BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 501 



but had hardly done so, ere I fell down fainting before him, 

 and did not recover till I found myself in bed in a neatly 

 furnished apartment, with a person who was administering 

 remedies to me, and who addressed me in English. He was 

 a Portuguese physician, who, after studying in Edinburgh, 

 had recently settled at Cachias. Thanks to his kind and 

 skilful care, I quickly revived, and next morning had the 

 comfort of seeing Dr. Spix arrive in a tolerable state of con- 

 valescence ; he was brought by the slaves who had been 

 sent to fetch him. The kind care of the physician and the 

 new judge, Senor Francisco Gonzales Matins, who had left 

 Bahia after us, coming hither by sea, (in accordance with the 

 custom throughout Brazil, which changes the residence of 

 a judge every three years,) speedily produced an improve- 

 ment in the health, both of Dr. Spix and myself. 



Cachias is one of the most flourishing towns in the interior 

 of Brazil, and possesses a population, calculated at 30,000 

 souls. Its prosperity is mainly due to the company of mer- 

 chants of Maranhao and Para in the Province of Maranhao, 

 aided by twenty years' cultivation of Cotton ; a branch of 

 industry pursued with much spirit, and to the prosecution 

 of which the inhabitants are incited by the many Euro- 

 peans settled among them. Above half the cotton raised 

 in the whole province finds its way through Cachias to the 

 capital ; and during the last few years, the number of bags, 

 shipped from this place, each weighing from five to six 

 arrobas, averages from 25,000 to 30,000, the value of which, at 

 the lowest estimate, amounts to the sum of £1,640,000, or 

 nearly two millions of florins. The cotton of Maranhao, 

 including the produce of Parnahyba, Rio Grande, Rio do 

 Norte and Ceara, is considered superior to what is grown in 

 a ny part of the Brazilian Empire, with the exception of Per- 

 nambuco. The latter article is more carefully sorted and 

 cleaned, and its texture is somewhat finer ; but the staple is 

 shorter, thus rendering it best adapted to the manufacture of 

 delicate articles, in which durability is not particularly requi- 

 site. The Maranhao cotton produces a strong, tough, white 



