( 65 ) 



We passed two convents, which had the air of convenient houses, 

 and were distinguished by large crosses erected before them. The 

 land was watered by several fine streams; in one part we ob- 

 served a quarry of ferruginous grit-stone, but we had not leisure 

 to make much mineralogical research. St. Paul's, although on 

 an elevated site, is not observed at any great distance in this 

 direction. In its immediate neighbourhood the river runs parallel 

 to the road, which it sometimes partially overflows, and covers 

 with sand. To our left we saw a large astallage, or inn, where 

 numbers of mules are unloaded, and travellers commonly pass 

 the night. It consists of a very large shed, supported upon up- 

 right pieces of timber, with separate divisions for receiving the 

 cargoes or burdens of the mules, each traveller occupying as 

 many as his goods require; and there is a piece of ground, of 

 about a hundred yards in circumference, planted with small up- 

 right stakes at ten or fifteen feet distance, to which the bridles of 

 the mules are tied while they are fed, saddled, and loaded. 

 These astallages are common in all parts of Brazil. 



On entering the town, although we had expected much from 

 its being the capital of the district, and the residence of the 

 governor, yet we were struck with the neat appearance of its 

 houses, stuccoed in various colours ; those in the principal streets 

 were two or three stories high. Having arrived an hour or two 

 before sun-set, we walked to the house of a gentleman, to whom 

 we had a letter of recommendation, but he being absent, we were 

 obliged to pass the night at the astallage, where our mules had 

 been put up. It was a miserable abode. The next morning we 

 breakfasted with our friend, and were conducted by him to 

 the governor, Brigadier General Orte, who honoured us with an 

 invitation to dinner, permitted a perishable cargo of my friend's 

 property, which was lying at Santos, to be unloaded, and gave us 

 a general welcome to his palace. We had the good fortune to 



