230 THE 70YAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 



gable end of the usual mud-walled cottage, placed at such a height as to be convenient 

 to a man on horseback, who thus gets his drink without dismounting. Ladies travel 

 along the road either in the saddle or in a sedan chair slung between two horses or mules 

 by means of a long pole. 



" A thick growth of myrtles and shrubs which was passed, was pointed out as having 

 been the hiding-place of a notorious highway robber, a negro named Lucas, who used to 

 waylay merchants on their way to the fair at St. Anna ; he was the terror of the 

 district, and committed several murders and worse atrocities. Though he was caught 

 and executed in 1859, stories about him are already beginning to assume a mythical 

 dress, and it was said that miraculous flowers grew out from a tree to which he bound 

 one of his victims, a white girl, leaving her to die of exposure. 



" Seven and a half hours were consumed over the 28 miles to Feira St. Auna. The 

 town consists of three long parallel streets, with a broad cross street, or rather open 

 oblong space, on which the small dealers erect their booths on fair day. The party rode 

 into the town at about five o'clock in the evening. 



" The girls were all dressed in their best, expecting home their several sweethearts who 

 are away all the week in search of cattle, and only come to town on Sundays in time 

 for the fair on Monday Several of them greeted the guide as an old friend, as the party 

 rode up a long street to the other end of the town. Here is an open common-like space 

 surrounded by houses, which acts as tobacco and cattle market. We stopped at an inn 

 close to the market. 



" The inn was a one-storied house, consisting of an eating room fronting the street, and 

 two sleeping rooms and a kitchen behind. The eating room had large windows, with 

 jalousies but no glass, looking out upon the market. It had a cement floor, a trestle 

 table at one end for eating on, a small table opposite with a red curtained box upon it, 

 containing the household gods, the Virgin in plaster, and Santa Antoinette in china, and 

 a half round table with an inkstand for the use of those customers who could write. 



" The host, an old Brazilian, greeted us with great politeness, and we bowed according 

 to custom to the assembled guests. The company consisted of about half a dozen cattle 

 dealers, who were in animated discussion concerning the prices of stock. One of them, 

 who was quite black, was evidently the sharpest of the lot, and a wag. Presently there 

 came in a dirty coarse-looking grey-haired man with a black skull-cap on ; he wore a 

 dilapidated black garment something like an Inverness cape. He was chief vicar of the 

 town ; he was in considerable excitement, and addressed himself to the black cattle 

 dealer, who produced a letter for him. The reverend gentleman had not got his 

 spectacles with him, so the host proceeded to spell out the letter aloud. It appeared 

 that the vicar did a bit of general trading, and had sent some horses, mules, and slaves 

 to a neighbouring fair, in hopes of a good price. The letter was to inform him that he 

 had made a bad speculation, and that no buyer had been found. The vicar was in a 



