_27th._--I went on shore to-day to spend a few days with Miss S., the only English lady in the town. She is now living in her brother's town-house, where the office and warehouses are, because the country-house is within reach of the patriots. I do long to walk or ride out to the tempting green hills beyond the town; but as that cannot be, I must content myself with what is within the lines. To-day, as we were coming in from Boa Vista, we met a family of Certanejos, who had brought provisions into the town some days ago, returning home to the Certam, or wild country of the interior. These Certanejos are a hardy, active set of men, mostly agriculturists. They bring corn and pulse, bacon and sweetmeats, to the sea-coast, hides and tallow also at times. But the sugar, cotton, and coffee, which form the staple exports of Pernambuco, require the warmer, richer lands, nearer the coast. Cotton is, however, brought from the Certam, but it is a precarious crop, depending entirely on the quantity of rain in the season; and it sometimes does not rain in the Certam for two years. The party we met formed a very picturesque groupe, the men clad in leather from head to foot, of which their light jerkin and close pantaloons are fitted as closely as the clothing on the Egina marbles, and have something of the same effect: the small round hat is in the form of Mercury's petasus; and the shoes and gaiters of the greater number are excellently adapted to defend the legs and feet in riding through the thickets. The colour of all this is a fine tan brown. I was vexed that the woman of the party wore a dress evidently of French fashion: it spoiled the unity of the groupe. She was mounted behind the principal man, on one of the small active horses of the country; several sumpter horses followed, laden with household goods and other things in exchange for their provisions: cloths, both woollen and cotton, coarse crockery, and other manufactured articles, especially knives, are what they chiefly take in barter; though I saw some furniture, with pretensions to elegance, among the stuff of the family I met. After the horses came a groupe of men, some walking and keeping pace with the amble of the beasts; others riding and carrying the children; the procession being closed by a very stout good-looking man, smoking as he went along, and distinguished by a pair of green baize trowsers.