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THE VARZEA. 



houses and gardens, clear of vegetation ; appre- 

 hensive of some inconsiderate traveller who may 

 chance to light his pipe as he goes along, and 

 throw away unextinguished the fire-stick of 

 which he has made use. 



The person with whom I was staying per- 

 suaded me to ride with him to the sugar-planta- 

 tion of Uninha, which is distant six leagues to 

 the southward of Barbalho ; he described the 

 place as being very beautiful, and I consented. 

 This was the only opportunity which conve- 

 niently offered itself of seeing the country in this 

 direction ; but I much regret not having made 

 greater exertions to visit the southern districts 

 of Pernambuco. We passed through the hamlet 

 and by the parish-church of the Varzea. A 

 considerable extent of country is known under 

 this name, containing some of the finest cane 

 lands of the province, which are owned by men 

 of wealthy who know the value of what they 

 possess, and consequently the plantations are in 

 a flourishing condition. The Varzea is famous 

 in Pernambucan history, as the site of a great 

 deal of righting. Camaragibe, which is in the 

 vicinity, or rather a part of the Varzea, and is 

 spoken of by the historian of that country, is 

 now a flourishing sugar-plantation,* 



* I am not certain of the situation of the Monte das 

 Tabocas, where one of the chief battles was fought between 

 the Portuguese and the Dutch in 1645 History of Brazil 



