very favorable impression. The national bank had been robbed of a large amount by those employed in it, some time before we were there, those who did it having committed external violence on the building with a view of giving the impression, that it had been entered from without.

A merchant from the United States, who had been many years in Rio, informed me, that cases in court were uniformly decided through the influence of bribery, and that he himself had bribed judges to decide in his favor, and had aided others in doing so. He said, that the only secret in getting a case, was to deceive an opponent as to the amount given to the judge, that thus you might overbid him without his knowing it.

One may meet in Brazil, with amalgamation of colors to his heart's content; and may see, too, those of almost every complexion, holding the various offices of church and state. The professors in the various public schools and colleges, are paid from government funds, and children of every rank and color are freely admitted to them, and may enjoy, without expense, the advantages of the military, naval, and medical academies, as also of the ecclesiastical seminaries, and the academy of fine arts. Hence, most of the offices, both of church and state, are filled by the children of the lower orders, those of the higher class being unwilling to place their sons in schools with those of a rank inferior to their own.

The hospitals of Rio are clean and well regulated. That of the Misericordia, which was founded in 1582, by a fraternity of that name, will accommodate from 600 to 700, and is free to all of every color, not excepting slaves. Two physicians and three surgeons are in constant attendance, and in their visits are accompanied by the students of the large medical school connected with the hospital. On many of the houses in the city, the name Misericordia is seen, showing that they have been left as a legacy to the fraternity, the income from them to be employed for the support of the hospital. The same association have also, as a monopoly, the privilege of furnishing splendid coffins in which to carry the dead to their graves. Not that they are buried in them, but such a sum is charged for their use at funerals, as to add much to the income of the hospital.

The National Museum, on the large public square, near the senate house, contains a collection of birds and quadrupeds, which is not very large: the gorgeous insects of the Torrid

Zone, however, which are preserved there, present a very striking appearance. The cabinet of minerals, which was purchased by the late king of Portugal, of the celebrated. German mineralogist Werner, is a very fine one, and well arranged.

My limits admit of only a passing notice of Rio, though materials are not wanting for a full account of the place and the region around. Before bidding farewell to Brazil, however, I would briefly allude to one place, of peculiar religious interest, as connected with the early history of the country. In the harbour of Rio, there is a small island called Villegagnon, on which there is a fort. It derived its name from a knight of Malta, who was a naval officer of high rank in the service of France. In the year 1558, he was sent by the French government to obtain territory in South America, and to this end to take possession of the harbour of Rio, and the region about, which was to be styled "Antarctic France." He therefore entered the bay and established himself on the island referred to. The plan was now formed of making this country an asylum for the Huguenots, and through the influence of the celebrated Admiral Coligny, and other leaders of that party, it was carried into effect, the fortress on the island being named Coligny, in honor of the Admiral. The colony of Protestants sent out from France was placed under his protection; and, with a view to their being supplied with religious teachers, as well for the future as for the time being, two clergymen from Geneva, and fourteen students of divinity, accompanied them. Their first settlement was on the island, but Villegagnon, instead of protecting, persecuted them, and drove many of them away. At length, the Portuguese, jealous of the colonists, attacked them, and, having driven them from the island, destroyed their fortress. They then took refuge on the continent, and being in alliance with the neighbouring Indians, commenced a new settlement near the mouth of the harbour, where, for the space of ten years, they received accessions to their numbers from Europe. In 1565, however, the Portuguese attacked them with a much larger force than before, and, after a war of two years, took and destroyed their forts, and completely extirpated the coloThus were the hopes of Protestantism in the South blasted, and the blighting curse of the Catholic faith, from that time forward, shrouded, with unbroken darkness, the fair and fertile region of Brazil.

ny.

Our voyage from Brazil to the United States, was not marked by any striking incidents. To the usual monotony of sea life, was added, in the case of several of us, repeated returns of the African fever after partial recovery, and though, in less than forty days, we passed from where the thermome ter was at times as high as ninety-one degrees, to the snow and chilling winds of early March, in our own country, yet, even this, did not free some of our number from severe and repeated attacks of the fever after reaching home.

And here, in closing, I remark, that where one has for years been absent from his native land, in regions where not only the works of nature and of art, but the language, religion, manners and customs, all differ widely from those where his early days were spent, not only are his own character and feelings peculiarly and permanently affected, but both men and things, with which he had been familiar, seem, on his return, most strangely changed. Though his native land may not, like portions of the Old World, be laden with massive ruins of temples and of palaces, and no snow-clad mountains or raging volcanos give a wild and varied grandeur to its scenery, yet, when he looks around upon a young and growing empire, where wealth, talent, and enterprise are untrammeled,-where the road to rank and office is open to all, where every one may worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience, and where, as a result of the freedom, virtue, and intelligence of the people, towns and villages, as if by magic, are springing up on every side, and the tide of population is ever rolling onwards, like the waves of the ocean, with wide and rapid sweep; - when one contrasts these things with the stagnation of commerce, the civil and religious bondage of the people, and those towns and villages, where every structure looks as if the waters of the deluge had covered it, such as, in Southern Europe, one has everywhere around him; then it is, that he feels within him that strong and ardent love of home and country, to which absence has given new intensity and vigor; and, henceforth, he resolves ever to cherish the institutions, and devote himself to the welfare, of the land which gave him birth.

But, aside from the peculiar freshness and vigor of every thing in our own land, with which an immediate contrast with the fading glory of the Old World so deeply impresses the mind, there are other and real changes with which one everywhere meets, when returning, after an absence of years,

to the place of his birth. I refer to the inroads which disease and death have made among those whom he knew and loved; for though, with thrilling joy and rapture, one may tread again his native soil, yet does he almost fear to ask of the welfare of his friends, for fear the grave may be their dwelling-place. At all times is it true, that

"Men drop so fast, e'er life's mid stage we tread,
Few know so many friends alive as dead;"

but when the changes and losses of years come all at once to our knowledge, and we find that many, whom we had hoped on our return to greet with gladness, are slumbering in the dust, then does grief succeed our rising joy, as, looking back upon the past, we may with truth exclaim,

"As clouds which rake the mountain summit,
Or waves which know no curbing hand,

How oft hath brother followed brother,
From sunlight to the sunless land.”

CHAPTER XXIX.

NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

Boys on

Love of

Intercourse with Seamen.. Our Navy, as compared with Cthers. Shipboard. Naval Apprentices. Marines, their Duties and Character. Common Seamen, their Character. Classification of them. - Their Trials. Superstition. Wit and Humor. Songs of Seamen. Reading. Libraries for Seamen. Their Vices. Lying. - Stealing. Selfishness. Profane Swearing. Influence of Officers. Licentiousness.- Low Standard of Morals. - Hypocrisy. - Naval Commanders. Gambling. Half Pay Tickets. - Punishments. Flogging: Is it Necessary? Its Effects.

As the condition and character of our Navy, and the reputation and conduct of its officers and men abroad, are matters of national interest and concern, it may not be amiss, in this connexion, briefly to allude to these and other kindred topics. To enter fully upon them, and give at length the results of years of free daily intercourse with seafaring men of all classes, as suggested by a close and constant observation of their peculiar habits and modes of thought and feeling, and a sincere and heartfelt sympathy with them and their friends, under the severe and varied trials of their lot, — fully to present these points, would indeed require a volume. most the whole of my professional life, of more than seven years, has been spent either among seamen on board ship, or, as at present, in laboring among a people where, in a population but little exceeding 2,000, there are more than 200 masters of vessels, many of whom are among the most worthy, energetic, and successful of this class of men; and where, too, there is scarce a boy at school who does not expect, at some future day, to walk the monarch of a vessel's deck.

Al

And here, with a view to aid us in forming a correct estimate of our navy, as also to furnish with important facts those illustrious orators, who are wont to speak of our ships of war as fully able to sweep the vessels of all other nations from the face of the ocean, it may be well to give the following statement of the naval forces of the United States,