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a richly caparisoned mule. The senhoras themselves have no other mode of riding. A troop of horsemen of every color attends to do honor to the senhor. Two of the principal men, performing the functions of squires, wear the livery of the house. The more numerous the escort, and the more dust it raises, the higher the idea formed of the visitor's importance.

Sometimes, however, the travelling party is reduced to much more simple proportions. I met one day, in one of my excursions, a family proceeding from the province of Minas to that of Saint Paul. A strong, robust negress led the way, carrying in a cradle upon her head a child but a few months old, which she herself nursed, and which only a light linen cover protected from the scorching tropical heat. Next came an old negro, bending under the weight of an immense basket, in which were seen mingled pell-mell all the utensils of the household. With one hand he steadied his burden, while with the other he led, by a halter, a mule, whose sides were beaten by a sort of double cage resembling a pair of window-shutters. Through the bars of one of these I saw the figure of a child opposite a small monkey. In the second was another child, and before him a magnificent parrot, with an enormous beak, red plumage, and blue feathers in the wings and tail. The bottom of these two cages served as trunks, and contained the wardrobe of the travellers. The head of the family, with his wife mounted behind him, kept his eye on the movements of the turbulent house hold. An enormous parasol protected the couple from the furious heat of the sun. A dog that followed on foot made up the escort.

I stopped to let the caravan pass by, for it is almost impossible to travel two abreast in the paths of the American forests. As the monkey passed by me be caught a glimpse of some biscuits (tosca) in my wide boots, where, like all travellers in the wilderness, I kept my provisions; and, stretching his arms through the bars of his cage, dexterously secured two of them. His companion, thinking one would suffice for him, attempted to pull the other from his hands for his own benefit. The quadrumana, little familiar with evangelical doctrines, defended his property by showing his teeth. The parrot, perceiving with his large restless eye that his neighbors were having a feast, also desired his share, and began screeching and flapping his wings to attract attention. Either from fear or temptation the other child commenced to cry, and the disorder became supreme. I was obliged to put an end to the tumult to alight and distribute all my biscuit.

'He gente pequena,' (these are small people,) said my guide, after we had passed on a little.

'How do you know that?'

'O senhor! there is no mistaking them. If they were rich people they would take with them a great many slaves and mules as an escort; and they would not let their children suffer with hunger, as well as those poor animals which they had better left to God's care in the forest; and you would not have been robbed by that rascal of a monkey.'

When a senhora cannot bear horseback riding, other expedients are resorted to. Sometimes recourse is had to a cart drawn by six pairs of cattle, and sometimes a litter is used, borne by two mules, one of which, harnessed in the usual way, goes in advance; while the other, which is behind, almost touches the senhora's back with his head. But as the holes in the roads make jolting inevitable, it is preferred, when a sick person is to be transported, to make use of a hammock suspended to a strong pole, which two robust negroes carry upon their shoulders. If the journey is a long one, the litter is accompanied by a squad of slaves, who relieve each other.