124 A JOURNEY IN BRAZIL. 

The rules of the establishment were strict ; no servants 
were kept, the pupils were obliged to do their own work, 
cooking, &c., and even to go out into the streets to beg 
after the fashion of the mendicant orders. One condi- 
tion only was attached to the entrance of the children, 
namely, that they should be of pure race ; no mulattoes or 
negroes were admitted. I do not know on what ground 
this institution was broken up by the government and the 
building taken as a school-house. It has still a slightly 
monastic aspect, though it has been greatly modified ; but 
the cloisters running around closed courts remind one of 
its origin. The recitations were going on at the moment 
of our visit, and as we had seen nothing as yet of the 
schools, Dr. Pacheco took us through the establishment. 
A college here does not signify a university as with us, 
but rather a high school, the age of the pupils being 
from twelve to eighteen. It is difficult to judge of 
methods of education in a foreign language with which 
one is not very familiar. But the scholars appeared bright 
and interested, their answers came promptly, their dis- 
cipline was evidently good. One tiling was very striking 
to a stranger in seeing so many young people collected 
together ; namely, the absence of pure type and the fee- 
ble physique. I do not know whether it is in consequence 
of the climate, but a healthy, vigorous child is a rare 
sight in Rio de Janeiro. The scholars were of all colors, 
from black through intermediate shades to white, and even 
one of the teachers having the direction of a higher class in 
Latin was a negro. It is an evidence of the absence of any 
prejudice against the blacks, that, on the occasion of a recent 
vacancy among the Latin professors, this man, having passed 
the best examination, was unanimously chosen in preference 
