416 



PROVINCE OF SIARA. 



formed without any other ingredient than clay, the trunk serving for the substan- 

 tial part, and the leaves in the shape of a fan for the covering ; the latter are 

 also used for mats, hand-baskets, hats, and little panniers. They afford, besides, 

 sustenance for cattle at the period of great droughts, for, whilst new, the pith of 

 the trunk is soft, and given to animals in default of other aliment : a sort of 

 farinha, or flour, is also made from it, which is a resource in times of famine. 

 In the centre of the foliage there is a glutinous pod, which, when applied to 

 the fire, acquires the consistency of wax, of which it has the smell. Its fruit, 

 which is a bunch of a black colour, supplies sustenance to all living creatures ; 

 and beautiful walking canes are made of its timber, which become speckled 

 on being polished. 



The oiticica is the largest, and has the most abundant foliage of any tree of 

 the certam. Its cool shade is grateful to man, as well as all animals of the 

 country, but only grows where its roots can find water. In the woods the 

 jabuticaba is common, and in the catingas the anihuzo. 



The culture of cotton is in the progress of augmentation, and its produce is 

 the principal branch of commerce, and introduces into the country the greatest 

 part of foreign commodities, which the necessities of life or luxury may require. 

 The cane prospers in many districts, but its juice is almost all distilled into 

 spirit, or reduced into what are termed rapaduras, which are portions of musco- 

 vado sugar, in the form of a brick, which it receives after being put into wooden 

 moulds. The produce of coffee, which with industry might become prodigious, 

 is yet insignificant. The same may be said of the cocoa shrub. Indian corn is 

 the only grain which prospers in the country. 



The atta, which is the pine of the southern provinces, is here abundant, and 

 the best of all in the Brazil, and perhaps in America. Melons, and water- 

 melons are excellent in many situations, also the pine-apple. Orange trees are 

 almost useless in some places, and the banana, or plantain, is rare in con- 

 sequence of the occasional deficiency of rain. The mangaba and araca are 

 common in all the districts, as well as the cajue-nut and the tobacco plant. 

 Cattle, hides, cotton, and salt, are almost the only articles of exportation. 



Formerly a considerable quantity of amber was collected, which the high 

 tides deposited upon the beach. The bees produce a great abundance of honey 

 in the cavities of trees. Quinaquina, or Jesuits' bark, is rarely seen. 



Rivers and Lakes. — Of the great number of rivers in this province the only 

 large one is the Jaguaribe, which, in the idiom of the Indians, means the " river 

 of ounces." It has its origin in the serra of Boavista, which is a portion of the 



