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town, in long black cloaks, carrying white rods, who walked in a direct line, about three yards distant from it. These shows are often repeated, and, as may be conceived, have a wonderful effect on the lower classes, especially the slaves.

The Portuguese take every method of impressing on the minds of the latter the importance of religion, of which the following cannot fail of striking them forcibly. Whenever a slave happens to die before he is baptized, they do not allow him burial; but his body is thrown down on the sea shore, a little below the town, where it is left a prey for bustards and wild beasts. In a walk along the beach to Olinda, I saw no less than five of these bodies lying a little above high water mark. It is impossible to conceive more disgusting objects; however, I took special care afterwards to avoid them, which was easily done, as the birds (who flock round them like the crows in England round a dead horse) pointed out where they lay.

The Portuguese have but few amusements. The principal one I saw was the theatre, which was only opened one night, when the governor was present. A number of soldiers patroled the different parts of the house to preserve order. Every thing passed on very well until about the middle, when a song being feebly encored by two or three Portuguese in the pit, an officer ordered silence in a very peremptory voice; which not according with the ideas of some English captains, they resumed the cry of encore, in which most of the Portuguese (thus encouraged) ventured to join. A commotion took place, the play finished, the guard was called in, through which our countrymen effected a safe retreat, leaving their allies in the pit, who were at last surrounded and made prisoners, and after some resistance carried to the guard-house. The next day they were released by the governor, who graciously condescended to pardon them. The theatre was never re-opened.

Whilst here, I witnessed an instance of the effect it would have on a man to be estranged from his native country in his youth, in the person of one of the governor's aides-du-camp. This young man, who is a native of Cornwall, and is now about thirty years of age, was taken prisoner more than sixteen years ago, in a small English vessel smuggling on the coast, on board of which he was in the capacity of a cabin boy. Being a handsome youth, the governor conceived a partiality for him, and brought him up in the Portuguese army: he is now his favourite aide-du-camp, and always accompanies him when he goes in public. He is a genteel young man; his blue eyes and fair complexion immediately denote him to be an Englishman. Singular as it may seem, it is nevertheless true, he has nearly forgot his native language, and does not take the least notice whatever of his countrymen, whom

he seems even to disown. He appears long ago to have given up all ideas of ever more returning to visit the country which gave him birth, and to have become quite a naturalized Portuguese. Many interesting reflections will naturally arise in the minds of those who read this, possessing any degree of sensibility, on contemplating this singular and romantic incident.

Pernambuco is seated on very low ground, and quite surrounded by water, consequently intermittent pivers are very common. There is only one hospital, which consists of a very large room with about thirty beds on each side, filled with wretches suffering under the most loathsome diseases. A man stands at the door to solicit the charity of passengers, which helps to defray the expenses. When a patient dies, he is laid on a table at the entrance with a plate on his breast, to raise in a similar way money to bury him. It often happens four or five bodies are thus exposed. Great numbers of slaves die of the small-pox on their first importation, and still more from the fever and dysentery. A few months before my arrival here, a tribe of the natives or Japayos, consisting of about two hundred men, women, and children, came to the town from the interior. The governor gave them every encouragement; but these complaints (especially the latter) getting amongst them, the whole party died successively. The country a few miles from the town is full of thick impenetrable woods, dreadfully infested with wild beasts and reptiles, especially snakes. I was one evening returning to the town from Mr. M's country residence, when I saw a poor aged black stung in the leg by one of the latter, which he managed however to kill with a large stick he carried. It was about four feet long, of a dusky greenish brown colour, with black spots on the back, and rather of a lighter colour under the belly. He conveyed it in his hand to the town, groaning piteously all the way, which I found he had good reason to do, for one of the English I met with told me there was no cure for the bite of that particular snake, and that his death would certainly follow in a few hours. By the time we arrived in the town, his leg and thigh were so much swollen that he could scarcely walk. As he passed through the streets to the hospital, no one seemed to take any notice of his distress, unless by shaking their heads to signify it was all over. I pitied the poor fellow's situation from the bottom of my heart. Two days after, I saw his body at the hospital door, exposed in the usual way to raise money to bury it; it was quite putrid, especially the leg which had been stung.

I have often heard of the Ignis fatuus, or as it is called, a Jacka-Lantern, but I never saw one before I came to Pernambuco, at a short distance from which they are very common. It is mostly at twilight in the evening they are visible, when I have counted

more than thirty together. I know not what to compare them to, unless it is the very large sparks which fly from a blacksmith's forge; they rise from the ground and continue to float about in the atmosphere, at the distance of eight or ten feet from the surface, for some minutes, when they totally disappear.

This country also abounds with the most beautiful birds, some of which are as red as scarlet, and sing delightfully. Macaws and parrots are also very common, nearly every house having one or two at the door; and as they often set each other a chattering through a whole street, they make such a confounded din that an Englishman would think he was got into a Welsh market.

In regard to the fishes on this coast they are very numerous. The river near Pernambuco abounds with alligators, which are often very destructive; and that extraordinary fish, the torpedo, is frequently caught here. The electric power is so strong in this fish, that even the line which catches him conveys a slight shock. The blacks have a curious way of catching fish, which is thus performed on a dark night they go on jungadas, (a sort of canoe composed of three or four long pieces of wood lashed together) on which they make a large blazing fire, which instantly attracts the fish, when they strike them with harpoons; most of the fish with which Pernambuco is supplied are caught in this way. I have before observed that Olinda is a distinct city, three miles from Pernambuco. One day I visited this place in company with an American captain. It is seated on a small hill, on the summit of which is a large monastery.

The town is small; and though most of the merchants of Pernambuco have seats here, it is nevertheless very thinly peopled. The houses are beautiful white buildings, interspersed with delightful gardens; rising as they do one above another on the side of the hill, it is seen a great way off at sea. The great trade and other advantages of Pernambuco have drawn all the merchants from it; and it now contains little more than two monasteries and a nunnery, with a few poor people dependent on them. The object which particularly attracted our attention was, the monastery on the hill; the church of which being open, we entered to view its curiosities. A slave kindly offered his services, and showed us whatever we wished to see. In the middle of it lay the body of a black woman, for interment. The images and gilt cornices were very grand; it is almost impossible to conceive the magnificence some of these places exhibit. We observed a large curtain that concealed something. We wished to see it: the slave at first hesitated, but, on looking round and perceiving none of the padres near, he ventured to draw it up; it was a most valuable crucifix in gold, as large as life. Whilst describing its value, a priest came in; the slave, struck with terror, fell on his

knees and implored his pardon. I perceived it was of no avail; and therefore I had recourse to artifice, to save the poor fellow a flogging. I told him I was a Roman Catholic, but he would not believe it. By good fortune I had a gold cross for a brooch in my bosom; I showed it him, he was then convinced, pardoned the slave, and showed us all the curiosities we had not previously seen, especially some exquisite paintings on religious subjects.

One cannot imagine a more romantic situation, or one which commands a more lovely prospect than this monastery, especially the church, which is far the highest object on this coast, and is visible a long way off at sea. As it was late in the evening before we returned to the bottom of the hill, after taking each a glass of sangaree, and smoking a segar, we hired a canoe, which soon paddled us down the river to Pernambuco, through a swampy wood of low mangrove trees, full of alligators, one of which we could discern crossing the river a little before us.

The Portuguese are an honest well-behaved people, remarkably attached to the English; but they are passionate in the extreme, and murders are very common. These are never committed for the sake of plunder, but of revenge, or are the effect of some sudden quarrel. One day I witnessed one of them take place, which almost chilled my blood. Happening to go down to the cotton-wharf, I saw two men fighting, one of them gave the other a severe blow on the breast, which exasperated him so much that he immediately drew a knife and cut his adversary across the abdomen, by which all the viscera fell out, and a good deal of the fæces. The unfortunate man expired in about five minutes, while the assassin took sanctuary in a neighbouring church; and in about a week afterwards I saw him looking at some English hardware in a shop window. The man who was thus killed was remarkably active in assisting us when we discharged our cargo, having the command of one of the boats which conveyed it to the shore. It is too expensive for any one to undertake to bring a criminal to justice for a capital crime, unless he is possessed of a good property, and even then, if he has taken sanctuary, it is of no use. The Portuguese are sober, and tolerably industrious. Their seamen are remarkably good and faithful, and are particularly adapted for English merchant shipping, in preference to any other foreigners. This I have often experienced. The produce of the Brazils consists of gold, silver, diamonds, sugar, cotton, hides, ipecacuana, sarsaparilla, fustic, rum, molasses, coffee, ginger, and many other valuable commodities; but the greatest part of these articles are not importable into England, on account of our West-India possessions, the produce of which is nearly similar, but inferior in quality, and double the price of that brought from the Brazils.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Madame Blanchard.-Madame Blanchard, notwithstanding her late disaster at Rome, made another ascension from that capital on the 23d of December. After experiencing the extremes of heat and cold, she says, she fell into a profound sleep, during which her balloon attained an elevation of 12,000 feet. She afterwards descended at Tagliacozza.

Ladder in case of Fire.-Paris, Feb. 14. M. Regnier, conservator of the Artillery Museum, has received the prize for the invention of a ladder, which consists of several lengths, each four yards long, which fasten into each other, so that when united, they form one ladder eleven yards in length, without the necessity for cords, or other mode of tying them together. Although the bands which combine these ladders are of iron, yet the whole together does not weigh above 200 lbs. so that two men can readily carry the whole to any place where it may be wanted. Or it may be carried in parts; where houses, &c. are not high.

Banditti in force.-The forests of the Spessart, and Odenwald, are said to have been recently the theatre of sanguinary conflicts. A corps of 4000 troops having been sent to discover the brigands, divided themselves into small parties: some of these, after repeated attacks, having penetrated very far, came to a small encampment, defended by a ditch and three pieces of cannon. While the troops were preparing for assault, the robbers rushed out, and bore down all before them. The troops fled, leaving behind them two pieces of cannon, some colours, and 250 killed and wounded.

City and people consumed by firc.-The city of Bassen, situated on the southern coast of Pegu, and one of the principal cities of the Burmah empire, has been destroyed by fire. Some thousands of the inhabitants perished in the flames. This is the second calamity of the same description which has, within the space of a few months, visited that wretched country.

Mecca relieved: Wehabites expelled.-Letters from Constantinople, of the 2d of January, state that official intelligence had been received of the overthrow of the Wehabites, by the Egyptian forces under a son of Mahomed Aly-Pacha; and that the latter had marched for Mecca, which had declared for the Grand Seignior, to chace from thence the enemies of the Faith. This had diffused joy at Constantinople-prayers were ordered in the mosques; and the Imans and Doctors had declared, that the expulsion of the Wehabites from Mec

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