34 



TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



two currents met, according to the tradition of the 

 people, close to the island. Hence all the environs 

 are looked upon by the inhabitants with religious 

 respect. They likewise attribute to the circum- 

 stance which occurred upon the apostle's landing, 

 the supposed absence of serpents in the island ; 

 contrary to which opinion, we must, however, con- 

 fess that we saw a snake in the fields. The church 

 of St. Paul is built in the modern style, but over- 

 loaded with all imaginable ornaments, — gilding 

 lapis lazuli, and marble. Not far from the church 

 is the grotto of St. Paul, where there is an image 

 of the apostle as large as life. The stone, of which 

 the cavern consists, supposed by the inhabitants to 

 possess the miraculous power of curing all kinds of 

 fevers, is a marl-like, light, white, brittle lime- 

 stone, of recent formation, in which there are traces 

 of petrifications of marine shells, still found in the 

 adjacent seas, such as the Mytilus esculentus, and 

 several species of Cardium, Though thousands of 

 chisels have been at work upon this wonder-working 

 rock, the pious credulity of the people cannot ob- 

 serve any diminution of it. We were not per- 

 mitted to leave the old town without seeing the 

 celebrated catacombs. The entrance to them is in 

 a garden, very near the church of St. Paul. They 

 are extensive intricate passages, hewn in the soft 

 rock, sometimes only a few feet broad, and the 

 height of a man, and sometimes widened into large 

 vaults. Popular tradition ascribes them to the 



