306 TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



eager to wait upon him, excite an agreeable 

 sensation in the mind of the European traveller. 

 Accustomed, in foreign countries, to purchase 

 everything which is not offered gratis, he fancies 

 himself transported to the patriarchal customs of 

 oriental antiquity, when the name of a guest gave, 

 as it were, a legal claim to such a kind welcome, 

 and was more than an apology for the disturbance 

 which it caused in the family. The first thing 

 shown us here was the chapel. It was erected about 

 seventy years ago, a long period in this country ; 

 it is partly built of stone, and adorned with gild- 

 ing, bad paintings in fresco, and some in oil. The 

 wonder-working image of the Virgin attracts many 

 pilgrims from the whole province, and from Minas. 

 We met many of these pilgrims when we proceed- 

 ed on our journey on Christmas-eve. Every body 

 here, women as well as men, travels on mules or on 

 horseback ; frequently the man takes the woman 

 behind him on the same saddle. The dress of 

 these planters is quite adapted to their local situ- 

 ation : a brown beaver hat with a very broad brim, 

 which serves, at the same time, as a protection 

 against the sun and the rain ; a long very wide 

 blue frock (po7icho), with a hole at the top for the 

 head ; jacket and trow^sers, of dark calico ; high 

 unblacked boots, fastened below the knee with a 

 leathern strap and buckle ; a long knife with a 

 silver handle, which serves as a defence, and sticks 

 either in the boot at the knee, or in the girdle, and 



