COTTON. 



169 



without rain. The cotton- plantations are yearly 

 receding farther into the interior, wherever the 

 Sertam plains do not prevent this recession. The 

 plantations of this description which were for- 

 merly established nearer to the coast, are now 

 employed in the rearing of other plants. The 

 constant supply of new lands which the cotton 

 plant requires, for it is judged necessary to allow 

 the land to rest for several years before it under- 

 goes cultivation a second time, may in some 

 degree account for thjp. Perhaps, too, the rapid 

 increase of the population upon the coast may 

 have had some effect in forcing back those w r ho 

 plant an article of trade, to give place to others 

 who cultivate the necessary food for the inhabi- 

 tants of the country. The cotton is often sold 

 by the planter in carogo, that is, before it has 

 been separated from the seed, to other persons 

 whose livelihood is obtained in preparing it for 

 the export-market ; but as the labour of convey- 

 ance is, of course, considerably increased whilst 

 it is in this state, the dealers establish themselves 

 near to the plantations ; they recede as the 

 planters recede. Some years ago a number of 

 the machines for separating the cotton from the 

 seed were to be seen within two leagues of Recife; 

 a few years after they were removed to Goiana, 

 and now the principal resorts of the dealers are 

 Limoeiro and Bom Jardim ; places, as will have 



