w 



104, 



LANDS. 



species of palm or cabbage trees grow ; these 

 are merely fit to turn cattle upon in winter, and 

 will only be brought into cultivation when lands 

 begin to be scarce in Brazil. Varseas or low 

 marshy lands, adapted to the sugar-cane, I also 

 frequently saw. The cercados, or fenced pieces 

 of ground, attached to each sugar-plantation, 

 upon which are fed the cattle kept for the work 

 of it, are the only spots which bear the look of 

 fields ; and even in these, the brushwood is not 

 always sufficiently cleared away, unless the pro- 

 prietor is wealthy and has an abundance of per- 

 sons upon his estate ; otherwise, such is the fer- 

 tility of the soil, that without great care the 

 cercado will in time become a wood. There are 

 several hamlets upon the road, consisting of 

 three and four cottages, and these are built of 

 slight timber, and the leaves of the cabbage- 

 trees; others have mud- walls, and are covered 

 with these leaves ; and now and then, a house 

 built of mud, with a tiled roof, is to be seen, — 

 this bespeaks a man above the common run of 

 people. I crossed several rivulets, which were 

 much reduced by the drought ; but I did not 

 see any great streams. The Paraiba was dry 

 where I passed it, as also was the river near 

 Mamanguape. A rivulet, that runs into the 

 lake at Papari, was the only stream which ap- 

 peared still to possess its usual strength. The 

 road from Goiana to Mamanguape is the great 



