October i, 1881.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
363 
now. being made from Parahyba westward, would 
be made to join this one going southward. 
Cauoa at present is an important place mak- 
ing hay while the fun Bhines. which it will 
not do for long, for the branch railway from 
here to Baturite is to be finished by the 4th December, 
when it is expected the Emperor will open it, on 
his way to the Amazon. After that time Canoa will 
be left a quiet, sleepy village, which will open its 
eyes to the full, only every two days, at the sound 
of the Baldwin locomotive fog horn, for here in 
Ceara the railway trains do not run every day. 
A sumptuous breakfast had been prepared for my 
friend and myself at the railway com ractor's bunga- 
low on the new (rack a mile from the village. We 
saddled at 2 p. m., passed through tho town of Batu- 
rila about 3-30, and we commenced to climb the 
Serra ehorily after. A few rapid streams have to be 
forded, for there seems a general absence of bridges. 
The roads are of varied gradients, some of them one 
in five on a long stretch, and when a sharp spur 
has to be crossed, it is modified to one in 
three. The ascent is nothing, but I look for- 
ward with uneasiness to my return (descending) 
journey. The coffee estates are at length reached, 
commencing about 1.S00 feet above sea-level. The 
soil is a dark chocolate, lying amidst granite boulders, 
resembling the gneiss in Ceylon, but with a larger 
admixture of mien. The surface soil is not very deep, 
and the subsoil is hard, and granitic crust, or laterite, 
can be struck at three or four feet deep. 
The coffee plantations resemble those of Ceylon, 
being planted along the sides of large ravines, and 
always on steep ground. 
The cultivation is very primitive, indeed. The 
trees are planted at distances of rive or six feet apart, 
and their height not over eight or nine feet, although 
allowed to grow up naturally without any pruning. 
The close planting must be the cause of their small 
size, for, beside an opening, such as at a road, or a 
stream, the trees are the size of those in St. Paulo, 
planted I 1 feet apart. 
Weeding is done only three times a year : once 
after picking in October and November; once in 
March, or April ; and once before picking in 
June and July. Picking commences in July, just as 
the rains have ceased and they have d 
with occasional showers up till Pebruai 
following. This is very advantageous fo 
ithe 
-natives 
;o the 
Paulo. 
K'P>\ hali'-rip.! and gr en aro 
has already fallen is 
large crop wil h few hands. I sa 
on several estates. The labonre 
of the Province. Men, women 1 
collet' picking. I ho fruit is not 
ground, and then swept in a h 
but each picker carries a wide 
the waist, ami the branches ai 
ipo, 
What 
so it is, for the weeds are lyin_ 
trees. It would bo an improvement if they" would weed 
oftener, ami have the weeding that is done immediately 
before picking a light one; and sweep clean under 
the trees hcfe.ru eoH'ce began to ripen and fill 
and so save not only what has fallen before, but 
also what the pickers drop during picking. Curing 
is also douo in a very primitive way. No disput- 
ing is don.' in the cherry. The coffee is dried in the 
usual «ay on earthen) drying grounds. W hen suffici- 
ently dry it passes through a series of beaters ro- 
semi. ling those used for beating ami cleaning yarn. 
The machine consists <>f a number of wooden peetlea 
which are raited by teeth projecting from a wooden 
shaft, which is generally a continuation of the axlo 
of the water wheel and these pestles fall into a 
long wooden trough into which the dry coffee is put. 
The eoll'ce thus having its husk broken, is passed 
through a pan which separates the chad". Some pass 
the coffee through a separator to take out the pea- 
berry, but many do not. The coffee is a bad sample, 
owing to the large quantity of green Ceff'ee picked 
along with the ripe. 
Labourers are plentiful on the Ceara plantations. 
Slavery exists only as a domestic institution, as 
servants in houses only. The field hands are all free. 
Before the famine, they were not so plentiful as since. 
Wages are now 640 reis a day (Is. 4d. Eng.) and 
hands provide their own food. Before the i amine, 
wages were SCO reis a clay (Is. Eng.) and food. The 
price for coffee picking is 640 reis (Is. 4d. Eng.) for 
128 litres ; say per 3.} bushels. The current year's 
crop is a good one, and on nearly all plantations l 
have seen, the trees were heavily laden with fruit. 
There has not been a large crop of coffee for some 
years. 1879 was the last of the famine years, and in 
)8S0 there had not been a great quantity of rain, and 
trees had not fully recovered. The estimate for Ceara 
this year is 125,000 sacks of CO kilograms. This is a 
very important factor iu the coffee returns of the 
world. Until now I did not believe that the produc- 
tion of coffee in Ceara was worth noticing. 1 should say . 
including young coffee fields not yet in bearing, there 
were over 100,000 acres under cultivation. There is still 
room for extending in other mountain ranges, although on 
this particular range nearly all available coffee laud 
is taken up. Sugarcane is grown in the hollows, 
and bananas in the ravines. Mandioca is grown in 
both young and old coffee, between the rows which 
must lessen the production of coffee very much. 
The estates seem to suffer a little from wind, although 
the planters say wind does not trouble them. The 
dry branches observed on many trees must be the 
effects of the drought two and three years ago. 
Transport of everything is by mule-pack, the present 
railway terminus being 25 to 30 miles distant. By 
the end of the year it will be 10 miles nearer. 
I passed all Monday very pleasantly riding over 
the estates owned by my friend, and these were at 
an average, elevation of 3,000 feet above the level of 
the sea. The thermometer was 70° at night, 70 3 in the 
morning, and the day being cloudy, was the same at mid- 
day. 
On the top of the range is a village with hotel, 
and church, and some neat clean-looking houses. 
It being over 3,000 feet above sea level, is largely 
frequented by those from the northern part of Brazil, 
in search of health ; particularly those having beri-beri. 
From what I said of the roads in my uphill journey, 
you may imagine how I felt on my return. Atone 
place we have to descend the point of a spur at a 
gradient that ought to be counted by degrees, say 
50° zigzags, about 15 feet long, and the corners of 
these, cut awav by the heavy rains, making almost a 
straight rugged track, all the way down a height of 
about ',000 feet. The spur se< med to have been 
formed by two large earth-slips broken away from 
the mountain's side, and this spur bring the solid 
piece left between the two. At the corners of the 
zig-zags, on each side of the spur, were large precipices. 
On that to the left, at the distance of 100 yards, was 
a roaring cataract, breaking over the side of the 
mountain in three or fourfalls. Spray was ihus thrown 
over the path, making the way slippery in even tho best 
of weather. Leaving the house of my friend at 4 p. m., 
Canoa was reached by 9*30 p. m. The ride from 
Baturitd, to Canda was pleasant in the moonlight. 
No beds are used in this part of the world. After 
a light supper, I enjoyed my sdoei> in the ham- 
mock until daylight. Tuesday, 6th July I returned 
by rail to Fortaleza, got the small parcel of seeds 
of Manisoba ( Ceard-rnbber tree) from my Sunday 
friend at Bahua in passing. 
I had time to make arrangements with influential 
people in Ceara for tho supply of any quantity of 
sued I may require, nud have it scut on to my 
