was generally violent, owing, as Vicente said, to some unfortunate removal of the beads from the person of him whose destined hour was arrived. It was not, however, from this person alone that I heard accounts of the _Valentoens_.[98] There was an old creole negro residing in the neighbourhood of Jaguaribe, whose disposition led him to explore all the woods for miles around in search of game; he preferred this manner of obtaining subsistence to that of daily labour with the hoe or bill hook. He was acquainted with the situations in which the best timber was to be found; and could, in many instances, name the exact spot upon which some particular tree stood, which was required for any given purpose. This man often came to Jaguaribe, and on these occasions I usually called him into the house to hear his stories, whilst I sat in my hammock smoking. He was fond of tales of ghosts and _Mandingueiros_. The latter are famous, among other feats, for handling poisonous snakes, and can, according to his account and that of many other persons, by peculiar noises or tunes, call these reptiles from their holes, and make them assemble around them. These sorcerers profess to render innoxious the bites of snakes, to persons who submit to their charms and ceremonies. One of the modes which is adopted for this purpose, is that of allowing a tame snake to crawl over the head, face, and shoulders of the person who is to be _curado de cobras_, cured of snakes, as they term it. The owner of the snake repeats a number of words during the operation, of which the meaning, if they contain any, is only known to the initiated. The rattle-snake is said to be, above all other species, the most susceptible of attention to the tunes of the _Mandingueiros_. The above accounts I should not have related upon the authority of one or two persons. I have heard them repeated by several individuals, and even some men of education have spoken of the reputed efficacy of the tame snakes of the _Mandingueiros_, as if they were somewhat staggered in their disbelief of it; the reputation of the _contas verdes_ is firmly established in the faith of those persons of the lower ranks who have heard of them. These men certainly do play strange tricks very dexterously.