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RECRUITING. 



worst of men j if you bring them up without any 

 affection to the government, and without any 

 hold upon the rest of the inhabitants, ekcepting 

 that of being able to injure them ; the likelihood 

 is, that when you require their aid, they will be 

 found wanting, and perhaps for higher pay ma) 

 act against those whom they were expected to 

 defend. If the soldier and the peasant can be 

 combined usefully in the same person, it is in 

 Brazil that such a system should be followed. 



The foundation of a church which was com- 

 menced at the expense of the pes de castello, as 

 the fixed soldiers were called, is to be seen 

 near to the town of Conception. The building 

 was given up when the order arrived from the 

 supreme government then at Lisbon, directing 

 this change of system. 



During the recruiting I went to Recife, and 

 in going along by the sea-shore, saw at several 

 cottages parties of armed men, who were wait- 

 ing to see if they could entrap any one who 

 might be liable to be pressed. At the ferry of 

 Maria Farinha there was a large company, 

 which was stationed there. I happened to be 

 obliged to wait during a shower of rain at a 

 cottage in which some of these fellows were 

 watching for their prey. They were talking in 

 high glee of the stratagems which they had 

 made use of to entrap several recruits, and of the 

 blows which they had been obliged to give to 



