I had already discovered, from written or printed documents, that the Inquisition of Goa was suppressed by royal edict, in 1775, and established again, in 1779, subject to certain restrictions, the chief of which are the two following: That a greater number of witnesses should be required to convict criminals than were before necessary; and that the auto-da-fé should not be held publicly as before, but that the sentences of the tribunal should be executed privately, within the walls of the Inquisition. In this particular, the constitution of the new Inquisition is more reprehensible than that of the old one. Formerly the friends of those unfortunate persons who were thrown into its prison, had the melancholy satisfaction of seeing them once a year walking in the procession of the auto-da-fé; or, if they were condemned to die, they witnessed their death, and mourned for the dead. But now they have no means of learning for years whether they be dead or alive. The policy of this new mode of concealment appears to be this, to preserve the power of the Inquisition, and, at the same time, to lessen the public odium of its proceedings, in the presence of British dominion and civilization. I asked the father his opinion concerning the nature and frequency of the punishments within the walls. He said he possessed no certain means of giving a satisfactory answer; that every thing transacted there was declared to be "sacrum et secretum." But this he knew to be true, that there were constantly captives in the dungeons; that some of them are liberated after long confinement, but that they never speak afterwards of what passed within the place. He added, that of all the persons he had known who had been liberated, he never knew one who did not carry about with him what might be called the "mark of the Inquisition;" that is to say, who did not show in the solemnity of his countenance, or in his peculiar demeanour, or his terror of the priests, that he had been in that dreadful place.