Chapter V: Ceara (1)

PERNAMBUCO TO CRATO.

The Author leaves Pernambuco in a Coasting Vessel—Description
of the Voyage—Touches at Cape San Roque—Arrives at
Aracaty—Seaport of Province of Ceará—Town described—its
Trade—Whole Province subject to great droughts—Commencement of
Journey into the Interior—Passes Villa de San Bernardo—Arid
nature of the Country—Catingas—Arrives at Icó—Town
described—Journey continued—Villa da Lavra de Mangabeira—Gold
washings abandoned—Country begins to improve—Reaches the
Villa do Crato—Town described—Low state of morals among the
Inhabitants—Sugar Plantations—Mode of Manufacture—Coarse
kind of Sugar formed into Cakes called Rapadura, in which
state it is used throughout the Province—State of Cultivation
in the Neighbourhood—Productions of the Country—Serra de
Araripe—Different kinds of timber—Wild fruits—Wandering Tribes
of Gypsies frequent—Great religious Festival—Climate—Diseases.

On my return to Pernambuco from Maceio, Dr. Loudon kindly afforded me the use of his country residence, he having removed into the town, and I remained here from the end of April to the beginning of July. At the time of going there, the rainy season had just set in, when I observed the very striking effect which a few showers had already produced on the vegetation. Three months before, I had left the whole herbage scorched and withered while the trees had a brown and sickly appearance; now all was fresh and verdant; grass and other herbaceous plants were covering the face of the earth, and bursting into bloom; and the shrubs and trees had assumed their summer dress, the deep green of the leaves harmonizing well with their various coloured flowers. The rainy season is here generally expected to commence about the middle or end of April, and continues till about the middle of August. At first, the rains fall in heavy showers, accompanied with thunder and lightning, but ultimately they become more frequent, lasting for half or an entire day, or even several successive days, with but very short intermissions; the longest period I knew it to rain without cessation, being thirty-six hours. At this season from the flatness of the country, the roads are so completely flooded, that it is impossible to move out on foot; and the atmosphere is so thoroughly saturated with moisture, that everything acquires a coating of blue mould; even books get so damp, that, unless exposed to the first sun-shine, they become musty and are spoiled.

As it was impossible to stir much abroad, I occupied myself with arranging and packing my collections from Alagoas, in making preparations for my inland journey, and in dissecting and examining the structure of numerous animals found in the neighbourhood. I also made it my endeavour to ascertain which was the best route for the journey I had in view. Those who had visited the interior strongly recommended me to proceed by sea to Aracaty, a town in the province of Ceará, about two and a half degrees to the North of Pernambuco, and to start inland from that port, the roads being rather better than those leading from other parts of the coast, and horses cheaper. I therefore determined to adopt this plan, and in the end found no cause to repent having done so. I received the best information from two Portuguese merchants, named Pinto, who resided at Icó, a large town in the interior of the province of Ceará, and who had come to Pernambuco to purchase goods, which they are in the habit of doing once in every two or three years: they were the most influential people in that quarter, and I considered myself fortunate in making their acquaintance. In order to convey their goods to Aracaty, they had hired a small schooner, and accordingly I engaged a passage for myself and servant in the same vessel. A few days before we sailed, I called with Mr. Goring, H.B.M. Vice Consul, upon the Vice-President of the province, Senhor Francisco de Paulo Cavalcante d’Albuquerque, (the President being then absent at Rio,) with the view of obtaining my passport; we were kindly received, but with less frankness than when I visited the late President Camargo; Senhor Albuquerque is a man of considerable property, and belongs to one of the first and oldest families in the north of Brazil. Besides the passport, he sent me the next day letters of recommendation to the Presidents of Ceará and Piauhy.

After a delay of several days, I embarked at noon on the 19th of July, in the Maria Luiza, a schooner of about one hundred tons burden; she was deeply laden, the cabin and deck, as well as the entire hold, being crammed with goods. We had, altogether, seventeen passengers on board, besides an equal number of negro servants or slaves; all brought much luggage with them, so that the whole of the after-deck was completely covered with trunks and packages heaped on each other, the only clear space left being that requisite for the steersman; on each side were two kennel-like boxes, which served as the sleeping berths of the two Pintos, all the other passengers being obliged to make the best provision for themselves upon deck in the open air, for there was no accommodation whatever below, even for taking meals, every one, therefore, looked out for the most convenient corner to sit or lie down in. I could find no better quarters than those upon my own trunks, one of which being much higher than the other, offered a miserably hard couch, on which I was obliged to sleep at night. This was rendered still worse by the bad weather, for no sooner had we quitted the harbour than it began to rain heavily, from which no shelter could be obtained, except that afforded by my poncho and umbrella, which did not long prevent me from being completely drenched. The misery of my situation may therefore be well imagined, and if some of my previous voyages were disagreeable, this was wretched in the extreme. My suffering was much aggravated by sea-sickness, from which I had always been quite free, but I experienced much inconvenience from this cause during the first two days, arising principally from too close contiguity to my fellow-passengers; under any circumstances there is no malady that so entirely prostrates both mind and body, but in my present position, sometimes exposed to the burning rays of the sun, at others to heavy rains without the power or means of sheltering myself from their influence, this feeling was greatly aggravated. By the evening of the second day, I found myself so much recovered as to be able to sit up, and on the following morning to eat a little, my only food having been hitherto a few oranges, the most grateful of all things to a sick person. Many of my companions did not fare so well, as they continued to suffer till the end of the voyage.

For my passage and that of my black servant I paid twenty-six mil-reis, about three pounds five shillings sterling, which included provisions. These were regularly served out three times a day by the captain from the top of the companion, and on these occasions, I was always greatly amused at the scenes which took place; every one rushed forward for his portion, and sometimes groups of twos, threes, and fours were to be seen eating with their fingers out of the same dish. There were only a few knives and forks, not nearly sufficient for the number of passengers, and these fell always to the share of those first served. Our food consisted for the most part of minced dried beef boiled with rice, to which was added morning and evening a cup of tea, and at dinner a bottle or two of miserable red wine.

One of my fellow-passengers was too remarkable a person not to be made mention of; he was an active, slender little fellow, about thirty years of age, rather well dressed, his physiognomy denoting a remarkable development of the organ of language, a qualification which I found fully confirmed in him; he seemed to be well known to the other passengers, beguiled much of the tedium of the voyage by his amusing and extravagant stories, for which he possessed great talent, and seldom have I listened to one whose powers were greater in this respect. He was often called upon for a song, on which occasion he was accompanied by a young man who played well on the guitar. He told me that he was a native of Pernambuco and had visited Lisbon, and all the sea-ports between Buenos Ayres and Parà, and he described many of the adventures that befell him on several of these occasions. In recounting these tales he generally seated himself cross-legged on the companion, and as he proceeded, his listeners were kept in one continued roar of laughter. The adventures of Gil Blas were nothing compared with his, and it is not improbable that many were manufactured for the occasion.

About noon of the second day we passed Cape St. Roque, and in the evening came to anchor in a small bay inside the reef, within a short distance of a suspicious-looking schooner, which I have no doubt came in here to land a cargo of slaves, as there was no likelihood of her being in this solitary place for any other purpose. Early next morning we again got outside the reef, and continued our voyage, running before the S.E. trades which were blowing very freshly at the time. The weather now became much finer, and I could enjoy the cool fresh breeze, and observe the nature of the coast, to which we often approached so closely as to be within little more than gunshot of it; with the exception of a few white sand hills, destitute nearly of vegetation, it appeared extremely flat. About noon of the third day we made the bar of Aracaty, but as it was then low water, and too shallow to allow us to enter, we had to stand off till four P.M., when a pilot came on board who steered us into the smooth deep water in the mouth of the river inside the bar, where we came to anchor for the night, and were visited by a custom-house officer, who was more particular in examining my luggage than that of any other passenger. When this was finished, and I had exhibited my passport, I was allowed to hire a boat to convey me to the town, situated twelve miles farther up the river, as the vessel could not get up till the following day.

The river on which the town of Aracaty stands is called the Rio Jaguaribe, and a little above the bar it is about a mile broad. For a considerable distance the western bank is comparatively high, but the eastern side is flat all the way up to the town. The lower part of the western bank is rather thickly wooded with small trees, but on both sides the shores are covered with mangroves. About a league and a half below the town, great numbers of the Carnahuba palm (_Corypha cerifera_, Mart.) makes its appearance. This palm, of which I afterwards passed through immense forests, reaches to the height of from twenty to forty feet, and besides being the most abundant, is one of the most beautiful of its size. The stems of the younger plants are generally covered all over with leaves, but as they get older the lower ones drop off, leaving only a tuft at the top, which is so arranged as to form a perfect ball. The leaves are fan-shaped, and not at all unlike those of the fan palm of the south of Europe.

The town of Aracaty stands on the east side of the river, and consists principally of one long broad street. It contains four fine churches, and the houses are generally of two stories. The population amounts to about 5000, the mass of whom are very poor. A considerable quantity of dried beef was formerly prepared here for exportation to other parts of Brazil, but this trade has fallen off very much, cotton and hides being now the principal articles of export. Of the former about 5000 bags, or 25,000 arrobas of thirty-two pounds each, are exported annually, and of the latter about 2000. But little cotton is cultivated near the coast, the greater part of it, as well as the hides, being brought from the interior; the transport of these is effected at the end of the rainy season in large waggons, which are generally drawn by twelve oxen. During the time of the rains, the roads are impassable, and in the dry season, neither water nor grass can be procured for the cattle. The river runs close to the town, and at the end of the rainy season, when I was there, was somewhat less than a quarter of a mile broad; but during the height of the rains, it often rises twelve feet above its ordinary level, and then overflows the town. With the exception of a hill situated two and a half leagues to the S.W. of the town, and which rises six or eight hundred feet, and a few sand hills near the coast, the country all round is so flat, that the horizon is about as level as that of the sea. The houses are built of a frame-work made of the stems of the Carnahuba palm filled up with brick. The stem of this useful tree is used by the inhabitants for almost every purpose to which wood can be applied; it is so durable that the lower part, particularly of the full grown stems, lasts for many years, even when exposed to the weather; hence all the enclosures for cattle are made of them, for which purpose they are longitudinally split. The leaves are used for a variety of purposes, such as thatch, pack-saddles, hats, &c.; they also yield a kind of wax, obtained from the young leaves, which are covered with a glaucous bloom, by shaking them after they have been detached from the tree. Each yields about fifty grains of a whitish powder, and when a considerable quantity of it has been obtained, it is put into a pot and melted over the fire. Some years ago, a large quantity of this was sent to Lisbon, but was not found to answer any useful purpose; by the Brazilians it is sometimes used to adulterate common wax. In times of scarcity the young leaves are chopped up, and given to horses and cattle to eat, and the people prepare for themselves a kind of farinha from the inside of the young stems. The rains generally begin here in February, and end about the beginning of June. The whole province is sometimes liable to great droughts (_seccas_), the last of which occurred in the year 1825, during which no rain fell at all. The distress resulting from this calamity was very great, and the people still speak of it with the utmost horror; nearly all the horses and cattle were exterminated, and the loss of human life was very great, it being estimated that 30,000 of the inhabitants of the province perished. Great numbers of these died while attempting to reach the coast; wild as well as domestic animals fell victims to the want of water and food: these droughts have been observed to occur periodically. Aracaty was, during my visit, supplied with water of tolerable quality from a well near the town, but it was expected shortly to have an excellent supply from a spring about a league distant; the individual who undertook to procure this was Senhor Maya, a native of Gibraltar, who has been settled for many years at Aracaty; having received a privilege from government, he laid a brick channel for the water to run in, and as the spring is considerably lower than the town, he was erecting a force-pump for the purpose of raising it; the water from the well near the town, was sold through the streets in small barrels carried on low carts, which were often drawn by sheep. Senhor Maya expects to remunerate himself by the sale of the produce of his labour, which will certainly, from its superior quality, obtain preference.

As at Maceio, there is only one British merchant resident at Aracaty, Mr. Miller, to whom I had letters from Pernambuco, and in whose house I was hospitably entertained during the fortnight I remained here. I had also letters to several respectable Brazilians, from whom I likewise received many kind attentions, not the least of which were letters to their friends in the interior. Besides making the necessary preparations for my journey, I made a few excursions in the neighbourhood, and thereby obtained specimens of most of the plants which were then in flower, among these was a very pretty species of _Angelonia_ (_A. arguta_, Benth.). As the Senhores Pinto were sending their goods to Icó in waggons, they obligingly allowed me to despatch, by this opportunity, all the heaviest portions of my luggage. I thus only required to purchase two horses at Aracaty, and these, two of the best travelling ones that were to be had, cost only four guineas each. Having agreed to accompany the Pintos to Icó, we started on horseback from Aracaty, on the morning of the 3rd of August, in the midst of a heavy shower of rain, which, however, soon ceased. After riding through a dense forest of Carnahuba palms on a perfectly level sandy road, we crossed the river at the distance of about two leagues and a half from the town. The ford is called the Passagem das Pedras, from the rocky nature of the bed of the river. These rocks I found belonged to the gneiss series, with the strata nearly vertical, the little inclination which they had, being towards the west in the direction of the hill already alluded to, called the Serra d’Areré, about half a mile distant. At nine o’clock we halted to breakfast in a large shed (_rancho_) by the road-side, and there we remained till the afternoon, for in travelling in the north of Brazil, where the heat is very great, the animals are always allowed to rest during the middle of the day, which is not the case in the south, where the whole day’s journey is made at one stretch. The country during our morning’s ride still continued flat, but in many places instead of being sandy, is covered with gravel and boulders of various sizes, the largest of the latter being about four feet in diameter, all more or less rounded, and consisting of granite, gneiss, and quartz. The great mass of the vegetation consisted of Carnahuba palms and a few small trees which grew among them, the most common of which is a species of _Patagonula_, called by the Brazilians _Pao branco_, from the white nature of its wood, which is chiefly employed as fuel. As we passed along, we raised numerous flocks of pigeons, some of which were not larger than sparrows, while others were the size of our domestic ones; and sporting among the leaves of the palms we observed several species of parrots and paroquets, besides a variety of beautiful small birds, one species being very numerous much resembling the common canary. The notes of these birds were of course as varied as their kinds, that of the parrot tribe being particularly disagreeable, not unlike that of the English rook, but the sound which most particularly caught my ear, was the monotonous and distinct cry of the Bem-te-ve, a bird about the size, shape, and colour of the thrush. This name has been given to it from the resemblance of its note to the Portuguese signifying “I see you well,” which it repeats in quick succession. Resuming our journey at three o’clock in the afternoon, and travelling through the same sort of country, we passed a small town towards dusk, called Villa de San Bernardo, which is ten leagues from Aracaty. It is built in the form of a square, the west side of which is principally occupied with a handsome church; and as it stands in the open plain (_vargem_) which is studded with occasional wide-spreading _Zizyphus_ trees and Carnahuba palms, and as all the houses are white-washed, it offers an imposing appearance when seen at a distance. About half a league beyond this town, we stopped for the night at a small house by the road-side; all the houses in this part of the country, which are not actually in towns, have a large veranda (_copial_) in front, and it is under this that travellers generally ask leave to rest for the night, there being hooks fixed from which hammocks can be suspended. As soon as the loads were taken off the cargo horses, and the saddles from those we had ridden, they were sent to graze in the neighbourhood, where they were left with their fore-feet strapped pretty closely together, in order to prevent them from straying.

Early next morning by the light of a beautiful and clear moon we resumed our journey, but had not gone more than two leagues when I was prevented from accompanying my companions further by an awkward mistake made by my servant. In the hurry of departure, in the place of one of my horses, he had caught another of the same size and colour, belonging to some one else, and it was not till daylight had fairly set in that the mistake was discovered. I had now to call a halt, and getting my trunks, &c. put under the veranda of an old house, I despatched Pedro in search of my own animal. About two o’clock he returned bringing it with him, but as I found myself somewhat indisposed I determined not to proceed further that night. As there was no inhabited house near, we remained at the ruined dwelling, which my health did not allow us to leave for two days. As the road on which we proceeded is the highway to the interior of the province of Ceará, as also to the middle parts of the province of Piauhy, many travellers passed our encampment. Waggons loaded with cotton and hides were going downwards, while others, as well as troops of horses, were passing upwards loaded with European goods and salt, the latter being a scarce and dear article in the interior. When afterwards I travelled through some of the most desert and least inhabited parts of the inland provinces, there were two articles which were always asked for on my arrival at any habitation, first, gunpowder, and then salt; some of the poor beings scarcely taste the latter from one year’s end to the other, their animal food being preserved by simply drying it in the sun, after it has been cut into thin slices. I had always to carry a stock of salt with me, and not unfrequently it has cost me as much as three shillings a pound, at the same time that I could purchase an entire fat ox for about ten shillings. To the European who is accustomed to travel without need of arms, and in comparative security, the appearance of the swarthy and brigand-like travellers here met with, each armed with horse pistols, sword, dagger, knife, and gun, afford no favourable idea of the morals of these people. Murders and robberies are frequent among them, it being seldom that the one is committed without the other, when they always occur by treachery. From all I have seen and heard, I do not believe that one instance can be recorded of a Brazilian boldly facing another and asking him for his purse; one reason for this may be that each is aware that the other is armed with a knife, and hence he avoids coming within reach of it. Most of the very many murders which are committed in Brazil, are the result either of jealousy or of political hatred.

It was not till the afternoon of the 6th that I found myself sufficiently recovered to leave our solitary encampment, when we resumed our journey at a slow pace till after eleven at night. The moon had risen about six, and shone with a brilliancy such as I have seldom witnessed; this together with the coolness of the evening, renders travelling after sunset very agreeable, although to the naturalist it is not the most profitable. During the whole of my extensive journies I made it a rule never to travel at night, unless through a decidedly desert country, in order that nothing of interest should be overlooked. The seven leagues which we accomplished this evening was through a country of much the same barren nature as that we had already gone over, with the exception of one low range of hills covered with small trees and shrubs; on the level portion scarcely anything was to be seen but Carnahuba palms, Pao Branco, a _Zizyphus_, and a species of _Aspidospermum_, a small tree that grows gregariously and to which the inhabitants give the name of Pereira; the bark of it is very bitter, and its infusion is used to destroy lice, and other vermin infecting cattle. We passed through several large open gravelly spaces (_vargems_), nearly destitute of trees, and the herbaceous vegetation that had sprung up during the rains was now nearly parched up. The stillness of the night was only broken by the cries of a small species of goatsucker (_Caprimulgus_), that was flying about in great numbers. We rested for the night under the veranda of a house close to the road-side, in approaching which we passed through a flock of several hundred sheep, being the greatest number I have seen collected together in any part of the country, but the excessive heat of the climate had wrought a remarkable change in their appearance, their skin being wholly destitute of wool and replaced by a short hair, not unlike that of a cow. In the same manner goats lose the long hair natural to them in cold countries, which proves how much the economy of animals can suit itself to change of circumstances. On the following morning we traversed a country still abounding with the elegant Carnahuba palm, and numerous small fresh-water lakes, teeming with wild ducks and other kinds of water-fowl, and arrived at a place where there are several houses near to the Rio Jaguaribe, in the neighbourhood of which some small trees of _Cochlospermum serratifolium_, DC., were beautifully in flower, their large golden blossoms gleaming in the sun like oranges; here I found that in consequence of the pack-saddles being too narrow, the back of the cargo horse was so much galled, that it could no longer carry its load, in consequence I was obliged to hire another from a person whom I met going up to Icó with loads of salt, and who had some spare animals with him. The weather being fine, I preferred taking up my quarters under the shade of a broad-spreading wild fig tree standing some distance from any habitation, although I was invited by the owner of one of the houses to accept the accommodation it afforded.

As the person whose horse I had hired could not leave till the following day, I was obliged, against my will, to await his convenience. Soon after my arrival I sent Pedro to purchase some milk for breakfast, and he returned with a large basinful, for which he said the people would not take money; and in the course of the forenoon I had similar presents sent to me from two other persons. During the season of the rains, and for a few months afterwards, milk is very abundant, and of excellent quality, but it is nowhere to be procured except in large towns, during the last four or five months of the dry season. The inhabitants prepare a little cheese, but have no idea of making butter; the milk remaining after breakfast, for they milk their cows only in the morning, is allowed to stand till night, when from the heat of the day it becomes curdled; this dish, of which they are very fond, is generally sweetened with a kind of unclarified sugar, to which they give the name of _Rapadura_, and which is brought from the country above Icó; it is formed into cakes about six inches long, three broad, and two thick; during a long time I was obliged to use this as a substitute for sugar, but although at first not very agreeable, I at length became so fond of it as to prefer it to sugar itself, and such I found to be the case with the people in this part of the country; I have repeatedly seen them make a meal of a lump of this with a little farinha. The greater part of the inhabitants of the district through which we were journeying, are rearers of cattle (_criadores de gado_), but none of them possess such immense herds as I afterwards found to exist in the provinces of Piauhy and Goyaz. Provisions were here very cheap, in consequence of the small demand for them; an ox could be purchased for about twenty-five shillings, and a sheep or a goat for four or five; Pedro bought a fowl in fine condition for about twopence halfpenny, and eight eggs for a penny. I observed very few cotton plantations, as these people grow it only for their own use; they also cultivate a little mandiocca, the root of which produces a kind of cassava, well-known all over Brazil under the name of farinha; this, together with dried beef (carne secca), forms their chief food; the farinha is either used in its dry state, when it is much of the consistence of saw dust, or is made up into a kind of pudding called Pirão, by mixing it with boiling water, or with milk when that article is abundant.

On the first day’s journey with our new companion we travelled about seven leagues, five of which were accomplished in the morning, and two in the evening. The Villa de Icó is in a southerly direction, bearing a little to the west of Aracaty, the distance between them being about two hundred and forty miles. The Senhors Pinto accomplished the journey in five days and a half, but it took me three days longer; which delay I did not regret, as I travelled more at my ease, and was enabled to make collections by the way, that I could not have done had I accompanied them. On this day’s journey I observed that the country was gradually rising; where visible, the soil consisted of a reddish coloured clay, but many large tracts were covered with gravel which gave them the appearance of having been at one time the bed of an immense river. In other places beds of gneiss, forming elevated ridges were seen cropping out, the strata being nearly vertical. About half an hour after we began our journey, we passed a large lake on the left side of the road, called Lagoa grande; it is about a league long, and nearly as much broad, and abounds in fish and wild duck. Carnahuba palms were now becoming less frequent, but they were succeeded by a vegetation of a very opposite character; in situations somewhat sandy, a dwarf kind of _Cassia_ often occurs, as well as two or three species of _Croton_, but these, in common with the herbaceous vegetation, were already much scorched up; in the gravelly places the principal production is a beautiful erect species of _Evolvulus_ about a foot high, with small leaves and numerous blue flowers, giving it much the appearance of the common flax. On the more elevated tracts, woods are seen consisting of low trees and shrubs, principally a subarboreous species of _Mimosa_, and a _Combretum_; these woods are nearly all deciduous, the heat and drought producing the same effect on their foliage, as the cold in northern regions, these are called by the inhabitants _Catingas_; no large trees are to be seen, but in the more open parts of the country, a low wide-spreading species of the _Chrysobalanaceous_ tribe is not uncommon, affording shade not only to travellers, but to the cattle which pasture in those districts; it was under one of these trees that we halted during the heat of the day, and dined on part of a large green lizard that I shot the evening before.

The remainder of our journey was through a country very similar to that just described; but a low evergreen _Zizyphus_ tree, and a few large species of _Cactus_ now gave a different character to the landscape. On the afternoon of the 12th the appearance of the country was still further diversified by our approach to a mountain range about sixteen leagues in length, running in a direction from S.W. to N.E.; this is called the Serra de Pereira, a name derived from the number of trees of that name said to grow on it. The appearance of this high land was a great relief to the eye, after having been so long accustomed to a nearly level country. On the same evening I saw for the first time a troop of oxen with loads on their backs; there were about a dozen of them, all large and well fed animals, going down to Aracaty with dried hides; such a sight was afterwards not uncommon. The further we proceeded inland, the greater appeared to be the effect of the drought; and in consequence of this I added but little to my botanical collections; but among the few plants that were in flower I observed a very fine species of _Angelonia_ (_A. biflora_, Benth.) bearing long spikes of large bluish coloured flowers, and which is now common in English gardens, raised from seeds which I sent home. So little are the birds here annoyed by man, that flocks of pigeons of various sorts, parrots, paroquets, &c., remained without stirring on the branches of the small trees under which we passed; and cranes of different species as well as many other water birds, did not move from the margins of the small lakes till the horses nearly approached them; the same was nearly the case with two kinds of ravens, called by the inhabitants Gavião and Gavião vermelho; these latter exist in great numbers living upon what carrion they may pick up. While we were resting during the heat of the day, I frequently took my gun to shoot parrots and pigeons, which we stewed for dinner, and were more relished than our usual fare of dried beef, although the flesh of parrots is both brown, dry, and tough. Some of the pigeons, as before observed, are not larger than sparrows, and one of these which frequently alights on the roofs of houses, may be heard, particularly during the morning, calling out most distinctly “Fogo pegou, Fogo pegou” for hours together; in Portuguese this means “the gun missed fire,” an apparently teazing exclamation of the bird, not unaptly applied to the guns of the country people which seldom take effect. This I suspect is the same bird that Waterton speaks of under the name of “Will-come-go.” Shortly before we reached the Villa de Icó, we met a party of ladies and gentlemen, on horseback, and I was not a little surprised to see the manner in which the former were mounted, _en cavalier_, which, in nine cases out of ten, is the way in which females travel in the interior.

On my arrival at Icó my friends the Pintos had kindly procured an uninhabited house for my reception; in consequence of the breaking down of the waggon which was bringing up my trunks, &c., and other unforeseen causes, I was detained at this place three weeks, which I the more regretted, as my time could be turned to no useful account, in consequence of the drought that prevailed in the neighbourhood. The town of Icó, one of the most important in the interior of the province of Ceará, is situated in a plain on the east of the Rio Jaguaribe, which here, however, takes the name of Rio Salgado; it is said to contain about 6000 inhabitants; the plain is one of considerable size, being bounded on the east by the Serra de Pereira, and on the west by a much lower range of hills. The town consists of three principal streets, running nearly north and south, intersected by a number of smaller ones. The houses are all built of brick, no timber of sufficient size being found in the neighbourhood; with the exception of about half a dozen, they are all of one story, and white-washed with a kind of chalk found abundantly in the hilly country thirty leagues to the westward. The principal street is broad, and contains some well-furnished shops; it presents four handsome churches, a substantial jail, and a market-place, in which fresh beef, dried beef, farinha, salt, rapadura, gourds, pine-apples, melons, water-melons, oranges, and limes, are every day exhibited for sale; the whole of these fruits are brought from a distance, the immediate neighbourhood of the town producing nothing whatever, the whole country being dry and arid, except during the wet season, which only lasts about four months. At a short distance are seen a number of those low deciduous woods called _Catingas_, but even these were destitute of leaves, and there was nothing within sight deserving the name of a tree; the river also, which during the rains is of considerable size, judging from the appearance of its bed, was now dry in many places, deep pools only being left here and there, abounding with several sorts of fish, which, however, are soon exhausted. Notwithstanding the number of inhabitants which this place contains, it cannot boast of a single medical practitioner, but there are two apothecaries, whose shops are well stocked with medicines. The greater part of the inhabitants are shopkeepers, who supply the interior with articles of European manufacture, receiving produce in return, which they send down to the coast.

A few days after I arrived here I was visited by most of the respectable inhabitants of the place, and as their calls were shortly returned, I soon gained an extensive acquaintance. One of my most frequent visitors was an old priest, who was very inquisitive regarding all that related to England; one of his first questions was whether I was baptized or not, and in what faith? and when I told him I was a Protestant, he replied, “Ah! then you are a Pagan.” Such was his ignorance! and this I found to prevail with nearly all the inferior priests I met in the interior of the northern provinces, and I had great difficulty in convincing him that the fundamental principles of our respective religions were alike; after this, whenever I was interrogated as to my religious faith, I answered by simply saying I was a Christian, which entitled me to respect. When it became known that I was a medical man I had numerous applications for advice. The most common complaints here, as elsewhere in Brazil, are chronic disorders of the digestive organs, which often terminate in dropsy and paralysis; dysentery, pleurisy, and ophthalmia are likewise not unfrequent, particularly during the dry season, produced, no doubt, by the great difference of temperature between night and day, which more readily takes effect on these people owing to the very thin dresses which they wear; in no case did I see flannel worn next the skin, which is the best preventive against sudden change of temperature. One of my patients was the wife of one of my Portuguese friends, who was attended by her mother, and although her complaint was a dangerous malady of which she afterwards died, the greatest source of regret her parent expressed was the state of leanness to which her daughter was reduced, plumpness being considered the chief point of beauty in the Brazilian fair. One of the greatest compliments that can be paid a lady, is to tell her that she is becoming daily fatter and more beautiful (_mais gorda e mais bonita_), indeed the greater portion of them soon acquire a tendency to become so, from the sedentary life they all lead.

After remaining about a fortnight I made preparations to leave Icó, as I wished as soon as possible to get up to Crato, another town about one hundred and twenty miles to the S.W., situated at the foot of the mountains which divide the provinces of Ceará and Piauhy, where I was assured I should meet with abundance to reward my researches, as the general temperature was much cooler, and the country well watered with small streams from the mountains. I purchased two additional horses, engaged an experienced guide, and procured whatever was necessary for the journey, when the following incident occurred to prevent my departure. The day before that fixed for our journey, one of my new horses disappeared from the pasture in which it was feeding, if, indeed, a little dried up grass could be so called; as horse-stealing is a very frequent crime in Brazil, I strongly suspected that some one had made free with my animal, but I was assured it had only strayed into a neighbouring _Catinga_ and would soon be found. I immediately despatched Pedro and another man well acquainted with the country, in quest of it, but after two days’ search they could bring me no satisfactory tidings. Having lost all hopes of regaining it, I was about to purchase another, when a man, who had been searching for two of his own stray animals, told Pedro he had seen one answering the description of mine on the Serra de Pereira, about three leagues distant; upon this Pedro and his companion were again despatched in that direction, when they returned in the evening bringing it with them; they found it on an elevated table land feeding along with an immense number of the American Ostrich (_Rhea Americana_). This was the first of a series of annoyances I met with during my future travels, from my horses either straying or having been stolen; an animal is frequently taken away by some one who wishes to make a short journey, so that after a day or two it will be found in the place whence it was taken; at other times they are removed and hidden for a few days, for the purpose of claiming a reward; and though I was frequently well assured of this imposition, I never refused to pay the money, knowing I should otherwise be worse off. All being now again ready for leaving Icó, I took leave of all my friends, who gave me their hearty wishes for a prosperous journey. The evening before my departure many little presents were sent for my use during the journey, such as little jars of sweet-meats, biscuits of various sorts, prepared from ground rice and Indian corn, roasted fowls, &c.; a custom I found to be almost universal in the north of Brazil.

On the evening of the second day after leaving Icó, we arrived at the Villa de Lavra de Mangabeira, which is about ten leagues distant. A little beyond Icó the road becomes very rough, frequently ascending and again descending over rocky paths, on which account it is no longer serviceable for the transit of waggons, all further traffic into the interior being now effected either on horseback or, strange as it may appear, upon oxen. The diversity of hill and dale renders this part of the journey less monotonous, and although the herbaceous vegetation was much destroyed by the heat, the greater part of the trees, which are both large and more numerous, still retained their leaves; the most abundant tree that I observed was called by the inhabitants Aroeira; it is a species of _Schinus_, perhaps _S. Aroeira_, St. Hil., and reaches to the height of thirty or forty feet; as the stem grows very straight, it is much used in house-building; at this time it was destitute of leaves, but from the ends of its branches were suspended clusters of small fruit of a dark colour, giving it very much the appearance of the European alder when covered with its dark-brown catlins. The other trees consist chiefly of large _Acacias_ and _Mimosas_, _Bignonias_ of considerable size covered with yellow and rose coloured flowers, a _Triplaris_, and, the most beautiful of all, a large _Jacaranda_, the wide-spreading branches of which were densely covered with great panicles of beautiful large blue flowers, not unlike those of the no less splendid _Gloxinia speciosa_; among these sometimes appear a few solitary Carnahuba palms, but in hollow sheltered places they often occur in groups; large _Cacti_ are not uncommon, and we passed over some elevated open shrubby tracts abounding in a species of _Krameria_.

The Villa de Lavra de Mangabeira is situated on the banks of the Rio Salgado, and contains about eighty or a hundred houses, all small, and many of them falling to decay. Gold is found in the neighbourhood, in a dark coloured alluvial soil a little below the surface; from time to time washings have been established, which have never yielded satisfactory results; the most extensive of these was undertaken about two years before my arrival. The president of the province and some others having formed themselves into a company, sent for two English miners to conduct the operations; they continued their labours to within two months previously, when the work was abandoned. About a year afterwards I met with one of these miners in a far distant part of the country, and from him I learned that the gold exists in too small quantities to repay the cost of its extraction; scarcity of water at times was also another drawback. Here I found, growing in vast quantities on the sandy margins of the river, a species of _Grangea_, which is a powerful bitter, used by the natives as an infusion in dyspeptic cases in the same manner as camomile, which, indeed, it much resembles, and to which they give the same name (_macella_).

We left Lavra on the afternoon of the same day on which we arrived, and halted for the night at a small house near the river. On the following morning as we were advancing quietly, one of the horses struck its load against a tree, by which means it was thrown off; thus disencumbered it ran away at full speed among the trees, and was soon followed by the remainder, who in like manner quickly rid themselves of their cargoes; an hour was thus lost in recapturing and replacing the loads, and even while this was doing, one of the animals laid down and began to roll, first breaking the cords by which his burden was held on, and thus a second time freeing himself. I mention this, as an instance of one of the many annoyances to which a traveller in such countries is liable; in these respects horses are more unmanageable than mules. In the northern provinces of Brazil, however, the latter animals are very seldom seen, notwithstanding they have been frequently tried, large troops of them having been brought from the south. All being finally arranged, we continued our journey, and about mid-day arrived at a house on the bank of the river, near the road-side, where I asked permission as usual to pass the middle of the day, but we were told we should meet with better accommodation half a league further on; this was the first time I met with a refusal, and I can only recollect one similar instance during all my travels. After proceeding about a league without the appearance of any house, we halted under some large trees close to the river, where I determined to remain for the night, as the horses had undergone a long morning’s journey. In the evening I took a walk in the neighbourhood, but met with nothing new except a species of _Mikania_ clinging among the branches of a _Mimosa_; and a few shells in the bed of the river. Between this place and Lavra, the course of the river is very tortuous, and being now very nearly dried up, I observed that the inhabitants had planted melons, water-melons, gourds, &c. in it; bananas were now beginning to be cultivated, and almost every house had its own little cotton and tobacco plantation. Every where _Argemone Mexicana_, the Cardo Santo of the Brazilians, grows in great plenty, the large yellow poppy-like flowers being very beautiful; a handful of the leaves of this plant, together with about a quarter of an ounce of the ripe seeds infused, is used as a draught in jaundice. It was a beautiful evening when I retired to my hammock, which was suspended between two trees, but I had not been long asleep when I was awoke by a strange rattling noise among the leaves, that I soon found to be caused by a heavy shower approaching from the south, which shortly fell upon our encampment in torrents; we were unprepared for such an occurrence, it being then the height of the dry season, and were quickly drenched; my hammock soon became too uncomfortable to lie in, so I got up, wrapt myself in my poncho, and sat down on one of the pack-saddles by the extinguished fire; unfortunately I had no umbrella to afford any shelter, having lost it two days before, at a place where I had dismounted to collect some beetles. The rain continued for about two hours, and not being able to go to bed again, every thing being soaked, I was obliged to remain seated in this position till daybreak, when, after arranging all our humid articles in the best manner, we proceeded on our journey. The morning though cloudy was dry, and there was a feeling of freshness in the atmosphere such as I had not felt since we left the coast; we travelled for nearly a league before we came to a house, so that instead of being only half a league distant from where we were refused accommodation on the previous day, I found it was nearly two; we went on two leagues further, without meeting another habitation, so we halted during the middle of the day beneath some large Jatobá (_Hymenæa_) trees. This part of the country is very thinly populated; the greater part of the soil being of a gravelly nature, is neither adapted for cultivation, even were water abundant, nor for feeding cattle. It is besides very hilly, some of the ranges being the highest we had yet passed over; from the top of one of the elevations I obtained a fine view of the undulating thinly-wooded country below; scattered here and there were to be seen large pink or yellow _Bignonias_, or the azure-blossomed _Jacaranda_, raising their magnificent diadems above the other denizens of the wood; and an occasional plant of _Cochlospermum serratifolium_, loaded with its large and beautiful yellow flowers, attracts the attention of the traveller. The rocks which I observed during this ride were of a grey coloured clay-slate.