280 MY LIFE 



Where anchored lie the light canoes — 



A Lilliputian fleet. 

 The scream of parrots overhead, 



The cry of the whip-poor-will, 

 All tell me you're in England, 



And I am in Brazil. 



" I wander through the city, 



Where everything is new : 

 The grinning, white-toothed negroes, 



The pigs of varied hue; 

 The naked little children, 



With skins of every dye, 

 Some black, some brown, some lighter, 



Some white as you or I. 

 A dozen such in family, 



With bellies all to fill, 

 Would be no joke in England; 



'Tis nothing in Brazil ! " 



Then follow his farewell verses, well expressing the regret 

 we both felt at leaving it. I may just note here that his refer- 

 ence to " blue pig " is not imagination only. Among the 

 quantities of pigs that roamed about the city and suburbs 

 (really little more than a large straggling village) was one 

 whose nearly black skin was seen in certain lights to be dis- 

 tinctly blue ; and to have found the real " blue pig," which 

 under the name of the "Blue Boar " is a not uncommon inn- 

 sign at home, greatly delighted my brother. 



" Farewell to Santarem. 



" My skiff is waiting on the shore, 

 And on the wave is my canoe; 

 Ye citizens of Santarem, 



To each and all, adieu ! 

 The hour has come to bid, with grief, 

 Adieu to milk and tender beef. 



" Adieu, the fort upon the hill, 

 And yon cathedral's domes, 

 Like guardian giants gazing down 



Upon thy lowly homes; 

 Ye naked children, all adieu, 

 And thou strange pig with skin of blue ! 



