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BRAZILIAN PLANTER. 



Notwithstanding the delay, and other unfavour- 

 able circumstances, I saw this man in good 

 health in 1813. Whilst he still remained in a 

 dangerous state at the house of his friend, a 

 Sertanejo Indian, well armed, passed through 

 the place, and asked one of the negroes if he 

 was still alive. It was generally said that he 

 must remove to some far distant part of the 

 country, otherwise he might daily expect another 

 attack, and particularly as his enemies were 

 Sertanejos. The men who had attempted to 

 murder him were dressed after the manner of 

 these people, and were seen on the following 

 day travelling towards the interior. They men- 

 tioned at some of the cottages at which they 

 stopped, that they believed they had prevented 

 one man from eating any more piram, which is 

 equal to an European using in the same manner 

 the word bread. The person whom they had 

 attacked could not be sure of the quarter from 

 whence the blow proceeded ; for many were 

 those from which he might have expected it. 

 In Brazil, injured persons or their relatives must 

 either allow their own wrongs and those of their 

 families to go unpunished, or they must them- 

 selves undertake the chastisement of him who 

 has committed the crime. The evil proceeds, 

 immediately, from the vastness of the country, 

 and from the want of attention in the govern- 

 ment to counteract this disadvantage. 



