NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



291 



a glass of Brazilian rum, and gave his mules a small quantity of milho. 

 After sitting about half an hour, he tln-ew down two vintems, not quite 

 three-pence, and departed. " There, Gentlemen," said the host, when 

 he was gone, " you see tlie manners of my countrymen ; these two 

 vintems cannot pay for the liquor and the milho, much less compensate 

 for the risk of having my chairs destroyed ; but I dare not complain, he 

 is a Colonel, and a man of great consequence in the neighbourhood." He 

 added some compliments to the English, of which we no doubt thought 

 them very deserving. 



From Pavuna we descend into a low plain and cross the Mirity, the 

 Little Water, which, in its common state, has scarcely any current, and 

 is very shallow, even at its mouth ; from hence, probably, it takes its 

 name; yet there are seasons when it swells and becomes dangerous. 

 The soil is, as might be expected from its situation, exceedingly 

 rich, and where sufficiently dry, produces plentiful crops of sugar, 

 Milho, and Mandidca. The country abounds with tlie Pombo, a large 

 species of Brown Dove, the Pombo-rolho, a smaller kind, with a sort of 

 crested Woodpecker, and the Pitangui, or Scarlet Bird, which I suspect 

 loses its brilliant hue during a part of the year, from whence some have 

 supposed that it migrates. Our path proceeded over gentle hills, and 

 amidst newly-established farms, to the village of St. Antonio de 

 Joatinga, pleasantly situated on rising ground, and on the edge of still 

 expansive forests, though daily becoming thinner. These woods nourish 

 a variety of game, and the Deer are become so familiar, amidst the 

 advance of population, as sometimes to approach the houses. 



For some time we imagined that we had here met with an uncom- 

 mon instance of brutal behaviour. Having lost our way in the forest, 

 through which there was no regular road, we found ourselves at midnight 

 near a hut where three small tracks met. After shouting and knocking 

 at the doors and window-shutters for some time, a man deigned to answer 

 us, but could not be prevailed upon to show himself, or to give any 

 other direction than the unintelligible one, — " Go to the left." Com- 

 plaining of this behaviour in the neighbourhood some weeks after, it was 



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