158 



KOTES ON BRAZIL. 



South-east. More than once I have known these rocks mistaken for 

 Cape St. Mary ; the cape, however, is very different, being a flat sandy 

 point. The coast between them is low and naked, with inlets, some of 

 which are said to afford good ancliorage. 



Near to the little Castelhos is the Fort of Santa TereZa, from 

 whence the road to Maldonado is very delightful, passing through a 

 country diversified with small hills, well wooded and M^atered, and 

 abounding with deer. In the few habitations which occur nothing 

 like splendour is to be expected, neither should the traveller look for 

 many appearances of comfort. Their walls, constructed of wood, with 

 the interstices filled up with mud, give them, however, some external 

 resemblance of the cottages in Huntingdonshire, and they are pleasantly 

 situated, with small pieces of cultivated land near themj and abundant 

 pasture for their horses. Black cattle run wild, and are very numerous. 

 AU the inhabitants are so far happy as they have few wants, and these 

 amply supplied; but to the happiness arising from personal character 

 and neighbourly concord, they seem almost strangers. The greater part 

 of the inhabitants are Spanish subjects, and strongly prejudiced against 

 the Brazilians. The passions and prejudices of the fathers are com- 

 municated to their children without any diminution of their violence ; 

 fresh injuries are heaped on each other, confirming a resolvition to avenge 

 them on any occasion which may offer ; while there is a total want of 

 moral culture, and scarcely any check from examples of a better spirit. 

 Yet the traveller, if admitted into their houses, receives the best 

 treatment which they can afford him, provided he be willing to pay 

 dearly for accommodations, and careful to intimate no dissatisfaction nor 

 distrust ; otherwise he will find them jealous, fierce, and revengeful. 



Passing Westward from the great Castelhos, we first meet with 

 marshes and sandy plains, which form a sort of margin to the country, 

 nearly ten miles broad. Beyond this begins an elevation of about a 

 hundred feet, which, though slightly varied with hiU and dale, appears, 

 from the sea, so nearly level, and its declivity so regular, as to convert 

 the work of winds and waves into the resemblance of an artificial 



