t of two sitters, another
bench at the foot of a mast, immense for the size of the raft, holds
clothes and provisions, or an upright pole is fixed in one of the logs,
to which these things are suspended, and a large triangular sail of
cotton cloth completes the jangada, in which the hardy Brazilian sailor
ventures to sea, the waves constantly washing over it, and carries
cargoes of cotton or other goods, or, in case of necessity, letters and
despatches, hundreds of miles in safety.

About three o'clock a large canoe with two patriot officers came along
side, to ascertain if we were really English; if we had come, as was
reported, to assist the royalists, or if we would assist them: so apt
are men, under the influence of strong feeling themselves, to doubt of
perfect indifference in others, that I question much whether they
believed in the strict neutrality we profess. They left us, however,
without betraying any particular anxiety, and made a very circuitous
passage home, in order to avoid the Recife cruizer, which was looking
out for straggling boats or vessels of any description belonging to the
patriots.

_Monday the 24th._--Col. Patronhe arrived early this morning, to request
that the English packet might put into Lisbon with the Government
despatches. We felt glad that the strict rules of service prevented the
captain from giving any such order to the master of the packet. It would
be at once a breach of that neutrality we profess to observe, and, in my
opinion, an aiding of the worst cause. The colonel, adverting to the
town being in a state of siege, and the uncertainty of the next attack
as to time and place, advised me strongly to stay altogether on board;
but I had never seen a town in a state of siege, and therefore resolved
to go ashore. Accordingly, Mr. Dance, being the only officer on board
who speaks either Portuguese or French, was commissioned to accompany
me; and I took two midshipmen, Grey and Langford, also to call on Madame
do Rego.

The name of Pernambuco, which is that of the captainship, is now
generally applied to the capital, which consists of two parts; 1st, the
city of Olinda, which was founded by the Portuguese, under Duarte Coelho
Pedreiro, about 1530 or 1540, and, as its name implies, on a beautiful
spot, where moderate, but abrupt hills, a fine river, and thick wood,
combine to charm the eye; but the approach to it by sea must always have
been difficult, if not dangerous: and, 2nd, the