386 



NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



which the Piaburm empties. To-day I was joined by a man whose 

 countenance did not please me, and found from him trouble under the 

 mask of civility. He was one of those people who, wishing to be civil, 

 unfortunately mistake the means of rendering themselves agreeable ; or, 

 intending to deceive, adopt the appearance of friendship as a cloak to 

 their purpose. With such companions safety lies in suspicion, and the 

 slightest incongruity, between the professed intention and the observed 

 conduct, generally warrants distrust. Some days afterwards this man 

 again obtruded his civilities, and, though extremely unpleasant to receive 

 attentions with coldness and suspicion, his countenance and conduct 

 seemed perpetually to say — beware. 



He pointed out to me a large bird, in size and form resembling a 

 Guinea fowl ; the general colour was brown, the larger feathers in the 

 wing white, and it had some redness about the head; my unwelcome 

 companion said it was a Capoeiro, that this species commonly remained 

 in the recesses of the wood, and that probably the dryness of the season 

 had brought this straggler down to the river. It was returning to the 

 mountains with a heavy and fluttering flight, and kept too distant from 

 us for the gun to reach it. In places by the road side, where there was 

 flat space enough to receive them, we passed several mud huts, which 

 seemed to be inhabited by a lazy race of beings. Yesterday we met 

 only two hundred mules, to-day full twice as many have been counted, 

 laden with raw cotton and cotton-cloth, with cheese and a small quantity 

 of leather, the produce of the Interior. The people who attended some 

 of them carried, beside the Machado, or hoe, with which every troop is 

 furnished, a large axe also. The use of the former is to clear away the 

 earth, which sometimes slips down in the manner of an Avalanche ,and 

 stops the road, or to cut a new passage in the side of a hill, when the 

 old one is impeded or carried away by any accident ; the latter is useful 

 to cut asunder and clear away the trees which fall across the path. 



This day's journey terminated at Pegado, a distance of eight miles, 

 where I arrived alone about ten o'clock in the forenoon. The establish- 

 ment contains many excellent buildings : I expected, therefore, a good 



