shoals, the triumph approaches to the sublime, and in it there is a secret dread, though not of ocean, and a raising of the soul to him who made the ocean, and gave man mind to master it. I am not ashamed to own, that as I looked round on my young charge, when Mr. Dance whispered "sit still and say nothing," and then stepping to the bow of the boat called aloud to the helmsman, "steady!" I had a moment, though but a moment, of exquisite anxiety. But we were through in an instant, and soon alongside of the frigate, where we were praised for doing what few had done before, and having shown the possibility of doing that safely, which at some future time it might be of importance to know could be done at all. _Wednesday, 10th._--We went on shore early for the first time since the armistice. The guns are removed from the streets and a few of the shops are re-opened; the negroes are no longer confined within doors, and the priests have reappeared; their broad hats and ample cloaks give them an importance among the crowd, which now is busy and active, and seemingly intent on redeeming the time lost to trade by the siege. I was struck by the great preponderance of the black population. By the last census, the population of Pernambuco, including Olinda was seventy thousand, of which not above one third are white: the rest are mulatto or negro. The mulattoes are, generally speaking, more active, more industrious, and more lively than either of the other classes. They have amassed great fortunes, in many instances, and are far from being backward in promoting the cause of independence in Brazil. Few even of the free negroes have become very rich. A free negro, when his shop or garden has repaid his care, by clothing him and his wife each in a handsome black dress, with necklace and armlets for the lady, and knee and shoe buckles of gold, to set off his own silk stockings, seldom toils much more, but is quite contented with daily food. Many, of all colours, when they can afford to purchase a negro, sit down exempt from further care. They make the negro work for them, or beg for them, and so as they may eat their bread in quiet, care little how it is obtained. The European Portuguese, are extremely anxious to avoid intermarriage with born Brazilians, and prefer giving their daughters and fortunes to the meanest clerk of European birth, rather than to the richest and most meritorious Brazilian. They have become aware of the prodigious inconvenience, if not evil, they have brought on themselves by the importation of Africans, and now no doubt, look forward with dread to the event of a revolution, which will free their slaves from their authority, and, by declaring them all men alike, will authorise them to resent the injuries they have so long and patiently borne.