AN UNFINISHED HOUSE. 



103 



tertained of the name of Inglez, Englishman, 

 wherever the people possessed sufficient know- 

 ledge to understand that the said Inglezes were 

 not bichos, or animals ; and also to keep up my 

 own importance with the persons about me. It 

 would not have answered, to have thus given way 

 to a man who was inclined to make me ieel the 

 consequence which he judged his place would 

 allow him to assume. If I had been invited to 

 the commandant's house in a civil way, or if the 

 serjeant had come to me in his uniform, all 

 would have gone well. These trifles, though ap- 

 parently of no importance, weigh very heavily 

 with persons who have made such small advances 

 towards civilisation ; public opinion is every 

 thing. If the idea of my being a bicho and a he- 

 retic had not been counterbalanced by that of 

 rank and consequence, I might have had the 

 whole village upon me, and have been deserted 

 by my own people into the bargain. 



The general features of the captaincy of Rio 

 Grande may be laid down as displaying tolerable 

 fertility to the southward of Natal, and as having 

 a barren aspect to the northward of it, excepting 

 the banks and immediate neighbourhood of the 

 Potengi. 



We passed through the estate of Ilha, distant 

 from St. Luzia one league and a half, and pro- 

 ceeded, after taking water, four leagues beyond 



it, to an uninhabited and unfinished house. 

 m l 2 



The 



