452 



A JOURNEY IN BRAZIL. 



Supper over, I proposed to go to the common sleeping 

 apartment, preferring to be in advance of my companions. 

 It was a little room, some ten feet square, behind the 

 one where we had been received, and without any window. 

 This is not, however, so great an objection here, where 

 the roofs are so open that a great deal of air comes from 

 above. Once ensconced in my hammock I began 'to watch 

 the arrival of my room-mates with some curiosity. First 

 entered a young girl and her little sister, who stowed 

 themselves away in one of the beds ; then came the ser- 

 vant-maid and hung herself up in her hammock in a 

 corner ; and lastly arrived the landlady, who took posses- 

 sion of the other bed, and completed the charms of the 

 scene by lighting her pipe to have a quiet smoke before 

 she went to sleep. I cannot say the situation was favor- 

 able to rest ; the heavy showers which rattled on the tiles 

 throughout the night penetrated the leaky roof, and, how- 

 ever I changed my position in the hammock, it rained 

 into my face ; fleas were abundant ; the silence was occa- 

 sionally broken by the crying of the children, or the grunt- 

 ing of the pig at the door, and for my part I was very 

 glad when five o'clock called us all to get up, our plan 

 being to start at six and ride three leagues before breakfast. 

 However, on a journey of this kind, it is one thing to intend 

 going anywhere at a particular time and quite another to 

 accomplish it. When we met at six o'clock in readiness 

 for our journey, two of the horses were not to be found ; 

 they had strayed away during the night. Though accidents 

 of this kind are a constant subject of complaint, it does 

 not seem to occur to any one to secure the horses for the 

 night ; it is indeed far easier to let them roam about and 

 provide for themselves. The servants were sent to look for 



