_Public Gardens._--On the bay shore, commencing near the Praya or Beach do Flamingo, is a pleasant garden, surrounded by a high wall, and guarded at its various entrances by soldiers. It is much resorted to by the inhabitants after sunset. The avenues are of good width, well gravelled, kept clean, and are finely shaded by native and foreign trees, and with hedges of flowers indigenous to the climate; but the pure and wholesome breezes, and a view of the bay, are obstructed by a mound, thrown up unnecessarily high, to protect this retreat against an ever-rolling surf. Looking to the right at the further extremity of the beach, along which is a range of good houses guarded by a high granite wall, lies the beautiful Gloria hill, having a small white turreted chapel, Nossa Señora de Gloria, or our Lady of Glory. It is of an octagonal shape, lies partially concealed amid noble forest and fruit trees, and is adorned with hedges of myrtle, interspersed with jasmine: and there, “Weak with nice sense, the chaste Mimosa stands, From each rude touch withdraws her timid hands; Oft as light clouds o’erpass the summer glade, Alarmed, she trembles at the moving shade, And feels alive, through all her tender form, The whispered murmurs of the gathering storm; Shuts her sweet eyelids to approaching night, And hails with freshened charms the rising light.” I was much gratified with two visits made to the Botanic garden, situated about eight miles from the palace. The first visit was by water, as far as Boto Fogo. From thence it is probably three miles by land over a tolerably good road, lying principally amid mountain scenery, the Corcovado being on the right. This mountain, on its eastern side, is one immense mass of granite, rising perpendicularly to the height of two thousand feet. On either hand are plantations and gentlemen’s villas. The road was overhung with various fruits--the coffee-tree showing its red berries and the cotton-tree its yellow bulb; or, having burst its outward covering, displaying the contents of its little pod, as white and pure as the new-fallen snow; the hedges were beautifully decorated by the hand of nature with roses, myrtles and jasmines, intertwined with a great variety of creeping plants. On the left, we passed a small brackish piece of water, called Lake Frietas, formed by an encroachment of the sea; which, in heavy gales and during high tides, forces itself over the sandy barrier between the low lands and its waters. We arrived at noon--an unpropitious hour, for the garden was shut until three, in the afternoon. Being desirous to employ our spare time to the best advantage, we strolled on several miles farther to the seabeach, through sandy plantations, covered entirely with pine-apple, then in a green state and very small. Our toil was unrewarded, as we did not obtain a single shell, (the shore being too sandy,) nor did we see any object worthy of note.