As relatively late as 1837 the region had witnessed a veritable orgy of sacrifice. A fanatic had mounted the so-called _pedra bonita_ (pretty stone) and preached the coming of King Dom Sebastian, “he who fell at the field of Alcazar-el-Kebir. He foretold that the stone would be cut into steps; not cut with any earthly tools, but smoothed away by the shedding of the blood of children. Up these steps, so miraculously to be prepared, surrounded by his guard of honour, dressed in armour, the King, who had been dead three hundred years, should ascend and come into his own again, reigning in Portugal and in Brazil, and bountifully rewarding those who had been faithful to him and by their faith contributed to his disenchantment.… A multitude of women, all a prey to the mysterious agitation … came through the mountain passes, followed the trails through the virgin forests and assembled to hear the word preached at the wondrous pulpit made by no earthly hands. Unluckily they brought their children with them. Then, roused to a religious frenzy beyond belief, as they stood listening to the words of the illuminated _cafuz_ or _mamaluco_--for history has not preserved his name--women strove with one another who should be the first to offer up her child, so that its blood should split the rock and form the sacred stair, by which the King, the long lamented Dom Sebastian, should ascend in glory, bringing back peace and plenty upon earth.… A common-sense historian (Cunninghame-Graham refers to Araripe Junior’s _Reino Encantado_) says that for days the rocks ran blood.…” Further incident is unnecessary to a notion of the sertanejos’ mystic habit of mind and action. The Brazilian government became in their eyes a rule of dogs, and their favourite phrase for the republic was _a lei do cão_ (the law of the dog). In the popular quatrains that Euclydes da Cunha collected are found merged the hatred of the sertanejos for the governing class of Brazil, their millenial hope in Dom Sebastian and their faith in Antonio surnamed Conselheiro (i. e., the Councillor) as the deliverer from all evil. O Anti-Christo nasceu Para o Brazil governar Mas ahi esta O Conselheiro Para delle nos livrar. Antichrist was born To govern poor Brazil, But God raised up our Councillor To save us from that ill.[3] Garantidos pela lei Aquelles malvados estão. Nos temos a lei de Deus Elles tem a lei do cão. Protected by the law Are those wretches in their lairs. Ours is the law of God, The law of the dog is theirs. Visita nos vem fazer Nosso rei D. Sebastião. Coitado daquelle pobre Que estiver na lei do cão! Our good King D. Sebastian Comes to visit us. Pity the poor wretch Who supports the law of the dog!