332 Information respecting Botanical Travellers, 



tasted. Araca and Grava are also common. Another fruit is also 

 much spoken of, the marangaha, but it is not yet ripe ; the tree which 

 produces it is a new species of Psidium, to which I have given the 

 name of P. nanum, as the shrub does not rise a foot high. It grows 

 plentifully on the top of the Serra de Araripe. The neighbouring 

 woods produce a fruit belonging to a new species of Mouriria, the 

 berry of which is black, and about as big as a middle-sized goose- 

 berry. In appearance and taste it much resembles the fruit of Eu- 

 genia caulijlora, DC. {the Jaboticaba of the south of Brazil). This is 

 called by the natives Pusd, a name which I have retained as its spe- 

 cific appellation, as I am an advocate for the retention of native 

 names to new plants. 



The great cause to which the fertility of this part of the Sertao 

 may be attributed exists in the numerous springs which rise from 

 the base of the Serra de Araripe, and which are again divaricated in 

 a thousand directions for the purpose of irrigation. At present but 

 little land is cultivated in comparison with what would amply repay 

 such labour ; the vicinity being but thinly populated and the habits 

 of the natives very indolent. With very little trouble they raise 

 as much as will support life, and seem to care for nothing else. Their 

 dress is of the simplest kind, and not expensive. When, however, 

 the population becomes more numerous, and civilization shall have 

 multiplied their wants, this district will assuredly prove a rich and 

 valuable part of the province. 



During my residence here I have made many excursions, but the 

 Serra de Araripe has afforded my best field. I have spent several 

 days in exploring its ravines, sides and summit, every trip yielding 

 me large supplies of new and rare plants, as the collections now sent 

 home will abundantly testify. The greater proportion of the wooded 

 districts around Crato consists of deciduous trees and shrubs, here 

 called Catingas ; but in low moist localities, and along the base of the 

 Serra, a great many of the trees are evergreen. As I am aware that 

 you feel particularly interested in knowing what are the large trees 

 of the countries which I visit, I shall now give a list of such as are 

 most abundant or remarkable in this vicinity. One of the common- 

 est denizens of the Catingas is Moghania glabrata, St. Hilaire, and it 

 is the only truly gregarious exogenous tree that I have met with in 

 Brazil, covering large tracts for miles, to the exclusion of almost 

 everything else. In general it is a tree of 30 or 40 feet high ; but 

 old individuals often attain a much greater stature. Like many of the 

 other inhabitants of the Catingas, its flowers appear before the leaves. 

 The blossoms are produced in large panicles, they are of a greenish- 



