ch him, and must
smoke him out of his hole."

"Have you many cows?" inquired Martin, as he replenished his cup with
coffee.

"Cows?" echoed the hermit, "I have got no cows."

"Where do you get such capital cream, then?" asked Martin in surprise.

The hermit smiled. "Ah! my friends, that cream has come from a very
curious cow. It is from a cow that grows in the ground."

"Grows!" ejaculated his guests.

"Yes, he grows. I will show him to you one day."

The hermit's broad shoulders shook with a quiet internal laugh. "I will
explain a little of that you behold on my table."

"The coffee I get from the trees. There are plenty of them here. Much
money is made in Brazil by the export of coffee,--very much. The cakes
are made from the mandioca-root which I grow near my house. The root is
dried and ground into flour, which, under the general name _farina_, is
used all over the country. It is almost the only food used by the
Indians and Negroes."

"Then there are Injins and Niggers here, are there?" inquired Barney.

"Yes, a great many. Most of the Negroes are slaves; some of the Indians
too; and the people who are descended from the Portuguese who came and
took the country long ago, they are the masters.--Well, the honey I get
in holes in the trees. There are different kinds of honey here; some of
it is _sour_ honey. And the fruits and roots, the plantains, and
bananas, and yams, and cocoa-nuts, and oranges, and plums, all grow in
the forest and much more besides, which you will see for yourselves if
you stay long here."

"It's a quare country, intirely," remarked Barney, as he wiped his mouth
and heaved a sigh of contentment. Then, drawing his hand over his chin,
he looked earnestly in the hermit's face, and, with a peculiar twinkle
in his eye, said,--"I s'pose ye couldn't favour me with the lind of a
raazor, could ye?"

"No, my friend; I never use that foolish weapon."

"Ah, well, as there's only monkeys and jaguars, and sich like to see me,
it don't much signify; but my moustaches is gittin' mighty long, for
I've been two weeks already without a shave."

Martin laughed heartily at the grave, anxious expression of his
comrade's face. "Never mind, Barney," he said, "a beard and moustache
will improve you vastly. Besides, they will be a great protection
against mosquitoes; for you are such a hairy monster, that when they
grow nothing of your face will be exposed except your eyes and
cheek-bones.