320 



NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



most want a conductor. Ours entered it with confidence, and led us 

 through it safely, contriving, in general, to find for us a hard bottom, 

 about eighteen inches beneath the surface, and pointing out the parts 

 where the sand was loose, and the feet of the horses would have sunk 

 into the subjacent peat or mud. It was clearly the bed of a stream, in 

 drier seasons reduced to a narrow brook. The water, through the whole 

 of this , tract, and especially near Iruama, is vinwholesome, producing 

 disorders in the bowels, which sometimes prove fatal. This is probably 

 owing to the vegetable matter with which it is strongly impregnated ; 

 if so, the evil will be remedied by the various processes which are going 

 forward for the improvement of the country. 



We halted early about a mile from St. Pedro, a village raised by 

 the Jesuits, and inhabited by civilized Indians. Having wandered to 

 their abode, we found it delightfully situated, more especially the church 

 and other ecclesiastical buildings. The people were enjoying the cool of 

 the afternoon, in all the luxury of indolence. We proceeded among 

 them quite at our ease, received their civilities, and observed that they 

 manifested no surprise at the presence of strangers. 



The closing day was annoyed by a great influx of visitors ; some 

 bringing vegetables, eggs, fowls, and even wild animals, for sale, and 

 showing, by their eagerness, how little demand they found for their 

 superfluities ; others proffering more material bargains in timber, fustic, 

 and fire-wood. We had been teased with proposals of this sort at 

 Engeitado, and there had learned how to treat these dealers. It is alto- 

 gether beyond their comprehension how any man, of a sound under- 

 standing, can encounter the fatigue of traveUing for the sake of pleasure ; 

 we therefore became objects of suspicion, from the immediate and 

 resolute way in which we declined their offers. Here we affected to 

 enter into their views, and proposed plans of business which they could 

 not possibly execute ; and thus learned from them much of the state of 

 the country, its inhabitants, and occupations. Notwithstanding our 

 previous knowledge, that the means of the most opulent among them 

 were extremely slender, we were surprised to find that even such could 



