NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



533 



Divine Providence, before that period, to take him suddenly from this 

 earthly scene. He was in the prime of life, had great energy of cha. 

 racter and enlargement of mind ; and had he been permitted to fulfil his 

 purpose, would probably have added to that respect with which he was 

 already regarded by a large circle of friends. 



At the distance of ten miles from St. John, after having travelled 

 over some lonely moors, we crossed the river Elvas by a good wooden 

 bridge. This stream also was much swollen, and rolled with impetuosity 

 towards the North, between perpendicular banks, about thirty yards 

 asunder. Near it we saw several farms, which seemed to be altogether 

 devoted to cows. Early in the evening, after passing another river, of 

 nearly the same width as the Elvas, flowing from the North-East, with 

 a rapid current; having rode sixteen miles East by South, and increased 

 our elevation four hundred feet, we arrived at a lone house called Bar- 

 bozo. Attached to it was a considerable dairy farm, capable of being 

 made a good one, but suffering under wretched management. The 

 house proved one of the dirtiest in which I ever laid myself down to rest, 

 and was kept by an old, forlorn, and careless couple, to whom the farm 

 belonged. There was one fellow-traveller from St. Paul's, a plain intelli- 

 gent man, possessing a good share of that manliness which peculiarly 

 marks the superior class of Mineiros. He passes by this route, he told 

 me, twice a year, and represents the whole country as composed of 

 mountainous tracks, such as those which then surrounded us, excepting on 

 the borders of the Rio Grande, where the meadows were flat and fertile. 



The first part of our route from this place was again over dry moory 

 land, the red soil of which seemed to grow thinner as we advanced. 

 Deep narrow gullies continually occurred, and down many of them noisy 

 torrents hastened to join the principal stream on our right. We passed 

 some melancholy looking farms, in which, however, or in the wastes 

 surrounding them, something was found to excite dishonest cupidity, for 

 we met with persons in pursuit of a thief. Soon afterwards we ascended 

 a steep hill, the surface of which was whitened with large masses of 

 quartz, many of which, rolling into a broad impetuous stream from the 



