Serra

“ So is the track from Sula up the slope to Craufurd’s standing-place.
(4) The view from the summit of the Serra is very extensive, embracing on the one side all the slopes of the Estrella as far as Guarda, and on the other the whole coast-plain of Coimbra as far as the sea. But in each direction there is so much wood and hill that many roads and villages are masked. The French army, both in advance and retreat, was only intermittently visible. But enough could be made out to determine its general movements with fair precision. ”

“ With the heat, with every shower of rain, with every breath of wind, the earth crumbles away; there is an eternal trickling, day and night, until some huge boulder is exposed which crashes down, loosening everything in its wild career; a single tempest may disrupture what the patience and ingenuity of years have contrived.
Three more hours or thereabouts will take you to Serra San Bruno along the backbone of southern Italy, through cultivated lands and pasture and lonely stretches of bracken, once covered by woodlands. ”

“ The contrast between the hot muggy air of Santos and the cool, fresh air on top of the Serra is then most striking and refreshing; the light on the mountains is then softest and most varied. The views down into the valley, with its many banana plantations, are very fine, and even the least observing traveler can not fail to notice the extraordinary precautions which have been taken to guard the line against washouts. The whole mountainside is actually walled up, in places, and everywhere are seen the brick and cement drains and ditches which carry off the rainfall. ”

“ The variegated green foliage which envelopes the slopes of the serra is a type of nature’s loveliness, and we may truly say of this grand panorama that “Beauty unadorned is most adorned.”
Between Santos and the foot of the serra, nearly a thousand mules were encountered, laden with coffee, cotton and other products of the interior, going towards the city of Santos. Though I did not count those which were passed 56after getting into the diligence, it is a fair estimate that an equal number were met after leaving the station. ”

“ We found ourselves on the brink of a steep descent, with a sea of mountains before us, branching from the great central chain, and having innumerable ramifications. This part of the chain is called the Serra di Tenda; and its highest peak the Monte Asto, upwards of 5000 feet above the level of the sea, rose directly in front of our point of view. A single altar-shaped rock crowned the summit, from which the continuation of the ridge, right and left, fell away in a singularly graceful outline, the face of the mountain being precipitous with escarped cliffs. ”

“ The voice of the tempest, the lamentations of the forests bowed by the passing winds, the doleful wails of the jaguars, the cries of the howling monkeys passing between these sonorous peaks, produce a harmony before which all human instrumentation loses its grandeur. We feel that it is the universal soul which inspires the chords of the majestic keys. The Serra dos Organos is clothed in virgin forest over three-fourths of its extent ”

“ At the foot of the Serra is Ribeira de Pena Longa, a little tumble-down village in olives and fruit-trees, with a few clumps of mighty planes. The village street is mainly of rock with loose stones, evidently a torrent in winter, and the forlorn and poverty-stricken look of the whole village will amaze the Englishman accustomed to see the flourishing condition of villages near or on some great estate in England. ”

“ The great mass of the Serra consists of a very soft, whitish, yellowish, or reddish-coloured sandstone, which in many places must be more than six hundred feet thick; and in this rock exist the nodules which contain the fossil fishes. The circumstance that first led me to suspect this rock belonged to the chalk formation, was an immense accumulation of flints and septaria similar to those of the chalk of England, which I found on the acclivity of the range during a journey [156] made along its base to the north of Crato. ”

“ A botanist could spend no more delightful week than in rambling among them at a season when the rains are not too heavy. The railway climbs the Serra at its lowest point, about 2600 feet above sea-level, descending a little on the other or northeastern side to Petropolis. The grade is so steep as to require trains to be hauled up by a wire rope. Nothing can surpass the beauty of the views which the ascent gives over the bay with its islands and all the way southeastward to the mountains that surround Rio. ”

“ In short, the Serra of Monte Alegre, and of course all those connected with it on the northern side of the river, lie in the prolongation of the lower beds forming the banks of the river, their greater height being due simply to the fact that they have not been worn to the same low level. The opposite range of Santarem, which has the same general outline and character, shares, no doubt, the same geological structure. In one word, all these hills were formerly part of a continuous formation, and owe their present outline and their isolated position to a colossal denudation. ”

“ A mountain range, having various local designations, but which may best be called the Serra da Mantiqueira, extends from the neighbourhood of San Paulo to the lower course of the Rio San Francisco, for a distance of twelve hundred miles, and this is mainly composed of gneiss, sometimes passing into true granite, syenite, or mica schist; and the same may be said of the Serra do Mar, a less considerable range lying between the main chain and the coast. The315 southern limits of the Serra do Mar do not appear to be well-defined, but we may estimate its length at from five to six hundred miles. ”

“ Nothing can be more graceful and delicate than these little creatures. They obtain their food from the calyx of the flowers, round which they flutter like butterflies, and indeed are very often mistaken for them in their rapid flight. It is very seldom that they are seen on a branch or twig in a state of repose. After passing through the valley, we reached the Serra, as the Brazilians term the summit of each mountain that they cross ”

“ The lands upon this serra are said to be of the best quality, and if they correspond throughout to the soil seen near the road, there is every reason to anticipate a good result from their cultivation. Until some proper and reliable measurement is made of this fazenda, no idea can be formed of the extent of this body of woodland, yet it is certainly the most valuable territory of the entire tract. If it be two leagues long, and one league wide, as some 156estimate it to be, it would form a very valuable acquisition for agricultural operations. ”

“ The Serra do Mar rises not far from the coast and leaves only a narrow coast zone, and the plateau above is much broken with irregular ranges of mountains. The coast region, though in the temperate zone, is hot and humid. It is densely forested, is broken by swamps and lagoons, and is crossed by numerous short streams from the wooded slopes of the serras. The plateau is less densely wooded, but has some highly fertile plains, the open campos being partly devoted to stock raising. Except in the malarious coast zone, the climate is temperate, bracing and exceptionally healthy. ”

“ The path up the serra is wild and picturesque, lined with immense boulders, and shaded with large trees; while here and there a little cascade comes brawling down over the rocks. In this climate, a road so broken by boulders is especially beautiful, on account of the luxuriance of the vegetation. Exquisite vines, shrubs, and even trees spring up wherever they can find the 458least soil in which to strike root; and many of these isolated rocks are gardens in themselves. One immense boulder in the path is split, and from its centre springs a palm all draperied in vines. ”

“ In Palou’s Life of Serra he describes that occasion thus: “The party traveled along the coast of the channel, in sight of the islands which form it, and when they judged it to be about half-way, about nine leagues from San Buenaventura, they stopped and selected a site for the presidio, in sight of the beach, which there forms a sort of bay, furnishing anchorage for ships. On [94] this beach there was a large village of Gentiles. Here the cross was raised, Father Serra blessed it and the land, and held mass. ”

“ On April 6th we were still on the north side of the Serra de Caldas, at the northernmost point of which flowed a riberão, or great river (elev. 2,450 ft.) . Most beautiful grazing land spread to the north of us, enormous stretches of undulating country verdant with delicious grass. ”

“ No doubt his gayety made Serra's sunshine in many a dark day; and grief at his death did much to break down the splendid old man's courage and strength. Only a few months before it occurred, they had gone together for a short visit to their comrade, Father Palon, at the San Francisco Mission. When they took leave of him, Crespí said, "Farewell forever; you will see me no more." This was late in the autumn of 1781, and on New Year's Day, 1782, he died, aged sixty years, and having spent half of those years in laboring for the Indians. ”

“ The Serra da Estrella, in Portugal, is usually regarded as a fourth section in the Carpetano-Vetonica chain.
On the southern half of the table-land a shorter series of sierras, consisting of the Montes de Toledo in the east (highest elevation Tejadillas, 4567 ft.) and the sierras of San Pedro, Montanchez and Guadalupe in the west (highest elevation Cabeza del Moro, 5100 ft.) , separates the basins of the Tagus and Guadiana. The southern system of mountains bounding the Iberian table-land—the Sierra Morena (q.v.) —is even less of a continuous chain than the two systems last described. ”

“ I wanted to ride straight down the serra, but Senhor Jorge wouldn’t let me, and so we eventually passed round under the rocks beneath it. I saw that 329he was right, though it seemed such a waste of time. Still, the delay was not to be regretted, as the only curious feature of this part is in this turn, which is full of curious hills covered with stones of a wonderful and natural formation, starting out of the earth in a slanting position. The only idea it conveys to the mind is that of a hilly churchyard, overstocked with tombstones all blown on one side by the wind. ”

“ For the geography of the peninsula at this point is peculiar: north of the gorge of the Zizandre the great backbone range, the Serra de Barregudo and the Serra de Monte Junta, extends for a distance of fifteen miles, without being crossed by a single road practicable for horses, much less for wheeled vehicles. ”

“ After riding five miles through the hot sun we found a location which might, with a large outlay for improvements, become a very nice residence for a family. It is at a point where the serra approaches the water of the ocean, and thus getting the full benefit of the sea-breeze. The property includes a portion of the level low land with a portion of the elevated land, and there is a small clear stream of water running down the slope, which has been used in former days for the machinery of a sugar-mill. ”

“ The air becomes much cooler as the elevation increases. At last the Alta da Serra, the top of the mountain, is reached, and from there it is an easy ride down to Petropolis nestling between lofty peaks. ”

“ The place which they occupy is not above a hundred yards square, and in this extent scarcely any other kind of stone is found, but beyond it the ground is covered in a similar manner with rounded blocks of sandstone of the same nature as that which forms the mass of the Serra. ”

“ When the Brazilians speak of the serra they think of the forest rather than of the mountains. Incautious cartographers, who have worked from second-hand data, which they have not [124] always interpreted correctly, have sown the map of Rio Grande with a large number of imaginary ranges. One seeks them in vain when traversing the country; but one finds, in their place, the forests which the inhabitants call serras; the term for mountain has become, by the latent logic of language, the term for forest. Nothing could better emphasize the importance of vegetation in the Brazilian landscape ”

“ Dinner had been in progress, and all the bedding was in readiness to make all comfortable for the night.
This residence is upon the elevated plateau of the serra, and we had a very steep ascent to make in reaching the crest, but once gained, the view of the country for miles up and down the valley, or rather the lower strata of land, was really magnificent. The soil here is excellent, and all the staples are growing well. Coffee seems to flourish particularly well, though not in terra rocha. ”

“ His desperate attacks of the preceding day had been repulsed with such ease and such heavy loss, that neither he nor any of his subordinates dreamed of renewing the attempt to force the line of the Serra. ”

“ It pleased God to deliver us from such peril. Our course was now between the north and north-east, for our intention was to reach the coast of Ethiopia, our distance from it being 300 leagues, in the Gulf of the Atlantic Sea. By the grace of God, on the 10th day of May, we came in sight of land, where we were able to refresh ourselves, the land being called La Serra Liona. We were there fifteen days, and thence shaped a course to the islands of the Azores, which are distant nearly 750 leagues from that Serra. ”