Says the writer before quoted: "One of the qualities of the _fazendeiro_, one which I ought particularly to mention, is his extreme hospitality. In cordiality, delicacy and unfailing tact the hospitality of the Brazilian surpasses the imagination of the most hospitable of Europeans. The _fazendeiro_ will make every possible effort to render his house agreeable to you; if you wish to take the air the best horse is at your service; or the safest, according to your talents as a horseman; the eldest son of the house will be your companion. After dinner the family will search among the gramophone discs for the latest music, the latest French songs. In the morning, upon your departure, your host, cutting short your thanks, will assure you of the gratitude he owes you for your visit. I have witnessed this scene a score of times, and each time--whether or not I owed such fortune to my French nationality--I felt that I was received as an old family friend. "Such hospitality introduces one to the heart of many families. These families, too, are large; ten children are considered in no way extraordinary. Paternal authority is respected; the son, upon his entrance, kisses his father's hand. The wife is occupied with household cares; the husband's duty is to do the honours of the house. A stranger rarely sees Brazilian women, except as the guest of a Brazilian family. The women do not receive male callers; for them, or so it seems to me, mundane life ceases upon marriage.[25] They marry, I believe, very young, and are absolutely under the marital thumb. Outside their family their independent life is extremely limited. Admirable mothers, one knows them rather by their children than personally; they seem to cherish their domestic obscurity. The traveller who lands in the United States is immediately surrounded, questioned, advised and chaperoned by the American woman; there is nothing of this sort in Brazil.