FAZENDA LIFE. 121 
emancipation is considered there a subject to be discussed, 
legislated upon, adopted ultimately, and it seems no uncom- 
mon act to present a slave with his liberty. In the evening, 
while taking coffee on the terrace after dinner, we had very 
good music from a brass-band composed of slaves belonging 
to the estate. The love of the negroes for music is always 
remarkable, and here they take pains to cultivate it. Sen- 
hor Breves keeps a teacher for them, and they are really 
very well trained. At a later hour we had the band in 
the house and a dance by the black children which was 
comical in the extreme. Like little imps of darkness they 
looked, dancing with a rapidity of movement and gleeful 
enjoyment with which one could not 'but sympathize. 
While the music was going on, every door and window 
was filled with a cloud of dusky faces, now and then a 
fair one among them ; for here, as elsewhere, slavery 
brings its inevitable and heaviest curse, and white slaves 
are by no means uncommon. The next morning we left 
the fazenda, not on mule-back, however, but in one of 
the flat-bottomed coffee-boats, an agreeable exchange for 
the long, hot ride. We were accompanied to the landing 
by our kind hosts, and followed by quite a train of blacks, 
some of them bringing the baggage, others coming only for 
the amusement of seeing us off. Among them was the 
old black woman who gave us the heartiest cheers of all, 
as we put off from the shore. The sail down the river was 
very pleasant ; the coffee-bags served as cushions, and, with 
all our umbrellas raised to make an awning, we contrived 
to shelter ourselves from the sun. Neither was the journey 
without excitement, the river being so broken by rocks in 
many places that .there are strong rapids, requiring a skilful 
navigation. 
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