On entering the home of perhaps the most prosperous member of this colony I felt like standing at “attention,” and giving a salute when I saw the silk starred and striped banner of Uncle Sam fastened up on the wall of the “best room.” The house itself, with its large hall, roomy apartments and broad veranda surrounding the house, looked like one of the plantation houses so common in the South. This man had a large family of children, all of whom, with one exception, had been educated in the schools of the United States, and two boys were at that time in one of our colleges. About the whole house was an American atmosphere that warmed the very heart’s blood in a traveller so far away from home. And so it was in the other houses I visited; in every one was the same cordiality, the same pleasure at seeing some one from the “States,” and the same loyalty to everything American. In some of the younger members one could detect a slight accent in speaking English, which is always noticeable when children learn a Latin tongue in their babyhood. The older ones said that these young people speak the Portuguese with a similar foreign accent. The young ladies of the American colony, and there are a number of them, were typical American girls, bright, cheery and free as their sisters are at home, and so different from the Brazilian young women among whom they live, and who are so hampered by the customs and traditions of the race. We took a “trolley” ride over the settlement, but it is rather different from the American trolley, for it is nothing more than an old-fashioned buckboard. Many of the original members of the colony became dissatisfied, and returned to their former homes. There are, however, four or five hundred Americans still living in this colony, or within a radius of a few miles. A few have moved to other parts of Brazil, and others have intermarried with Brazilians; but, in general, they have remained true to their Americanism. Some of the original families purchased slaves and worked their plantations in that way, until that institution was abolished in 1888. A few have prospered very much, but many others have done just fairly well. One of the wealthiest men made his little fortune out of watermelons. Others have sugar plantations and make brandy, or raise coffee; and still others do general farming, similar to what they were accustomed in the Southern States. A Protestant church, called the Union Church, adorns one hill, and a school-house in a conspicuous building is in another part of the village. [Illustration: A BRAZILIAN FRUIT MARKET. MELONS FROM VILLA AMERICANA.]