164 WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 



fraud. Thus you make me, at one and the same time, a 

 teacher of none but good principles, and a teacher of 

 idolatry, and a believer in idolatry, and still the founder of 

 a system for which Brazil is greatly and permanently in- 

 debted to me, though, by the by, the system was only pro- 

 ductive of as much good as is compatible with pious 

 fraud ! 



" What means all this ? After reading such incom- 

 parable nonsense, should your countrymen wish to be 

 properly informed concerning the Society of Jesus, there 

 are in England documents enough to show that the system 

 of the Jesuits was a system of Christian charity towards 

 their fellow-creatures, administered in a manner which 

 human prudence judged best calculated to ensure success ; 

 and that the idolatry which you uncharitably affirm they 

 taught, was really and truly the very same faith which the 

 Catholic Church taught for centuries in England, which she 

 still teaches to those who wish to hear her, and which she 

 will continue to teach, pure and unspotted, till time shall 

 be no more." 



The environs of Pernambuco are very pretty. You see 

 country houses in all directions, and the appearance of here 

 and there a sugar plantation enriches the scenery. Palm- 

 trees, Cocoa-nut-trees, Orange and Lemon groves, and 

 all the different fruits peculiar to Brazil, are here in the 

 greatest abundance. 



At Olinda there is a national botanical garden ; it wants 

 space, produce, and improvement. The forests, which are 

 several leagues off, abound with birds, beasts, insects, and 

 serpents. Besides a brilliant plumage, many of the birds 

 have a very fine song. The Troupiale, noted for its rich 

 colours, sings delightfully in the environs of Pernambuco. 

 The Red-headed Finch, larger than the European sparrow, 

 pours forth a sweet and varied strain, in company with two 



