r its defence. The
church however is a beautiful building, and the palace of the governor
is very magnificent; but the houses of the inhabitants are only such
as are commonly met with among the Spanish and Portuguese colonists in
America. The Franciscan monastery stands on the S. side of the town,
and accommodates about thirty monks very conveniently. The prior
shewed to the commodore and his officers a curious idol, which he said
had been worshipped by the ancient natives of the place. It was the
image of a creature half tiger half lion, about four feet high and a
foot and a half round. Its feet resembled the paws of a lion, and
the head was adorned with a double crown, in which were stuck twelve
Indian darts, one of which on each side was broken. On each shoulder
there was a large wing like that of a stork. In the inside was seen
the statue of a man, completely armed in the manner of the country,
having a quiver of arrows at his back, a bow in his left hand, and an
arrow in his right. The tail of this strange idol was very long, and
twisted three or four times round the body of the man. It had been
called _Nasil Lichma_, by its worshippers, and the prior said that it
was made of gold; but the author of this voyage suspected it was
only gilded. The monks had also a numerous collection of European and
American curiosities, which they exhibited at the same time.

[Footnote 3: It is impossible to reconcile this longitude with any
of the first meridians mentioned in a former note, or indeed with any
known geographical principles. It is 45 deg. 30' W. from Greenwich. If
reckoned from the meridian of Teneriffe, said to be that used by the
Dutch, this would place it 21 deg. 10' too far west, as Teneriffe is 16 deg.
40' W. from Greenwich. This place, in an island of the same name, has
to be carefully distinguished from the city of St Sebastian, now more
commonly known by the name of Rio de Janeiro.--E.]

The port, or river rather, of St Sebastian, is three or four leagues
in length, and about one league broad, having a very fine island on
the N.E. of about four miles round, and there are smaller islands on
all the other sides of this haven. The country of Brazil is very large
and rich, insomuch that the king of Portugal is said to draw as
great a revenue from hence, as the king of Spain from all his vast
possessions in America. Its capital is Bahia, or St Salvador, besides
which there are many other towns, as Siara, Olinda, R