PLANTATIONS 



How often have I wandered through these forests of reed-Hke 

 canes ! They clashed together high over my head ; on the floors of 

 the valleys dark water glittered, from which the blue flowers of the 

 Eichhornia emerged; then again the green shadow moved aside, 

 and the summit of a hill appeared, crowned by the picturesque hut 

 of a plantation-worker, surrounded by a manioc-field and over- 

 shadowed by mango and orange-trees. 



Nothing is simpler than to build such a house. A wooden frame 

 work is erected (Plate 24), wattled, and thatched with coconut- 

 palm leaves, and daubed with mud, and the thing is done ! In front 

 is a living-room ; in the middle two small bedrooms ; at the back a 

 room used for cooking and eating. Fowls and little black pigs run 

 about the house ; a few vegetables and a little fruit are grown close 

 at hand, and the inhabitants have what they need. Nevertheless, it 

 often happens that the overseer of a plantation will find such a hut 

 deserted in the morning; all will seem as usual, but the family has 

 gone away, and no work will be done in the adjacent section of the 

 plantation. The old nomadic spirit of the Indians has suddenly 

 awakened in the caboclos, the greater number of whom have Indian 

 blood in them, compelling them to wander no matter how com- 

 fortable they may be. 



On the tramways, which run for miles through the fields, one may 

 travel by means of a four-wheeled car, which is provided with a 

 bench; behind the bench stand tv/o men who thrust the vehicle 

 forwards with long poles (Plate 24). I have often greatly enjoyed 

 such a trolley-ride. Uphill one travels but slowly, but on descending 

 into a valley the men draw in their poles, and then one rushes 

 downwards at the speed of an express train, and the cool wind 

 blows in one's face; it is a glorious experience, provided one has 

 not the bad luck to collide with a trolley coming in the opposite 

 direction. Light-green and glossy, the cane waves on either hand; 

 there is a scent of cedar-oil from the flea-bane growing between 

 the sleepers, and the slopes of the hills are covered with the crinkled 

 tree-tops of the forest. Swiftly, with a dull rattlcj the trolley passes 

 over the plank bridges, and far below one sees white water foaming. 



Just as the sugar-cane grows in the rainy area of north-eastern 

 Brazil, in the "Brejo," so cotton can best be cultivated in the dry 

 Sertao. For the cotton-plant needs a dry soil and atmosphere, and 

 will stand months without rain; needing moisture only when it is 



