238 A JOURNEY IN BRAZIL. 



deserves the name of prison with the exception of that in 

 the capital. And even this one, while it does not possess 

 one of the conditions exacted by similar institutions, con- 

 tains so disproportionate a number of prisoners of all 

 classes, so indiscriminately mingled, that, setting aside the 

 other difficulties arising from this association, it is only 

 by the mercy of Providence that the jail has not been 

 converted into a focus of epidemics during the great heat 

 prevailing in this city for a great part of the year. In 

 four small rooms, insufficiently ventilated and lighted, are 

 assembled forty prisoners (including the sick) of various 

 classes and conditions. Without air, without cleanliness, 

 almost without room to move in their smothered and damp 

 enclosure, these unhappy beings, against all precepts of 

 law and humanity, suffer far more than the simple and 

 salutary rigor of punishment." These strictures must 

 have led to a great amendment, for the prison does not 

 now appear to be deficient in light or in ventilation, and 

 there is a hospital provided apart for the sick. Some of 

 the prisoners, especially those who were there for political 

 offences, having been concerned in a recent revolt at Serpa, 

 were very heavily ironed ; but, excepting this, there were 

 no signs, visible at least to the transient observer, of cruelty 

 or neglect. After some remarks on the best modes of re- 

 forming these abuses and the means to be employed for 

 that object, Dr. Adolfo goes on to speak of the ruinous 

 condition of the prisons in other cities of the province. 

 " Such is the state of the prison in the town of Teffe 

 The edifice in which it is established is an old and crum 

 bling house, belonging to the municipality, thatched with 

 straw, and so ruinous, that it seemed to me, when I 

 visited it, rather like a deserted habitation than like a 



