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page 301 ---S.W. to summit of Serra do Mar---Pajol---Iriparaiba river---topography---

We were, it is true, still among the mountains, but the rounder summits are more detached; and as, instead of the gloomy forest, they are covered with cheerful plantations of maize, mandiocca, and sugar-cane in more extensive spots, make an agreeable impression on the traveller, who involuntarily feels himself constrained and oppressed by the silent uniformity of the woods.

Sugar plantation

We accordingly breathed more freely when, on the following day, still proceeding in the direction to southwest, we at length reached the last summit of this chain, which belongs to the Serra do Mar, and a deep and pleasant valley extended before us. This valley is bounded to the west, at the distance of about two miles, by a part of the Serra do Mantiqueira, the general direction of which, at this point, is form S.W. to N.E.

Sao Paulo between Mantiqueira and Serra do Mar, near Lorena

From thence it appears like a long uninterrupted ridge, without steep declivities and ravines, but marked by agreeably picturesque outlines, with many gently rising eminences, some of which are covered with thick wood, and others with green pastures.

Valley of the Serra Mantiqueira

The valley itself, which we at length entered, after having passed the huts of Pajol and the river Iripariba, which falls into the Paraiba, extends between the last extremities of the Serra do Mar and those of the Mantiqueira above mentioned, to the south; the Paraiba, after issuing from the narrow valleys of the first chain of mountains, flows in it towards the north, and takes at Jacarehy a direction quite contrary to that which it had before; its banks are partly covered with low wood and partly with rich pastures.

South from Jacarehy towards the city of Sao Paulo

page 302 ---Mineiro---Lorena---trade---plains---

About noon we passed a place where a side road branches out, which leads to Minas, and is hence called Mineiro, and reached, at last, Lorena, otherwise called Guaypacaré, a village consisting of about forty houses, and of no importance, notwithstanding its fertile environs, and the great intercourse between the provinces of S. Paulo and Minas Gerais. The road from S. Paulo to Minas passes here in two points, called Porto da Caxoeira and Porto do Meyra, across the Paraiba, which flows half a quarter of a league from the villa.

Valley of the Paraiba river

The chief articles of trade from S. Paulo to Minas are mules, horses, salt, dry meat, iron goods, and all other manufactures which go from the coast to the interior. At present, however, Minas is almost entirely supplied by Rio and Bahia, and the importation from Santos is inconsiderable; and of still less importance is that from Angra dos Reyes and Parati, in the province of Rio de Janeiro, which are the nearest to the entrance of Minas. Minas sends principally coarse cotton goods to S. Paulo.

As we proceeded farther into the fertile valley, to the south of Lorena, which was magically illumined by the setting sun, we observed remarkable changes in the vegetation. The savage character of the forests disappeared, and the open, unconfined, mild nature of the plains (campos) was gradually more apparent the farther we advanced. Instead of the thick and high mountain woods, we had now before us plains and gently rising hills, which are covered with scattered bushes and extensive tracts of verdure.

On the road between Vila de Areas and Vila de Lorena, Sao Paulo