and
halted to breakfast at an uninhabited house, by the side of a beautiful
stream of clear water, flowing from a Buriti palm swamp. Resuming our
journey in the afternoon, we crossed the stream, but were puzzled which
road to take of the two that presented themselves, one led to the
south, and another to the east; and as our general direction was
easterly, we followed that course. After travelling about two leagues
and a half through a very arid and barren country, consisting of long
flat sandy tracts, wooded with a few stunted trees and bushes, and
large open Buriti swamps, we arrived at another uninhabited house.
During the latter part of this journey, the road inclined so much
towards the north, that I felt certain we had not taken the right one,
and determined to retrace our steps on the following morning, and take
that which led to the south. As the house was in a very ruinous state,
we slept under some trees; and as the nights had now become too cold
for the use of hammocks, we generally abandoned them, and adopted
instead an ox-hide laid on the ground, by the side of a large fire,
with a trunk placed at our heads, and two or three others alongside ;
a heap of wood was always collected and laid within reach, and as the
hardness of our beds never allowed us to sleep too soundly, the fire
was always well kept up; the men had another fire to themselves.
On
the following morning we returned to the place where the two roads
separated, and breakfasted under the shade of a large Sicupira tree.
Fortunately, just as we were about to start, the same old lady and her
sou whom we met at the fazenda do Bio Claro, now passed us, on her
return from the fulfilment of her vow; from her we learned that we were
altogether out of our proper course, and that to regain it, it was
necessary to return to Espigao, at which place there were also two
roads, and that we had been directed to the wrong one; we had,
therefore, no alternative but again to retrace our steps, having lost a
day and a half by this erroneous information. On reaching Espigao, we
took the other road without making any further enquiries, and after
travelling about a league and a half, reached the banks of a small
river, half an hour after sunset. We passed the night under some trees
on
