442 A JOURNEY IN BRAZIL. 



CHAPTER XIY. 



CEARA*. 



LEAVING PARA. FAREWELL TO THE AMAZONS. EASE OF TRAVELLING on 

 THE AMAZONS. ROUGH PASSAGE. ARRIVAL AT CEARA. DIFFICULTY 

 OF LANDING. ASPECT OF THE TOWN. RAINY SEASON. CONSEQUENT 

 SICKLINESS. OUR PURPOSE IN STOPPING AT CEARA. REPORI ;F DK. 

 FELICE ABOUT MORAINES. PREPARATIONS FOR JOURNEY INTO THE INTE- 

 RIOR. DIFFICULTIES AND DELAYS IN GETTING OFF. ON THE WAY. 

 NIGHT AT ARANCHO. BAD ROADS. CARNAUBA PALM. ARRIVAL AT 

 MONGUBA. KIND RECEPTION BY SENHOR FRANKLIN DE LIMA. GEOLOGY 

 OF THE REGION. EVENING GAMES AND AMUSEMENTS. PACATUBA. 

 TRACES OF ANCIENT GLACIERS. SERRA OF ARATANHA. CLIMB UP THE 

 SERRA. HOSPITALITY OF SENHOR DA COSTA. PICTURESQUE VIEWS. 

 THE SERTAO. DROUGHT AND RAINS. EPIDEMICS. RETURN TO MON- 

 GUBA. DETAINED BY EXTRAORDINARY RAINS. RETURN TO CEARA. 

 OVERFLOWED ROADS. DIFFICULTY OF FORDING. ARRIVAL AT CEARA. 

 LIBERALITY OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE PROVINCE TOWARD THE EXPEDI- 

 TION. 



April 2d. Ceara. We left Para on the 26th of March, 

 In the ^evening, feeling for the first time that we were indeed 

 bidding good by to the Amazons. Our pleasant voyages on 

 its yellow waters, our canoe excursions on its picturesque 

 lakes and igarapes, our lingerings in its palm-thatched cot- 

 tages, belonged to the past ; except in memory, our Amazo- 

 nian travels were over. When we entered upon them, what 

 vague anticipations, what visions of a new and interesting 

 life, not, as we supposed, without its dangers and anxieties, 

 were before us. So little is known, even in Brazil, of the 

 Amazons, that we could obtain only very meagre and, usually, 

 rather discouraging information concerning our projected 

 journey. In Rio, if you say you are going to ascend their 

 great river, your Brazilian friends look at you with compas- 

 sionate wonder. You are threatened with sickness, with in- 



