I I ■ ■ I . MNhMK 



248 



CUNHAU. 



necessary to arrange. I felt quite at home at 

 Natal, though I was yet distant from Recife 

 seventy leagues ; but the country is well watered, 

 well wooded, and comparatively well peopled. 



I passed again through St. Joze, the Indian 

 village, but did not turn off from the road to- 

 wards Papari. I slept at a hamlet, and in the 

 morning proceeded to Cunhau. About ten 

 o'clock we were under the necessity of turning 

 loose, and leaving behind, upon one of the plains, 

 a horse which I had purchased at Chafaris ; he 

 was completely fagged, and could not proceed 

 farther. The colonel of Cunhau was not at 

 home, but his steward wished me to make use 

 of his master's house ; however I merely men- 

 tioned having left a horse at some distance upon 

 the lands of the plantation, and the guide drew 

 for his government the mark which it had upon 

 the haunch. I have often observed the quick- 

 ness of these people in recognising a mark which 

 they have once seen, and the accuracy with 

 which they will draw it after having only taken 

 seemingly a casual glance, and perhaps after a 

 period of some weeks has elapsed since they 

 had had even this. * We then rode on half a 

 league to the hamlet. The commandant of this 

 place introduced himself to me, and was ex- 

 tremely civil ; he put my horse into his stable, 



* In the year 1813, I was one evening in company, when 

 I heard a gentleman request one of the party to ask the 



