NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



159 



embankment. It terminates before we reach the rocky coast of 

 Maldonado. 



On the coast, immediately off Maldonado, lie two islands ; one of 

 them, called Lobos, displays but little verdure; the other, Gorita, is 

 lower, has a few buildings vipon it, and under its lee is the harbour; 

 the beach of which is exposed to a heavy surf, Avhich renders landing 

 sometimes dangerous, at others impossible. There are two entrances ; 

 that on the Eastern side of the island is very narrow; forced, on one 

 occasion, to go through it, we used some extraordinary precaution, and 

 succeeded happily. On the West, the coast is bold and stony, the 

 entrance broad and deep, and to small vessels perfectly safe ; but about 

 midway is a rock, with twenty-four feet of water upon it, on which his 

 Majesty's ship Bedford once touched, and laid a buoy. The anchoring 

 ground is near the centre of the bay, where lies the wreck of a British 

 ship — the Agamemnon. 



The town of INIaldonado, which, from the sea, has no very attractive 

 appearance, is two miles from the shore ; standing on the brow of a 

 hill, gently ascending two hundred and fifty feet above the level of 

 the water. The principal buildings form a quadrangle, on the North 

 side of which is a considerable Estalagem, or Inn ; on the South side a 

 Church, which, when finished, will be, for such a place, magnificent ; 

 the common habitations, occupying the rest of the square, are built of 

 brick, and covered with straw. The houses in the streets issuing from 

 the square, or running parallel with its sides, are chiefly low, and 

 constructed of earth. The whole number is about two hundred and 

 fifty ; that of the inhabitants from eight hundred to a thousand. It is 

 manifest how much ecclesiastical interests prevail here over civil ones ; 

 though the seemingly incongruous splendour of the Church may, in part, 

 be vindicated by the consideration, that it is a sort of Cathedral of an 

 extensive district, called by the name of St. Carlos, to whom the church 

 is dedicated. A village, bearing the same name, lies about nine miles 

 from the town, towards the North-east, and appears to have been, 

 formerly, the chief place in the district. 



