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him wh}^ he did not bring us to this mansion last night, instead of 

 halting at the miserable dog-hole of Resequinha.. " Ah Sir," replied 

 he, " the mules could travel no further." " Then you might have 

 told us of this delightful place and we would have walked hither had 

 it been double the distance." How much more merrily should we 

 have passed the evening, thought I, on observing two fine guitars hung 

 up in a closet that was accidentally opened. The mother, who now 

 came in, gave us an invitation to stop, regretting that her husband, 

 being confined by illness to his bed, was unable to pay his respects 

 to us in person. We expressed our disappointment at not being 

 able to avail ourselves of this invitation, and again related how ill 

 we had passed the night at Resequinha. " Yes," observed one of 

 the daughters very facetiously, " men alone make very insipid so- 

 ciety ; you would have been much better here, would not you 

 Our soldier again came to say that the baggage mule was out of 

 sight, and that we should be in danger of losing our way. The mule, 

 said I, may surely for once fall lame to accommodate us, or some 

 lucky misfortune ma3'' occur to give us a pretext for prolonging our 

 stay. We were at length obliged to yield to the pressing remon- 

 strances of our soldier, and took leave of the good lady and her 

 amiable daughters, promising to visit them on our return. We pur- 

 sued our journey, with reluctance, over a dreary tract of country, 

 passing at intervals through small woods, where we shot a few wood- 

 peckers, here called carpinteros, a name sufficiently characteristic 

 of their peculiar habits. The incessant hacking which they make 

 with their beaks may be heard at considerable distance. No inci- 

 dent worth mentioning occurred in this day's journey, which ter- 

 minated at Bandera de Coelho, where Ave arrived at sun-set. A 

 more dirty and slovenly place, in a finer situation, we never vi- 

 sited. It was Avith great difficulty that my negro-boy procured us 

 a pot of any sort to dress us a fowl and some beans for supper. 

 The kitchen was a mere<dirt-hole, blackened with soot and smoke 

 above and all around, and covered with mud and filth below : the 



