The European Portuguese, are extremely anxious to avoid intermarriage with born Brazilians, and prefer giving their daughters and fortunes to the meanest clerk of European birth, rather than to the richest and most meritorious Brazilian. They have become aware of the prodigious inconvenience, if not evil, they have brought on themselves by the importation of Africans, and now no doubt, look forward with dread to the event of a revolution, which will free their slaves from their authority, and, by declaring them all men alike, will authorise them to resent the injuries they have so long and patiently borne.

Thursday, 11th.—As every thing seems quietly settled between the royalist and patriot chiefs, we are preparing to take leave of Pernambuco, and it is not without regret, for we have been kindly treated by the Portuguese, and hospitably received by our own countrymen. We went on shore to provide necessaries and comforts for our farther voyage. Among the latter I bought some excellent sweetmeats[60], which are made in the interior, and brought to market in neat little wooden kegs, each containing six or eight pounds. It is astonishing to see the weight brought from two and three hundred miles' distance, by the small and slight but very swift horses of the country. The baggage horses are not shod any more than those for riding: the latter are almost universally trained to a kind of running pace, easy in itself, but not very agreeable at first, to those accustomed to English horses. To-day I saw and tasted the jerked beef, charqui, of Spanish South America. It appears, when hanging in bales at the shop-doors, like bundles of thick ragged leather. It is prepared by cutting the flesh in wide strips, clean off the bones, slightly salting, pressing, and drying in the air. In this state it might well have served for saddle-cloths to the Buccaneers, as tradition says they dressed their meat under their saddles. However that may be, the beef is good. Here the common mode of using it is to cut it in small squares, and boil it in the mandioc pottage, which is the principal food of the poorer inhabitants and the slaves.

[Note 60: The convents are, generally speaking, the places where the more delicate preserves are made. Those I bought were of Guava, cashew apple, citron, and lime. The cashew particularly good. They go by the general name of Doce.]

After I had ended my marketing, I went to call on a Portuguese family, and as it was the first private Portuguese house I had been in, I was curious to notice the difference between it and the English houses here. The building and general disposition of the apartments are the same, and the drawing-room only differed in being better furnished, and with every article English, even to a handsome piano of Broadwood's; but the dining-room was completely foreign; the floor was covered with painted cloth, and the walls hung round with English prints and Chinese pictures, without distinction of subject or size. At one end of the room was a long table, covered with a glass case, enclosing a large piece of religious wax-work; the whole praesepia, ministering angels, three kings, and all, with moss, artificial flowers, shells and beads, smothered in gauze and tiffany, bespangled with gold and silver, San Antonio and St. Christopher being in attendance on the right and left; the rest of the furniture consisted of ordinary chairs and tables, and a kind of beaufet or sideboard: from the ceiling, nine bird-cages were hanging, each with its little inhabitant; canaries, grey finches with a note almost as fine, and the beautiful widow-bird, were the favourites. In larger cages in a passage room, there were more parrots and paroquets than I should have thought agreeable in one house; but they are well-bred birds, and seldom scream all together. We were no sooner seated in the dining-room, than biscuit, cake, wine, and liqueurs, were handed round, the latter in diminutive tumblers; a glass of water was then offered to each, and we were pressed to taste it, as being the very best in Recife; it proceeds from a spring in the garden of the convent of Jerusalem, two miles from town, and the only conduit from that spring leads to the garden of a sister convent here. From the lady, I learned, that the porous jars for cooling water, that we find here, are all made in the neighbourhood of Bahia, there being no manufactory here, except a few coarse cottons for clothing for the slaves. The air and manners of the family we visited, though neither English nor French, were perfectly well bred, and the dress pretty much that of civilised Europe, only that the men wore cotton jackets instead of cloth coats, and were without neck-cloths; when they go out of doors, however, they dress like Englishmen.

Returning from our visit, we met a monk, carried out to be buried by several of his brethren, with candle, book, and bell, and all the solemnities which human feeling has invented to solace its own fears and griefs, under the pretence of honouring the dead, and to which the Romish church has in such cases as these, added all her pageantry. I could not help contrasting it with the burials on the beach of Olinda, and smiling at the vanities that attach themselves even to corruption. "But man, vain man, plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven, as make the angels weep."

But our horses were awaiting us, and we left our indignation and our pity for the follies of some, and the miseries of others, to enjoy, for the first time since the posts were free, the country air. When we went to Bibiriba, soldiers stopped us to question at every turn; piles of arms, and horses ready accoutred at the door of every considerable residence, showed that military posts had taken place of the pleasures of the country-houses, and accounted for the solitariness of the roads. Now the scene is changed—the paths are crowded with negroes, young and old, in their picturesque, though gaudy dresses, with baskets of fruit, fish, and other provisions, on their heads; little carts, of which we had not before seen one, begin to appear, and the fine oxen which draw them form no bad contrast to the half-starved bullocks of the town. 'Twas a cool evening, and the sun was just low enough to gild the edges of the palms and other tall trees, which shot up with their deep black shadows into the thin pure light, making an effect, that even Titian's landscape pencil has not reached. Our ride extended to Mr. S.'s country-house, which is, I believe, on the same plan with all the others hereabouts, and which I can only compare to an Oriental bungalow; one story very commodiously laid out, a veranda surrounding it, and standing in the midst of a little paddock, part of which is garden ground, and part pasture, generally hedged with limes and roses, and shaded with fruit trees, is the general description of the country sitios about Pernambuco; the difference arising from the taste of the inhabitant, or the situation of the ground, being allowed for. The low rent of these pleasant little gardens is surprising; but it arises in great measure from the indolence and consequent poverty of the holders of original grants of land here: as long as their negroes and estates maintained them, they paid no attention to the particular parts that, being near the town, might have been at all times productive. Now, that sugar and cotton are no longer in such demand, nearly half the fazendas or factories are ruined, and such is become the indolent temper of the people, that rather than seek to redeem their estates, they will take the smallest annuity for a portion.

On our way to the sitio, we stopped at a kind of public-house or venta; it is like an English huckster's, and contains a little of every thing, cloth and candles, fruit and lard, wine and pimento, which are retailed at no very extravagant profit to the poor; the draught wine is really good, being port of excellent quality, without the quantity of brandy which the English market requires. By the time we repassed it on our way home, many a negro was spending his day's savings, and becoming as happy as wine could make him; and many a traveller was regaling himself with bread, garlic, and salt, and preparing to spread his mat, and lie down in the open air for the night. Night within the tropics is always a gayer and more peopled time than with us; the heat of the day detains many within doors all day, and evening and night become the favourite hours for walking. As we returned through Boa Vista we passed many groups enjoying like ourselves the pleasant air, and gazing idly on the reflections of the white houses and waving trees in the water; while the fire flies flitting from bush to bush, seemed like fragments of stars come down to adorn the moonlight.

Friday, 12th.—- The Prince Royal of Portugal's birth-day. There is a levee at the palace. The company bow first to the governor, then to the Prince's picture, which is placed in the middle of the audience-room, to receive its due honours; and then the beja mano, or kiss hands, takes place. The forts and ships saluted; we of course did the same; and the people all dressed and went to mass, as on a holiday. One thing contributed, however, in no small degree to the enjoyment of the day. The troops, which lately arrived from Bahia, re-embarked in order to return. Their whole behaviour had been disorderly, and their drunkenness and riot, during the ten days they were here, had quite disgusted the people; while the disposition they manifested to join the patriots, had rendered them but suspicious auxiliaries to the governor.

Saturday, 13th.—I took leave of my amiable friends at the palace. Madame do Rego gave me several specimens of amethyst, and the stone called minha nova (like aqua marine), and also a fine piece of gold ore of the province. She told me that Luiz do Rego had sent home many fine minerals from the captaincy, and also some fossils. She described some enormous bones, which may have belonged to the elephant or the mammoth, found at no great distance from Recife in digging a well, and, as far as I could understand, in such soil as I had observed lay under the sand in Cocoa-nut Island.[61]

[Note 61: The Sugar-loaf Hill, in the ridge of Priaca, about eight leagues N.E. of the villa of Penedo, has a lake on its western declivity, where enormous bones have been found; and on the north side there is a fearful cavern.—Chor. Brazil.]

A great dinner was given to-day, by the merchants, to the captain and officers. The governor, and other persons of dignity in the town, met them; I am told it was a very handsome dinner, that there was plenty of every kind of wine, and that nothing could exceed the friendly politeness of the governor and his party. I had remained at Mr. S.'s, where most of the company visited me after tea; and then we took leave of Pernambuco, where we had received much kindness, and had at least the enjoyment of novelty. The scene at our embarking was very pretty. Our friends went with us to the jetty, and our boats lying in the clear moonshine beneath it, with sailors going up and down preparing for us, the harbour and the shipping doubled by the clear reflection in the still water, heightened and set off the sparkling of the breakers that dashed against the outer fort and light-house. Through these we soon made our way and reached the ship, where I have once more taken possession of my cabin, and put it in order for sea.

We leave Pernambuco, with a firm persuasion that this part of Brazil at least will never again tamely submit to Portugal. Where the firmness and conduct of Do Rego have failed to hold the captaincy in obedience, it will be in vain for other governors to attempt it, particularly so long as the state of the mother country is such as that she can neither fight with nor for her colonies; and while she considers them only as taxable parts of her states, that are bound to support her in her weakness.[62]



[Note 62: We left Pernambuco on the 14th Oct. 1821. Before Nov. 18th of the same year, the Cortes of Lisbon had recalled Luiz do Rego and all the European troops; had repented of that recal, and had countermanded it, and sent reinforcements. But by the time they arrived, the captain-general had embarked on board a French ship for Europe; and the junta, after provisioning the ships with the troops, forbid them to land, and sent them towards Rio Janeiro.]

Sunday, Oct. 14th.—We got under weigh after breakfast, and soon lost sight of Pernambuco. All Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, we coasted along within sight of the shores of Brazil. They are hilly and very woody, the green of the sloping banks being often interrupted by bright white patches, which seem to be of sand. In the evening of Tuesday the 16th, we anchored in the bay of All Saints, opposite to the town of St. Salvador, commonly called Bahia. It was quite dark before we got in, so that we lost the first entrance-view of that magnificent harbour; but the scattered lights show us the great extent and high situation of the town.

Wednesday, 17th.—This morning, at day-break, my eyes opened on one of the finest scenes they ever beheld. A city, magnificent in appearance from the sea, is placed along the ridge and on the declivity of a very high and steep hill: the richest vegetation breaks through the white houses at intervals, and beyond the city, reaches along to the outer point of land on which the picturesque church and convent of Sant Antonio da Barre is placed. Here and there the bright red soil shows itself in harmony with the tiling of the houses. The tracery of forts, the bustle of shipping, hills melting in the distance, and the very form of the bay, with its promontories and islands, altogether finish this charming picture; then the fresh sea-breeze gives spirit to enjoy it, notwithstanding its tropical climate.

Early in the day we moved our anchorage closer in-shore; and then, on the invitation of Mr. Pennell, the British consul, we went ashore to spend the day with him. We landed at the arsenal, or rather dock-yard, where there is nothing of the neatness observable in such establishments at home. The first object we saw, however, was a fine 58-gun frigate on the stocks, the model of which I hear connoisseurs praise as beautiful. There is nothing besides the new ship, and some handsome pieces of old brass cannon, worth looking at. Every thing is visibly either suspended or on the decline, and there will probably be no improvement, until the political state of Brazil is a little more settled. We find things here, though not quite so unquiet as at Pernambuco, yet tending the same way.

The street into which we proceeded through the arsenal gate, forms, at this place, the breadth of the whole lower town of Bahia, and is, without any exception, the filthiest place I ever was in. It is extremely narrow, yet all the working artificers bring their benches, and tools into the street: in the interstices between them, along the walls, are fruit-sellers, venders of sausages, black-puddings, fried fish, oil and sugar cakes, negroes plaiting hats or mats, caderas, (a kind of sedan chair,) with their bearers, dogs, pigs, and poultry, without partition or distinction; and as the gutter runs in the middle of the street, every thing is thrown there from the different stalls, as well as from the windows; and there the animals live and feed! In this street are the warehouses and counting-houses of the merchants, both native and foreign. The buildings are high, but neither so handsome nor so airy as those of Pernambuco.

It was raining when we landed; therefore, as the streets leading out of the filthy lower town do not admit of the use of wheeled carriages, on account of the steepness of the ascent, we hired caderas, and found them, if not comfortable, at least commodious. They consist of a cane arm-chair, with a foot-board and a canopy covered with leather; curtains, generally of moreen, with gilt bordering and lined with cotton or linen, are contrived to draw round, or open at pleasure; and the whole is slung by the top to a single pole, by which two negroes carry it at a quick pace upon their shoulders, changing occasionally from right to left.[63]



[Note 63: When Frezier travelled, a cotton hammock with a canopy was used.]

As we ascended from the street, every step brought us in sight of some beautiful scene, generally terminated by the bay and shipping. There is something in the landscape here peculiarly agreeable. The verdure, the wood, the steep banks, and gently sloping lawns, generally opening to the sea or the lake behind the town, have a freshness and amenity that I scarcely remember seeing before. We saw but little of the upper city, but that little was handsome, in our way to the consul's. His house, like those of all the British merchants, is a little way out of town, and is in the suburb Vittoria, which occupies the greater part of a long narrow ridge extending from the town towards Sant Antonio: between it and the town is Fort Pedro, built, I think, originally of mud, by the Dutch. It was faced with stone, on the recovery of Bahia from the Dutch, about the beginning of the last century. We found the Consul and his daughter ready to receive us at their very pleasant garden-house, which literally overhangs the bay,—flowers and fruits mingle their sweets even down to the water's edge,—while

"Seaborn gales their gelid wings expand, To winnow fragrance round the smiling land."

Eager to seize the opportunity of walking out after our voyage, we accepted Miss Pennell's kind offer, to show us some of the surrounding country before dinner, and accompanied her as far as the church dedicated to N.S. da Graca. It was the first offering of piety, I believe, to Christian worship by a native Brazilian.

When the famous Caramuru was wrecked, together with the Donatory Coutinho, on Itaparica, Coutinho was put to death; but, Caramuru, being beloved by the natives, was spared, and he returned to his old settlement of Villa Velha. His wife, Catherine Paraguaza, who had accompanied him to France, saw an apparition in the camp of the Indians, and believing it to be a real European female, Caramuru followed in the direction his wife pointed out: he discovered, accordingly, in one of the huts, an image of N.S. da Graca; and according to the directions his wife had received from the vision, built and dedicated the church, and bestowed it, and a house by it, on the Benedictines. It was at first of mud, but soon after was built of stone.



Thursday, 18th.—We rode out before breakfast, through landscape so fine, that I wished for a poet or a painter at every step. Sometimes we went through thick wild wood into bushy hollows; then emerged on clear lawns, sprinkled with palm trees, through which country-houses, farms, and gardens were seen; and from every eminence, the bay, the sea, or the lake, formed part of the scene. Here and there the huge gamela tree[64] stands like a tower, adorned, besides its own leaves, with numberless parasite plants, from the stiff cactus, to the swinging air plant[65]; and the frequent tower of church and monastery soften and improve the features of the country.

[Note 64: The gamela, like the banyan, easily takes root in other trees, and its branches meet together in the same manner. It is the tree of which the canoes of Brazil are made, and serves besides for troughs of various kinds.]

[Note 65: Air-plant or Tillandsia, of which there are several sorts. The Tillandsia Lingulata is the largest, and agrees with Jaquin's plate; the others are different from those described by him, and are much more beautiful.].

Mr. Pennell has most kindly given our young men a general invitation to his house; and accordingly, to-day several of them dined with him, and we had a party in the evening, when some of the ladies played quadrilles, while others danced.

Friday, 19th.—I accompanied Miss Pennell in a tour of visits to her Portuguese friends. As it is not their custom to visit or be visited in the forenoon, it was hardly fair to take a stranger to see them. However, my curiosity, at least, was gratified. In the first place, the houses, for the most part, are disgustingly dirty: the lower story usually consists of cells for the slaves, stabling &c.; the staircases are narrow and dark; and, at more than one house, we waited in a passage while the servants ran to open the doors and windows of the sitting-rooms, and to call their mistresses, who were enjoying their undress in their own apartments. When they appeared, I could scarcely believe that one half were gentlewomen. As they wear neither stay nor bodice, the figure becomes almost indecently slovenly, after very early youth; and this is the more disgusting, as they are very thinly clad, wear no neck-handkerchiefs, and scarcely any sleeves. Then, in this hot climate, it is unpleasant to see dark cottons and stuffs, without any white linen, near the skin. Hair black, ill combed, and dishevelled, or knotted unbecomingly, or still worse, en papillote, and the whole person having an unwashed appearance. When at any of the houses the bustle of opening the cobwebbed windows, and assembling the family was over, in two or three instances, the servants had to remove dishes of sugar, mandioc, and other provisions, which had been left in the best rooms to dry. There is usually a sofa at each end of the room, and to the right and left a long file of chairs, which look as if they never could be moved out of their place. Between the two sets of seats is a space, which, I am told, is often used for dancing; and, in every house, I saw either a guitar or piano, and generally both. Prints and pictures, the latter the worst daubs I ever saw, decorate the walls pretty generally; and there are, besides, crucifixes and other things of the kind. Some houses, however, are more neatly arranged; one, I think belonging to a captain of the navy, was papered, the floors laid with mat, and the tables ornamented with pretty porcelain, Indian and French: the lady too was neatly dressed in a French wrapper. Another house belonging to one of the judges was also clean, and of a more stately appearance than the rest, though the inhabitant was neither richer nor of higher rank. Glass chandeliers were suspended from the roof; handsome mirrors were intermixed with the prints and pictures. A good deal of handsome china was displayed round the room; but the jars, as well as the chairs and tables, seemed to form an inseparable part of the walls. We were every where invited, after sitting a few moments on the sofa, to go to the balconies of the windows and enjoy the view and the breeze, or at least amuse ourselves with what was passing in the street. And yet they did not lack conversation: the principal topic, however, was praise of the beauty of Bahia; dress, children, and diseases, I think, made up the rest; and, to say the truth, their manner of talking on the latter subject is as disgusting as their dress, that is, in a morning: I am told they are different after dinner. They marry very early, and soon lose their bloom. I did not see one tolerably pretty woman to-day. But then who is there that can bear so total a disguise as filth and untidiness spread over a woman?

Saturday, 20th.—As the charts of this coast hitherto published are very incorrect, the captain asked permission from government to sound and survey the bay: it is refused on the ground of policy; as if it could be policy to keep hidden rocks and shoals, for one's own as well as other people's ships.

I walked through the greater part of the town. The lower part extends much farther than I could see the day I landed; it contains a few churches, one of which, belonging to the monastery of A concepcao, is very handsome, but the smell within is disgusting; the flooring is laid in squares with stone, and within each square there is a panelling of wood of about nine feet by six; under each panel is a vault, into which the dead are thrown naked, until they reach a certain number, when with a little quick-lime thrown in, the wood is fastened down, and then another square is opened, and so on in rotation. From that church, passing the arsenal gate, we went along the low street, and found it widen considerably at three quarters of a mile beyond: there are the markets, which seem to be admirably supplied, especially with fish. There also is the slave market, a sight I have not yet learned to see without shame and indignation[66]: beyond are a set of arcades, where goldsmiths, jewellers, and haberdashers display their small wares, and there are the best-looking shops; but there is a want of neatness, of that art of making things look well, that invites a buyer in England and France. One bookseller's shop, where books are extravagantly dear, exists in the low town, and one other in the ascent to the upper.

[Note 66: Frezier says of Bahia, "Who would believe it? there are shops full of those poor wretches, who are exposed there stark naked and bought like cattle, over whom the buyers have the same power; so that upon slight disgust they may kill them, almost without fear of punishment, or at least treat them as cruelly as they please. I know not how such barbarity can be reconciled to the maxims of religion, which makes them members of the same body with the whites, when they have been baptized, and raises them to the dignity of the sons of God—all sons of the Most High.

"I here make this comparison, because the Portuguese are Christians who make a great outward show of religion."—Voyage to the South Sea.]

The upper town is most beautifully situated on the ridge between the sea and the fresh water lake, and from its height, and the great slope of most of the streets, it is incomparably cleaner than the port. The cathedral dedicated to St. Salvador is a handsome building, and stands on one side of a square, where the palace, prison, and other public buildings are placed. The finest of these, the Jesuits' college, the marble columns of which came from Europe ready cut, is now converted into a barrack. The most useful is the hospital of Nossa Senhora da Misericordia[67], founded by Juan de Matinhos, whose statue in white marble, with a wig like Sir Cloudesley Shovel's in Westminster Abbey, stands at the first landing-place, and is the ugliest piece of carving I ever saw.

[Note 67: Part of the funds for supporting this and other hospitals is derived from lotteries. See advertisements in the different Bahia newspapers.]

This hospital, besides its use as a refuge for the sick, of whom there are generally about 120, maintains 50 young girls of decent parentage, to whom a suitable education is given, and a dowry of 200 crowns bestowed on them when they marry.[68] The building of the Misericordia is a fair specimen of the style of the convents, public buildings, and more noble houses,—rather handsome than elegant. It surrounds a large area, subdivided into smaller courts; the staircase is of marble, inlaid with coloured stucco, and the sides are lined with tiles of porcelain, so as to form arabesques, often of very pretty design. This is both a cool and a cleanly lining to a wall, particularly for an hospital. The principal rooms are also decorated in the same manner; and many of the fronts and cupolas of the churches are covered with similar tiles, the effect of which is often exceedingly agreeable, when seen among the trees and plainer buildings of the city. The chapel belonging to the hospital is handsome, a little gaudy, however. The ceiling is respectably painted, and was probably the work of an amateur monk of the seventeenth century. The treatment of the sick is humane, and they are well provided with food and other necessaries; but the medical practice, though much improved of late years, is not the most enlightened.

[Note 68: Joao de Matos Aguiar, commonly called Joao de Matinhos, from his diminutive size, was the founder of this Recolhimento. He bequeathed 800,000 crusadoes for the retired women, 400,000 for the patients, one to each on leaving the hospital, and 400,000, dowry to 38 girls every year, at the period of the foundation, 1716.]

There is a great deal of jealousy of foreigners in the present government, hence I was not able to enter many of the public buildings. The government treasury was one I was desirous to see, but there were objections. The treasury here was formerly considered as subordinate to that of Rio de Janeiro, and accordingly paid a portion of its receipts to bills drawn monthly by the treasurer in the capital, upon this, and those of the other provinces. But since the revolution of the 10th of February, the provisional government has taken upon itself to refuse payment, on the grounds that it is entirely independent of Rio, until the pleasure of the cortes at Lisbon shall be known. The revenue is derived from direct taxes on land and provisions, excise upon exports and imports, and harbour dues. Land is subject to a tax of one-tenth of the whole of its produce, and since the revolution, church lands are under the same law, and the clergy are paid by the government.

The taxes on provisions are annually farmed out to the highest bidder: they are imposed on beef, fresh fish, farinha, and vegetables. Each parish has its separate farmer, who pays the amount of his contract into the treasury, and then makes the most he can of his dues.

The import and export duties are paid at the custom-house, between which and the treasury a monthly settlement takes place.

The port dues for foreign ships are 2000 reals per day, a trifle for the light house, and rather heavy charges for entering, clearing, &c. Portuguese and Brazilian ships pay no anchorage, but are subject to a tonnage.

We ended our perambulation of the town, by going to the opera at night. The theatre[69] is placed on the highest part of the city, and the platform before it commands the finest view imaginable. It is a handsome building, and very commodious, both to spectators and actors. Within it is very large and well laid out, but dirty and in great want of fresh painting. The actors are very bad as such, and little better as singers; but the orchestra is very tolerable. The piece was a very ill-acted tragedy, founded on Voltaire's Mahomed. During the representation, the Portuguese ladies and gentlemen seemed determined to forget the stage altogether, and to laugh, eat sweetmeats, and drink coffee, as if at home. When the musicians, however, began to play the overture to the ballet, every eye and voice was directed to the stage, and a loud call for the national hymn followed, and not till it had been played again and again, was the ballet suffered to proceed. During the bustle occasioned by this, a captain in the army was arrested and hurried out of the pit; some say for picking pockets, others for using intemperate language on politics, when the national hymn was called for. Meantime one of the midshipmen of our party had his sword stolen, adroitly enough, from the corner of the box, yet we perceived nobody enter; so that we conclude a gentleman in regimentals in the next box thought it would suit him, and so buckled it on to go home with.

[Note 69: It was begun by the Conde da Ponte, and finished by the Conde dos Arcos after the arrival of the king in Brazil. It was opened May 13th, 1812.]

The police here is in a wretched state. The use of the dagger is so frequent, that the secret murders generally average two hundred yearly, between the upper and lower towns. To this evil the darkness and steepness of the streets mainly contribute, by furnishing almost a certainty of escape. The nominal intendente da policia is also the supreme judge in criminal cases. No law, however, has as yet determined the limits or scope, either of his power, or that of the lieutenant-colonel of police, who calls upon a few soldiers from any of the garrisons whenever he has to act, and who appoints military patroles also from among the soldiers on duty. It often happens that persons accused before this formidable officer are seized and imprisoned for years, without ever being brought to a trial; a malicious information, whether true or false, subjects a man's private house to be broken open by the colonel and his gang; and if the master escapes imprisonment it is well, though the house scarcely ever escapes pillage. In cases of riot and quarrels in the street, the colonel generally orders the soldiers to fall on with canes, and beat people into their senses. Such being the state of the police, it is, perhaps, more wonderful that murders are so few, than that they are so many. Where there is little or no public justice, private revenge will take its place.

Sunday, 21st.—We went to the English chapel, and were well pleased with the decent manner in which the service was performed. The Rev. Robert Synge is chaplain, a man of cheerful convivial manners, yet exceedingly attentive both as chaplain, and as guardian of his poorer countrymen. The chapel and clergymen are supported by the contribution fund, as are also the hospital for English sailors and others, and its surgeon, Mr. Dundas: both the hospital and chapel are under the same roof. I was surprised, perhaps unreasonably, to hear Mr. Synge pray for "Don John of Portugal, Sovereign of these realms, by whose gracious permission we are enabled to meet and worship God according to our conscience," or words to that effect. We were not so polite in Rome, I remember, as to pray for His Holiness, though it would have been but reasonable.

Returning from chapel, we saw great part of the troops drawn up in inspecting order, on the little green between Buenos Ayres (the name of the hospital) and Fort Pedro. Every Portuguese is, it seems, by birth a soldier; and nothing exempts a man from military duty, but his holding a place under government. There are six corps of militia in the city of Bahia: 1st, one company of mounted gentlemen, forming the government guard of honour; 2d, one squadron of flying artillery; 3d and 4th, two regiments of whites, almost all tradespeople; 5th, one regiment of mulatoes; and 6th, one of free blacks, amounting altogether to 4000 men, well armed and equipped; but the black regiment is unquestionably the best trained, and most serviceable, as a light infantry corps. The regiments of country militia, as those of Cachoeira, Piraja, &c. are much stronger, and with those of the city, amount to about 15,000 men. The officers are chosen from among the most respectable families, and with the exception of the majors and adjutants, who are of the line, receive no pay.

The troops of the capital are generally reviewed or inspected on Sundays, and sometimes the regular Portuguese are reviewed with them. There is always something gay and inspiriting in martial sounds and martial sights; and the fine weather, gay landscape, and above all, the idea that in a day or two, nay, this very night, these same soldiers might be called into action, did not render the scene less interesting. The native artillery have long garrisoned some of the forts. It appears that the royal troops of Portugal have claimed some superiority, and above all, have demanded their guns and ammunition; and so there is a dispute, in which the royalists and independents take part, and every day hostilities are expected; but both parties seem so willing to be peaceable, that I trust the matter will end without bloodshed.

Monday, 22d.—This evening there was a large party, both Portuguese and English, at the consul's. In the well-dressed women I saw to-night, I had great difficulty in recognising the slatterns of the other morning. The senhoras were all dressed after the French fashion: corset, fichu, garniture, all was proper, and even elegant, and there was a great display of jewels. Our English ladies, though quite of the second rate of even colonial gentility, however, bore away the prize of beauty and grace; for after all, the clothes, however elegant, that are not worn habitually, can only embarrass and cramp the native movements; and, as Mademoiselle Clairon remarks, "she who would act a gentlewoman in public, must be one in private life."

The Portuguese men have all a mean look; none appear to have any education beyond counting-house forms, and their whole time is, I believe, spent between trade and gambling: in the latter, the ladies partake largely after they are married. Before that happy period, when there is no evening dance, they surround the card tables, and with eager eyes follow the game, and long for the time when they too may mingle in it. I scarcely wonder at this propensity. Without education, and consequently without the resources of mind, and in a climate where exercise out of doors is all but impossible, a stimulus must be had; and gambling, from the sage to the savage, has always been resorted to, to quicken the current of life. On the present occasion, we feared the young people would have been disappointed of their dance, because the fiddlers, after waiting some time, went away, as they alleged, because they had not their tea early enough; however, some of the ladies volunteered to play the piano, and the ball lasted till past midnight.

Tuesday, 23d.—I rode with Mr. Dance and Mr. Ricken along the banks of the lake, decidedly the most beautiful scenery in this beautiful country; and then through wild groves, where all the splendours of Brazilian animal and vegetable life were displayed. The gaudy plumage of the birds, the brilliant hues of the insects, the size, and shape, and colour, and fragrance, of the flowers and shrubs, seen mostly for the first time, enchanted us, and rendered our little journey to the great pepper gardens, whither we were going, delightful. Every hedge is at this season gay with coffee blossom, but it is too early in the year for the pepper or the cotton to be in beauty. It is not many years since Francisco da Cunha and Menezes sent the pepper plant from Goa for these gardens, which were afterwards enlarged by him, when he became governor of Bahia. Plants were sent from hence to Pernambuco, which have succeeded in the botanical garden.

From the pepper gardens we rode on to a convent at the farther extremity of the town, and overlooking both the bays, above and below the peninsula of Bon fin, or N.S. da Monserrat. It is called the Soledad, and the nuns are famous for their delicate sweetmeats, and for the manufacture of artificial flowers, formed of the feathers of the many-coloured birds of their country. I admired the white water-lily most, though the pomegranate flower, the carnation, and the rose are imitated with the greatest exactness. The price of all these things is exorbitant; but the convents having lost much of their property since the revolution, the nuns are fain to make up by the produce of this petty industry, for the privations imposed on them by the reduction of their rents.

Wednesday, October 24th.—Mr. Pennell, his daughter, and a few other friends, joined us in an expedition to Itaparica[70], a large island that forms the western side of the Bay of All Saints. A shoal runs off from it a long way to sea, and there are reefs of coral rocks on different parts of its coast. The distance from the city to the nearest landing place on the island is five miles and a half, which our boats' crews rowed in less than two hours. We put in between two ledges of rock, to a little jetty, belonging to the fazenda or factory of Aseoli, or Filisberti, both of whom were partners in Jerome Buonaparte's commercial establishment here. There is no town on Itaparica; but there is a villa, or village, with a fort on the Punto de Itaparica, which commands the passage between it and the main land, and also the mouth of the river, on which stands Nazareth da Farinha, so called from the abundance of that article which it produces. There are also a great many fazendas, which, with their establishment of slaves and cattle, may be considered as so many hamlets. Each sugar farm, or ingenho, as the fazendas are oftener called here, has its little community of slaves around it; and in their huts something like the blessings of freedom are enjoyed, in the family ties and charities they are not forbidden to enjoy. I went into several of the huts, and found them cleaner and more comfortable than I expected; each contains four or five rooms, and each room appeared to hold a family. These out-of-door slaves, belonging to the great ingenhos, in general are better off than the slaves of masters whose condition is nearer to their own, because, "The more the master is removed from us, in place and rank, the greater the liberty we enjoy; the less our actions are inspected and controuled; and the fainter that cruel comparison becomes betwixt our own subjection, and the freedom, or even dominion of another." But, at best, the comforts of slaves must be precarious. Here it is not uncommon to give a slave his freedom, when he is too old or too infirm to work; that is, to turn him out of doors to beg or starve. A few days ago, as a party of gentlemen were returning from a pic nic, they found a poor negro woman lying in a dying state, by the side of the road. The English gentlemen applied to their Portuguese companions to speak to her, and comfort her, as thinking she would understand them better; but they said, "Oh, 'tis only a black: let us ride on," and so they did without further notice. The poor creature, who was a dismissed slave, was carried to the English hospital, where she died in two days. Her diseases were age and hunger.[71] The slaves I saw here working in the distillery, appear thin, and I should say over-worked; but, I am told, that it is only in the distilling months that they appear so, and that at other seasons they are as fat and cheerful as those in the city, which is saying a great deal. They have a little church and burying-ground here, and as they see their little lot the lot of all, are more contented than I thought a slave could be.

[Note 70: Itapa is the Indian name: the Portuguese termination, Rica, indicates the fertility of the island. On this island Francesco Pereira Coutinho, the first donatory, was killed by the savages. He had founded his city near the watering place called Villa Velha, by what is now the fort of Gamboa, and not far from the habitation of the adventurer Caramuru. The first Christian settlement formed here was in 1561, when the Jesuits founded an Aldea, and collected and humanised some of the natives.]

[Note 71: "The custom of exposing old, useless, or sick slaves, in an island of the Tyber, there to starve, seems to have been pretty common in Rome; and whoever recovered, after being so exposed, had his liberty given him, by an edict of the Emperor Claudius; where it was likewise forbid to kill any slave, merely for old age or sickness."—"We may imagine what others would practise, when it was the professed maxim of the elder Cato, to sell his superannuated slaves for any price, rather than maintain a useless burden."—Discourses of the Populousness of Ancient Nations.]

Sugar is the principal product of Itaparica; but the greater part of the poultry, vegetables, and fruit, consumed in Bahia, are also from the island, and lime is made here in considerable quantities from the madrepores and corals found on the beach. This island used to furnish the neighbourhood with horses. When the English fleet and army stopped here, on the way to the Cape of Good Hope, the horses for the cavalry regiments were procured here. However, there is nothing remarkable in Itaparica but its fertility; the landscape is the same in character with that of Bahia, though in humbler style; but it is fresh and green, and pleasing. After dining in a palm-grove, and walking about till we were tired, we re-embarked to return; but the tide was unfavourable; we drifted among the rocks, where Coutinho, the first founder of the colony of Bahia, was wrecked and afterwards murdered by the natives, and we were in consequence four hours in returning home.

26th, 27th, 28th, passed in pleasant enough intercourse with our countrymen, though neither of us were well enough to go much on shore, therefore our friends came to us. There are eighteen English mercantile houses established at Bahia, two French, and two German. The English trade is principally carried on with Liverpool, which supplies manufactured goods and salt, in exchange for sugars, rums, tobaccos, cottons, very little coffee, and molasses. Lately, sugars have been shipped, on English account, for Hamburgh to a great extent, and I believe part of the returns are in German or Prussian woollen-cloths. The province of Bahia, by its neglect of manufactures, is quite dependent on commerce. But the distance from the sea of the province of Minas Geraes, has induced the inhabitants to weave not only enough coarse cotton cloths for home consumption, but even to become an article of trade with the other captaincies.

In the province of Esperitu Santo, cotton sail-cloth is made; but the chief trade of this place is slaving. This year no less than seventy-six slave-ships have sailed, without reckoning the smugglers in that line.

Sunday, 28th.—Mr. Pennell had kindly fixed to-day for giving us a party in the country, and accordingly some of our young people were to go and assist in putting up tents, &c.; but a miscalculation of tide and time, and a mistake as to the practicability of landing on part of the beach beyond the light-house, occasioned a variety of adventures and accidents, without which I have always heard no fete champetre could be perfect. However that may be, our party was a pleasant one. Instead of the tents, we made use of a country-house called the Roca, where beauty of situation, and neatness in itself and garden, made up for whatever we might have thought romantic in the tents, had they been erected. It is the fashion to pave the courts of the country-houses here with dark pebbles, and to form in the pavement a sort of mosaic with milk-white shells. The gardens are laid out in alleys, something in the oriental taste. The millions of ants, which often in the course of a single night leave the best-clothed orange-tree bare both of leaves and flowers, render it necessary to surround each tree with a little stucco wall, or rather canal, in which there is water, till they are strong enough to recover if attacked by the ants. In the garden at Roca, every shrub of value, either for fruit or beauty, was so fenced, and there were seats, and water channels, and porcelain flower-pots, that made me almost think myself in the East. But there is a newness in every thing here, a want of interest on account of what has been, that is most sensibly felt. At most, we can only go back to the naked savage who devoured his prisoner, and adorned himself with bones and feathers here. In the East, imagination is at liberty to expatiate on past grandeur, wisdom, and politeness. Monuments of art and of science meet us at every step: here, every thing, nature herself, wears an air of newness, and the Europeans, so evidently foreign to the climate, and their African slaves, repugnant to every wholesome feeling, show too plainly that they are intruders, ever to be in harmony with the scene. However, Roca is beautiful, and all those grave thoughts did not prevent us from delighting in the fair prospect of

"Hill and valley, fountain and fresh shade;"

nor enjoying the scent of oleander, jasmine, tuberose, and rose, although they are adopted, not native children of the soil.

Of the Portuguese society here I know so very little, that it would be presumptuous to give an opinion of it. I have met with two or three well-informed men of the world, and some lively conversable women; but none of either sex that at all reminded me of the well-educated men and women of Europe. Here the state of general education is so low, that more than common talent and desire of knowledge is requisite to attain any; therefore the clever men are acute, and sometimes a little vain, feeling themselves so much above their fellow-citizens, and the portion of book-learning is small. Of those who read on political subjects, most are disciples of Voltaire, and they outgo his doctrines on politics, and equal his indecency as to religion; hence to sober people who have seen through the European revolutions, their discourses are sometimes disgusting. The Portuguese seldom dine with each other; when they do, it is on some great occasion, to justify a splendid feast: they meet every evening either at the play, or in private houses, and in the last case gamble very deeply. The English society is just such as one may expect. A few merchants, not of the first order, whose thoughts are engrossed by sugars and cottons, to the utter exclusion of all public; matters that do not bear directly on their private trade, and of all matters of general science or information. Not one knew the name of the plants around his own door; not one is acquainted with the country ten miles beyond St. Salvador's; not one could tell me even the situation of the fine red clay, of which the only manufacture, pottery, here is made: in short, I was completely out of patience with these incurious money-makers. I was perhaps unjust to my countrymen: I dare say there are many who could have told me these things, but I am sure none did tell me, and equally sure that I asked information of all I met with. But a woman is not, I believe, considered as privileged to know any thing by these commercial personages. The English are, however, hospitable and sociable among each other. They often dine together: the ladies love music and dancing, and some of the men gamble as much as the Portuguese. Upon the whole, society is at a low, very low scale here among the English. Good eating and good drinking they contrive, to have, for the flesh, fish, and fowl are good; fruits and vegetables various and excellent, and bread of the finest. Their slaves, for the English are all served by slaves, indeed, eat a sort of porridge of mandioc meal with small squares of jerked beef stirred into it, or, as their greatest luxury, stewed caravansas; and this is likewise the principal food of the lower classes even of the free inhabitants. In the fruit season, pumpkins, jackfruit, cocoa-nut, and melons, nearly take place of the mandioc. The huts of the poor are formed of upright poles, with branches of trees wattled between, and covered and lined either with cocoa-leaf mats, or clay; the roofs are also thatched. The better houses are built either of a fine blue stone, quarried on the beach of Victoria, or of brick. They are all white-washed: where the floor is not laid with wood, a fine red brick, six to nine inches square, and three in thickness, is used, and they are roofed with round red tiles. The houses are generally of one story high, with a room or two above by way of a look-out house. Under the house is generally a sort of cellar, in which the slaves live; and really I have sometimes wondered that human beings could exist in such.

Friday, 2d November.—Several of our people having yielded to the temptations of some worthless persons in the town, who induce sailors to desert in order that they themselves may profit by the premium given for the discovery of deserters, and having consequently swam on shore, the frigate has been moved up the harbour as far as Bom Fim, and it is intended to take her up still higher. I am glad of the opportunity of seeing more of this beautiful bay, and shall endeavour to land on the Ilha do Medo, or the point of Itaparica, where the first adventurers from Europe underwent hardship that appear hardly credible in our modern days. We also wish to examine the harbour within the funil or passage between the two islands, and into which the river or creek of Nazareth, which supplies Bahia with great part of the mandioc flour consumed there, runs.

Saturday, 3d November.—Our plan of proceeding farther up the harbour is suspended for the present. The disputes between the European Portuguese and the Brazilians in the city, seem to be about to come to a crisis. Early this morning, we learned that troops were assembling from all quarters, and that therefore it was advisable, for the protection of the British property and the persons of the merchants, that the ship should return to her station opposite to the town. The first provisional junta has lost several of its members, two of them being gone as delegates to Lisbon, and others being absent on account of ill health or disgust. The party opposing this junta talk loudly of independence, and wish at least one-half of the members of the provisional government to be native Brazilians. They also complain bitterly, that instead of redressing the evils they before endured, the junta has increased them by several arbitrary acts; and assert that one of the members who has a great grazing estate, has procured a monopoly, by which no man can supply the market with beef without his permission, so that the city is ill supplied. Such a ground of complaint will always excite popular indignation, and it appears now to be at its height. There has already been some skirmishing, in which, however, I hear there have been only three men killed. The Brazilian artillery occupies Fort San Pedro; the governor, and the wreck of the junta, have the town and the palace. The governor, indeed, has arrested several, I think seventeen persons, in an arbitrary manner; among these, two of my acquaintance, Colonel Salvador[72] and Mr. Soares, and have put them, some on board the Don Pedro, some on board transports in the bay, for the purpose of transporting them to Lisbon. Some of these persons are not permitted to have any communication with their families; others, more favoured, are allowed to carry them with them. These are not the means to conciliate. We have sent on shore to offer shelter to the ladies, and Captain Graham has agreed upon certain signals with the consul, in case of increased danger to his family.

[Note 72: Colonel Salvador, though born in Portugal, has all his property and connections in Brazil; he served with credit in the peninsula. Mr. Soares, a Brazilian, had been long in England.]

Sunday, November 4th.—On looking out at daylight this morning, we saw artillery planted, and troops drawn up on the platform opposite to the opera house. I went on shore to see if Miss Pennell, her sister, or any of our other friends would come on board; but they naturally prefer staying to the last with their fathers and husbands. Notwithstanding the warlike movements of these last two days, it appears most likely that the chiefs of the opposite parties will agree to await the decision of the cortes at Lisbon, with respect to their grievances, and at least a temporary peace will succeed to this little disturbance.

It appears, however, next to impossible that things should remain as they are. The extreme inconvenience of having the supreme courts of justice so far distant as Lisbon must be more and more felt as the country increases in population and riches. The deputies to the cortes are too far removed from their constituents to be guided in their deliberations or votes by them; and the establishment of so many juntas of government, each only accountable to the cortes, must be a cause of internal disorder, if not of civil war, at no distant time.

Monday, 5th.—A day of heavy tropical rain, which has forced both parties on shore to house their guns, and to desist for the present from all farther hostility. The governor, however, continues his arbitrary arrestations. It is curious how ancient authority awes men; for surely it is the accustomed obedience to the name of the king, and the dread of the name of rebellion, that prevents the Brazilians, armed as they are, from resisting these things.

Tuesday, November 6th.—The Morgiana, Captain Finlaison, came in from Rio de Janeiro. She belongs to the African station, and came to Brazil about some prize business connected with the slave trade. Captain Finlaison tells me tales that make my blood run cold, of horrors committed in the French slave ships especially. Of young negresses, headed up in casks and thrown overboard, when the ships are chased. Of others, stowed in boxes when a ship was searched; with a bare chance of surviving their confinement. But where the trade is once admitted, no wonder the heart becomes callous to the individual sufferings of the slaves. The other day I took up some old Bahia newspapers, numbers of the Idade d'Ouro, and I find in the list of ships entered during three months of this year,

Alive. Dead.

1 slave ship from Moyanbique, 25th March, with 313 180

1 do. 6th March 378 61

1 do. 30th May 293 10

1 do. 29th June from Molendo, 357 102

1 do. 26th June 233 21 1574 374

So that of the cargoes of these five ships reckoned thus accidentally, more than one in five had died on the passage!

It seems the English ships of war on the African coast are allowed to hire free blacks to make up their complements when deficient. There are several now onboard the Morgiana, two of whom are petty officers, and they are found most useful hands. They are paid and victualled like our own seamen.[73]

[Note 73: The negroes of the Cru nation come to Sierra Leone from a great distance, and hire themselves out for any kind of labour, for six, eight, or ten months, sometimes for a year or two. They have then earned enough to go home and live like idle gentlemen, for at least twice that time, and then return to work. When their engagements on board men of war are fulfilled, they receive regular discharges and certificates.]

Thursday, November 8.—We went on board Morgiana to call on Mrs. Macgregor, a lively intelligent Spaniard, who with her husband, Colonel Macgregor, is a passenger. She joined me in visits on shore, where the only news is, that the governor continues to arrest all persons suspected of favouring independence.

November 9.—The Brazilians who occupy the forts of San Pedro and Santa Maria, had threatened to fire on the Don Pedro, if she attempted to get under weigh with the state prisoners on board. Nevertheless during the night she bent her sails, and sailed early this morning, carrying, it is said, twenty-eight gentlemen, who have been taken up without any ostensible reason. They are understood to have spoken in favour of the independence of Brazil. Several of our officers went on shore to dine with the gentlemen of the English club, who meet once a month, to eat a very good dinner, and drink an immoderate quantity of wine for the honour of their country.

Tuesday, November 13.—We have had, for ten days past, some of the heaviest showers I remember to have seen, and in going to and from the ship, we have generally been wet through; nevertheless some of our friends ventured on board to-day to dine with us, among the rest Colonel and Mrs. Macgregor; they were a little late, owing to a skirmish between the Portuguese and Brazilians, that occurred close to their house, just as they were setting off. Apparently it had not been premeditated, for the parties were fighting with sticks and stones, as well as swords and fire-arms. The combatants would not allow any officer in Portuguese regimentals to pass, so that Colonel Macgregor was obliged to go back and change his dress before he could come. All this appears to proceed more from a want of police than any other cause.

16th.—Several of our young people and I myself have begun to feel the bad effects of exposing ourselves too much to the sun and the rain. Yesterday I was so unwell as to put on a blister for cough and pain in my side, and several of the others have slight degrees of fever. But generally speaking, the ship's company has been remarkably healthy.

Friday, 16th.—Captain Graham taken suddenly and alarmingly ill. Towards evening he became better, and was able to attend to a most painful business. Last night a man belonging to the Morgiana was killed, and the corporal of marines belonging to the ship severely wounded, on shore. It appears that neither of these men had so much as seen the murderer before. He had been drinking in the inner room of a venda with some sailors, and having quarrelled with one of them, he fancied the rest were going to seize him, when he drew his knife to intimidate them, and rushed furiously out of the room. The young man who was killed was standing at the outer door, waiting for one of his companions who was within, and the murderer seeing him there, imagined he also wished to stop him, and therefore stabbed him to the heart. Our corporal, who was passing by, saw the deed, and of course attempted to seize him, and in the attempt received a severe wound. It is said, I know not with what truth, that Captain Finlaison is so hated here, on account of his activity against the slave trade, that none of his people are safe, and the death of the unfortunate man is attributed to that cause; but it appears to have been the result of a drunken quarrel. The town, however, appears to be in a sad disorderly state: besides our two men, a Brazilian officer was dangerously wounded in the dark, and three Brazilian soldiers and their corporal were found murdered last night. Captain Graham had sent one of his officers to act for him on the occasion, and to apply through the British consul to the police magistrate, Francisco Jose Perreira, for redress.[74] He himself is sensibly worse since he exerted himself to attend to this painful business.

[Note 74: Mr. Pennell accordingly wrote to Mr. Perreira, stating the circumstance and also that the prisoner was taken. The magistrate assured him that he had laid his communication before the provisional government, and that the punishment directed by law should be inflicted, and the greatest sorrow was expressed by the junta for the accident. Colonel Madera, commanding the active military police, also assured Mr.—— the lieutenant of the Doris, on his honour, that the assassin should be brought to trial. But it was not done while we remained in Brazil, and it is probable not at all. The political state of Bahia shortly afterwards would scarcely leave leisure for such a matter.]

The disorders of this climate are sadly enfeebling; they attack both mind and body, producing a painful sensitiveness to the slightest incident.

November 18th.—Our invalids have been sadly disturbed by the rockets which have been fired, ever since sunrise, from the church of our Lady of Conception[75], whose feast is on the 8th of December. But the three Sundays previous to it the church and convent are adorned, sermons are preached, rockets are fired, contributions are made, and the shipping in the harbour fire salooes at sunrise, at noon, and at sunset. The annual expense of rockets, and other fireworks, is enormous. Those used in Brazil all come from the East Indies and China. Sometimes, when manufactured goods are unsaleable here, the merchant ships them on board a Portuguese East Indiaman, and gets in return fireworks, which never fail to pay well. I have seen a set of cut-glass sent to Calcutta for the purpose, or a girandole, too handsome for Brazilian purchasers.

[Note 75: One of the two parishes of the lower town.]

Yesterday the ship's pinnace, which had been absent five days with the master, my cousin Glennie, and young Grey, returned. They had gone to examine the river of Cachoeira, and came back highly delighted with their trip, though they had some very bad weather; however, with tarpaulines, cloaks, and a blanket or two, which I insisted on their taking, they managed so well as to have returned in good health.

Cachoeira, about fifty miles from Bahia, is a good town, where there is one English merchant resident. It is populous[76] and busy; for it is the place where the produce, chiefly cotton and tobacco, of a very considerable district, is collected, in order to be shipped for Bahia. It is divided into two unequal parts, by the river Paraguazu. Its parish church is dedicated to our Lady of the Rosary. It has two convents, four chapels, an hospital, a fountain, and three stone bridges over the small rivers Pitanga and Caquende, on which there are very extensive sugar-works. There are wharfs on both sides of the river. The streets are well paved, and the houses built of stone, and tiled: the country is flat, but agreeable. The river is not navigable more than two miles above the town; it there narrows and becomes interrupted by rocks and rapids, and there is a wooden bridge across it. About five miles from Cachoeira, there is an insulated conical hill, called that of Conception, whence there often proceed noises like explosions. These noises are considered in this country as indicative of the existence of metals. Near this place a piece of native copper was found, weighing upwards of fifty-two arobas. It is now in the museum of Lisbon.

[Note 76: In 1804 it contained 1088 hearths.]

Our exploring party landed on several of the islands, on their way up the river, and were every where received with great hospitality, and delighted with the beauty and fertility of the country.

22d.—At length all the invalids, excepting myself, are better; but, with another blister on, I can do little but write, or look from the cabin windows; and when I do look, I am sure to see something disagreeable. This very moment, there is a slave ship discharging her cargo, and the slaves are singing as they go ashore. They have left the ship, and they see they will be on the dry land; and so, at the command of their keeper, they are singing one of their country songs, in a strange land. Poor wretches! could they foresee the slave-market, and the separations of friends and relations that will take place there, and the march up the country, and the labour of the mines, and the sugar-works, their singing would be a wailing cry. But that "blindness to the future kindly given," allows them a few hours of sad enjoyment. This is the principal slave port in Brazil; and the negroes appear to me to be of a finer, stronger race, than any I have ever seen. One of the provisional junta of government is the greatest slave merchant here. Yet, I am happy to say, the Bahia press has lately actually printed a pamphlet against the slave trade. Within the last year, seventy-six ships have sailed from this port for the coast of Africa; and it is well known that many of them will slave to the northward of the line, in spite of all treaties to the contrary: but the system of false papers is so cunningly and generally carried on, that detection is far from easy; and the difficulties that lie in the way of condemning any slave ship, render it a matter of hazard to detain them. An owner, however, is well satisfied, if one cargo in three arrives safe; and eight or nine successful voyages make a fortune. Many Brazilian Portuguese have no occupation whatever: they lay out a sum of money in slaves; which slaves are ordered out every day, and must bring in a certain sum each night; and these are the boatmen, chairmen, porters, and weavers of mats and hats that are to be hired in the streets and markets, and who thus support their masters.

24th.—Yesterday the Morgiana sailed for Pernambuco, whence she will return to the coast of Africa. To-day the Antigone French frigate, commanded by Captain Villeneuve, nephew to the admiral of that name who was at Trafalgar, came in. Whenever France and England are not at war, the French and English certainly seek each other, and like each other more than any other two nations: and yet they seem like two great heads of parties, and the other nations take the French and English sides, as if there were no cause of opposition but theirs. Others may account for the fact, I am satisfied that it is so; and that whenever we meet a Frenchman in time of peace, in a distant country, it is something akin to the pleasure of seeing a countryman; and it is particularly the case with French naval men. Frequent intercourse of any kind, even that of war, begets a similarity of habits, manners, and ideas; so I suppose we have grown alike by fighting, and are all the more likely to fight again.

There is a report, but I believe not well founded, that placards are stuck up about the city threatening that all Europeans, especially Portuguese, who do not leave the place before the 24th of December, shall be massacred. I listen to these things, because reports, even when false, indicate something of the spirit of the times.

December 8th.—This place is now so quiet that the merchants feel quite safe, and therefore we are leaving Bahia. I have taken leave of many hospitable persons who have shown us much attention; but my health is so indifferent, that but for the sake of that civility which I felt due to them, I should not have gone ashore again: however, it is all done, and we are in the act of getting under weigh.



9th.—As we sailed out of the bay, we amused ourselves with conjecturing the possible situation of Robinson Crusoe's plantation in the bay of All Saints. Those who had been at Cachoeira chose that it should be in that direction; while such as had been confined to the neighbourhood of the city pitched on different sitios, all or any of which might have answered the purpose. There is a charm in Defoe's works that one hardly finds, excepting in the Pilgrim's Progress. The language is so homely, that one is not aware of the poetical cast of the thoughts; and both together form such a reality, that the parable and the romance alike remain fixed on the mind like truth. And what is truth? Surely not the mere outward acts of vulgar life; but rather the moral and intellectual perceptions by which our judgment, and actions, and motives, are directed. Then, are the wanderings of Christiana and Mercy, and the sufferings of the shipwrecked mariner, true in the right sense of the word truth? True as the lofty creations of Milton, and the embodied visions of Michael Angelo; because they have their basis and their home in the heart, and soul, and understanding of man.

But we are once more upon the ocean, and our young people are again observing the stars, and measuring the distances of the planets. I grieve that one of the most promising of them is now an inmate in my cabin, in a very delicate state of health.

12th.—Yesterday we found soundings, which indicated the neighbourhood of the Abrolhos, and lay-to all night, that we might ascertain the exact position of those dangerous shoals; which, at the distance of three leagues, bearing N. W. by W., appeared like one long ragged island to the westward, and two smaller very low to the east.

The banks extend very far out to the eastward. There is a deep passage between them and the mainland. With a little attention, a most profitable fishery might be established here.

Rio de Janeiro, Saturday, December 15th, 1821.—Nothing that I have ever seen is comparable in beauty to this bay. Naples, the Firth of Forth, Bombay harbour, and Trincomalee, each of which I thought perfect in their beauty, all must yield to this, which surpasses each in its different way. Lofty mountains, rocks of clustered columns, luxuriant wood, bright flowery islands, green banks, all mixed with white buildings; each little eminence crowned with its church or fort; ships at anchor or in motion; and innumerable boats flitting about in such a delicious climate,—combine to render Rio de Janeiro the most enchanting scene that imagination can conceive. We anchored first close to a small island, called Villegagnon, about two miles from the entrance of the harbour. That island, however small, was the site of the first colony founded by the Frenchman Villegagnon, under the patronage of Coligny, whom he betrayed. The admiral had intended it as a refuge for the persecuted Hugonots; but when Villegagnon had, by his means, formed the settlement, he began to persecute them also: the colony fell into decay, and became an easy conquest to Mem de Sa, the Portuguese captain-general of Brazil.[77]

[Note 77: See Introduction, p. 15.]

We moved from this station to one more commodious nearer the town, and higher up the harbour, towards the afternoon, which soon became so rainy, that I gave up all hopes of getting ashore. I was really disappointed to find that my excellent friend, the Hon. Capt. S. had left the station with his frigate before we arrived; I had, however, the pleasure of receiving a kind letter from him, and he had left me a copy of the great Spanish dictionary. Nobody that has always lived at home, can tell the value of a kindness like this in a foreign land.

Sunday, 16th.—I had the pleasure of seeing on board Mr. W. May, who has long been a resident in Brazil, and with whom I had spent many happy hours in early life. The pleasure such meetings give is of the purest and wholesomest nature. It quiets the passions by its own tranquillity; and, in recalling all the innocent and amiable feelings of youth, makes us almost forget those harsher emotions which intercourse with the world, and the operation of interest, passion, or suffering have raised.

Monday, 17th.—By the assistance of some friends ashore, we have procured a comfortable house in one of the suburbs of Rio, called the Catete, from the name of a little river which runs through it into the sea. To this house I have brought my poor suffering midshipman, Langford; and trust that free air, moderate exercise, and a milk diet, will restore him. We have been visited by several persons, who all appear hospitable and kind, particularly the acting consul-general, Col. Cunningham, and his lady.

December 18th.—I have begun house-keeping on shore. We find vegetables and poultry very good, but not cheap; fruit is very good and cheap; butcher's meat cheap, but very bad: there is a monopolist butcher, and no person may even kill an animal for his own use without permission paid for from that person; consequently, as there is no competition, he supplies the market as he pleases.[78] The beef is so bad, that it can hardly be used even for soup meat, three days out of four; and that supplied to the ships is at least as bad: mutton is scarce and bad: pork very good and fine; it is fed principally on mandioc and maize, near the town; that from a distance has the advantage of sugar cane. Fish is not so plentiful as it ought to be, considering the abundance that there is on the whole coast, but it is extremely good; oysters, prawns, and crabs are as good as in any part of the world. The wheaten bread used in Rio is chiefly made of American flour, and is, generally speaking, exceedingly good. Neither the captaincy of Rio, nor those to the north, produce wheat; but in the high lands of St. Paul's, and the Minas Geraes, and in the southern provinces, a good deal is cultivated, and with great success. The great article of food here is the mandioc meal, or farinha; it is made into thin broad cakes as a delicacy, but the usual mode of eating it is dry: when at the tables of the rich, it is used with every dish of which they eat, as we take bread; with the poor, it has every form—porridge, brose, bread; and no meal is complete without it: next to mandioc, the feijoam or dry kidney-bean, dressed in every possible way, but most frequently stewed with a small bit of pork, garlic, salt, and pimento, is the favourite food; and for dainties, from the noble to the slave, sweetmeats of every description, from the most delicate preserves and candies to the coarsest preparations of treacle, are swallowed wholesale.

[Note 78: This was no longer the case at my second visit to Rio, and every thing eatable was much improved.]

We have hired a horse for our invalid, and I have borrowed one for myself. These animals are rather pretty at Rio, but far from strong; they are fed on maize and capim, or Guinea grass, which was introduced of late years into Brazil, and thrives prodigiously: it is cultivated by planting the joints; the stem and leaves are as large as those of barley; it grows sometimes to the height of six or seven feet, and the flower is a large loose pannicle. The quantity necessary for each horse per day costs about eightpence, and his maize as much more. The common horses here sell for from twenty to one hundred dollars; the fine Buenos Ayres horses fetch a much higher price. Mules are generally used for carriages, being much hardier, and more capable of bearing the summer heat.

December 19th.—I walked by the side of Langford's horse up one of the little valleys at the foot of the Corcorado: it is called the Laranjeiros, from the numerous orange trees which grow on each side of the little stream that beautifies and fertilises it. Just at the entrance to that valley, a little green plain stretches itself on either hand, through which the rivulet runs over its stony bed, and affords a tempting spot to groups of washerwomen of all hues, though the greater number are black; and they add not a little to the picturesque effect of the scene: they generally wear a red or white handkerchief round the head; and a full-plaited mantle tied over one shoulder, and passed under the opposite arm, with a full petticoat, is a favourite dress. Some wrap a long cloth round them, like the Hindoos; and some wear an ugly European frock, with a most ungraceful sort of bib tied before them. Round the washerwoman's plain, hedges of acacia and mimosa fence the gardens of plantains, oranges, and other fruits which surround every villa; and beyond these, the coffee plantations extend far up the mountain, whose picturesque head closes the scene. The country-houses here are neither large nor magnificent; but they are decorated with verandas, and have often a handsome flight of steps up to the dwelling-house of the master, beneath which are either store-houses, or the habitations of the slaves: they have all a gateway, large and handsome, whatever the house may be; and that gateway generally leads to at least one walk where every kind of flower is cultivated. Brazil is particularly rich in splendid creeping flowers and shrubs; and these are mingled with the orange and lemon blossoms, and the jasmine and rose from the East, till the whole is one thicket of beauty and fragrance. I scarcely know whether my invalid or myself enjoyed the morning most. A few more such, and I should think all sickness must disappear.

December 20th.—Spent in paying and receiving visits in the neighbourhood. The houses are built a good deal like those of the south of Europe: there is generally a court, on one side of which is the dwelling-house, and the others are formed by the offices and garden. Sometimes the garden is immediately close to the house, and in the suburbs this is generally the case. In town, very few houses have the luxury of a garden at all. These gardens are rather like oriental flower-plots, but they assimilate well with the climate. The flowers of the parterres of Europe grow by the side of the gayer plants and shrubs of the country, shaded by the orange, banana, bread-fruit (now nearly naturalised here,) and the palms, between straight alleys of limes, over whose heads the African melia waves its lilac blossoms; and on the raised water channels, china vases are placed, filled with aloes and tuberoses, and here and there a statue intermixed. In these gardens there are occasionally fountains and seats under the trees, forming places of no undelightful rest in this hot climate.

Friday, December 21st.—Mr. Hayne, one of the commissioners of the slave trade commission, and his sister, having proposed a party to see the botanic gardens, we set off soon after daylight; and drove to their house on the bay of Boto Fogo, perhaps the most beautiful spot in the neighbourhood of Rio, rich as it is in natural beauty; and its beauty is increased by the numerous and pretty country-houses which now surround it. These have all grown up since the arrival of the court from Lisbon; before that time, this lovely spot was only inhabited by a few fishermen and gipsies, with, it might be, a villa or two on the sloping banks by the fruit gardens. Beyond the bay, we drove through a beautiful lane to the Lake of Rodrigo de Freitas: it is nearly circular, and about five miles in circumference; it is surrounded by mountains and forests, except where a short sandy bar affords an occasional outlet to the sea, when the lake rises so high as to threaten inconvenience to the surrounding plantations. It is impossible to conceive any thing richer than the vegetation down to the very water's edge around the lake.



We were to breakfast at the gardens, but as the weather is now hot, we resolved first to walk round them. They are laid out in convenient squares, the alleys being planted on either side with a very quick-growing nut tree, brought from Bencoolen originally, now naturalised here. The nut is as good as the filbert, and larger than the walnut, and yields abundance of oil; the leaf is about the size, and not unlike the shape, of that of the sycamore. The timber also is useful. The quick growth of this tree is unexampled among timber trees, and its height and beauty distinguish it from all others. The hedges between the compartments are of a shrub which I should have taken for myrtle, but that the leaves though firm are not fragrant. This garden was destined by the King for the cultivation of the oriental spices and fruits, and above all, of the tea plant, which he obtained, together with several families accustomed to its culture, from China. Nothing can be more thriving than the whole of the plants. The cinnamon, camphor, nutmeg, and clove, grow as well as in their native soil. The bread-fruit produces its fruit in perfection, and such of the oriental fruits as have been brought here ripen as well as in India. I particularly remarked the jumbo malacca, from India, and the longona (Euphoria Longona), a dark kind of lechee from China. I was disappointed to find no collection of the indigenous plants. However, so much has been done as to give reasonable hopes of farther improvement, when the political state of the country shall be quiet enough to permit attention to these things.

The stream that waters the garden flows through a lovely valley, where the royal powder-mills are situated; but being fearful of too much exertion for Langford we put off visiting them to another day, and returned to the garden gate to breakfast. His Majesty John VI. built a small house there, with three or four rooms, to accommodate the royal party, when they visited the gardens. Our breakfast was prepared in the veranda of that house, from whence we had a charming view of the lake, with the mountains and woods,—the ocean, with three little islands that lie off the lake; and in the fore-ground a small chapel[79] and village, at the extremity of a little smooth green plain.

[Note 79: Dedicated to St. John Baptist. I am not sure whether this or N.S. da Cabeca is the mother church; the same clergyman officiates in both.]

After waiting with our agreeable and well-informed friends till the sea-breeze set in, we returned part of the way along the lake, and then ascended to the parsonage of Nossa Senhora da Cabeca, where we were joined by several other persons who had come to dine there with us. The Padre Manoel Gomez received us very kindly, and our pic-nic was spread in the ample veranda of his parsonage. Behind the veranda three small rooms served for sleeping-room, kitchen, and pantry. Half a dozen small cottages in the field behind contain the healthy-looking negroes who are employed in his coffee-grounds, and a swarm of children of every shade, between black and white. On a little eminence in the midst of these stands the chapel of Our Lady, which is the parish church of a large district. It is exceedingly small; but serves as the place where the sacraments are administered, and the licences granted for marriages, burials, and christenings. The owners of estates have generally private chapels, where daily mass is performed for the benefit of their own people; so that the parish church is only applied to on the above-mentioned occasions. About a stone's throw behind the chapel, a clear rivulet runs rapidly down the mountain, leaping from rock to rock, in a thousand little cascades, and forming, here and there, delightful baths. Nor is it without its inhabitants, which increase the simple luxuries of the Padre's table. He tells me the crawfish in his stream are better than any in the neighbourhood; the water itself is pure, light, and delicate.

At length all our friends had assembled, and we returned to the veranda to dine. To judge by the materials of the feast, so blended were the productions of every climate that we could scarcely have pronounced in what part of the world we were, had not the profusion of ananas and plantains, compared with the small quantity of apples and peaches, reminded us of it. As is usual on such occasions, the oldest inhabitants of Brazil praised most what came from afar; while we all gave the preference to the productions of the country.

I was soon drawn away from the table by the beauty of the prospect, which I endeavoured to sketch. The coffee plantations are the only cultivated grounds hereabouts; and they are so thickly set with orange trees, lemons, and other tall shrubs, that they form in appearance rather a variety in the woods, than that mixture of cultivated with wild ground, which might be looked for so near a large city, where we expect to see the labour of man encroaching in some degree on the wild beauties of nature. But here vegetation is so luxuriant, that even the pruned and grafted tree springs up like the native of the forest.

As every body was determined to be pleased, we all felt sorry when it was time to separate; but Burns has made all the reflections one can make on breaking up a pleasant party—

"Pleasures are like poppies spread,— You seize the flower, the bloom is shed; Or like the snow-falls in the river,— A moment white, then lost for ever; Or like the rainbow's fleeting form, Evanishing amid the storm; Or like the borealis race, That flit ere you can point their place. No man can tether time or tide: The hour approaches,—we must ride."

And so we did.—We walked down to the foot of the hill, and each took his or her several conveyance; Colonel and Mrs. Cunningham their comfortable English chariot, Mr. and Miss Hayne their pretty curricle, and I my Rio caleche or sege,—a commodious but ugly carriage, very heavy, but well enough adapted to the rough roads between the garden and the town. The gentlemen all rode, and most of us carried home something. Fruit and flowers attracted some; Langford got a number of diamond beetles, and a magnificent butterfly, and I a most inadequate sketch of the scene from the Padre's house.

December 27th.—Since the jaunt to the botanical gardens, some of our invalids have been gaining ground: others who were well have become invalids, and I have done nothing but ride about or talk with them, and look at the beautiful views of the neighbourhood, and get a little better acquainted with the inhabitants; of whom the most amusing, so far as I have yet seen, are certainly the negroes, who carry about the fruit and vegetables for sale. The midshipmen have made friends with some of them. One of them has become quite a friend in the house; and after he has sold his master's fruit, earns a small gratuity for himself, by his tales, his dances, and his songs. His tribe, it seems, was at war with a neighbouring king, and he went out to fight when quite a boy, was taken prisoner, and sold. This is probably the story of many: but our friend tells it with action and emphasis, and shows his wounds, and dances his war dance, and shouts his wild song, till the savage slave becomes almost a sublime object. I have been for an hour to-night at a very different scene, a ball given by Mr. B——, a respectable English merchant. The Portuguese and Brazilian ladies are decidedly superior in appearance to those of Bahia; they look of higher caste: perhaps the residence of the court for so many years has polished them. I cannot say the men partake of the advantage; but I cannot yet speak Portuguese well enough to dare to pronounce what either men or women really are. As to the English, what can I say? They are very like all one sees at home, in their rank of life; and the ladies, very good persons doubtless, would require Miss Austin's pen to make them interesting. However, as they appear to make no pretensions to any thing but what they are, to me they are good-humoured, hospitable, and therefore pleasing.

Monday, 31st Dec. 1822.—I went to town for the first time; our road lay through the suburb of the Catete for about half a mile. Some handsome houses are situated on either hand, and the spaces between are filled with shops, and small houses inhabited by the families of the shopkeepers in town. We then came to the hill called the Gloria, from the name of the church dedicated to N.S. da Gloria, on the eminence immediately overlooking the sea. The hill is green, and wooded and studded with country-houses. It is nearly insulated; and the road passes between it and another still higher, just where a most copious stream issues from an aqueduct (built, I think, by the Conde de Lavradio), and brings health and refreshment to this part of the town from the neighbouring mountains. Farther on, after passing the beach of the Gloria, we turned to the left, and entered the new part of that town through the arches of the great aqueduct built in 1718 by the viceroy Albuquerque. This supplies four copious fountains. The largest is the Carioca[80], near the convent of Sant Antonio; it has twelve mouths, and is most picturesque in itself: it is constantly surrounded by slaves, with their water-barrels, and by animals drinking. Just beyond are troughs of granite, where a crowd of washerwomen are constantly employed; and over against these, benches are placed, on which there are constantly seated new negroes for sale. The fountain of the Marecas is opposite to the public gardens, and near the new barracks; and, besides the spouts for water for the inhabitants, there are two troughs always full for the animals. The third is a very handsome one, in the palace square; and the fourth, called the Mouro, I did not see. The aqueduct is of brick, and is supported on two ranges of arches across the valley between two of the five hills of the city. The public buildings at Rio have nothing very remarkable about them. Even the churches present no architectural beauty, and owe the good effect they have in the general view to their size and situation. There are seven parish churches, and numerous chapels dependent on each. The first and eldest parish is that of St. Sebastian; the church dedicated to whom is the royal chapel, the only one I saw to-day. It is handsome within, richly gilt, and the pictures on the ceiling are far from contemptible; but I cannot praise that of the altar-piece, where Our Lady is covering with her cloak the Queen Dona Maria, and all the royal family, on their arrival in Brazil. The choir is served in a manner that would not disgrace Italy. I attended at vespers, and have seldom been more gratified with the music of the evening service. This the chapel owes to the residence of the royal family, whose passion and talent for music are hereditary. Adjoining to this chapel is the church and convent of the Carmelites, which forms part of the palace; and within which is the royal library of 70,000 volumes, where on all days, except holidays, the public are admitted to study from nine till one o'clock in the forenoon, and from four o'clock till sunset. This part of the palace occupies one side of a handsome square: the palace itself fills up another; a third has private houses, built uniformly with the palace, besides the fish-market; and the fourth is open to the sea. The water-edge is faced with a handsome granite pier and steps, the blocks of which are bolted with copper. In the centre of the pier there is a fountain, supplied from the aqueduct of Albuquerque; and altogether the appearance of the palace square is extremely handsome. We went thence into a street behind it, and saw the front of the senate-house, which is connected with the palace, and the cemetery of the Carmelite church, which is a prettier thing than church-yards usually are. In the centre of a small quadrangle there is a cross, and by it a young cypress tree: all around there are flowers, and sweet herbs, and porcelain vases, containing roses and aloes placed on little pedestals and on a broad low wall that surrounds the square. I looked at first in vain for graves; at length I observed on these low walls, and on the higher ones in the outer circle, indications of arches, each being numbered. These are the places for the dead, who are walled up there with quick-lime; and, at a certain period, the bones and ashes are removed to make room for others. At the time of removal, if the dead has a friend who wishes it, the remains are collected in urns or other receptacles, and placed in a building appropriated for them, or where the friend pleases; otherwise they go to the common receptacle, and perish totally by the addition of more quick-lime. This is, I doubt not, the wholesomest way of disposing of the dead; and, even to the sense, is better than the horrid burials at Bahia, where they must infect the air. But there seems to me so little feeling in thus getting rid at once of the remains of that which has once been dear to us, that I went away in disgust.



[Note 80: The nickname of the inhabitants of Rio is Carioca, from this fountain.]

The city of Rio is more like an European city than either Bahia or Pernambuco; the houses are three or four stories high, with projecting roofs, and tolerably handsome. The streets are narrow, few being wider than that of the Corso at Rome, to which one or two bear a resemblance in their general air, and especially on days of festivals, when the windows and balconies are decorated with crimson, yellow, or green damask hangings. There are two very handsome squares, besides that of the palace. One, formerly the Roca, is now that of the Constitucao, to which the theatre, some handsome barracks and fine houses, behind which the hills and mountains tower up on two sides, give a very noble appearance. The other, the Campo de Santa Anna, is exceedingly extensive[81], but unfinished. Two of the principal streets run across it, from the sea-side to the extremity of the new town, nearly a league, and new and wide streets are stretching out in every direction. But I was too tired with going about in the heat of the day to do more than take a cursory view of these things, and could not even persuade myself to look at the new fountain which is supplied by a new aqueduct.

[Note 81: It is 1713 feet square.]

There is in the city an air of bustle and activity quite agreeable to our European eyes; yet the Portuguese all take their siesta after dinner. The negroes, whether free blacks or slaves, look cheerful and happy at their labour. There is such a demand for them, that they find full employment, and of course good pay, and remind one here as little as possible of their sad condition, unless, indeed, one passes the street of the Vallongo; then the slave-trade comes in all its horrors before one's eyes. On either hand are magazines of new slaves, called here peices; and there the wretched creatures are subject to all the miseries of a new negro's life, scanty diet, brutal examination, and the lash.

Tuesday, January 1st, 1823.—I went to pay a second visit to an illustrious exile, Count Hogendorp, one of the Emperor Napoleon's generals: my first had been accidental. One morning last week, riding with two of our young midshipmen, we came to a pleasant-looking cottage, high on the side of the Corcovado, and at the door we saw a very striking figure, to whom I instantly apologized for intruding on his grounds, saying that we were strangers, and had come there accidentally. He instantly, with a manner that showed him to be no common person, welcomed us; asked our names, and on being told them, said he had heard of us; and, but for his infirmities, would have called on us. He insisted on our dismounting, as a shower was coming on, and taking shelter with him. By this time I perceived it was Count Hogendorp, and asked him if I had guessed rightly. He answered, yes; and added a few words, signifying that his master's servants, even in exile, carried that with them which distinguished them from other men.

The Count is the wreck of a once handsome man: he has not lost his martial air: he is tall, but not too thin; his grey eyes sparkle with intelligence, and his pure and forcible language is still conveyed in a clear well-toned voice, though a little the worse for age. He ushered us into a spacious veranda, where he passes most of the day, and which is furnished with sofas, chairs, and tables: he then ordered his servant to bring breakfast; we had coffee, milk, and fresh butter, all the produce of his own farm; and, as we sat, we saw the showers passing by and under us across the valley, which leads the eye to the bay below. The General entered frankly into conversation, and during breakfast, and while the shower lasted, spoke almost incessantly of his imperial master. Early in life the Count had entered the army, a soldier of fortune, under Frederick of Prussia. On his return to his native country, Holland, he was employed by the States, successively, as governor of the eastern part of Java, and as envoy to one of the German courts. During his residence in Java, he had visited many of the English settlements on the main land of India, and had learned English, which he spoke well.