404 ANKlTAL REGISTER, 1817. 



hair black, coarse, and lank ; 

 none of the men have whiskers, 

 aiirl their beards are not thick. 

 The women, when they are young, 

 have by no Ineans an unpleasant 

 appearimce ; but they soon fall 

 off, and become ugly ; their figures 

 are seldom well shaped. Defor- 

 mity is rare among the Indians ; 

 1 do not recollect to have seen an 

 iridividualof this racewhohad been 

 born defective ; and the well-in- 

 formed persontj with whom I con- 

 versed were of opinion, that the 

 Indians are more fortunate in tliis 

 respect than any other race With 

 whom tliey were acquainted. All 

 the Indians of I'crnambuco speak 

 Portuguese, but few of them pro- 

 nounce it well ; there is always a 

 certain twang wh'ch discovers the 

 speaker to be an Indian, although 

 tlie voice was heard without the 

 person being seen ; many of them 

 however do not luiderstand any 

 other language. The Indians sel- 

 dom if ever speak Portuguese so 

 well as the g'crierality of the Creole 

 negroes. 



It must be perfectly understood, 

 that alihough there may be some 

 u'lVfair dealings occasionally of the 

 director towards the Iiulian, still 

 this race cannot be enslaved ; the 

 Indian cannot be made to work 

 fur any person against his inclina- 

 t\6n, he cannot be bouglit and 

 sold. An Indian will sometimes 

 make over his child, when very 

 young, to a rich person to be 

 taught some trade, or to be brought 

 tip as a household servant, but vs 

 soon as the chil/, is of an age to 

 provide for itself, it carmot be pre- 

 vented from so doing ; it may 

 leave the '{)er.'?on under whose care 

 it has been plac(fd if it be so in- 

 cliuedi 



Two Indians presented them- 

 selves at the gate of the Carmelite 

 convent of Goiana, and requested 

 and were permitted to see the 

 prior. They put into his hands a 

 purse containing several gold 

 coins, saying that they had found 

 it near Dous Rios ; they begged 

 that he would order a number of 

 masses to be said in their behalf, 

 which were to be paid for froi^ 

 the contents of the purse. Tlie 

 prior, admiring their honesty, 

 asked one of them to remain with 

 him as his servant, to which the 

 man agreed. The friar was in the 

 habit of going into the country to a 

 friend's house to shoot. On one oc- 

 casion, c*ifter the Indian had served 

 him for some time, he left the con- 

 vent, and took him on one of these 

 expeditions, b'ut when they were 

 about half way, the fiiar discover- 

 ed that he had forgotten his pow- 

 der horn ; he gave the key of his 

 trunk to the Indian, and desired 

 him to fetcli the powder whilst he 

 proceeded. In vain he waited at 

 his friend's house for his servant, 

 and on his return to the convent 

 in the evening he heard that he 

 was hot there. He went immedi- 

 ately to his cell, supposing that 

 he had been robbed of all his mo- 

 ney, and whatever else the fellow 

 could carry off; but to his joy he 

 discovered on examination, that 

 the man had only taken the pow- 

 der-horn, t<\-o silver coins of about 

 4s. value each, an old clerical 

 gown, arid a pair of W()rn-out 

 nankeen pantaloons. This sto'ry 

 I had from an intimate friend of 

 the prior. 



The free ['joijula'tion of Brazil at 

 tlie presen't time consists of Euro- 

 peans ; Brazilians, that is, white 

 pet'sons born in Brazil ; mulattos, 



that 



