At one of the estates I heard an anecdote, which is illustrative of the neglect or the impossibility, on all occasions, of conforming to religious duties. A priest, on passing, was requested by the wife of the owner of the place to stay, for the purpose of baptizing her son; he consented to this, but after waiting some time, said, that he wished to proceed upon his journey, and therefore desired that the child might be brought to him; the woman answered, “Pray, wait a short time longer, as the boy has taken the horses to water, and will soon return.” The priest was surprised, but was still more astonished, when he was required to christen a fellow of thirteen or fourteen years of age. The next day we still proceeded over the same sort of ground, in parts stony, and where stony, it was rather hilly; but not sufficiently so to form a decided ridge of hills. John was, at night, taken suddenly ill; he had drank too much water, and would not mix any spirit with it, neither would he smoke. I considered smoking as almost absolutely necessary for the preservation of health on these occasions; it is generally practised among the people of the country, and indeed many of the women are as fond of it as their husbands. Towards the morning, the man recovered. The following day we reached, at ten o’clock, the estate of St. Luzia; it is situated upon a wide plain, similar to those upon which we had been travelling for many days. This is a _campina_, and not a _taboleiro_. There were no trees upon it, excepting a few near to the well. The sight of this place raised our spirits, for there was no want of water, nor of grass, though it was completely dry. The lots, _lotes_, of mares came down to drink, all in fine condition, followed and protected by the master horse of each lot; the cattle, the sheep, and every other living thing, seemed to enjoy and to be conscious of the abundance of which they were reaping the advantage. We unloaded near to the well under the trees. The house of the chief herdsman stood before us, distant about one hundred yards, upon rather higher ground; it was a low white washed cottage, with the stables, pens, &c. on each side. About twelve o’clock, I saw some men employed in milking the goats; I sent Julio with a half-gourd for some milk, desiring him to offer payment; the guide cautioned me not, but still I ordered Julio to present the money. The milk came, but the money was not taken, and soon afterwards, three of the men, came down towards us; I thanked them for the milk; and they addressed me saying, that they wished to know if I had intended to insult them, by offering payment, as such things were not customary in their country:—the guide had told me I should affront them, and therefore I had brought this upon myself; but I put them into good humour by answering that they would pardon my mistake, when I told them, that I belonged to a country, in which we were obliged to purchase the sand with which we scoured our houses.