

PORT REGULATIONS. 



-261 



master to allow the former to come into the ves- 

 sel. Sailors and soldiers never very well agree, 

 and the blunt Englishman said that he had no 

 idea of his ship being taken from him by a fel- 

 low in a party-coloured jacket. This was a new 

 regulation. Indeed, in most of thos^regarding 

 the port of Maranham, I could not avoid recol- 

 lecting the old proverb of " Much cry," &c. 

 As the brig came up the harbour, we received 

 the health and custom-house visit. It was com- 

 posed of several well-dressed men, some of whom 

 wore cocked hats and swords ; and all of them 

 ate much bread and cheese, and drank quan- 

 tities of porter. The administrador of the cus- 

 toms was among them, and was dressed in the 

 uniform of a cavalry officer. I scarcely ever saw 

 so much astonishment pictured in the coun- 

 tenance of any man as in that of the master of 

 the brig. He had been accustomed to enter our 

 own ports, where so much business is done in 

 so quiet a manner ; and he now said to me in 

 half joke, half earnest, " Why it is not only one, 

 but they are coming in shoals to take the ship 

 from me.'* After all these personages, and all 

 the trouble they had given us, I w r as still obliged 

 to pass the night on board, because the guarda- 

 mor, the officer especially appointed to prevent 

 smuggling, had not made his visit. Fortunately, 

 I found means of having the letters conveyed 

 on shore, otherwise the vessel would have ar- 

 s 3 



