FAZENDA LIFE. 103 
in the highest degree ; it would seem as if, where the pro- 
duce of the interior is so valuable, good roads would pay for 
themselves very soon. 
At about eleven o'clock we arrived at the " Fazenda," 
the long, low, white buildings of which enclosed an ob- 
long, open space divided into large squares, where the 
coffee was drying. Only a part of this extensive build- 
ing is occupied as the living rooms of the family ; the 
rest is devoted to all sorts of objects connected with the 
care of the coffee, provision for the negroes, and the like. 
When we reached the plantation the guests had not all 
arrived. The special occasion of this excursion to the fa- 
zenda was the festival of San Joao, kept always with great 
ceremonies in the country ; the whole week was to be de- 
voted to hunting, and Senhor Lage had invited all the best 
sportsmen in the neighborhood to join in the chase. It will 
be seen in the end that these hunters formed themselves 
into a most valuable corps of collectors for Mr. Agassiz. 
After an excellent breakfast we started on horseback for 
the forest with such of the company as had already as- 
sembled. The ride through the dense, deep, quiet wood 
was beautiful ; and the dead pause when some one thought 
the game was near, the hushed voices, the breathless waiting 
for the shot which announced success or failure, only added 
a charm to the scene. They have a strange way of hunting 
here ; as the forest is perfectly impenetrable, they scatter 
food in a cleared space for the animals, and build green 
screens, leaving holes to look through ; behind such a screen 
the hunter waits and watches for hours perhaps, till the 
paca, or peccary, or capivara steals out to feed. The ladies 
dismounted and found a cool seat in one of these forest 
lodges, where they waited for the hunt. No great success, 
