74 
The Padrao and Pinda. 
or, as we call it, King Antonio’s Town—not to be 
mistaken for that placed in the charts behind 
Point Padron. Our object being unknown, there 
was fearful excitement in the thatched huts scat¬ 
tered under the palm grove, till Tom Peter intro¬ 
duced us, and cleared for us a decent hut. The 
buildings, if they can be so called, are poor and 
ragged, copies of those which we shall see upon 
the uplands. Presently we were visited by the 
king named after that saint “ of whom the Evil 
One was parlous afraid.” This descendant of the 
“ Counts of Sonho,” in his dirty night-cap and 
long coat of stained red cloth, was a curious con¬ 
trast to the former splendour of the “ count’s habit,” 
with cap of stitched silk which could be worn only 
by him and his nobles, fine linen shirt, flowered 
silk cloak, and yellow stockings of the same material. 
When King Affonso III. gave audience to the 
missioners (a.d. 1646), the negro grandee “ had 
on a vest of cloth set with precious stones, and 
in his hat a crown of diamonds, besides other 
stones of great value. He sat on a chair under a 
canopy of rich crimson velvet, with gilt nails, after 
the manner of Europe; and under his feet was a 
great carpet, with two stools of the same colour, 
and silk laced with gold.” After the usual palaver 
we gave the black earl a cloth and bottle of rum 
for leave to pass on, but no one would accompany 
us that evening, all pretending that they wanted 
