COMMANDANT FROM THE SERTAM. 



377 



family ; to which he appeared to be extremely 

 attached. We soon became intimate, and when 

 he proceeded to Recife at the close of a few 

 days, he left some of his men and horses at Ja- 

 guaribe. It is among the inhabitants of places 

 so remote as the district from which he came, 

 that clanship more particularly exists. He had 

 with him ten persons, most of whom were his 

 compadres, that is, the commandant was sponsor 

 to one of the children of each. This relation- 

 ship is accounted very sacred in Brazil, and I 

 believe in all Roman Catholic countries ; it is a 

 bond of brotherhood, which permits the poor man 

 to speak to his superior with a kind of endearing 

 familiarity, and unites them in links of union, 

 of which the non-observance would be sacrile- 

 gious. The commandant made me several visits 

 from Recife, and after a delay of two months, 

 he set off on his return homewards. He was a 

 man of most determined spirit, whose name is 

 respected all over the part of the country which 

 he inhabits ; and this respect was produced by 

 his wealth and individual character, which 

 brooks no insult ; and yet there was a natural 

 goodness in his nature, which broke forth very 

 strongly when he showed me the letters which 

 he had received from his children, each of them, 

 even to the youngest, having written to him. 

 He had lately lost his wife ; his manner of 

 speaking of her was most affectionate. He told 



