On our return from Alcantara we had a disagreeable passage, as the wind blew hard and some heavy rain fell, which made us apprehensive of not being able to fetch the harbour of St. Luiz. Our vessel had no cabin, but she was decked, and therefore as a matter of necessity we crept into the hold, in which we could not stand upright, and the bilge water occasionally reached our feet; but this produced much laughter, and we ultimately arrived in safety. Not far from the mouth of the port of Alcantara stands an island of three miles in length and about one in breadth, called the _Ilha do Livramento_; it is inhabited by one man and woman, who have under their care a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Deliverance, which is visited by the inhabitants of the neighbouring shores, once every year for the purpose of celebrating by a festival this Invocation of the Virgin. My departure from Maranham sooner than I had purposed at first, prevented the fulfilment of my intention of landing and spending a day upon this spot. I know not what idea I might have formed of the island if I had more narrowly examined it, but the view I had of it at a distance was extremely beautiful. From what I heard of it, I think, that if any one was about to settle at Maranham, here it is that he should try to fix his residence. I was introduced by my friend to a respectable family of St. Luiz. We made them a visit one evening without invitation as is the custom, and were ushered into a tolerably sized room, furnished with a large bed, and three handsomely worked hammocks, which were slung across in different directions; there were likewise in the apartment a chest of drawers and several chairs. The mistress of the house, an elderly lady, was seated in a hammock, and a female visitor in another, but her two daughters and some male relations sat upon chairs. The company, which consisted of two or three men besides ourselves, formed a semicircle towards the hammocks. There was much ceremony, and the conversation was carried on chiefly by the men, and an occasional remark was made by one or other of the old ladies. An answer was given by the daughters to a question asked, but no more, and some of the subjects touched upon would not have been tolerated in mixed society in England. A part of the formality might perhaps have worn off on further acquaintance. The education however of women is not attended to, which of necessity curtails the possibility of their entering into conversation upon many subjects, even if so to do was accounted proper. Still the ladies of St. Luiz cannot be said to be generally thus reserved, for gaming among both sexes is much practised, and is carried to great excess. A young lady in one instance, when going out with her mother to some evening company, passed through the apartment in which her father was at play with several of his acquaintance. He spoke to his daughter, asking her to take a card, which she did. She went on playing until she had