distant ; while those to the North presented 

 themselves with great grandeur, in dark and heavy masses ; the grey 

 point of Itacolumi towering above them all. 



Near our halting place, called Alto do Morro, we saw a Toucan, of 

 exquisite plumage, having several bands of scarlet feathers across its 

 yellow breast, but endeavoured in vain to obtain it. A¥hile the baggage 

 was arranging the Thermometer was left to cool, when it indicated 60° 

 between two and three in the afternoon. We passed the evening 

 pleasantly, and certainly not the less so from the unusual circumstance 

 of the house being under the direction of a female. The lady was a 

 widow, and did the honours of the table with all the ceremonies common 



