I must not omit to mention, that on our journey from Duro to Natividade, we met with great abundance of a delicious wild fruit, a kind of Mangába (_Hancornia pubescens var. Gardneri_, Alph. DC.) different from the one that grows so abundantly in the province of Ceará and Pernambuco; the fruit is nearly twice its size, and even more delicious. We first met with it on the Serra do Duro, where it is called Mangába do morro, but it is also abundant on the Chapadas, on the plain below, and like that of the other species, this is only good to eat when ripe enough to fall from the tree. CHAPTER X. NATIVIDADE TO ARRAYAS. The Town of Natividade described—Its Population—Dress and Manners of the People—Its Climate—Diseases—Goître extremely prevalent—Excursion to the neighbouring lofty Mountain Range—Its Geology and Vegetation—Visits the Arraial da Chapada—Leaves Natividade—Passes San Bento, and arrives at the Arraial de Conceição—Its Population—Very subject to Goître—Probable cause of this Complaint—Reaches Barra, and crosses the Rio de Palma—Arrives at Santa Brida—Stays at Sapê—Account of the Animal and Vegetable Productions of the Neighbourhood—Reaches the Villa de Arrayas—The Town described—Geological Features of the surrounding Country—Its Climate and Productions—Alarm of the Inhabitants—Muster of the National Guards—Preparation for Departure. The Villa de Natividade is situated near the western base of the southern extremity of the Serra already mentioned, which bears the same name, and like most of the towns in the interior is very irregularly built. The population amounts to about 2,000 souls consisting of the same mixed races we had so frequently met with before. It contains four churches, which although now very old, are not yet quite finished, nor is it at all likely that they ever will be completed. There is also a jail, but it is built of unburned bricks, through which the prisoners generally contrive to escape, so that it can scarcely be called a prison. Most of the houses are constructed of this material. The inhabitants are lazy and indolent in the extreme, and consequently there is always a great scarcity of the common necessaries of life among them; notwithstanding that much of the country in the neighbourhood of the Villa is well suited for plantations of mandiocca, &c., still very few are to be seen; and although there are many large cattle farms at only a few leagues distance, it is not above once a month, that fresh beef can be purchased; but this is not much to be wondered at, as the mass of the inhabitants, from their indolent habits, have not the means of buying it, or any other useful article. On enquiry of one of the most respectable persons in the place, how these persons contrived to live, he told me that the few who were industrious had to support the others, for they generally stole from their plantations as much as served to sustain their miserable existence.