TROPICAL AMERICA.—BRAZIL. 73 
Peru ; the number of mountains, the sources of count- 
less springs, whose snow-clad summits tower above the 
clouds ; the abundance of large streams, which, after 
many windings, always seek the remotest coast; de- 
serts without sand, therefore the less heated ; impene- 
trable forests, which cover the well-watered plains near 
the equator, and which, in the interior of the country, 
where the mountains and the water are most remote, 
exhale immense masses of imbibed or self-producing 
water. — All these circumstances give to the flat portion 
of America a climate which, by its moisture and cool- 
ness, forms a surprising contrast with that of Africa. 
To these causes must be ascribed that extraordinary 
luxuriance of vegetation, that exuberant foliage, which 
forms the peculiar characteristic of the New Conti- 
nent.” 
(105.) In applying these observations to Brazil,— 
an empire, which nearly absorbs one third of the 
whole continent of South America,— some modifications 
and particular exceptions must be made ; and this we 
are enabled to do from personal observation. Vege- 
tation, indeed, covers nearly every part of this immense 
region, but in very different degrees, and with some re- 
markable peculiarities. A stupendous range of virgin 
forests may be said to extend from one extremity of the 
eastern coast to the other ; running parallel with the 
shore, and forming a magnificent belt of verdure 
between that and the interior: in these parts the 
soil is amazingly rich, either a black vegetable mould, 
or a fat red loam. It is in these situations that vege- 
tation attains its highest luxuriance: nearly all the 
large timber trees are found only in the virgin forests ; 
and the ground, when cleared for cultivation, gives an 
astonishing produce. But no sooner does the traveller 
penetrate beyond this natural belt, on his way into the 
interior, than he meets with a totally different country. 
The Sertam districts then commence ; a name applied 
generally to all inland parts situated beyond the virgin 
forests. The Sertam country, however, possesses very 
