NARRATIVE OF THE CRUISE. 231 



great rage, and made an excited oration about the hardships of his position, and the 

 terrible depreciation in the value of slaves, and left. He was said to receive £60 . per 

 annum as stipend, and fees in addition. 



" We had some excellent fresh beef for dinner, fried in small pieces with garlic and 

 potatoes and carrots, and with it farinha, the coarse meal made from cassava root, the 

 fine siftings from which are tapioca. The farinha (farina) is universally used here, and 

 is very good with gravy. 



" The sleeping apartment was a space about 8 feet square, separated from the 

 front room by a low partition. In it were three light cane-bottomed sofas, one at each 

 end, and one opposite the door ; they were packed so close together as to touch one 

 another. A neatly folded small coverlet and a pillow were placed in the middle of each. 



" Here we turned in, the third bed being occupied by a very dirty dealer in tobacco. 

 Rendered sleepless by the fleas, I lay awake most of the night, listening to the mingled 

 crying of children, barking of dogs, croaking of frogs in the marsh below, and squeak- 

 ing and groaning of the axles of the ox-carts bringing merchandise to the fair. 



" Though other charges were comparatively cheap, we had each to pay two shillings for 

 our beds, as did also some of the cattle dealers who slept in a small house over the way, 

 rented by the host for that purpose, and to keep the guests' saddles and bridles in. 



" At 6 a.m. there was no bustle or signs of the fair, and not till 9 or 10 o'clock did 

 strings of mules, laden each with a pair of bales of tobacco, arrive opposite the inn. The 

 mules carry about seven or eight arrobas (an arroba = 25 lbs.). The tobacco comes to the 

 market compressed and cut into neat rectangular bundles ; the merchants test it by' 

 pulling some from the bundle and rolling a rough cigar. 



" In the broad open street in the middle of the town were rows of small booths, at 

 which farinha, fruit, vegetables, and jerked beef, imported largely from Buenos Ayres, were 

 for sale ; the dried beef varies in price from six to two milreis an arroba (1 milreis = 2s.). 

 It seemed singular that it should pay to bring it to a place where fresh meat was so 

 abundant. 



" Other stalls offered needles and thread, sweet stuff for children, &c; but most trying 

 to a naturalist's eye, were stalls where various rodents and other small native animals 

 were for sale, spitted on wooden skewers, roasted and dried for eating. Amongst these 

 I saw at least a dozen of the tree-climbing Ant-eater, the Tamandua, and many Three- 

 toed Sloths : the skulls of all were split open, and they were utterly lost to science. The 

 flesh is supposed to cure various diseases. 



" Makers of the long riding boots so fashionable here wandered about the fair trying to 

 sell their handiwork, and I bought from a similar wanderer one of the vaqueiros leather 

 hats, which did me the best of service in thick and thorny forests throughout the re- 

 mainder of the cruise ; with this on my head I could butt my way head first into any 

 bush with impunity. 



