( 144 ) 



Leaving this station we skirted the Piabunha. a river abounding 

 in falls, which flows into the Paraiba. Among the hills and dales 

 which we traversed, we at times observed farm-houses and plantations; 

 but the road, farther on, was quite confined by continual wood-sce- 

 nery. After proceeding about twenty miles we reached Zabolla, a 

 tolerable establishment, consisting of a house of two stories, a small 

 chapel, and a sugar-engine, in an unfinished state, situated in the 

 bottom of a valley. The owner. Captain Jose Antonio Barbosa, 

 was a Portugueze of the old school ; he seemed much vexed that His 

 Royal Highness had permitted strangers to travel the country, and 

 treated us with a constrained civiHty which shewed that he thought 

 we were come about no good. His conversation ran continually 

 against the operations of Government in laying taxes upon rum and 

 other commodities ; and though he tasted the sweets of office, being 

 part-renter of the lucrative ferry of Paraiba, which post he obtained 

 through the interest of a very worthy gentleman in Rio de Janeiro, 

 yet he had all the acerbity of a disappointed place4iunter. His 

 self-interested and narrow-minded views were but too plainly di- 

 rected to one object, monopoly ; the mere mention of the Prince 

 Regent's liberality in permitting strangers to reside in Brazil ap- 

 peared to torture him, and in short, so much of the snarler did he 

 display while discussing this topic, that no character could have 

 more forcibly reminded us of the dog in the manger. It is, how- 

 ever, but fair to add, that while indulging in severe reflections on 

 strangers, he did not forget the duties of hospitality : before we went 

 to rest, he invited us to partake of a family supper, consisting of a 

 boiled duck smothered in rice, and a stewed pullet, to which sat 

 down eight people, including ourselves. Having thanked our host 

 for his kindness, we retired to the apartments allotted to us. My bed 

 was so uneasy that I was obliged to sit up during most of the 

 night, having no alternative, for as the clay floor was neither 

 boarded nor paved, I could not venture to throw the bed-clothes 



