dress, and so little disposed to take trouble, that a customer is often induced to leave the shop, by the careless way in which he is treated. They are exceedingly fond of sedentary games of chance, such as cards and draughts, and often engage at them on their counters. I have sometimes gone in at those times to purchase an article, and the people were so interested in their game, that they would not leave it to attend to me and sell their goods. They are, however, honest and correct in their dealings, and bear good moral characters. Their charity is boundless, as appears by the sums expended on different objects by the irmandades, or brotherhoods, which they form. They are, as far as I have heard, generally speaking, good fathers and husbands, and their families are brought up with strictness and propriety. It is pleasing to see them walking out together, the corpulent parents going before, and the children and domestics following in their orders. The women are fond of black, wear no caps, but a black veil is generally thrown over their bare heads, which hangs down below their bosom and back; and as it is generally worked and spotted, it makes their faces look, at a little distance, as if they were covered with black patches. They always wear silk stockings and shoes, and are particularly neat and careful in the decorations of their feet and legs, which are generally small and wellshaped. The boys of this rank are remarkably obliging; when I saw any thing among them that seemed curious, and I expressed a wish to look at it, they always pressed it on my acceptance with great good nature, and seemed pleased at an opportunity of gratifying me.' - Vol. 1. pp. 258-260.

One or two extracts will serve as specimens of the spirited and graceful manner in which Mr. Walsh describes natural objects.

'But among the trees, which gave the woods, to an European, a peculiar character, none was more striking than the singularity of the palm-trees. These were seen shooting above the rest to an immense height, with their long and slender stems, crowned with feathery foliage, like ostriches' plumes, waving in the air; and of all these, the assai (euterpe oleracea,) is the most elegant and beautiful. It is the taper palm which yields the cabbage. It rises from a slender stem, not more than six inches in diameter at the base; and it shoots up to the height sometimes of one hundred feet, or more. The stem is marked by annual rings, five or six inches asunder, and near the summit is a long succulent cylinder, from whence the leaves issue. This green footstalk contains the embryo of the plant.

VOL. XI. -N. S. VOL. VI. NO. II.

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It consists of the rudiments of the future leaves, beautifully plaited, and convoluted at the centre; and their developement from hence forms the elegant tuft that crowns the summit. This portion is exceedingly tender, yielding a pleasant and wholesome vegetable, like cabbage, boiled, and eaten with meat. From all parts of the woods, this elegant tree was seen shooting above its companions, waving in every breeze its long flexible stem, and its tuft of light silken leaves. It seemed, indeed, to belong more to the sky than the earth; for in some places it crowned the summits of the highest ridges, and was the only one whose foliage was seen projected on the blue sky, like Berenice's hair floating in the starry firmament; for the stem that supported it was so slender, that it could not be discerned in the distance. It was with great regret I first attacked this beautiful tree, and utterly destroyed it for the small portion of its esculent part. When we saw it growing on the side of a hill, near the road, we seized its taper stem, and bent it down, till it snapped off near the root, and lay prostrate across the way. Here with a faka, we cut off its graceful head, and left its body to decay. In any other country, this might be deemed a wanton and unjustifiable act of destruction; but in this it was only removing that which encumbered the soil with its profusion.

'But the destruction of trees in these woods does not lessen

the abundance of vegetable life. On every blasted stem which had lost its own bark and leaves, a crop of parasites had succeeded, and covered the naked wood with their no less luxuriant leaves and flowers. Of these, the different species of airplants (epidendron), and barren pines (tillandsia), were the most remarkable. The first were no less singular than beautiful; they attach themselves to the dryest and most sapless surface, and bloom as if issuing from the richest soils. A specimen of one of these, which I thought curious, I threw into my portmanteau, where it was forgotten; and some months after, in unfolding some linen, I was astonished to find a rich scarlet flower, of the gynandrous class, in full blow it had not only lived, but vegetated and blossomed, though so long secluded from air, light, and humidity. Every withered tree here was covered with them, bearing flowers of all hues, from the brightest yellow to the deepest scarlet. They are easily propagated by transplanting; and my good friend, colonel Cunningham, had all the trees in his garden at Bota Fogo covered with them. The barren pine is not less extraordinary. It also grows on sapless trees, and never on the ground. Its seeds are furnished, on the crown, with a long filmy fibre, like the thread

of gossamer. As they ripen, they are detached, and driven with the wind, having the long thread streaming behind them. When they meet with the obstruction of a withered branch, the thread is caught, and revolving round, the seed at length comes into fixed contact with the surface, where it soon vegetates, and supplies the naked arm with a new foliage. Here it grows, like the common plant of a pine apple, and shoots from its centre a long spike of bright scarlet blossoms. In some species, (tillandsia, utriculata, and lingulata), the leaves are protuberant below, and form vessels like pitchers, which catch and retain the rain water, furnishing cool and limpid draughts to the heated traveller, in elevations where no water is to be found. The quantity of fluid contained in these reservoirs is sometimes very considerable; and in attempting to reach the flower stem, I have been often drenched by upsetting the plant.' Vol. 11. pp. 169, 170.

Having entered on the plains, he says,

'The birds here were more numerous, and their notes more cheerful, than in the dense forests we had passed. The most usual and attractive is João de Barros, or John of the Clay, because he always builds a regular house of it. We saw this constantly, in shape like an Irish cabin, built on the upper side of a large branch of a tree, not pendent, but erect. It consisted of an edifice, with an arched roof, having a corridor, or porch, with a door leading to an inner apartment. With a singular instinct, the door was always found on the side from which the wind less frequently blew; and the edifice was so strong and well constructed, that one has been known to last its ingenious architect many winters. The bird is about the size of a lark, or larger, and is sometimes called the yellow thrush. It is exceedingly familiar, and generally found near ranchos and villages. Whenever we approached, we saw John clinging to the branch of a tree, in an upright position, announcing our coming with a shrill, lively note, as if he was the warder placed there to warn the inhabitants of the arrival of a stranger. cheerful salutation, however, was not confined to human habitations, but he frequently accosted us far from the haunts of men; and his lively note of welcome often met our ear in the most solitary places.

His

'Another familiar and cheerful bird was the Ben te vi, so called from the perfect accuracy with which he pronounces these words. He is about the size of a sparrow, and distinguished by a circle of white round his head, with a yellow belly. Whenever we passed, he put his head out of the bush,

and peeping at us from under the leaves, he said "Ben te viOh, I saw you!" with an arch expression, as if he had observed something which he could tell if he pleased.' - Vol. II. p. 172.

The recent revolution in which Don Pedro has been compelled to abdicate the throne of Brazil, as hastily as James the Second did that of England, has attracted some attention to this unfortunate emperor. No one who has read the volumes before us will be surprised at this catastrophe. The abdicated monarch has on former occasions exhibited great activity, energy, and decision, and much tact and good sense in complying promptly and gracefully with the popular will. Our author, however, represents him as arbitrary and despotic in his principles, and in all his concessions to the people, as not guided by any wish to make the institutions of his country more free, but as only yielding to a force which he perceived himself unable to resist. His measures in some cases have been violent and sanguinary. It is not wonderful that among a people fickle and restless, filled with a love of republicanism, and whose political views are shifting and confused, the emperor, even if he had given no serious cause of offence, should have become unpopular. But it will be strange if a monarchical government should continue for any length of time in that country, surrounded as it is by republican states. Some particulars respecting the late emperor will perhaps be found interesting.

'The emperor's habits are very active and very temperate. He rises every morning before day, and, not sleeping himself, is not disposed to let others sleep. He usually begins, therefore, with discharging his fowling-piece about the palace, till all the family are up. He breakfasts at seven o'clock, and continues engaged in business or amusement till twelve, when he again goes to bed and remains till half past one; he then rises and dresses for dinner. The Brazilians, as far as I have observed, are neat and cleanly in their persons; and the emperor is eminently so. He is never seen in soiled linen or dirty clothes. He dines with his family at two, makes a temperate meal, and seldom exceeds a glass of wine, and then amuses himself with his children, of whose society he is very fond. He is a strict and severe, but an affectionate father, and they at once love and fear him. I heard Baron Marechal, the Austrian minister, say, he one day paid him a visit: he met no person at the door to introduce him; so availing him

self of his intimacy, he entered without being announced. He found the emperor in an inner room, playing with his children with his coat off, entering with great interest into all their amusements, and like another Henry IV. was not ashamed to be found by a foreign ambassader so employed. At nine he retires to bed.

His education was early neglected, and he has never redeemed the lost time. He still, however, retains some classical recollections, and occasionally takes up a Latin book, particularly the breviary, which he reads generally in that language. He wished to acquire a knowledge of English, and to that end he commenced, along with his children, a course of reading with the Rev. Mr. Tilbury, an Englishman, who has taken orders in the Catholic church, and to whose courtesy and information on several subjects, I am very much indebted. After having made some progress, he laid it aside and began to learn French, in which he sometimes converses. He has an English groom, from whom also he unfortunately learned some English. This fellow, I am informed, is greatly addicted to swearing and indecent language, and the emperor, and even the late empress, adopted some of his phraseology, without being aware of its import.

In his domestic expenses he is exceedingly frugal. The careless profusion of his father, and the total derangement of the finances, had involved the country in such difficulties, that he found it necessary to set an example of frugality in his own person, by limiting himself to a certain expenditure. In his speech to the constituent assembly, he announced this determination. "The king's disbursement," said he, "amounted to four millions; mine does not exceed one. I am resolved to live as a private gentleman, receiving only one hundred and ten thousand milreis for my private expenses, except the allowance to which my wife is entitled by her marriage contract." This at the rate of exchange before we left Rio, would not have amounted to more than ten thousand pounds per annum. His present allowance, as fixed by the chambers, is two hundred thousand milreis for himself, and twelve thousand for his children. To make this answer, he engages in various profitable pursuits, and adopts in every thing, the most rigid system of economy. He lets out his fazenda at Santa Cruz, for grazing cattle passing to Rio from the Minas Geraes, and receives so much a-head from the drovers. His slaves cut capim, and sell it, on his account, in the streets, where they were pointed out to me, distinguished by plates on their caps. He derives, also, a revenue, I am told, from several caxas shops, of which he is the

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