=Pernambuco=, the twelfth State in size, with area equal to that of New York, extends well into the interior, though with a coast line of 112 miles only. Ceará and Parahyba are on the north, Alagôas and Bahia on the south, and Piauhy on the west. The State leads in the production of cotton and sugar, sometimes exporting 150,000 tons of the latter, and raw cotton worth $5,000,000. Other agricultural products are secondary, but cattle and dairying are important, still more the milling industry. Minerals, coal, iron, saltpetre, kaolin, and manganese exist in paying quantities. There are two good ports besides the capital; railways connect Recife with Maceió and with cities inland. Recife (often called Pernambuco), capital of the State, is a port protected by a coral reef parallel to the shore, where fine works are being constructed: these include a breakwater three-fourths of a mile long, a stone jetty one-half a mile; quays, one with 33 feet of water, one with 28-30, together three-fourths of a mile long, also other equipment. One thousand steamers are its annual quota, with tonnage of 1,750,000; the city has obviously great commercial importance, exporting especially cotton and sugar, also rum, hides, and cereals. Its imports surpass those of any other Brazilian city except Rio. The cost of living is high. =Parahyba= has on the north Rio Grande do Norte, Pernambuco south, Ceará west, and 72 miles of coast east. Cotton is the chief product, and mandioca is important. Vast coconut groves of trees, growing wild, should be taken advantage of. The pastoral industry is important, with goats a specialty as with its neighbors. A little below the capital, Parahyba, at the mouth of the Rio Parahyba do Norte, is the seaport Cabedello, where port works are planned. =Rio Grande do Norte= is the first of several States which have the Atlantic Ocean on the north. It is on the east also, forming a coast line of 290 miles. Parahyba is south and Ceará west. Here, too, cotton and sugar are the chief products, though 180 tons of rubber annually, from the _maniçoba_ trees, are of value; the cattle and goats are important; _carnaüba_ wax and vegetable oils come from the forests; the State, from natural _salines_, supplies much of the salt used in Brazil. Dried and salt fish are supplied to the rest of the northern States, and much cotton cloth and thread are exported. Natal, the capital, is near the mouth of the Rio Grande. A great reservoir with a dam 160 feet high and a capacity of 2,200,000,000 cubic metres of water is to be constructed, the irrigation of 250,000 acres thereby transforming a large district; others here and in Ceará.