repay me, but of course I would take nothing from them. The third case was the most remarkable of all: the patient was a man about forty-five years of age, and one of the most respectable shopkeepers in the city. About nine years before my arrival he had been treated by the surgeon in chief for stricture of the urethra, when by improper treatment a portion of a small leaden bougie passed into the bladder; this formed the nucleus for the stone, from which cause he suffered the most excruciating agonies that mortal could endure. I was consulted by him on my arrival, when I assured him that nothing but an operation would relieve him from his sufferings; being, however, of a very timid disposition, he would not consent to its performance, till after he heard of the success of the other two cases; assisted by my friend the Cirurgião môr, I happily succeeded in extricating the stone, which was about two inches in length. This occurred about a month before I left the place, by which time he was so far recovered as to be able to walk about his room. After a period of eighteen months I received a letter which he sent to meet me at Rio de Janeiro, in which he informed me that he had perfectly recovered, and offered me a thousand thanks (mil graças) for the good service rendered to him. Before I left, he gave me a very handsome gratuity of three hundred spanish dollars, two fine horses, and many little necessaries suited for the journey I was then about to undertake. The province of Piauhy sends two members to the national chamber of Deputies in Rio, but in all that relates to its internal government, the Barão de Parnahiba rules with despotic sway. He has been its president ever since the establishment of the independence of the empire, with the exception of one short period, when another person was sent to supersede him; but he did not hold his appointment long, dying suddenly, and under suspicious circumstances. Since that period, although the presidents of all the other provinces are changed every two or three years, he has remained constantly in office. He is more feared than respected by the mass of the population, and on an emergency can command, among his own friends and dependents, more than 2,000 staunch supporters: he has always at his call those who are both ready and willing to execute his orders of whatever nature these may be. By the firmness of his government he has acquired many enemies, especially by the enactment of some provincial laws, respecting which it must be confessed in their favour, that their tendency is always to benefit the poorer classes of the inhabitants: among others, he has forbidden that beef and farinha, the two principle articles of food, be sold in the city above a certain fixed price, and that a very low one; however, he has always taken care that his own cattle be sent to Bahia and other distant and more profitable markets, having abundant facilities for such arrangements. Although generally