RECOLLECTIONS OF BRAZIL. 385 



In all the maritime cities of Brazil since the removal of the court 

 of Portugal to their trans-atlantic dominions, European civilization 

 and manners have been fast blotting out all traces of colonial life. 

 But in the interior, from the difficulty of communication, and from 

 the scantiness of the population, the traveller may still behold the 

 curious spectacle of a phasis of civilization such as existed on our 

 continent two centuries ago. 



There appeared, at first sight, to be an artless simplicity, both of 

 manner and mind, in these people, that insensibly led back the ima- 

 gination to the more primitive and picturesque ages of mankind ; but 

 this illusion was soon dispelled, for, on a nearer inspection, I dis- 

 covered that it was coupled with the most shocking depravity. In 

 Brazil morality appears to decrease in proportion as the population 

 becomes ruralized ; and in the interior of that empire I have witnessed 

 acts that would have induced me to suppose that their perpetrators 

 had taken a high degree in the first school of Escroquerie in Europe. 

 The enciente of St. Joam de Pernaiba might easily have been contained 

 in that of Belgrave-square ; but it had its senado or camera, its com- 

 mandante das armas, and a garrison of ten soldiers a custom-house, 

 and all the paraphernalia of a villa of the first class. From all these 

 official dignitaries, as well as from the other magnificoes of the place, 

 I received the customary visits of ceremony the day following my 

 arrival. A stranger to their manners would have imagined them the 

 most generous people in the universe ; presents of fruit, sweetmeats, 

 &c. poured in from all quarters in fact, every thing they possessed, 

 I was told to freely consider as mine own. But to my cost I soon 

 learnt, that these high-flown professions were merely vox et prceterea 

 nihil a habit derived from their Moorish ancestors. On the contrary, 

 I never saw a servant approaching my door with a tray on his head, 

 but I mentally exclaimed, 



" Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes," 



for what with the douceur to the bearer and the return present, in- 

 variably looked for, I was generally a loser by the transaction. Nay, 

 I soon found out that there was as much art in making presents as in 

 making a book for the Derby or St. Leger. Of six bottles of Rosolio 

 that I one morning sent off as a present to a neighbour, four of them 

 actually found their way back to me at the end of a week, presented 

 by no less than three different individuals. Had I remained much 

 longer I must have found out some Brazilian Gully or Crockford to 

 have made my presents (not my bets) by commission, otherwise, to 

 use the language of the knowing ones, I should have been fairly 

 cleaned out, for the very servants latterly used to bring presents in 

 their master's name for the sake of the douceur a I'Anglaise. 



Notwithstanding its insignificance, the Villa de St. Joam de Per- 

 naiba had actually, a few months before my arrival, raised the standard 

 of revolt against the Emperor Don Pedro, and actually declared itself 

 a republic, but which the terror of Lord Cochrane's name alone dis- 

 solved. Half the leading people of the place were under arrest in 

 their own houses, " en attendant" the arrival of a military commission, 

 sitting at the time, and dispensing its leaden mercies in the adjoining 



M.M. No. 94. 3 D 



