Padre Marcos de Araujo Costa is well known throughout the north of Brazil, not only for his intelligence and learning, but for his excellent moral character and benevolent disposition; and during the eight days that I lived in his house I had ample opportunities of verifying the truth of these accounts. If all the priests in the country were only half as active, well-informed, and as anxious for the diffusion of education as he is, the condition of Brazil would soon become very different from what it now is, and what I fear it will long continue to be, in the present state of things: the activity of this old man, for he was then upwards of sixty years of age, was quite surprising, and his philanthropy was not less so. As the means of education in this large and thinly-populated country come only within the reach of a very few, he has regularly for many years past been in the habit of boarding and educating in his house, free of expense, twenty boys, till they have acquired a tolerable knowledge of the Latin language, and the elements of philosophy and mathematics; he is himself an excellent scholar, and possesses a pretty extensive library of classical and philosophical books; of botany and natural history he knew enough to render these subjects an amusement to him; in his library I found nearly all the works of Linnæus, those of Brotero, and the rare one of Vandelli on the plants of Portugal and Brazil, which latter he kindly presented to me. He holds no living in the church, contenting himself with the quiet and retired life of a cattle farmer, and devoting his leisure hours to the education of his pupils. During my stay at Boa Esperança I made several short excursions in the neighbourhood, accompanied by the old Padre and Dr. Marcos de Macedo, and added many novelties to my collections. Two days before we left, Senhor Francisco de Souza Martins, one of the deputies from the province of Piauhy, and nephew to the President of the province, arrived on his way to Rio de Janeiro, accompanied by his brother Major Clementino Martins. They came by way of San Bento, which is the first stage from this place on the road to Oeiras, the capital of the province. This was our proposed route, but they gave us so bad an account of the roads, in consequence of the swelling of the rivulets, that I determined by their advice, to take a different road, which though more circuitous was said to be much better. The Major and one of the blacks who accompanied him, were laid up with the ague from continued exposure to the rains.