The Holy Office or Inquisition has never had an establishment in Brazil, but several priests resided in Pernambuco, employed as its familiars, and sometimes persons judged amenable to this most horrid tribunal, have been sent under confinement to Lisbon. However, the ninth article of the Treaty of Friendship and Alliance, between the crowns of England and Portugal, signed at the Rio de Janeiro in 1810, has completely determined, that the power of the Inquisition shall not be recognised in Brazil. It will appear surprising to English persons, that in a place so large as Recife, there should be no printing press or bookseller. At the convent of the _Madre de Deos_, are sold almanacks, prints and histories of the Virgin and saints, and other productions of the same description, but of very limited size, printed at Lisbon. The post-office is conducted in a very irregular manner. The letters from England are usually delivered at the house of the merchant to whom the ship which conveyed them is consigned, or at the office of the British consul. There is no established means of forwarding letters to any part of the interior of the country, nor along the coast, so that the post-office merely receives the letter bags which are brought by the small vessels that trade with other ports along this coast, and sends the bags from Pernambuco by the same conveyances, and as there is not any regular delivery of letters, each person must inquire for his own at the office. When the commerce of Brazil was trifling, compared to its present state, a post-office managed in this manner was sufficient, but in consequence of the increased activity of the trade along the coast, and with Europe, some attention ought to be given to the subject, to facilitate communication. There is a theatre at Recife, in which are performed Portugueze farces, but the establishment is most wretchedly conducted. The Botanic Garden at Olinda is one of those institutions which have arisen from the removal of the Court to South America; it is intended as a nursery for exotic plants, from whence they are to be distributed to those persons who are willing and capable of rearing them. Thus the bread fruit tree has been introduced, the black pepper plant, the large Otaheitan cane, and several others. I much fear, however, that the zeal shown at the commencement has somewhat cooled. A botanist has been appointed with an adequate salary. He is a Frenchman, who had resided at Cayenne, and with this choice many persons were much dissatisfied, as it was thought, and with good reason, that a Portugueze subject might have been found, quite capable of taking the management of the garden.