The sight, of all others, the most offensive to an Englishman, is that of the criminals, who perform the menial offices of the palace, the barracks, the prisons, and other public buildings. They are chained in couples, and each couple is followed by a soldier, armed with a bayonet. They are allowed to stop at the shops, to obtain any trifle which they may wish to purchase, and it is disgusting to see with what unconcern the fellows bear this most disgraceful situation, laughing and talking as they go along to each other, to their acquaintance whom they may chance to meet, and to the soldier who follows them as a guard[24]. The prisons are in a very bad state, little attention being paid to the situation of their inhabitants. Executions are rare at Pernambuco; the more usual punishment inflicted, even for crimes of the first magnitude, is transportation to the coast of Africa. White persons must be removed for trial to Bahia, for crimes of which the punishment is death. Even to pass sentence of death upon a man of colour, or a negro, several judicial officers must be present. There does not exist here a regular police; when an arrest is to be effected in Recife or its neighbourhood, two officers of justice are accompanied by soldiers, from one or other of the regiments of the line, for this purpose. A _ronda_ or patrol, consisting of soldiers, parades the streets during the night, at stated periods, but it is not of much service to the town. Recife and its vicinity were formerly in a very tranquil state, owing to the exertions of one individual; he was a sergeant in the regiment of Recife, a courageous man, whose activity of mind and body had had no field upon which to act, until he was employed in the arduous task of apprehending criminals, and at last he received special orders from the governor for patroling the streets of Recife, Olinda, and the villages around them; he and his followers were much dreaded, but at his death no one stepped into his place.[25]