The principal diseases in and around the city are agues and malignant fevers, particularly at the beginning and end of the rainy season; after the rains have ceased, and during the prevalence of the south-east wind, pectoral complaints are not uncommon, and many cases of ophthalmia occur; in the latter, either because of improper treatment, or from neglect, many persons lose their sight. But the complaint for which I was most frequently called upon to prescribe, was dyspepsia, which under its various forms, these people are most subject to; asthma and paralysis are also prevalent. At the time I visited Oeiras it could boast of two resident medical men and an apothecary’s shop; the latter was but poorly furnished with medicines, and those neither new nor of the best quality. The senior of the two medical men, Senhor Josè Luiz da Silva, an intelligent and amiable person, from whom I received much kindness, holds the office of Cirurgião môr, and has charge of a small hospital, which is almost entirely devoted to the service of the military. He is a Portuguese by birth, and in his youth had acted as surgeon in the navy of that country. He had now resided thirty-six years in Oeiras, and was the father of a large and respectable family. The other, a young Brazilian, educated at Bahia, ill instructed, and of an unamiable disposition, was assassinated in the street a few months after I left. Although they both of them were accustomed to treat diseases generally, neither of them had the skill, and consequently the courage to undertake any serious operation, notwithstanding that many cases had long called for professional assistance. An opportunity was thus afforded me of undertaking several operations which few young surgeons in England have it in their power to attempt. The most serious of these were depression of Cataract and Lithotomy; the former I performed three times, but with success only in one case, when such was the astonishment produced in the minds of these simple people, by the blind regaining his sight, that it was spoken of through the country as a result little short of a miracle. The operation for stone in the bladder was likewise performed by me three times, in all cases with the greatest success; and it is deserving of remark that these were the only instances of this complaint that I met with during my whole travels. There can be no doubt, therefore, that this complaint is of very rare occurrence in the country, but it is not easy to say from what cause this originates. My first patient was an otherwise healthy free black man, about thirty years of age; and it was astonishing to see the rapidity with which the wound healed; but this has been found to occur universally in people of his colour. The second was a poor mulatto, who lived in a little palm hut in the outskirts of the city: both these poor fellows did all in their power to show their gratitude, and would willingly have parted with all they possessed to