398 



VALENTOENS. 



would not allow of any quarrel in which they 

 were not concerned. Two roads cross each 

 other at about the distance of one league from 

 Jaguaribe, and at this spot Vicente told me, 

 that some of these men often stood, obliging all 

 passers-by either to fight them or to dismount, 

 take oft their hats, and lead their horses whilst 

 they were in their sight. These men wore 

 round their necks strings of green beads, which 

 had either come from the coast of Africa, bear- 

 ing the wonderful property of conveying in 

 safety their possessors through all descriptions 

 of perils, or were charmed by Mandigueiros, 

 African sorcerers, who had been brought over 

 to Brazil as slaves, and in secret continued the 

 prohibited practice of imparting this virtue to 

 them. The men were accompanied by dogs of 

 extraordinary size and activity, and possessing 

 courage equal to that of their masters. These 

 animals had been taught to drink rum, which 

 they would do at their owner's command, giving 

 to all beholders an opinion of some supernatural 

 qualities having been bestowed upon them. 

 Vicente had been acquainted with some of these 

 men, and was firmly persuaded of the virtues of 

 the green beads, and that the dogs imbibed 

 from their masters certain qualities, which made 

 them superior to all the rest of their species. 

 The expression of the man's countenance 

 changed entirely when he commenced the re- 



