In the month of November there arrived a priest upon a visit to the vicar, whose exertions are incessant on every subject which relates to the improvement of his country. He had now been staying with a friend in the province of Paraiba, and had made a drawing of a stone upon which were carved a great number of unknown characters and several figures, one of which had the appearance of being intended to represent a woman. The stone or rock is large, and stands in the middle of the bed of a river, which is quite dry in the summer. When the inhabitants of the neighbourhood saw him at work in taking this drawing, they said, that there were several others in different parts of the vicinity, and they gave him the names of the places. It was his intention to return again the following year, and seek them out. I should have brought with me a copy of this curious drawing, if my departure from Pernambuco had not been hastened from unavoidable circumstances. I was invited about this period to attend the funeral of a young married woman of respectable family. I went about five o’clock to the house of the vicar, that I might go with him and three other priests. From hence we adjourned at dusk to the church, where the priests, all of whom were already in their black gowns, put on over these the short lace rochet, and the vicar took in his hands a large silver cross. We walked to the house in which the body was laid; this was habited in the coarse brown cloth of the Franciscan order, for the deceased had belonged to the lay sisterhood of the Third Order of St. Francis; the face was uncovered, and the body was laid upon a bier, the room being lighted with many torches. The habits in which the bodies of the deceased lay brothers and sisters of the Third Order are dressed, are obtained from the convents of St. Francis, and are said to be the habits of deceased friars; but probably the worn-out dresses of those who still live are likewise sold, and thus arises a considerable source of revenue to the convent. There were assembled in the room several of her male relations and others who had been invited. After a good deal of chaunting, a wax taper was given to each person present, and these being lighted, we proceeded to the church which was hard by, walking in pairs; the bier followed, carried by four persons, and there was chaunting as we went along. In the middle of the body of the church, a scaffolding was erected of about four feet from the ground, and upon this the bier was placed, the attendants standing round whilst the priests chaunted. The body was soon put into the grave which was in the church, and there was lime in it. The friends of persons deceased aim at having as many priests at the funeral as they can collect and afford to pay; though on the occasion of which I speak, the priests served without any remuneration, for the young woman was the near relative of a priest with whom the others were intimate. Likewise