Salt is an article for which there is a great demand, and the people in the Villa have found out a substitute for that which comes from the coast. Along the banks of the lake, the soil in many places is highly impregnated with saline matter, which, although mixed with saltpetre, is yet very acceptable where no other can be procured; during our visit many people from distant parts were occupied in collecting this salt. The manner in which they obtain it is as follows; the soil is cleaned of grass and other herbaceous vegetation, and on being moistened with water, the part richest in salt soon shows itself by the appearance of small crystals. This earth is then scraped up with the scapular bone of an ox, and put into a trough made of a cow-hide, supported upon four short posts fixed in the ground. Water is then poured on the earth, which, during the space of a day, is allowed to filter slowly through small holes in the bottom of the trough, when it is received into a large basin placed below it: the process is continued till the salt is all extracted. The water thus extracted is either put into smaller hide-troughs and evaporated in the sun, or boiled down in an iron pot, but as these are rather scarce articles in Parnaguá, few only can have recourse to this mode. The salt is not very clean, but a quantity which I bought was found to preserve meat very well. The lake, near which the village is situated, is about two leagues long, and one broad, but it is said not to be deep; it is always of a red colour, caused no doubt by the soil of the surrounding country, which is everywhere of a deep red-coloured clay. It is said to abound in fish, but during our stay I could not obtain any. Great numbers of large alligators exist in it, as also boa constrictors, capivaras, and tapirs; I saw, besides, some large otters, but could not come within shot of them. After we arrived I went to bathe in the lake, and swam out a long way, but did not do so again, on being told that several accidents had taken place, not only from the attacks of alligators, but also from piranias. With the exception of a small Serra to the south-east, the country around the Villa is flat, and but for the lake, it would have a very unpicturesque appearance. I took several walks in the neighbourhood, but in consequence of the long-continued drought, I did not meet with much to reward my labour. In a marsh, which in the rainy season forms part of the lake, I found two species of water-lily (_Nymphæa_), both small and bearing white flowers, one of them smelling very sweetly, while the other had exactly the fœtid smell of coal-tar. On the Serra I found a small-leaved _Gomphia_, a _Triads_, and a tree-lily (_Vellozia_); the latter was not in flower, as was the case with one I found at Oeiras. These are the two most northerly stations in which I have met with species of this genus, whose great focus lies in the mountains of the Diamond District. CHAPTER IX. PARNAGUÁ TO NATIVIDADE.