STATE OF THE COUiNTRY AT BAHIA. 37 



climes alone supply, rose precipitously from the dark 

 blue water, dotted with the white and gleaming 

 walls of houses and convents half hidden in woods of 

 every tint of green ; while here and there the lofty 

 spires of some Christian temple pointed to a yet 

 fairer world, invisible to mortal eye, and suggested 

 even to the least thoughtful, that glorious as is this 

 lower earth, framed by Heaven's beneficence for 

 man's enjoyment, still it is not that home to which 

 the hand of revelation directs the aspirations of our 

 frail humanity. 



I had last seen Bahia in August, 1836, on the 

 homeward voyage of the Beagle ; and it was then in 

 anything but a satisfactory condition ; the white 

 population divided among themselves, and the 

 slaves concerting by one bloody and desperate blow 

 to achieve their freedom. It did not appear to 

 have improved during the intervening period : a 

 revolutionary movement was still contemplated by 

 the more liberal section of the Brazilians, though 

 at the very period they thus judiciously selected for 

 squabbling with one another, they were living in 

 hourly expectation of a rising, en masse, of the 

 blacks. That such an insurrection must sooner or 

 later take place — and take place with all the most 

 fearful circumstances of long delayed and complete 

 revenge — no unprejudiced observer can doubt. 

 That selfish and short-sighted policy which is 

 almost invariably allied with despotism, has led to 

 such constant additions by importation to the 



