1 70 



AllACATI. 



Cajuaes three leagues we slept near to a hut, 

 after travelling through some more cultivated 

 ground. I was asked, by some persons at Ca- 

 juaes, at what place I had slept the preceding 

 night; I answered at Areias; they then en- 

 quired in what house at Areias, as at that vil- 

 lage there was none into which travellers could 

 be received. I replied, that on the contrary, 

 there was the great house, which I had found 

 very comfortable; they were perfectly astonished 

 at my sleeping in this haunted place, and for 

 some time imagined that I was joking. After- 

 wards, on other occasions, I heard of the same 

 story, which appeared to have taken deep root 

 in the faith of all those who spoke of it. 



The next day we reached Aracati, distant 

 seven leagues from where we had slept, about 

 five o'clock in the afternoon. Great part of this 

 day's journey was through salt-marshes or plains 

 covered with the Carnauba ; the tali naked 

 stems of the palms, crowned with branches like 

 the coco-tree at the summit, which rustle with 

 the least breath of air, and the bare and dark- 

 coloured soil upon which no grass grows and 

 rarely any shrub, give a dismal look to these 

 plains. The computed distance from A$u to 

 Aracati is forty-five leagues. When I approached 

 Aracati, I sent my Goiana guide forwards with 

 the letter which I had received from the go- 

 vernor of Rio Grande to Senhor Joze Fideles 



