We left Inficionado next morning at 9.30, and rode
along a bad road, which reminded me of the common
pictures of Napoleon on an impossible horse crossing



Aorro iDelbo anD its £nviroiis



30'



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the Alps. We reached a ranch called Camargos at
12.15. To-day we ate while riding, and did not stop;
the ride was hot and steep. We never drew rein till
we reached Sant' Anna, where we expected friends to
take us m. We had fortunately sent on a black
messenger with our letters of introduction, and to
apprise them of our coming ; and he ran to meet us
a few hundred yards before we reached the house, and
told us that the owner, Captain Treloar, superintendent
of these mines, could not receive us, as his wife
was dying. Much grieved and shocked, we returned
to a neighbouring vendha for a few minutes to write
a note of sympathy and apology for our untimely
intrusion, and also to consult as to what we had
better do with ourselves, since we had " counted our
chickens" prematurely, certain of the never-failing
hospitality of our compatriots, and had given away
all our provisions. Now we were thrown on the wide
world without so much as a biscuit. We soon decided
to prospect the place we were in, and then ride to
Marianna, where we had a letter of introduction to a
Dr. Mockett. Sant' Anna looked a desolate, dead-
alive place, and consisted of the Casa Grande, or
Superintendent's house, a chapel on the hill, a big
universal kitchen, and a hospital. These were the
only four large buildings; but there were plenty of
small white cottages, which looked like dots on the
hill, for the English, and for the black settlers a Hne
of huts. The valley, which was pretty, was occupied by
the houses, which appeared small after Morro Velho.
