I learned,
that the porous jars for cooling water, that we find here, are all made
in the neighbourhood of Bahia, there being no manufactory here, except a
few coarse cottons for clothing for the slaves. The air and manners of
the family we visited, though neither English nor French, were perfectly
well bred, and the dress pretty much that of civilised Europe, only that
the men wore cotton jackets instead of cloth coats, and were without
neck-cloths; when they go out of doors, however, they dress like
Englishmen.

Returning from our visit, we met a monk, carried out to be buried by
several of his brethren, with candle, book, and bell, and all the
solemnities which human feeling has invented to solace its own fears and
griefs, under the pretence of honouring the dead, and to which the
Romish church has in such cases as these, added all her pageantry. I
could not help contrasting it with the burials on the beach of Olinda,
and smiling at the vanities that attach themselves even to corruption.
"But man, vain man, plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven, as
make the angels weep."

But our horses were awaiting us, and we left our indignation and our
pity for the follies of some, and the miseries of others, to enjoy, for
the first time since the posts were free, the country air. When we went
to Bibiriba, soldiers stopped us to question at every turn; piles of
arms, and horses ready accoutred at the door of every considerable
residence, showed that military posts had taken place of the pleasures
of the country-houses, and accounted for the solitariness of the roads.
Now the scene is changed--the paths are crowded with negroes, young and
old, in their picturesque, though gaudy dresses, with baskets of fruit,
fish, and other provisions, on their heads; little carts, of which we
had not before seen one, begin to appear, and the fine oxen which draw
them form no bad contrast to the half-starved bullocks of the town.
'Twas a cool evening, and the sun was just low enough to gild the edges
of the palms and other tall trees, which shot up with their deep black
shadows into the thin pure light, making an effect, that even Titian's
landscape pencil has not reached. Our ride extended to Mr. S.'s
country-house, which is, I believe, on the same plan with all the others
hereabouts, and which I can only compare to an Oriental bungalow; one
story very commodiously laid out, a veranda surrounding it, and standing
in the midst of a li