In the beginning of November, 1813, I sent my manager to prepare a residence for me, at the town of Conception in the island; and I removed to that place in the course of the following month. CHAPTER XIII. REMOVAL OF THE AUTHOR TO ITAMARACA.—THE ISLAND.—CONCEPTION AND PILLAR.—THE FESTIVAL OF OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY.—JOURNEY TO GOIANA.—THE TOQUE.—THE COW-POX. A FEW days after I had sent the remainder of my people to Itamaraca, I gave up Jaguaribe to its owner, and rode to Recife, where I remained for some days. I had been introduced several months before to the vicar of Itamaraca; and at the time that I crossed over to the island to agree with the owner of Amparo about my removal, I made a visit to this priest, and was received by him with the greatest cordiality. As the plantation of Amparo had no cottage unoccupied at that time, or indeed that was fit to be inhabited, I requested the vicar to obtain for me a house in the town, as it is called, of our Lady of the Conception, in which stands the parochial church of this extensive vicarage. He returned for answer, that excepting his own residence, of which he was willing to give up to me a portion, and the prison, no dwellings could be met with. However, he desired that I would send a person to speak to him; this I did, and on the man’s return, the offer of the prison was accepted. As I had written to mention the day upon which it was my intention to arrive there, I was received by one of my people upon the shore of the main land; and the canoe which plies for the purpose of carrying passengers across, was ready to take me. The saddles were removed from the horses’ backs, we entered the canoe, and shoved off from the shore, the horses swimming by the side of it. The passage across, is, at this its narrowest part, about half a mile. On landing upon the island, we saddled the horses, and rode for about one quarter of a mile along a sandy path, which is bordered to the left by the water of the channel that runs between the island and the main, and on the right by coco-trees, until we reached a narrow creek, which is not fordable at high water and in this state we now found it. I left the horses to the care of Manoel, until they could be passed conveniently, whilst I followed the man who had come to receive me. We proceeded over the bridge which was constructed of loose beams, and scarcely safe even for foot passengers; immediately beyond it we passed by several cottages with mango trees before them, and then ascended the steep hill, upon the summit of which stands the town, built in the form of a square. We entered it at one corner, and near to my new habitation, which was a large stone building, much dilapidated, with one story above the ground floor. In the prosperous days of this settlement, when its rank in the province was considerable, this edifice was raised as a town-hall above, and prison underneath; but now that the decay of the place had