3 63 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [October i, i88k 
Yes! Here is the town to which refugees from the 
interior flocked, and were laid in the cemetery at 
the rate of 1,000 a day. I have it, from one of our 
own countrymen, who had the paying for interments 
for one day in December 1878, in the absence of the 
Government official, that they exceeded that number. 
Having been arranging my small things in -the cabin, 
about the time the steamer stopped, I did not notice 
the arrival of a swarm of boatmen on rafts called 
jangadas. These rafts are formed of six round trees 
fastened together, with bolt?, and treenails. They have 
masts, and sails, and a small platform raised eighteen 
or twenty inches above the level of the water, with a 
seat for two passengers and room for luggage. I was 
introduced to the hotelkeeper, who had come on 
board. He was shown my luggage, and he gave all in 
charge to a servant of his own. After a little delay 
we were allowed to leave; the hotelkeeper called on me 
to come on shore. The sea was rough. I had not 
seen any of these rafts cross the breakers, and ours 
was the first to leave. I did not like to show fear, 
so 1 jumped cautiously on board — and in two minutes 
we were ten yards from the ship; the sail was hoisted, 
and the strong breeze made the mast bend. I must 
say my feelings were not those of comfort and security. 
The mast formed a sort of back to my seat, and 
I clutched it. The hand-bag with all my valuables 
in it, and my umbrella, I found were quite encum- 
brances to me. The breeze freshened as we got near 
the breaker. 0 , but I noticed the end of a board sticking up 
in the middle of the raft, and on enquiry I found this 
was a long, broad board, arranged to slide up and 
down between two of the log?, more than four feet 
of its length being down in the sea, and the boatmen told 
me that, but for this board, the raft would upset. 
This explanation caused me to breathe more freely, 
and it came in good time, for we were already 
riding over the large waves which were breaking on 
the sand. The steadying board was pulled up, 
the sail was lowered, and the two boatmen jumped 
into the sea, breast-deep, almost at the same instant, 
and in a very short time the raft grounded. On the 
sands was a swarm of men who did not care for wet 
ting their clothes. They soon came two and two with 
hands and arms arranged in form of a chair and carried 
the half-scared passenger safely to dry land — the 
latter quite unable to conceal his surprise that on 
such a rude craft, and in such a surf, he is landed 
without a wettirg, not so much as a drop of water 
having reached even his boots. 
Ceara has tramway cars also, and these run down 
to the seabeach. As I had nothing to do until the 
luggage came ashore, I agreed lo walk to the hotel. 
The town is regularly laid out, and uuilt with wide 
streets running at right angles, and in the populous 
parts there are large open squares which form 
market places. The streets are paved with granite 
blocks, and side walks are laid with thick flags of 
free stone. None of the houses have more than two 
Btories. The hotel is owned by an Englishman, and 
he kindly gave me a nice airy room at the top of 
the house, from which I could see the sea, and a 
great part of the town. 
I had received in Santos, and Eio de Janeiro, a 
few letters of introduction to several people in the 
different towns at which I was to call. On present- 
ing one of these to the head of an English house 
in Ceara, I happened to meet a coffee planter, who 
was at one time partner in a large house in Forto- 
leza, and owner of some 26 coffee estates on the 
hills, some 90 or 100 miles from the seaport. I 
willingly accepted his kind invitation to accompany 
him up to his estates, and, as trains only run 
every two days, we arranged for Sunday, 3rd August, 
as the day we should go up to the hills of Baturite. 
I was not. sorry to have Saturday to collect informa- 
tion and pay visits. 
Sunday, 3rd August, made its appearance with heavy 
rain, which continued up till an hour after day- 
light. 
At 6 30 a. m. I was at the railway station, where 
I met my friend. The railway was opened only 
since the famine of 1877-78 and 1879. 
It was made by the Government to find work for 
the people, who had flocked from the interior to the 
capital, during the time of famine. It is a metre 
gauge, and is solidly built. The stations are large per- 
manent building9 and the rolling stock is all .American, 
They have the Baldwin locomotives, and the long 
passenger carriages with passage through the centre 
of the train. The stations are very close to each 
other. About 25 cr 30 miles from the capital, a rail- 
way branches off to the north, to a place called 
Maranguape, famous for good soil, and flourishing 
cotton and sugar plantations. This branch is not lone- 
say 12 to 15 miles. I found my fellow-passeDgers 
very communicative and exceedingly kind. I got 
much information from them relative to the different 
tropical plants treated by the farmers of Ceara, and 
one Fazendeiro not only told me all about the rubber 
tree but showed me, on his own plantation close to 
the railway, the Manisoba (Ceara rubber tree) growing 
spontaneously in his cotton, and although it was not the 
season for picking the seeds he promised to collect a 
few and have them ready for me by my return on 
Tuesday Two days after, while waiting a few minute.-; 
at the station, t'lis same gentleman showed me quite 
a forest of the rubber trees, on a small hill a quarter- 
of-a-mile off. Those I saw in the cotton fields were 
12 to 15 feet, high, and had stems 3 to 4 inches in 
diameter, a foot from the ground, and were only two 
years old. They had grown up as weeds on the 
cotton fields. They used to be cut down along with 
other jungle weeds, but hearing of the importance 
of cultivating them he left plants growing at dis- 
tances of 25 to 30 feet apart. The old trees have a 
nice green appearance, but the young all look sickly, 
and their leaves have a yellow tinge with a great 
many black spots resembling those left by the Ccmio- 
stoma cqffeeilvm on coffee leaves. 
All accounts agree as to the excessive hardiness 
of the tree, and the ease with which it can be 
propagated by cuttings. The people in Ceara say it 
grows exactly like mandioca. You throw a branch on 
the ground, cover it over with earth, and it will 
grow into a tree. This station, which is called Bubu, 
is the only place along the line of railway at which 
the rubber tree is to be seen. 
From Bahu station, the railway begins to ascend. 
The trace runs along the face of the hills on an easy 
gradient. The cuttings at some places against the 
sides of the hills are deep, and some of the embankments 
very high. The train goes cautiously along the face 
of the hill, peeping in at every ravine as it passes, 
as if looking for an opening, till at last with a bound, 
through a cutting 30 metres deep, the ascent is won, 
the mountain range is cleaned ; and were it not that I 
was outside on the carriage platform all the time, I 
could almost have imagined myself in another country. 
We arrive on a wide stretching plateau of undul- 
ating ground, Indian corn and rice fields plentifully 
scattered over it. We have left the coast range of 
hills behind us. The level country stretches away to 
the south, and west, while to the north, are the high 
hills of the Serra de Couceicao, and the Serra de 
Baturite, the town of Baturite lying nestling at their foot. 
An hour's ride by rail, after crossing the "Serra," 
brings us to the village of Euuoa. Here the rail- 
way at present ends It is 90 kilometres from Forta- 
leza. From this point a branch line is being made 
for 12, to 15 kilometres, to the town of Baturite, the 
largest town in the interior, — and the Government in- 
tend extending the main line in a southerly direction: 
Could funds admit of it, an extension of the railway 
