120 



PAI PAULO. 



place I ever beheld ; the roofs of some of the 

 cottages were falling in, the walls of others had 

 fallen, but the roofs remained. The course of 

 the river was only marked by the depth of its 

 bed, for the soil around was a loose sand, desti- 

 tute of any covering, and nothing differing from 

 that in the channel of the river. The trees had 

 mostly lost their leaves. I had now entered 

 upon the Sertam, and surely it deserves the 

 name. We passed Pai Paulo, and about noon 

 reached an open well of brackish water, dug in the 

 bed of the river ; our Pernambuco horses at first 

 refused to drink, but the dirt was cleared away, 

 as much as possible, for them, and the water 

 left to settle ; however, even then, they did 

 little more than taste it. Here we were to rest, 

 and to give our horses some maize, for there 

 was no grass. The same horse again refused 

 his feed ; the guide said that he supposed he 

 was not accustomed to it, and therefore must 

 be taught to like it, otherwise he could not pos- 

 sibly get over this barren track of country. 

 The first operation was to soak the maize in 

 water, until it softened, — then the guide forced 

 some of it down the animal's throat, closing 

 forcibly its mouth. Whether this had the effect, 

 or hunger, I know not ; but at night he per- 

 formed his part pretty well, taking rather more 

 time than the others to finish his feed. I drank 

 a small portion of the water, mixing it with 



