FERNANDO DE NORONHA. 



61 



literally pressed into the service. The vessel 

 employed between Recife and the island, visits 

 it twice during the same period, and carries 

 provisions, clothing, and other articles to the 

 miserable beings, who are compelled to remain 

 there, and for the troops. I have conversed 

 with persons who have resided upon it, and the 

 accounts I have heard of the enormities com- 

 mitted there, are most horrible; crimes, punished 

 capitally or severely in civilised states, or which 

 at least are held in general abhorrence, are here 

 practised, talked of, publicly acknowledged, 

 without shame, and without remorse. Strange 

 it is, that the dreadful state of this place should 

 have so long escaped the notice of the supreme 

 Government of Brazil. But the evil ends not 

 here ; the individuals who return to Pernam- 

 buco, cannot shake off the remembrance of 

 crimes which have become familiar to them. 

 The powers, likewise, conceded to the com- 

 mandant, whose will is absolute, have oftentimes 

 proved too great for due performance ; punish- 

 ment seldom follows. The most wanton tyranny 

 may be practised almost without fear of retribu- 

 tion. The climate of the island is good, and the 

 small portion of it admitting of cultivation, 1 

 have understood, from competent authority, to 

 be of extraordinary fertility. It does not, how- 

 ever, afford any shelter for shipping. 



The supineness of the ancient system upon 



