

ST. JOZE. 



101 



city ; the whole country is uninhabited, and I 

 may say uninhabitable, between Natal and St. 

 Joze, consequently we had very faint hopes of 

 meeting any one to give us information of the 

 distance ; but the guide said he supposed we 

 oould not be nearer to it than from two to three 

 leagues, from the recollection he had of these 

 hills, which when once passed over cannot be 

 entirely forgotten. When it was nearly dark, 

 and when our horses were almost giving way, 

 we saw two boys on horseback, coming towards 

 us : we asked them the distance, they answered 

 * 4 Two leagues, and all deep sand," adding, that 

 they belonged to a party, which had come to 

 makejhrinha, upon a spot of land, half a league 

 distant from where we were, upon which man- 

 dioc was cultivated. They said, that to go on 

 to Rio Grande the same night was madness, that 

 they were going a short way to water their 

 horses, and that, on their return, they would guide 

 us to their party. I agreed to wait for them. 

 When they arrived, they struck soon from the 

 road, down the side of one of the hills, — it was 

 now dark ; we followed, entered some high and 

 thick brushwood, and a considerable way into 

 it, found the persons to whom the boys told us 

 they belonged. The implements for making 

 the farinha were placed under a shed, which was 

 thatched with the leaves of the macaiba, and 

 other palm trees. These persons had fixed upon 



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