i66 TRAVELS IN 
their reach, employ it in commerce, and not 
have the courage to build for themfelves ha-? 
bitable houfes. They live in wretched habi- 
tations, conftruded of wicker-work daub- 
ed over with clay : the Ikin of a buffalo, 
fixed at the four corners to as many ftakeSj 
ferves them for a bed ; and the door, which 
is at the fame time a window, is ihut by a 
mat; while two or three mutilated chairs, a 
few pieces of plank, a kind of table, and a 
pitiful box two feet fquare, form all the fur- 
niture of thefe real huts. Thus is the picture 
of the moft profound mifery contrafted with 
the charms of this terreftrial paradife ; for the 
beauties of thefe regions, which I have already 
fketched out, extend even beyond Auteni- 
qua. 
Thefe people however live well ; they have 
game and falt-w^ater fifh in abundance ; and 
enjoy exclufively, over all the other cantons 
of thefe colonies., the advantage of having the 
whole year, without interruption, vegetables 
and plants of every kind in their gardens^ 
For thefe valuable advantages they are in- 
debted to the excellence of the foil, and to 
its being naturally watered by fmall ftreamSj 
whici^ 
