198 



NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



wavy, the countenance and limbs longer than those of the preceding 

 class. The complexion of all is a deep brown, and the hair and 

 iiides black. 



These Strangers were clothed chiefly in coarse and strong cotton, of 

 domestic manufacture, fashioned into a shirt with open sleeves, and 

 trowsers which reached a little below the knee, and were fastened round 

 the loins with a girdle. This girdle, like the rest, a fabric of their own 

 country, was also made of cotton dyed blue or red, sometimes of both 

 colours, and alternated with white, and fringed at the ends ; it was long 

 and narrow, wrapped three or four times round the body, and within its 

 folds were deposited their money, and whatever else they accounted 

 most valuable. Over their shoulders was slung a small pouch of skin, 

 containing a flint, a steel, and a spongeous substance, answering the 

 purpose of tinder, and sometimes a small quantity of tobacco. It hence 

 appeared that their customs were derived from the Spaniards, and their 

 abode was beyond the Portuguese frontiers. They aU wore a high 

 conical crowned hat, of felt, straw, or palm-leaf ; a sharp knife, stuck in 

 the girdle ; and, though without shoe or stocking, a spur fixed to the 

 heel by a strip of raw hide. A few among them, who, it may be, dwelt 

 near some place of consequence, appeared in jackets or long blue coats, 

 waistcoats of slink skin, and boots buckled round the knees. A still 

 smaller number wore neck-handkerchiefs and hangers, and had their 

 attendants following them. Though the number of these people, par- 

 ticularly of the inferior class, was considerable, they seemed always 

 unable to put off their jealousy of the Brazilians, and withdrew, at sun- 

 set, to their quarters in the plain, four or five miles from the town. 



When they were about to make their purchases, they usually came 

 in small parties, alighted at a store without speaking or taking notice of 

 any one, turned the reins from their horses' necks, and suffered them to 

 trail on the ground, in which state the horses would stand and sleep, 

 without stirring from the spot. Entering the store, they looked round, 

 until some one, seeing an article which he wanted, pointed to it, uttered 

 a few words respecting the price, generally purchased, and immediately 



