RIDE UP COUNTRY. 57 



also hired free men, both black and while, while inside 

 and around the house were crowds of negresses and black 

 children of all ages. 



The mode of life here is very patriarchal. One is 

 offered water to wash one's feet. The natives are very 

 hospitable, rushing off to kill fowls and prepare food the 

 moment you arrive. There are also many other customs 

 which remind one of the time of Abraham, but the spell 

 is broken when your Abraham appears — with a flowing 

 beard, it is true, but with a pair of spectacles and a large 

 Inverness cloak ! 



We had a good dinner, but rather greasy, of pork, 

 with the usual vegetables, washed down by home-made 

 cachaga and water. I can put up with most of the 

 native diet, but have a great repugnance to drinking spirits 

 with food. 



Of course the first topic of conversation was the railway, 

 the colonel producing a huge sketch plan which he had made 

 of the whole country round, as far as the divide by Capella 

 Nova, and on which he had traced a line which he con- 

 sidered the best route for the railway — passing through a 

 good deal of his property, and near the fazendas of many 

 of his friends. I promised to explore it on my return. 



Our host was very earnest in cautioning us against fire, 

 as the most disastrous conflagrations sometimes occur from 

 carelessness. In 1879 there was a fire here which extended 

 over two thousand square " alqueires " (an alqueire is nearly 

 twelve acres), and burnt up everything. He examined 

 minutely my helmet and porpoise-hide long boots, but said 

 the latter were beyond all reason, because of the breadth 

 of the sole. He told us that the locality is very healthy. 

 There is never any illness, and the people are very long- 

 lived, often attaining a hundred years of age ; one old 



