Religious _festas_, as has been before stated, are occurring weekly, and amongst other _funçons_, as they are called, one annually takes place in the beautiful island of Paquata, one of the fairest and most picturesque in the bay. The English merchants are generally applied to for subscriptions for this festival, which they accord with their accustomed liberality. It is a delightful water excursion, which, added to the charms of the island itself, induce all the world to be of the party, and under the religious cloak of these occasions, females always appear in public. A worthy captain of an English merchantman was induced, upon one of those festivals, recently, to accompany a party in his own boat; and, the mode of refreshment being of the pic-nic kind, he came in contact with an adjoining group, including several females, to whom he was tempted to pay some attention, and thereby unconsciously excited the jealousy of a monster in the shape of a human being, who was of the party; and at the moment of his departure from the island, the boat having only proceeded some yards, a knife was thrown with such unerring aim at him that it produced his immediate death. That blacks, slaves, and others, are hired to commit such atrocities, by the payment of a small recompense, is a fact affirmed to be notorious; one authenticated instance will be sufficient to show that it is too correct. It is within a short period that the inhabitants of Pria Flemingo were much shocked at the discovery of a dead body upon that beach, decapitated, and in a state of nudity, so that no trace was left to find out who the unfortunate individual might be. This mysterious circumstance excited deep interest, and produced the offer of a reward for the detection of the perpetrator of so foul a deed. During the interval that the matter was involved in uncertainty, it was known to the friars of a monastery that one of their members was missing; but, it would appear, nothing was said by them regarding the lost brother, from the apprehension, probably, that something vicious or improper might arise out of the investigation, not quite honourable to their sect. At last, from a fear of detection, and a consciousness of guilt, the real culprit came to the determination of communicating the affair to the King, presuming upon the known mercy of his Majesty, which is so unbounded that few persons have suffered the punishment of death since he ascended the throne, although it is possible the royal forbearance may have frustrated, in some instances, the just expiation of guilt.[14] On this occasion also the criminal was not brought to justice, who, it is ascertained, was a fidalgo, whose jealousy was roused by the frequent visits the friar already mentioned paid to his wife, for the professed purpose of exacting the confessional duties of herself and family. It is not ascertained whether he had any real cause or not for the excitement of this passion; he unquestionably