SERIDO 



147 



One ot the many Reservoirs (a^udes) in the Serido District 



Reservoirs. — In the municipality of Caico there are 400 water 

 reservoirs constructed by building a dam across two hillsides. 

 This includes small and large ones. In 1909 there were in the whole 

 of Rio Grande do Norte 1,086 reservoirs, of which the Serido accounted 

 for 700. Since then this figure has risen to 1,500, of which over 800' 

 are in the Serido. 



Most of these have been constructed by the landowners, but the 

 Government is at the present time building various reservoirs of large 

 dimensions, with the ulterior object of irrigating the country lying 

 behind. Whether it will be possible to undertake the irrigation of 

 such very undulating country as this without expending further very 

 large sums indeed, I doubt. In some cases the erection of the dams 

 necessitates the flooding of large areas of fertile lands and it seems 

 doubtful, indeed, whether the irrigation will be a commercial propo- 

 sition and a technical possibility. Of course, the very sight of a sheet 





Typical Cotton Land in the Serido District 



