1811.] Illustrations of Scripture^ from the Sanscrit, Sic. 
this way. I have before observed that 
Olitida is a distinct city, three miles 
from Pernambuco. One day I visited this 
place in company with an American cap¬ 
tain. It is seated on a small hill, on the 
summit of which is a large monastery. 
The town is small; and, though most of 
the merchants of Pernambuco have seats 
here, it is nevertheless very thinly peo¬ 
pled. The houses are beautiful white 
buildings, interspersed with delightful 
gardens; rising as they do one above 
another on the side of the hi!!, it is seen a 
great way off at sea. The great trade and 
other advantages of Pernambuco have 
drawn all the merchants, from it; and it 
now contains little more than two mo¬ 
nasteries and a nunnery, with a few poor 
people dependent on them. The object 
which particularly attracted our attention 
was, the monastery on the hill; the church 
of which being open, we entered to view 
its curiosities. A slave kindly offered 
his services, and shewed us whatever we 
wished to see. In the middle of it lay 
.the body of a black woman, for inter¬ 
ment, The images and gilt cornices 
were very grand ; it is almost impossible 
to conceive the magnificence some of 
f these places exhibit. We observed a 
large curtain that concealed something. 
We wished to see it; the slave at first he¬ 
sitated, but, on looking round and per¬ 
ceiving none of the padres near, he ven¬ 
tured to draw it up; it was a most 
valuable crucifix in gold, as large as 
life. Whilst describing its value, a priest 
came in; the slave, struck with terror, 
fell on his knees and implored liis par¬ 
don. I perceived it was of no avail ; and 
therefore I had recourse to artifice, to 
save the poor fellow a flogging. I told 
him I was a Roman Catholic, but he 
would not believe it. By good Fortune I 
bad a gold cross for a brooch in my 
bosom; I shewed it him, he was then 
convinced, pardoned the slave, and 
shewed us all the curiosities we had not 
previously seen, especially some exquisite 
paintings on religious subjects. 
One cannot imagine a more romantic si- 
tuation, or one which co.minanris a more 
lovely prospect than this monastery, espe¬ 
cially the church, which is far the liighest 
object on this coast, and is visible^ a 
long way off at sea. As it was late 
in the evening before we returned to 
the bottom of the hill, after taking each a 
glass ot sawgaree, and smoking a segar, 
we Itired a canoe, which soon paddled us 
down the river to Pernambuco, through 
a swampy wood of low mangrove trees, 
full of alligators, one of which we could 
MowxiiLr Mag, No, 217-. 
i O-J 
discern crossing the river a little before 
us. 
The .Portuguese are an Ijonest well- 
behaved people, remarkably attached to 
the English; but they are passionate in 
tiie extreme, and murders are very com¬ 
mon. These are never committed for the 
sake of plunder, hut of revenge, or are 
the effect of some sudden quarrel. One 
day I witnessed one of them take place, 
which almost chilled my blood. Hap¬ 
pening to go down to the cotton-wharf, 
1 saw two men fighting, one of them 
gave the otlier a severe blow on the 
breast, which exasperated him so much 
that he irnmcuiatcly drew a knife and cut 
liis adversary across the abdomen, Ijy 
which all the viscera fell out, and a good 
deal of the feces. The unfortunate man 
expired in about five minutes, while tha 
assassin took sanctuarv in a neighbour- 
ing church; and in about a week after¬ 
wards I saw him looking at some English 
hardware in a shop window. The man 
who was thus killed was remarkably ac¬ 
tive in assisting us when we discharged 
our cargo, having the command of one 
of the boats which conveyed it to the 
shore. It is too expensive for any one 
to undertake to bring a criminal to 
justice for a capital crime, unless he is 
possessed of good property, and even 
tlien, if he has taken sanctuary, it is of 
no use. The Portuguese are sober, arM 
tolerably industrious. Their seamen are 
remarkably good and faithful, end are 
particularly adapted for English merchant 
shipping, in preference to any other 
foreigners. Titis I ha\'e often experi¬ 
enced. The produce of the Brazils con¬ 
sists of gold, silver, diamonds, sugar, 
cotton, hides, ipecacuana, sarsaparilla, 
fustic, rum, raelasses, coffee, ginger, and 
many other valuable commodities; hut 
the greatest part of these articles are not 
importable into England, on accour>t of 
our W’est India possessions, the produce 
of which is nearly similar, but iriferior in. 
quality, and double the price of that 
brought from the Brazils. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIH 
CONGRATULATE the literary 
world, and particnlarly the admirers 
of Carwit/isun’s Eampton Lectures, on 
the work that will soon be ushered into 
light, from the pen of the enhglitened 
gentleman from the East, who, from his 
tntiniate acquaintance with the Sanscrit, 
Persian, Arabic, and Syriac, languages, 
will very soon favour the world with his 
learned dissertations on every subject 
S connected 
