EDUCATION. 



339 



for every one hundred and six free persons in the province. Each pupil 

 costs the State about seven and a half dollars. 



In the four schools of Latin, one person is educated in every five 

 hundred and sixty-four, at a cost of twenty-six dollars. 



In the College of Para, called " Lyceo da Capital" the proportion 

 educated is one to two hundred and eleven, at a cost of sixty-two dollars. 



There are two capital institutions of instruction in Para — one for the 

 education of poor boys as mechanics, who are compelled to pay for their 

 education in labor for the State ; and the other for the instruction in 

 the practical business in life of orphan and destitute girls. I think 

 that this education is compulsory, and that the State seizes upon vaga- 

 bond boys and destitute girls for these institutions. There is also another 

 school of educandos for the army. 



The province also maintains three young men for the purpose of com- 

 plete education in some of the colleges of Europe. 



There are several hospitals and charitable institutions in the city, 

 among which is a very singular one. This is a place for the reception 

 of foundlings maintained by the city. A cylinder, with a receptacle in 

 it sufficiently large for the reception of a baby, turns upon an axis in a 

 window ; any one may come under cover of night, deposit a child in 

 the cylinder, turn the mouth of the receptacle in, and walk away with- 

 out being seen. Nurses are provided to take charge of the foundling. 



Though I pumped all my acquaintances, I could get no statistics con- 

 cerning this institution, or whether it was thought to be beneficial or 

 not. I judge, however, that for this country it is. Public opinion here 

 does not condemn, or at least treats very leniently, the sins of fornica- 

 tion and adultery. This institution, therefore, while it would tend to 

 lessen the crime of infanticide, would not encourage the above men- 

 tioned sins by concealment ; for where there is no shame there is no 

 necessity for concealment. In speaking thus, I do not at all allude to 

 the higher classes of Brazil. 



The executive and legislative government of the province is in a 

 president and four vice presidents, appointed by the Crown, and in a 

 legislative assembly. 



The provincial assembly meets once a year, in the month of May. 

 The length of its sessions is determined by itself. It elects its own pre- 

 siding officer. It is a very inefficient representative system. The people 

 in the districts elect electors, who choose delegates and suplentes, or 

 proxies. Most of these proxies belong to the city; they have little 

 knowledge of the wants, and no sympathy with the feelings, of the 

 people they represent. Each delegate (at least this is the case in the 



