There are Protestant churches in most of the cities of Brazil. The United States Board of Foreign Missions has an establishment in the empire, which receives a small allowance from the Brazilian government; the ministers of the German and Swiss colonies of emigrants are paid by the imperial government; and, altogether, the adherents of other religions than that of the state run no risk of persecution "for opinion's sake." The constitution says that religionists other than Catholics shall restrict their worship to buildings "without the exterior form of temples." For religious purposes the empire is divided into twelve dioceses, comprising one metropolitan province, under the archbishop at Bahia. The diocese of Bahia is presided over by the archbishop, and each of the other eleven is under the control of a bishop. The empire is further divided into twelve hundred and ninety-nine parishes; the vicars are mostly foreigners, and among these foreign vicars the Portuguese predominate. [Illustration: ALMS-BOX.] Some of the votive offerings and relics are very old, bearing dates of two or three centuries ago. In one church our friends were shown an alms-box which was anciently used for collecting donations for "Our Lady of the Good Voyage." It was suspended by a strap from the neck of the collector, who went among the sailors on the arrival of ships from any part of the world, and especially from Portugal, in the days of the viceroyalty. The honesty of the collector was insured by a lock, which is a curious, three-cornered affair closing with a key. Key and lock are now heavily rusted from long disuse. The front of the box has a picture of Our Lady standing on the deck of a ship; the halo around the head of the figure indicates its saintly character. The fronts of the altars were adorned with candles, many of them set in candlesticks of solid silver, of great original cost. They were the gifts of wealthy worshippers in times gone by. One of the attendants sighingly remarked to Fred that people didn't give such magnificent candlesticks to the church nowadays. Even the candles seemed to be yellow with age, and from the dust collected on them it was evident they were not often renewed. [Illustration: RELIGIOUS FESTIVAL IN FRONT OF A CHURCH.] It was formerly the custom to offer the sails of a ship, or some one of them, as a votive tribute to Our Lady of the Good Voyage, or to some other saint, for protection in time of peril. The following story is given by Mr. Ewbank in "Life in Brazil."