Our journey took us again through the village of Mamanguape; and a little distance beyond it, I left the road, accompanied by the guide, and went to the principal house of a sugar plantation, where we asked for a night’s lodging. I was told that the master was not at home, and great doubts seemed to be entertained of taking us in. Whilst we were talking at the door, a young man of dark colour came up, mounted a horse which was standing there without a saddle, and rode off, seemingly avoiding to observe that there were any strangers present. One of the black women said, “Why did not you speak to him, for he is one of our young masters.” I now enquired and discovered that the owner of the place and his family were mulattos. This was the only instance of incivility I met with, and the only occasion on which a night’s lodging was denied to me during the whole course of my stay in Brazil. We lodged this night under a tree, distant about one hundred yards from the _engenho_, near to a neat and comfortable looking cottage, of which the owner was an elderly woman; she was civil to us, and expressed her sorrow at the treatment which we had received. There had been very little rain here, for the grass in the field of the plantation had still a parched look, and the cattle were in bad condition. Towards the evening of the following day we reached a hamlet, and at one of the cottages I obtained permission to pass the night. There was a pent-house standing out from the front; these are usual even for dwellings of wealthy persons. Under it I slung my hammock, but was surprised to find, that though the house was inhabited, still the door was shut, and that the person within spoke to us, but did not open it. This I thought strange, and began to suppose that he might be afflicted with some contagious disorder and had been forsaken by his friends, or rather, that his family had been advised to remove to some neighbouring cottage. But the guide explained, saying that the man had been bitten by a snake, and that the bite of this species only became fatal if the man who had received it saw any female animal, and particularly a woman, for thirty days after the misfortune. As the lower orders imagine that all snakes are poisonous, it is not surprising that many remedies or charms should be quoted as efficacious. It is well known that many of those reptiles are innoxious, but as this is not believed by the people in general, it is naturally to be supposed that any cause rather than the true one is ascribed on a recovery from a bite.