NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



52S 



justly render him an object of unqualified wonder to a thinking- 

 European, 



Behind the Church is another sacred singularity,— -a Garden in imi- 

 tation of Paradise, where Adam and Eve, beneath the Cross, are sitting 

 beside a fountain, in all the nudity of innocence. They are surrounded 

 by a multitude of birds and beasts, of a domestic, and of a wild and 

 savage kind. It is observable how many absurdities the contriver has 

 introduced into so confined a scene ; but they seem no longer in vogue., 

 for the place is falling into complete dilapidation. 



The town, however, is not so advanced that useful arts are in much 

 request, or the professors of them very accessible. Wanting a small 

 service at the hands of a mechanic, we were compelled to beg as a favour 

 that he would open his shop, collect his tools, and put them to use. He 

 did so, to oblige us, but required no intreaty to take an exorbitant pay- 

 ment for his trouble. 



Congonha is, in writing, commonly substituted for Caancunha. 

 The name is derived from a plant, an infusion of which is held to 

 be an excellent remedy in female complaints. It is said to be the same 

 with the Matte of Paraguay, but to me it appealed more nearly to 

 resemble a low shrub, with a downy leaf, the green of which has a 

 greyish cast, growing in abundance on almost all the low lands about Rio 

 de Janeiro. I am sensible, however, that this cannot be exactly the 

 Caancunha of Minas Geraes; and I never heard of its making any 

 pretensions to medicinal qualities. 



Our progress, when once more, advancing on our way, was 

 cheered by a distant view of the mountains to the Westward, 

 through which were several rough and narrow chasms, the passages, it 

 may be, of streams tending towards the Rio Grande. To the North of 

 the Parapdba, whose basin we were now quitting, the country seemed to 

 be composed of a grey slate or schist ; and that on which we are entering 

 contains much quartz. We descended rapidly towards the West South- 

 West, winding round to the South, and crossed the principal stream in 



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