RIO DE JANEIRO. 93 ^ 
seminaries in early life, than from any in)moral motive ; and 
that this enstom is continued afterwards, not only from long 
iiabit, but also from a desire of appearing friendly and sociable. 
At the grate of the convent of Santa Clara, which some of oiu' 
party visited daily, the custom of presenting liowers was so 
common, even Avith children of eight or ten years that, after a 
few of the first visits, nobody thought of calling there without 
being provided with a nosegay ; and there was generally a 
struggle among the young girls which of them should first get 
to the grate and exchange her flower, always taking care pre- 
viously to apply it to her lips ; and having kissed the flower 
she received in return, she then retired to make room for 
another. So innocent did this custom appear to us, on the 
part of the young ladies, and so unsuspecting of any thing 
criminal was the abbess, that the latter openly encouraged it, 
apparently without any other view than that of its contribut- 
ing to the few pleasures of which the strict confinement of a 
nunnery admits. And as most of the ladies of Rio have ac- 
quired their education in some of the convents, it may easily 
be imagined that a favourite amusement of their early years, 
in a country where so few amusements are to be found, woidd 
naturally be remembered with pleasure in a different but not 
much more enlarged sphere of life. Women who, I am in- 
clined to believe, are in all countries much more disposed 
to be sociable than the other sex, and whose dispositions are 
infinitely more benevolent, have also, in their demeanor, a 
much more diflicult task to perform. If they are shy and re- 
served, they incur the censure of affectation ; if open and in- 
genuous, they are liable to a censure of another kind. 
