On our way to the sitio, we stopped at a kind of public-house or venta; it is like an English huckster's, and contains a little of every thing, cloth and candles, fruit and lard, wine and pimento, which are retailed at no very extravagant profit to the poor; the draught wine is really good, being port of excellent quality, without the quantity of brandy which the English market requires. By the time we repassed it on our way home, many a negro was spending his day's savings, and becoming as happy as wine could make him; and many a traveller was regaling himself with bread, garlic, and salt, and preparing to spread his mat, and lie down in the open air for the night. Night within the tropics is always a gayer and more peopled time than with us; the heat of the day detains many within doors all day, and evening and night become the favourite hours for walking. As we returned through Boa Vista we passed many groups enjoying like ourselves the pleasant air, and gazing idly on the reflections of the white houses and waving trees in the water; while the fire flies flitting from bush to bush, seemed like fragments of stars come down to adorn the moonlight. _Friday, 12th._--- The Prince Royal of Portugal's birth-day. There is a levee at the palace. The company bow first to the governor, then to the Prince's picture, which is placed in the middle of the audience-room, to receive its due honours; and then the _beja mano_, or kiss hands, takes place. The forts and ships saluted; we of course did the same; and the people all dressed and went to mass, as on a holiday. One thing contributed, however, in no small degree to the enjoyment of the day. The troops, which lately arrived from Bahia, re-embarked in order to return. Their whole behaviour had been disorderly, and their drunkenness and riot, during the ten days they were here, had quite disgusted the people; while the disposition they manifested to join the patriots, had rendered them but suspicious auxiliaries to the governor. _Saturday, 13th._--I took leave of my amiable friends at the palace. Madame do Rego gave me several specimens of amethyst, and the stone called minha nova (like aqua marine), and also a fine piece of gold ore of the province. She told me that Luiz do Rego had sent home many fine minerals from the captaincy, and also some fossils. She described some enormous bones, which may have belonged to the elephant or the mammoth, found at no great distance from Recife in digging a well, and, as far as I could understand, in such soil as I had observed lay under the sand in Cocoa-nut Island.[61] [Note 61: The Sugar-loaf Hill, in the ridge of Priaca, about eight leagues N.E. of the villa of Penedo, has a lake on its western declivity, where enormous bones have been found; and on the north side there is a fearful cavern.--_Chor. Brazil._]