Brazil and La Plata: The personal record of a cruise

by C. S. Stewart

As I arrived a procession was just approaching. It was led by a negro, in a dirty coarse shirt and pantaloons, the common dress of a slave, bareheaded and barefooted, who bore a large flag of red silk, with a dove embroidered on one corner, and long streamers of ribbons flowing from the top of the staff on which it was suspended. It was the sacred banner of the Holy Ghost, a kiss of which, or the burying of the face in its folds, insures all needed blessing. A little fellow, eight or ten years of age, followed, beating a small drum with all his might, then came a man in ordinary dress, thrumming on a guitar the accompaniment of a monotonous ditty, sung at the top of his voice as loud as he could bawl; the complement of the music being made up by a fiddle on which a round-shouldered old Portuguese was sawing and laboring, with fingers, elbow, and head, with an earnestness, to give full effect to the squeaking and screeching sounds he was sending forth, as if life itself depended on the zeal he should display.

The Emperor elect now made his appearance, a lad of eleven or twelve years, neatly dressed in the fashion of a man, as the usage with boys here is, having a broad red ribbon across his shoulders, from which was suspended on the breast a large silver star stamped with a dove, emblematic of the Holy Ghost. Six or eight men robed in short cloaks or mantles of red silk, the dress of the brotherhood, bareheaded and carrying lighted wax tapers, followed him. A rabble of noisy and excited boys and men, white, black, and yellow, made up the cortège. They had been to escort the Emperor from his residence with becoming honor, to open the festival.

Previous to his arrival the church had become densely filled, principally with females, seated closely together on the floor—mistress and slave, lady and beggar, without distinction of rank or name, black, white, and every intermediate hue, the whole number amounting to six or eight hundred. Through this crowd the procession made its way up the nave, the musicians still drumming and thrumming and scraping on their instruments, and bawling out their song louder than ever. A priest met it at the high altar; and the whole returned through the church to the depository in which were the gifts. These he consecrated by prayer, the sprinkling of holy water and fumigations with incense, after which, escorted in like manner, he again entered the church. Hundreds of men in addition to the women, now lined the walls and stood closely packed together along the entrance to the church, and the service of the Novena commenced. It was chanted throughout to the accompaniment of a lively, and to me any thing but a devotional air. The whole sounded very much like that of a song I recollect to have heard in childhood, beginning with the line “Marlbro’ has gone to the war,” as a theme, followed with variations. At different points in the chanting the whole audience joined pleasantly in a lively chorus. At the end of an hour this service closed. The Emperor made his way in the manner in which he had arrived, to the throne-room, while the audience hastened to fill to suffocation that for the auction-room in front of it. Bonfires were kindled, rockets sent up, a general illumination outside displayed, while any number of negroes and negresses, venders of refreshments in cakes, candies, and orgeat, rivalled one another in bawling out the superior qualities of their individual stores, the whole scene much like that of a Fourth of July night at home. A band of music struck up in an orchestra near the throne-room, and the auctioneer issuing from the depository, bearing a bouquet of crystallized sugar, began the sale by a solicitation for bids, setting off the value of the article with the merriment and sallies of humor which give reputation to the office. A passage through the centre of the place was kept clear; in this he walked backwards and forwards, giving exercise to his wit, as he exhibited the article under the hammer. Most of the gifts, this first evening, consisted of cakes and confectionery. Some of the bouquets of sugar flowers were most artistically manufactured; and one sold for ninety milreis, or forty-five dollars.

Additional gifts were constantly brought in. They were generally borne in trays on the heads or in the hands of servants, accompanied by the giver. Children too were often the bearers; and one of the prettiest sights of the evening was that of a beautiful little girl in the arms of her father, carrying in her bosom two young doves, white as drifted snow, and as gentle and innocent in look as they were white.

Each offering was made to the young Emperor on the bended knee, and to each one thus kneeling before him, he extended a silver dove, forming the end of his sceptre, to be kissed, and gave in return a small roll of bread. At ten o’clock the auction closed for the night, and the Emperor was escorted to his home by torchlight as he had arrived, but with an additional rabble for his court, and a higher effort in noise and screeching from his band.

May 29th.—Commodore McKeever and Dr. C—— have been fellow guests with me at the residence of Mr. Wells for some days. Previous to their arrival I had taken two or three pleasant rides with our host, and this afternoon our whole party enjoyed another. The Commodore and I were particularly well mounted; our animals were at once so spirited and willing, so playful and gentle, with a gait as easy to the riders as if swaying on the springs of a well-poised carriage. The weather too was charming; and our route after the first half mile being one which we had not before taken, had the additional attraction of novelty. It led southward along the curve of the beach, and was thickly bordered on one side with the American aloe, now in full flower, and on the other by a succession of neat cottages embowered in orange groves, overtopped by palm trees, with dooryards gay in the bloom of the scarlet geranium and the dazzling brilliancy of the poinsetta. The road for a mile was a continued hamlet, with greater evidences of thrift and general prosperity than any suburb we had passed through. On leaving the water we struck into a narrow valley, lying between two ranges of hills; and were delighted with the homelike appearance of the well-cultivated fields and rich pasture lands of the small farms scattered through it. But for the tell-tale palm tree, the rustling banana, and the golden orange, we might have fancied ourselves in some prosperous and well-cultivated little valley in New England. There was nothing to remind us of being in a slave country. All the labor in cultivating the small plantations is done by the owners of the soil. The district is well peopled, and the inhabitants are healthful, prosperous, and seemingly light-hearted. We met and passed many groups of men and boys, engaged in various rural employments. They were invariably bright and cheerful in looks, and most civil and courteous in manners. In general, they are light and slender in figure, and elastic in movement; but apparently without much stamina, and are far from good looking in feature. The females in early youth are passably good looking, and having fine eyes and teeth, might in some instances, be called pretty; but as mothers, they soon become haggard and homely. The climate is salubrious and not excessively hot, yet the complexions of the mass are like those with us who are under the influence of the ague, or just recovering from a bilious fever. This is true of the pure-blooded natives, if any such there be, as well as of those who clearly are a mixed race.

The special object of our ride was to gain a point of view, on the top of a mountain, said to be the finest on the island; and, after a ride of two miles in the valley, we turned into a side road for the ascent. We followed the meanderings of a stream as it babbled along its course, and soon came among the cabins of the dwellers among the hills, perched like birdsnests on terraced points, on either hand above us, in the midst of groves of orange trees and coffee plants. The road gradually changed into a mere bridle-path, till at the end of an additional two miles it suddenly terminated altogether, at a barn near which two men were standing. To these Mr. Wells mentioned the object of our ride, and made an inquiry of them as to the best way to reach it; when, for the first time since I have been in Brazil, I heard a reply of ill-nature and incivility. The elder of the two, in a most gruff and surly manner, said there was no way to go up, and if there were, there was nothing to go for—wishing to know what business we had there at all. Without regarding his mood and manner, Mr. Wells again said, “Is there not a fine prospect from the top of the mountain, and a path by which we may reach it?” to which the man again said, “No! there is nothing but rocks, and I don’t know what you can want with them!” Fortunately, at this juncture, a third person made his appearance, whom our friend at once recognized as a regular customer in the sale to him of coffee. From him we readily learned that there was a fine prospect, at a short distance further, but that the ascent to it would not be easily made on horseback; and, volunteering to lead our animals to his cottage close by, he said he would accompany us the rest of the distance on foot. We soon discovered our conductor to differ as widely from his boorish neighbor in taste for scenery as in disposition. He was not only aware of the magnificence of the prospect to which he was leading us, but said he very often went up to the point commanding it, for the mere enjoyment of so fine a scene. Its elevation we judged to be two thousand feet; and we were well repaid for the ascent by the grand picture spread before us. This embraced the greater part of the entire island; its mountains and valleys, rivers and bays, bold promontories, low points and curving beaches, with the whole of the straits, and the coasts along the continent as far as the eye could reach.

On descending to the cottage of our guide, he urged us to partake of a cup of coffee before leaving; and we entered his cabin, more for the purpose of a peep at the domestic economy of the establishment than with a view to the refreshment. If this home, in its aspects of comfort, may be taken as a fair specimen of its class, it indicates a very low state of civilization among the rural population. It consisted of a single room with a floor of earth. The few articles of furniture visible were of the rudest kind, the whole interior exhibiting little more cleanliness and order than the wigwam of an Indian. A slatternly-looking wife, surrounded by two or three dirty children, did not promise much for the nicety of the coffee she might prepare; and we availed ourselves of the near approach of night and the length of the ride to the town, as excuse for declining the proffered hospitality.

The habits of life among the people are simple, and their diet unvarying and frugal. A cup of coffee and a biscuit made of the farina of mandioca, are the only food of the morning, and there is but one set meal during the day, served at noon. Preparation for it, however, is the first duty of the household, in the morning; and consists in putting a kettle of water over the fire. In this a small piece of carne seche, or jerked beef, and black beans, in proportion to the size of the family, are placed, and kept boiling till the middle of the day.

The leisure of the evening had begun, as we made our way down the mountain; and the inhabitants were seen in groups around their doors. Every cabin had its crowd of children, the ring of whose joyous laughter in their varied sports and play, echoing from side to side of the little valley, added fresh impressions of pleasure to the scene. The ignorance in which they are brought up, however, is lamentable. Ignorance not only of letters and books, but of almost every thing. A bright-looking and handsome lad of twelve years, the son of our civil guide, on being asked his age, said he did not know, and seemed equally uninstructed in other commonplace matters. Yet he was evidently as full of natural intelligence in mind as he was active in body. He is one of the little milkmen I have mentioned, who crowd the market square in the morning, and who, with his can of milk on his shoulder, leaves his mountain home every day before the dawn, for the walk of four miles at least, by the most direct path: he is home again to his breakfast of coffee and farina, by eight o’clock.