LIFE IN ENTRE RIOS, MINAS GERAES. 143 



visit the other day, and invited us to go and hear her 

 perform, which we accordingly did the same evening, and 

 spent a very pleasant three hours listening to her delightful 

 playing. She practises two hours every morning, besides 

 her performances every evening, and when her windows 

 are open we can hear each note. She is very small, and 

 has minute hands and magnificent eyes, and is certainly 

 the best-looking girl in the town. She plays brilliantly, 

 con amore e espressione, and it is a great pity she is buried 

 here. I like her father, though he has not much to do 

 with John Baptist and his set ; for politics run very high 

 in this place, and the former is a Radical, while John 

 Baptist is a Conservative. 



Intermarriage within the prohibited degrees is carried 

 on to an alarming extent in these parts, either by the 

 reprehensible system of indulgence by the Holy See, or 

 by ignoring its commands ; perhaps more frequently the 

 latter, as some of the sensible and thinking men, though 

 religious, are not blind to the many errors of the Roman 

 Church. As to the sad result of one of these marriages, 

 a gentleman here, with a family of two sons and two 

 daughters, has one son and both daughters deaf and 

 dumb ! The younger girl is an intelligent child of thirteen. 



I went to see Senhor Baptista on Sunday after break- 

 fast, and met his two sons, who have just returned from 

 a visit to Portugal and France. On their homeward 

 journey they called at Southampton, but did not go on 

 shore. I told them they made a great mistake not to 

 visit London, at least. The elder son is very pleasant, 

 talkative, and clever ; he lives at Juiz de Fora, some hours 

 by rail below Barbacena. The younger son, who is deaf 

 and dumb, came to return my visit in the evening, and 

 though I can manage to converse with Brazilians who can 



