BOTANICAL INFORMATIOX. 213 



men possessing the firmness and tlie activity of the inhabitants 

 of the north. Doubtless, the perpetual round of such occu- 

 pations does tend to tranquillize the mind, perhaps to deaden 

 some of its imaginative properties ; and thus the simple inha- 

 bitant of Piauhy, in his calm and prosaic disposition, is a 

 widely different being from his refined, poetic, and delicate 

 neighbour, the Mineiro. 



After we had partaken of excellent fare at Terra Nova, a 

 farm belonging to the Commandant of Joazeiro, who re- 

 ceived us with great kindness, we travelled for some leagues 

 over verdant meadows, to the Fazenda do Doin Jardin, and 

 quartered for the night near a large pond. A number of 

 bull-frogs filled the air with croakings which resembled the 

 sound of a kettledrum, and fur from testifying any dread or 

 dislike of the light, they gathered round the fire in large 

 troops, annoying us with their disgusting appearance, and 

 adding to the restlessness which was occasioned by millions 

 of mosquitoes, whose venomous bites prevented our sleeping 

 the whole night. The three following days, during which 

 We proceeded from the Fazenda Amargosa to that of Anj'ico, 

 passing several others on the wa}', presented nothing worthy 

 of note. During the first of these days we met with the dry 

 channels of several little brooks, which during the rains fall 

 into the Rio Pontal ; but we soon reached a tract, destitute 

 of water, and covered either with meadows or Catinga Forests, 

 just about to put forth their foliage. The mountain forma- 

 tion is universally granitic, sometimes passing into gneiss 

 and micaceous slate, without any visible layers. On the 

 hitter substance, of which the surface was frequently crumbled 

 into a fine white sand, we noticed delicate forms of flowers 

 and bright green grasses, reminding us of the vegetation that 

 prevails in the country of Minas. 



The road rises imperceptibly; and though we here arrived 

 at the district where those two powerful rivers, the Rio San 

 Francisco, and the Rio Parnahyba take their source, and 

 whence they diverge and proceed on their separate course, 

 yet we saw no extensive and lofty range of mountains. When 



