salutes on days of gala; there were indeed some heaps of balls, upon which the rust surpassed the quantity of sound iron. In the course of this year some of my friends from Recife came to see me; I had been often at Amparo, and at the houses of several other planters; but I do not particularly mention any of these visits, for they did not discover any thing new. I went to Recife three or four times. After the commencement of the rains in 1815, I left Itamaraca with Manoel about four o’clock one afternoon, having been detained thus late by unforeseen occurrences. The weather was fine, and as the moon would rise early, I thought that the evening would be pleasant; but when we were about three leagues from the island, the rain began to pour, and when we reached the plantation of Inhaman, which is half a league farther, we were completely wet through. Immediately beyond this place, the road is on one side bordered by a steep hill, from which the water ran down in such great quantities, that the horses were nearly up to their knees in it; however we gained the great cattle track, and stopped at a liquor shop by the road-side. I bought a considerable quantity of rum, which I threw over my head and shoulders and into my boots, and Manoel did the same; each of us likewise drank a good dose of it. This practice is very general; I had for some time followed it, and although I had been much exposed to the rain in the course of the preceding year, had not suffered from it, not having experienced another attack of ague; but perhaps this is not attributable to precaution, but to being seasoned to the climate.