The privileges of the shore over, all were settling down into customary contentment and quietude when, by some means last evening, a large quantity of strong drink was successfully smuggled into the ship. There is ever in a man-of-war a greater or less degree of unmitigated rascality which, on such occasions, does not fail to manifest itself, giving the executive of the ship an abundance of trouble, and bringing reproach upon the better portions of the crew. The consequence of the successful strategy was a good deal of disorder last night among “the baser sort” of the ship’s company, and a nervous headache and a heartache this morning to me.
One result of the liberty on shore, was the incarceration for drunkenness and riotous conduct, of a half dozen or more of our men, in the calabouça or common jail of the city. An early intimation of the dilemma in which these were placed reached me, with an appeal for aid in procuring their release. A visit to them for this purpose, gave me the opportunity of a personal inspection of the prison. While confessing and lamenting the folly which had brought them there, they complained most grievously, as well they might, of the horrible place. It is time indeed for some Howard to arise in Brazil; and I rejoice to learn that the state of her prisons and the subject of prison discipline, or rather the fact of an utter want of all discipline, is attracting the attention of some of her philanthropists and statesmen. Our fellows, at the end of two or three days, were almost starved. No food is served to the prisoners by authority. They are entirely dependent on their own resources, the kindness of any friends they may happen to have, or the supplies furnished gratuitously by some of the brotherhoods of benevolence in the city. I found those from the Congress—chargeable only with having broken the peace in a drunken brawl—in a filthy room of horrible smells, crowded with eighty or a hundred felons, black, white and colored of every hue. Among these were robbers, and murderers, and criminals of the most desperate character: without classification in age or crime—beardless boys, arrested for the most trifling and venial offences, being placed side by side with gray-headed veterans in vice. Our men had stripped themselves more than half naked, that their clothes might furnish no ambush for the vermin with which the place was filled; and gave pitiful accounts of the nights they had spent, in stifling heat, amid clouds of mosquitoes and other insects, with no beds but the rough plank of the floors, open in large crevices to the effluvia from the common cesspool of the whole prison immediately beneath. A civil and intelligent young man of their number told me that, till “this spree,” he had not tasted strong drink for two years past; and had been well punished, for the indulgence, by a week in this frightful and disgusting hole. Giving them the means of relief from immediate hunger, I promised to do what I could for their liberation; and the youngster referred to, the last—from some mistake in his name—to gain a release, has just come thankfully on board.
November 12th.—A ball on board the Congress and a soiree at the American Embassy have afforded, within the week past, our first opportunities of mingling in the society of Rio. It required but a short time to transform the quarter-deck of the frigate from a grim battery into a brilliant ball-room. The guns having been run out of sight on the forecastle, the awnings screened by the flags of all nations, in flutings overhead and in festoons at the sides, and the decks artistically chalked in colors, the interior soon presented the aspect of a spacious and gay saloon. In this, at different points, muskets arranged in thick clusters with a candle in each muzzle, formed glittering and becoming candelabra; and pistols and bayonets similarly arrayed and mounted, made brackets for lights along the sides and chandeliers above, while a graceful amenity was thrown over these implements of death, by wreaths of evergreen intermingled with bouquets of flowers rich in color and perfume. The poop-deck overlooking this dancing room, was transformed by similar decorations into a lofty, tented pavilion, from which those not disposed to join in the amusement below, might view the spectacle and enjoy each other’s society in conversation.
The ship was illuminated outside, by lines of lights running up each mast and by lanterns suspended from the yard-arms. While the company were assembling, rockets were sent up, to add to the brilliancy, and blue lights burned on the arrival of the most distinguished of the guests. Thus the effect without, in approaching in the dark, was scarce less striking and beautiful than the coup d’œil within, on crossing the gangway. The only interest I took in the preparations was in having the draperies, which separated these brilliant apartments from the forward deck, so arranged as to allow the crew—who would be kept from their hammocks till a late hour by the entertainment—to be spectators of the scene. This indulgence was readily accorded; and, during the whole evening, our hardy tars in a uniform dress of white and blue, clustered in thick rows from the mainmast forward, formed by no means the least striking feature in the spectacle. Indeed, their fine physical aspect and becoming deportment attracted much observation; and elicited the most complimentary remarks upon them, as a body of men, from the most distinguished strangers on board.
The company on this occasion consisted principally of resident foreigners, diplomatists, and their families, and the officers of the national ships in port. There were few native Brazilians among them. Under the impression that the entertainment given by Mr. and Mrs. Tod would embrace the higher circles of the native society, I joined the party from the ship attending it. The mansion occupied by the Legation is at Praya Flamengo, where I was so much at home in 1829. It is spacious and lofty, with a stately suite of reception-rooms on the second floor, which command fine views of the bay and its chief features near the sea. It was illuminated in front, and brilliantly lighted and tastefully decorated with flowers within. According to Brazilian custom on occasions of fête, the tesselated pavement of the vestibule and hall, and the marble staircase leading to the reception-rooms, were strewn with the fresh leaves of the mango tree and various aromatic plants which, under the pressure of the feet, send forth a grateful perfume. A garden in the rear, filled with myrtle and orange trees, and gay with the blossoms of the pomegranate and oleander, was also illuminated, and seen opening in perspective from the hall, with pretty effect. The company was large; exhibiting a good deal of dress among the ladies, in the latest modes of Paris, and some fine diamonds. There was, too, a sprinkling of title and nobility, and a little beauty, but nothing more distinctively Brazilian, or characteristic of nationality, than in the party on board the Congress.
At an early hour after the civilities of the reception, and a general interchange of salutations, dancing was commenced and continued to be the chief amusement of the evening. There was nothing in the scene with which I could sympathize, and I withdrew from the crowded and heated rooms to the terraced-walk fronting the beach. Here, a land breeze, deliciously fresh and fragrant, came fanning down the mountain’s side; and I passed two hours and more in the enjoyment of it, in a promenade back and forth of a quarter of a mile, beneath a gloriously lighted sky, while every thing was hushed to a midnight repose, except the sounds of the distant music of the dance, and the rush, and roar, and the thunder at my feet of the foaming surf.
On returning to the house I met Mr. Tod in the lower rooms, the supper-room being about to be thrown open. The banquet was profuse and luxurious. A chief novelty among its delicacies, at either end of the principal table, was the choicest fish of the adjoining seas—the garoupa. It is very large, and, on the present occasion, was baked whole and served cold. From the general demand for it, especially among the ladies, I should have judged the dish to be in high estimation, without the assurance of the fact. It is a rarity, and its market price very high. Sums, I am told, are sometimes given for it which I dare not venture to state, without further inquiry, lest either my veracity or credulity, or both, might be put in question.
November 15th.—Yesterday afternoon I accompanied Captain McIntosh, Lieut. P—— of the British flag ship, and Lieut. T—— of the Congress, in a drive of five miles to the country residence of Mr. R——, an English gentleman, a partner in one of the wealthiest mercantile houses in Rio. An invitation to an evening party had been received from Mrs. R——, a few days before, and the call we now made was in acknowledgment of the civility. The direction of the drive was westward, through the rich and broad valley which extends seven or eight miles from the city, to the foot of the mountains of Tejuca. High walls of brick and stone, or lofty hedges equally impenetrable to the eye, cut off the view of the pleasure gardens and grounds surrounding the residences in the suburbs, from those seated in the low carriages at present in fashion, and I chose a more elevated seat beside the coachman—though at the risk, in a black dress and white cravat, of being taken for a servant out of livery—rather than forego the advantage of this better point for observation; especially as there was no inconvenience from the sun, the afternoon being overcast and gray, such as do not often occur here without rain. But for this position I should have lost much of the enjoyment of the drive.
Half the distance is a continued suburb of the city; and the remainder a succession of cottages, villas, and mansions in a greater or less degree of proximity—the residences of the aristocratic and wealthy, both natives and foreigners. A predominating fancy with these seems to be the exhibition of showy entrances and gateways, little in keeping in their stateliness, in many instances, with the inferior style and dimensions of the dwellings themselves. Some of these last, however, are quite palatial. One of this kind was pointed out, as an evidence of the talent for business, and the prosperous fortunes of a colored man. The gardens and grounds on every side are luxuriant in the display of flowers, shrubbery and trees, and often tastefully embellished with vases, casts, statuary and fountains of graceful and classic model. The rapidity of vegetation in weeds and grass, as well as in more valuable growth is such, however, as to make perfect neatness and good keeping in the grounds difficult. One great defect in them, which cannot fail to arrest the eye unaccustomed to it, is the entire absence of the close sod and velvet turf, which give such smoothness and softness to lawns and pleasure grounds in the United States and in England. The burning sun of this latitude kills the roots of such growth, and there is no close set grass here. All that is native is coarse, tufted, and straggling. The site of the city was originally a marsh, and this interval land, between the bay and the mountains, is low and wet. The soil, a stiff clay, causes the roads in rainy weather soon to be so cut up as to become almost impassable, and in dry, to be both rough and dusty.
The residence of Mr. R——, crowning a gently swelling hill in the midst of a lovely valley, rises conspicuously to the view while yet a mile from it. It is an old Brazilian house of unpretending and cottage-like aspect, soon to give place to a new building: but looked rural and attractive, and commands a splendid panorama. Here the gateway is of a simplicity corresponding with that of the house. It opens, at the distance of a quarter of a mile from this, into an avenue of young mango trees, winding gradually up the ascent and bordered on either side by a hedge of the double scarlet hybiscus, whose polished leaves of green were studded with bright flowers.