in North-eastern Brazil. 331 



ling and traffic has to be done on horseback^ there beingno roads 

 in the interior worthy of the name. The earthworks of the 

 ^' Prolongamento " are now nearly complete, only a few of 

 the deeper cuttings and a tunnel or two being unfinished. 

 The line of railway now forms the chief road to the interior ; 

 but at this time, after the end of the rainy season, the stiff 

 red clay had become worked up, in most places, into the 

 most frightful mud conceivable, so that the horses were often 

 up to their knees in it, and the rate of progression in conse- 

 quence was a walk. At Palmares I was fortunate enough to 

 fall in with the engineer-in-chief of the first section. Dr. Abel, 

 a most pleasant and well-educated Brazilian gentleman. He 

 too was going up country with the paymaster, so that I had 

 the advantage of his company and escort (two Brazilian 

 troopers) for the first part of my ride. As far as Barra do 

 Jangada (a small village situated on the river Pirangi, which 

 falls into the Una near Palmares), about thirty miles from 

 Palmares, the country retains much the same features, though 

 it gradually rises towards the interior. The hills perhaps are 

 higher, and in some places, as around Catende, still pretty 

 thickly covered with "matto'^ (the Brazilian term for the virgin 

 forest), there being less sugar-cultivation here than nearer 

 the coast. Towards Barra do Jangada cotton appears for 

 the first time, a sure sign of the increasing elevation of the 

 country. Riding along in this way I had no opportunity of 

 shooting, but from the saddle I saw many birds already seen 

 or secured. The " Sangre de Boi,-'-' however, disappeared 

 soon after leaving Catende, and I saw no more of it as we 

 approached the Sertoes. Another day's ride brought us to 

 Quipapa, the most important town between Una and Garan- 

 buns. 



After leaving Barra the country gets decidedly more hilly 

 and open, and the forest begins to disappear, though many 

 blackened and dead trunks of old forest trees standing on 

 the higher hills show that this is due in large part to man's 

 action. The soil is still clayey, resting on solid rock, appa- 

 rently granite or gneiss, which in some places on the shoulders 

 of the hills is left quite bare in great rounded patches. These 



