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PROVINCE OF ESPIRITO SANTO. 



those corporations, a chapel of St. Luzia, three of Nossa Senhora of Boa 

 Morte, Concei^ao, and Rozario. The ex-Jesuitical college is a fine edifice, and 

 now serves for the palace of the governors. The ouvidor of the comarca has 

 his ordinary residence here. It has also a royal professor of Latin, and a junta 

 da real fazenda, or the treasury. The island is elevated, and the greatest part 

 in a state of cultivation. Its eastern side lies in a direct line with the coast of 

 the continent. 



At the entrance of the bar, near the before-mentioned Moreno Mount, is ano- 

 ther, also a land-mark to sailors, and is in the form of a sugar-loaf. On its 

 summit is a convent of Franciscans, dedicated to Nossa Senhora da Penha, of 

 which it takes the name, not unfrequently sustaining damage by the winds. 

 The inhabitants of this sanctuary enjoy delightful prospects of the vast ocean, 

 and the varied scenery of mountains of a diversity of elevation and aspect, with 

 valleys of different width and profundity. 



In the skirts of this mount, at the entrance of the bay, is Villa Velha, (Old 

 Town,) originally the town of Espirito Santo, and for some time capital of the 

 capitania, which, however, never became considerable, and is now of little 

 consequence. Our Lady of Rozario is the patroness of the church, whose 

 parishioners are fishermen. Fish are abundant and cheap upon all this part of 

 the coast. 



Benevente is at present a small town ; but it unquestionably enjoys an advan- 

 tageous situation for becoming more considerable, at the mouth of the river 

 which takes its name, having a commodious anchorage place, and great fertility 

 of surrounding soil. The inhabitants are mostly Indians, for whose reception it 

 first began. The Jesuits, its founders, had a hospicio, or entertaining house 

 here, which is now divided into three portions ; one is the residence of the 

 vicar, another is appropriated to the municipal house, and the third for the use 

 of the ouvidor. The church is dedicated to Our Lady of Assump^ao. In the 

 adjacencies of the river, cotton, sugar, rice, Indian com, &c. are cultivated. The 

 canoes which convey those productions to the port can advance up the river 

 with the tide for a considerable distance. 



Guarapary is a villota, or small place, situated near the embouchure of the 

 river Guarapary, upon a small bay. The church is dedicated to Nossa Senhora 

 da Conceicao. Its inhabitants, principally Indians, cultivate cotton and the 

 necessaries of life. Here is collected the greatest portion of the Peruvian 

 balsam, which takes the name of the province. 



Almeyda, situated on elevated ground, near the embouchure of the Reys 



