Under these circumstances, therefore, they started three weeks later to visit a populous town about twenty miles off, from which they set out on their travels, with a string of heavily laden mules, crossed the low countries or campos lying near to the sea, and began to ascend the sierras that divide this portion of Brazil from the country which is watered by the innumerable rivers that flow into the mighty Amazon.

The cavalcade consisted of ten mules, each with two goodly sized bales of merchandise on its back.  They were driven and attended to by Negroes, whose costume consisted of a light cotton shirt with short sleeves, and a pair of loose cotton drawers reaching down to the knee.  With the exception of a straw hat this was all they wore.  Martin, and Barney, and the hermit each bestrode a mule, with a small bale slung on either side; over the front of which their legs dangled comfortably.  They had ponchos with them, strapped to the mules’ backs, and each carried a clumsy umbrella to shield him from the fierce rays of the sun; but our two adventurers soon became so hardened and used to the climate, that they dispensed with the umbrellas altogether.

The sierra, or mountain range, over which they passed was about thirty miles in extent, being in some places quite level and open, but in others somewhat rugged and covered with large but thinly scattered trees, the most common of which had fine dark-green glossy leaves, with spikes of bright yellow flowers terminating the branchlets.  There were also many peculiar shrubs and flowering plants, of a sort that the travellers had never seen the like of in their native land.

“How I wish,” said Martin with a sigh, as he rode along beside his friend Barney, “that I knew something of botany.”

Barney opened his eyes in surprise.  “Arrah! it’s too much of a philosopher ye are already, lad.  What good would it do ye to know all the hard names that men have given to the flowers?  Sure I wance wint after the doctor o’ a ship, to carry his box for him when he wint on what he called botanical excursions; and the poor cratur used to be pokin’ his nose for iver down at the ground, an’ peerin’ through his green spectacles at miserable bits o’ plants, an’ niver seemin’ to enjoy anything; when all the time I was lookin’ far fornint me, an’ all around me, an’ up at the sky, seem’ ivery beautiful thing, and snifterin’ up the sweet smells, an’ in fact enjoyin’ the whole univarse—­an my pipe to boot—­like an intelligent cratur.”  Barney looked round as he spoke, with a bland, self-satisfied expression of countenance, as if he felt that he had given a lucid definition of the very highest style of philosophy, and proved that he, Barney O’Flannagan, was possessed of the same in no common degree.

“Well, Barney,” rejoined Martin, “since you give me credit for being a philosopher, I must continue to talk philosophically.  Your botanical friend took a microscopic view of nature, while you took a telescopic view of it.  Each view is good, but both views are better; and I can’t help wishing that I were more of a philosopher than I am, especially in reference to botany.”