Walsh's Notices of Brazil. 



183 



period is announced in the country by a very simple and beautiful circum- 

 stance. A large beetle (Pelidnota testacea) with silver wings, then issues 

 forth, and announces the hour of vespers, by winding his solemn and sono- 

 rous horn. The Brazilians consider that there is something sacred in this 

 coincidence ; that the insect is the herald of the Virgin, sent to announce 

 the time of her prayer ; and it is for that reason constantly called Escara- 

 velho d'Ave Maria, or the Ave Maria beetle. On the hill of Santa Theresa, 

 I have heard it of an evening, humming round the convent, and joining its 

 harmonious bass to the sweet chant of the nuns within, at their evening ser- 

 vice." — Vol. ii. ch. 2. 



"The first place where gold was found, was at Riberao, a small stream 

 which falls into the Rio das Mortes, and here they built an Arayal, or vil- 

 lage, called Antonio, near the spot where S. Jose was afterwards erected. 



" The vicinity of this river every where attests the extensive search for 

 gold formerly pursued here, as it was for a length of time considered one of 

 the richest parts of Brazil, from the profusion of precious metal found on its 

 surface. All the banks of the stream are furrowed out in the most extraordi- 

 nary manner, so as to be altogether unaccountable to one unacquainted with 

 the cause. The whole of the vegetable mould was washed away, and 

 nothing remained but a red earth, cut into square channels, like troughs, 

 with a narrow ridge interposed between them. Above was conducted a head 

 stream of water, let down through these troughs, which were all on an incli- 

 ned plane. The lighter parts of the clay were washed away, and the gold 

 remained behind. When this has been collected by a process I will here- 

 after describe, that which remains behind' is called pizarao. It is an inert 

 caput mortuum of stubborn sterility, which no process can afterwards endow 

 vvith the principles of fertility ; so that, in washing out the gold, all the 

 riches of the soil were literally exhausted, and nothing left but a barren 

 and utterly useless surface. 



" The whole of the soil with which the soil is impregnated, is supposed to 

 originate in the metalliferous ridges of rock which intersect the country. 

 Here, in its matrix, the metal reposes; but the rains falling in impetuous 

 torrents on their summits, and penetrating through their interior recesses, 

 again ooze from their sides, carrying with them all the lighter parts of the 

 precious metal, as they pass through the veins, and finally deposit them in the 

 soil below, through which they percolate. 



"As the great auriferous repertory of the country now stood before me, I 

 was curious to explore it ; so we prepared to ascend the ridge. The gene- 

 ral face of it was quite perpendicular, and we could no more attempt to 

 climb the part opposite to us, than Dover Cliff; but about three miles to the 

 N. E. of the town, the ridge dips, and leaves a depression considerably lower 

 than the rest, which is accessible. After winding in a zig zag direction up 

 the rocky face, we at length emerged on the summit, and here we saw in 

 perfection the totally new feature of the Brazilian landscape, which we 

 before had contemplated at a distance. In all our journeys fi-om Rio, for 

 more than two hundred miles, we had scarcely seen a stone peeping through 

 the soil. Here we stood upon an immense ridge of rocks, utterly denuded 

 both of wood and grass, stretching their bare and rugged arms in all direc- 

 tions over the country, and forming a prospect strongly contrasted with any 

 we had yet contemplated. This ridgy region, I was told, ramified through 

 the country to an immense extent in a westerly direction, till it was lost in 

 the mato grosso, or vast forests, which extend nearly to the Andes ; and these 

 are the great metallic repositories, from whence the whole subjacent soil 

 of the Minas Gerties is impregnated with gold. 



" The summit of the ridge was by far the most wild and solitary we had 

 seen in Brazil. It was generally composed of white sand, strewed with no- 

 dules of very bright and almost transparent quartz, from the decompositioif 



