NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



431 



compelled to lower the load with caution. In this manner they pass 

 over declivities of extraordinary difficulty. The Forests on both sides the 

 road were distinguished from any found near the coast, by the diversity 

 of their foliage, and the paler and bluer cast of the verdure ; their aspect 

 was more open and rural, and with the abated ^temperature of the day 

 induced us to ride more quickly than the usual travelling pace of a troop, 

 and thus to leave all our baggage and slaves behind us. 



At a farming establishment, concerning the name of which there 

 was some disagreement, where had been appointed our next rendezvous, 

 we were dissatisfied with our accommodations, for there was no Rancho, 

 and the people were evidently unused to the appearance of strangers. 

 As one who spoke a different language, and gave to their own a 

 different accent, I soon became the object of curiosity, and many 

 people collected about the small hut which had become our temporary 

 residence. 



Among those who came to wonder, was a poor fellow, who, when 

 flying from the French, had spent a few months in London, where he 

 worked as a harness maker, until sent to South America by the Portu- 

 guese Consul. Here he had given such extraordinary accounts of what 

 he had seen in England, as to excite the incredulity, and lose the con- 

 fidence of his neighbours. He endeavoured now to regain it, by 

 collecting the most sceptical of them and appealing to me in their 

 presence as to the truth of his representations. Among other incredible 

 things, he had said that all the houses, even those of the poor, in 

 England had glass windows, and that the whole country was like one 

 continued town, except that the buildings stood more thickly in some 

 places than in others. " How," it was asked, by those who had never 

 seen a glazed window, " can those people be poor, who cover their 

 windows with glass, a substance which with us is almost as valuable as 

 gold, and more valuable, weight for weight, than silver is ? and how can 

 people find water whose houses are scattered over all the country ? We 

 have only four or five towns in as many hundred miles, and yet Brazil 

 has too many inhabitants, for some of us are obliged to go into the 



