NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



m 



some of which might have puzzled Esculapius himself. In cases, where 

 no harm could be done, I sometimes felt myself obliged to prescribe ; in 

 others, decisively to refuse. On this, my reputation took a different 

 turn, and I was reported to be a churl, when I was only timid, through 

 a consciousness of ignorance. The different reports, of which I was the 

 subject, followed me farther than might have been expected. On my 

 subsequent return to Rio de Janeiro, one of the ship's crew happened to be 

 ill, and intreated me to use in his favour, the skill, which he had no doubt 

 that I possessed ; pressing his suit by the observation, that there was no 

 danger of my being teased by the sick, as I had been in Rio Grande. 

 Disease and simplicity united to recommend the man to my attention, 

 and I gave him a few grains of Calomel ; after which, — I cannot say, in 

 consequence of which, — he soon became better. 



From what has been already said, it will be concluded that Military 

 Affairs were respectably managed in St. Pedro. The town is properly a 

 Garrison, and the Governor is Commander-in-chief He has under his 

 orders two regiments of the line ; one belonging to Rio Grande, the 

 other, and the better appointed, to St. Paul's ; also a body of cavalry 

 raised from the farms, and a regiment of militia. Every free man of the 

 country is enrolled in one or the other of these corps, and a considerable 

 force might, on an emergency, be collected in a short time. The 

 yeomanry and militia were deficient in every thing but numbers ; they 

 appeared in the field with Lassos or nooseSj and could certainly catch 

 their enemies with more skill than they could exhibit in the use 

 of a musket. There were, also, in the place some light and useful pieces 

 of artillery. 



The regiment of Rio Grande was about four hundred strong, that 

 of St. Paul's about three hundred ; when brought together, they were 

 stationed in different barracks, and did the duty of the town alternately. 

 A feud of long standing prevailed among them, arising, as it should 

 seem, from national antipathies, when this province was under the Spanish 

 Crown, and fostered by mutual wrongs and revengeful retaliations. One 



