<'M 8 w*> ■ ^ >£ V. *; * &<&> ■ ■ I 



34- 



ARRIVAL AT GOIANA. 



and on the following day presented my papers 

 to the Jiriz de For a. As soon as I had accom- 

 plished the end for which I came, I returned to 

 itamaraca. Whilst 1 was at Goiana, an English 

 merchant vessel, called the Elizabeth, had been 



said that he had better stay all night, for the purpose of see- 

 ing the intended purchaser, who would arrive on the next 

 day. The false Sertanejo told her not to be uneasy about 

 his accommodation, as he would sleep in the mill, to which 

 he rode, and there he remained very quietly during the early- 

 part of the night. When all was still he began to search for 

 the hides or horns of his oxen. The former would be recog- 

 nised by the private mark, which was made (as is usual) with 

 a red-hot iron upon the right haunch, and the latter he 

 would know from the peculiar bore of their tips (by which 

 they are in part harnessed to the cart) for he had bored them 

 himself, and was in the constant habit of driving these oxen ; 

 besides, tame oxen are so seldom killed, that if he found any 

 horns which were bored, he might presume that they were 

 those of his beasts. He had given up his search, and almost 

 all hope of finding what he sought, when, as he lay in las 

 hammock, he happened to cast his eyes upwards, and saw 

 two fresh outstretched hides hanging to the higher wood- 

 work of the mill. He scrambled up the timbers with a 

 lighted piece of wood in one hand ; and moving this to and 

 fro near to the hides, that it might give a better light, he 

 discovered that they bore his father's mark. He lost no time 

 in cutting from both of them the pieces which contained the 

 mark, and carefully preserving these, he mounted his horse 

 about two o'clock in the morning, and rode home. He kept 

 the bits of leather as trophies, and showed them in proof of 

 his former assertions respecting the person who had stoleiv 

 the oxen, but neither did he obtain, nor did he expect to 

 obtain, any redress. These transactions occurred in 1811. 

 and within five leagues of Recife. 



