“ Owing to the aridity of the climate the vegetation is less luxuriant than in most Brazilian cities. The temperature is usually high, but it is modified by the strong sea winds. Fortaleza has suffered much from epidemics of yellow-fever, small-pox and beri-beri, but the climate is considered to be healthy. A small branch of the Ceará river, called the Pajehú, traverses the city and divides it into two parts, that on its right bank being locally known as Outeiro. ”

“ Fortaleza is the see of a bishopric, created in 1854, but it has no cathedral, one of its ten churches being used for that purpose. Its public buildings include the government house, legislative chambers, bishop’s palace, an episcopal seminary, a lyceum (high school) , Misericordia hospital, and asylums for mendicants and the insane. ”