446 A JOURNEY IN BRAZIL. 
nary mode of embarking or landing passengers ; it is but 
rarely, and at particular states of the tide, that it is pos- 
sible to disembark at the pier which has been thrown out 
from the shore. Major Coutinho had written to a friend 
to engage lodgings for us, and we found a house ready. 
I was glad to sink into my comfortable hammock, to ex- 
change the pitching and rolling of the steamer for its gentle 
rocking, to be out of reach of the hungry waves, and yet to 
hear their distant rush on the shore as I fell asleep. 
The next morning was rainy, but in the afternoon it 
cleared, and toward evening we took a long drive with our 
host, Dr. Felice. I like the aspect of Ceara.. I like its 
wide, well-paved, cleanly streets, which are bright with 
color, for the substantial houses on either side are of many 
hues. If it chance to be a Sunday or a festa day, every 
balcony is filled with gayly-dressed girls, while groups of 
men sit smoking and talking on the sidewalks before the 
doors. This town has not the stagnant, inanimate look of 
many Brazilian towns. It tells of movement, life, pros- 
perity.* Beyond the city the streets stretch out into the 
campos, bordered on its inland side by beautiful serras ; 
the Serra Grande and the Serra de Baturite. In front 
of the city stretches the- broad sand-beach, and the mur- 
mur of the surf comes up into the heart of the town. 
It seems as if, so lying between sea and mountain, Ceara 
should be a healthy place, and it is usually so reputed. 
But at this moment, owing, it is thought, to the unusual 
continuance of the dry season and the extraordinary vio- 
lence of the rains, now -that they have begun, the town 
* The prosperous province of Ceara has found in Senator Pompeo a worthy 
exponent of its interests ; not only does he represent the province at Rio de 
Janeiro, but, by the publication of careful statistics, has largely contributed to 
its progress. L. A. 
