1832.] LIVING AT A VENDA. 21 
to, unsaddle the horses and give them their Indian corn; then, 
with a low bow, to ask the senhér to do us the favour to give us 
something to eat. ‘Any thing you choose, sir,” was his usual 
answer. For the few first times, vainly I thanked providence 
for having guided us to so good a man. The conversation pro- 
ceeding, the case universally became deplorable. ‘“‘ Any fish 
can you do us the favour of giving ?”—‘ Oh! no, sir.”—“ Any 
soup ?”—“ No, sir.”— Any bread ?’—“ Oh! no, sir.”—* Any 
dried meat ?”——‘¢ Oh! no, sir.” If we were lucky, by waiting a 
couple of hours, we obtained fowls, rice, and farinha. It not 
unfrequently happened, that we were obliged to kill, with stones, 
the poultry for our own supper. When, thoroughly exhausted 
by fatigue and hunger, we timorously hinted that we should be 
glad of our meal, the pompous, and (though true) most unsatis- 
factory answer was, “It will be ready when it is ready.” If we 
had dared to remonstrate any further, we should have been told 
to preceed on our journey, as being too impertinent. The hosts 
are most ungracious and disagreeable in their manners; their 
houses and their persons are often filthily dirty ; the want of the 
accommodation of forks, knives, and spoons is common; and I 
am sure no cottage or hovel in England could be found in a 
state so utterly destitute of every comfort. At Campos Novos, 
however, we fared sumptuously ; having rice and fowls, biscuit, 
wine, and spirits, for dinner; coffee in the evening, and fish with 
coffee for breakfast. All this, with good food for the horses, 
only cost 2s. 6d. per head. Yet the host of this vénda, being 
asked if he knew any thing of a whip which one of the party 
had lost, grufly answered, “‘ How should I know? why did you 
not take care of it ?—I suppose the dogs have eaten it.” 
Leaving Mandetiba, we continued to pass through an intricate 
wilderness of lakes; in some of which were fresh, in others salt 
water shells. Of the former kind, I found a Limnza in great 
numbers in a lake, into which, the inhabitants assured me that 
the sea enters once a year, and sometimes oftener, and makes the 
water quite salt. I have no doubt many interesting facts, in 
relation to marine and fresh water animals, might be observed 
in this chain of lagoons, which skirt the coast of Brazil. M. 
Gay* has stated that he found in the neighbourhood of Rio, 
* Annales des Sciences Naturelles for 1833, 
