I remained two days at Aracati, that the horses might be brought from the island upon which they had been put out to grass. I experienced fully now what the guide had before told me respecting the horses. They had all lost flesh, and were apparently less fit for work than when I first arrived at Aracati, though doubtless the relief from daily work for so long a period must have rendered them better able to renew it again now. The Spanish discoverers in South America, who understood the business into which they had entered, strongly inculcated to their people the necessity of the steady and regular continuance of their journies, unless a pause could have been made for some length of time[47]. I bought a large dog at Aracati, which had been trained to keep watch over the baggage of travellers. A man presented himself here, requesting to be allowed to go with me to Pernambuco. He described himself as a Portugueze sailor, a European by birth, and as having belonged to the Portugueze sloop of war, called the Andorinha, which was wrecked upon the coast between Parà and Maranham. He had travelled from the spot at which he had landed to this place without any assistance from government. No provision had been made by any of the men in power for the subsistence of the persons who escaped. I consented to his joining me; he behaved well, and I never afterwards had any cause to doubt the truth of his story. I had now a great increase in my number of men and horses, but was advised to take the men all forwards with me, as the rains might commence and the rivers fill, in which case the more people I had to assist in crossing them, with less danger would it be accomplished. The additional number of horses enabled me to divide the weight into smaller loads, and to have two or three beasts unencumbered, for the purpose of relieving the others if necessary. The party now consisted of nine persons and eleven horses. Senhor Barrozo’s kindness was still continued towards me, and I hope I shall never cease to feel grateful for it.