ever since sunrise, from the church of our Lady
of Conception[75], whose feast is on the 8th of December. But the three
Sundays previous to it the church and convent are adorned, sermons are
preached, rockets are fired, contributions are made, and the shipping in
the harbour fire salooes at sunrise, at noon, and at sunset. The annual
expense of rockets, and other fireworks, is enormous. Those used in
Brazil all come from the East Indies and China. Sometimes, when
manufactured goods are unsaleable here, the merchant ships them on board
a Portuguese East Indiaman, and gets in return fireworks, which never
fail to pay well. I have seen a set of cut-glass sent to Calcutta for
the purpose, or a girandole, too handsome for Brazilian purchasers.

[Note 75: One of the two parishes of the lower town.]

Yesterday the ship's pinnace, which had been absent five days with the
master, my cousin Glennie, and young Grey, returned. They had gone to
examine the river of Cachoeira, and came back highly delighted with
their trip, though they had some very bad weather; however, with
tarpaulines, cloaks, and a blanket or two, which I insisted on their
taking, they managed so well as to have returned in good health.

Cachoeira, about fifty miles from Bahia, is a good town, where there is
one English merchant resident. It is populous[76] and busy; for it is
the place where the produce, chiefly cotton and tobacco, of a very
considerable district, is collected, in order to be shipped for Bahia.
It is divided into two unequal parts, by the river Paraguazu. Its parish
church is dedicated to our Lady of the Rosary. It has two convents, four
chapels, an hospital, a fountain, and three stone bridges over the small
rivers Pitanga and Caquende, on which there are very extensive
sugar-works. There are wharfs on both sides of the river. The streets
are well paved, and the houses built of stone, and tiled: the country is
flat, but agreeable. The river is not navigable more than two miles
above the town; it there narrows and becomes interrupted by rocks and
rapids, and there is a wooden bridge across it. About five miles from
Cachoeira, there is an insulated conical hill, called that of
Conception, whence there often proceed noises like explosions. These
noises are considered in this country as indicative of the existence of
metals. Near this place a piece of native copper was found, weighing
upwards of fifty-two arobas. It is now in the museum of Lisbon.