LIFE IN ENTRE RIOS, MINAS GERAES. 149 



working till eleven, we then have a meat breakfast, with 

 wine. 



February 18. Early this morning my colleague and 

 companion, Mr. Roberts, left for England, so now I shall 

 be alone. I fear that without him I should have been in 

 a sorry plight, perhaps obliged to go on the sick list, as 

 owing to responsible and urgent work I was ignoring per- 

 sonal comforts altogether, forgetting that one must attend 

 to many irksome affairs in order to keep in health. It is 

 not paying him much of a compliment to say it was plea- 

 sant to have an English companion ; but besides the kind 

 way in which he was always ready to fall in with my ideas 

 of the work, his long experience was invaluable in the 

 difficult task of managing the men, though, having been 

 longer in the country, and therefore speaking the language 

 better, I was generally the mouthpiece. The four and a 

 half months we worked together will be a very pleasant 

 part of my Brazilian trip to look back upon. 



I have omitted hitherto to describe Brumado, so must 

 now say a word about it. The town is built on the top of 

 a hill, overlooking a broad valley, which runs north towards 

 the river Paraopeba. A glance at the map reveals its lofty 

 position, near the head waters of the Para and Paraopeba. 

 The town is some three thousand feet above the sea, and 

 all the principal houses are in one street, which runs about 

 north and south. At the southern end is the chapel, the 

 guard house, and prison, the government school, also private 

 houses and huts. Just below my house is the first shop, 

 kept by Joscelino Pacheco de Souza, brother-in-law of John 

 Baptist, where I get all my provisions, candles, etc. ; then 

 comes the hotel. A small chapel or oratory, which is 

 always closed, separates the hotel from Joaquim Ribeiro's 

 house, opposite which, next to me, resides the sister of 



