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my return to England it has been proved by the arialysis of the 

 eminent Dr. Wollaston to be hydrargyhte without fluoric acid. 



During my stay at Villa Rica, 1 rode to the city of Mariana, 

 distant eight miles, by a tremendous and almost impassable road, 

 along a ridge of mountains ; and afterwards went thither by the 

 general road which passes between two high hills, and for some 

 distance along the river side, all the Avay on the descent. The 

 margins of the Rio del Carmen, which runs through the town, have 

 been washed the whole way from Villa Rica, parties from which 

 place held possesion of this settlement as early as the year 1 7 10, 

 claiming it on account of the gold brought down from thence by the 

 current of the river. It was made a bishop's see about the year 

 1715, and was called Cidad^ de Mariana, in honour of the then 

 reigning Queen of Portugal, the present Prince Regent's grand- 

 mother. It is a small, neat, and well-built town, containing from 

 six to seven thousand inhabitants. Here is a college for the educa- 

 tion of young men destined for the church. The bishop is a prelate 

 of exemplary character, and is beloved by all who know him. The 

 place has very little trade, and depends chiefly on the mines and 

 farms in its vicinity. Many miners reside here whose works are 

 several leagues distant, some of them extending to the village of 

 Camargo, situated beyond a large plain which stretches westward 

 from the confines of the city. 



Having resided in Villa Rica nearly a fortnight, I expressed a 

 desire to visit two estates, forty miles distant, known by the names 

 of Barro and Castro, both belonging to the Conde de Linhares. 

 Between the years 1730 and 1740 these estates produced much gold, 

 and were then in the possesion of Senhor Matthias Barbosa, a 

 settler of great respectability, who took up these lands and drove 

 the Anthropophagi from them. He, becoming very rich, sent his 

 only daughter to Portugal to he educated, where she remained, and 

 after his death inherited his whole property. She was married in 

 Lisbon to a gentleman of the family of Souza, and from them are 



