A simple _camaraderie_ prevails in the upland interior, where little money passes and barter of goods is the most common form of exchange; it is frequently impossible to hire labour, and as a consequence farmers and their sons invite the help of their neighbours when field work is needed, giving their own time in turn when occasion arises. No distinction between rich and poor occurs in a society of such friendly simplicity. In the cattle regions there is a special ceremony every year, for rounding and branding cattle, known as the _feira dos bizerros_ (calf branding) and the _apartação do gado_—separation of herds, frequently running with those of other _fazendeiros_ over unfenced country. All the neighbours arrive at the farm which is thus counting its stock, families making it an occasion of friendly reunion. During the evenings of the two or three days of _festa_ there is a continual round of coffee drinking and eating, many a marriage is arranged and consummated; at the close of the work there is frequently a series of competitions of skill in horsemanship, the clever performance of the _vaquejada_ or _derrubada_ always exciting a critical audience. Horsemen, mounted on well-trained animals, post themselves at the gate of the corral where bulls have been shut up for a day or two; the bars are let down and when the cattle rush out each of the horsemen tries to seize a bull by its tail and throw it to the ground—success largely depending on the cleverness of the horse in avoiding the rushes and struggles of the bull. The last night is one of continual dancing and temperate feasting, the flute and violin sounding until dawn. It is a little curious that these instruments, with the guitar, are the favourites of the musical peasantry of Brazil, and that the exquisite marimba of African origin, carried by negroes into Central America and there enthusiastically adopted by the Quiché-Cachiquel natives, should not have also found a home in the southern continent. Among the other figures of the _sertão_, created by the absence of mechanical transportation in a series of great regions, is the _tropeiro_, the leader and frequently the owner of a troop of mules carrying the products of the interior to market. A good _tropeiro_ is entrusted with the marketing of the cotton crop of a fazenda or even a district, and he will carry cash for long distances, settling accounts, making purchases; his mules are trained performers who know their work and make themselves understood if there is anything wrong with one of their number. In the north of the Brazilian promontory—Bahia, Pernambuco, interior Ceará, Maranhão and Rio Grande do Norte as well as the hinterlands of the central states, the _tropeiro_ undertakes the transportation of much of the interior crop of cotton, sugar and tobacco. He is doomed to extinction as the steel arms of the railroads push out into the interior, but his day is not yet done.