Proceeding a little further, we came in sight of a noble palace, which had been lately built, and which was surrounded by an extensive stone wall, having the grand gate-way, or entrance, arched, and bearing the arms of Portugal and John VI. On arriving at the palace, we found it was built of stone, surrounded by another solid wall. At a short distance, on the right, buildings of brick were erecting for spacious barracks. The situation was commanding and beautiful, and we little expected to enjoy, in a solitary country ramble, where the silence was only interrupted by the singing of birds, the view of so noble an edifice.
On returning, we fell in with a number of female slaves, who were busily employed in washing. They stood in a large square basin of water, at least three feet deep, and were jabbering and rubbing, with their trays on the banks. The country appeared well watered, and the soil very productive.
In the city, the water is supplied by several public fountains, which are built of stone, in a pyramidical form, from the sides of which, through four spouts, the water is forced out in spattering streams. The principal one is at the head of the palace steps, near the square. The slaves, who get water from this source, to sell about the city, make a great clamor in their contentions about first getting their vessels under the stream.
Notwithstanding the vast crowds which throng the streets, not a woman is to be seen. Although I was at one time on shore daily, for three weeks, I could see no other females than the slaves.—They sometimes, however, take a ramble in the evening, but are so enveloped in cloaks that entirely conceal their form, that a stranger would pass them, and think them men. They may be seen, also, at the gratings of the upper windows on some days of parade and processions, and on Sundays may be seen leaving their palanquins to enter the church; but otherwise are confined, by tyrant custom, to their lone apartments. How different is their fate from that of the perambulators of Broadway and Cornhill! The population, including slaves, probably amounts to eighty thousand. Though there are guard houses for soldiers in many sections, murders are very frequent; so common, indeed, that the dead body of the unfortunate victim, weltering in blood, is passed by in the street, with, perhaps, the exclamation of ‘poor fellow!’ but other wise unheeded and without concern.
There are many foreign merchants who reside here and in the vicinity, several of whom have their families with them; but the state of society must prevent the enjoyment of all social intercourse, and deprive them of those pleasures so necessary to the happiness of domestic life.
Fruits of many kinds, such as oranges, lemons, limes, plantains, bananas, cocoa nuts, &c., are very cheap and plenty. Sugar, rice and tobacco, they raise and export in great quantities; but should some of our chewers of the latter article witness the nauseous method of its manufacture and packing, by the dirty blacks, they would, I think, as I have seen others, eject the quid in disgust. The beef is bad and lean, the cattle being driven before they are killed, a great distance from the interior.
Multitudes of the slaves gain a profit to their owners, by the conveyance of passengers in their canoes, to and from the shipping and the landing places. Their strife for employment is violent and clamorous; but it sometimes happens, if their price of fare—which must be paid on the passage—is not agreed to, the black rogue will dexterously capsize his canoe, tow it quickly to the shore, and leave you to be picked up by the first passing skiff that may take that trouble.
The king’s barge is very splendid. His majesty sometimes takes an excursion round the harbor, attended by his suite, and is rowed by eighty men, having twenty oars on a side, and two men to each. A band of music precedes him, and the numerous barges which follow, all handsomely decorated, form a magnificent spectacle.
On Sundays and other holidays, the church processions are extraordinary. On a Sunday afternoon, soon after my first arrival in Rio Jeneiro, I witnessed a grand example of the above fetes. The streets were thronged with a gaping multitude, who were eager to pay their devotion to the rites of mother church. First in advance appeared a guard of soldiers, marching to slow music; these were followed by a number of citizens, dressed in black, each bearing a long, lighted, wax taper; then came a small guard of soldiers, followed by four beautiful females, dressed in light muslin, having wings of gauze, extended by wires, and crowned with a wreath of flowers, holding in their hands emblems of a harp; and immediately following, under a superb canopy, upheld by eight soldiers, appeared the grand object of all this ceremony, the reverend and holy Father of the church, to whom, as he moved along in mighty pomp and solemn show, the crowd on each side spontaneously dropped and bowed the knee. Another file of soldiers and citizens next came up, followed by the underlings of the church—some of various shades of color, even to sooty black, but who were, notwithstanding, arrayed in clerical robes—brought up the rear of this gorgeous pageant.