During the recruiting I went to Recife, and in going along by the sea shore, saw at several cottages parties of armed men, who were waiting to see if they could entrap any one who might be liable to be pressed. At the ferry of Maria Farinha there was a large company, which was stationed there. I happened to be obliged to wait during a shower of rain at a cottage in which some of these fellows were watching for their prey. They were talking in high glee of the stratagems which they had made use of to entrap several recruits, and of the blows which they had been obliged to give to make some of them surrender. The men who were stationed here received no pay, and yet they were poor. They would probably have been quietly at their work at home, without the thoughts of violence or barbarity which they now entertained, if the perverse institutions of their country did not bring them forward and teach them to be ruffians, at first lawfully; but bad habits are not easily conquered, and the chance is, or rather there is a certainty, that most of those who had been so employed were rendered worse subjects than they had been before. The track of coast between the main land opposite to Conception and the Rio Doce is within one district, and it was upon this part of the road that the chief disturbance seemed to be going on. The _capitam-mor_ had taken it for granted that no one would give his children for the service, and therefore had, without asking, immediately commenced operations of violence, taking the people unawares, that as many recruits as possible might be obtained, and his zeal in the service made manifest. From the Doce to Olinda, the coast is in the district of Olinda, and here all was quiet; the _capitam-mor_ had followed the orders of the governor strictly, and things were as regularly conducted as the system would allow. These facts are mentioned to shew, that the performance even of the orders of the provincial governor who resides within a few leagues, depends upon the individual character of the person to whom they are forwarded. God grant that I may soon see such a system altered,—that the eyes of those who have the power of effecting this alteration may be opened, for their own good as well as for that of the people over whom they rule.