ACCIDENT IN BATHING. 



201 



cessive years of drought : in such a case, on 

 the second year, the peasants die by the road 

 side ; entire families are swept away ; entire 

 districts are depopulated. The country was 

 in this dreadful state in 1791, % 3, for these 

 three years passed without any considerable 

 fall of rain. In 1810, food was still to be 

 purchased, though at exorbitant prices, and in 

 the following year the rains came down in 

 abundance, and removed the dread of fa- 

 mine. I had, I say, seen the provinces through 

 which I passed upon the brink of extreme 

 want, owing to the failure of the rains ; I had 

 myself experienced inconvenience from this 

 cause, and in one instance considerable distress 

 from it ; now, in returning, the whole country 

 was changed, the rains had commenced, and 

 1 was made to feel that great discomfort is 

 caused by each extreme ; but the sensations 

 which the apprehension of a want of water 

 produces are much more painful than the dis- 

 agreeable effects of an immoderate quantity of 

 it — heavy rains and flooded lands. 



I was obliged to stay at Seara longer than I 

 had at first intended, owing to an accident which 

 I met with in bathing ; this confined me to my 

 bed for some days. As soon as I was allowed to 

 move, I made preparations for my return : I 

 purchased four horses, one to carry my trunk 

 and a small barrel of biscuit, a second for 



