426 



NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



by the detachment, and conveyed to prison, where he died of a broken 

 heart ; his property was confiscated, and his family turned adrift. All 

 his neighbours represented him as an industrious man who was growing 

 wealthy, and agreed in asserting their belief, that he was perfectly inno- 

 cent of the offence laid to his charge, and that his adversary was a person 

 of great influence. The ruined walls, and many scattered fragments of 

 agricultural instruments, remain a monument of the lamentable lot of 

 those whom power and spite can thus effectually crush. There are laws 

 in the country, it is true, but what do they avail if not uprightly and 

 impartially administered ? 



During the next stage we rode through a country resembling that 

 which we had lately passed to Chapeo D'Ouvas, a village containing a 

 Church and a few good dwellings, delightfully situated in a pleasant 

 bottom, and enriched by a fine spring. As we came along there were 

 some whitewashed houses, and one was distinguished by window shutters, 

 painted green ; a species and an instance of luxury which has not been 

 paralleled since we left the coast ; one which showed to us the growing com- 

 fort, and what, in a state of incipient civilization, is of more importance, the 

 growing taste of the district. We observed also sheep and cattle grazing ; 

 the flocks were small, seldom consisting of more than half a dozen indivi- 

 duals, whose carcases were light, and their wool a middle quality of the 

 short kind ; the cows were tolerable animals, but the oxen were too lank 

 and thin to be profitable ; they have a large coarse fore quarter, and a 

 light hind one. 



We have twice, during this stage, descended to the banks of the 

 river, whose crystaline waters flow with a strong, but steady current, upon 

 a sandy bed. At a distance from its borders are whole forests of Aloes, 

 whose dead stems now gave a dreariness to the scene, but in the season 

 of their vigour and bloom they must communicate to it a richness 

 which cannot be described. There are also many dead trees, which my 

 guide tells me were killed about four years ago, by the severity of frosty 

 but I suspect that they have perished because their roots touch the 

 granitic rock. The woods abound in Jacus and other game, which 



