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BRAZILIAN PLANTER. 



329 



having his groom's horse ornamented in the 

 same manner as his own. 



The free persons of colour who inhabit the 

 track of country through which we passed are 

 more numerous than I had previously imagined. 

 The companies of Ordena^as vary much in 

 strength ; some consist of one hundred and fifty 

 men and more, and others of not above fifty. 

 The peasantry of the Mata> that is, of the coun- 

 try which lies between the plentiful well-watered 

 districts of the coast and the Sertoens, have not 

 a general good character. The miserable life 

 which they, oftener than others, are obliged to 

 lead from the want of water and of provisions, 

 seems to have an unfavourable effect upon them ; 

 they are represented as being more vindictive 

 and more quarrelsome, and less hospitable than 

 their neighbours. To say that a man is a matuto 

 da mata, a woodman of the wood, is no recom- 

 mendation to him. 



During this journey I heard the following 

 story ; and as I was acquainted with the person 

 to whom the circumstances occurred, I can 

 vouch for its veracity : — K Brazilian who had 

 been wealthy, but who had, through many im- 

 prudences, and from many deeds which deserve 

 a much severer name, reduced himself to a state 

 of comparative poverty, resided in this part of 

 the country at the time I travelled through it. 

 He was a man of loose morals and savage dis- 



