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CHAP. XV. 



Observations on Tejuco and Cerro do Frio. 



JN the foregoing pages I have endeavoured to present to the reader 

 a narrative of whatever I observed worthy of note in the Diamond 

 District, and have related the several particulars in the order in 

 which they occurred to me, reserving the task of general description 

 for that period of my residence there when I might be supposed best 

 qualified to perform it. This mode of proceeding will expose me to 

 the risk of a few repetitions, for which my apology must rest on the 

 peculiar circumstances under which I visited Tejuco, — on the con- 

 tinual journeys in which I was occupied from the moment of my ar- 

 rival to the time when I was attacked by illness, and which left me 

 no leisure for combining my actual observations with general views 

 of the country. 



The district of Cerro do Frio consists of rugged mountains, that 

 have a northerly and southerly direction, and are generally allowed 

 to be the highest in Brazil. What is termed the Diamond ground, 

 extends about sixteen leagues from north to south, and about eight 

 from east to west. It was first explored by some enterprising miners 

 from Villa do Principe, a few years after the establishment of that 

 town. These men proceeding northerly found an open country, 

 watered by many small rivulets, which they tried for gold by wash- 

 ing : some of them engaged their attention for a short time, but not 

 proving sufficiently rich, they continued their route, passing the places 

 now called San Gonzales and Melho Verde, until they arrived at a 

 few streams that flow from the base of the mountain on which Te- 

 juco is built. These rivulets were then washed for gold, and were 



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