We arrived, about four in the evening, at a poor place called Resequinha, the owner of which made every provision for us which his scanty means afforded. He dispatched a negro to gather grass for the mules, which is here incredibly scarce; and killed us a fowl or two for dinner. The time previous to that meal hung heavy on our hands; there were no birds to afford us an hour’s shooting, and we had no source of diversion, except that which the lively fancy and inexhaustible humor of my companion afforded. We dined heartily about seven o’clock on stewed fowls and mandioca, which fully supplied the want of bread. That article is so extremely scarce in these parts, that even the populous village of Barbacena, though situated in the richest corn-district of the province, could furnish us only one rusk. Being overcome with weariness, we prepared for rest. One of our beds was placed on the table, the other on a dried hide stretched upon the clay floor. These were miserable accommodations; but sleep knows little distinction between the hovel and the palace, and a man thoroughly disposed may enjoy it as soundly in one as in the other. So it was with my companion; he was in a profound slumber within five minutes after he had lain down, in despite of the rough materials of which his pallet was composed. Mine prevented me from sleeping, and compelled me to sit up during most of the night; it consisted, as well as his, of the leaves of Indian corn crammed into a bag, with the mouth tied up; but the careless negro who performed that operation had neglected to pick out the core or pith from which the grain is rubbed, so that there was no finding an easy posture upon it. I sat musing on the absolute wretchedness of every thing around; a miserable lamp hung over our heads and threw a dismal glimmer about the apartment; the floor was uneven and broken into holes; the table, on which we had dined, consisted of one large plank of a quality not discoverable without the assistance of a scraper, as it had never been cleaned since it was made; there was not a chair or any thing resembling a seat, except an antique bench with a back to it, fixed at a distance on one side of the table, so that some of the guests had to take their repast standing. The very beasts in the out-houses were better provided for than the master, if we might judge from the healthy condition of those we saw, whose slothful apathy could be matched only with that of the swine they fed.