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CHAPTER IV
Etching 47 Rio Sao Francisco The plateau, bordered by the Jequitinhonha and Aracuai Rivers, and which has its highest point at their junction, rises at most to 2,000 feet above the sea, and has no outstanding mountain; in the northern part, however, a series of higher hills form the watershed of these rivers. We climbed these hills on the way from Sao Domingos to Sao Joaquim Farm, where we stayed overnight, and the next day continued towards NE to SW, until the general road from Tejuco to the
Jequintinhona river valley backlands, which in heading west, took us to the Jequitinhonha River. A thick savannah covered the region, which stretched out of sight on the horizon; just to
Etching 23 View of Serra de Santo Antonio the west, like the blue mist, the Serra de Santo Antonio was glimpsed in bold profile ahead of us. We landed in Porto dos Angicos, whose river bank, which runs here on quartzite, and we were now in the wilderness, as the miners call the vast expanse, in their usual language. We consider it a good omen, at the entrance to such an ill-known territory, the meeting with a Frenchman from the beautiful banks of the Garonne, a worthy elder, a boatman of the passage, who kindly gave us lodging. The terrain gradually rises to the top of the Serra de Santo Antonio, where two series of mountains separate, extending one behind the other. The main nucleus of the first series appears as a large castle. At an altitude of 3,000 feet, the landscape presents itself as a very dense grove plateau that widens in a beautiful grassy pasture; Farther up, trees or shrubs are rare. We traveled this region in two days of march, following only visible trails, from Morro Redondo to Mombucas and Bananal. The owners of these farms were concerned almost exclusively with cattle raising.
Cattle branding When we went up to the second highest core of the Serra de Santo Antonio, or,
Grao Mogul as it is sometimes called, Serra do Grao-Mongol, we were pleased to find again the Diamantino District features and the same vegetation: bare surfaces show 78
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