392 Observations on the geographical Extension 



west, and more in the interior of the country, a great many 

 Opuntise and Cerei are found in bare sunny situations, and give 

 quite a peculiar and romantic character to the landscape. The 

 Opuntiae are found more abundant in this district, on the 

 mountains, and the Cerei in the warm valleys. Other pictu- 

 resque plants of the country, such as the tree lily (Barbacenza 

 and Vellbsia), the tree fern, and shrubby kinds of grass, or the 

 Brazilian fir (Araucaria brasiliana), are seldom found with the 

 Cacti; so that, where the latter abound, they almost give the 

 decided character to the landscape. In the rocky country of 

 Comarca do Cerro Frio, the traveller is often struck with 

 amazement at the numerous Melocacti which grow on the flat 

 and naked rocks which abound with gold, quartz, and mica 

 slate. There are many species of this genus, which are dis- 

 tinguished by the number of their ribs and spines; but as yet 

 but very few of them are botanically known. They are called 

 there, Monk's pate. This Cactus is seen on the tops of high 

 mountains in Minas Geraes, and in Peru and Mexico. I also 

 observed it on the Itambe da Villa do Principe, and indeed even 

 to its summit, where it grows with some species of Xyris, 

 Eriocaulon, several grasses, and the Barbacen/a excassa, at a 

 height of 5,590 ft. above the level of the sea. In the provinces 

 of Bahia and Pernambuco, towards the north, the Opuntiae are 

 not so numerous as in Minas and San Paulo; but the prickly 

 cereus is found in greater abundance, sometimes as a stately 

 branched tree, from 30 to 40 ft. high, and sometimes spread 

 out in the form of a many-branched candelabrum, or in thick 

 espalier-like rows of trees growing very close together. They 

 form here a part of the vegetation, which I have called the Caa- 

 tingas, or sometimes the leafless forests. Some species of 

 Mammillaria are found here, particularly in the bare open 

 plains; and the dry, bare, rocky districts, where the rivers 

 are dried during the droughts of summer, seem to be the true 

 localities of the Cacti. Where the mountains are from 3,000 to 

 4,000 feet in height, the same species are found on them as in 

 Minas. In this part of the country the Cacti form an essential 

 article of food for the numerous herds of cattle, to which may 

 be added the fruit of the ambu (Sp6ndias tuberosa Arruda) 

 and thejoazebro ( Zizyphus Joazeiro Mart.). The cattle are very 

 often attracted to the juicy stems of the torch thistles; and it 

 not unfrequently happens, when they are tormented with thirst, 

 that they attack the prickly branches to suck them, and get 

 their mouths so wounded that mortification ensues. It is there- 

 fore quite an act of humanity, which the natives, while travelling, 

 never fail to perform in these lonely districts, to cut off the 

 young shoots of the Cactus trees by the road sides, with their long 

 forest knives, and in this manner to open a vegetable fountain 



