DISrUU I ol (^I'KI IM \\K 35 



ing an ouiiino very much like thai o[ a butterfly, 

 with it« body in the noi^'hbourhood of Villti 

 Joao Coutinho, where the strip is about 15 

 kilometres wide. In the region of the *' body," 

 and for a considerable distance on cither side, 

 the soil is prmluctive and would carry many 

 other crops k^sides aj^'ave, but the wings are 

 leas fertile. I call this the agave zone, because 

 sisal will probably be found to do better here 

 than at the coajit, where the excess of moisture 

 might reduce the quality and percentage of fibre ; 

 or on the higher elevations inland, where the 

 cold weather would check the growth and pro- 

 duce a fibre of short staple. Sisal hemp, yielding 

 from 3 to 3| percenUige of fibre of good length 

 and quality, is now being produced on this land 

 and has been described by the brokers of Mincing 

 Lane as the finest sample of sisal hemp they 

 have ever seen. 



The heart of the interior of the Quelinmne 

 district beginning, roughly, at a point 75 kilo- 

 metres from the coast and extending from there 

 for a distance of some 1*25 kilometres with a width 

 of perhaps 150 kilometres north-east and south- 

 west, is a forest-clad countrj* with an undulating 

 surface, scored by innumerable streams, where the 

 granite matrix frequently protrudes. Great bosses 

 of granite, soaring into mountainous peaks, thrust 



