32 TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



in the afternoon cast anchor in the fine harbour of 

 Lavaletta. Scarcely had the frigate announced its 

 arrival by the customary salute, when the lofty 

 walls of the city were crowded with spectators ; 

 but this sight did not surprise us so much as that 

 of a number of naked men, who were drying their 

 clothes in the hollows of the limestone rocks next 

 the beach. They were the crew of a vessel which 

 had suffered shipwreck the preceding day in this 

 harbour. We considered ourselves doubly fortu- 

 nate in having escaped the danger which threat- 

 ened us at the entrance into the harbour, and in 

 being able to view this island, whose situation 

 between Africa and Europe renders it so remark- 

 able. 



Lavaletta is one of the most glorious monuments 

 of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, founded 

 during the crusades, the grand masters of which 

 from the time of Charles V. to the latest period, 

 were established here, after having been driven 

 from Palestine farther and farther to the west. 

 This celebrated order was the fairest fruit of the 

 ancient spirit of chivalry, and its members united 

 by the Christian faith and heroic deeds for the 

 security of Europe against the infidels, have 

 founded in it a monument of general European 

 civilization. The entrance into the harbour of 

 Lavaletta excites admiration and surprise. At the 

 sides of the narrow entrance, steep bastions and 

 forts rise above the lofty limestone rocks, which 



