The town of Pernambuco has few recommendations to those who are not engaged in business. The houses are higher than those at Rio, the streets for the most part still more narrow, and certainly quite as dirty. In nearly all the towns and cities of Brazil, rain is the only scavenger, and by it the streets are kept tolerably clean in such of them as are built on declivities, but this, unfortunately, is not the case with Pernambuco; in the wet season, the streets are full of mud and water, and in the dry, the mud is converted into clouds of dust. It has always appeared extraordinary to me that epidemic diseases do not prevail to a much greater extent than they do under such circumstances. The town consists of three great divisions: that in which the principal trade is carried on, is situated on a narrow neck of land, which runs down between the sea and a river from Olinda, and is called Recife; another principally occupied with shops, and containing the palace of the President, is built on an island, and is known by the name of St. Antonio; the third, called Boa Vista, consisting principally of one long street, is constructed on the mainland, and is by far the finest part of the whole. These are all connected by means of two wooden bridges. As Pernambuco is situated on the most eastern part of the American continent, it is fully exposed to the influence of the trade winds all the year round, and hence enjoys a cool climate; it is considered more healthy than either Rio or Bahia. Except two or three churches it contains but few public buildings, and, at the period of my visit, it had not a single hotel of any description. The Palace in which the affairs of the provincial government are now carried on, was in former times the Jesuits’ College, and stands on the banks of the river; it is a large building of gloomy appearance, with walls of enormous thickness. When it was erected by these enterprising and charitable men, they little dreamed that their career was to terminate at so early a period as it did. It is handed down from father to son, particularly among the middle and lower classes of Brazil, that the destruction of Jesuitical power was a severe loss to the well-being of the country. There are of course but few alive now who formed the Company of Jesus, but the memory of them will long remain; I have always heard them spoken of with respect and with regret. What different men they must have been from the degraded race who now undertake the spiritual welfare of this nation! It is a hard thing to say, but I do it not without well considering the nature of the assertion, that the present clergy of Brazil are more debased and immoral than any other class of men. However much the Jesuits were slandered and persecuted from the jealousy of those who envied the respect in which they were held by their flocks, and the confidence which they reposed in them, enough of the good still remains to shame those who have succeeded them.