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the summit of conical mounsains, the passage to which is frequently 

 obstructed by clouds ; others stand on the sides of gentle acclivities ; 

 but the greater number of them is situated almost in contact with 

 the ocean, which often flows to their very doors. The bay is from 

 two to three leagues across, and extends about the same distance 

 inland ; it is well-sheltered, and affords good anchorage, and fine situ- 

 ations for loading timber, with which the mountainous country 

 around is thickly clothed, and large quantities of which are felled 

 and embarked for Rio de Janeiro and the Plata. Canoes are 

 made here, at a cheaper rate and in greater numbers than in any 

 other part of Brazil. The inhabitants grow rice in considerable 

 quantities, as well as some coffee and sugar, but such is their indo- 

 lence and poverty that they use only hand-mills, consisting of two 

 horizontal rollers, in manufactuting the latter article. 



Into this bay fall several streams formed by the mountain tor^ 

 rents and springs, and two tolerable rivers, the less called Infer- 

 ninho, and the larger Tigreno. They both flow through low swampy 

 land, subject to inundation, and overgrown with mangroves and an 

 immense variety of trees. The insalubrity of this tract might be cor- 

 rected by clearing away the underwood and draining the^oil, but 

 the arduousness of such an undertaking might deter a more active 

 and skilful people than this. In the rainy season it is inundated to 

 a great extent, and in summer it is infested with terrible swarms 

 of mosquitos and burachala flies, which render it almost uninha- 

 bitable. 



Along the beach of this bay I found the shell of the murex 

 genus, which produces that beautiful crimson dye, so valued by the 

 ancients. It is here called purpura, and to my great surprise, its 

 use is in some degree known to the natives, one of whom shewed 

 me some cotton fringe, dyed with an extract of it, though ill-pre- 

 pared. The shell is about the size of the common whelk, and con- 

 tains a fish, on whose body appears a vesicle full of a pale yellow, 

 viscid, purulent substance, which constitutes the dye. The mode of 



