100 MARTIN RATTLER.

knocking out the ashes. “Tl jist load wance more,
and then—fire away.”

In a few minutes the big cigar and short pipe were
in full play, and the hermit continued :—

“This country is very large and very rich, but it is
not well worked. The people are lazy, many of them,
and have not much enterprise. Much is done, no
doubt, but very much more might be done.

“The empire of Brazil occupies nearly one-half of
the whole continent of South America. It is 2,600
miles long, and 2,500 miles broad, which, as you
know perhaps, is a little larger than all Europe. The
surface of the country is beautiful and varied. The
hilly regions are very wild, although none of the
mountains are very high, and the woods are magnifi-
cent; but a great part of the land consists of vast
grassy plains, which are called llanos, or campos, or
silvas. The campos along the banks of the River
Amazon are equal to six times the size of France;
and there is one great plain, lying between the Si-
erra Ibiapaba and the River Tocantins, which is 600
miles long by 400 miles broad. There are very
few lakes in Brazil, and only one worth speaking of
—the Lagoa dos Platos—which is 150 miles long.
But our rivers are the finest in the whole world,

being so long and wide and deep and free from falls