TO THE RIVER ESPIRITO SANTO. 



153 



pavos (pie gorge ensanglantee^ Azara), parrots, and other birds. 

 Our hunters were busy hi all directions, and filled their pockets with 

 game. Beyond this wood we reached the Povoacao de Obu, con- 

 sisting of some fishermen's huts, two leagues from Villa Nova. 

 Such dwellings, embowered in woods or thick bushes, are frequently 

 more picturesque than others in open spots. A Povoacao (a village 

 without a church) named ]\fiaip^, inhabited by sixty or eighty 

 families of fishermen, afforded lodging for our company in the even- 

 ing. We had taken up our quarters in a house which stood rather 

 high, whither several persons immediately repaired, who gazed with 

 particular admiration at our savage Puri, and watched all his mo- 

 tions. We were well received in this house, which was roomy, and 

 had a large apartment, where we soon had a brisk fire to dry our 

 clothes, which were wet through with the rain. Not far from Miaipe 

 lies the Villa de Goaraparim, to which a road leads over rocky hills 

 projecting into the sea. Near the villa a narrow arm of the sea, the 

 w ater of which is salt, runs up into the country ; it is called the Go- 

 araparim, and is often spoken of as a river. 



The town has about sixteen hundred inhabitants, and is therefore 

 something larger than Villa Nova de Benevente : the whole district 

 contains about three thousand souls. The streets are not paved, 

 having only ill-paved footpaths next the houses, which are small, and 

 for the most part of one story. The place is in general poor ; but 

 there are some large fazendas in the vicinity. One of them, with 

 four hundred negro slaves, is called fcizenda de Campos, and another 

 with two hundred negroes, Engenho Velho. When the last proprie- 

 tor of the former died, general disorder ensued : the slaves revolted, 

 and ceased working. A priest informed the heirs to the estate, in 

 Portugal, of the ruin of their property, and offered to restore order if 

 they would give him a share in the estate. This was agreed to ; 

 but the ringleaders of the slaves murdered him in his bed, armed them- 



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