remarkable forms; one, particularly, struck me as extraordinary: it was placed upon another, of much smaller dimensions, and the resting-point was so small, as to render its removal apparently easy; but, on trial, it had not the slightest motion. The discomfort of this night was great, caused chiefly by the violence of the wind; we had, at last, no fire,—all was dark around us, and we could scarcely make ourselves heard. The horses seemed to feel as much as we did, the unsheltered situation; they were near to us during the whole of the night. On continuing our journey the following morning, we discovered that we had halted within half a league of the lake. The water was all gone; but the ground was boggy, and not to be crossed, excepting at the place over which is the usual path. It extends to the right and left to a considerable distance, but is not broad. If the mud was cleared away, it might, perhaps, afford an inexhaustible source of water to the neighbourhood; but Brazil is not in a state for such works; hands, in these parts, are not yet sufficiently numerous. In the afternoon, we crossed some stony hills, and passed by two _fazendas_. This day, I observed, at some distance, a high hill, of a circular form, standing quite alone, and unconnected with any other high ground. Its sides appeared to be too steep for horses to ascend; and I much regret not being so situated as to be enabled to delay, for the purpose of taking a nearer and more exact view of it. The guide was surprised at my curiosity about it, and told me that horses could not go up its sides, that there were snakes upon it, &c. All this might be true; but it was evidently said, to prevent any intention I might have had of delaying to see it more correctly. The plain appeared in many parts, as if the sea had at some time covered it;—the dead flat, the sand in places mixed with particles of a substance which looked like broken shells, and the rocks worn away in such parts, as, from their situation, could not have been acted upon by rain. We slept this night at an estate, where there were several houses forming a hamlet, having passed through a considerable quantity of wooded land. The next morning we again proceeded over some lands that were covered with wood; and, near twelve o’clock, reached the town of Açu. Oh, the joy of again seeing a church! of the sight of a regular village, and civilized persons; if even these can be called civilized, according to European ideas.