Before me, almost at my feet, for I had stopped on the summit of an elevated hill, extended--enclosed in a horizon of verdure, formed by a belt of virgin forest--a landscape of about ten leagues in circumference, of which, thanks to my position, my eye took in the minutest details. About the centre of this landscape, over an extent of two leagues, was a lake, the transparent waters of which were an emerald green in colour--the wooded and beautiful picturesque mountains which surrounded it were covered in some places with plantations. We were on the spot where the Curitiba or Guazu, a rather important river, an affluent of the Parana, that we had reached, after having traversed the Paso de los Infieles, enters the lake. At the entry of the Guazu I perceived an isle which my guide assured me had formerly floated, but which had by degrees approached the bank, where it had become fixed. At first formed by aquatic plants, the vegetable earth had been heaped up there, and now it is covered with pretty thick wood. Then, in the distance, in the midst of a ravine between two hills covered with wood, I perceived a considerable number of buildings raised like an amphitheatre, and surmounted by a tall steeple. Below the rugged steep, on the summit of which these buildings were situated, the Guazu rushed along, struggling over the obstacles that abrupt rocks, covered with a verdant lichen, opposed to its course; then, dividing into several arms, it lost itself, after innumerable meanderings, in the sombre valleys which stretched right and left. I could not take my eyes from the spectacle of nature in this grand, wild, and really imposing form. I remained there as though fascinated, not caring either to advance or recede, so great was the emotion that I experienced, and, forgetting everything, still looking without being satiated at this splendid view, to which nothing can be compared. "How beautiful!" I cried. "Is it not?" replied the guide. "What is this magnificent country called?" "Do you not know, mi amo?" said the Indian. "How should I know, when I come here today for the first time?" "Why, because this country is well known, mi amo," replied he; "people come from long distances to see it." "I doubt it not, but I should like to know its name." "You see before you the fazenda do Rio d'Ouro; in former days all these mountains that you see were filled with gold and precious stones." "And now?" I asked, interested in spite of myself. "Oh, now they do not work the mines; they are exhausted or inundated with water. The master pretends that it is much better to work the earth." "He is not wrong. What is the name of the good man who reasons so judiciously?"