180 TRAVELS ON THE RIO NEGRO. 
Cattle and sheep were grazing about, and pigs and 
poultry were seen nearer the house. This was a large 
thatched shed, half of which contained the cane-mill, and j 
* 
was only enclosed by a railing, instead of a wall ; the | 
other half had coarse mud walls, with small windows 
and thatch shutters. The floor was of earth only, and | 
very uneven, yet here resided Senhor Brandao and his 
daughter, whom I had met at Barra. The fact was that 
some ten or twelve years before, during the Bevolution, a 
party of Indians burnt down his house, and completely 
destroyed his gardens and fruit-trees, killed several of \ 
his servants and cattle, and would have killed his wife | 
and children, had they not, at a moment's notice, escaped ' 
to the forest, where they remained three days, living on 
Indian corn and wild fruits. Senhor B. was at the time j 
in the city, and while the Bevolution lasted, which was 
several years, he was glad to have his family with him 
in safety, and could not think of rebuilding his house. |Hj; 
Afterwards he was engaged as Delegarde de Policia for ] 
some years, and he had now only just returned to live ^ \ 
on his estate with one unmarried daughter, and of course | 
had plenty to do to get things a little in order. His wife ^ 
being dead, he did not feel the pleasure he had formerly ’ 
done in improving his place, and it is, I think, not im- ii 
probable that, after having lived here a few years, he 
will get so used to it that he will think it quite unneces- ! 
sary to go to the expense of rebuilding his house. StilB | 
it seemed rather strange to see a nicely- dressed youngMj 
lady sitting on a mat on a very mountainous mud-floor, I j 
and with half-a-dozen Indian girls around her engaged ^ 
in making lace and in needlework. She introduced mew-; 
