CRIMINALS. 



57 



perform the menial offices of the palace, the 

 barracks, the prisons, and other public build- 

 ings. They are chained in couples, and each 

 couple is followed by a soldier, armed with a 

 bayonet. They are allowed to stop at the shops, 

 to obtain any trifle which they may wish to pur- 

 chase, and it is disgusting to see with what un- 

 concern the fellows bear this most disgraceful 

 situation, laughing and talking as they go along 

 to each other, to their acquaintance whom they 

 may chance to meet, and to the soldier who 

 follows them as a guard.* The prisons are in a 



* An anecdote was related to me of one of these couples, 

 which occurred some years ago, under a former Governor. 

 A solitary passenger, between Olinda and Recife, witnessed 

 part of the following scene, and the remainder was described 

 by one of the actors in it. A couple of criminals, of which 

 one was a white man, and the other a negro, accompanied 

 by their guard, were walking over the sands, to reach a ford, 

 and cross the river at its narrowest part. Three horsemen, 

 one of whom led a fourth horse, saddled and bridled, rode 

 up, and one of them knocked the soldier down, whilst the 

 white man of the chained couple urged his companion to go 

 with him to the led horse, and mount up behind him: this 

 the black man refused to do, when one of the horsemen, who 

 seemed to direct the others, called out, " Cut the fellow's 

 leg off." The criminals are secured to each other by the 

 ancle. The negro now agreed, and both mounted the horse, 

 and the whole party galloped away, first binding the soldier 

 hand and foot. They passed through Olinda at full speed, 

 and when they had arrived at some distance, a large file was 

 made use of, and the negro was set down with all the chains 

 and bolts. The party then proceeded, and were never after- 

 wards heard of. It was imagined, that the man who made 



