SOUTH AMERICA. 



iQ5 



or mountainous. On the eastern side, the ascent is 

 very steep; the road from Santos to St. Paul, ascends 

 a mountain six thousand feet high, and is perhaps the 

 most considerable work of this description in Brazil. 

 From this point, however, in following the mountains 

 to the southward, they gradually retire from the coast, 

 leaving a broken country between them and the sea, 

 through which the Paraiba of the south takes its 

 course. Between these mountains and the coast, an 

 extraordinary number of cataracts and cascades are 

 formed, by the waters which are precipitated down 

 the eastern side. The navigation of the rivers on the 

 western side, is also impeded by a great number of 

 falls and rapids: but the intervals between the porta- 

 ges are navigated by large perogues, such as are used 

 on our western waters, made out of the single trunks 

 of trees, of which there is an abundance on their banks, 

 of a prodigious size. The river Tiete, which rises 

 near the city of St. Paul, is generally used as the 

 channel of communication to the mines of Matto Gros- 

 so. After descending to the Parana, they continue 

 down its stream to the mouth of the Pardo, which en- 

 ters from the west, and up this river to the foot of a 

 chain of mountains, which they cross to the river Ta- 

 quari, which flows into the river Paraguay, above the 

 Spanish possessions. The inhabitants of St. Paul 

 took advantage of this route at an early period, for the 

 purpose of committing depredations on the numerous 

 Indian tribes settled on that river. 



The climate is probably the most pleasant in Brazil. 

 Though nearer the equator than the provinces of La 

 Plata, the disadvantage is more than counterbalanced 

 by its height; the commencement of the slope is six 



