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JOURNEY TO GOIANA. 



mer, and a small rivulet runs through it, of 

 which the water is most beautifully clear. Half 

 a league beyond Beberibe we- crossed another 

 rivulet, and immediately afterwards commenced 

 our ascent of the hill of Quebracu, which is in 

 most parts very steep and very narrow, being 

 inclosed on one side by a precipice, and on the 

 other by sloping ground covered with wood. 

 This ridge of hill is quite flat along the top, and 

 the path continues for half a league, between 

 lofty trees and impenetrable brushwood. We 

 descended into the long and narrow valley of 

 Merueira, through which a rivulet runs, of 

 which the water never fails. The hills on each 

 side are thickly clothed with wood, and in the 

 valley are scattered several cottages, banana 

 gardens, and mandioc lands, with a large en- 

 closed piece of ground in which cattle graze. 

 The ascent, on the opposite side of this beautiful 

 vale, is very steep ; the path along the summit 

 of the ridge is similar to that over which we had 

 travelled ; we soon again descended, and on our 

 arrival at the bottom, entered the long, strag- 

 gling village of Paratibe, with mandioc lands and 

 plaintain and tobacco gardens intermixed with 

 the houses. The inhabitants are mostly labour- 

 ing free persons, white, mulatto, and black. 

 The houses are built on each side of the road at 

 intervals, for the distance of one mile. A rivulet 

 runs through it, which in the rainy season often 



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