356 



PROVINCE OF PERNAMBUCO. 



external appearance was seen, and cultivation appeared to be making some pro- 

 gress. We purchased a rich supply of fruits from a widow whose shacara was 

 well stored, and her daughter gratuitously presented us with large bouquets of 

 flowers, whose aromatic scents were gratefully diffused in our cabin for some 

 days. In the common apartment of the widow's dwelling, secluded in a pro- 

 fusion of trees, was the figure of our Saviour, enclosed in a case with opened 

 doors, illumined by a lighted taper. 



Our next excursion was to a small opening between two headlands, not far 

 from the fort of St. Cruz, containing a solitary white cottage, exhibiting much 

 neatness at a distance : we soon, however, discovered that, like mostBrazilian 

 residences, its external appearance was not a proof of its internal comfort. 

 There was only one pathway, conducting from this little praya, up a steep 

 rocky mountain, on the summit of which we found a grey-headed old man, 

 seated, with his black boy, and enjoying the varied scenery around. He said, 

 that he frequently came from the city across the bay in a canoe to this retired 

 situation. We descended the opposite side of the mountain, by a narrow and 

 damp avenue, obscured by the meeting of rocks high above our heads, on 

 emerging from which we found our progress stopped by two distinct precipices 

 of granite ; it was necessary to cross the first in an oblique direction to arrive 

 at the second, an unlucky slip from which would have precipitated the passenger 

 one hundred feet into the sea. We observed a rope hanging over its side, but 

 could not imagine that it was the only descent into the valley below, until we 

 returned to the old man, who informed us that there was no other way, and 

 sent his boy to show us the mode of descending : with both hands he laid hold 

 of the rope, which was imperfectly secured to a bush, and traversed the first pre- 

 cipice, stepping backwards and allowing the rope gradually to pass through his 

 hands. Arrived at the second precipice, which was to be descended perpen- 

 dicularly, he took hold firmly of a stronger rope, attached to a hanging 

 tree, growing out of the interstices of the two rocks ; he proceeded back- 

 wards, moving one foot after the other, horizontally placed against the side of 

 the precipice, till he reached the bottom. Colonel Cotter, Captain Thomson, 

 and myself, took off our shoes and proceeded in the same way, but the Colonel 

 declined accompanying us further than the first precipice, in consequence of a 

 wound received in his hand at the battle of Victoria. The valley we found to 

 be thinly planted with mandioca, which, with a few solitary blacks and some 

 miserable huts, was all that it presented to our observation. We ascended the 

 precipices by placing ourselves in the same posture in which we had descended, 



