My friend the commandant was still residing at Piatô; I felt as if I was returning home; my spirits were low, and any trifle relieved them. This night I was still very unwell, my thirst was great, and nothing satisfied and allayed it so much as water-melons, of which there was here a superabundance. I ate several of them. The guide said I should kill myself; but I thought otherwise, for I liked the fruit. In the morning I awoke quite a changed person, and the ague returned no more. The guide often said afterwards that he never had known until the present occasion, that water-melons might be taken as a cure for the ague. He was quite certain that they had performed the cure, and that they would have the same effect upon all persons in the same disease. Such are the changes to which this strange complaint is subject; often thus suddenly leaving the patient, but as frequently or more so, ending in fever and delirium; however it seldom proves fatal. On the morrow we left Piatô, with the addition to our party of a small tame sheep, and a tame _tatu-bola_, or armadillo, both having been given to me by the commandant. The former kept pace with the horses for many days, and it never gave us any trouble, until the long continuance of the journey wearied it out, and then I was obliged to make room for it in one of the panniers; in this manner it travelled for a day or two at a time. The armadillo was conveyed in a small bag, and only on one occasion gave us any trouble; when we released it at our resting-places, it usually remained among the packages, either feeding or rolled up. It was with some difficulty that Mimoza was prevented from annoying it; but latterly she and the armadillo were very good friends. At Açu I changed one of my horses for another that was in better condition, and gave about the value of a guinea to boot.