142 SOUTH AMERICA 



cerei, and rigid agaves and bromelia plants, pre- 

 dominating: this is the 'carrasco'. 



The sertao proper, thinly bestrewn with prickly bushes 

 and aloe-like plants, is the next and most barren term 

 of those forbidding vegetations ; where all grades of tran- 

 sition-forms abound, though grass-lands, which pre- 

 dominate farther west and south, are here scarce and 

 of a limited extent. Diverse palms mark these aspects 

 of the landscape: attalea characterizes the caatinga: 

 the waxy carnauba palm forms oases round shallow 

 marshes, and gives its name to the province of Ceara : 

 buriti palms form stately groves in some places, and 

 cocos coronata again distinguishes the southern sertoes. 

 Both carrascos and caatingas are difficult to bring under 

 cultivation, and the country is thinly peopled. 



Towards the south and west, in Goyaz and Matto 

 Grosso, the sertao passes slowly into regular campos or 

 grass-lands. The campos here recall the typical rolling 

 savanas : tall, dull green, hairy grass -tufts, showing 

 between them the red or white soil, with various shrubs, 

 dwarf -palms, and liliaceous plants, form the background 

 of the landscape. The treeless savana is called ' campo 

 vero ' ; but liliaceous trees resembling yuccas may 

 occur, in which case the campos are called open or 

 * abertos ' : if the savanas are strewn with clumps of 

 low trees, they are ' serrados '. The trees are short and 

 stunted, with a divided foliage, sometimes deciduous, 

 sometimes with small leathery leaves. The campos in 

 the hollows present frequently circular islands of ever- 

 green trees called 'capoes', or regular, leaf-shedding, 

 light woods, taller and denser, 4 to 7 metres high, with 

 an undergrowth of cerei, acacias, and prickly carpet- 

 forming bromelias. The course of the rivers is marked 

 by high and thick hedges of river woods, some of which 



