The ecclesiastical government is scarcely connected with that above mentioned, and is administered by a bishop and a dean and chapter, with his vicar-general, &c. The governor cannot even appoint a chaplain to the island of Fernando de Noronha, one of the dependencies of Pernambuco, but acquaints the bishop that a priest is wanted, who then nominates one for the place. The number of civil and military officers is enormous; inspectors innumerable—colonels without end, devoid of any objects to inspect—without any regiments to command; judges to manage each trifling department, of which the duties might all be done by two or three persons; thus salaries are augmented; the people are oppressed, but the state is not benefited. Taxes are laid where they fall heavy upon the lower classes, and none are levied where they could well be borne. A tenth is raised in kind upon cattle, poultry, and agriculture, and even upon salt; this in former times appertained, as in other christian countries, to the clergy[19]. All the taxes are farmed to the highest bidders, and this among the rest. They are parcelled out in extensive districts, and are contracted for at a reasonable rate, but the contractors again dispose of their shares in small portions; these are again retailed to other persons, and as a profit is obtained by each transfer the people must be oppressed, that these men may satisfy those above them and enrich themselves. The system is in itself bad, but is rendered still heavier by this division of the spoil. The tenth of cattle, as I have already said, is levied in kind upon the estates in the interior of the country, and, besides this, a duty of 320 _reis per arroba_ of 32 lbs. is paid upon the meat at the shambles, which amounts to about twenty-five _per cent._ Fish pays the tenth, and afterwards a fifteenth. Every transfer of immoveable property is subject to a duty of ten _per cent._ and moveables to five _per cent._ Besides these, there are many other taxes of minor importance. Rum, both for exportation and home consumption, pays a duty of 80 _reis per canada_[20], which is sometimes a fourth of its value, but may be reckoned as from fifteen to twenty _per cent._ Cotton pays the tenth, and is again taxed at the moment of exportation 600 _reis per arroba_ of 32 lbs. or about 1¼_d._ _per_ lb. Nothing can be more injudicious, than this double duty upon the chief article of exportation from that country to Europe. The duties at the custom-house are fifteen _per cent._ upon imports, of which the valuation is left in some measure to the merchant to whom the property belongs. Here, I think, ten _per cent._ more might be raised without being felt. A tax is paid at Pernambuco for lighting the streets of the Rio de Janeiro, whilst those of Recife remain in total darkness.