5S0 



NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



one of them on the fife, and of another on the guitar, was not con- 

 temptible ; a third had made himself a decent instrument, something 

 like a flute, from a joint of the Tacoara. 



Because streams flow from this spot Northward to the St. Francisco, 

 Eastward to the Rio Doce, and Westward to the Plata, it has been said 

 that this is the highest part of the province of Minas Geraes.. But the 

 slightest view of the country around, might satisfy any one that this is 

 an error ; much more lofty points are distinctly in view, and streams like 

 those which have just been mentioned must flow from sources at very 

 different altitudes. This is, however, it is probable, the highest spot in 

 the Comarca of the Rio Dos Mortes. 



While contemplating these incipient waters, I thought of Bruce at 

 the head of the Nile; and, without comparing my own situation and 

 feelings with his, willingly paid a tribute to his memory, and renewed 

 my admiration of his soliloquy. In the St. Francisco and the Parana 

 we behold the drains of an immense internal lake, bounded on the East 

 by the Serros Frio and Mantiqueira, on the South by that of Maracana, 

 and on the West by those which separate the Parana from the Para- 

 guay, or lie beyond those streams. The waters of this ancient elevated 

 sea have burst their barriers in Lat. 15 " and 20", and are still wearing 

 their channels deeper at the falls of Pirapdra in the North, and Sete- 

 quedas in the South; just as the Lakes Erie and Ontario, in North 

 America, will, in all probability, be drained by wearing away the 

 impediments which now form the Falls of Niagara. Yet when the 

 uppermost waters are thus drained, it is evident that, in the deeper 

 portions of the general bed, the sea must be broken into a number of 

 smaller lakes, and must so remain until each of them shall have reduced 

 its particular barriers. These, too, would partly be filled by the descent 

 of materials from the upper ground ; more especially before it was 

 thoroughly desiccated. Such, I apprehend, has been the case with the 

 singular meadows of the Rio Grande, before it passes the Seno, and 

 joins the Parana ; such, also, with those about the Francisco and Para- 

 catu, and such with the small plain near Villa Rica, already described. 



