Account of Pernambucoy hi/ a late Residents 
J34 
coast, on board of which he was in the 
capacity of a cabin boy. Being a hand¬ 
some vouth, the governor conceived a par¬ 
tiality for him, and brought him up in the 
Portuguese army: he is now his favorite 
*ide-du-camp, and always accompanies 
him when he goes in public. He is a 
genteel young man; his blue eyes and 
fair complexion immediately denote him 
to be an Englishman. Singular as it may 
seem, it is nevertheless true, he lias nearly 
iorgot his native language, and does not 
take the least notice whatever of his 
countrymen, vvhom he seems even to dis- 
cwn. He appears long ago to have given 
np all ideas of ever more returning to 
visit the country which gave him birth, 
and to have become quite a naturalized 
Portuguese. Many interesting reflec¬ 
tions will naturally arise in the minds of 
tliose who read this, possessing any de¬ 
gree of sensibility, on contemplating this 
singular and romantic incident. 
Pernambuco is seated on very low 
ground, and quite surrounded by water, 
consequently intermittent rivers are very 
eommoii. There is only one hospital, 
which consists of a very large room with 
about thirty beds on each side, filled 
with wretches suffering under the most 
loathsome diseases. A man stands at 
the door to solicit the charity of passen¬ 
gers, which helps to defray the expences. 
When a patient dies, he is laid on a table 
at the entrance with a plate on his breast, 
to raise in a similar way money to bury 
him. If often happens four or five bo¬ 
dies are thus exposed. Great numbers of 
slaves die of the small-pox on their first 
importation, and still more from the 
fever and dysentery. A few months 
before my arrival here a tribe of the na¬ 
tives or Japayos, consisting of about two 
hundred men, women, and children, 
same to the town from the interior. 
The governor gave them every eneou- 
Tagcment; but these complaints (espe¬ 
cially the latter) getting amongst them, 
the whole party died successively. The 
country a few miles from the town is full 
of thick impenetrable woods, dreadfully 
infested with wild beasts and reptiles, 
especially snakes. I was one evening 
returning to the town from Mr, M-’s 
country residence, when I saw a poor 
aged black stung in the leg by one of the 
latter, which he managed however to kill 
with a large stick he carried. It was 
about four feet long, of a dusky greenish 
browm colour, witli black spots on the 
back, trnd rather of a lighter colour 
-under tiie belly. He conveyed it in his 
hand to the town, groaning piteously al! 
the way, which I found lie had goodi 
reason to do, for one of tlie English I 
met with told me there was no cure for 
the bite of that particular snake, and 
that his death would certainly follow in a 
few hours. By the time we arrived in 
the town, his leg and thigh vvere so inuclj 
swollen, that lie could scarcely walk. As 
he passed through the streets to the hos^ 
pital, no one seemed to take any mitice of 
his distress, unless by shaking their heads 
to signify it was all over, 1 pitied 
the poor fellows situation from the bot¬ 
tom of my heart. Two days after I saw 
his body at the hospital door, exposed 
in the usual way to raise money to bury 
it; it was quite putrid, especially the leg 
which had been stung. 
I have often heard of the Ignis^. 
fatuus, or, as it is called, a Jack- 
a-Laniern, but I never saw one before 
I came to Pernambuco, at a shor^ 
distance from which they are very 
common. It is mostly at twilight in the 
evening they are visible, when I have 
counted more than thirty together. I 
know not what to compare them to, 
unless it is the very large sparks which 
fly from a blacksmith^s forge; they rise 
from the ground and continue to float 
about in the atmosphere, at the distance 
of eight or ten feet from the surface for 
some minutes, rvhen they totally dis¬ 
appear. 
This country also abounds with the 
most beautiful birds, some of whic.h 
are as red as scarlet, and sing delightfully. 
Macaws and parrots are also very com¬ 
mon, nearly every house having one or 
two at the door; and as they often set 
each other a chattering through s whole 
street, they make such a confounded din 
that air Englisinnan would think he was 
got into a Welch market. 
In regard to the fishes on this coast they 
are very numerous. The river near Pernam¬ 
buco abounds witli alligators, which are of¬ 
ten very destructive; and that extraordi¬ 
nary fish the torpedo is frequently caught 
here. The electric power is so strong in 
this fish, that even the line which catches 
him conveys a slight shock. The blacks 
have a curious w'ay of catching fish, which 
is thus performed : on a dark night they go 
on jungadas, (a sort of canoe composed 
of three or four long pieces of wood, 
lashed together) on which they make a 
large blazing fire, which instantly attracts 
the fish, when they strike them with 
harpoons; most of the fish with which 
Pernambuco is supplied are caught in 
