large stock of excellent tea, which I laid in before leaving Pernambuco, and which fortunately lasted till we reached a more civilized place, where more was procured; this was my only beverage during the whole of this long and protracted journey, and nothing could be more refreshing at the end of a day’s ride under a burning sun. I was told when I arrived in Brazil, that I should find it necessary to mix either wine or brandy with the water I drank, but a very short experience taught me, not only that they were unnecessary, but decidedly hurtful to those whose occupations lead them much into the sun. Whoever drinks stimulating liquors, and travels day after day in the sun, will certainly suffer from headache, and in countries where miasmata prevail, will be far more liable to be attacked by the diseases which are there endemic. The dried beef of an ox generally lasted us from three weeks to a month, by the end of which time it was scarcely fit to be eaten, becoming as hard as a chip of wood. In moist rainy weather it was very difficult to preserve it, for with the utmost care we could not prevent the breeding of maggots, from which it required to be freed both before and after it was roasted. We were seldom, however, more than a fortnight without provisions of some kind or other, either in the shape of deer, monkeys, armadillos, large lizards, or birds of various kinds. We started early from the Buriti swamp where we slept, with the expectation of reaching the fazenda do Rio Claro about mid-day, but a little before that time we found, by the direction in which we were going, that we had taken a wrong road. A little after mid-day we came to the S.E. termination of that part of the Serra das Araras on which we had been travelling, whence we had an uninterrupted view of the vast plain that stretches to the south and east, studded here and there with a few small lakes. After descending the Serra by an easy path, we rested during the middle of the day beneath some trees, by the side of a little stream of cool water that came rushing down from the Serra, not knowing where we were, nor when we might meet with any one to give us information. We soon found the track again, and travelling through a flat thinly-wooded country, on an indifferent path, for about half an hour, we arrived at a small house, which we found empty; and a little further on we came upon another in the same state. Following the same path for about an hour, we met a black man and a boy, from whom we learned that we should arrive at a fazenda about half a league further on; we likewise ascertained at the same time that the road we had chosen was a round of about three leagues and a half to the fazenda do Rio Claro, but that it was much better than the one usually travelled; this at least was some consolation for the error we had committed. It was nearly sunset when we reached a small fazenda, called San José, where we put up for the night; the house was