also hired free men, both black and while, while inside and around the house were crowds of negresses and black children of all ages.

One is

The mode of life here is very patriarchal. offered water to wash one's feet. The natives are very hospitable, rushing off to kill fowls and prepare food the moment you arrive. There are also many other customs which remind one of the time of Abraham, but the spell is broken when your Abraham appears-with a flowing beard, it is true, but with a pair of spectacles and a large Inverness cloak!

We had a good dinner, but rather greasy, of pork, with the usual vegetables, washed down by home-made cachaça and water. I can put up with most of the native diet, but have a great repugnance to drinking spirits with food.

Of course the first topic of conversation was the railway, the colonel producing a huge sketch plan which he had made of the whole country round, as far as the divide by Capella Nova, and on which he had traced a line which he considered the best route for the railway-passing through a good deal of his property, and near the fazendas of many of his friends. I promised to explore it on my return.

Our host was very earnest in cautioning us against fire, as the most disastrous conflagrations sometimes occur from carelessness. In 1879 there was a fire here which extended over two thousand square “alqueires" (an alqueire is nearly twelve acres), and burnt up everything. He examined minutely my helmet and porpoise-hide long boots, but said the latter were beyond all reason, because of the breadth of the sole. He told us that the locality is very healthy. There is never any illness, and the people are very longlived, often attaining a hundred years of age; one old

woman living near is a hundred and twenty, her husband died many years ago at nearly a hundred.* The colonel has a carpenter, who came in two or three times while we were there; he is seventy-five, but appears no more than sixty, and is a better workman than any of the young men about the place.

After we had finished our dinner, the table was again spread, and all the slaves and farm men came in, in relays, for their evening meal, the feeble flicker of a castor-oil lamp being the only light in the room. We were led off early to our bedroom, passing through two other rooms full of hired men, neither clean nor sweet; but we soon forgot everything in a deep sleep.

Next morning, after coffee, we went to visit the turbine grinding milho, the large shed containing numerous hollowed-out tree-trunks, full of mandioca root steeped in water, and all other apparatus for extracting the poison from the root, and for the preparation of farinha. We also saw the sugar-mills; and on our return observed a number of men busy making an extensive hog-yard, surrounded by a strong stone wall, and paved with huge stones flat on the top. While we were looking on, ten oxen came in, dragging a kind of sleigh, formed of two logs fixed together in a V shape, on which were two large stones and a few smaller pieces, for paving the hog-yard.

We left before nine, the colonel refusing any payment, and thanking us for our visit and intellectual conversation. Proceeding on our way, we rode across two fine valleys, in which were a profusion of palms and tree-ferns. The heavy clouds gradually dispersed, till by midday the sun was very

* I was shown some time later the portrait of an old negress who lives at Pitanguy, named Joanna Maria, who is 127 years old, and still does everything for herself.

hot in the cloudless sky. Reaching the summit of a hill, we had a fine view down the valley of the Para for a long distance. This valley, which is thickly wooded near the river, is wide and tortuous, bounded by low hills, mostly covered with grass or scrub. By this time, having only had a cup of coffee, we were longing to discover some kindly shelter where to obtain breakfast, and were, therefore, glad at 12.30 to come across a small house by the roadside.

I had not before seen trees so heavily laden with oranges as were those in the garden round that fazenda, where there were also sugar-cane, castor-oil plants, and gourds. We had a vegetable breakfast, washed down with water, and an hour afterwards left for this place (Cajurú). On the way I remarked many large hanging birds'nests (Ostinops cristatus, Gmel.), made of sticks, as well as those of the João de Barro (Furnarius rufus, Gmel.), a light brown bird which builds its nest, shaped like a bee-hive, generally in the fork of a tree. The nest is always made of mud, hence its name (barro = mud). We met a man on horseback, who had no hands, only stumps of arms. Of course, he begged.* I cannot understand how he managed to ride, but he manipulated the reins somehow between the stumps. We passed a tile factory, the only one I have yet seen, though all the houses and most of the huts are roofed with tiles. The price at the works is thirty milreis per thousand, whereas at Paraopeba they are from forty-five to fifty milreis. Though these tiles are baked in a kiln, they are not nearly so hard as ours at home; in fact, they break easily, and are very crumbly.

We arrived here (Cajurú) at 5 p.m., August 3, and

* A real "beggar on horseback." I know an example in England of a gentleman who had neither arms nor legs, but was a splendid rider.

were met in the town by an old gentleman, who invited us to stay with him. He took us home and introduced us to his wife and two pretty daughters, who sat on a bench opposite us while we were eating a vegetable dinner; and behind them was a group of giggling black servant-girls. The old man meanwhile took his long knife from under his arm and prepared a cigarette. I have not yet mentioned that every man and boy carries a knife, with a blade from nine to twelve inches long, in a case; those who wear waistcoats place it in the armhole, hanging inside the vest; and those who have none carry it in their belt. These knives are very useful, and mine host, who keeps a general shop, recommended me to buy one, saying it would do for anything, from killing a pig to cutting bread and cheese, or the palha (maize leaf) for a cigarette. The natives make their cigarettes in milho straw, and they have always a supply of the leaves which enclose the ear of the milho ; these they scrape and cut into shape, and stow away, sometimes behind their ears, sometimes inside their hats, so that they are ready at any moment to squat down, take out a couple of inches of "twist" tobacco, cut it up, "rub it out of the flake," and roll it up in a straw into a cigarette.

Our host, who is a capitão (captain) in the army, was much excited about the railway, and longing for its construction. He said that though now there is a fair export, considering the dearness of transport, when the railway is open the incentive to production will be much greater, and the exports could be increased to any extent. The country all round is very rich, and produces coffee, sugar, cachaça, rice, milho, beans, carne secca,* pigs, castor-oil, and “farinha de mandioca," which are carried down to the rail

* Sun-dried beef.

ways at Barbacena and S. João del Rey. Cajurú is the centre of about forty districts and villages, within six or seven leagues, which supply a great portion of the exports of the S. João del Rey Railway. These districts will be tapped by our railway, which will probably take threequarters of the traffic away from the little line. A great saving will also be effected in cost of transit, as S. João del Rey is over one hundred miles away, and cartage is very costly. That railway now imports from eighty thousand to ninety thousand sacks of salt annually, of which a great portion comes in this direction, and its cost here is double the price it is at Rio de Janeiro. The captain was so engrossed with his subject that when he showed us to our bedroom he came in and stood a long time talking of the coming railway.

to"

August 4.—The painful screech of a passing ox-cart woke us at 6.30, and we "fell to " with coffee and" pipoca " (fried pop-corn). Fortunately our host asked whether we would breakfast before we started-which is unusual, as you are supposed to depart after coffee-and as we had not the faintest idea where or when we should get any food, we accepted with joy. While waiting, I bought half a metre of tobacco, which was rolled on a reel like rope at an English oilman's, and is sold by lengths!

Our host, who is a sturdy Liberal, began conversing on politics, and mentioned the names of Lord Palmerston, Mr. Gladstone, and Lord Russell. I told him the Conservatives are very strong in England, as he appeared to think they form quite an insignificant and inconsiderable party. It was well we had something to draw away our attention from the breakfast, for it was not sumptuous—eggs, pork, and marmalade (made of marmello = quince). The pork in this province is always disgusting, being cut into small