banished, there was something exceedingly fascinating in
this simple and patriarchal style of living: it was such a
perfect retirement and independence from the rest of the
world.

As soon as any stranger is seen arriving, a large bell is set
tolling, and generally some small cannon are fired. The
event is thus announced to the rocks and woods, but to nothing
else. One morning I walked out an hour before daylight
to admire the solemn stillness of the scene; at last, the
silence was broken by the morning hymn, raised on high by the
whole body of the blacks; and in this manner their daily
work is generally begun. On such fazendas as these, I have
no doubt the slaves pass happy and contented lives. On
Saturday and Sunday they work for themselves, and in this
fertile climate the labour of two days is sufficient to support
a man and his family for the whole week.

April 14th. -- Leaving Socego, we rode to another estate on
the Rio Macae, which was the last patch of cultivated ground
in that direction. The estate was two and a half miles long,
and the owner had forgotten how many broad. Only a very
small piece had been cleared, yet almost every acre was
capable of yielding all the various rich productions of a tropical
land. Considering the enormous area of Brazil, the proportion
of cultivated ground can scarcely be considered as
anything, compared to that which is left in the state of
nature: at some future age, how vast a population it will
support! During the second day's journey we found the
road so shut up, that it was necessary that a man should go