DIAMOND MINES OF BRAZIL 193
depositing
the small diamonds as they find them in the wash. Rich finds are
sometimes made in a " poco " or pool in the river bed in which the
cascalho has been caught, especially where a "cochoeira" or waterfall
has been for ages washing rich deposits from above. The conical wooden
dish used for washing is called " bateia." The " carimbe " is a smaller
wooden bowl in which the cascalho is carried on the head. The river
beds are worked in the dry season, and the deposits in fissures or
depressions in the rocks, in wet seasons. Carbons do not occur in Minas
Geraes, but larger diamonds are found than in Bahia.
The
Agua Suja district is a southern continuation of these fields. It lies
on the Bagagem river, one of the tributaries of the Paranhiba, 12 miles
south and a little east of Bagagem, about three thousand feet above sea
level. The Mogyana Railroad runs to Uberaba, 67 miles from Bagagem. The
region is a series of terraces sloping to the west from Serra da
Canastea to the Rio Grande. The fall of the rivers is considerable, and
the currents therefore are swift. The Rio das Velhas narrows near Agua
Suja to 50 feet, and rushes over two falls of ten and thirteen feet
with great velocity. The Rio Claro, a tributary of the Rio das Velhas,
also runs very swiftly over a bed of horizontal gravels and limonite
conglomerate. The Bagagem river has a drop of 1/2 per cent, between
Bagagem and Agua Suja. L. B. Gonzaga de Campos describes the bottom of
the valley of the Bagagem river as consisting of mica-schist, and the
soil on the slope towards Agua Suja as alluvial with pebbles of
limonite. The Agua Suja valley, which runs east and west, and that of
the
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