444 



NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



His own house was singularly situated upon the slope of a hill, having 

 in front a stockade, enclosing nearly half an acre of ground ; behind it was a 

 cow yard, with sheds, calf pens, and other offices, to a considerable 

 extent, beyond, was a well stocked garden ; the whole skirted by a large 

 enclosed field, and watered by a fine perennial stream. 



The owner was affectionately welcomed by an active domestic-like 

 woman, surrounded by a fine healthy young family. Joy was diffused 

 through the house, and seemed to throb in every bosom as strongly as in 

 more polished circles. Yet here it was naturally, perhaps rudely 

 expressed, while there every one must speak, and act, and even feel in 

 form. God of the families of men, shed but thy blessings on my abode, 

 and I care not whether it be a cabin in Brazilian deserts, or a palace in 

 the world's chief city ! 



Soon after our arrival, the best flock of sheep which 1 had seen in 

 this part of the world was driven into the upper yard, to secure them, 

 as the people said, from wild dogs, which abound in the country, lurking 

 by day in the woods or coppices, and prowling at night for prey. The 

 sheep were of the horned kind, light, lank, and meagre ; their wool 

 short, hollow, and fuzzy, grown with a deficiency of yolk, Avhose nutri- 

 eious qualities, in warm climates, ave converted into a watery corrosive 

 perspiration; the best of the fleece might be considered as a good English 

 Downright, and is sold in the neighbourhood at the rate of two hundred 

 and forty Reis, about one shilling per pound, for manufacturing into 

 cloth ; the inferior sort is generally used in the house for stuffing beds, 

 or for coarse home-spun clothing, but if sold to the neighbouring 

 farmers, for the same purposes, the price is invariably one hundred and 

 sixty Reis per pound. The shepherds, like several which we had seen 

 in the course of the day, were not those of Yirgil and Theocritus, nor 

 were the scenes Arcadian. Though in Europe we frequently notice black 

 sheep under the care of white men, we feel no sense of incongruity in 

 the case; but to behold flocks of white sheep, managed and protected 

 by black shepherds, opposed all my ideas of nature and nature's laws. 

 Nothing ever more forcibly told me that the world I was now in was 

 different and far from the land of my fathers. 



