Exploring and Travelling Three Thousand Miles Through Brazil from Rio de Janeiro to Maranhao; With an Appendix Containing Statistics and Observations on Climate, Railways Central Sugar Factories, Mining, Commerce, and Finance the Volume 1 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1886 edition. Excerpt: ... 322 CHAPTER XI. SURVEY OF MY FOURTH SECTION AND TERMINATION OF THE WORK AT PIRAPORA. Description of the ground surveyed--A well-watered country--The Abuetd, and its diamonds and silver-lead mines--Diving for diamonds--The diamond formation--Asnake adventure--Themuleis bitten byasnake--A rough carriage-road--Abundance of game--A merry evening--Canoeing on the Sao Francisco--Landing at Itahypava--An abode of indolence--Headquarters at Pirapora--Our scattered camp--Comrades--Excessive heat and drought--The flat plains of Pirapora--The falls described--The village and its inhabitants--Abundance of fish--Baneful effects of fever--Greatest heat experienced in Brazil--Sunstroke--The fauna of Pirapora--A plague of snakes--The lethargy caused by sedentary occupations--Sunset on the falls and in the park of Pirapora--A too curious visitor punished--The devil not so bad as he is painted--Conclusion of the survey, and the return of many of the staff. banks of the river, in the manner common to the whole valley of the Sao Francisco. A Dense Jungle. 323 It is thirty-four feet above the level of ordinary low water of the river, and six feet below the height reached by a great flood in the year 1865. After skirting this marsh on the adjoining higher ground for about a mile, the lines of survey left its bright flowers, grasses, and gravelly soil, and entered the dark, humid shades of the forest on the borders of the Corrego de Carambola, a winding, tortuous stream that crossed our route. This jungle is a dense, tangled mass of vines, brambles, bushes, and trees, so knotted, twisted, matted, and twined together, that it almost resembles a solid wall of vegetation, and although not more than 150 yards wide, three days were spent in hewing a passage through it....