88 BAHIA. 



had only just time to back my mule into the bush out of the 

 way. One of the lads was after her. He seized her tail just 

 as he was opposite to me, held on for about twenty yards, and 

 then, digging in his spurs and shooting forwards, turned her 

 over with a thud. She was up, however, again, and off into 

 the bush in an instant, and he after her with the dog in full 

 pursuit, and I saw him disappear under the branch of a tree 

 with his body laid right back on his horse's rump to avoid it. 



We passed about sunset through a village, where there is a 

 hospital, a very substantial building, erected by the vicar, who 

 diligently collected subscriptions for that purpose for many 

 years. The church was lighted up and the people were going 

 to vespers. One of the villagers was pointed out to me by the 

 German farmer as being the hereditary owner of a large estate 

 worth several thousand pounds, and a number of slaves. He 

 was quite black and dressed in tatters, and looked like a slave 

 himself, and was driving cows along the road. He could 

 neither read nor write. 



Our host was an emigrant from the Hartz District. He had 

 been out in Brazil about 14 years, and had a farm of several 

 hundred acres, most of which was grass land ; the grass growing 

 where sugar had once l)een planted. He bought cattle and 

 sheep at Feira St. Anna, kept them some time on his farm, 

 and then killed them and sold the meat in St. Amaro and the 

 district. He also grew a large patch of sugar-cane, which was 

 ground at a large mill close by, he receiving half the sugar pro- 

 duced as his share. He had bought one slave : all foreigners, 

 except English, being allowed to possess slaves in Brazil. The 

 slave was married to a girl, who was principal servant in the 

 house. The farmer had assisted the girl to buy her freedom. 



Frau Wilkens, his wife, who had no children, described the 

 girl as most trustworthy, honest, and deeply attached. Her 

 small child, a chubby little negro, was a great pet in the house. 

 The greater part of the work on the farm was done by slaves 

 hired from the owners of neighbouring plantations. There 

 was a row of about thirty very small wooden houses or huts on 

 a neighbouring hill, where the slaves belonging to the owner 

 of the sugar mill lived. 



Cassava, or Mandioca, which is a Euphorbiaceous plant, 

 allied to our common spurge, was also grown on the estate, 

 and there was a small manufactory of farinha. The Cassava 

 {Jatropha vianihot) is an indigenous South American plant, 

 ttiough now widely spread in the tropics, and was cultivated in 

 Brazil by the original inhabitants, before they were molested 

 by Europeans. The plant is not unlike the castor-oil plant in 

 appearance, and is planted in rows slightly banked up. 



