132 A JOURNEY IN BRAZIL, 



be welcomed, like old friends, to an American home.* 

 Pernambuco is by no means so picturesque as Bahia or 

 Rio de Janeiro. It has a more modern air than either 

 of these, but looks also more cleanly and more prosper- 

 ous. Many of the streets are wide, and the river running 

 through the business part of the city, crossed by broad, 

 handsome bridges, is itself suggestive of freshness. The 

 country is more open and flat than farther south. In 

 our afternoon drive some of the views across wide, level 

 meadows, if we could have put elms here and there in 

 the place of palms, would have reminded us of scenery at 

 home. 



August 2d. Yesterday we left Pernambuco, and this 

 morning found ourselves at the mouth of the Parahyba 

 do Norte, a broad, beautiful river, up which we steamed 

 to within a few miles of the little town bearing the same 

 name. Here we took a boat and rowed to the city, where 

 we spent some hours in rambling about, collecting speci- 

 mens, examining drift formations, &c. In the course of 

 our excursion we fell in with some friends of Major Cou- 

 tinho's, who took us home with them to an excellent 

 breakfast of fresh fish, with bread, coffee, and wine. The 

 bread is to be noticed here, for it is said to be the best 

 in Brazil. The flour is the same as elsewhere, and the 

 people generally attribute the superiority of their bread to 

 some quality of the water. Whatever be the cause, there 

 is no bread in all Brazil so sweet, so light, and so white as 

 that of Parahyba do Norte. 



August 5th. We arrived yesterday at Ceara, where we 

 were warmly welcomed and most hospitably entertained 



* Mr. Agassiz was indebted to Mr. Hitch for valuable additions to his 

 collections, and for many acts of kindness in behalf of the expedition. 



