posite of the preceding, being characterized by extreme hilarity and animation. A lofty pole is erected in one of the church squares, the summit of which is ornamented with a picture, representing the Holy Spirit descending in the form of a dove, which is hung around with green wreaths and garlands of flowers. A gorgeous procession parades the streets in the morning, led by a fine band, and distinguished by the great number of its splendid images, which are carried on platforms, profusely strewed with bouquets of the brightest flowers. In the afternoon services are held in the Church of the Trinity, which is tastefully decked with evergreens for the occasion. In the evening there is a public display of fire-works in the area in front of the church, and a general illumination throughout the city. Every one appears to take a peculiar interest in this day, which is, I believe, universally observed in all the provinces of the empire.

Ash Wednesday is also a very gay day. The procession on this occasion is distinguished by the great number of its images, which sometimes exceeds twenty or even thirty. Before the images, beautiful little girls, with wings on their shoulders, trip along, sportively scattering flowers upon the path. These are intended as representatives of the angels, and none others could have been more appropriately selected for the purpose.

On Palm Sunday, which is celebrated in all parts of Brazil, the display of palm branches is very extensive. The churches are hung with them-the people ornament their persons with their curious leaves-and as the procession passes through the streets, ladies standing out on the balconies, throw down flowers and branches of palms, until the ground is literally covered with them.

The morning after our departure from the Roscenia de Nazare, we were awakened at an unusually early hour by the discordant chiming of the church bells, whose uproar broke upon our slumbers with startling vehemence. The custom of bell ringing is prevalent in all Catholic countries, but it is carried to an unbounded excess at Para,—from four in the morning, until the hour of sunset, they keep up a perpetual jargon, such as habit can alone render familiar, or familiarity endurable!

At six o'clock precisely, we took a cup of coffee, and at nine sat down to a delicious breakfast, consisting of stewed beef and buttered toast, together with tea and chocolate. We then started out to take a snuff of the pure air, as well as a stroll among the quiet environs of the city.

Passing slowly through the streets of the town, we at length arrived at a beautiful promenade, called the Estrada das Mangabeiras. This is a well laid out and magnificent highway, running from north to south, along the western suburbs of the city, and extending from the marine arsenal, to the "largo da Polvora."

It is skirted on either side with lofty mangabeira trees, which stand within ten feet or more from each other, in regular rows, forming a green arch overhead with their bending branches. Being the finest road in the vicinity of the city, considerable care is taken to keep it in excellent order. A more beautiful promenade, I think I never saw.

Pursuing our walk along this charming highway, we diverged from our course to visit the hospital of S. Jose. This establishment was in former times used as a kind of convent, but, like many insti

tutions of a similar character, it has of late years been converted into an institution of more practical utility. A botanical garden was commenced many years ago on the extensive grounds connected with the hospital, but owing to a deficiency of energy and public spirit on the part of its projectors, the plan was soon abandoned, and no attempt has been since made to restore it.

Near to this place is the recolimento of orphan girls. This is an institution for the maintenance of female infants, selected for the most part from the large number of those deposited at the Foundling Hospital. This latter establishment is for the convenience of those who are not able, or who do not wish, to take charge of their own children. The building is provided with a huge wheel, occupying the place of a window, half of which is exposed, while the other half is within the building. The wheel is supplied with four cradles, one of which is always visible from without. Whenever a parent wishes to get rid of his child,-which is generally the case when it is illegitimate,-all he or she has to do, is to take the child in the evening and put it in one of the cradles of the wheel. A semi-revolution then conveys it immediately within the house, where it is taken care of for the future. A considerable portion of the infants disposed of in this inhuman manner are the children of slaves; all that survive are ever after free. This is the chief incentive to the sacrifice. If this was the only evil consequence of such an institution, it might be overlooked, in consideration of the benefit that would accrue in the gradual extinction of slavery; but this is not the case, for no one can doubt but that it offers serious encouragement to licentiousness, besides it has a tendency to remove from the minds of the profligate all fear of restraint in the prosecution of their sinful purposes, and to break down the bulwarks of society, by destroying in a great measure that legitimate union of the sexes which is absolutely essential to the welfare and prosperity of any nation or country. It is astonishing how an institution of this character should be tolerated even in Brazil, when the evil results are so palpably manifest to all. We sincerely trust that before many years it will sink beneath the influence of a more enlightened legislation, never to rise again!

With this reflection we will proceed with our walk.

As the heat of the summer was now very powerful, we sought relief in the refreshing shades of the forest. Wending our way through a green tunnel of fantastic foliage, we shortly emerged from its cooling twilight into the open grounds of a wild and neglected garden. In the midst of the clear space, surrounded by an almost impassable wall of low bushes, and overhung with gay festoons of flowering vines, was a stone mansion of noble proprotions, half demolished by the ravages of time, yet solemn and interesting even in its mournful decay. Gay spirits had once inhabited that lone dwelling, but they have long since gone; the tinkling of merry music no longer resounds along its deserted corridors; the revelry of the joyous dance no more breaks upon the stillness of the surrounding wilderness, and the house itself, like its former proprietors, is rapidly "passing away." Some twenty or thirty years ago, Spix and Von Martins, two eminent German naturalists, spent several weeks at this romantic spot, in whose near vicinity they succeeded in collecting a variety of rare specimens, both of insects,

and plants, and birds. They could not have selected a location more convenient for their laudable purposes than this, any where within the neighbourhood of the city, and it was this fact that induced them to take up their abode there, in defiance of its dilapidated condition, and the numerous tenants, in the way of bats and reptiles, that were accustomed to frequent its moss-grown and tottering walls.

Having plucked a few choice flowers, and picked up some curious shells which we found crawling about the walls of the majestic ruin, we dashed once more into the forest, and commenced retracing our steps towards the city. In less than an hour we were again seated in one of the front apartments of Mr. Campbell's spacious house, looking down upon the moving throng beneath us, and chatting familiarly on the different spectacles as they severally met

our eye.

Among the passers by we noticed a man of wonderful corpulency jogging slowly through the street, while with one hand he was wiping away-the thick drops of perspiration that had gathered on his massive brow. "That man," said a gentleman present, "has had three wives." "Three wives!" ejaculated a merry Scotchman at our elbow, "by heavens! he looks as if he had eaten them all."

Many of the houses in the city still bear marks of the late disturbances. That of Mr. Norris, an intelligent and hospitable American merchant, is perhaps the most notable in this respect. Being a very lofty building, it was used as a kind of fort, and garrisoned by the president's guard. Some of the upper window-blinds were completely riddled with bullets, and in the garden, Mr. N. informed me, that he had found a quantity of balls, of from half a pound to a pound in weight. These were probably thrown from the vessels then lying in the harbour.

The view of Para from the cupola of this building is very picturesque and variegated. The red-tiled roofs of the houses, the rich shrubbery of the gardens, with here and there a single cocoanut tree lifting up its feather-tufted head, constitute a pleasing contrast, while the dark and venerable-looking churches, and the vinegrown walls of the unfinished theatre gave additional interest to the charming scene. Before you, the sparkling waters of the harbour, studded with little islands, stretch out like a lake. Behind you a dense wilderness of never-fading foliage presents an imposing background to the enchanting landscape.

The ensuing day was probably the most remarkable that we in person had ever witnessed in Brazil. It was called the "Dia de Intrudo," or Intruding-day. Being the day immediately preceding Lent, it seemed as if the multitude had determined to enjoy themselves as much as possible, while they yet had it in their power, in view of the restrictions which the coming season always imposes upon their conduct.

On "Intruding-day," every one is permitted to assail whomsoever he pleases, with such articles as are accustomed to be used on this occasion. The most innocent of these are small waxen balls called "cabacinhas;" being about equal to a hen's egg in size, and filled with perfumed water. For some time previous to the day in question, black-eyed damsels may be seen parading the streets, with

large trays on their uncovered heads, laden with these sportive missiles, glistening with their gay colours of azure and crimson and gold. They are sold for a penny a-piece, and every one lays in a stock of them, in preparation for the approaching carnival.

On the morning of this remarkable anniversary, all the balconies of the different mansions are fortified with frolick some damsels, who keep up an indiscriminate warfare with their cabacinhas, against all who lucklessly attract their attention in the street. But the sport is not entirely confined to the innocent waxen balls. As the excitement increases, basons, syringes, and even pails and tubs of water are called into requisition. Every one is assaulted, but no one pretends to take offence. Should a person be disposed to do so, ten to one that he would be seized and most unceremoniously ducked into a hogshead of water, until his foolish ire was somewhat abated. This has been done in several instances.

Heedless of all consequences, Jenks and myself rashly ventured into the streets for the purpose of witnessing the sport. Cabacinhas were flying in all directions, syringes were filling the air with glittering spray, while basons and dippers and pails, wielded by female hands, were pouring their watery contents with marvellous assiduity upon the devoted heads of the unfortunate passers-by.

We by no means escaped unscathed; on the contrary, in less than half an hour we were as thoroughly drenched as if we had been taking a bath in the river with our clothes on. But don't imagine, fond reader, that we bore all this with the patience of a Job, or the humility of an anchorite. No such thing! Eagerly we rushed into the thickest of the fray, throwing our cabacinhas with skill, wherever a pretty face presented itself. Peeping through a half open lattice, I perceived a lovely young damsel luxuriantly reclining in her hammock, her long sable tresses hanging in wavy masses over her pretty face and olive-mantled bosom. She appeared to be in a gentle slumber, and the magic smile that still played around her rosy lips, nearly disarmed me of my intended purpose.

But my determination was made, and it was now too late to retract. So delicately tossing one of my cabacinhas into the apartment, alas! it broke upon the cheek of the charming maiden: jumping up hurriedly in her fright, she rushed at once to the window, and in an instant her stag-like eyes were fixed upon me as the heartless assailant. Transfixed with guilt and enraptured at the sight of her beauty, my heart forbade me for the deed I had committed, and I felt half resolved to make atonement for my crime, but just at this moment, a well-charged ball from the hand of the maiden herself, almost blinded my left ogle, and suddenly drove the idea from my mind.

The most formidable of all the belligerents, was a certain widow lady, who had from a lofty balcony been pouring down pails of water upon the heads of all who passed below. Bent on revenge, a young man who had been near drowned by this virago, entered her house, with his pockets full of cabacinhas. He was white, surely, when he entered that fatal house, but when he came out, his complexion was as dark as that of the raven's wing. How it came so, any reader with the slightest spark of imagination can easily surmise. But to be brief. The day passed by without any consequent evils, and the beautiful moonlight evening which followed, was consecrated by music, dancing, and revelry of every kind!

THE RISE AND FALL OF MASANIELLO.

BY THE AUTHOR OF "THE HEIRESS OF BUDOWA."

THE page of history has been marked with few more extraordinary events than the rise and fall of Masaniello. There is no story upon record of despotic power so suddenly acquired-so well employed so quickly lost. It was within the short space of six days that the bare-footed fisherman of Amalfi raised and organized an army of 50,000 men, subjugated to his absolute sway a powerful and flourishing city, triumphed over the deputed authority of Spain, and trampled under foot the honours and privileges of the proudest and most ancient among the Italian nobility. The wonders wrought by his rude arm and uncultivated genius were never equalled by the practised skill and experienced heroism of the greatest men in ancient or modern times. Perhaps in the very ignorance of difficulty lay a part of his strength, as those who wander recklessly during sleep or intoxication pass unscathed through dangers that must needs be fatal to a fully conscious agent. But the use made of his strangely-acquired power cannot in any degree be thus accounted for. The justice, the wisdom, the sound policy, and the noble disinterestedness unvaryingly displayed throughout his brief but brilliant career, will bear evidence to the latest posterity that its disastrous close was owing to the treachery of the Spaniard, not to the weakness of the Neapolitan. The admirable harmony existing amongst Masaniello's mental and moral qualifications for government fairly, lead to the conclusion that his character was far too powerfully constituted to be moved to giddiness by the most unaccustomed heights. The mystery of his sad fate must, however, always remain shrouded in darkness: any decision that can now be formed respecting it must depend more upon the metaphysical analysis of the inquirer than on the certain testimony of facts. To many it is more difficult to believe in the strange, slow-working efficacy of a now-forgotten drug than that the powerful mind of Masaniello was upset by its own inner workings alone. To such the popular belief is entirely satisfactory; they easily find in the excitement of a vain, self-satisfied, quickly-intoxicated brain the real solution of the hero's mysterious madness. Respecting the other facts of his extraordinary career, there exists no manner of doubt: these are well attested by historians worthy of credit, and these alone are here presented to the reader.

In a corner of the great market-place of Naples rose the humble dwelling of Thomas Anello, of Amalfi; he was by trade one of those whom the Neapolitans call Pescivendoli. He got his living by angling for small fish with a cane, hook, and line. Sometimes he bought fish, and retailed them to his neighbours: his was a life of industry and hard labour, and so it continued until he attained the age of twenty-four. Some prophetic instincts of future greatness, however, had gleamed through the darkness of a lot of drudgery and privation, or more probably the prophecy of the future was involved in the workings of his own mind, its peculiar form alone being received from the external circumstances most calculated to impress it. By a strange coincidence the arms and the name of Charles V. were placed in very ancient carving under one of the win