MARTIN RATTLER. 101

that they afford splendid communication with the in-
terior of the land. But, alas! there are few ships on
these rivers yet, very few. The rivers in the north
part of Brazil are so numerous and interlaced that
they are much like the veins in the human body ;
and the great River Amazon and a few of its chief
tributaries resemble the arteries,

“Then as to our produce,” continued the hermit,
“who can tell it all? We export sugar and coffee,
and gold, silver, lead, zine, quicksilver, and amethysts,
and we have diamond mines—”

~“Dimond mines!” echoed Barney; “och, but I
would like for to see them. Sure they would sparkle
most beautiful. Are they far off, Mr. Carrymooroo ?”

“Yes, very far off. Then we export dye-woods
and cabinet-woods, and drugs, and gums, and hides—
a great many hides, for the campos are full of wild
cattle, and men hunt them on horseback, and catch
them with a long rope called the lasso.”

“How I should like to have a gallop over these
great plains,” murmured Martin.

“Then: we have,” continued the hermit, “rice,
tapioca, cocoa, maize, wheat, mandioca, beans, bananas,
pepper, cinnamon, oranges, figs, ginger, pine-apples,
yams, lemons, mangoes, and many other fruits and

vegetables. The mandioca you have eaten in the