8 TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



be choleric. They characterise thereby in some 

 degree, in a moral view, the zone which they 

 inhabit ; for the nearer we approach the equator, 

 the more decidedly do we find the choleric, irrit- 

 able character expressed. 



The women of S. Paulo have the same simpli- 

 city as the men. The tone of society is jovial 

 and unaffected, animated by ready and cheerful 

 pleasantry. They have been unjustly accused of 

 giddiness. If the spirit of conversation is strongly 

 contrasted with the refined manners of their Euro- 

 pean relatives, among whom a jealous etiquette 

 prohibits the unrestrained expression of feeling ; 

 their artless liveliness does not excite surprise, in a 

 province where a free and simple mode of thinking 

 has been retained, more than in any other part of 

 Brazil. The women of S. Paulo are of tall and 

 slender, though not delicate make, graceful in their 

 motions, and have in the features of their well- 

 formed countenances an agreeable mixture of 

 cheerfulness and frankness. Their complexion 

 too, is not so pale as that of most of the Brazilian 

 women, and they are on that account reckoned 

 to be the handsomest women of Brazil.* Reflection 

 and a disposition to subtile investigations, are said 

 to characterise the Paulistas ; and, in fact, they 



* A popular proverb describing the character of several 

 provinces, extols the women of S. Paulo above all others. It 

 says, at Bahia are to be praised Elles 7ido Ellas, in Pernambuco 

 Ellas ndo Elles, in S. Paulo Ellas e Ellas. 



