

252 



BITE OF A SNAKE. 



black women said, " Why did not you speak to 

 him, for he is one of our young masters." I now 

 enquired and discovered that the owner of the 

 place and his family were mulattos. This was 

 the only instance of incivility I met with, and 

 the only occasion on which a night's lodging 

 was denied to me during the whole course of 

 my stay in Brazil. We lodged this night under 

 a tree, distant about one hundred yards from 

 the engenko, near to a neat and comfortable- 

 looking cottage, of which the owner was an 

 elderly woman ; she was civil to us, and ex- 

 pressed her sorrow at the treatment which we 

 had received. There had been very little rain 

 here, for the grass in the field of the plantation 

 had still a parched look, and the cattle were in 

 bad condition. 



Towards the evening of the following day we 

 reached a hamlet, and at one of the cottages I 

 obtained permission to pass the night. There 

 was a pent-house standing out from the front ; 

 these are usual even for dwellings of wealthy 

 persons. Under it I slung my hammock, but 

 was surprised to find, that though the house 

 was inhabited, still the door was shut, and that 

 the person within spoke to us, but did not open 

 it. This I thought strange, and began to sup- 

 pose that he might be afflicted with some con- 

 tagious disorder, and had been forsaken by his 

 friends, or rather, that his family had been 



