_Maranham_ was in truth in a far worse condition than that of the older captaincies, the inhabitants of which had by this time acquired the customs of civilized life. In them had long been established the forms of municipal government. They were likewise communities which subsisted by regularly-established commerce; whilst they enjoyed regular intercourse with the mother country, and were presided over by men of position and character. But _Maranham_ and _Pará_ were, so to speak, back-settlements. It was exile for a governor of position to go to them, and they were consequently ruled either by men who went thither for a short time on promotion or who accepted the post of governor in order to make money in the only way by which it could be made--that is to say, by slave-dealing. It is to be remembered, too, that at this period _Maranham_ and _Pará_ were separated from the Portuguese settlements in Southern _Brazil_ by the presence of the Dutch in the intervening provinces adjoining _Pernambuco_. In the older presidencies the supply of Indians available for slaves was by this time so exhausted that the slave market had to be stocked from _Angola_; but at _Maranham_ the native population, being newly brought into contact with the Portuguese, afforded an ample field for the energy of the slave-hunter and those who were interested in his operations, in which latter category were included officials of every rank. In fact, Vieyra found _Maranham_ a huge Augean-stable, the proportions of which would have made a man of less energy stand aghast in despair. The Portuguese race has unquestionably filled a most distinguished part in the world. At the period of which we write it had gloriously recovered its national independence, and was renowned alike for its splendid literature, its famous geographical discoveries,--more especially those of Bartholomew Diaz, Vasco de Gama, Cabral, and Magalhaens,--and its magnificent colonial possessions in the east as well as in the west; and that the race has not lost all its energy is proved by such exploits of the present day as those of Serpa Pinto and others. But in two respects, as well to-day as two centuries ago, the same race is less honourably remarkable, namely, in addiction to the more superstitious adjuncts of Catholicism, such as worship of images, belief in everyday miracles, etc., and in addiction to every form of the slave-trade. The former may be considered an indication of puerile ignorance; the latter is a national disgrace.