that
we were eating saw-dust and roasted leather. Our greatest comfort was a
large stock of excellent tea, which I laid in before leaving
Pernambuco, and which fortunately lasted till we reached a more
civilized place, where more was procured; this was my only beverage
during the whole of this long and protracted journey , and nothing
could be more refreshing at the end of n day's ride under a burning sun.
I
was told when I arrived in Brazil, that I should find it necessary to
mix either wine or brandy with the water I drank, but a very short
experience taught me, not only that they were unnecessary, but
decidedly hurtful to those whose occupations lead them much into the
sun. Whoever drinks stimulating liquors, and travels day after day in
the sun, will certainly suffer from headache, and in countries where
miasmata prevail, will be far more liable to be attacked by the
diseases which are there endemic. The dried beef of an ox generally
lasted us from three weeks to a month, by the end of which time it was
scarcely fit to be eaten, becoming as hard as a chip of wood. In moist
rainy weather it was very difficult to preserve it, for with the utmost
care we could not prevent the breeding of maggots, from which it
required to be freed both before and after it was roasted. We were
seldom, however, more than a fortnight without provisions of some kind
or other, either in the shape of deer, monkeys, armadillos, large
lizards, or birds of various kinds.
We
started early from the Buriti swamp where we slept, with the
expectation of reaching the fazenda do Bio Claro about midday, but a
little before that time we found, by the direction in which we were
going, that we had taken a wrong road. A little after niid-day we came
to the S.E. termination of that part of the Serra das Araras on which
we had been travelling, whence we had an uninterrupted view of the vast
plain that stretches to the south and east, studded here and there with
a few small lakes. After descending the Serra by an easy path, we
rested during the middle of the day beneath some trees, by the side of
a little stream of cool water that came rushing down from the Serra,
not knowing where we were, nor when we might meet with any one to give
us
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