Doctor Walsh thus describes the great convent of Ajuda, in Rio de Janeiro: “At the end of the chapel is a large quadrangle, entered by a massive gateway, surrounded by three stories of grated windows. Here female negro pedlers come with their goods, and expose them in the court-yard below. The nuns, from their grated windows above, see what they like, and, letting down a cord, the article is fastened to it; it is then drawn up and examined, and, if approved of, the price is let down. Some that I saw in the act of buying and selling in this way, were very merry, joking and laughing with the blacks below, and did not seem at all indisposed to do the same with my companion. In three of the lower windows, on a level with the court-yard, are revolving cupboards, like half-barrels, and at the back of each is a plate of tin, perforated like the top of a nutmeg-grater. The nuns of this convent are celebrated for making sweet confectionary, which people purchase. There is a bell which the purchaser applies to, and a nun peeps through the perforated tin; she then lays the dish on a shelf of the revolving cupboard, and turns it inside out; the dish is taken, the price laid in its place, and it is turned in. While we stood there, the invisible lady-warder asked for a pinch of snuff; the box was laid down in the same way, and turned in and out.” The disposition to take the veil, even among young girls, is not uncommon in Brazil. The opposition of friends can prevent it, until they are twenty-five years old; but after that time they are considered competent to decide for themselves. The same writer describes the initiation of a young lady, whose wealthy parents were extremely reluctant to have her take the vow. She held a lighted torch in her hand, in imitation of the prudent virgins; and when the priest chanted, “Your spouse approaches; come forth and meet him,” she approached the altar, singing, “I follow with my whole heart;” and, accompanied by two nuns already professed, she knelt before the bishop. “She seemed very lovely, with an unusually sweet, gentle, and pensive countenance. She did not look particularly or deeply affected; but when she sung her responses, there was something exceedingly mournful in the soft, tremulous, and timid tones of her voice. The bishop now exhorted her to make a public profession of her vows before the congregation, and said, ‘Will you persevere in your purpose of holy chastity?’ She blushed deeply, and, with a downcast look, lowly, but firmly answered, ‘I will.’ He again said, more distinctly, ‘Do you promise to preserve it?’ and she replied more emphatically, ‘I do promise.’ The bishop said, ‘Thanks be to God;’ and she bent forward and reverently kissed his hand, while he asked her, ‘Will you now be blessed and consecrated?’ She replied, ‘Oh! I wish it.’