heather of my native country. A _Vellozia_, with a stem about four feet high, was also very common, as well as several elegant stemless palms. In the evening we went on about a league and a half, and passed the night under some trees by the side of a small river, very similar to that we crossed in the morning. During the whole of this day’s journey, we were greatly annoyed by the numerous stragglers of the flight of locusts that were following their companions, and which sometimes nearly blinded us by striking against our faces. My little monkey amused herself by catching them as they passed, and they appeared a favourite food with her; to prevent their escaping, for she had frequently three at a time in her possession, she secured them by biting off their heads as soon as they were caught. The river on the north side of which we slept, was very deep, and I was greatly annoyed to find that a small bridge, that had been thrown across it, had been nearly carried away by the floods, so that we were again put to the trouble of having all the luggage carried over; this occupied about an hour, when we lost no time in resuming our journey, in the hope of reaching some habitation where I could ascertain whether we were on the right path towards a little hamlet through which I wished to pass, called Nossa Senhora d’Abadia. After leaving the river, we ascended a low hill, on the top of which is a somewhat thickly wooded Chapada, and we spent nearly half an hour in crossing it. Having accomplished this, we saw at some distance in a hollow, a few small houses with a church, which proved to be the little hamlet we were in quest of. It consisted of half a dozen miserable small huts formed of wicker-work and clay, and thatched with palm leaves, the church being also constructed of the same materials; the houses were all in a state of decay, and uninhabited, with the exception of one, in which we found a mulatto woman and a few children. I had hoped to procure here some corn for my horses, but none was to be had. I asked the woman if she could direct us to the Arraial of Formozo, but all the information she could give was that it was three leagues distant; not only had she never been there, but had never gone half a league beyond the spot where she lived: she told us, however, that if we went to the house of the Juiz de Paz of the district, who lived about half a league from Abadia, he would give us all the information we wanted. We proceeded there accordingly, and found his house to be scarcely better than those we had just left, and the Juiz himself, a little meagre old man, with a grey beard that appeared never to have felt a razor. When I asked, according to the custom of the country, if he would allow us to pass the middle of the day with him, he said he was sorry he could not give us accommodation, as two travelling merchants from the Rio de San Francisco, occupied the only spare room in his house.