amounted to several hundreds, and a body of military brought up the rear.
The streets and windows were crowded with people in their holiday
costume, bands of music were playing, bells were ringing, flowers were
scattered about and showered down from the houses. The profusion of
tinsel and embroidery was very great, and the balconies and windows in
the line of procession were hung with rich brocade in all the colours of
the rainbow.

BRAZILIAN CHARACTER.

A short stay, such as ours, afforded very limited opportunities of
judging of the national character; and my impressions on this point were,
probably, often erroneous. The Brazilians and English did not then
reciprocate very cordially, on account of the existing state of
international relations. Of late years great advances appear to have been
made upon the mother-country, judging from the increasing liberality of
their institutions, the establishment of commercial relations abroad, the
freedom of discussion and influence of the press, the attention paid to
public education (especially of the middle classes) the support granted
to literature and science, and the declining influence of the priesthood
in secular matters. The national character, however, can scarcely be
considered as fully formed; the Brazilians have been too recently
emancipated from the thraldom of a modified despotism to have made, as
yet, any very great progress in developing the elements of national
prosperity and greatness which the vast empire of Brazil so abundantly
possesses, and the foul blot of slavery, with its debasing influence,
still remains untouched.

CROSS THE SOUTH ATLANTIC.