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serra of Erere, and consists of some twenty to thirty miserable 

 thatched houses and a neat little chapel. The inhabitants are civil- 

 ized Indians, of more or less mixed blood, but it is not known from 

 what tribe or tribes they are descended. The old people still speak 

 the Tupi language, but it is becoming so rapidly superseded by the 

 Portuguese that it is only rarely used for conversational purposes. 

 The people are quiet, orderly, and clean, and I came to have a real 

 respect for them. Sr. Liberato, my host, is a fine, intelligent, trust- 

 worthy fellow, to whom I am under deep obligations for the faith- 

 ful way in which he served me on both visits to Erere, and I 

 take pleasure in recommending him as a guide to future visitors. 

 The men of Erere are fishers, hunters, vaqueiros, and, like other 

 Indians, work well when they must. Of the industry of the women 

 I cannot speak in too high praise. On them falls all the labor of 

 the field and household; from morning to night they are steadily at 

 work, and I never think of Erere without fancying that I still hear 

 the measured rhythmic beat of the carana wand, in beating cotton 

 for spinning. 



The sandy ridge or plateau east of Erere shows but few superficial, 

 and not very interesting exposures. Like the Monte-Alegre high- 

 lands, it appears to consist of soft Tertiary beds, horizontally strati- 

 fied, which have been much denuded down and superficially worked 

 over, the clayey particles having been washed out, leaving the sand 

 lying loose on the surface. On the northern side of the ridge, at 

 some distance east of the serra, is a small, isolated hill composed of 

 fine clayey sands, white, variegated with piirple, together with white 

 sands, sufficiently compacted to form a low bluff, that runs round 

 the eastern side of the hill. The ridge behind is composed of the 

 same materials, as is seen in several deep rain-courses. On the hill 

 just described, and in its immediate vicinity, I j^icked up several 

 loose fragments of a very curious rock which I was unable to find 

 in place. It consists of iron-oxide and is filled with little, empty 

 cell-like cavities separated by very thin walls, and consequently 

 spongy and very light. Each cavity corresponds to a sand-grain 

 which has been dissolved out, leaving only the iron oxide that 

 cemented the whole together. The grains were probably calcareous, 

 but I have no clue to the origin of these very interesting fragments. 



