A BEAUTIFUL VIEW 
On May twentieth (minimum 58 ° Fahrenheit, maxi¬ 
mum 85 °) we were again off toward the west, travelling 
over great domes of red lava, the higher portions of which 
were covered by layers of ashes and red sand. We were 
at an elevation of 1,480 feet in the deep basin of the Rio 
Barreiros and Rio das Garzas, but we soon went over 
three consecutive ridges, 1,550 feet above the sea level, 
with delicious campos and a bosquet of trees here and 
there. In the arc of a circle extending from northwest 
to southwest we had in front of us a beautiful view. 
Previous to reaching the third ridge, that day, we also 
had behind us a wonderful panorama of the great 
plateau described in a previous chapter. 
On travelling over a fourth elevation, we found 
ourselves upon another immense dome of red volcanic 
rock, blackened on the surface, as if by fire, and with 
the peculiar striations we had noticed once or twice before. 
In this case there were cross striations as well, the 
direction of one set of parallel marks being from north¬ 
west to southeast, of the other set northeast to southwest, 
thus forming lozenges, each about sixty centimetres across. 
All those lozenges were so regularly cut that the ensemble 
gave the appearance of a well-made pavement. Then I 
noticed some peculiar great cavities in the rock, like those 
formed by glacial action. In fact, on a superficial ex¬ 
amination, it seemed almost as if that region had first 
gone through a period of great revolution while in a state 
of semi-liquefaction, owing to intense heat from fire, after 
which a sudden and intense cooling had taken place and 
covered the country, perhaps even with ice. Whether the 
immense deposits of ashes and sand had been formed 
before or after the glacial period, if any such period ever 
existed in that particular region, could be merely a matter 
of speculation. In many places the sand, ashes, and red 
earth had almost consolidated into easily friable rock. 
Where the actual rock was not exposed, we had 
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