over the surface; they are of all sizes, from very minute particles to rounded blocks as large as two fists; they are of a black, or very dark brown colour, assume a variety of shapes, and, judging from their weight, are rich in iron. The fazenda of Retiro stands on a rising ground on the banks of the Rio das Guaribas, which was one of the largest we had yet encountered, but from the recent dry weather, the water was so low, that on the following morning we crossed it without difficulty; its banks exhibited signs of having but a short time before been very much flooded. A journey of two leagues brought us to a fazenda called Buquerão, where in consequence of rain we remained till the following morning, when continuing our route through a generally flat country, but full of isolated rocky hills, containing few trees, and a very scanty herbaceous vegetation, we arrived at the fazenda of Canabrava, after travelling about four leagues. This estate belongs to Colonel Martins, the father of the two gentlemen whom we met at Boa Esperança, and brother to the Barão de Parnahiba, the President of the Province of Piauhy. As I carried letters of introduction to him from Padre Marcos, I was received with the greatest politeness and hospitality; here we remained for the night, and the following morning were not allowed to leave till we had partaken of a breakfast of coffee, which the Colonel told us was an excellent preventive for ague, which is very common at this season, in the country we were now about to enter. The old man was in deep grief at the loss of one of his sons, who but a short time before had died suddenly at his fazenda, about twenty-four leagues distant. As several roads led off in various directions a little beyond the house, he kindly sent a black boy to put us in the right path. A journey of about five leagues and a half, through a beautiful grassy country abounding in herds of fine cattle, brought us to a plantation called Canavieira, belonging to a Major Clementino Martins, whom we met at Boa Esperança; we saw here a large field of sugar-cane, being the first we had met with since we left Brejo Grande. As the Major never resides at this place, the house is a very poor one, and in a very ruined condition; we were obliged to take up our quarters in a sort of shed, which formed a great contrast to the comfortable lodgings we had enjoyed the night before. A day or two afterwards, we found in consequence of sleeping in this hut, that a number of those little insects called chigoes (_Pulex penetrans_, Linn.) had got into our feet: they are only found near dwellings, and are met with in all parts of the country I visited, from the sea-coast to the high mountains in the Diamond district. They burrow under the skin to produce their young, the insect itself dying; they are at first easily detected, by the not unpleasant tickling sensation they produce in entering the skin, and of course are easily removed by a pin or the point of a pen-knife.