house, where the office and warehouses are, because the
country-house is within reach of the patriots. I do long to walk or ride
out to the tempting green hills beyond the town; but as that cannot be,
I must content myself with what is within the lines. To-day, as we were
coming in from Boa Vista, we met a family of Certanejos, who had brought
provisions into the town some days ago, returning home to the Certam, or
wild country of the interior. These Certanejos are a hardy, active set
of men, mostly agriculturists. They bring corn and pulse, bacon and
sweetmeats, to the sea-coast, hides and tallow also at times. But the
sugar, cotton, and coffee, which form the staple exports of Pernambuco,
require the warmer, richer lands, nearer the coast. Cotton is, however,
brought from the Certam, but it is a precarious crop, depending entirely
on the quantity of rain in the season; and it sometimes does not rain in
the Certam for two years. The party we met formed a very picturesque
groupe, the men clad in leather from head to foot, of which their light
jerkin and close pantaloons are fitted as closely as the clothing on the
Egina marbles, and have something of the same effect: the small round
hat is in the form of Mercury's petasus; and the shoes and gaiters of
the greater number are excellently adapted to defend the legs and feet
in riding through the thickets. The colour of all this is a fine tan
brown. I was vexed that the woman of the party wore a dress evidently of
French fashion: it spoiled the unity of the groupe. She was mounted
behind the principal man, on one of the small active horses of the
country; several sumpter horses followed, laden with household goods and
other things in exchange for their provisions: cloths, both woollen and
cotton, coarse crockery, and other manufactured articles, especially
knives, are what they chiefly take in barter; though I saw some
furniture, with pretensions to elegance, among the stuff of the family I
met. After the horses came a groupe of men, some walking and keeping
pace with the amble of the beasts; others riding and carrying the
children; the procession being closed by a very stout good-looking man,
smoking as he went along, and distinguished by a pair of green baize
trowsers.

In the evening we rode out; whether it was because we had been so many
weeks on board ship, and without horse-exercise, or because of the
peculiar sweetness and freshness of evening after the sultry tropica