NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



71 



of preventing the lapse or abuse of charitable endowments. The number 

 of patients is considerable, and no man is inadmissible, whatever be the 

 nature of his d isease. It is open alike to the rich and the poor ; if any 

 one desires to be admitted gratis, he must carry with him, from persons 

 known and respectable, a certificate of poverty ; if a man have no such 

 testimony, he pays for the accommodation which he receives, at a fixed, 

 but moderate, daily rate. Though there is a sort of tacit restriction 

 operating against black people, I placed there, not without some mur- 

 muring on the part of the patients, a slave of my own ; and he received 

 from the governors and medical men all reasonable attention. At his 

 discharge, it was necessary to go through some tedious and useless forma- 

 lities, and to certify that he was cured. It would appear matter of regret 

 that there is no ward in the hospital for females, nor nurses of that de- 

 scription allowed, if the vicious dispositions and habits of the people were 

 not taken into due consideration. 



Of the Colleges for education that of St. Joze is the oldest and most 

 renowned. It was probably founded soon after the church of St. Sebastian, 

 and stands at the bottom of the hill, M'hich bears that name, near to the 

 Rua d' Ajuda. In front is a gate-way, which is more than substantial, 

 degenerating into the heavy Brazilian style. Passing under this gate- way, 

 visitors reach a large open space, covered with grass, at the bottom of 

 which they find a single range of building", with latticed windows painted 

 red. Its external appearance presented marks of palpable negligence, 

 and further search confirmed the first impressions. The rooms were suffi- 

 ciently numerous, but seemed to be very uncomfortable, some of them 

 unoccupied. We observed a few of the collegians lounging about in purple 

 gowns ; some had received the tonsure, but most of them were very 

 young. They exhibited no elasticity of mind, no inquisitive curiosity, no 

 urbanity of manners, and but little cleanliness of person. They surveyed 

 us with a stupid stare, and displayed, as we thought, the baneful 

 influence of supercilious ignorance on the powers which it pretends to 

 cultivate. As we came out, we were ready to say to each other, — no ray 

 of science has penetrated here. The college is in a seemingly healthy, as 



