NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



377 



to unroll it, that they might have the satisfaction of bowing reverently, 

 crossing themselves, and kissing it. On one occasion I noticed that he 

 left the sacred emblem behind him forgotten, became inwardly distressed, 

 and the object of a sarcastic smile from the slaves ; as the bauble gave 

 him pleasure, I was glad when he recovered it. 



A troop or caravan, like our's, carries with it every thing which 

 can be anticipated as necessary or useful, except milho, and the afternoon 

 is spent in busy employment ; some of the party act as farriers, black- 

 smiths, or saddlers ; others as attendant labourers ; all are so much 

 occupied as to form a highly interesting scene. The pannels which 

 were worn or become hard, or otherwise uneasy to the mules, were newly 

 stuffed ; a small anvil was fixed in the ground, and horse-shoes and nails 

 prepared and pointed against the time when they might be wanted. 

 The advantages derived from iron, even in this lowly respect, were 

 evident, and frankly acknowledged by those who could compare the 

 period, when it was a scarce article in Brazil, with the present ; and 

 when beasts of burden were obliged to travel over hard roads, with 

 heavy loads, without shoes. While we were at dinner the mules had 

 " been suffered to roll about in the sand, to stray to the waters, and to 

 cool and refresh themselves as they were able ; afterwards they were 

 collected, tied to sticks placed upright in holes of the earth, formed to 

 receive the lower ends of them; every back was examined, and the 

 general health and condition of the animal noticed ; proper remedies 

 were applied to those which were sickly, or galled, and the latter, I 

 observed, were chiefly of the caustic kind ; to those which wanted shoes 

 this valuable defence was supplied. Every driver was expected to know 

 and take care of the seven mules, which formed his particular section of 

 the troop ; to keep them in good order, and to feed them, by placing 

 their noses in a small bag, containing a certain quantity of milho. When 

 this was consumed, the whole troop was conducted to pasture for 

 the night. 



At the Rancho we had been joined by two brothers who were 

 Tropeiros, the elder of them, an intelligent and gentlemanly man, 



3b 



