The South American Tour

by Annie S. Peck

As we pass the Assucar close at hand, we perceive that while the other rock faces are smooth, bare, and practically perpendicular, this side is rough and shows a bit of green, no doubt the slope where once the ascent was made, so the story goes, by a hardy Englishman who planted on the summit a British flag. A great hue and cry followed this daring act. A reward was offered to any one who would fetch the banner down. The bribe was vain, till at length the culprit, detected, himself removed the offending colors from the staff which long remained above.

Just beyond the Assucar, on the curving shore, we see a part of the fashionable residence district. On the edge of the first deep bay, a large building devoted to the Ministry of Agriculture may be distinguished, and close by, the Benj. Constant Institute and the National Hospital for the Insane. On the eastern shore of the bay is Jurujuba, the hospital for epidemic diseases, the pretty beach of Icarahy, then Nictheroy, a pleasant town, capital of the State of Rio; for the City of Rio de Janeiro is a Federated Capital like Washington.

This wonderful bay, opening towards the south, contains an extraordinary number of fascinating little ones of graceful outline, with which acquaintance should be made later. Attention is now directed to the wooded slopes and rock cliffs of the serried peaks and mountain ranges, to the smiling city, to the blue waters thickly sprinkled with ships, and dotted with islands. The bay has the name Guanabara, as well as the more familiar one, Rio de Janeiro; the former an Indian name, arm of the sea, now more frequently applied to the inner and larger portion of the gulf; the latter given by mistake when it was first visited January 1, 1502, by Gonzalo Coelho, who without sufficient exploration, supposing it to be the estuary of a great river, called it Rio de Janeiro, River of January. From this the people later were called Fluminenses or River Folk.

In 1531 the French took possession of the bay, to be driven out soon after by Alfonso de Sousa who erected a small fort. The French returning in 1555 under the command of Villegaignon effected an entrance to the bay, fortified an island and established a colony largely of Huguenots who maintained very friendly relations with the Indians; but in 1560, Mem de Sá, the Governor-General of Brazil in Pernambuco, which was earlier settled, established a fort on the peninsula in front of the Sugar Loaf, São João, and captured the island stronghold of the French, who, retreating to the mainland, there remained with the support of the Indians. In 1565 Estacio de Sá, nephew of Mem, arrived with reinforcements. After much fighting, concluded by a fierce battle between the Morros (hills) da Gloria and da Viuva, when the French and Indians were routed, the site of Rio fell into the possession of the Portuguese. On the death of Estacio from a wound received in the last battle, Mem de Sá founded a city which he called São Sebastião. This he left in charge of his nephew Correia de Sá on the Morro do Castello.

Once more, in 1710, the French returned. They entered the town, but in the streets were assaulted so fiercely that they capitulated. After their commander Du Clerc had been mysteriously assassinated, another French fleet arriving defeated the Portuguese; but after taking possession of the city later withdrew on receiving a heavy indemnity.

In 1762 or ’63 Rio was made the Capital of Brazil and the residence of the Viceroy in the place of Bahia; partly through the efforts of Gomes Freire de Andrade, Count of Bobadella. During his administration a notable work was achieved, the construction of the great aqueduct of Santa Theresa, by which water was brought from the Carioca River to the center of the city. It crossed a part of the town on a double archway, which now bears a tramway. Other improvements followed, including the draining of the great marshes, in the section near the present Mangue Canal. By the close of the eighteenth century Rio was not only the chief city of Brazil but the largest and most important of South America. Not so favorably located as to back country as some others, especially São Paulo, its fine harbor gave it commercial importance, greatly increased by the discovery of gold and precious stones in the State of Minas, as by this port most of the adventurers entered, thence following a long Indian trail.

When the Royal family arrived from Portugal in 1808 the city, the largest in South America, had forty-six streets, nineteen open squares, many churches, and the usual public buildings. Its growth, though continuous, has been hampered until the last decade by the unhealthfulness of the city, especially the scourge of yellow fever, also by wars, extravagance, and other troubles. With the reorganization of the finances of the country and the establishing of its credit during the Presidency of Dr. Campos Salles 1898-1902, the regeneration of the city under the later Presidents was made possible and the expenditure of $100,000,000 for improvements in the Federal District within the last ten years. On the most charming site imaginable a new and splendid city has been created which, still in the process of transformation, soon will even better compare with its uniquely beautiful surroundings.

To one entering the bay, which is nearly 100 miles in circumference, its great size is not apparent, as the large inner sea is cut off by points and islands in such a way that the shape and magnitude of the entire gulf is undisclosed. Its configuration as a whole is remarkably like that of the country, roughly triangular with the apex at the south. Among the numerous islands, three close to the shore may be particularly noticed: the Island Cobras with a fort where political prisoners have been confined; the Fiscal Island upon which is a pretty Gothic structure, headquarters of the Custom House inspectors, hence the name; and Villegaignon, named for its first settler, also bearing a fortress.

Your ship may sail past the greater part of the city to the new and splendid docks where you may step ashore at your ease, or pause at a common anchorage in front of the main business section of the city, where you have the advantage of landing at the Caes dos Mineiros close to the Custom House. All about are ships of every size and as usual of almost every nationality except our own. Once indeed I saw here the Stars and Stripes, floating above the deck of a schooner from Maine, on its annual visit to bring ice and apples from that cooler clime. Yachts and launches, pretty and plain, gasoline and rowboats flit about, among ships of larger size, at anchor or sailing, two of these probably the great Brazilian warships, the Minas, and São Paulo, a few years ago the scene of serious unpleasantness due to a marine insurrection.

The city, stretching for miles along the curving shore, presents a most attractive sight. With corresponding depth its size would be immense, but its width is barred, as effectively as is New York’s by its two rivers, by the high steep range which leaves small space between its foot and the sea; indeed, it thrusts forward several sharp projections quite into the water, and chains of modest hills over which the dwellings climb. Thus the city is subdivided into many sections, to which one may proceed only in a roundabout manner. Straggling in a charming way over the level patches of ground and part way up the lower slopes of some parts of the lofty rearward rampart, it affords room for a population now practically a million, with plenty of space for more. The second city in the Southern Hemisphere, the fifth in all America, though older than any in the United States, its modern growth and development have been brief and rapid.