PROVINCE OF BAHIA. 



323 



country, partially abounding with cattle, finally enters the St. Francisco near 

 the passage from Pilao Arcado. 



Phytology. — Where there are woods a variety of timber for building is 

 met with, but in this district hitherto little used, in consequence of the great 

 deficiency of population. The wood caWed sebastiao d' arruda is common in 

 many places. Of wild fruits, the jabuticaba which is found in the woods only, 

 and the ambuzo, alone met with in the catingas, are the most esteemed. 



Zoology. — Amongst wild animals, the anta, the ounce, the boar, and the 

 deer, are the most numerous species, and most hunted. Cattle are universally 

 bred in this district, and would be more than adequate to the supply of the 

 whole province, if winter weather prevailed here, or the thunder showers 

 were regular in summer. It has been already observed that the winters of the 

 Beira-mar, or sea-coast, do not extend more than ninety or one hundred miles 

 into the interior of the continent, where it rains proportionably only with the 

 thunder, which is generally not frequent, and at times almost fails in parts of 

 the north. The sun is vertical twice a year throughout the province, and leaves 

 the earth in a state of calcination : a few salutary showers animate the soil 

 in two or three weeks to abundant production, and the cattle become fat ; but 

 the approach of dry weather as quickly dissipates all herbage, and the animals 

 exist upon the branches of trees and shrubs, if they can obtain water ; but if 

 the tanks, which the thunder showers supply, and the torrents are dried up, a 

 mortality necessarily prevails, and large numbers are swept off. Sheep and 

 goats are not numerous, in consequence of being almost universally deemed 

 animals of no utility. 



In various parts of the district of Rio de Contas, the first discoverers found bones 

 of an immense size, belonging to a class of animals that no longer existed. 



The towns of this comarca are, 



Jacobina is a considerable town, and the ordinary residence of the ouvidor 

 of the comarca. It is situated near the left bank of the southern Itapicuru, 

 three miles below a lake, whose superfluous waters enlarge the river. It was 

 created a town in 1723, by King John V. and consists of one large and good 

 street, and other smaller ones. The houses are mostly of stone, and white- 

 washed with a species of potters' earth, found in the vicinity. It is traversed 

 by the small stream Rio do Oiro, (Gold River,) which is passed by a bridge. 



Jacobina 



Villa Nova da Rainha 

 Rio de Contas 



Villa Nova do Principe 

 Urubu. 



