1832.] LIVING AT A VENDA. 19 



runaway slaves, who, by cultivating a little ground near the top, 

 contrived to eke out a subsistence. At length they were discovered, 

 and a party of soldiers being sent, the whole were seized with the 

 exception of one old woman, who, sooner than again be led into 

 slavery, dashed herself to pieces from the summit of the mountain. 

 In a Komaii matron this would have been called the noble love of 

 freedom: in a poor negress it is mere brutal obstinacy. We con- 

 tinued riding for some hours. For the few last miles the road was 

 intricate, and it passed through a desert waste of marshes and 

 lagoons. The scene by the dimmed light of the moon was most 

 desolate. A few lireflies flitted by us ; and the solitary snipe, as it 

 rose, uttered its plaintive cry. The distant and sullen roar of the 

 sea scarcely broke the stillness of the night. 



April 9<7*. We left our miserable sleeping-place before sunrise. 

 The road passed through a narrow sandy plain, lying between the 

 sea and the interior salt lagoons. The number of beautiful fishing 

 birds, such as egrets and cranes, and the succulent plants assuming 

 most fantastical forms, gave to the scene an interest which it woiild 

 not otherwise have possessed. The few stunted trees were loaded 

 with parasitical plants, among which the beauty and delicious 

 fragrance of some of the orchideae were most to be admired. As 

 the sun rose, the day became extremely hot, and the reflection 

 of the light and heat from the white sand was very distressing. 

 We dined at Mandetiba; the thermometer in the shade being 81. 

 The beautiful view of the distant wooded hills, reflected in the 

 perfectly calm water of an extensive lagoon, quite refreshed us. 

 As the venda* here was a very good one, and I have the pleasant, 

 but rare remembrance, of an excellent dinner, I will be grateful and 

 presently describe it, as the type of its class. These houses are 

 often large, and are built of thick upright posts, with boughs 

 interwoven, and afterwards plastered. They seldom have floors, 

 and never glazed windows ; but are generally pretty well roofed. 

 Universally the front part is open, forming a kind of verandah, in 

 which tables and benches are placed. The bed-rooms join on each 

 side, and here the passenger may sleep as comfortably as he can, on 

 a wooden platform, covered by a thin straw mat. The venda stands 

 in a courtyard, where the horses are fed. On first arriving, it was 

 our custom to unsaddle the horses and give them their Indian 

 corn ; then, with a low bow, to ask the senhor to do us the favoiu 

 * Veiula, the Portuguese name for an inn. 



