BAHIA. 105 



I hung it on a brass rod used for suspending a lamp beneath one 

 of the skylights in our room. It remained there half a day, 

 hanging head downward, and constantly endeavouring to reach 

 the book shelves near by, but without success. At last it found 

 out an arrangement of its limbs by which this was possible, and 

 got away from the lamp rod, and in future whenever I hung it 

 up on the rod it climbed to the book shelves within five minutes 

 or so. 



When I reached the ship I found that a case of yellow fever 

 had occurred on board. This determined our immediate de- 

 parture, and we sailed for Tristan da Cunha direct, being 

 obliged to hasten to cold weather, for fear of other cases breaking 

 out. We thus missed our intended visit to the islands of 

 Trinidad and Martin Vas, to which I had looked forward with 

 the greatest interest, since they are the only islands in the 

 Atlantic, the flora and fauna of which are absolutely unknown. 



A word or two about slavery in Brazil. A law is now in 

 force by which every child born in the country is free, and 

 further, a master is obliged to free a slave if the slave can raise 

 a sufficient sum to buy himself off. The value to be paid is 

 fixed by a Government valuer, and the sum is always fixed as 

 low as possible by him. Slaves commonly buy themselves off, 

 and a Society exists which assists them to do so, advancing the 

 money on loan, and receiving it back by instalments. Slaves 

 also go round and collect money from charitable people to assist 

 them in the matter. The fact that the children become free, and 

 that the slaves can buy themselves off so cheaply, has made them 

 fall very much in value. A female slave's time is much taken up 

 with her children, which a master has to feed, although after all 

 they do not belong to him. Hence a strong young man was 

 worth, at the time of our visit, only about £120, and a young 

 woman about £70 to £80. 



The slaves, however, do not often change hands. Old 

 families pride themselves on the numbers of their hereditary 

 slaves, and often having fallen in the world and being poorly off, 

 have nevertheless a dozen slaves, for whom they find hardly any 

 work, and whom they can scarcely afford to keep. These slaves 

 are much attached to their masters, and often their masters to 



