FESTIVAL OF NAZARETH 



39 



on which his establishment is built, he told us, was an 

 artificial embankment on the swamp ; the end of the 

 house was built on a projecting point overlooking the 

 river, so that a good view was obtained, from the sitting 

 rooms, of the city and the shipping. We learnt there 

 was formerly a large and flourishing cattle estate on this 

 spot, with an open grassy space like a park. On Sundays 

 gay parties of 40 or 50 persons used to come by land 

 and water, in carriages and gay galliotas, to spend the 

 day with the hospitable owner. Since the political dis- 

 orders which I have already mentioned, decay had come 

 upon this as on most other large establishments in the 

 country. The cultivated grounds, and the roads leading 

 to them, were now entirely overgrown with dense forest. 

 When we were ready to depart, Senhor Danin lent a 

 canoe and two negroes to take us to the city, where we 

 arrived in the evening after a day rich in new experiences. 



Shortly afterwards we took possession of our new re- 

 sidence. The house was a square building, consisting 

 of four equal-sized rooms ; the tiled roof projected all 

 round, so as to form a broad verandah, cool and pleasant 

 to sit and work in. The cultivated ground, which ap- 

 peared as if newly cleared from the forest, was planted 

 with fruit trees and small plots of coffee and mandioca. 

 The entrance to the grounds was by an iron-grille gate- 

 way from a grassy square, around which were built the 

 few houses and palm-thatched huts which then con- 

 stituted the village. The most important building was 

 the chapel of our Lady of Nazareth, which stood opposite 

 our place. The saint here enshrined was a great favourite 

 with all orthodox Paracuses, who attributed to her the 

 performance of many miracles. The image was to be 

 seen on the altar, a handsome doll about four feet high, 

 wearing a silver crown and a garment of blue silk, studded 

 with golden stars. In and about the chapel were the 

 offerings that had been made to her, proofs of the miracles 

 which she had performed. There were models of legs, 

 arms, breasts, and so forth, which she had cured. But 

 most curious of all was a ship's boat, deposited here by 

 the crew of a Portuguese vessel which had foundered, a 

 year or two before our arrival, in a squall off Cayenne ; 

 part of them having been saved in the boat, after invoking 

 the protection of the saint here enshrined. The annual 



