In the afternoon we travelled three leagues further, and towards dusk arrived at a place consisting of a few small houses called Os Defuntos, near which is a marsh abounding with frogs; the loud and disagreeable sounds they produced could only be compared to the half-howling, half-barking noise of a large kennel of hungry dogs. On some trees near the marsh several large owls were seen, attracted no doubt by the frogs, which they are said to destroy in great numbers for food. On the following morning after travelling about five leagues through a level and rather open country, we arrived at a place called Varzea da vaca; when about a league beyond Os Defuntos, we passed a fazenda called Lagoa, belonging to Senhor José Pereira de Hollanda, the person who without leave took the loan of my horse during my stay in Crato. His place derives its name from a lake in the vicinity of the house, which is much frequented by wild duck and other water-fowl. Before reaching Varzea da vaca, we passed several other fazendas, where large herds of cattle were seen grazing in the open Campos. Varzea da vaca is a hamlet consisting of about eight houses, but within the district that bears that name, they reckon about sixty; the residents are almost all cattle farmers, some of the poorer families only possessing half a dozen head, whilst others own upwards of a hundred; they also have small plantations of Indian corn, rice, mandiocca, and french beans. The inhabitants of the house in which I was to put up, appeared to be very poor; the building was small and very ill-constructed, having only a large opening in one side, that served for entrance, without any door to keep out either wind or rain; it consisted of only two apartments, the inner one being occupied by the family, the other one by my party and that of another traveller who also remained here for the night, which proved to be stormy; in order to shelter ourselves from the wind which blew in at the door, I was obliged to hang before it one of the large skins used to cover the loads on the horses. In the afternoon I shot several birds, and also met with some curious annual plants which had sprung up in the sandy Campos.