ELEVEN WEEKS IN NORTH-EASTERN BRAZIL. 249 



solid rock, apparently granite or gneiss, which in some places on the 



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



at first suggest glacial action ; but I am inclined to think that in reality Ibis, 1881, 



they are merely the beds of old streams which formerly flowed down over 



them before the disappearance of the forests on the hills around had 



reduced the rainfall, and so caused their drying-up. I had no chance of 



shooting before getting to Quipapa, though between that town and Barra 



I fell in with a fine specimen of the much-dreaded Jararaca (Trigonocephalus 



brasilieusis ?), a rather rash attack on which resulted in nothing further 



on my part than a narrow escape from being bitten. 



Quipapa is distant 12 leagues from Palmares, on the Pirangi, and is at 

 an elevation of about 1450 feet above the sea. The mean annual tempe- 

 rature is about 72 0> 5 F., the maximum being about 92 and the minimum 

 62. For these details I am indebted to my friend Mr. H. E. Weaver, 

 an English engineer who resides there, and who is chief of the second 

 section of the " Prolongamento." He entertained me most hospitably at 

 his house for several days, and aided me greatly in obtaining specimens 

 of all kinds, as well as in other ways. There is no high forest very close 

 to Quipapa, though there are still patches of it on the higher hills here, 

 as elsewhere. The lower slopes, where not cleared for sugar, are covered 

 with a rather thick growth of brushwood, in which, particularly along the 

 river, birds were rather abundant. The weather too had now become 

 markedly finer ; in fact, since leaving Eecife, hardly a drop of rain had 

 fallen. Soon after leaving Una I had made up my mind that any idea 

 of getting to the S. Francisco in the limited amount of time (about a 

 month) now at my disposal must be abandoned, as I was due at Cam- 

 bridge by the middle of October. I very much regretted having to give 

 up the Paulo Affonso, but getting there and back in a month would have 

 entailed continual travelling, and I should have had no chance 

 whatever of collecting. I therefore determined to go no further than 

 Garanhuns or thereabouts, staying en route at various places to collect. 

 At Quipapa I remained till September 6, and then went on a few miles 

 to a Brazilian friend living at Vista Alegre, two houses in a valley off 

 the main line of the railway. From here I went, after a couple of nights, Ibis, 1881, 

 to Macuca, where I found a most hospitable (if somewhat primitive) P e 

 welcome from Mr. J. "Watt, also an English engineer employed on the 

 Prolongamento. The country here much resembles that around Quipapa, 

 but there is less forest and sugar and more capoeira. I continually 

 added new birds to my list, and no doubt if I had had any assistance 

 could have much increased the number both of species and specimens. 

 But I had to do all my skinning myself ; the Brazilians, though they 

 talked much, did little, and that chiefly in snakes and lizards : my inter- 

 preter was useless for any purpose but to interpret (I doubt if he had 

 ever fired a gun in his life), and my English friends were too busy with 



