One day, near the Serra de Araripe, I passed an encampment of Gipsies consisting of about a dozen men, women, and children; these people are not uncommon in the interior of Brazil, for I either met with them, or heard of them in almost every town I visited; they are generally disliked by the common people, but are encouraged by the more wealthy, as was the case on the present occasion, for they were encamped beneath some large trees near the house of a major in the National Guards, who is the proprietor of a large cane plantation at the foot of the Serra; although of a darker colour, they have quite the same features as the Gipsies of Great Britain, many both of the young men and women being very handsome; they seldom come near the large towns of the coast, preferring more thinly inhabited, and consequently more lawless districts; they wander from farm to farm, and from village to village, buying, selling, and exchanging horses and various articles of jewellery; like those of Europe they are often accused of stealing horses, fowls, or whatever they can lay their hands upon; the old women tell fortunes, in which they are much encouraged by the young ladies of the places they visit. Although they speak Portuguese like the other inhabitants of the country, among themselves they always make use of their own language, always intermarry, are said to pay no attention to the religious observances of the country, nor to use any form of worship of their own; they are called Ciganos by the Brazilians. Just about the time that the Gipsies made their appearance near Crato, one of my horses was missed from its pasturage, and it was strongly suspected they had carried it off, but in this instance at least they were wrongly accused, for I have good reason to believe that the person who made free with it, was a Fazendeiro who was very anxious to purchase it from me only a day or two before it was stolen, just as he was on the eve of returning from Crato to his Engenho many leagues to the westward. As it had my own brand upon one of its hind legs, and as it was well known about the neighbourhood that it had disappeared, I was assured by the justice of the peace that it would ultimately be found, and he was right, for about six weeks afterwards, it was found in a wood about three leagues from the town, but instead of being an animal in fine condition, it was now little better than skin and bone. The person who took it was one Josè Pereira de Hollanda, a man whose character was not held in much estimation, and by whom it had been used to hunt down cattle on his estate.