those in the Mata may be purchased even without any advance, and under the agreement of small yearly payments of eight to ten _per cent._ upon the price. The lands of sugar plantations are appropriated to five purposes. These are; the woods,—the lands for planting canes,—those which are cleared for pasturage,—the provision grounds for the negroes,—and the lands which are occupied by free people. The woods occupy a very considerable portion of the lands belonging to a plantation; in most cases much more than half the estate is yet covered with wood, but still I do not think, from what I saw and heard, that these forests contain so much fine timber as has been imagined. A tree of any species of valuable timber must now be purchased. Very little consideration is given to the quantity of wood that is destroyed in the work of a plantation, in many cases very unnecessarily. The fences are made of stakes, which are formed of the trunks of trees, driven into the ground, and to these are fastened horizontally the stems of younger plants. The best timber, rather than that of inferior quality, is selected for this purpose, that it may last the longer under exposure to the heat of the sun and to the rains. The fuel, likewise, is another most enormous source of destruction; and although for this purpose some selection might be made of the qualities of timber which are less valuable, no thought is given to the matter. The havock which is committed in bringing out of the woods a tree that has been felled for any particular purpose is likewise immense; for many trees are cut down to make a path from the usual road to the spot upon which the tree which is to be brought out is laying, that the oxen may enter to convey it away. It will be said, that the great object is to get rid of the superabundant quantities of wood, and this is no doubt the case; but according to the present system, very little land is radically cleared of wood, and yet the large and valuable timber is undergoing rapid destruction. Virgin woods however certainly do yet exist to a great extent. It is said that those of Apepucos, which is near to Recife, are connected with the woods in the neighbourhood of Goiana, a distance of fifteen leagues. Of the lands for planting canes I have already treated.