Horses were in plenty. If you hired one for a ride, the owner bargained that in case it died you must bring back the shoes--they only shod the forefeet. It was a wild and open country; everyone appeared mounted as well as carrying a lasso, which would bring you to the ground with more certainty than a pistol-shot. We never ventured alone, but took long rides into the country. [Sidenote: Oct. 29.] We sailed from the River Plate, and got back to Rio October 29. Found _Aurora_, _Blonde_, and _Jaseur_. _Blonde_ a beautiful 48-gun frigate, Captain Lord Byron, who had on board the bodies of the late King and Queen of the Sandwich Islands, who had fallen victims to the measles while on a visit to England. There was in the Rua de Rita, over a shop-door, a large gilded metal cock that had for years resisted the attempts of the midshipmen of the British fleet; it was not strong nor heavy, but placed out of reach. There were watchmen about, as it had been often in danger, and it was for the benefit of the bird that Jack Hathorn got lent to the _Tweed_, bound for the River Plate, that he might find a suitable lasso. Days, or rather nights, passed without an opportunity: rain did not fall heavy enough; the moon would peep out. At length a storm, that had been threatening the early part of the night, broke with great violence. It was as dark as pitch. Cocoanut-oil lamps put themselves out; heavy stones that we carried through the dark were thrown down with a yell, unheeded by the guardians of the night; while Jack Hathorn and a chosen few, with his Monte Video lasso as well as a properly-prepared instrument, loosened the claws of the noble bird, which alighted in a downpour of rain on a pile of midshipmen’s cloaks, and was borne off. The sentry at the guard-house, under shelter of his box, did not trouble himself to ascertain how drunk was the comrade being conveyed to the boat which had been so long waiting. How sorry I was that my diminutive size prevented my having shared in this triumph! I hear the bird may now be seen in the hall of the Hathorn family at Castle-Wigg, in Wigtonshire, with a scroll in its beak describing the above. [Sidenote: Dec. 16.] Accidents will happen in the best regulated families. More than two courts-martial took place during our stay at Rio; but my friend Lieutenant Blake was acquitted and discharged into the _Aurora_, which ship was towed out of harbour, and sailed for England, December 16. As gig’s midshipman, I was much on shore; and, waiting for the Captain, amused myself in the extensive market, furnished as it was with every tropical fruit and flower. But my favourite amusement was to watch the monkeys, from the beautiful little marmoset to the more mischievous green species. One of these usually wiped his hands on my white trousers. Although not allowed, the evening before we sailed I smuggled my little friend on board in the Captain’s cloak-bag, and stowed him in the scuttle of the midshipmen’s berth.