PROVINCE OF PERNAMBUCO. 



363 



which is a species of small partridge, going always in bands and upon the 

 ground. The bird here called rouxinol, or the nightingale, is very different in 

 its song and plumage from that of Europe. The araponga pours its simple and 

 tender song from the summit of the highest trees. The white-winged dove 

 always avoids strange birds, like other species of its kind. Various sorts of 

 kites and hawks make war upon the other birds. The jacurutu, which is of a 

 large size, has two great horns of feathers, and kills the largest snakes with 

 caution and much dexterity in order to avoid being stung by them. In almost 

 all the rivers there are otters, and no lake is without the alligator. 



Phytology. — The cedar, bow-wood, vinhatica, of various colours, the yel- 

 low and dark are the most esteemed ; the conduru, which is red ; barahu, male 

 and female, more or less of a violet or purple colour ; pau santo, waved with 

 violet ; sucupira and brahima, both of a blackish colour. The sapucaya affords 

 good masts of a small size, and its towy rind is used by the caulkers. The red 

 camacary, pau d'alho, ma^aranduba, angico, coragao de negro, the pith or heart 

 of which is black and hard : there are many others of fine timber for building. 

 The Brazil wood comes thirty leagues from the interior of the country ; here is 

 also the cassia, the carahiba, whose flower is yellow and rather large, consti- 

 tuting delicious food for the deer. This animal, generally feeding beneath the 

 tree upon them, thus becomes an easy prey to the hunter. Amongst the fruit 

 trees and shrubs of the woods are the ambuzo, the cajue, the arafaza, the jabu- 

 ticaba, the mandupussa, the fruit of which is yellow and grows also round the 

 trunk, like the preceding ; the muricy ; the cambuhy is a large tree and its 

 fruit about the size of a sour cherry, either red or purple; the joeA;^ affords a 

 fruit, from the stone of which is extracted a kind of hard tallow that is used 

 for making imitation candles ; the issicariba, which produces gum-mastick, 

 ipecacuanha, and some species of inferior quina, or Jesuit's bark, to which they 

 give this name ; the real one is to be found in the serra Cayriris. The maganzeira 

 is common in some districts of this province, where it has the improper name 

 of murta. 



The comarca of the Alagoas produces great abundance of the best timber in 

 the province ; there the canoes are made in which the St. Francisco is navigated. 

 Cocoa-nut tree groves abound in the vicinity of the sea. The mamona is care- 

 fully cultivated in some districts, and its oil affords an article of exportation. 

 The opuncia, or palmatoria, is here very common ; and the cochineal insect 

 might be cultivated with advantage. 



The cotton tree and sugar cane are the principal branches of agriculture, and 



