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84. 



ALHANDRA. 



as the bushes oftentimes nearly took off our 

 hats, and were continually brushing against us 

 the whole way. On our arrival at Abia, the 

 house was quite deserted, as the steward was 

 from home, and we did not like to enter a cot- 

 tage which stood near to the principal house, 

 when we found that the party in it was larger 

 than our own, and not likely to be of the best 

 kind. We had now another half league to go 

 to Senhor Leonardo's, a friend of my fellow- 

 traveller. 



He gave us a good supper, and hammocks, 

 took good care of our horses, and in the morn- 

 ing we set forth for Goiana, seven ' leagues. 

 We passed through Alhandra, an Indian village, 

 containing about six hundred inhabitants. This 

 village is not so regularly built as many of the 

 others which I have seen ; instead of a square, 

 with houses on each side, it is built in streets, 

 and though the square is preserved, still it is 

 not the principal feature of the place. The 

 Indians of Alhandra, from their vicinity to 

 Goiana, which is distant about three leagues, 

 are not so pure as those further from a large 

 town ; they have admitted among them some 

 mamalucos and mestizos. 



Great part of this extent of coast was unin- 

 habited, but wherever the land was low, and 

 the surf not violent, there we found a few cot- 

 tages ; the banks of the rivers were also not 



