the towering palms gracefully fanning the glowing atmosphere with their majestic crowns of broad and shining leaves.

8. This palm is a real treasure to the scattered in habitants of the steppe, and it receives various names, according to the uses it is put to. Thus, by the cattle farmers and settlers it is called the " thatch-palm," because they employ its leaves in thatching their houses; to the straw-hat makers it is known as the "hat-palm;" and by travellers on the steppe it is termed the "fan-palm,” from the use to which they put it as a fan to keep off the flies during a journey.

9. The grasses are rank and luxuriant in these alluvial lands. Some are tall, cutting, and worthless, with blades almost as sharp as a Toledo rapier-these are found chiefly on the higher parts of the plain. On the savannas, or lower plains, a luxuriant growth of more tender and succulent kinds characterises the verdant prairie. Some of these are soft and pliable as silk, and it is owing to the nutritious qualities of the pastures in general that the alluvial plains of the Apuré and its tributaries have become so noted for cattle-breeding. In the upper levels of the llanos the farmer is compelled to migrate with his stock every summer; on the Apuré it is verdant all the year round.

10. The pools and channels of water in these regions of plenty do not dry up in the dry season, and they are consequently the resort of a multitude of quadrupeds and water-fowl. The birds in particular seem to have migrated hither from all parts of the continent. The colonies of the birds sometimes extend for several miles. One of the kinds of crane is called the soldier, from its erect and martial air, and is over five feet in height, with a bill fully a foot long. The herons, storks, and ibises, are of various colours; some snow-white, some a delicate blue, others grey or pink, and many a brilliant scarlet. Myriads of small ducks too resort to these waters, and when they are disturbed, rise in such incredible numbers as actually for the moment to obscure the sun.

11. The prodigious exuberance of animal life has

justly entitled the Apuré to be called the land of plenty. But it has also its dark side. The miasmas, which are exhaled from the extensive marshes, render this fine country during the rainy season of the year almost uninhabitable for man. In the dry season strong breezes prevail which blow off the moisture from the low grounds. These marshes, too, are the abode of the enormous water-snake, the anaconda, and the woods harbour the boa-constrictor. These snakes commit great havoc among the calves, heifers, and colts of the llano farmers. The jaguar is common in the Apuré district, and alligators swarm in all the waters of the Orinoco, besides which numerous venomous snakes, including the rattle-snake and the dreaded lachesis, lie concealed by the side of pathways in meadows and thickets.

LESSON LXV I.

THE EMPIRE OF BRAZIL.

1. The Empire of Brazil occupies three-sevenths of the South American continent, and covers an extent of contiguous territory (3,287,964 square miles) greater than that directly under any government, except Russia and the United States; though, of course, indirectly, England governs a far greater portion of the world. The boundaries of the empire touch the borders of all the South American republics except Chili. The greatest breadth of territory is 2,470 miles, and the greatest length 2,600 miles, whilst the coast-line measures 4,750 miles.

2. The interior of Brazil is very varied in aspect and formation. The country is in general mountainous, three great mountain ranges and their spurs occupying one-third of its surface; but it is also remarkable for its vast plains, extensive valleys, and gigantic rivers. The three principal mountain systems,* which throw off all the other

* Serra do Mar (nearest the coast), Serra Mantiqueira (in the centre), and Serra dos Vertentes (on the west).

Brazilian ridges, run parallel to each other and to the coast, but at great distances apart.

3. The four chief rivers are the Amazon,* the Tocantins, the San Francisco, and the Parana. The Tocantins has a northern course of about 1,500 miles in the broad valley between the west and central mountain systems, and its principal affluent, the Araguaya, extends about the same distance in the same valley. The San Francisco, owing to its position, is one of the most valuable rivers of Brazil, and fully one-sixth part of the population dwell along its banks. About 155 miles from its mouth navigation is obstructed by seventy miles of rapids and falls on an extremely grand scale. Above these rapids the river is navigable for upwards of 900 miles. The Parana runs southward, only its upper courses are in Brazil.

4. Brazil has an average elevation of 700 feet above the level of the sea; hence the climate is, for a tropical country, "remarkably temperate, regular, and salubrious." Places near the coast get the benefit of the evening sea-breezes, which bring fresh life and animation to exhausted nature. In the north-that is, near the equator there are two regular seasons: the wet and the dry. Further south there is no fixed rainy period.

In

5. The plant and animal life of Brazil is remarkably luxuriant perhaps the most luxuriant in the world. the upper valleys of the Amazon and its tributaries the area of a circle more than 1,000 miles in diameter is covered with one dense mass of arboreal vegetation; and, again, on the Atlantic sea-board, from the mouths of the Amazon to 25° south latitude, and for hundreds of miles inland, with little interruption, the country is covered with vast virgin forests.

6. The forests of the Atlantic sea-board and the river valleys have a similar general character to those of the great plain of the Amazon, yet the trees are to a certain extent represented by different species in the two districts. This is particularly the case with the palm, which is represented by from 300 to 400 different species. These

* See next Lesson.

palms supply the Indians with all that they need in this life, including food, drink, raiment, shelter, weapons, tools, and medicines. The Mirita palm affects swampy grounds; the Guarani Indians almost live upon its sago, while its fibre, wood, and sap, supply them with "house, bed, and board." Among the others may be mentioned the Pashiuba palm-the peculiarity of which is that its roots shoot and spread out just above the ground, and then grow obliquely downwards and the Carnaüba palm. Of the latter every part is of some use: its root possesses medicinal properties identical with those of sarsaparilla, the wood is used for all sorts of building purposes, the inner rind of the young leaf is valued as a nutritious food, and the soft fibrous substance in the interior of the stalk forms an excellent substitute for cork. In addition, the tree yields a saccharine substance, a great quantity of gum resembling sago, a kind of flour, and a whitish liquor like the "milk" contained in the cocoa-nut. The pulp of the fruit is agreeable to the taste, and the kernels, when roasted and pounded, are used as a substitute for coffee. The dried leaves are made into hats, mats, baskets, and brooms, and already a considerable trade is done with Europe in the "straw," which can be plaited into fine hats. Last, the candles used in the northern provinces are for the most part made of the wax extracted from the leaves; and besides this £150,000 worth is annually exported.

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7. The forest supplies the greatest vegetable riches of the country. Page after page could be filled with the mere names of the economic plants of this immense country, and then the list would not be exhausted. The Brazilwood-tree, the trumpet-tree, the laurel, the soap-tree, the cow-tree, the various palms, the banana, custard apple, guava, and various kinds of nuts, including the Brazilnut, and the well-known indiarubber-tree, may be included among the better-known products of the Brazilian forests."

8. The chief agricultural products are coffee, sugar, rice, cocoa, and cotton; and corn yields enormous returns to the husbandman, but has not yet become an article

of export. Fruits are most abundant, and include thos of nearly all climates. Bananas, yams, figs, oranges, lemons, and grapes, grow in nearly all the provinces. Spices are common in the basin of the Rio Negro.

9. The coffee-tree is cultivated to an enormous extent, and several of the provinces possess immense forests of these trees. More than one-half of the coffee consumed in the world is of Brazilian growth, and coffee represents more than one-half of the total value of the exports of Brazil, the yearly value being upwards of £12,000,000. The exports of cotton and sugar are each valued at about £3,000,000. Tobacco grows wild, but is cultivated in some localities for export. The Yerba maté, or Paraguay tea, is also a Brazilian product, gathered from the wild plants in the woods. India-rubber, hides, and timber, are also important articles of export.

10. The mineral resources of the empire, too, include nearly all the useful metals, coals, and many kinds of precious stones, and building-stones. Iron is found in large quantities in deposits which may be easily and economically worked. Copper exists in large quantities, and quicksilver is as abundant as in Peru. Chief among the precious stones are diamonds, but emeralds, sapphires, rubies, and many others, are met with.

11. The population of Brazil (about 10,000,000) is rather a mixed one, consisting of the whites (chiefly Portuguese and their descendants), negroes (imported as slaves from Africa), Indians (who were the original inhabitants of the country), and mixtures of these races.

12. The principal port of Brazil is the capital, Rio de Janeiro,* which, with the surrounding district, is a neutral principality, like the district of Columbia in the United States. The city is situated on the west of a magnificent bay, and is well supplied with schools, churches, asylums, and public institutions of all kinds. From its position Rio is the chief business place of Brazil. Bahia, or San Salvador, is the second city and port of the empire. Pernambuco is the centre of the coasting trade, and its foreign trade is only second to that of Rio and Bahia.

*The population in 1872 was 503,715.