848 
highest points op the chain. 
it by the name of Serra do Espinha 9 o, and considers it as 
the principal part of the whole structure of the mountains 
01 tSrazil. This Cordillera loses itself northward,* between 
Minas J\oyas and the southern extremity of the Canitania 
of Bahi^ lu 16 lat. It is there more than 60 leagues re- 
moved from the coast of Porto Se^uro; but southward, 
parallels of Eio Janeiro and Saint Paul (lat. 
j. . Ill the knot of the mountains of Serra da Man- 
tiquiera it draws so near to the CordiUera of the shore 
(Serra do Mar), that they are almost confounded together 
In the same iiiaiiuer, the Serra do Espiuha 9 o foUows con- 
stantly the direction of a meridian, towards the north ; 
E ** south-east, and terminates 
about Jb lat. The chain reaches its highest elevation be- 
tween lS and 21 ; and there the spurs and table-lands at 
Its back are of sufficient extent to furnish lands for culti- 
vation, where, at successive heights, there are temperate 
^imates comparable to the delicious climates of Xalapa, 
truaduas, Caracas, and Caripe. This advantage, which de- 
pends at once on the 'nddeiiing of the mass of the chain, and 
of Its spurs, IS nowhere found in the same degree east of 
the Andes, not even in chains of more considerable absolute 
Jieight, as those of Venezuela and the Orinoco. The culmi- 
naut pmnts of the Serra do Espinha 9 o, in the Capitania of 
Minas Gieraes, are the Itambe (032 toises), the Serra da 
liedade, near Sahara (910 toises), the Itacolumi, properly 
Itacunumi (900 toises), the Pico of Itabira (816 toises), the 
Serras of Cara^a, Ibitipoca, and Papagayo. Saint Hilaire felt 
piercing cold in the mouth of November (therefore in sum- 
mer) in the whole Cordillera of Laiia, from the Villa do 
irincipe to tho Morro de Gaspar Suares. 
We have just noticed two chains of mountains nearly 
parallel, but of which the most extensive (the littoral chain) 
IS the least lofty. The capital of Brazil is situated at the 
point where the two chains draw nearest together and are 
linked together on the east of the Serra de Mantiqueira, if 
^ • The rocky ridges that form the cataract of Paulo Atfonso, in the Rio 
ban Francisco, are supposed to belong to the northern prolongation of 
the berra do l!,spinhii9o, as a series of heights in the province of Seara 
(letid calcareous rocks, containing a quantity of petrified fisli,) belong to 
the feerra dos Verteqtes. s 
