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#14 and #15 The
mountain called Morro Fermozo at the border of the provinces
of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo
Latin translation
by Ben Hennelly
We have exhibited here
in two etchings a single picture that, on account of its size, we were
forced to divide into equal halves. My dear friend, Thomas Ender, sketched
it on location when he accompanied me from the city of Rio to the city of Sao Paulo. We thought that the picture deserved
to be presented to our readers for several reasons. For it displays
the true character of the mountain, which stands out for its height
as well as for the boldness and beauty of its shapes; for this reason
the Brazilians have bestowed upon it the name of "Beautiful Mountain".
The road between the two cities mentioned is laid across a low-lying
ridge of the beautiful mountain, which separates the provinces of Rio
de Janeiro and Sao
Paulo in that region.Those traveling from Rio de Janeiro are captivated by the region's loveliness, especially because they have
for several days previous passed in the shadows of towering forests
along a road that bends often and leads through narrow winding valleys
and small mountains, so that only a restricted prospect into the distance
is offered. But the Morro Fermozo far overtops the nearby peaks
(3000 ft) and, separated from neighboring mountains by a fairly broad
distance, offers an unimpeded view to whoever follows the road across
the mountain closest and arrives at its ridge. From here the admirer's
eyes wander across a valley and peaks that are for the most part covered
with forests.
We are affected in a wonderful way by such a sight, which lies open
to view in the freedom of the mountains, especially when we have traveled
through the shadows of dark groves for a number of days. The sky's clarity
effects that even from afar, the delicate shapes of the mountain and
individual trees are described, and a certain sweetness and sublime
majesty seem diffused through the whole region, which only he can perceive
who has wandered for a time through the lands of the tropics. The beasts
themselves seem charmed by the holy tranquillity of the places; everything
rests in a happy, as it were, freedom from care, so that the European
man, who neither hears the blows of axes or hunter's cries, nor anywhere
sees land cleft by the plow, cannot help but compare the sublime peacefulness
of this nature with the hard servitude to which European soil is subjected
by the shrewd crowd of men. But far more passionately will be moved the energetic explorer of nature, inasmuch as he not only is taken with the pleasant tranquillity of these
regions, but also, excited by the varied, exceptional character of things
and astonished at six hundred miracles, finds much that invites his
spirit to pursue and search out the truth. But there were two things
that moved me most as I gazed upon that region: namely, the frequency
of Dendropterides or tree-like
ferns, and that of shrubs consisting of tree-like grasses.These extraordinary
ornaments of tropical vegetation are very well displayed for the kind
reader in each of the two etchings. In Etching
#14, which comprises the left half of the picture, some trunks of
an exceedingly beautiful, tree-like fern, Alsophila
paleolata, are depicted; the foreground of #15,
which exhibits the right half, presents dense thickets of Guadua
Tacoara.
 
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