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housekeeper. In the course of conversation, he informed me that 

 he studied and had been ordained at St. Paul's ; and when he learnt 

 that I had been there so recently, seemed much pleased, and asked 

 me many questions respecting the present state of that city, which 

 shewed his attachment to it as the scene of his youthful days. 



About a week previous to my arrival, this village was the scene of 

 a somewhat remarkable adventure. A iropero* going to Rio de Ja- 

 neiro with some loaded mules, was overtaken by two cavalry soldiers, 

 who ordered him to surrender his fowling-piece ; which being done, 

 they bored the butt-end with a gimblet, and finding it hollo^v, took 

 off the iron from the end, where they found a cavity containing about 

 three hundred carats of diamonds, which they immediately seized. 

 The man in vain protested his innocence, stating that he had bought 

 the gun of a friend : he was hurried away, and thrown into prison at 

 Tejuco, where I afterwards saw him. The diamonds were con- 

 fiscated, and the soldiers received half their value. The fate of this 

 man is a dreadful instance of the rigour of the existing laws : he will 

 forfeit all his property, and be confined, probably, for the remainder 

 of his days in a loathsome prison, among felons and murderers. 

 What must be the feelings (if, indeed, he can be said to possess any) 

 of the man who betrayed him ; for, doubtless, the poor fellow owed 

 his misfortune to some secret villain, in the shape of a confidential 

 friend, who, having learned his mode of carrying diamonds concealed, 

 had, for the sake of a paltry premium, or from some mean-spirited 

 motive, given notice of it to Government ! How must the miscreant 

 recoil at having brought to irreparable ruin, and plunged into that 

 lowest state of human misery, perpetual imprisonment, a man who 

 not only claimed his sympathy as a fellow-creature, but was united 

 to him by the ties of friendship ! 



* An owner of mules, who travels with a number of them, carrying goods for other per- 

 sons, as well as on his own account. 



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