The next day brought the traveller to Mamanguape, a growing village which then contained about three hundred inhabitants and has since that time more than doubled its population,-this is owing to its situation, a convenient station between Goiana and Rio Grande for the travelling pedlars, who are great instruments of civilization, and are described as a useful, industrious, and generally honest set of men. On the following day he reached Cunhaû, a place remarkable as the scene of a hideous massacre committed by the Indians in the Dutch interest, and for a victory obtained in its neighbourhood over the Dutch by the Indian chief Camaram, in itself of much importance, and attended by many characteristic circumstances. It is now only a hamlet, but the plantation of that name belonging to Colonel Andre d'Albuquerque do Maranham, extends more than fifty miles along the road, and the lands which this great proprietor possesses in the Sertam for breeding cattle are not less than from thirty to forty leagues in extent, such leagues as are sometimes each the journey of three or four hours. Hospitality is one of the virtues of a semi-civilized state; the planters' houses are always open to a traveller, but Mr. Koster sometimes preferred slinging his hammock in an outhouse to looking for better quarters in the owner's mansion, where he might be kept awake half the night for the purpose of giving news. Here, however, he had letters, and the account of his reception may be quoted as shewing the magnificence with which a noble Brazilian entertains his guests.

'He was sitting at his door, with his chaplain and several of his stewards and other persons employed by him, to have all the benefit of the fresh air. He is a man of about thirty years of age, handsome, and rather above the middle size, with genteel manners, rather courtly, as the Brazilians of education generally are. He lives quite in feudal state; his negroes and other dependants are numerous. He commands the regiment of militia cavalry of Rio Grande, and has them in good order, considering the state of the country. He came forwards on my dismounting, and I gave him the letters, which he put by to read at leisure, and then desiring me to sit down, asked me several questions of my wishes, intentions, &c. He took me to his guests' apartments at a little distance from his own residence, where I found a good bed; hot water was brought to me in a large brass basin, and every necessary was supplied in a magnificent style-the towels were all fringed, &c. When I had dressed myself, I expected to be called to supper, but, to my amazement, I waited until near one o'clock, when a servant came to summon me. I found in the dining-room a long table laid out and covered with meat of several kinds, and in quantity sufficient for twenty persons; to this feast the colonel, his chaplain, another person, and myself sat down; when I had tasted until I was quite tired, to my utter dismay another course came on, equally profuse, of fowls, pastry, &c. &c. and when this was removed, I had yet a third to go through of at least

ten different kinds of sweetmeats. The supper could not have been better cooked or handsomer, if it had been prepared at Recife, and even an English epicure might have found much to please his palate. I was not able to retire to rest until near three o'clock; my bed-was most excellent, and I enjoyed it still more from not expecting to find one. In the morning, the colonel would not allow me to leave his house, until I had breakfasted; tea, coffee, and cakes were brought in, all of which were very good. He then took me to see his horses, and pressed me much to leave my own, and take one of his for my journey, that mine might be in good condition on my return, and he also urged me to leave my pack-horses, and take some of his; but as mine were still all in working order, I declined accepting his offer. These circumstances are mentioned to show the frankness with which strangers are treated.'-pp. 61, 62.

Leaving Cunhau, Mr. Koster meant to have past the following night al fresco, but received so pressing an invitation from the owner of a small piece of land who overtook him on the way, that he turned aside to his habitation in a beautiful valley called Papari, one of the happiest spots in this part of Brazil. It stands in a deep and narrow valley, about fifteen miles from the sea, upon the borders of a salt-water lake which brings the fish to the very doors of the inhabitants. This was one of those seasons of drought to which Pernambuco and the adjoining captaincies are subject: other parts of the country were burnt up; this was in full verdure, and the people seemed by their countenances to partake the joyful looks of the land they lived in.' His host was a native of the mother country who had married a Brazilian, and was comfortably settled in this happy valley. We dined,' says the guest, in Brazilian style, upon a table raised about six inches from the ground, around which we sat or rather lay down upon mats; we had no forks, and the knives, of which there were two or three, were intended merely to sever the larger pieces of meat,-the fingers were to do the rest.' Here he remained two nights to rest his horses,' and for the sake of Julio, one of the Indians, whose feet had begun to crack from the dryness of the sands. They expected to reach Natal, the capital of Rio Grande, on the following day, but the last three or four leagues are over an uninhabitable track of sandhills, which are perpetually shifting; the sand is white, and so fine that the wind raises it in clouds, and the horses at every step sunk up to the knee; they bivouacked there near a party who were making farinha, or flour, upon a piece of ground where mandioc was cultivated, and whose appearance Mr. Koster liked so little, that none of his convoy settled regularly for the night. Natal, where they arrived the following morning, is 220 miles from Goiana; the intermediate country is for the most part appropriated to sugar plantations, and some cotton also is raised; but the general appearance

appearance is wild and uncultivated; for land is of so little value that no husbandry is employed, and the piece which is cultivated one year, is allowed to become waste the next:-the same things may be seen in many parts of Portugal, where, when the farmer has taken one year's slovenly crop, the gum-cistus takes possession of the ground again. There are several woods upon the way, and some steep hills, but no mountains within sight. Where the road passes over wide plains, an experienced guide is necessary, for the track is only marked by the short and meagre grass being worn away, and as in such places the cattle straggle more, the path is less worn, and scarcely distinguishable in an imperfect light; no huts are ever found upon the taboleiros as these plains are called, because they are generally without water. There are no great rivers upon the way, and of the rivulets some were dry, and the others much reduced by the drought. The trees, though mostly evergreen, had a parched appearance, very different, says Mr. Koster, from the bright joyful colour of trees in full health.

Natal is upon the banks of the Rio Grande, or Potengi, a river which affords a safe harbour for a few vessels, the bar is shifting and very narrow, but deep enough to admit vessels of 150 tons. It was a point of great importance during the Dutch war; Fort Keulen, which at that time was the strongest fortification in Brazil, has probably fallen to decay, as it is not mentioned by Mr. Koster. A foreigner,' he says, 'who might happen to land here, would form a poor opinion of Brazil, for if such places were called cities, what must the towns and villages be? but such an opinion would be incorrect, for many villages in Brazil surpass this city.' The upper town stands upon rising ground a little way from the river, and contains from 6 to 700 inhabitants; it consists of three streets and a square; the houses have only the ground floor, and there is no pavement; a few persons have raised a foot path of bricks before their own houses, to lessen the inconvenience of the deep sand. There are three churches here, a palace, a town hall, and a prison. The lower town stands upon the right bank of the river, and is inhabited by the trading part of the people-about 300 persons. The governor, Francisco de Paula Cavalcante de Albuquerque, was a man of high Pernambucan extraction, as his two family names denote: he and his brothers had been accused of conspiring against the government, the brothers suffered much both in person and property before the falsehood of the accusation was proved; he was fortunate enough to escape to England; and has from that time regarded the English with esteem. When he took possession of his government, he persuaded one family to send for English manufactured goods from Recife, and having once been in

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troduced they got into general use. The ladies at church are all handsomely drest in silks of various colours, and black veils over the head and face: twelve months before this time, these same persons would have gone to church in petticoats of Lisbon printed cotton, and square pieces of thick cloth over their heads, without stockings, and their shoes down at the heels.'

It is gratifying to perceive with what hospitality and kindness the first English traveller who has visited this part of Brazil was treated by the Portugueze, both in their individual and official characters. The governor dissuaded Mr. Koster from proceeding, because of the drought, representing the attempt as in some degree dangerous; but the young Englishman was unwilling to return, thinking that it might never again be in his power to accomplish a journey upon which his heart was set. The governor then furnished him with letters, and insisted upon his leaving his own horse, that it might be in good condition when he returned. Having purchased another beast, he crossed the river upon jangadas, -the jangada is merely a raft; those which are used at sea have a sliding keel let down between the two centre logs, a paddle for the rudder, a seat for the steersman, and carry a large latine sail : those upon the small rivers are of still ruder construction; this volume contains good representations of both; the name is said by Castanheda to be of East Indian origin, but the thing itself was in use among the natives when Brazil was discovered. It is probably the earliest and rudest kind of embarkation, and, though the least commodious, the safest.

The first stage was to a place called Lagoa Seca, the dry lake, so called because in ordinary years it is too wet to be cultivated; but during the drought Natal was supplied with farinha from hence. Many people had removed there from the high lands and erected small huts with merely a roof to shelter them and their families, till the first rains should render their own country habitable, and inundate the ground where they now found subsistence. Here Mr. Koster purchased one horse load of farinha and another of maize he had provided himself at Natal with water skins, and from hence he entered upon what with little impropriety may be called the Desert. Starting at morning from the Lagoa Seca he intended to sleep at a hamlet called Pai Paulo. At noon his party rested by a cacimba, or well: such wells are formed by digging two or three feet: if the person who depends upon its water is nice he makes a fence round it, but more generally it serves for beast as well as man. Thus far there was plenty of grass though it was much burnt, but in the afternoon their party came upon stony ground, very painful to horses who had come from the

sandy

sandy soil of Pernambuco; this was succeeded by a long narrow plain bounded by brushwood. Here they overtook a white man on foot, with twelve horses, each carrying two bags of provisions.In general a convoy has as many men as beasts; it was therefore remarkable to see one man, and that a white one, in this situation; Mr. Koster observed, that his horses began to spread upon the plain, and seemed inclined to take the brushwood, upon which he rode on one side to front them, and sent the guide to do the same on the other. This brought on a conversation; and the stranger, finding that they intended to sleep at Pai Paulo, told them the wells there were all dried up and the houses deserted. He himself meant to halt for the night about two leagues onwards; there was no water there, but his slave was coming with a skin-full from a well which they had past, and this would contain enough for the whole party accordingly they joined company, a fortunate meeting for the English traveller, who might otherwise have had reason to repent that he had not taken the governor's advice.

The person whom he had thus joined was the son of a man of property, who resided in the interior upon the banks of the Açu where he possessed several cattle estates, the father was a colonel of militia, and this son major of the same regiment. In consequence of the severe drought, and the famine which it was apparent must ensue, he had gone down to the coast to purchase farinha, upou which the lives of the family absolutely depended. But there were no full granaries at Natal as there were in Egypt when Joseph's brethren went there upon a like necessity. The governor had prohibited the exportation of flour; the major however purchased what he wanted, and learning that a guard would be sent to Lagoa Seca to take it from him, stole a march in time, leaving all his people behind, (to avoid suspicion,) and even his clothes. His dress consisted only of a shirt, drawers and sandals, he had his musket upon his shoulder, his sword at his side hanging from a belt, and his long knife in his girdle; he was a stout handsome man, with a skin as white as that of an European Portugueze, where it was not exposed; but the face, neck and legs, were of a dark brown colour.The sandals, or alpargatas as they are called, are universally worn by those Brazilians who live at a distance from large and im proving towns: they are leatheru soles something larger than the foot; there are two loops in front of each, through which two of the toes are past, and a ring of leather round the ancle, through which are drawn two thongs proceeding from each side of the hinder part. They halted for the night upon a wide plain, where the grass was all gone, and even the leaves of the Acaju and Mangaba, hardy as those trees are, had begun to fall.

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