6 



TOWN OF HECIFE. 



bag, and soon their anxiety for news overcame 

 their politeness ; the letters were asked for, and 

 at last we gave them up, and they were scrambled 

 for, each man seeking his own. We had landed 

 at the custom-house wharf upon a busy day, 

 and the negroes too were all clamour and bustle. 

 Their hideous noise when carrying any load, 

 bawding out some ditty of their own language, 

 or some distich of vulgar Portuguese rhyme ; 

 the numerous questions asked by many persons 

 who met us, and the very circumstance of seeing 

 a population consisting chiefly of individuals of 

 a dark colour, added to the sound of a new lan- 

 guage, with which, although I was acquainted, 

 still I had not since very early youth been in a 

 country where it was generally spoken ; all com- 

 bined to perplex and to confuse. I was led 

 along by those who were accustomed to these 

 scenes, and we proceeded to the house of one 

 of the first merchants in the place. We were 

 ushered up one pair of stairs into a room in 

 which were several piles of piece-goods, a table 

 covered with papers, and several chairs. There 

 were four or five persons in the room besides 

 the owner of the house. I delivered my letter 

 of introduction to him, and was treated with the 

 greatest civility. Our next visit was to a colonel, 

 who is also a merchant, from whom I met with 

 the same behaviour. 



