80 



TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



neck (Corvina rubricollis, Y'leiW,'), and three species 

 of pies, azure blue and white coloured (Corvus 

 cyanopog7io, Neuw.); parrots, as well as monkeys, 

 became scarcer in this latitude, which may be 

 chiefly owing to the proportionably less heat of the 

 climate. From the Rio Ypanema, the grassy 

 plains, interrupted by a little wood, extend south- 

 ward to Curitiba, and into the capitania of S. 

 Pedro, which is similar in the nature of the soil, 

 its elevation above the sea, and vegetation, and 

 is adapted to the same purposes of rural economy. 

 In the whole of this extensive part of South Ame- 

 rica, they follow, in general, the same system of 

 farming which Azara describes as practised in the 

 pampas of Buenos Ayres. 



The breeding of cattle is the principal occupation 

 of the inhabitants. Every landholder possesses, 

 according to the extent of his farm, from several 

 hundred to two thousand, nay, even forty thousand 

 head of cattle. They generally reckon from three 

 to four thousand head on an estate which has two 

 square miles of good pasture. All these roam at 

 liberty in a wild state. But every farmer keeps, 

 besides, as many tame draught oxen and cows, as 

 he requires for the purposes of agriculture, and 

 for milk, which is partly made into cheese. The 

 attendance on the wild cattle gives but very little 

 trouble, all that is required is to brand them with 

 the mark of the owner, to castrate the bulls, and 

 to catch the animals intended to be slaughtered. 

 From four to six servants, under the direction of a 



