FAZENDA LIFE. 



103 



in tlie highest degree ; it would seem as if, where the pro- 

 duce of the interior is so valuable, good roads would pay for 

 themselves very soon. 



At about eleven o'clock we arrived at the " Fazenda,'* 

 the long, low, white buildings of which enclosed an ob- 

 long, open space divided into large squares, where the 

 coffee was drying. Only a part of this extensive build- 

 ing is occupied as the living rooms of the family ; the 

 rest is devoted to all sorts of objects connected with the 

 care of the coffee, provision for the negroes, and the like. 



When we reached the plantation the guests had not all 

 arrived. The special occasion of this excursion to the fa- 

 zenda was the festival of San Joao, kept always with great 

 ceremonies in the country ; the whole week was to be de- 

 voted to hunting, and Senhor Lage had invited all the best 

 sportsmen in the neighborhood to join in the chase. It will 

 be seen in the end that these hunters formed themselves 

 into a most valuable corps of collectors for Mr. Agassiz. 

 After an excellent breakfast we started on horseback for 

 the forest with such of the company as had already as- 

 sembled. The ride through the dense, deep, quiet wood 

 was beautiful ; and the dead pause when some one thought 

 the game was near, the hushed voices, the breathless waiting 

 for the shot which announced success or failure, only added 

 a charm to the scene. They have a strange way of hunting 

 here ; as the forest is perfectly impenetrable, they scatter 

 food in a cleared space for the animals, and build green 

 screens, leaving holes to look through ; behind such a screen 

 the hunter waits and watches for hours perhaps, till the 

 paca, or peccary, or capivara steals out to feed. The ladies 

 dismounted and found a cool seat in one of these forest 

 lodges, where they waited for the hunt. No great success, 



