HE outstanding geographical circumstances affecting northeastern Brazil are its periodic droughts. A vast literature on the subject exists in Brazil, but it is scarcely known outside the country.' A general picture of the region and its problem will here be presented.2 The drought region of northeastern Brazil is generally described as comprising the states of CearA, Rio Grande do Norte, Parahyba, Pernambuco, Alagoas, and Sergipe, about one-tenth of the state of Piauhy, and the portion of the state of Bahia north of the Rio Itapicurui, the southern boundary of the region being the Rio Itapicurfi to its source and thence a line drawn westward to the springs that form the source of the Rio Gurgueia in the state of Piauhy. The region thus defined has an area of some 540,000 square kilometers and a population of about 5,600,000.