her; he therefore told her, that though she had governed him for a very long time, she should do so no longer. We could not, however, get rid of her, till he promised that he would not remain more than a month with me; when that time expired, he did not feel inclined to return, but went on with me to the Gold District, when he got employment at one of the mines. Everything being at length arranged, we started early on the morning of the 14th, and travelling southward, still keeping on the eastern side of the Serra, we arrived, on the forenoon of the following day, at a fazenda called San João, and as our provisions were nearly exhausted, I determined to obtain a fresh supply here, if possible. On making enquiries of the owner, he informed me that as he had no cattle near the house, it would be two or three days, at least, before a cow or ox could be brought from a pasture, which was seven leagues distant; to this of course I was obliged to consent, as we were now in a country where provisions were not easily obtained. In the afternoon, I went down to bathe in a little stream which passes at some distance from the house, and, seeing a plant in flower among some bushes on the bank, I went in among them to collect it, but when I came out again, I found that I had paid dearly for so doing, as my trowsers and shirt, as well as my hands and legs, which were bare, were thickly covered with small carrapatos. As no time was to be lost I again took off my clothes and rushed into the stream; it caused me much trouble to clear my shirt and trowsers of these annoying insects, and I afterwards took great care not to walk much about in this neighbourhood. It was not till the morning of the second day that a fine fat cow was brought, and although killed immediately, the flesh was not dry enough to be packed for two days more. The owner of the fazenda, Captain Faustino Vieira, we found to be of a very niggardly disposition, and much less hospitable than the fazendeiros I had generally met with in this province. Although his house was a good and commodious one, we had during our stay to put up in an open shed, which served to cover the sugar mill belonging to the farm. He was most exorbitant in his charges for all we had purchased of him, requiring one half more for the cow than its usual price in that part of the country; he charged in like manner for the farinha, and the Indian corn for my horses.