250 ELEVEN WEEKS IN NORTH-EASTERN BRAZIL. 



their professional duties to be able to spare much time to shoot ; more- 

 over, there were no guns available except those of the natives, and, as I 

 have already said, the capabilities of these weapons as firearms were 

 small. 



After a few days most agreeably spent at Macuca I went on to 

 G-aranhuns, the termination of the " Prolongamento," distant about 80 

 miles from Una. Garanhuns is situated in the zone of country called 

 the *' Agreste," that intervenes between the forest-clad " Matto," which 

 extends inwards 60 to 70 miles from the sea-shore, and the open, 

 elevated country, or Sertoes (pronounced " Sertongs "), of the interior. 

 The " Agreste " zone participates to some extent in the features of both 

 " Matto " and " Sertad " ; the forests have not altogether disappeared, 

 but are smaller in size and of a different character ; the climate is much 

 drier, and the vegetation lower and more scrubby in character. 



In the Sertoes, I am told (for I did not actually get into the real 

 Sertoes country), the vegetation becomes still more low and scrubby, 

 and the aspect of the country generally arid and stony. There is little 

 water, and cultivation is confined chiefly to the ridges of hills that 

 intersect the general level of the plateaux of 3000-5000 feet forming 

 the Sertoes. In the height of the dry season many of the shrubs and 

 trees lose their leaves. The growth of cotton and the raising of stock 

 are the two great industries pursued in the Sertoes, which probably 

 p.' 324. ' extend over nearly the entire area of the interior of the province of 

 Pernambuco. The distance from Macuca to Garanhuns is about 33 

 miles ; after leaving Canotinho, about an hour and a half's riding from 

 Macuca, the aspect of the country begins to alter visibly. The soil 

 becomes sandy, and the vegetation generally lower and more scrubby, 

 with patches of forest in places. Great Cacti, too, some 40-50 feet 

 high, and forming large trees in some places, become conspicuous 

 features in the landscape, and two or three species of Begonias also 

 appear. In bird-life the "Salta Caminho" (Zonotrichia pileata) for 

 the first time appears, hopping about the sandy roads, and marking the 

 changed nature of the country. 



Garanhuns is a large village (although called a city) of perhaps more 

 than 2000 inhabitants, and lies at an elevation of about 3000 feet above 

 the sea. The country round is hilly, though none of the hills attain 

 any great elevation ; these are pretty uniformly covered with a thick 

 scrub of low bushes and aromatic herbs, with, in some places, small 

 patches of " matto." There is little water. The temperature is 

 noticeably cooler than nearer the coast, though sufficiently hot when the 

 sun shines; indeed, on account of its dry soil and rather bracing 

 atmosphere, Garanhuns is acquiring some celebrity in Pernambuco as a 

 sanitarium, during the dry season, for the residents in the lower parts. 

 I was most hospitably entertained, during my week's stay at Garanhuns, 



