Page:Knickerbocker 1864-10 64 4.pdf/43

model of sobriety and of Portuguese perseverance, he has resisted all the distractions and pleasures of his age, and it might be said that his life has been an uninterrupted succession of labor and privation; but he is rewarded by his prospects in the future. He knows that if yellow fever (febre amarella) or consumption does not bar his way, he will one day be a fazendeiro, and perhaps a commendador.

While you are conversing at the counter, you see a horseman stop before the door. After alighting, he places his bridle in the hands of a negro who attends him, advances to the door, and calls a clerk by a pshioú! or clapping his hands. You take him for a customer in quest of goods. The proprietor, who recognizes him, takes a few vintens from his pocket, and hands them to an employé, who, knowing what it means, at once takes them to the cavalier. This customer is only a beggar, or at least would be termed one with us; but every nation has its own ideas of mendicity, Could one recognize a vagabond in a man dressed in an irreproachable manner, and having a negro and a horse at his disposal? Besides, alms are not dishonorable in a country where the soil is so prolific and where hospitality becomes so easy; therefore begging is considered by those who practise it a regular profession. Each beggar has his patrons, and knows just how far to go without becoming importunate, His visits are generally made weekly; but with generous people or rich planters he ventures two visits a week, but never more. Upon meeting him after his round, you see a hearty gentleman, who knows how to procure himself the comforts of life. If he is moderate in his expenses, he expends his income in slaves, which he puts out at a profit, and at length, having become well off, patronizes in turn those who aided him to live. But of these the number is few. This profession is especially followed by self-styled students, who only need a few milreis to enter into orders. The most singular anecdotes are told in regard to these, one of whom, the Senhor Maranhouse, has elevated the profession to a veritable science.

If you are an artist, or desire to make a scientific excursion, you must in the first place organize a caravan. You request your city friends to tell you where you can obtain a good muleteer. They take you into a suburb of the city which the urubus seem to have chosen as a domicile, and where the catinga or negro odor takes powerful possession of the olfactories. Soon you see a negro approaching with important airs, wearing a poncho, or short cloak. This man, if you are to believe him, is acquainted with the whole of Brazil. His figure makes a good impression, his straightforwardness inspires you with confidence, and you are upon the point of making a bargain with him, when a rival comes up and informs you that the pretended guide is only a tropeiro of bad reputation, who generally deserts his senhor in the middle of his journey with the finest mule of the outfit, When at length you have obtained your cicerone, and appointed the day on which he is to get the animals ready for departure, he gravely tells you he is a guide and not a tocador, (driver;) that it is not the business of a free man to take care of mules, and that your excellency must furnish him an assistant. Again you set upon a hunt, and if you are not careful the chances are that you will hit upon a fugitive slave, who will be taken from you by the police just as you are about to depart.

You at length set out; but if you have not taken the precaution to buy the trunks of the country, namely, canastras, or wooden chests covered with ox-hides, your journey again becomes impossible. The first time I travelled in the serras of Brazil, I saw the guide suddenly alight from his animal's back, and tighten the girths, under the pretext of adjusting the load, which became con-