A Portugueze friend, with whom I had been acquainted in England, having taken a house at the former of the two last-mentioned places, I agreed to share the expence of it with him, and we immediately removed to it, to pass the summer months. The village was quite full; not a hut remained untenanted; and, as occurs in England at watering-places, families, whose dwellings in town were spacious and handsome regardless of inconvenience, came to reside here during the summer in very small cottages. The Poço da Panella contains a chapel, built by subscription, a row of houses running parallel with the river, several washerwomen’s huts in front of them, and other dwellings scattered about in all directions. Here the ceremonious manners of the town are thrown aside, and exchanged for an equal degree of freedom. Our mornings were filled up, either in riding to the Recife or to some other part of the country, or in conversation at the houses of any of the families with whom we were acquainted; and the afternoons and evenings with music, dancing, playing at forfeits, or in dining with some of the English merchants, a few of whom had also removed to this place and its neighbourhood. At many of the Portugueze houses I found the card-tables occupied at nine o’clock in the morning; when one person rose another took his place; and thus they were scarcely deserted, except during the heat of the day, when each man either returned to his own home to dine, or, as is much less frequent, was requested to remain and partake with the family.