The town of St Sebastians is situated in lat. 24 deg.  S. and long. 60 deg.  W.[3] being a place of moderate extent, only indifferently fortified by an inclosure of palisades, with a few cannon for its defence.  The church however is a beautiful building, and the palace of the governor is very magnificent; but the houses of the inhabitants are only such as are commonly met with among the Spanish and Portuguese colonists in America.  The Franciscan monastery stands on the S. side of the town, and accommodates about thirty monks very conveniently.  The prior shewed to the commodore and his officers a curious idol, which he said had been worshipped by the ancient natives of the place.  It was the image of a creature half tiger half lion, about four feet high and a foot and a half round.  Its feet resembled the paws of a lion, and the head was adorned with a double crown, in which were stuck twelve Indian darts, one of which on each side was broken.  On each shoulder there was a large wing like that of a stork.  In the inside was seen the statue of a man, completely armed in the manner of the country, having a quiver of arrows at his back, a bow in his left hand, and an arrow in his right.  The tail of this strange idol was very long, and twisted three or four times round the body of the man.  It had been called Nasil Lichma, by its worshippers, and the prior said that it was made of gold; but the author of this voyage suspected it was only gilded.  The monks had also a numerous collection of European and American curiosities, which they exhibited at the same time.

[Footnote 3:  It is impossible to reconcile this longitude with any of the first meridians mentioned in a former note, or indeed with any known geographical principles.  It is 45 deg. 30’ W. from Greenwich.  If reckoned from the meridian of Teneriffe, said to be that used by the Dutch, this would place it 21 deg. 10’ too far west, as Teneriffe is 16 deg. 40’ W. from Greenwich.  This place, in an island of the same name, has to be carefully distinguished from the city of St Sebastian, now more commonly known by the name of Rio de Janeiro.—­E.]

The port, or river rather, of St Sebastian, is three or four leagues in length, and about one league broad, having a very fine island on the N.E. of about four miles round, and there are smaller islands on all the other sides of this haven.  The country of Brazil is very large and rich, insomuch that the king of Portugal is said to draw as great a revenue from hence, as the king of Spain from all his vast possessions in America.  Its capital is Bahia, or St Salvador, besides which there are many other towns, as Siara, Olinda, Rio de Janeiro, St Vincent, and others.  The country was discovered in 1590; but even at this day the Portuguese have not penetrated above eighty leagues into the interior.  The soil is good, and the country would doubtless produce abundance of corn and wine for the use of its inhabitants; but, from a principle of policy, the colonists are not permitted to cultivate these productions, and are consequently supplied with them from Portugal.  It is the common opinion that the ancient inhabitants were anthropophagi, or cannibals, and it is even said that human flesh was sold in their markets, as commonly as beef and mutton, but of this there is no authentic proof.[4]