TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



305 



the public superintendence over trades by the 

 police is rendered more difficult. We, therefore, 

 could not be surprised, that in a place containing 

 some thousand inhabitants we were obliged to be 

 content with a frugal meal on an armadillo * which 

 we had shot by the way. The flesh of this animal 

 has, indeed, an agreeable taste, resembling fowl, 

 but is very fat. 



The road goes from the villa, always south-west, 

 through the valley of the Paraiba. To the left of 

 us lay a pleasant well-cultivated chain of hills 

 planted with beans, maize, mandiocca roots, and 

 tobacco. On the right, the broad valley extends 

 to the chain of Serra do Mantiqueira, and bearing 

 scarcely any traces of culture, is covered with 

 thick low bushes of myrtles, cujawas, &c. a dreary 

 and desolate prospect. Only the hope that thou- 

 sands of happy people will one day inhabit this 

 highly gifted country can cheer the mind of the. 

 traveller. After proceeding a mile we reached the 

 shrine of Nossa Senhora Apparecida, a chapel 

 situated on an eminence, with a few houses about 

 it. We had brought letters from Rio for the 

 capitao mor of Guarantingueta, who resides here. 

 He received us with visible pleasure, and treated us 

 with everything that his house afforded. The 

 cordial reception offered to a stranger, the busy 

 haste with which all the inmates of the house are 



* Tatu, Dasypiis septemcinctus. 

 VOL. I. X 



