

LEAVE THE MAJOR. 



131 



We had now reached again the habitations of 

 man ; there was still the same burnt-up ap- 

 pearance, but the wells were taken care of, the 

 water was better, and grass, although it was 

 dry, was still to be had. I intended to accom- 

 pany the major, part of the way to his home, 

 or the whole, but it was necessary that 1 should 

 be guided by circumstances, — by the accounts 

 we heard of the state of the country ; we 

 advanced in our usual manner, resting more at 

 mid-day, traversing a dead flat, and passing 

 two or three fazendas, or cattle estates, each 

 day, of which the live stock was looking very 

 miserable, and the people half starved. 



After being with the major four days, since 

 we had left the Seara-Meirim, I saw that it 

 would not be prudent to proceed farther; the 

 accounts from the interior were bad, and we 

 arrived at one estate, of which the cattle were 

 all dying, and the people intending, if there 

 was no rain very soon, to leave their houses. 

 I now judged myself to be distant from the 

 coast not less than two hundred miles. We had 

 advanced northward and westward, and were 

 therefore not far to the southward of Acu, but 

 were to the westward of it. I now resolved 

 to make for it, for my horses might fail, and all 

 the country was in so bad a state, that we might 

 not have found others in a proper condition to 

 go on with us; in fact, as I was not acting 



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