RIDE UP COUNTRY. 53 



small renumeration, we rode on to Capella Nova, which we 

 reached in a little more than two hours. I was told that 

 when the orioles sing together, as we heard the other day, 

 it is a sign of rain, which accordingly came this morning, 

 but fortunately very slightly. After descending from the 

 divide some distance, following a stream — one of the feeders 

 of the Para — on rounding the corner of a hill we suddenly 

 came in sight of the village of Capella Nova de Nossa 

 Senhora do Desterro,* perched on the summit of a bare 

 red down, but surrounded by partly cleared forest-clad hills. 



Alighting at a poor-looking wineshop, we ordered 

 breakfast. The shop is kept by an Italian, and we met 

 there a priest, likewise Italian, who had come for a wedding, 

 a very disreputable man, with striped blue cotton trousers, 

 a filthy lace collar, and unshaven face. We all had break- 

 fast together in a very dirty little back room, surrounded 

 by the usual crowd of natives looking on ; among them was 

 a very big nigger, who burst into uncontrollable laughter 

 at hearing us speak English to one another. 



The village is the poorest looking that I have seen, the 

 street being only some thirty feet wide ; the huts — there 

 are no houses — are all only one story ; and there is a small 

 chapel. A few palms, aloes, and cacti are to be seen in 

 the untidy gardens, while a legion of dogs and pigs peram- 

 bulate the street. 



After breakfasting off some roast " paca," which is an 

 excellent white meat, we went to see a live specimen which 

 had been caught with a young one in a neighbouring wood, 

 where they abound. The paca is a rodent (Calogenus 

 fulvus, Cram.), striped very prettily with fawn colour and 

 white, about the size of a small pig. When hunted it dives 

 into the stream, and on rising to the surface it is shot. 

 " The New Chapel of Our Lady of the Desert. 



