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. 



