m
are better than any in the neighbourhood; the water itself is pure,
light, and delicate.

At length all our friends had assembled, and we returned to the veranda
to dine. To judge by the materials of the feast, so blended were the
productions of every climate that we could scarcely have pronounced in
what part of the world we were, had not the profusion of ananas and
plantains, compared with the small quantity of apples and peaches,
reminded us of it. As is usual on such occasions, the oldest inhabitants
of Brazil praised most what came from afar; while _we_ all gave the
preference to the productions of the country.

I was soon drawn away from the table by the beauty of the prospect,
which I endeavoured to sketch. The coffee plantations are the only
cultivated grounds hereabouts; and they are so thickly set with orange
trees, lemons, and other tall shrubs, that they form in appearance
rather a variety in the woods, than that mixture of cultivated with wild
ground, which might be looked for so near a large city, where we expect
to see the labour of man encroaching in some degree on the wild beauties
of nature. But here vegetation is so luxuriant, that even the pruned and
grafted tree springs up like the native of the forest.

As every body was determined to be pleased, we all felt sorry when it
was time to separate; but Burns has made all the reflections one can
make on breaking up a pleasant party--

"Pleasures are like poppies spread,--
You seize the flower, the bloom is shed;
Or like the snow-falls in the river,--
A moment white, then lost for ever;
Or like the rainbow's fleeting form,
Evanishing amid the storm;
Or like the borealis race,
That flit ere you can point their place.
No man can tether time or tide:
The hour approaches,--_we_ must ride."

And so we did.--We walked down to the foot of the hill, and each took
his or her several conveyance; Colonel and Mrs. Cunningham their
comfortable English chariot, Mr. and Miss Hayne their pretty curricle,
and I my Rio caleche or _sege_,--a commodious but ugly carriage, very
heavy, but well enough adapted to the rough roads between the garden and
the town. The gentlemen all rode, and most of us carried home something.
Fruit and flowers attracted some; Langford got a number of diamond
beetles, and a magnificent butterfly, and I a most inadequate sketch of
the scene from the Padre's house.

_December 27th._--Since the jaun