A journey of fourteen leagues brought us to the Villa de Parnaguá, the most southern town in the province, the country still continuing flat, and very similar to that through which we had already passed. The whole journey from Oeiras, presented little that was interesting in a geological point of view, the only rocks which occurred being of the same character as those existing in the vicinity of the city itself. The peculiar construction of the houses on the road, so very different from those met with in any other part of Brazil, or even in Piauhy itself, attracted my attention: they are built for the most part with one of their ends to the road, and in this end there is a large apartment with a table and a form, evidently intended for the accommodation of travellers, as it has no direct communication with the rest of the house. The door of the part inhabited by the family, is in the other end, and on this account it is very seldom that any of the females of the family are seen, they being kept strictly secluded. Should the house stand parallel to the road, then the door to the travellers’ apartment opens in front, while the door and windows of the other apartments are all in the back part. A stranger may thus live at one of these houses for many days, without the slightest knowledge of what is going on within. The ladies are not, however, destitute of curiosity, as I have frequently detected a pair of black eyes peering through some slit in the fragile partitions to get a peep at the strangers. Yet, as a professional man, it was seldom I was not admitted, being called in to prescribe for some one or other of the females of the family; the sedentary life which they lead rendering them very subject to dyspeptic and such like complaints. Ague is also very common indeed, and nearly all the inhabitants suffer from the effects of it. Mr. Darwin, in his Journal, mentions that there are few houses in Chili where a traveller will not be received for the night, but a trifle is expected to be given in the morning, and that even a rich man will accept two or three shillings. In Brazil this is very different; on the road from Rio de Janeiro to the Mining Districts, which is now very much frequented, there are always houses to be found which serve as apologies for inns, and in which the traveller is expected to pay; but should he put up at any of the large fazendas he is allowed to sit free at the table, paying only for such provender as his animals may require. In the more distant parts of the country, I always met with the most unbounded hospitality, even from the poorer classes, and often the only recompense which these poor beings would accept was a little gunpowder or salt, articles which very often are not to be procured at any price.