

JOURNEY FROM GOIANA TO RIO GRANDE. 89 



stood around, to see the strange animal called an 

 Englishman. We adjourned from the supper- 

 room into another spacious apartment, and each 

 of us took a hammock, of which there were se- 

 veral in the room, and swung and talked until we 

 were half asleep. One of his men supposed, that 

 as I spoke Portuguese, either I must be an Eng- 

 lishman who did not speak English, or that any 

 Portuguese, on going to England, would imme- 

 diately speak the language of that country, as I 

 did Portuguese. The Capitam-mor seldom leaves 

 his estate to go to Recife, or even to Paraiba, and 

 lives in the usual style of the Brazilian gentry, in 

 a kind of feudal state. He had several young 

 men about him, some of whom were employed 

 by him *, neither his wife, nor any of his children 

 appeared. The principal apartments of this house 

 are two spacious rooms, having a great number of 

 doors and windows ; in one, were several ham- 

 mocks and a sofa ; and in the other, the long 

 table upon which I supped ; there were a few 

 chairs in each of them ; the floors were of brick, 

 and the shutters and doors were unpainted. The 

 owner of this mansion wore a shirt and a pair of 

 drawers, a long bed-gown, called a chambre, and 

 a pair of slippers. This is the usual dress of those 

 persons who have no work to perform. When a. 

 Brazilian takes to wearing one of these long 

 gowns, he begins to think himself a gentleman, 

 and entitled, consequently, to much respect. 



