We found the river much swollen, although it had not rained here for more than a week, but we concluded that much rain had fallen recently further up the country. Owing to this circumstance, and to the lateness of the hour, we had some difficulty in prevailing on the ferryman to carry us over to the other side. The Rio da Palma is considerably broader than that of Manoel Alvez, and flows with much greater force. In this, as in the former river, the canoe is maintained at the expence of government, but it was here on so small a scale that only one horse could be taken over at a time; in this tedious manner the transit was repeated no less than twelve times before all could be passed over, which occupied more than three hours. This place is called Fazenda da Barra, and contains several houses on both sides of the river; that to which we were directed to find accommodation was so small, that as the night promised to be fine, we preferred taking up our quarters under some trees that grew in front of it. On the following morning, after we had travelled about two leagues and a half, we were obliged to stop in consequence of two of the horses becoming very much fatigued, caused most probably by the great-exertion of crossing the river the night before. We halted at a place near the foot of the Serra da Santa Brida, where only a few small trees grew, which were barely sufficient to shelter us from a powerful sun. This Serra is a branch of the same range as that on which the Villa de Arrayas is situated, and runs in a north-west direction to within about two leagues of the Rio da Palma; at its highest part it is not more than a thousand feet above the level of the surrounding country. In the afternoon we again made a short stage of about a league and a half, and encamped for the night under some small trees, by the side of a clear rivulet that flows from the Serra. On this journey we met with some showers of rain, and when we arrived at the place of our encampment, a heavy thunder-storm came rolling along the Serra towards us from the south-east, which made us regret that we were under the necessity of sleeping in the woods; fortunately, however, as it approached near to us, it turned off suddenly towards the north, after which we had the advantage of a beautiful night. Our route on this journey was through a large flat open valley, bounded on the north and east by the Serra de Santa Brida, and on the south and east by another range called the Serra de Buriti. This valley consists of large open campos abounding in tree-lilies, and is but thinly wooded except on the margins of small streams that flow from the mountains. Next morning we made a journey of two leagues through a similar country, and arrived early in the forenoon at the fazenda de Santa Brida, which belongs to a person for whom I brought letters from the Vigario of the Arraial de Conceição. He does not, however, reside here, and the only house we found was one belonging