Chapter I: Voyage from England to Rio de Janeiro (4)

The road, from the point which leads to the palace, continues by either turning a little further on to the left, and ascending a hill, or by the Campo St. Christovao, which sweeps round the hill and meets the other road on the opposite side, and afterwards leads on to the province of St. Paulo and Minas Geraes. It is the grand track of the miners and others coming from distant districts, and presents successive troops of mules, laden with different produce, attached to their curious and rudely constructed pack-saddles, by straps of raw hides.

The road of St. Christovao and the Cidade Nova, are generally crowded by these caravans, their drivers of all complexions, dressed in cotton shirts and trowsers, with slouching hats, and combined with the horses and mules, carrying persons of rather a superior order coming also from the interior, amount to the aggregate number of at least two thousand passing and re-passing daily. It would be difficult to describe the variety of costume and rude appearance of the latter persons, many of whom are dressed in black or dirty white hats, with prodigious rims, a capote, or cloak, frequently of sky-blue, thrown round the front part of the body, and being crossed behind them, hangs in folds on each side of the mule. The bits of their bridles, their saddles, and stirrups, are of various antiquated and fantastic shapes. Some wear boots of brown leather, closely fitted to the leg, bound round the top with a strap and large buckle; others with capotes, large hats, &c. wear neither shoes nor boots, but introduce the great toes only into the stirrups, and with large heavy spurs upon the naked heels, are not the least remarkable among these burlesque figures. I have frequently ridden with them, and always found that they were communicative and civil. Their mules, which had performed journeys of two and three months, did not appear to have sustained much injury. These people mostly frequent certain streets in the city for disposal of their produce, and the purchase of manufactured goods. The Rua de Candelaria is the great mart for cheeses, brought from the interior. The Rua de Violas, Rua de St. Pedro, &c. are visited by the miners; and some of the shopkeepers, of whom they buy their return cargo, occasionally purchase from the English merchants three or four thousand pounds of goods in one bargain.

The other road leading from the Campo St. Anna, does not present so much traffic as the last, and is denominated the old road. It proceeds through the village of Catimby, and from thence to Matta Porcas, one end of which it passes, and advances through the valley, having many good houses by its sides, to Andrahi, contracting afterwards betwixt the mountains into a narrow bridle way, leading to the district of Tejuco. From this road, near the Pedro Mountain, a cross road, with some good houses, the principal one recently occupied by Mr. Gill, an English merchant, conducts through the extremity of the valley of Engenho Velho, and at a distance of about half a mile unites itself with a road coming through another portion of the same valley, from the stone bridge near the turn to the palace. After this junction, the road proceeds through the valley of Engenho Novo, and communicates with the great road to the mines.

The road which turns off at the stone bridge last mentioned is a lane much frequented by the royal family, and is bounded by beautifully verdant hedges, and some neat shacaras, and is not dissimilar in appearance to the green lanes, leading from London to Southgate. It is the limit of the King’s shacara on the right. About three quarters of a mile from its commencement is situated the Casa de Don Pedro, recently erected in the form of a castle, with a flag-staff at the top, the ground-floor consisting of one good sized room, and four smaller, covered with India matting, and furnished with chairs and sofas, but by no means in a royal style. From the palace to this casa is a favourite walk of the King’s; the interval forms the royal shacara, and is laid out in walks, crossing each other at right angles, shaded by an abundant variety of trees, which have been planted only within the last few years, and demonstrate by their state of maturity, the exuberant fertility of the soil and climate.

The road continues from hence, across a brook, by a wooden bridge, which bounds the King’s shacara on that side; and very near to it is the royal mill, which is yet far from being completed, although it was begun five or six years ago. It is intended to have one water-wheel and four pair of mill-stones. The model of the building and the machinery were sent from Lisbon. When the mill is finished, it is expected to grind forty sacks of wheat during the day and night, for which the public will be charged two crusades (about five shillings) per sack, of three alqueiras, or about three and a half of Winchester bushels.

One hundred yards further is situated Bella-fonta, the fine shacara of Mr. Wright, under whose roof I received every kindness and hospitality possible, during my residence at Rio; and am happy in this opportunity of acknowledging, in common with all who know him, the high estimation I entertain of his character.

Within the circuit of the roads described, the valley of Engenho Velho is adorned with numerous neat shacaras, abounding with walks formed of oranges, and all the fruit trees of the tropics. Many give the preference to a residence on the Cateta side; but, in consequence of the royal family frequenting this quarter, I think the spirit of improvement shows itself more decidedly in this direction, and although the sea breezes do not reach it, the land breezes from the adjacent mountains, sweeping along the valley, render the mornings and evenings particularly delightful. The dews are here profuse.

_On Stone by G. Hurley; the figures by Shoosmith from a Sketch by
Ja^s. Henderson._
_Printed by Romney & Fayter._

_A Pedlar & His Slave._

BELLA FONTA, THE SHACARA OF I.E. WRIGHT, ESC^a.]

_On Stone by C. Shoosmith from a Sketch by Jas. Henderson._
_Printed by C. Hullmandel._

PALACE OF ST CRISTOVÃO.]

I accompanied a gentleman, in the month of September, to see the Casa de Don Pedro, from whence we proceeded along the delightfully shaded walks of the shacara to the palace, which is in the progress of augmentation by some buildings under the inspection of Mr. Johnson, who came to the Brazil with the gates from the Duke of Northumberland, and who has been since employed by the King in superintending the progressive enlargement of the palace. On this day, all bands were fully employed in finishing a suite of rooms which his Majesty had a great wish to occupy that evening.

On descending a hill from the palace, we perceived Prince Don Miguel in a field below, dressed in a pair of great jack-boots, a cocked hat, and a star upon his breast, with a pole about 10 feet long in his hand, attending a plough with one handle, drawn by six bullocks, followed by five or six negro drivers and a _feitor_.[12] They executed their work very imperfectly, allowing the greatest portion of the turf to fall down again. From the superfluity of animal power employed in this defective specimen of agriculture, our attention was directed to the royal stables, which contained about three hundred mules and horses of a diminutive size, with double the number of persons to look after them that would have been deemed necessary in England.

Prince Don Pedro had been breaking horses into harness all that morning, and we met him with the fourth pair; he used a large unwieldy whip, which, however, he administered pretty freely, making as much noise as a French postilion would, on announcing his arrival at a town, by the cracking of his whip. On passing him we stood still and took off our hats, which was only returned by an ungracious look. We also met Prince Don Miguel, returning from his agricultural amusement, accompanied by his _feitor_. He is a spare and pale-looking person, about sixteen years of age. Passing close to his elbow, we paid him the most respectful obeisance, but we were not honoured even with the least inclination of his head.

I walked one evening to see the fire-works, which had been preparing for some time for the celebration of a saint’s day, in front of the palace, ranged along, and a few yards distant from the gates and palisades. The veranda was filled with a great many priests and friars, and others about the person of the King. His Majesty and the rest of the family took their station at the fifth window, on the right of the handsome flight of stairs erected by Mr. Johnson. The fire-works were ill executed, and could not be put in comparison with such exhibitions in Europe, which is much to be wondered at, considering the immense revenue here annually expended in this way, and the great number of persons that live by it and follow no other pursuit. Every evening at eight o’clock, excepting holidays and Sundays, the King receives the public, in a room appropriated for the purpose, at St. Christovao, to the honour of _beija-māo_;[13] and the roads of Cidade Nova, Catimby, and Matta Porcas are covered, on those occasions, with officers, and numerous persons in cabriolets, on horseback, and on foot, pressing towards the palace, consisting of those who have some object to carry with his Majesty. When the door is opened there is a promiscuous rushing forward, and a mulatto will be seen treading upon the heels of a general. They advance in single rank up one side of the room to the upper part, where his Majesty is seated, attended by his fidalgos in waiting, and, passing him in review, they countermarch in the same order. It is said that the King has an extraordinary memory, and recollects each individual as he passes, and the object of his visit; those who please speak to him, but a great proportion do not. It would appear that his Majesty is partial to seeing people in this way for a considerable period before he concedes what they want. A gentleman from Lisbon informed me that he had come to Rio expressly to gain some object with the government, and he anticipated a residence of twelve months there before he accomplished it. He purposed omitting none of those numerous attendances of _beija-māo_, unless his neglecting to do so might be observed by his Majesty; who, he observed was particularly desirous of detaining all Europeans there as long as possible. Senhor Thomas Antonio de Portugal, the minister of state, who has a shacara upon the left side of the road, already described, leading to Andrahi, holds a sort of public levee two days in each week, where crowds of officers and others attend, to submit their applications or to solicit his patronage, afterwards proceeding to perform the accustomed ceremony of _beija-māo_ at the palace, during which period, from eight to nine o’clock, a band of music, in no very harmonious strains, is heard through a portion of the valley.

The fidalgos, and those who may be denominated the higher orders of society here, are infinitely behind corresponding classes in the leading states of Europe, both in the knowledge and practice of civilized life. The pleasures and refinements of social intercourse are alike unknown to them: jealous of foreigners, their conduct towards them is not marked by that attention or hospitality so conspicuous in other countries, where the cultivation of a liberal system of society prevails. Their main occupation consists in outward show, in the punctilious observance of court-etiquette, and a regular attendance upon the superstitious rites and festivals of the Catholic religion. Whatever little exists of pomp and splendour in this city is to be discovered in the temples, which are fitted up with rich profusion, more especially the parish churches, their altars and shrines exhibiting decorations of the most costly kind, in which respect St. Sebastian, or the Royal Chapel, stands pre-eminent; its richly-gilded walls, carved work, and splendidly-ornamented altars, glittering with a profusion of gold, silver, and precious stones, surpass in brilliancy any thing that could be imagined, by a plain Christian, as essential to the purposes of divine worship. The chapel has some paintings, and one large piece over the chief altar, into which the late Queen and the principal part of the royal family are introduced. The King has a large box, not unlike an opera-box, above the place where grand mass is performed; here his Majesty and the rest of the family take their seats on festival-days; the bishop, in white or yellow satin, richly embroidered with gold, his mitre of the same, sits in great state below, opposite to the King, when he is not engaged in any part of the ceremony, in which he is assisted by a prodigious number of padres, and the service is performed with vast magnificence. The organ, accompanied by a crowd of vocal performers, amongst whom are five or six eunuchs, gratify, with some of the finest music of the Brazil, the audience, consisting, on some occasions, of many fidalgos, judges, ministers, and various individuals, who, in their gaudy robes, sit upon benches along the body of the chapel. There are others also who are led there by curiosity.

Here the King will sometimes spend the whole day, and, upon the celebration of some favourite saint’s day, will remain till midnight. These holidays and festivities are usually attended by an immense consumption of gunpowder, in rockets, fire-works, &c. The days of some saints are remarkable for the right every man, bearing the same name, assumes of lighting up a great bonfire in front of his house; and I remember accompanying a friend in his chaise, on the evening of St. John’s day, when we had some difficulty in getting the horse through the flames and sky-rockets that illuminated and occupied the whole street fronting the dwellings of all the Senhor Joaos. The horses generally, however, do not regard it, being so accustomed to fire and gunpowder. During my stay at Rio, a bell was christened, and placed on the south side of the royal chapel with much ceremony. The King was godfather and the widow Princess godmother. The bell was named John the Sixth, in honour of his Majesty, who sprinkled it with salt and water, and at the period that it was hoisted to its ultimate position, the town resounded with fire-works and sky-rockets.

Religious exhibitions and feasts succeed each other with very little intermission; and the Brazilian calendars present an innumerable list of them. At Whitsuntide, three or four days are dedicated to the consecration of oxen, fowls, &c. and their consumption. The churches retail these articles at high prices, producing a considerable revenue. In some of the parishes, at this time, the inhabitants, by turns, are at the expense of a public feast, and it occasionally costs some individuals seven or eight hundred pounds. A boy, the son of the person giving this entertainment, sits upon a throne, attended by boys and girls of his own age; he is called the emperor, and, with a sceptre in his hand, presides over the feast. I saw two exhibitions of this sort on the 1st of June, one in the Campo St. Anna, and the other at the Lappa, accompanied with fire-works. They are extremely ludicrous. The festival of Corpus Christi, on the 10th of June, is one of their grandest processional displays. It is only upon these occasions that the ladies appear in public. Early in the day cabriolets, drawn by mules, are seen driving in every direction towards the Ruas Direita and d’Aquitanda, containing females in their gala dresses, while the military of every description are assembled in the streets to assist in the procession, which consists principally of priests and friars, whose prodigious numbers are calculated to swell out a cavalcade, together with numerous inhabitants of different parishes, wearing cloaks peculiar to the churches, which are various and showy. The whole form two lines, preceded with banners, each person, including the priests, carrying a preposterous-looking wax candle, about six feet high, one end of which is placed, at every step, upon the ground. The royal horses, sumptuously caparisoned, and decorated with ribands from their noses to the end of their long tails, are led by grooms dressed in the most tawdry style, the royal servants of every order following; then the judges, and all classes of people employed by the government. The fidalgos and ministers precede and follow the bishop, who carries the Host, under a superb canopy, attended by Princes Don Pedro and Don Miguel, the supporters of his train! The King usually follows the bishop as a train-bearer, but on this occasion he did not. The dresses of all were rich and costly; and the procession, amounting to some thousand persons, proceeded along the Rua Direita and returned, by the Rua d’Aquitanda, to the palace chapel; after which there was a grand display of fire-works. All the balconies were crowded with females, adorned with precious stones. The fronts of the houses were hung with silks and crimson velvet, gilded with ornaments; and the streets were strewed with green leaves. The general effect of the whole was very imposing.

There is rather a celebrated annual procession, on the 10th of October, in the Rua dos Ourives, having its foundation in some religious observance peculiar to the church of that street. All the houses are hung outside with tapestry and other stuffs, and ornamented with looking-glasses, and a great portion of the furniture which the house contains, not of the most elegant sort, and generally not over abundant. A procession of padres, and numerous others belonging to the parish, takes place during the evening, drawing together an immense concourse of people, while the females, who spend the last penny to procure a gay dress for these occasions, appear at the balconies in a profusion of finery. The houses are illuminated, not with any transparent or appropriate devices, but with wax and common tallow candles; some placed in the front of looking-glasses, in order to produce a double brilliancy at half price.

The funeral processions are rather singular; and the interment of a child particularly would appear to be the season of rejoicing rather than grief. On these occasions the musical performers are the most choice and costly. The corpse is never kept more than one day from the time of the demise, and the funeral rites are usually celebrated after dark; every one that chooses enlisting into the procession by the acceptance of a wax-light. At a funeral which I saw at the Carmo, a large and handsome church adjoining the royal chapel, two lines of persons were ranged along the body of the building, from the entrance towards the altar, facing each other, every one holding a wax-light, nearly six feet high, in the right hand, and projected rather forward. Some of the individuals of this assembly might be friends of the deceased, but the major part consisted of persons casually met with in the streets, or such as were led by curiosity into the church. The acceptance of a light is deemed an honour done to the friends of the dead, and the agents of the padres are not very scrupulous in forcing them, if possible, into the hands of every one they see; the motive for doing this is ascertained on knowing that the remainder of all candles which are used become the perquisite of those very _worthy_ brethren. At the head of the two lines, amounting to perhaps from one hundred to one hundred and fifty persons, the corpse was placed upon a table or elevated platform, with the head exposed to view, while its last vestments displayed the ill-founded notion of importance which its survivors attach to outward and meretricious show. The ceremony of itself not being calculated to impress the mind with awe, none of those feelings of respectful gravity were visible, which so solemn an occasion ought to have produced. When it was finished, the body was conducted, with no regular procession, through some outer avenues of the church, to the catacombs, situated in a passage opposite to the jesuitical library. On arriving at an inner cemetery of the catacombs, the lights of those who followed were extinguished and taken from them by the persons whose duty it was to secure this perquisite; and every one retiring in consequence, the body disappeared by some other avenue, and I could not possibly discover how it was afterwards disposed of. Upon another occasion of the funeral obsequies of a general officer, I attempted to see their mode of executing this last office; but, from the quickness with which they slid away, and the extinguishing of the lights, I was again disappointed. A friend, however, gave me the following description of the interment of a girl, at which he was present. After the ceremony and the music had ceased, they proceeded from the said church of Our Lady of Carmo to the catacombs, where he arrived, with two or three others, at that point of the cemetery which was to receive the remains. The padres had disappeared, and no one was there but the father of the girl and a person who may be styled the sexton. The outer coverings had been taken off, and the girl appeared richly dressed in embroidered muslin, with silk stockings, and new shoes on, as if equipped for an assembly. The coffin had no bottom, but the body was supported upon a piece of satin, securely nailed around the upper part of it, when the nails being withdrawn from the sides, the father, who was not dressed in the sable vestments of a mourner but in those of a bridegroom, disgusted my friend by his wanton and unfeeling conduct, and at this moment threw a piece of muslin to the sexton, urging him to despatch by shouting out “_depressa, depressa_.” The muslin being drawn over the face of the girl, a large quantity of quick lime was placed upon it, and another portion spread from the head along the breast to the body, with a quantity on each side, when the man, with much ceremony, formed a cross upon it with his trowel. During the operation, the father, devoid of every proper sense of decency, cried out to him, “_Vamos, vamos_” (let us go); and, at another time, “_Vamos, depressa, filho da pouta_.” To render this last exclamation into English would only wound the feelings of those who do not understand it. Quick lime being now placed upon the flat stone of the cemetery, which runs horizontally a long way back, exhibiting its awful contents, the coffin was lifted up, and the nails of the end being also taken out, the body and piece of satin fell upon the quick lime, and the coffin was removed away. The cemeteries are afterwards walled up and plastered over in front. This father then, and even before, at the close of the church ceremony, embraced many people for joy, invited some to go home with him to a grand supper prepared for the occasion, and felt convinced that his child was gone to Heaven. Two or three hundred pounds are occasionally expended at funerals.

The catacombs are small but extremely neat, the first part forming a square, ornamented with vases, and containing aromatic shrubs and flowers, is surrounded with a sort of piazza, the inner walls of which present the front of cemeteries, neatly plastered and numbered. Opposite the entrance, and crossing the square, a door-way leads to inner avenues, lined with cemeteries, kept exceedingly clean and in good order. At the extremity of one of these avenues is situated the general charnel-house, where the bones are piled in accumulating masses. After a certain lapse of time, the bones of individuals are taken from the cemeteries, bound together, and a large label, with their names inscribed upon it, affixed to them, then piled upon the bones of their predecessors in the charnel house, where two tapers are constantly burning; and it is not uncommon for the relatives of the deceased to visit this house of the dead on a certain day in the year, offering prayers in their behalf.

The bodies of the churches are open spaces, without seats or pews, and the women sit down in the Turkish style; they, as well as the men, occasionally fall upon their knees, and, during mass, go through the ceremonies of crossing their foreheads, chins, and breasts, at regular stated periods, frequently beating their bosoms with great vehemence, but which probably must not be taken as a positive demonstration of sincerity, however imposing it may outwardly appear.

The relation of one more procession will enable the reader to form some estimate of the religious character of this people. On the event of illness having assumed the appearance of terminating in death, the Host is conducted by one or more padres, and its usual attendants, in much pomp, with a burning of incense and the tinkling of bells, to the house of the dying person, to afford him the last consolations of his religion.

The procession of the Host requires from the public more obsequious reverence than all the other component ingredients of the Catholic faith. Many persons prostrate themselves before it on their knees, in the streets and balconies; others bend the body, and all take off their hats. I have frequently met this procession some miles in the country, the padre mounted on horseback, carrying with the same facility as an umbrella, a canopy in his hand, and under its sacred shade the Host, or emblem of the Holy Ghost, accompanied by some attendants uncovered, and robed in scarlet cloaks, also on horseback; the whole moving on at a quick ambling pace, with the tinkling of bells, the peculiarity of which announces their approach, producing an universal prostration of all persons, white and black, who may be in the fields or houses adjoining the road. There is one custom the Brazilians have, which, if sincere, cannot but be admired; every evening at sun-set, by a simultaneous movement, they take off their hats in the public streets, offer up a prayer, or repeat Avi Marias; from which they have acquired the habit of denoting that period of the evening by the term of Avi Maria. And they say so and so before Avi Maria, at Avi Maria, or after Avi Maria.

I have been in the house of a Portuguese family at Avi Maria, when they appear to repeat a short prayer, after which a general salutation takes place, by saying “_boa noite_,” (good evening,) and holding out their hands, as if they were mutually bestowing a blessing. It is the custom for all slaves to hold their hands out in a similar manner night and morning, as soon as they see their superiors, for the purpose of offering a blessing, while their usual expression is “_Abençoa senhor_.”

Rio de Janeiro, although the residence of the court, is centuries behind in the comforts and enjoyments of civilized life. Strangers are disgusted with a first ramble through this city, and would not voluntarily pay it a second visit. Friendly attention to foreigners, although they may have letters of introduction, the Brazilians are seldom or ever known to practise. After some ceremony, they follow the person introduced to the top of the stairs, wait there till he arrives at the bottom, subject him to the further form of turning round to receive their final salutation, and thus the matter briefly ends. How different to the refinement of their neighbouring colonists, the Spaniards, whose houses and tertulas, at Monte Video, at Buenos Ayres, and all other parts of Spanish America, are open to strangers, who experience every liberality and social attention from them. I was assured by an English gentleman, who has resided ten years in the Brazil, that he never witnessed any symptom of genuine hospitality, and he had notwithstanding acted with friendship to many; and to one gentleman, in particular, he had rendered frequent services, at whose house he had called on various occasions, and sometimes casually at the dinner hour, but was never invited to take dinner or any kind of refreshment. Even the principal people have no idea of the comforts of the table; when they give feasts, it is with an extravagant profusion of dishes, without any regard to the arrangement, and unattended with any of that elegant ease and order practised by similar classes in most European countries.

_On Stone by C. Shoosmith from a Sketch by Jas. Henderson._
_Printed by C. Hullmandel._

A FREE NEGRESS AND OTHER MARKET-WOMEN.]

To the want of encouragement and public spirit on the part of the leading inhabitants, and the consequent unwise regulation of the government, may be attributed the present state of the provision-market. The beef is of such a quality, that it is really quite disgusting to the sight. The cattle are certainly driven a great distance, and are in a wretched state on their arrival at the capital; but this difficulty would be remedied by the adoption of a different system. Beef now pays a small duty, and by law is sold at 30 reas (or about 3d.) per lb. and one man has the contract; let it be of the worst quality the price is the same; by the payment of an adequate sum a piece of good beef cannot be obtained. Let this important branch of commerce be thrown open, without any restriction of price; allow it to rest upon the basis of fair competition, and a good quality of this article would be seen in the metropolis, without any great additional price. Mutton is not very generally in use, particularly amongst the Brazilians; I have however seen some very good, which was fed by an Englishman. Veal is rarely if ever seen. Pork is decidedly the best meat obtained here. Vegetables and fruit are very abundant, and at reasonable prices. Potatoes are not produced, except by some of the English; but they degenerate after a year or two, by continuing to plant from the same stock. Poultry of all kinds is dear, and fish is occasionally so, arising more from the indolence of the fishermen, than any scarcity, as the bay and outside of the bar furnish an abundance, and some of a very fine flavour. Upon the whole, living at Rio is as expensive or more so than in London, with none of the comforts of the latter place. A house two stories high, consisting of a store below, and accommodation for a moderate sized family above, will let for two hundred and fifty or three hundred pounds per annum; and houses in the vicinity of the city, with little comparative convenience, will rent at seventy or eighty pounds a year; while those more commodious are proportionably higher.

CHAP. IV.

PROVINCE OF RIO DE JANEIRO--_continued_.

_Population of the Capital--Negroes--Nocturnal Clamour of
Reptiles--Vampire Bat--State of Literature--Jealousy--Dead
Bodies--Military--Bank--Revenue--Imposts--Diamonds--Visit
to Campinha--Tenure of Lands--Proof of Fertility--Swiss
Emigrants--Visit to the Cascades of Tejuca--Commerce--Judicial
Procedure--Pauta and Convention--New Exchange--Foundation
of English Church--Towns, Villages, and Productions of the
Comarca of Rio de Janeiro--Boundaries, Productions, Rivers,
Lakes, and Povaoçoes of the Comarca of Cape Frio--Boundaries,
Indians, Rivers, Lakes, Towns, and Sugar Works of the Comarca of
Goytacazes--Boundaries, Coroado Indians, and Povaoçoes of the
Comarca of Canta Gallo._

The population of Rio de Janeiro is estimated at about one hundred and fifty thousand souls, two-thirds of which are negroes, mulattoes, and others, exhibiting every variety of complexion. The Brazilians residing here, and in the vicinity are denominated _Cariocas_ by the European Portuguese; the meaning or origin of which term I could not learn; the latter falsely considering themselves much superior to the former.

The mulattoes are a portion of the population much the most healthy and robust, their mixture of African and Brazilian constitution appearing exactly adapted to the climate. The negroes are probably not used with more inhumanity here than in other colonies. In the interior they are treated much better than at Rio de Janeiro, where, in some instances, much cruelty is practised. For a trifling offence, they are sometimes committed to the charge of two or three soldiers, who pinion them with cords, and beat them in the most unfeeling manner along the streets, to the Calobouco, a prison for the blacks, where they are destined perhaps to receive a severe castigation before they are liberated. Their owners procure an order from the intendant-general of the police, for one, two, or three hundred lashes, according to the dictates of their caprice or passion, which punishment is administered to those poor wretches by one of their own countrymen, a stout, savage-looking, degraded Negro. A gentleman obtained an order for the flagellation of one of his runaway slaves, with two hundred lashes. On his name being called several times, he appeared at the door of a dungeon, where the negroes seemed to be promiscuously confined together. A rope was put round his neck, and he was led to a large post, in the adjoining yard; around which his arms and feet were bound, while a rope secured his body in like manner, and another, firmly fastened round his thighs, rendered the movement of a single member wholly impossible. The black degradado set to work very mechanically, and at every stroke, which appeared to cut part of the flesh away, he gave a singular whistle. The stripes were repeated always upon the same part, and the negro bore the one hundred lashes he received at this time with the most determined resolution. On receiving the first and second strokes he called out “_Jesu_,” but afterwards laid his head against the side of the post, not uttering a syllable, or asking for mercy; but what he suffered was strongly visible in the tremulous agitation of the whole frame. The scene was deeply afflicting, and it was to be regretted that the man who was capable of such fortitude should be in a condition that subjected him to so painful and degrading an infliction. He received the other one hundred lashes on the third day following, after which, a heavy iron chain to his leg, and an iron riveted round his neck, from which a trident stood up above the head, by way of ornament, would be no pleasant appendages with which to pursue his usual labour.

There are men who profess to be catchers of runaway negroes, and frequently detain and ill use them when they are proceeding upon their employment, keep them confined during a night, conduct them home tied with ropes, and pretend they have detected them running away, for which they demand certain charges and a recompense. I was present when two of those fellows brought a poor negro girl whom they had detained, and it was proved that they stopped her when she was really in pursuit of her occupation. They failed in receiving the recompense they so basely sought, but they ought to have been made a severe example of. It is painful to observe, that if a negro is stopped, or forced away, or in any manner ill-treated, nobody takes his part or believes his story.

A great many persons live entirely in idleness, upon the earnings of one, two, or three slaves, who are denominated “_negros de ganho_,” and stroll about the streets for employment: they are distinguished by a large basket which they carry; others of both sexes are employed in carrying water in tubs, from the fountains, for the supply of the inhabitants; the fountains are crowded all day, and are attended by a couple of soldiers to preserve order. The streets after dark are most offensively filled with negroes, carrying tubs of soil to empty at the beach, a water-closet, or privy, not being known in this city. If these negroes do not bring a certain sum of money to their owners at night, the penalty is generally a severe castigation. Many of the negro slaves are remarkably well formed, particularly some of those who labour at the custom-house, and exhibit much muscular strength about their whole frames, combined with such symmetry of form, that the lineaments and swelling muscles of their naked bodies reminded me of some fine antique models. They wear cotton trowsers, the rest of the body being exposed. The principal part of the importations are removed from the custom-house by them, and their dreadful shoutings and yellings, as a stimulus under their burdens, resound through the streets and suburbs all day. Few waggons are used, and those of a rude construction; the axle-trees, revolving with the wheels, produce a loud and discordant noise.

The humane attempts of some English merchants to introduce waggons, for conveying goods from the custom-house, were effectually opposed by the clerks of that establishment, who have the privilege through intrigue of exclusively letting out their slaves for this employment. The universal diet of the negroes is the farinha, or flour, of the mandioca root, which they mix up with warm water, and occasionally are indulged with a little _toucinho_, or fat bacon, to it; but in the mining districts they use the flour of Indian corn, which a negro, who had worked at the gold mines, informed me, was preferred amongst them to the first. The Brazilians themselves use a great deal of farinha, many families almost subsisting upon it; and when dressed up, as is the custom in some parts of the Brazil, particularly at Pernambuco, with green peppers, &c. into a state they call _pirao_, it is very palatable. _Feijaos_ and _carne-secco_, which are black beans and dried beef stewed together, is a dish much used amongst the Brazilians, and an European with a sharp appetite will not find it a bad relish.

_On Stone by C. Shoosmith from a Sketch by Jas. Henderson._
_Printed by C. Hullmandel._

NIGHTMAN. WATER CARRIER. WASHER-WOMAN.]

The slave-ships arriving at the Brazil present a terrible picture of human wretchedness, the decks being crowded with beings as closely stowed as it is possible, whose melancholy black faces, and gaunt naked bodies, are of themselves sufficient to transfix with horror an individual unused to such scenes, independently of the painful reflections connected with a consideration of the debasing circumstances and condition of this portion of mankind. A great many of them, as they are seen proceeding from the ships to the warehouses where they are to be exposed for sale, actually appear like walking skeletons, particularly the children; and the skin, which scarcely seems adequate to keep the bones together, is covered with a loathsome disease, which the Portuguese call _sarna_, but may more properly be denominated the scurvy. The poor wretches undergo painful remedies to prepare them as speedily as possible for market. If a visit to the street of warehouses appropriated to their reception be occasioned by a desire of gratifying curiosity, the sentiments brought into operation by such a scene will soon hurry the visitor away in pity and disgust. They are crowded together without regard to sex, and made to sit down in rows upon the ground, being by turns roughly forced upon their feet, for the purpose of exhibiting their bodily powers to a purchaser. Negroes are become very dear; those that might have been procured three years ago for thirty-five or forty pounds, are now worth sixty or seventy.

Strangers coming here are also subject to the _sarna_, as well as the natives, which is an irruption attended with considerable irritation and itching about the legs, feet, and ancles, and becomes troublesome unless great care is taken, by washing them every night with warm water and _cachaça_. The _bicho_ is also another annoyance peculiar to the climate, ever filling the air, the water, and the earth with new and infinite animation. This insect generates in the dust and sand, and penetrating the foot not larger than an atom at first, increases to the size of a small white worm, giving considerable pain till extracted; in doing which, it is necessary to remove all the little eggs which it leaves behind, otherwise they would soon acquire life, and, if allowed, eat away the foot. I have seen numbers of negroes, whose legs and feet, with the aid of the _sarna_, have been literally destroyed, and almost corroded away by them. The little black boys sitting down, and extracting them from their feet with a pin, reminded me of the celebrated bronze figure of a boy, in the attitude of taking a thorn from his foot, which occupies a place in the Salle de Laocoon, at the Louvre.

In traversing the woods, the _carrapato_, with which the branches frequently swarm, is an annoying and dangerous enemy. It is similar in appearance to a sheep-tick, and introduces the head and main part of the body into the flesh, when, if taken away forcibly, it leaves a disagreeable wound. One of these vermin penetrated the leg of the King, and, being injudiciously forced away, caused a wound, which has been occasionally troublesome to his Majesty ever since. The application of oil is deemed an efficacious mode of removing them; but I found this ineffectual, after using it copiously for about half an hour on one that was nearly buried in the ear of a negro-boy.

On first arriving here, the inharmonious sounds which begin to annoy the ear about Avi Maria, sent forth by field-crickets, frogs, toads, and other reptiles, are quite alarming to a stranger, who anticipates at every step, if he walks into a shacara, to encounter some venomous creature. It is custom alone that reconciles this loud, unceasing, nocturnal clamour. Lizards are very numerous, some of a green colour. They are timid, and are constantly seen running across the roads, up walls, or rustling amongst the hedges. The vampire-bat is very large here, and if they can get access to the stables will fix upon a horse, and suck the blood. I have seen the back of a horse quite saturated with it, in consequence of a bite from one of them. They are said to fan their wings, during this sanguinary proceeding, in order to assuage the pain which their bite creates. It is supposed that they would fix upon the human body in the same way; and this is probable, from the following circumstance. In consequence of the excessive heat, I was in the habit of leaving open the shutter of my bed-room. One evening I discovered a vampire-bat, as large as two hands, upon the bed-post, and, by a blow, stunned it, so that it could not escape by the window, but secreted itself in the room. During the night it got twice upon the bed, but the heat preventing a sound sleep, I was quickly awakened by its attempts.

It is too well known, perhaps, to remark that the Brazil is not the seat of literature; in fact, its total absence is marked by the prohibition of books generally, and the want of any single medium through which its inhabitants can attain even to a knowledge of the existing state of the world, or what is passing in it. The inhabitants are principally involved in great ignorance and pride, its usual consequence; an acquirement of the modes and ceremonies attached to the pompous observance of their religion appearing to be deemed quite adequate to all the purposes of the present system of society. A liberal literary institution of any kind throughout the state, or a stimulus to a man of talent, would be looked for in vain. A gazette, published twice a week, is printed at the royal press, the only one established here; but it affords to the people no intelligence of the state of their own country or that of others. It is the size of a sheet of small letter-paper, and is filled with the arrivals and departures of vessels, and some advertisements, while occasionally two or three heads are extracted with caution from the English newspapers. In the whole of the Brazil there is only one other gazette, and that is published at Bahia. Its neighbouring colony of Spanish South America has already begun to dispel the ignorance in which it was alike enveloped, by the establishment of several public colleges in different places, and the liberal and free introduction of books, which will fast promote the spirit of learning that partially begins to dawn. Jealousy, which acquires a greater sway, from this confined state of education and knowledge, obtains unbounded influence over the minds of many of the Brazilians, and operates in some instances to such a degree that its victims are degraded much below the savage: they do not declare their resentment openly, and demand frankly that redress or explanation which a man sustaining a real or imaginary injury from another has a right to require; but they seek in privacy the destruction of the object who may have created in their breasts sentiments of revenge, frequently resting upon a false and unjust foundation, but which the inveteracy of this diabolical passion will allow them neither to investigate nor to solicit what in Europe is deemed a fair and honourable satisfaction. Jealousy is a highly praiseworthy feeling when it is regulated with candour and justice, but allied with the vile cowardice of clandestine assassination, perpetrated by the hands of the party themselves, or through the medium of a hired agent, it is of all others the most wicked and hellish that can actuate the human mind.

That instances have occurred in the Brazil wherein both those modes have been practised, for the gratification of this passion, unjustly indulged, is but too true. An English gentleman, who has resided in the Brazil nearly forty years, informed me of a circumstance which he witnessed in this city, previously to the arrival of the royal family. A British officer, whose ship was taking in refreshments here, on passing through the Palace Square to a boat waiting to take him on board his vessel, suddenly received a _facada_ by a person who drew a knife from under a capote, or cloak, (which the Brazilians are in the habit of wearing), concealed for the purpose, and which terminated his existence. It was said that this wretch had unjustly encouraged a feeling of jealousy against the British officer in regard to his wife, or some part of his family. Many of the Brazilians carry knives, hid under the sleeve of their capotes, which they throw and use with great dexterity. I was horror-struck to see at Rio the samples of an importation of knives from England, manufactured expressly for this purpose. In cases of quarrels amongst themselves they frequently use them, and quickly fold the capote around the left arm, which serves for a sort of shield.

Religious _festas_, as has been before stated, are occurring weekly, and amongst other _funçons_, as they are called, one annually takes place in the beautiful island of Paquata, one of the fairest and most picturesque in the bay. The English merchants are generally applied to for subscriptions for this festival, which they accord with their accustomed liberality. It is a delightful water excursion, which, added to the charms of the island itself, induce all the world to be of the party, and under the religious cloak of these occasions, females always appear in public. A worthy captain of an English merchantman was induced, upon one of those festivals, recently, to accompany a party in his own boat; and, the mode of refreshment being of the pic-nic kind, he came in contact with an adjoining group, including several females, to whom he was tempted to pay some attention, and thereby unconsciously excited the jealousy of a monster in the shape of a human being, who was of the party; and at the moment of his departure from the island, the boat having only proceeded some yards, a knife was thrown with such unerring aim at him that it produced his immediate death. That blacks, slaves, and others, are hired to commit such atrocities, by the payment of a small recompense, is a fact affirmed to be notorious; one authenticated instance will be sufficient to show that it is too correct. It is within a short period that the inhabitants of Pria Flemingo were much shocked at the discovery of a dead body upon that beach, decapitated, and in a state of nudity, so that no trace was left to find out who the unfortunate individual might be. This mysterious circumstance excited deep interest, and produced the offer of a reward for the detection of the perpetrator of so foul a deed. During the interval that the matter was involved in uncertainty, it was known to the friars of a monastery that one of their members was missing; but, it would appear, nothing was said by them regarding the lost brother, from the apprehension, probably, that something vicious or improper might arise out of the investigation, not quite honourable to their sect. At last, from a fear of detection, and a consciousness of guilt, the real culprit came to the determination of communicating the affair to the King, presuming upon the known mercy of his Majesty, which is so unbounded that few persons have suffered the punishment of death since he ascended the throne, although it is possible the royal forbearance may have frustrated, in some instances, the just expiation of guilt.[14] On this occasion also the criminal was not brought to justice, who, it is ascertained, was a fidalgo, whose jealousy was roused by the frequent visits the friar already mentioned paid to his wife, for the professed purpose of exacting the confessional duties of herself and family. It is not ascertained whether he had any real cause or not for the excitement of this passion; he unquestionably conceived he had, from the measures which he adopted of engaging two or three blacks to embrace an opportunity of murdering the friar, severing the head from the body, and divesting him of his sacerdotal robes. The discovery of the body was made under circumstances that did not involve those who found it in any difficulty; but it is possible that an innocent individual finding a dead person, unacquainted with the customs of the country, might be subjected to some inconvenience; and I had almost got into such a predicament myself. Not far from the Campo de St. Christovao, a beach leading to the point of Cajú affords an interesting view of the bay. I had just entered upon it one evening, in September, on horseback, when I was startled at the appearance of a dead man extended upon the sand, which the receding tide had just deposited there: he was very well dressed, in the habit of a sailor, and, the hair being of an auburn colour, I concluded he was the mate of an English ship. My endeavours to procure the aid of some Portuguese at a short distance were unavailing; no one would approach; and two or three persons in a cabriolet, who passed close by, regarded me and the dead sailor with indifference. I also addressed myself to the next person who came up on horseback; he dismounted, and I immediately found that he was an Englishman: he turned the body over, when the face appeared terribly mangled; he suggested that the property upon the person should be secured, which amounted to upwards of one pound in Portuguese money, a silver watch, a gold brooch, and other things, of which an account was taken and delivered to my care, with which I purposed going directly to the minister of police, and to request that the body might be taken care of, as it was impossible to get any one in the neighbourhood to take it in, or even come near the place. After paying two negroes to move the body from the beach, and place it under a hedge, I set off to carry my intentions into effect. On the road to the city I met an English gentleman, to whom I stated the matter; he requested me by no means to go to the police-office, as I should unquestionably be detained and lodged in prison till I proved that I was not the cause of the man’s death. This information deterred me from proceeding farther; but the idea that this unfortunate individual might have a wife, children, and friends at home, determined me to prepare an account of his person, with a view of posting it at the custom-house next morning, which might have led to an identification of his person. I previously called upon Mr. Harrison, a highly-respectable and long-resident merchant here, and he effectually convinced me of the hazardous consequences of a further interference in it. One gentleman said, “If you see a dead body, gallop off;” another, “If you perceive a dispute, from which one of the parties is likely to lose his life, fly, or you may be compelled to prove that you were not accessory to his death.” I immediately deposited the property at the British Consul’s office, being under some apprehension, but I never heard more of the matter. No doubt the body became a prey to the dogs and wild birds, and the friends of this poor man will most probably never hear of his fate.