502 NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



When arrived at the bottom, I found a small house, decently painted, 

 and the pit full of very shabby, ill-looking people, many of them 

 wearing Capotas, — an habiliment which is the favourite dress of thieves 

 and murderers, and on that account, as well as others, disgusting to one 

 completely initiated into a knowledge of Brazilian modes. The assem- 

 blage around me was entirely unrelieved by the presence of women, for 

 into that part of the house none of that sex are admitted. The men, 

 notwithstanding their forbidding appearance, were civil, readily gave 

 way, and furnished me with a comfortable seat. On the stage was 

 seated a female, not on the floor and cross-legged as is customar)^ but 

 in an European chair, and sewing also in our mode ; while a stiff figure 

 of a man, with his eyes fixed on the ceiling, and his arms glued to his 

 sides, was addressing another female in measured and unmoving tones ; to 

 which she replied with equal apathy, and statue-like inflexibility. 

 It was not possible to exhibit a more uninteresting scene, and other organs 

 of sense being offended besides the eyes and ears, I left my station, 

 and endeavoured again to obtain admission into one of the boxes, or at 

 least into one of the passages behind them ; but it could not be, and I 

 quitted the house. This circumstance was remembered to my disadvan- 

 tage, and, indeed, ruined my character in Villa Rica, as a man of taste. 



Among the public buildings which contribute to ornament the 

 town, the prison has been mentioned. To heighten its character we 

 must not look into the interior, for, like all others of the same descrip- 

 tion in Brazil, it seems intended to be the abode of wretchedness. 

 Countries far more advanced in civilization have yet, in a great measure 

 to learn, that a jail is a place of temporary detention for an accused or 

 condemned culprit, and that the only valid object of punishment is not 

 vengeance, but reformation. It is no wonder, then, that Brazil knows 

 nothing of the refinement which gives comfort to criminals, and calculates 

 the moral effects of laws, institutions, and punishments. 



In this part of the world such objects of improvement attract little 

 attention, for Gold is the first and almost the only one. To this every 

 different concern is sacrificed with little hesitation. 



