The country in which we were travelling, is much infested by the Onça of the inhabitants, the _Felis onca_ of Linnæus, which is also known by the name of Jaguar. In our encampments, we used to hear them night after night roaring at some distance, but they never came near enough to be seen. The night we remained at Riacho d’Area, we were prevented from sleeping during the early part of it, by the loud roaring of one of these animals, which was so distinct and audible that it appeared to be within a short distance; but the fazendeiro, who was more accustomed to the sound, assured me it was at least half a league distant, and from its noise he supposed it to be a very large male; its roar was more like the growl of an angry dog, which generally continued for a quarter of an hour at a time, when it terminated by a sound, two or three times repeated, not unlike the smothered bark of a large mastiff. The dogs belonging to the fazenda were on the alert and barking, but none of them offered to leave the house. My horses which were feeding at a little distance, came closer to us, when they heard the almost unearthly sounds produced by the fierce inhabitant of the forests; even those I had brought from the coast, and which I am certain had never been exposed to the attacks of these animals, followed the example of the others. The Fazenda de Saco do Tanque is situated immediately on the boundary line between the province of Piauhy, and the south-west portion of that of Pernambuco, which is known by the name of the district of the Rio Preto. Shortly after entering this district, we reached an elevated table-land called the Serra da Batalha, which it was necessary to cross; it is about the height of the Serra de Araripe at Crato, and like it, is covered with an ever-verdant vegetation. The ascent is a very rugged one, consisting of large blocks of coarse white sandstone, of which the Serra appeared to be composed. At the foot of this Serra, and on the ascent itself, I made one of the finest collections of plants I had met with since leaving Oeiras. In moist sandy places at its foot grow some of those beautiful large-flowered small-leaved _Melastomaceæ_ which are so abundant in the gold and diamond districts; while on the more elevated sandy tracts I found immense quantities of a kind of nutmeg (_Myristica_), which does not grow more than three feet high. The trees on the Chapada itself consisted chiefly of the Cashew, Piki, Jatobá, Mangába, Sicupíra, _Gomphia hexasperma_, and an arboreous _Bignonia_; but intermingled with these, there were many beautiful trees and shrubs, which I had not before met with.