"A lady told me that some years ago she came from Rio Grande in one of her father's vessels. The passage was pleasant till within a day's sail of the Sugar-Loaf. A small cloud then rose rapidly from the horizon, darkness settled over them, the sea began to swell, and other indications of a storm so alarmed the captain that he called the men aft, and asked them to join him in offering the mainsail to St. Francis de Paula, on condition of his carrying them safe in. The lady remembers them standing around the commander, and with loud voices calling on the saint, reminding him of what they had promised, each man confirming the gift so far as his proportion of the cost went. [Illustration: MONK IN A PROCESSION.] "On arriving safe in port they paid for a mass, and a few days afterwards went to the saint's quarters in procession, barefoot, bearing the sail through the streets, with the captain at their head. The offering was deposited in front of the church. A fair value was put upon it in presence of the priest; the captain laid down the money, and was handed a receipt stating the amount which the pious commander, Antonia Martinez Bezerra, had paid into the treasury of the saint--the value of his mainsail--in fulfilment of a vow made at the approach of a storm (naming the day), as an acknowledgment of the saint's miraculous interposition in behalf of himself, his ship, and his crew." The same writer says that auctions of ships' sails which have been vowed to the saints for interposition are not yet obsolete. The captains always buy them in, and frequently the priests have some one to run them up to prevent their going too cheaply. Our friends visited one of the hospitals, accompanied by a doctor to whom they had been introduced. Dr. Bronson was greatly pleased with the appearance of the place, and commended the excellence of its arrangements, its perfect cleanliness, and the evidence of careful training on the part of the physicians and nurses. Their escort told them that the cases most often under treatment in Rio were diseases of the respiratory organs, caused by the dampness of the climate and the prevailing heat. The mean annual temperature is 82° Fahrenheit, and the annual rainfall averages about forty-six inches. There is hardly a year without yellow fever; it is not usually fatal, but in some seasons there is great mortality from it. People from Europe and the northern cities of the United States suffer greatly from the heat for months after their arrival, and many of them flee to the mountains at the first opportunity. From the hospital they drove to the Paseo Publico, a pretty garden within the city limits, and much resorted to as a promenade. There are gravelled walks shaded by tall palms and other tropical trees, and on the water front is a marble pavement, which is crowded on pleasant evenings by groups of well-dressed people, listening to the music, and indulging in conversation, which is never boisterous.