Jesuits more than a century ago. The front had no veranda, the
doors opening upon a slightly elevated terrace about a hundred
yards distant from the broad sandy beach. Around the residence
the ground had been cleared to the extent of two or three acres,
and was planted with fruit trees. Well-trodden pathways through
the forest led to little colonies of the natives on the banks of
retired creeks and rivulets in the interior. I led here a
solitary but not unpleasant life; for there was a great charm in
the loneliness of the place. The swell of the river beating on
the sloping beach caused an unceasing murmur, which lulled me to
sleep at night, and seemed appropriate music in those midday
hours when all nature was pausing breathless under the rays of a
vertical sun. Here I spent my first Christmas Day in a foreign
land. The festival was celebrated by the negroes of their own
free will and in a very pleasing manner. The room next to the one
I had chosen was the capella, or chapel. It had a little altar
which was neatly arranged, and the room was furnished with a
magnificent brass chandelier. Men, women, and children were busy
in the chapel all day on the 24th of December decorating the
altar with flowers and strewing the floor with orange-leaves.
They invited some of their neighbours to the evening prayers, and
when the simple ceremony began an hour before midnight, the
chapel was crowded. They were obliged to dispense with the mass,
for they had no priest; the service therefore consisted merely of
a long litany and a few hymns. There was placed on the altar a
small image of the infant Christ, the "Menino Deos" as they
called it, or the child-god, which had a long ribbon depending
from its waist. An old white-haired negro led off the litany, and
the rest of the people joined in the responses. After the service
was over they all went up to the altar, one by one, and kissed