82 A JOURNEY IN BRAZIL. 
less in its regular movement, which one hears in the 
Catholic Church ; the candles were burning before the 
altar, but the great window just outside the door was open 
to the setting sun, and, as I stood in the balcony looking 
out on the mountains and listening to the music, I thought 
that a mind which had gone astray might find its way back 
again in such scenes and under such influences. Certainly, 
if nature has any healing power, it must be felt here. We 
lingered and listened as long as we dared, and stole away as 
the services were closing, just in time to take the evening 
boat. 
May 25th. - The fish-market is, in all seaport towns, a 
favorite haunt with Mr. Agassiz, and here it has an especial 
interest for him on account of the variety and beauty of the 
fishes brought in every morning. I sometimes accompany 
him in these rambles for the pleasure of seeing the fresh 
loads of oranges, flowers, and vegetables, and of watch- 
ing the picturesque negro groups selling their wares or 
sitting about in knots to gossip. We have already learned 
that the fine-looking athletic negroes of a nobler type, at 
least physically, than any we see in the States, are the 
so-called Mina negroes, from the province of Mina, in 
Western Africa. They are a very powerful-looking race, 
and the women especially are finely made and have quite 
a dignified presence. I am never tired of watching them 
in the street and market, where they are to be seen in 
numbers, being more commonly employed as venders of 
fruit and vegetables than as house-servants. It is said that 
a certain wild and independent element in their character 
makes them unfit for domestic service. The women always 
wear a high muslin turban, and a long, bright-colored snawl, 
either crossed on the breast and thrown carelessly over the 
