258 A JOURNEY IN BRAZIL. 
i 
scattered through the forest ; and though the inhabitants 
look on each other as friends and neighbors, yet from our 
landing-place only one sitio is to be seen, that at which 
we are staying. It stands on a hill sloping gently up 
from the lake-shore, and consists of a mud-house contain- 
ing two rooms, besides several large, open palm-thatched 
rooms outside. One of these outer sheds is the mandioca 
kitchen, another is the common kitchen, and a third, which 
is just now used as our dining-room, serves on festal days 
and occasional Sundays as a chapel. It differs from the 
others in having the upper end closed in with a neat 
thatched wall, against which, in time of need, the altar- 
table may stand, with candles and rough prints or figures 
of the Virgin and saints. We were very hospitably re- 
ceived by the Senhora of the mud-house, an old Indian 
woman, whose gold ornaments, necklace, and ear-rings were 
rather out of keeping with her calico skirt and cotton 
waist. This is, however, by no means an unusual combi- 
nation here. Beside the old lady, the family consists, at 
this moment, of her "afilhada"* (god-daughter), with 
her little boy, and several other women employed about 
the place ; but it is difficult to judge of the population 
of the sitios now, because a great number of the men 
have been taken as recruits for the war with Paraguay 
and others are hiding in the forest for fear of being 
pressed into the same service. The situation of this sitio 
is exceedingly pretty, and as we sit around the table in 
our open, airy dining-room, surrounded by the forest, we 
command a view of the lake and wooded hillside opposite 
and of the little landing below, where are moored our 
* This relation is a much nearer one throughout Brazil than with us. A 
god-child is treated as a member of their own family by its sponsors. 
