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covering of verdant trees and shrubs, swarming in wild profusion, the
hand of man having in few places contributed its aid.
“Hail, Source of beings! Universal Soul
Of Heav’n and Earth! Essential Presence, hail!
To Thee I bend the knee: to Thee my thoughts
Continual climb, who with a master hand
Hast the great whole into perfection touch’d.”

This charming picture is lost to view on passing the opening

betwixt the pillars, where the prospect, although more confined, is
admirable, consisting of the deep recesses of the Orange Valley, the
more lofty features of the mountains which encompass it, and the
singularly formed Corcovada at its head, all rising into indescribable
magnificence. These are scenes that would have delighted and
invigorated with new energy the most exalted poets and painters.
From hence, a narrower terrace, covered with entwining brushwood,
and skirting along the side of the mountains for about a mile, brought
us to the head of the valley, where the origin of the aqueduct is
marked, by an inscription, to have taken place in the year 1744. Its
source is adorned with a fine cascade, at the foot of which, a
declining platform of rocks, overshadowed with trees, and refreshed
with the falling water, afforded us a delightful retreat from the rays of
the sun; and here in reality we enjoyed the refreshment a slave had
brought for us: above us the rugged mountains in precipices and the
stony bed of the rivulet were seen, overhung with high trees and
shrubs as far as the eye could reach. In this place, and from these
waters, a poetical mind must, indeed, imbibe those draughts of
inspiration which the vale of Tempe, and the mountain and stream of
Parnassus are fabled to have produced. A long and intricate path
leads from hence to the summit of the Corcovada Mountain; below
us there was an abrupt and rocky steep, its sides covered with
thickly growing brushwood, down which the water descended in a
murmuring course to the valley; the whole of its varieties of verdure
and fertility, with the bay of Bota-fogo at its lower extremity, was
within our view. A winding road led us to a point, where we
descended by a difficult way into the valley, while its fine oranges,
growing spontaneously, supplied us with a dessert. It is beautified
with some elegant houses, of one of which, at the bottom, almost
opposite to the Queen’s cottage, the accompanying sketch is a
specimen. Our way from hence continued by the Cateta and the
Gloria to Rio.

PILLARS NEAR THE SOURCE OF THE AQUEDUCT

 On Stone by C. Shoosmith from a Sketch by Jas. Henderson.
Printed by C. Hullmandel.
HOUSE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE ORANGE VALLEY.
The open spaces of the city, denominated squares, consist of the
Palace Square, one hundred and fifty yards long, and eighty wide,
with two good landing stairs from the bay; of the Roceo, one hundred
and eighty yards long, and one hundred wide; and the Capim,
recently called Peloirinho. In the Cidado Nova, there is one which
occupies the intermediate space of the crossing of four streets; but,
although these are open spaces, they have little regularity or
semblance to any thing that produces the idea of a square. The
Royal Palace which has more the appearance of a manufactory than
the residence of a king, is composed of that formerly occupied by the
viceroys, the convent of the Carmelites, and the senate-house,
united by passages, the first forming the southern side of the square,
and the latter the western. The northern side consists of a row of
houses, which are private property, with two stories the same as the
others. The first portion has twenty-four windows on the side, and
nine in front towards the bay, the lower part of which is occupied by
the guards and some public offices, the rooms above are generally
used by the King for public levees. Some of the merchants and
groups of the male inhabitants frequent every evening that part of
the square, and the walls adjoining the landing places and bordering
the bay afford convenient seats, which are fully occupied. Here the
arrival of vessels is ascertained, and the sea-breeze enjoyed.
The mint, the armory, the naval arsenal, and that of the military,
(called trem,) and the custom house, are the principal public
buildings; but of themselves present nothing particularly worthy of
remark. There are various public trapiches, or warehouses for the
deposit of produce. The public gardens, which are stated by some
travellers to have been fully and gaily attended some twelve or
fourteen years ago, are now quite unfrequented, and sunk into
neglect. This place of resort in former times consists of about two
acres of ground, bordering upon the bay, enclosed with a high wall,
and neatly laid out in walks of trees, overhung with a variety of
evergreen foliage. There is a stone terrace at the end, ascended by
two flights of steps, commanding a view of the bay, with the remains
of two pavilions, and other mutilated objects. This place is not left
without regret, that so cool and agreeable a situation, and so well
calculated for a public promenade, is permitted to fall into decay. For
the administration of justice the same tribunals exist here as at
Lisbon. At the period of the suppression of the board of inspection, in
1808, was created the tribunal of the royal junta of commerce,
agriculture, manufactures, and navigation, composed of ten
deputies, a president, a secretary, and an official maior, (officiating
mayor.) The Jesuitical library is open to the public; it contains about
sixty thousand volumes, amongst which there are but few modern
works, and a great many old ones on theology. I was in the habit of
frequenting it, and as is the custom at the national library in Paris,
the librarian attends, immediately brings any book that may be
required, and places it upon a small reading desk on the table, with
which each person is accommodated. The very small number who
attended consisted generally of priests and friars. Manufactories
have yet acquired no footing in this city; there is however, one of sail-
cloth, and another of silk stockings; also, a few miles distant, at
Andrahi, there are works for printing cottons upon a small scale, and
conducted by a person who has been in England. Coarse cottons
are manufactured in the interior of Brazil, and they pass the shuttle
with the hand, according to the mode used in England formerly.
The only place of amusement in Rio is the theatre, erected within
the last few years, and which, in point of external appearance, is
beyond mediocrity. It contains four tiers of boxes on each side of the
house, thirteen in each tier, making, in the whole, one hundred and
four boxes, which are extremely gloomy, being shut in at the sides.
The royal box occupies the whole of the space fronting the stage,
above which there is a small gallery; and the pit contains about four
hundred persons. The orchestra is esteemed very tolerable; but the
performances are indifferent. Two French dancers and their wives
are at present the magnets of attraction; and there is great emulation
between them for the palm of superiority. The Campo St. Anna
contains a large building, erected for the purpose of bull-baiting; but
the Brazilian bull not possessing the fire and fury of this animal in
Europe, was the reason of its falling into disuse, and creditable
would it be if so irrational and cruel an amusement was discontinued.
Within the last two years, this building was the scene of the various
feats in horsemanship of Mr. Southby and his troop, for which it is
well adapted. The clown, soon acquiring some of the local
peculiarities of the people, produced amongst them a fund of
merriment they had been little accustomed to; and they expressed
themselves more highly astonished and pleased with those
performances, and the wonderful display of agility by Mrs. Southby
on the tight rope, than any thing they had ever before witnessed.
The city of Rio de Janeiro was taken by the French, in the year
1711, under M. Duguay Truin, and afterwards recovered by the
people. In the preceding year, M. du Clerc had entered the town,
conducted by two fugitive negroes, from Ilha Grande.
There are three principal roads leading from this city, none of
which are adapted to the use of a carriage for more than six or seven
miles. The first, leading to the southward, after passing the public
gardens and the Lapa, proceeds, for a short distance, along the
banks of the bay, commanding a view of its entrance, which is soon
interrupted by the Gloria Hill, behind which the road passes, and
continues in a parallel line with the Pria Flemingo, which is adorned
with several neat houses, many of them occupied by English
merchants. The Hon. Mr. Thornton had taken up a temporary
residence in one of them. After crossing a small bridge at the Cateta,
the road conducts, for about a mile and a half, betwixt luxuriant and
verdant hedges, to the beach or Pria of Bota-fogo, which is a fine
bay, shut in by picturesque promontories and headlands, leaving
only a narrow channel for the ingress and egress of its waters. This
beach is edged with some of the neatest and most elegant houses in
the vicinity of Rio de Janeiro, many of them occupied by fidalgos,
and others by English merchants; one of which, in the possession of
Mr. Harrison, exhibits all the beauty, elegance, and comfort of an
English villa. Bye-roads lead from hence to the Pria Vermelha, to the
royal powder manufactory, and the botanical garden already
mentioned. In many parts the Cateta road is in a very bad state of
repair, and the holes and hollow places form pools of water after the
least fall of rain. The other two roads lead to the north of the city,
both branching from the Campo St. Anna, and again communicate in
passing Matta Porcas. The first and principal one proceeds from the
right of the Campo, and continues for about a mile and a half, to the
wooden bridge of St. Diogo, across a marshy flat, which eight or ten
years ago was impassable, and is now denominated the Cidade
Nova, of which it may in time constitute a portion. The road of the
Cidade Nova, being the daily route of the royal family, is kept in
pretty good order, as well as the whole road as far as the palace of
Christovao, which at Matta Porcas turns to the right, and continues
for about two miles along a level, with amphitheatres of various and
picturesque mountains in every direction. After crossing the third
brook, by a small bridge, the way to the palace turns to the left, when
a handsome entrance is discovered, not in unison with the palace,
but consisting of a wall and iron palisades, extending about thirty
yards on each side of it, without any contiguous lodge or building.
From hence the road sweeps to the left, up a gentle acclivity, to the
eminence upon which the palace stands, fronted by a square, not
embellished with shrubs and grass-plots, but of deep sand, which is
entered by the left corner, and not by the grand entrance, composed
of the elegant gates, a counterpart of those at Sion House, and sent
as a present to his Majesty by the Duke of Northumberland. They
are placed in the centre betwixt pillars of granite, peculiar to the
country, and two lodges, the remainder on each side along the whole
front of the palace being completed with palisades of Portuguese
workmanship. It will excite some surprise in the reader to be
informed, that the outer part, which should form a road to this
entrance, is allowed to remain in its natural state of hollow and
uneven ground, when no very great labour would be required to
render it complete. At present, the gates are in disuse, the lodges
closed, and, with the aid of the dirt and gunpowder arising from the
fire-works ranged along their front, on occasions of religious
festivals, the whole already appears in a course of dilapidation. The
palace is one story high, perfectly plain, without any pretensions to
elegance, or the semblance of any order of architecture, and can
boast of nothing but the beauty of its situation. It might, indeed, be
mistaken, at a distance, for a manufactory, in consequence of the
windows being so crowded together, and particularly at night, when it
is lighted up.
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 Jas.

Henderson.
Printed by Romney & Fayter.
A Pedlar & His Slave.
BELLA FONTA, THE SHACARA OF I.E. WRIGHT, ESCa.
 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.