all the neighbours who are of an equal rank with the deceased, are invited to attend, that the ceremony may be as splendid as possible. Notwithstanding the manifest inconvenience, and the mischief which the unwholesomeness of the custom might, and perhaps does cause, all bodies are buried within the churches. Indeed the prejudice against being buried in the open air is so great, that even the priests would not dare to alter this mode of proceeding, supposing that they wished so to do. Towards the end of the same month (November) it is customary for the vicar to determine upon those persons who are to sustain the expences of the nine evenings previous to the festival of Our Lady of Conception,—that is to supply the bon-fires, gunpowder, oil, &c. Each evening is provided for on all these occasions, by one or more persons of the immediate neighbourhood, and a greater or less expence is incurred, according to the means and the inclination of the individuals who have been named. It was my general practice to accompany the vicar to church on Sundays and holidays, returning with him to his house to breakfast. I was in the church when he read over the list of the names of those who were to provide for the nine evenings, and was somewhat surprised to hear my own in conjunction with that of a neighbour, for the ninth night. I had however, some suspicion that this would be the case, for I had heard some whisperings upon the subject among the secondary people; the custom is, thus to keep the individuals who are to be concerned ignorant of what is intended. We began on the following morning to make preparations for the occasion, and sent to Recife for the colours of several ships, some gunpowder, fireworks, and a few of the musicians of the band of the Olinda regiment, applying through a friend for the consent of their colonel. We likewise sent for Nicolau, a creole black, and a tailor by trade; but whose merry tongue and feet made him like dancing and singing better than the needle: and we agreed with him to bring over from the village of Pasmado, a set of _fandango_ performers. The colours were raised upon long staffs, very early in the morning of our day, in two rows along the area of the town; and as the sun rose, several guns were fired,—of those which are usually made use of at festivals; they are composed of a small and short iron tube, which has a touch-hole of disproportionate dimensions; they are placed upright upon the ground, and the match is then applied. In the course of the day the band played, and in the evening were kindled about twenty bon-fires in the square of the village. The houses were illuminated with lamps, which were made of the half of the rind of an orange, each containing a small quantity of oil and cotton. There were likewise great numbers of large crosses, lighted up in the same manner in several parts of the square. The church was crowded, and the noise of the people was great; the guns were fired at intervals;