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number. Many a time does it happen, at a turn in the road, that one finds the body of a mule lying in the midst of an infected atmosphere. I should incline to think that this bird has secret enemies that destroy its eggs. But perhaps its gluttony causes it to neglect procreation.

It is not, however, the negro and the urubu that constitute, in my opinion, the most peculiar feature of the Brazilian cidade; it is rather the complete absence of women, or at least of white women. The latter newer leave their houses, where they are confined with pitiless jealousy. The physiognomy, which this custom impresses on the town, is especially striking to a traveller habituated to Castilian manners, and who comes from the Andes or the Banda Oriental. In Brazil, owing to long peace and to the stream of colonists that the winds of each year waft to its shores, men are far more numerous than women, and the seclusion of the senhoras renders the contrast still more striking. In Spanish America, where women mingle freely in society, immigration is not so great, and the continual wars that have desolated these unhappy republics for half a century, have caused a sensible predominance of the female sex.

Under the influence of an independent life, the Hispano-American senhoras are more amiable, lively, and attractive than the creole ladies of Portuguese origin. The latter live as prisoners, we have said; yet, however vigilant the jealousy of the inhabitants, their vigilance is daily outwitted by feminine cunning, Though the doors of the Brazilian gynecæums have been constantly closed to me, I convinced myself by attentive observation, and through a few indiscretions of my companions, that such slavery is not always acceptable, and that the fair captives contrive to have intelligence with the outside world. One of their principal means consists in the symbolical language of flowers. A young man wishes to interrogate a senhora whom he has seen upon a balcony.He passes beneath her windows, at a time when he thinks her alone, with a certain flower, carried in s certain manner. An imperceptible sign tells him whether his homage is agreeable, or if he came too late. If the response bids him hope, he continues his manœuvres, and the dialogue is kept up thereafter with new flowers. I was several times shown the key to this native mode of telegraphing, but never having had occasion to employ it, I have forgotten every letter or its graceful alphabet.

This simple method has a powerful auxiliary in the processions. The procession, in Hispano-Portuguese America, is the indispensable complement of every festival. To this free men only are admitted. Regimented and gowned into a large number of brotherhoods, or irmendadea, the mass devoutly follow, with tapers in their hands, the Madonna or saint borne in triumph through the streets. If the patron of the day is a warlike character, he is put on horse-back, with vizor lowered and lance in hand. I was at Rio Janeiro on the occasion of the procession of Saint George, the patron of the city. The saint, firmly pinned to the saddle, was mounted upon a superb courser from the stables of the Emperor. His costume, flashing with gold and precious stones, strongly reminded one of the warrior-kings of the middle ages. A pikeman on foot led his steed, Twenty squires, likewise on foot, formed his escort, each leading a richly caparisoned horse. A choir of native musicians, accompanied by all kinds of primitive instruments, at intervals greeted the festivities with their notes, in which the shrill whistling of the fife contended with more vigor than