Remember the Rainforest tm

Home

Expedition Index

Expedition Text

Expedition Etchings

Etching locations

Maps

Plants

Animals

People and Scenes

Eco-petitions and project proposals

Lesson plans

Statistics

Authors and Artists

Contact us

page 157 ---Chapada---elevated plains---hospitality---climate---

The farm in which we passed the night is situated on the highest part of this mountainous country, which, on account of its flat ridge, is called Chapada. By this word they distinguish, in Brazil, and particularly in the more southern provinces, every elevated plain or plateau. Though they are seldom of considerable extent, yet they so strikingly differ from the narrower mountain ridges, which generally terminate in sharper summits, or groups of rocks, that the term has become universal in the mouths of the people. In the Lingua Geral, these elevated plains are called Ita-beba, or flat mountains. A great part of the boundary of Minas Gerais, and the province of Goyaz, consists of such chapadas, which are there characterised also by a peculiar vegetation. A few weeks before our arrival at the Fazenda da Chapada, the owner had entertained Mr. Von Eschwege, on his return from Rio de Janeiro to his residence at Vila Rica, and was very friendly and good-humoured, when he learned that we were his countrymen. During the night we passed in a closed room, we experienced a very great difference in the temperature; Reaumur's thermometer fell to 11°, though during the day, and in the shade, it had risen to 20° and 21°. This proportion of the temperature prevails almost universally in the higher parts of Minas Gerais, and particularly during the dry months.

page 158 ---Rodeio---Serra de Ouro Branco---geology---

Serra de Ouro Branca, province of Minas Gerais

Between Chapada and the Fazenda Joze Correa, which is only three leagues [18 miles] from it to the N.N.E., where we passed the night, the formation of the mountain is exactly the same as we had observed the day before. Beyond the picturesquely situated farm, Rodeio, rises the

Serra de Ouro Branco, higher and steeper than Da Solidade, taking the direction of E.S.E. to W.N.W. Its nucleus also consists of white quartzy mica-slate, upon which thick layers of variegated mica, divisible into large plates, are incumbent. In the valley formed by this mountain, which is watered by several crystal streams, the iron formation is very evident in many places. Large masses, similar in their direction and stratification, consist of a bed of red brown iron-stone, and even a rich iron mica-slate; the octahedrons of magnetic iron-stone lie in great abundance detached along the road. The iron mica-slate is observed, expecially in the neighbourhood of a greenish grey mica, and is easily decomposed. As the layers of the latter are subordinate to the granular quartzy mica-slate, and they alternate with the iron mica-slate, it is not uncommon to find pieces in which these three rocks appear together.

Serra de Ouro Branco

The road over these beautiful mountains continues to ascend, and unfolds to the eyes of the traveller, at every step, new and interesting objects. Manifold views of the valleys, in which the scattered farms become more numerous the nearer you approach Villa Rica, alternate with each other.