We remained two days at this fazenda, called Mato Virgem, having to wait one day longer that I intended, owing to our want of farinha; the day after our arrival they commenced the manufacture of a quantity, which could not be got ready until the evening before we left. The place in which it was prepared, was the apartment where we were allowed to put up, the persons engaged in it being the mistress of the house, who was a young mulatta, and eight slaves, four men and four women; I was astonished to find all of them, except one man and one woman, affected with goître; the swelling on the neck of one of the women was much larger than her head. They assured me it was a very general complaint in this part of the province of Goyaz, particularly in the Villas of Natividade and Arrayas; in the Aldea of Duro, I saw only one woman affected by it, and another in the Arraial of Almas. One of the slaves was an old man upwards of one hundred years of age, and quite blind, but he was, notwithstanding, occupied all day in sifting farinha; his only dress consisted of a small dirty rag rolled round his middle; that of the others was but little better, indeed, in no part of Brazil did I meet with slaves so wretchedly attired as at this place. It was surprising to me that the mistress was not ashamed to see them in such a state; but I have no doubt, the fault was with the owner of the fazenda, who, judging from his appearance, seemed to be an old miser. When we left Mato Virgem it was our intention to reach a little hamlet, called João Lopez, said to be three long leagues distant. We were told that we should have no difficulty in getting there, as there was a straight road to it; but we had scarcely travelled a league and a half when we came to a place where there were two equally beaten paths, and not knowing which to take, we chose that leading to the right, and continuing onwards all day, through a flat thinly-wooded country, without seeing either man or house, we arrived at a fazenda, a little before sun down, where we were told, what I already suspected, that we had taken the wrong road; but it was of little consequence, as it led also to the Villa de Natividade, the place we finally intended to reach. This fazenda, called Sociedade, belongs to Senhor Manoel José Alves Leite, a young Portuguese, who was then Juiz de Paz of the Arraial da Chapada, a village about a league distant. On our arrival, we were very kindly treated by him; a fowl was immediately killed, and an excellent supper prepared, to which we did ample justice, after our long day’s journey. The Portuguese who settle in the country, are said by the Brazilians to be of a mean and grasping disposition, and deficient in the sentiment of benevolence; this may be the case with many among the great number of the uneducated, who emigrate from Portugal to Brazil, where there is not much inducement to the improvement of their character, but among them