MIDNIGHT ASSASSINS. 



385 



utions of Timbd and Jenipapeiro were likewise 

 with law-suits always pending, and their de- 

 pendants never easy. Some districts are in a 

 quieter state than others, but very few are 

 totally without disturbance ; and there are few 

 plantations in any part of the province about 

 the boundaries of the lands of which more than 

 one law-suit has not been entered into.* 



* At the distance of twenty leagues or more from Recife, 

 there resided formerly the Padre Pedro, upon the sugar 

 plantation of Agua Azul, or the blue water. He had ob- 

 tained a grant from the Crown, of the surrounding lands, of 

 one square league in extent, and had fixed his dwelling upon 

 a high hill, the summit of which was only to be reached by 

 a serpentine road which he had made with great labour. The 

 sugar-works were likewise upon the hill, and the field around 

 the eminence was inclosed by a deep and broad ditch, and a 

 thick hedge on the outside. The situation was remote, and 

 the adjoining country was in a very wild state ; the woods 

 were extensive, and almost impenetrable. The disposition 

 of the priest was as wild as the country in which he delighted 

 to reside. All deserters from the regiments of the line, and 

 all persons who had committed crimes in supporting the in- 

 sulted honour of their families, in quarrels and provocations 

 exciting momentary violence of passion, were received by 

 him ; but he did not afford protection to the thief. The 

 fellows who were harboured by him inhabited the woods 

 around the field, and some of them had erected their huts 

 upon the sides of the hill, thus forming a line of communi- 

 cation ; so that with a whistle or a conch, soon were assembled 

 at his door forty or fifty men, who were prepared to perform 

 any service of whatever description he might name ; because 

 they well knew that if they were bereft of his protection, his 

 aid would be given in the law's support. To injure the priest 

 or any of his satellites, was followed by destruction to the 



VOL. I. 



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