BW^WWHHW 



80 



POLICE OF PARAIBA. 



handsome from a general comparison of the 

 country, have been built by the great land- 

 holders in the neighbourhood, as a residence 

 during the depth of the winter, or rainy season. 

 The lands of the captaincy are, generally speak- 

 ing, rich and fertile, but so great a preference is 

 given to plantations nearer to Recife, that those 

 of Paraiba are to be purchased at a much les^ 

 price. The sugar of this province is reckoned 

 equal to that of any part of Brazil. 



I soon saw what was to be seen, and we had 

 no society; time, however, did not appear to 

 hang heavy, for Senhor Joaquim was a man of 

 inexhaustible good humour and hilarity. We 

 lived by magic, as the colonel had ordered his 

 servant to supply every thing for us. 



The late governor, Amaro Joaquim, brought 

 the captaincy into great order, by his necessary 

 severity. A custom prevailed, of persons walk- 

 ing about the town at night in large cloaks, and 

 crape over their faces ; thus concealed, to carry 

 on their irregular practices. The governor, not 

 being able to discover who these persons were, 

 gave orders one night for the patrole to take 

 into custody all who were so dressed ; this 

 was done, and some of the principal inhabitants 

 were found the next morning in the guard- 

 house. A man of the name of Nogueira, the 

 son of a black or mulatto woman, and of one of 

 the first men in the captaincy, had made him- 



