The recife or reef which forms the front of Pernambuco is connected with the city by an iron bridge; at its upper end it is joined to the land by a sand-spit, and the principal business of the place is centred there. As their time was limited, the youths confined their attentions to the old city and the sights of the streets of the newer portion.
PERNAMBUCO.
Pernambuco stands in an enclosure of mountains that sweep in a semi-circle around a fertile plain. Recife is the business part; San Antonio is the middle district; and Boa Vista may be called the suburb. The city has about one hundred and twenty thousand inhabitants, and is the third in commercial importance in Brazil. It is the greatest sugar-market of South America, its exportation often reaching twelve hundred thousand tons in a single year. Most of the sugar sent from Pernambuco is of a low grade, and must be refined in the United States or England before going into the market for consumption.
PACK HORSES LADEN WITH SUGAR.
Frank and Fred were not long in finding by observation the chief industry of the city. At every step they saw sugar; it was on the lighters going to the ships in the harbor; it was in the warehouses, where the negro porters were handling sacks filled with it; it was on the backs of pack-horses, coming from the country in great droves; it was heaped on ox-wagons, which filled the streets; in fact, it was here, there, and everywhere. The very atmosphere was redolent with sugar, and the pavements were sticky with molasses. Pernambuco without sugar would be Hamlet without Hamlet.