

SEARA-MEIRIM. 



121 



lemon juice and sugar, which I had with me. 

 We carried some of this water on with us, for 

 at night we should find none. The country 

 presented the same appearance ; we crossed the 

 Seara-Meirim several times, which in some parts 

 had large rocks in the centre of the bed. At 

 night I was not much inclined to eat, but I 

 made up by smoking. We found a sheltered 

 place behind part of the bank of the river, and 

 slung our hammocks upon sloping ground, as 

 the wind rises about eleven or twelve o'clock in 

 these parts, and renders shelter very requisite ; 

 it sometimes blows hard : it is a dry wind, but 

 healthy. 



The following day, we proceeded again in 

 the same manner. I had by this time fully en- 

 tered into the custom of smoking early, and as 

 we could never get any thing cooked until 

 twelve o'clock, I found that this prevented any 

 unpleasant sense of hunger. My people could 

 not have any thing to eat early, as it would 

 have caused delay, therefore it would not have 

 been proper for me to show a bad example. I 

 had become very intimate with my friend the 

 major — he learnt from me that we had horses, 

 and cows, and dogs in England, and he liked 

 me the better for this ; at first, he wondered 

 how it happened that I could ride ; he thought 

 I must be an apt scholar to have learnt since I 

 had gone over to Brazil. He was also much 



