H 



130 



SEARA-MEIRIM, 



in the course of a very short time, the water 

 coming dowri in a torrent, delayed only by the 

 inequality of the depth of the channel, and the 

 walls with which the rocks in some parts oppose 

 its progress. The sand in the bed of the river 

 is little different from that of which the banks 

 are composed, being however on the whole 

 thicker, and approaching nearer to gravel. The 

 water which oozes from it, on digging into the 

 sand, is in all parts brackish, and in some places 

 is too salt for any use to be made of it. This is 

 not, however, peculiar to the Seara-Meirim, for 

 I found that all the beds of the rivers which 

 become dry in the summer contained more or 

 less salt; at best, the water taken from them 

 was never quite sweet. 



The place at which we had arrived is reckoned 

 to be distant forty leagues from Natal ; the 

 league of the Sertam is never less than four 

 miles, and is often much more ; there are legoas 

 grandes, legoas pequenas, and legoas de nada> or 

 nothing leagues, which I have found quite long 

 enough, notwithstanding their encouraging 

 name. Pai Paulo may be about eight or ten 

 leagues from Natal, which makes the travesia 

 or barren-crossing, thirty or thirty-two leagues. 

 We advanced at about three miles within the 

 hour or rather more, and travelled from half- 

 past five to ten in the morning, and in the after- 

 noon from two, or half-past two to six o'clock. 



13 



