of mica and amianth; porphyry and porphyroid granite,
carbonated and hydroxided iron, argillaceous schist, mica schist.

Even richer than the mineral wealth is the botanical wealth, hitherto
dormant, of Brazil. Valuable woods occur in many Brazilian
forests--although it must not for one moment be imagined that entire
forests are to be found composed of useful woods. Indeed this is not the
case. Most of the woods are absolutely valueless. Still, when it is
realized that the forests of Brazil extend for several millions of square
kilometres, it is easy to conceive that there is plenty of room among a
majority of poor trees for some good ones. Most Brazilian woods are
interesting on account of their high specific gravity. Few, very few,
will float on water. On the central plateau, for instance, I could not
find a single wood which floated--barring, under special conditions, the
burity palm (_Mauritia vinifera_ M.). Along the banks of the Amazon and
in the northern part of Brazil this is not quite the case. Some Brazilian
woods, such as the iron-tree (pao-ferro), whose name fitly indicates its
character, are of extraordinary hardness. The Brazilian forest, although
not specially rich in woods for building and naval purposes, is
nevertheless most abundant in lactiferous, oliferous, fibrous, medicinal,
resinous, and industrial plants--such for instance as can be used for
tanning purposes, etc. No country in the world is as rich as Brazil in
its natural growth of rubber trees; nor have I ever seen anywhere else
such beautiful and plentiful palms: the piassava (_Attalia fumifera_ M.),
the assahy (_Euterpe oleracea_ L.), the burity (_Mauritia vinifera_ M.),
the carnahuberia (_Copernicia cerifera_ M.), the palmito (_Euterpe
edulis_ M.), and many others. I shall give a more detailed description of
the most important of these plants as we proceed on our journey and find
them in their habitat.

Where, perhaps, Brazil's greatest richness lies is in its hundreds of
thousands of square miles of wonderful pasture lands--perfectly ideal,
with plenty of excellent water and a delicious climate--capable of some
day fattening enough cattle to supply half the world with meat.

All these wonderful riches are absolutely dormant; more than that,
absolutely wasted for lack of population, for lack of roads, trails,
railways, or navigation of the rivers. The coast of Brazil is highly
civilized, and so, more or less, is the immediate neighbourhood