On the day we left San João, we made a journey of three long leagues, and put up for the night at the Fazenda de San Bernardo. During the afternoon, one of the horses in passing between two trees broke his pack-saddle, and it was necessary to remain here half the following day, in order to get it properly repaired; in the interval I went out to botanize near a large marsh, through which a small river runs. This river, as well as several others about the same size, which we passed both before and after we left San João, loses itself beneath a low serra of limestone which runs parallel with the Serra Geral, and nearly two leagues to the west of it. These rivers take their rise in the Serra Geral, and are said to enter beneath the range before mentioned, where they all unite, and at the distance of three leagues still further to the westward, they again appear above ground in one stream, forming the Rio de San Bernardo, which afterwards falls into the Rio Parannan. A person belonging to the fazenda took me down to see the spot where the stream, that passes this place, disappears in the mountains, when contrary to what I expected, I found that it did not enter by an open cave, but by an aperture far below the surface of the water, forming what the Brazilians call a Soumidouro; the current here runs with considerable rapidity, strikes against the nearly perpendicular face of the limestone rock, and forming a few whirlpools is lost in the gulf below. By these streams the remains of many of the animals of the country must be entombed in the deep caverns through which they pass, and it is not impossible that such deposits may, at some distant epoch, form themes for the speculation of future geologists. As it was late in the afternoon before we left San Bernardo, we could not complete more than a league of our journey, through a country very similar to that on the other side of San Domingo. Next morning after accomplishing a very long league and a half, we rested to breakfast at a little habitation called Boa Vista, but inappropriately named, for not only is it situated in a hollow, but is surrounded by trees. The house had a miserable appearance, but the old woman to whom it belonged offered us much civility and attention, and gave us some sweet limes, which we relished exceedingly after our exposure to a burning sun. The country here is of an undulating character, and rather thickly wooded, though the soil is poor, being very sandy. During these journeys my collections were much increased by the addition of many fine shrubs and herbaceous plants, the dry sandy campos abounding with numerous species of _Diplusodon_, elegant little shrubs with rose-coloured flowers; while the moister portions afforded a rich harvest of curious varieties of _Eriocaulon_, having little resemblance to our humble British species, being tall and branched, and very remarkable from the large white balls of flowers which each branch bears at its extremity.