My friend and I walked out and descended the hill by a path which led us to the bed of the river, for there was now no water in it. Great want of water is often experienced at Bom Jardim, but I think that if wells of sufficient depth were dug, a supply might be obtained[73]. On our return to the village, we discovered that Mass was about to be said, and therefore we accompanied some of our party to the church. It was crowded; indeed it is a remark which I was frequently led to make, that on Sundays and Holidays when the peasantry assemble at the church doors, their numbers must astonish those persons who merely pass through the country without opportunities being afforded to them of a more minute examination. The cottages upon the road side do not promise so numerous a population as is on these occasions to be seen; but from the thickness of the woods and the lowness of the huts, even when a view of the country is by any accident to be obtained from a high hill, the dwellings of the lower orders of people are not to be perceived; they are scattered all over the country; and narrow paths which appear impassable or nearly so, and are scarcely to be observed, often lead to four or five huts, situated in the centre of a wood or upon some low ground, adapted to the cultivation of mandioc and maize. One company was reviewed at Bom Jardim, and from hence a captain was deputed to continue the review further into the country. We rode this afternoon one league to the house of Captain Anselmo, being so far upon our return. On our way to this place we saw the woods on one side of the road on fire. In the dry season the grass and brushwood become so completely parched, that the least spark sets a whole track of country in a blaze. I mean that the fire will sometimes run on for a league, and even more. It will occasionally blaze forth most violently, and catching the branches of the large trees, the flames will at intervals flash above their summit;—it will then subside, but continue smothered in the hollow of some aged tree, or in a heap of leaves which still retain some moisture; but a breath of air spreads it abroad, and it again runs on with violence. The peasants almost invariably smoke as they go along, and oftentimes they ask for a lighted piece of wood at a cottage which they may chance to pass. It is astonishing to see with what unconcern they will hurl this from them still unextinguished, knowing, as they do full well, the consequences which frequently have ensued. The act of setting fire to a wood is subject to punishment by law, if intention or even carelessness can be proved. The crop of canes of some estates have, in many instances, been injured by these means.