We stopped for the night at Capello de Alto, and soon found that a pile of pea vines had to be our bed, while there were no knives and forks to eat with. A can of my tomatoes assisted in making out the grub, and with collards, beans, farina and stewed chicken, we made a very substantial repast, this being the only meal of the day.
My blanket and pillow, which had been of little use heretofore, came now into requisition, and the others used their overcoats for bedding.
The proprietor of this establishment was evidently well satisfied with the outfit of his house, and we all thought him the most independent-looking personage we had met. He was attired in white cotton pants or drawers, with a short shirt of the same material outside. Having a large goatee, and long, uncombed hair, he cut a figure.
Wednesday, December 27, 1865.
With the conviction that we could not fare worse elsewhere, we made an early move from Capella de Alto, hoping to find a place for breakfast within ten or twelve miles. But there was no suitable place to stop until we reached Lamberi, sixteen miles distant, and having rode very slowly, we got nothing to eat until two o’clock P. M.
Our road to-day lay through a hilly country, and though the soil was for the most part thin, there was some very fair farming land. In several places there were campos of waste land, growing only a rough grass and the scrubby palm.
Quite a number of the native men of the country were seen about the ranchos on the roadside, and the recruiting officers might find a good harvest in this region. Many of the older men, and most of the women, were affected with the goitre, that swelling of the glands of the neck which is prevalent in the proximity of most of the serras. We observed also, as we approached this place, quite a number of persons laboring under the leprosy (Morfea) posted on the roadside, to ask alms of those passing.
This miserable condition is a disease of the skin and other tissues, which is supposed to result from the climate in connection with improper diet; and is complicated in some instances with syphilis, or other degenerated states of the system. The treatment of it has not heretofore been attended with satisfactory results, but I learn that a vine has been discovered which cures this terrible malady, and the efficacy of this treatment will ere long be fully tested.
The subjects of this disorder are excluded from all association with other persons, and are often found in tents or rude huts, in some isolated spot, near the thoroughfares, so that they may gather a small pittance from travellers, to purchase the means of subsistence. They seem very grateful for even the smallest amount that may be given, and we have usually thrown them a few dumps, but there was none in hand to-day.
This being my forty-first birthday, I find myself at the middle period of life with a crisis in my affairs which must influence the future of myself and family very materially. To commence the world as it were anew with six young children involves great responsibility to my wife and myself; but I trust that all may be accomplished for our mutual welfare and comfort, by the issue of my present investigations in this county.