Still the Brazilians of high birth and large property do not like to intermarry with persons whose mixture of blood is _very_ apparent, and hence arise peculiar circumstances. A man of this description becomes attached to a woman of colour, connects himself with her, and takes her to his home, where she is in a short time even visited by married women; she governs his household affairs, acts and considers herself as his wife, and frequently after the birth of several children, when they are neither of them young, he marries her. In connections of this nature, the parties are more truly attached than in marriages between persons who belong to two families of the first rank; for the latter are entered into from convenience rather than from affection; indeed the parties, on some occasions, do not see each other until a few days before the ceremony takes place. It often occurs, that inclination, necessity, or convenience induce or oblige a man to separate from the person with whom he has thus been connected; in this case, he gives her a portion, and she marries a man of her own rank, who regards her rather as a widow than as one whose conduct has been incorrect. Instances of infidelity in these women are rare; they become attached to the men with whom they cohabit, and they direct the affairs of the houses over which they are placed with the same zeal that they would display if they had the right of command over them. It is greatly to the credit of the people of that country that so much fidelity should be shewn on one side, and that this should so frequently as it is, be rewarded by the other party, in the advancement of those who have behaved thus faithfully, to a respectable and acknowledged situation in society. It should be recollected too that the merit of moral feelings must be judged of by the standard of the country, and not by our own institutions. I have only spoken above of what occurs among the planters; for in large towns man is pretty much the same every where.