

ALCANTARA. 



281 



not have seen them again. Such are the diffi- 

 culties which are experienced with books in the 

 parts of Brazil which I visited, that the only re- 

 source which remains is that of smuggling them 

 into the country.* I hope, however, that the 

 enlightened minister who is now at the head of 

 affairs, at Rio de Janeiro, will put an end to 

 this dreadful bar to improvement. 



I brought a letter from one of my acquaint- 

 ance at Pernambuco to a gentleman who resided 

 at Alcantara, a town on the opposite side of the 

 bay of St. Marcos. My friend at St. Luiz, another 

 young Portuguese, and myself, accompanied by 

 two servants, agreed to hire a vessel and go over, 

 for the purpose of making him a visit, and of 

 seeing the place. We hired a small bark, and 

 set sail one morning early, with a fair but light 

 wind. The beauties of the bay are only to be 

 seen in crossing it ; the number of islands diver- 

 sify the view every five minutes, from the dis- 

 covery of some hidden point, or from a change 



* It is not perhaps generally known, that there are pub- 

 lished in London three or four Portuguese periodical works. 

 One of them is prohibited in Brazil, and 1 have heard it said, 

 that all of them are so situated ; but they are principally in- 

 tended for Brazilian readers, and they find their way all over 

 the country, notwithstanding the prohibition. I have seen 

 them in the hands of civil, military, and ecclesiastical officers, 

 and have heard them publicly spoken of by them. It is said 

 that the Regent reads them, and is occasionally pleased with 

 their invectives against some of the men in power. 



