RECOLLECTIONS OF BRAZIL. 387 



ebb. The chief occupation of the men was gambling. That of the 

 women of swinging all day long in a hammock ; and the conversation 

 of both sexes confined to the very narrow circle round which ranged 

 their small stock of ideas. The existence of these people I can com- 

 pare to nothing else than a stagnant pool. Still it was a negative 

 happiness, for that mental misery, the curse of a more refined civili- 

 zation, was certainly not theirs. 



Very fortunately for me there was residing in the villa a French- 

 man, in the common parlance of the place styled merchant, whose 

 store was a receptacle of every thing, from Champagne and English 

 broad cloth to Agoua ardente and Bacelhao. He was, however, very 

 unpopular ; for his habits of superior enterprise and industry had 

 monopolized all the trade of the place. Loud were the clamours in 

 consequence. Freedom of industry was declared to be incompatable 

 with liberty and independence, and the interference of Government 

 called for ; but the Frenchman held his ground, as he often held it 

 before, with a very different enemy in his front. For he was a man 

 who had formerly moved in " glory's van." 



" C'est un drole de metier nest ce pas, pour une homme qui a porte 

 I' epaulette," he would frequently say to me. "Mais Je me console par 

 lire de temps a temps quelques Odei d'Horace." Poor fellow, with all 

 his affectation of philosophy, he possessed that happy equanimity of 

 temper under misfortunes which philosophy in vain aspires to. He 

 first saw fire at Jena, and when the sun of Napoleon sank on the field 

 of Waterloo, he was a captain in " les Landers Rouges de la Garde" 

 The benumbing influence that chilled the military world, extended 

 itself to the narrow orbit in which he moved, and suddenly hurled 

 from his sphere ; on his return he was disbanded. I have sat for hours 

 listening to the history of the eventful scenes in which he had moved, 

 and often observed the tear trickle down the fine countenance on 

 which the bivouac had left its traces, as he spake upon his former 

 chief in terms of fond and bitter regret. 



One morning that I was at his store, the juiz or president of the 

 Camera, honoured him with a visit. This personage had been 

 formerly a Vaquero, and,faute de mieux, I suppose had been elevated 

 to his present appointment. With an air of dignified importance, he 

 requested a private audience. It turned out afterwards that this 

 Brazilian Minos wanted to purchase a bottle of wine. " He had no 

 money/' he said ; " but he was hourly expecting a remittance of two 

 hides from a place up the country." f( Voila un tableau de meurs qui 

 est impayable" said my French friend, as he related to me the 

 anecdote. But 



" Nunc est ad bibendum, mine pede libero 

 Pulsanda tellus " 



It was the anniversary of Brazilian independence, and a party of 

 the Aristocracy of Pernaiba were assembled to commemorate that 

 event. We had been regaling ourselves. Hear it ye Gunters. 

 Hear it Jarrin, thou King of Conectioners. With pine apple jam, and 

 Guava jelly iced with salt-petre, and sipping some delicious Curacoa 

 refrigerated by the same process. The whole party were lolling in 

 hammocks swung round a spacious viranda, and inhaling the aro- 



