as much haste
as possible. My guide translated for me what they said, and spurred
on his mule; I followed his example, and we both galloped at full
speed into the smoking pass. The burning ashes now flew around us
in all directions, while the suffocating smoke was even more
oppressive than the heat; our beasts, too, seemed to have great
difficulty in drawing breath, and it was as much as we could do to
keep them in a gallop. Fortunately we had not above 500 or 600
paces to ride, and consequently succeeded in making our way safely
through.

In the Brazils a conflagration of this kind never extends very far,
as the vegetation is too green and offers too much opposition. The
wood has to be ignited in several places, and even then the fire
frequently goes out, and when most of the wood is burnt, many
patches are found unconsumed. Soon after passing this dangerous
spot, we came to a magnificent rock, the sides of which must have
risen almost perpendicularly to a height of 600 or 800 feet. A
number of detached fragments lay scattered about the road, forming
picturesque groups.

To my great astonishment, I learned from my guide that our lodging
for the night was near at hand; we had scarcely ridden twenty miles,
but he affirmed that the next venda where we could stop, was too far
distant. I afterwards discovered that his sole object was to spin
out the journey, which was a very profitable one for him, since,
besides good living for himself, and fodder for his two mules, he
received four milreis (8s. 8d.) a-day. We put up, therefore, at a
solitary venda, erected in the middle of the forest, and kept by
Herr Molasz.

During the day we had suffered greatly from the heat; the
thermometer standing, in the sun, at 119 degrees 75' Fah.

The circumstance which must strike a traveller most forcibly in the
habits of the colonists and inhabitants of the Brazils, is the
contrast between fear and courage. On the one hand, every one you
meet upon the road is armed with pistols and long knives, as if the
whole country was overrun with robbers and murderers; while, on the
other, the proprietors live quite alone on their plantations, and
without the least apprehension, in the midst of their numerous
slaves. The traveller, too, fearlessly passes the night in some
venda, situated in impenetrable woods, with neither shutters to the
windows nor good locks to the doors, besides which the owner's room
is a considerable distance fro