on a journey, is seldom more than three pounds. We were now in the country to which the name of Campos Agrestes is given in Piauhy. These Campos are partly open, and partly wooded; the open tracts are covered with coarse perennial grasses, and are not entirely destitute of trees, but all are more or less deciduous, with the exception of one which is truly evergreen; this is a species of _Zizyphus_, known by the name of Joazeira; it is not a large tree, but has wide-spreading branches that give an excellent shade, of which we often took advantage during the heat of the day. The cattle also are very fond of the shade of this tree, as well as of the sweet fleshy fruit, about the size of a small cherry, which it produces in great abundance, and which when ripe falls to the ground; this fruit, called Joá, is also eaten by the inhabitants. Many of the trees of these tracts have a stunted appearance, their branches being gnarled and tortuous. Sometimes large swampy tracts exist in the Campos Agrestes, and in these grow clusters of Buriti palms, the soft fruit of which is the principal food of three beautiful species of Maccaw which frequent them in great numbers. These birds generally fly in pairs, and rend the air with their loud cries of ará, ará, ará, and hence the Indian name of Arára. One of the most common of these is entirely blue (_Psittacus hyacinthinus_, Lath.); the others are blue also, with the exception of their breasts, which in one of them is orange, while the other has it of a crimson colour. Many of the level Chapadas, where the soil is of red clayey character, are covered with numerous ant-hills, often six or eight feet high, which have the appearance of clay huts when seen at a distance; these are formed by the white ant, and as these insects constitute the principal food of the Ostrich of the country (_Rhea Americana_), and the great ant-bear, the Tamandúa of the natives (_Myrmecophaga jubata_), we saw many of them in the neighbourhood of the ant-hills. In the more closely wooded districts, the trees very much resemble the Catingas of the Campos Mimosos, and like them are deciduous in the dry season.