The Great Western of Brazil Railway was formed in London in 1872; the first work done was the construction of one hundred and eighteen kilometers from the port of Recife to the town of Timbauba with an extension to Limoeiro; in 1901 connection was carried on to the Conde d’Eu line in Parahyba, and in the same year the company leased seven other disconnected lines of the north-east promontory, with the object since attained of forming a linked system. Of the seven thus controlled three had been built by, and still belong to, the Government, while four were English built.[9] As operated today the Great Western line includes more than eleven hundred miles of track, links and penetrates the four States of Alagôas, Pernambuco, Parahyba and Rio Grande do Norte, and serves the ports of Maceió, Recife, Parahyba, Cabedello and Natal, an independent line extending north of this point to the town of Pedra Preta. The system has done excellent work in developing sugar, tobacco and cotton country, but it has suffered from the financial difficulties of the last three years, droughts reducing the agricultural product of northerly regions and adding to troubles consequent upon fallen exchange: the company has asked the Federal Government for relief from the onerous financial obligations of the original contract, and, with this revision accomplished, will be in a better position. North from Natal, with the land sloping sharply east towards the Amazon delta, no more railroads are encountered until almost midway along the shore-line of the State of Ceará the port of Fortaleza is reached. From this point a line runs south-west into the interior to the town of Iguatú, the track with a couple of little branches including four hundred and twenty-three kilometers. Ceará is unenviably famous for the terrible droughts which from time to time scourge and depopulate it, but when rains visit this territory it is extraordinarily fertile, crops are abundant, the fecund Cearenses return and cattle-raising is resumed. A second strip of line runs inland, almost due south, from sea-margin Camocim to Granja at the head of the bay and thence to Cratheus, three hundred and thirty-five kilometers distant. Exports of carnauba wax, of a special class of rubber (_maniçoba_ = _manihot_), and of hides, go out from the ports of Ceará, and since the last drought of 1914–15 broke in abundant rainfall there has been unprecedented planting of fine cotton which is said to promise well. The next state northward is Piauhy, with but a span of coast and no railroad as yet, although one is projected to connect with Ceará. Maranhão has two lines: one, planned from São Luis to Caxias, of which some separate sections are already in operation, and the other running from Caxias to Cajazeiras, serving interior country. An important branch, to penetrate the sertão, is projected from a point along the first-named line to Barra do Córdoba.