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tHe road force their way through many detached and round masses 

 of granite. The woods are so thick in every part, except where the 

 mules tread, that no soil can be seen ; the branches of the trees 

 in some places meet and form an arbour over the road, which 

 shades the traveller from the heat of the sun, and shelters him 

 from rain, 



: After resting for about twenty minutes we again mounted and 

 resumed our ascent. The road presented at times four or five zig-zags^ 

 above us at one view, and gave us fresh reason for astonishment at 

 the completion of a work so fraught with difficulties. The millions 

 of crowns which must have been expended in clearing the woods and- 

 thickets in its course, and in cutting through the sohd rock for a con- 

 siderable distance, as well as in paving it through the whole extent of 

 the ridge, afford no mean idea of the enterprising spirit of the Bra-* 

 zilians. Few public works, even in Europe, are superior to it; and 

 if we consider that, as the district through which it passes, is but 

 thinly inhabited, the labour bestowed on it must have been pur- 

 chased most. dearly, we shall hardly find one in any country so 

 well completed under similar disadvantages. 



In three hours we reached the summit, a plain of considerable 

 extent, the lowest estimated height of which is six thousand feet. 

 The surface is chiefly composed of quartz covered with sand. 

 The sea, though distant twenty miles, seemed to us as if it washed 

 the foot of the mountains ; the level part of the coast and the port 

 pf Santos below us came not within the angle of vision. While we 

 enjoyed this sublime prospect, we were refreshed by a cool breeze, 

 which renewed our strength and spirits, and enabled us to pursue our 

 journey with alacrity. Advancing about a mile and a half, we came 

 to a part of the road which was cut several feet deep through the 

 rock, and observed in this quarter many small streams which, though 

 contiguous to the sea, all flow in a south-west course to an immense 

 distance, and, uniting, form the great river Corrientes, which joins the 



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