e people suffered
from goitre in more or less advanced stages. Many were the persons
affected by leprosy.

We were in a region where oranges (imported, of course) of most excellent
juicy quality were obtainable--for instance at the farm of Felicidade
(elev. 2,350 ft.). All those farms--very old--showed signs of having
seen better days--no doubt when slavery existed in a legal form in Brazil
and it was possible to work those estates profitably. With the
prohibitive price of labour--and in fact the impossibility of obtaining
labour at any price in the interior--farming cannot indeed flourish
to-day. The comparatively few immigrants who landed at the various ports
in Brazil were at once absorbed near the coast, and seldom left the port
of landing, where labour was anxiously required.

For the first time, that day did I see two snakes, which were concealed
in the deep grooves left by a cart wheel. One wound itself around the
front leg of my mule, and for a moment I was anxious lest the animal had
been bitten; but fortunately the snake, which had been trodden upon, did
no damage. Only rarely did we see a bird anywhere, except in villages,
where an occasional crow, with its dried-up neck and jerky motions, could
be seen. How like the inhabitants those birds were!

[Illustration: Brazilian Pack-saddles.]

[Illustration: A Typical Village.

(The higher building is the church.)]

Twenty-seven kilometres farther we reached Santo Antonio, a village
situated in quite a heavenly spot, 2,800 ft. above the sea level, but in
itself one of the most miserable villages I have ever seen. There were
altogether some forty houses scattered about, eight of which were along
the sides of the principal square--an abandoned field. The church had the
appearance of a disused barn. A large wooden cross stood in front of it,
upon which birds had built their nests. Four thin, anaemic-looking palms
stood at different angles by the side of the cross. We had the misfortune
to stay there for the night. By seven o'clock everybody had barricaded
their houses and had retired to sleep. There was, of course, no such
thing as a post-office or a telegraph in the place. The nearest place
where a letter could be posted was some 72 kil. away on the high road
between Goyaz and Catalao. Goats tied in pairs, with a log of wood
between in order to keep them apart, seemed to have the run of the place,
and were the only things there which appeared to have any life i