IN THE DESERT 



a long journey one is thankful to reach one's destination, and to 

 find that one's bones are still entire. 



Far asunder in the wilderness lie the ranch-houses, or fazendas, as 

 they are called in Brazil. A fence looms up ; a boy opens a wide gate, 

 and the blue of the sky is reflected in a storage-tank or "assude," 

 in which, perhaps, a few men are bathing. Within the enclosure 

 is a gentle grassy slope. Beyond this is a large courtyard, surrounded 

 by roofed but open stalls and coach-houses ; in the centre is a scrap 

 of garden, with a bed of pineapples ; directly in front of us is the 

 house, surrounded by verandahs : on the left of the house is a white 

 church. A number of men are standing on the verandah ; in the 

 open stalls one sees three saddled horses. The rancher or fazendeiro 

 comes to meet us, embraces us after the custom of the country, 

 clapping us on the back as he does so, has coffee served, and invites 

 us, despite the many guests who are already present, to dinner; he 

 will be only too pleased if we stay a few days. "The house is yours — 

 a casa e sua,'' he says. 



The estates of such fazendeiros, who are often very wealthy, con- 

 sist of vast areas of land, mostly covered with dry bush. One estate 

 borders upon another, and so the Sertao is all divided, and no more 

 free land is available, though the traveller may not realize the fact ; 

 for the greater part of the Sertao is, as it always has been, a wilderness. 

 The fazendeiro lets his cattle stray over his estate; they make their 

 own paths through the thorny cacti and bromelias, seeking out the 

 few green leaves. Naturally, they are not as well fed as in Europe, 

 and the oxen cannot plough so well as ours. In the evening the 

 cattle wander back to their stalls ; if one is missing a servant jumps 

 up and runs out, shouting and calling; if he calls in vain he returns. 

 Often enough the beast reappears in a few days' time; often, too, 

 it perishes, and gives the dehghted vultures an abundant meal. 



Cattle constitute the principal wealth of the fazendeiro. He has 

 abundance of meat and milk, and sells both ; moreover, he cultivates 

 maize and cotton and manioc. 



In north-eastern Brazil most of the free Indians have disappeared 

 from their old home. But their blood still flows in the veins of the 

 inhabitants of the Sertao, and with it survives the nomadic spirit 

 of the old hunting tribes. Even in the "Brejo," the sugar-cane 

 country of Pernambuco, the planter may build his labourers the 

 most comfortable little houses, and may treat them as well as possible, 

 yet one day the houses may be empty and the inmates gone, seized 

 by the old nomadic spirit. 



I 129 



