Marie galante is a harsh cotton of the Peruvian or Brazilian type.
It lies in the north-east trade winds belt, but the mountain chain on its northern frontier robs these winds of their moisture and leaves the greater part of the Brazilian plateau rainless.
There is no absolutely dry season in this part of the great Brazilian plateau, though the year is customarily divided into a dry and wet season, the latter running from September to April in Goyaz, and from November to April in Matto Grosso.
The series of trunk lines terminating at the port of Santos are owned by private companies and are formed by the Sao Paulo, Paulista and Mogyana lines, the first owned by an English company, and the other two by Brazilian companies.
The use of tramways for the transportation of passengers in cities dates from 1868, when the first section of the Botanical Garden line of Rio de Janeiro was opened to traffic. The line was completed with its surplus earnings and continued under the control of the American company which built it until 1882, when it was sold to a Brazilian company.
