while the ceilings are of plaited bamboo. As the divisions of the rooms only go up to the ceilings-above which is the roof-of course every sound is heard all over the house. On approaching from outside you see four doors. The two centre entrances open into the bar and shop, where every kind of article required by the Brazilian is obtainable; out of this shop is the store-room, which has also an outer door, and is the end of the house in that direction. The fourth outer door admits to a passage, entering which you see two cupboard-like bedrooms one within the other, which have no light or air, except through the door into the passage. In each of these rooms are two beds. Going down the passage you reach the sitting-room, into which open two small bedrooms, each with only one bed; but that takes up nearly the whole space. These rooms, at least, have outer windows. Leaving the sitting-room, the passage leads to the dining-room, the furniture of which consists of a long table with a bench on either side; and out of this room are three doors, leading to the landlord's private apartments, kitchen, etc. It seems the rule in Brazilian houses to have endless doors to every sittingroom. The cook and butler is a nigger, who always rushes forward each time you come in to shake hands, as if you were the only friend he had in the world. The master stands by the table or leans his elbows on it, keeping his hat on and smoking cigarettes all the time you are eating.

To-day we three went for a walk along the railway towards Queluz, and climbed a hill near the line about five miles from here. The scenery was beautiful-successive ranges of hills to the horizon all round; those to the north, east, south, and west mostly thickly wooded, but from the north to the west comparatively bare (campos). Far away to the S.S.E. rose a very faint outline, which, I

D

believe, are the Organ Mountains. Returning we made a détour through a charming forest-my first walk in the midst of a tropical wood-and I enjoyed it much. I did not see many butterflies, but observed two Pyrameis myrinna, very similar in appearance to our painted lady (Pyrameis cardui), and some fine birds. One had a blue back, white head, and two long remarkable feathers projecting from its tail. On the line we saw a coati tied to a tree. Some of the workmen had caught it that morning, and it was very fierce, but a nice little animal.

The weather by day is perfect-a cloudless sky generally all day, with very hot sun from nine till three, but a cool breeze, then freezing at night. A difference of some 80° to 90° Fahr. between the day and night is rather trying to an English constitution.

July 9.-The chief came up last night with the remainder of the staff and all the luggage, and to-day the impedimenta were brought over here in five bullock-cart loads. Some of the tents, which have been pitched on the clearing in front of this house, are occupied by a few of the staff, others being filled with luggage.

( 35 )

Manchester

CHAPTER III.

PRELIMINARY EXPLORATIONS

Estação Paraopeba.

July 13, 1883.-I returned last night from a three days' expedition, exploring the country for locating the first section of the railway, which is to go as far as Brumado.* I went from here to Brumado (6 leagues), thence to Suassuhy (2 leagues), returning via São Amaro (3 leagues) to this place (3 leagues), making fifteen leagues in all, or about sixty-three miles.

Leaving Paraopeba on the 10th inst. at 10 a.m., with one native as my guide, I rode along towards Brumado, taking observations all the way with aneroid and compass to enable me to prepare a sketch map on my return, and indicate the best route (approximately) for the railway. We put up that night at a small hamlet called Serra dos olhos d'Agua, about two-thirds of the way to Brumado. As is usual in all the towns and villages here, there is a large wooden cross on the roadside, with a cock at the top; at the foot a representation of the cloth of St. Veronica, and a statuette of the Blessed Virgin Mary; while nailed to the cross are the instruments of the Passion-nails, scourge, hammer, pincers, spear, miniature ladder, etc.

*See map.

We alighted at a hut-I can call it nothing else—with a verandah. After attending to the horses and taking them to pasture, we had dinner at six, which was composed of a few very greasy beef and pork fritters, black beans, mandioca flour (farinha)—like sawdust-rice, and cabbage, washed down by sweet white Portuguese wine. We were attended by some really good-looking negresses, and our hostess looked on all the time; the latter had a huge goitre, also a large quid of black tobacco protruding from the corner of her mouth, and she expectorated promiscuously on the floor of our dining-room. The house was lighted up by earthenware lamps shaped like the old Greek and Roman type, with a wick dipped in castor-oil. My "camarade" and I slept in a small room off the verandah -without a window-two bedsteads being the whole furniture; but I must allow that the maize-husk mattresses were the best I have had for a fortnight.

The next morning, after coffee and “cachaça,”* and settling our modest bill, we left at 6.30, reaching Brumado before ten. We went to the house of Senhor João Baptista de Oliveira e Souza, whose acquaintance I had made some days before, when he rode over to Paraopeba to greet us. He received us very kindly, and gave me much information about the neighbourhood, as also a letter of introduction to a gentleman who has a fazenda (farm) a little beyond Suassuhy. While I was at Brumado, a priest came in. He was a jolly sort of man, with a strong tinge of nigger blood, a small tonsure about an inch in diameter, a lace collar, white dust-coat, big black straw hat, grey gloves, and top boots-not exactly one's idea of a parish priest; moreover, he drank Bass's beer, the cork drawn by an English patent corkscrew.

The native rum.

The road to Suassuhy is remarkable for the innumerable "barrancas" or "cañons," which, although tiny in comparison with those of Colorado, are yet very fine. Imagine a track along the top of a gently sloping and undulating ridge of open campo, when suddenly you come to a place where the path dips a little, and has only a slight margin, say with a total width of four or five feet, while on each side there is a huge, deep amphitheatre, from whence the red earth has been washed away by the rains. I saw many of these barrancas in all stages of formation. They begin with a subsidence, caused by the undermining of the ground by springs; the rains then work upon the subsided portion, washing it gradually away, and the cañon increases in size as the sides fall in, so that at length you have a huge area of many acres, in some cases, with more or less precipitous sides, often one hundred to two hundred feet deep, the whole area being intersected by a hundred fantastic knife-shaped ridges and columns of bare red earth. The effect of coming suddenly on one of these chasms in the midst of an extensive grass-covered down is very remarkable.

The farm where we were to lodge was half an hour's ride off our route, beyond Suassuhy, in a very pretty valley, with numerous clumps of the lovely bamboo; certainly, so far, my favourite of tropical vegetation, not excepting the ferns. We reached the Fazenda Boa Vista at 4.50, and rode into the farmyard, where were two oxcarts, each drawn by ten oxen, loaded with maize, which several slaves were busy removing into a shed. Crossing the yard, we approached the house through a small garden wherein were fan palms, gardenias, etc., and beyond this. another walled garden, full of orange trees and bananas * See Geological notes.