Whilst I was at Fontâìnhas, three armed men came to the door with a fourth person whom they had taken into custody, under a suspicion of his being a horse-stealer. It was proved that he had been seen in company with a man of this description, but he made it appear that he had been hired by him to assist in conducting some horses, without his having any knowledge of their being obtained irregularly, and therefore they set him at liberty. During the whole of my stay in Pernambuco, I only heard of two or three instances of houses being broken open, and scarcely of any murders that were not occasioned by quarrels, or had been committed in revenge; but cattle-stealing is common. I was in the constant habit of hearing of thefts of this description[116]. In the afternoon I reached Goiana, and on the following day presented my papers to the _Juiz de Fora_. As soon as I had accomplished the end for which I came, I returned to Itamaraca. Whilst I was at Goiana, an English merchant vessel, called the Elizabeth, had been on shore upon the south sand-bank of the harbour of Itamaraca. She had been chased by an English ship of war, under the supposition that she was an American, and the merchant vessel was also acting under the same idea regarding the pursuer. The master made for the harbour of Itamaraca and ran the vessel ashore; and the mistake under which both of them had been acting was not cleared up until the ship of war sent a boat on board. She floated at the height of the tide, and proceeded to Recife without much damage. Many of the people of Itamaraca put off in their _jangadas_, for the purpose of rendering every assistance in their power, and were very indignant at the crew refusing to admit any of them on board. This, I suppose, proceeded from the fear of being plundered, and of salvage being claimed, as occurs frequently upon the coast of Ireland in cases of distress. But far from any mischief being intended, I am confident that a mere trifle (a few gallons of rum for instance) would have satisfied those who went to offer to assist.