Every thing being now in readiness for my departure, I waited upon the several inhabitants to whom I had been introduced, to express my thanks for the polite attentions they had shewn me, and received from them the most obliging assurances of friendship, and the kindest wishes for my welfare. I also, much to my regret, took leave of my valued friend and fellow-traveller, Mr. Goodall, whose affairs required him to go to St. João D’El Rey, and thence return to Rio de Janeiro. Never was a traveller more fortunate in a companion; always cheerful and in spirits, he had the happy faculty of regarding every thing on its bright side, and in all the various inconveniences of bad roads, wretched inns, miserable fare, and worse accommodations, he exemplified the truth of the adage that, “a merry heart hath a continual feast.” Being perfectly master of the language, and well acquainted with the character and manners of the people, he made himself at home every where, and generally contrived to draw from the conversation of those around him, some topic either for lively remark or instructive comment. These amiable qualities, the offspring of a cultivated understanding and an excellent heart, gave him a double claim to that respect and confidence which we ever entertain for those whom we distinguish by the name of friend.
_Journey from Villa Rica to Tejuco, the Capital of the Diamond District._
HAVING previously sent letters to his Excellency the Conde de Linhares, giving him an account of my proceedings, I set out from Villa Rica, attended by the two soldiers and my negro servant. I passed through the city of Mariana, and entered upon the plain in its vicinity already mentioned, which, in the rainy season, is often entirely overflowed. To the left I observed a beautiful and romantic mountain, called Morro de Santa Anna, on which stood many small neat houses, surrounded by coffee-plantations and orangeries; its base was watered by a _corvinha_, or rivulet, the banks of which contain much gold, and are worked by the inhabitants of the mount. Passing onward, the road became very confined; and the land, though now covered with wood, appeared to have been formerly under cultivation. We here met a number of mules laden with sugar, destined for Villa Rica, or, if not sold there, for Rio de Janeiro.