94 



CUNHA0. 



his door, with his chaplain and several of \m 

 stewards and other persons employed by him, to 

 have all the benefit of the fresh air. He is a 

 man of about thirty years of age, handsome, and 

 rather above the middle size, with genteel man- 

 ners, rather courtly, as the Brazilians of educa- 

 tion generally are. He lives quite in feudal 

 state ; his negroes and other dependants are 

 numerous. He commands the regiment of mi- 

 litia cavalry of Rio Grande, and has them in 

 good order, considering the state of the country. 

 He came forwards on my dismounting, and I 

 gave him the letters, which he put by to read at 

 leisure, and then desiring me to sit down, asked 

 me several questions of my wishes, intentions, 

 &c. He took me to his guests' apartments at a 

 little distance from his own residence, where I 

 found a good bed; hot water was brought to 

 me in a large brass basin, and every necessary 

 was supplied in a magnificent style — the towels 

 were all fringed, &c. When I had dressed my- 

 self, I expected to be called to supper, but, to 

 my amazement, I waited until near one o'clock, 

 when a servant came to summon me. I found 

 in the dining-room a long table laid out and 

 covered with meat of several kinds, and in quan- 

 tity sufficient for twenty persons ; to this feast 

 the colonel, his chaplain, another person, and 

 myself sat down. When I had tasted until I was 

 quite tired, to my utter dismay another course 



