510 



NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



connected with mental activity. As is usual in such circumstances, the 

 place is evidently as full of wretchedness as it is of vice. 



To check this decadence of the mind, the ceremonies of religion 

 have been rendeted splendid, and there is a sort of precision observed in 

 attendance upon its services, yet the heart seems to be unaffected. In 

 one grand procession which we saw the general impression made upon 

 the mind was, that the priests performed the tasks assigned to them, and 

 the rabble was noisy and indecent. Religious feelings were utterly 

 unconnected with the show. And, in the common service of Ave- 

 Marias, which was performed at the corners of the streets, as formerly 

 in Rio, the principal leader, it was observed, left the service, engaged 

 in light conversation, and began again when his part required attention. 



Under the conduct of some of my friends, 1 visited many parts of 

 the neighbourhood with advantage. The softness of the materials of which 

 much of the country is composed has facilitated the operation of the streams, 

 and occasioned a multitude of ravines, some of them cut to a great depth, 

 and laying bare the imbedded minerals to an extraordinary degree. 



Going from Villa Rica Eastward, we passed over a narrow road, 

 midway up the hill, partly paved and in general good ; and from this 

 elevated ground obtained a fine view of the town, looking backward, 

 and, in front, another view of the chasm of the Rio do Carmo, and the 

 adjacent country. Before we reached Passagem, a village containing 

 about a hundred and fifty houses, and a good bridge across the torrent, 

 a spot was pointed out, on the very broAV of a hill, here tending to the 

 North, which is thought to have been one of the richest in Brazil. In 

 this place the mining has been carried on, not only on an extensive scale, 

 but in modes which, however imperfect, rank among the best and most 

 generally adopted in this part of the continent. A stream is brought, at 

 a great expense, through an artificial channel, to the point where it is 

 required, and there its utmost force is employed to wash away the soil, 

 and separate from it the precious metal, being made to pass from the 

 brow of the hill into small trenches, in which hides, woollen-cloth, and 



