Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/270

226 region. Gating a is the general name applied to the lower growing and open woods of the slopes of the Brazilian highland which lose their leaves in the dry season. These merge into the wide open plains or gently rounded hills and ridges, covered with grass or scattered bushes, which are called the Campos geraes. The systematic burning over of these great grass lauds, to allow the young crop to appear, has completely destroyed in them all trees and shrubs which cannot bear the scorching, and so has wrought a great alteration in the flora of these regions. The name Sertao, meaning originally the interior as distinguished from the maritime country, has come to be applied to dry, hilly, and stony districts of the campos only suited for pasture. To the agricultural coast belt of the eastern provinces the name Beira mar is given. Except on the loftiest mountains, and on the wide sertdos, the vegetation of Brazil is luxuriant beyond description. In the mountain passes in the neighbour hood of the sea-shore, the conjoint effects of heat and moisture produce a superfluity of vegetable life, which man s utmost efforts cannot restrain. Trees split for paling in the neighbourhood of Rio Janeiro send forth shoots and branches immediately, and this whether the position of the fragments be that in which they originally grew, or inverted. On the banks of the Amazons the loftiest trees destroy each other by their proximity, and are bound together by rich and multiform lianes. In the province of Maranhao, the roots, grasses, and other plants extending from the shores of pools, weave themselves in time into a kind of vegetable bridge, along which the passenger treads, unaware that he has left the firm earth, until the jaws of a cayman protrude through the herbage be fore him. The vegetable productions of Brazil have a strong analogy with those of Guiana. The most common are the Composite, Leguminosce, JSuphorbiacece, Kubiacece, Aroidece, and ferns of the most varied forms. The vegetation of the valleys differs from that of the campos, as it again does from that which occurs in the sertdos. Along the coast, the mangroves are the most numerous and prominent species. The most marked peculiarity of this class of plants is, that the seeds begin to shoot before they drop from the parent plant, and that the drooping branches strike roots into the soil. They are never found inland except where the surface is scarcely elevated above the level of the sea. They flourish from Rio Grande do Sul to Maranhao, convert ing the land into a morass wherever they are allowed to flourish unmolested. Immediately behind them numerous families of palms raise their graceful heads. The under wood in the neighbourhood of Rio Janeiro consists principally of crotons. Every large river of Brazil has its own appropriate form of vegetable life, giving a peculiar character to its banks. The vegetation of the Amazon may be divided into three classes; (1) that which we find on the islands, (2) the vegetation upon the banks overflowed at regular intervals by the stream, and (3) that which stands high and dry. The difference between them consists in the character of the bark and the species of the plants. Brushwood and herbage are nowhere to be seen ; everything tends to the gigantic in size. The most various forms group awkwardly together, crossed and intertwined with leaves. The preponderance of trees with feathery foliage, and with glossy, fleshy leaves, lends alternately a tender and a luxuriant character to the scene, which is in every other respect painful from its monotony. Representatives of the most estranged natural families grow side by side. It is only on the islands, where the willow and some other plants are found in numbers, that we are reminded of the uniformity of our northern vegetation. Cocoa trees and the vanilla, CapsicMmfrutescens, and different kinds of pepper, the cinnamon tree, and Brazilian cassia abound. The flora of all the tributaries of the Amazon is similar to what we have described, until the traveller ascends above the falls, and finds himself in another region. The sources of the Madeira alone offer a partial exception, retaining a vegetation indicative of extensive plains, lakes, and morasses. The vegetation of the southern campos (corresponding to the North American Dairies) is widely different. On the plains of the southern provinces we find scattered about strong tufts of greyish-green and hairy grasses, springing from the red clay. Mingled with these are numerous herbaceous flowers, of the most varied colours and elegant forms. At intervals small groves of trees, seldom exceed ing 20 feet in height, so distant that the individual form of each is easily recognized, with spreading fantastic branches and pale green leaves, break the monotony of the scene. Solitary myrtles, numerous varieties of pleasing fruits, and now and then a cactus, add to the variety. A similar vegetation, but with a richer variety of plants, occurs in the diamond district. On the western declivity of the Serra do Mar, and along the upper banks of the Rio Sao Francisco, extends a wooded &quot; catinga &quot; country, of a character entirely different from that which is found in the valleys below. Malvce, Eujrfiorbiacece, Mimosa?, and the like, are the prevailing types on the Rio Francisco ; cactuses, palms, and ferns abound on the Serra do Mar. In this latter district the ipecacuanha flourishes best. It is, however, in the glowing steppes of Pernambuco that we find the cactus predominant. In the valley of the Paraguay the most striking feature is presented by the water plants, which in one river are sufficiently strong to impede the navigation of a stream both deep and broad. The forests of Brazil contain almost every species of useful and ornamental wood. The cocoa-tree is found in great quantities in the provinces on the sea-shore, and furnishes one of the most important items of internal com merce. A considerable surplus of cocoa is annually exported. One of the most valuable sorts of timber is furnished by the Ibiripitanga or Brazil-wood (Caesalpinia brasiliensis), which yields a fine red dye. The wood itself is very hard and heavy, and takes a beautiful polish. It grew at one time in great abundance along the coast ; but being a Government monopoly (thence called pao da rainho, Queen s wood), it was cut down in a reckless manner, and is now by no means so abundant as it once was. The other trees most worthy of mention are ihejaracandd or rosewood tree, the trumpet-tree (Secropia peltata), the laurel, the soap-tree, the tapia or garlic pear-tree, and the whole family of palms. Of these the Carnauba Palm (Copernicia cerifera), which grows in the north-east coastal province, is perhaps the most useful tree of Brazil ; every part of it is valuable, and the wax yielded by its leaves is now a considerable article of trade. Not least important is the Siphonia elastica, or caoutchouc tree, which during the season is tapped every day, and furnishes in considerable quantities a gum which is poured into moulds ; the export of this product from Brazil averages a value of more than 1,000,000 annually. The banana is one of the most useful of all the trees that grow in Brazil, and its fruit is the chief food of the native Indians. The fruits of Brazil are numerous and excellent. The best of these are the pine-apple, the mango, the custard-apple, the guava, and the various kinds of melons and nuts.

In an empire of such vast extent as Brazil, embracing as it does every variety of temperature and elevation, the value and importance of the agricultural products cannot fail to be very great. So small, however, is the number of farmers, compared with the extent of the soil, that it is believed that not one acre in 200 is under cultivation. In some provinces, especially those near the sea, the quantity of grain raised is not sufficient to supply the 