The rains this season had been very slight, and scarcely ever prevented our rides into the country in the neighbourhood, to the distance of six or eight miles; but we never reached beyond the summer dwellings of the inhabitants of Recife. The villages are at this time very dull, having people of colour and negroes as residents almost exclusively. However, as I was fond of the country, I was tempted by the fineness of the weather, to remove entirely to a small cottage in the vicinity, where my time passed away pleasantly, though quietly, and in a manner very barren of events. There stands a hamlet not far distant from my new residence, called Caza Forte, formerly the site of a sugar plantation, which has been suffered to decay, and now the chapel alone remains to point out the exact position. The dwelling-house of these works is said to have been defended by the Dutch against the Portugueze, who set fire to it, for the purpose of obliging their enemies to surrender. A large open piece of ground is pointed out as having been the situation upon which these transactions took place. It is distant from Recife about five miles, and the river Capibaribe runs about three quarters of a mile beyond it. I met with few of the peasants who had any knowledge of the Pernambucan war against the Dutch, but I heard this spot more frequently spoken of than any other[15]. Perhaps if I had had more communication with the southern districts of Pernambuco, I should have discovered that the war was more vividly remembered there.
I had an offer of introduction to another Brazilian family, which I readily accepted, and on the 7th August, I was summoned by my friend to accompany him to Olinda. He had been invited, and liberty had been given to take a friend. We went in a canoe, and were completely wet through on the way; but we walked about the streets of Olinda until we were again dry. The family consisted of an old lady, her two daughters, and a son, who is a priest, and one of the professors or masters of the seminary. Several persons of the same class were present, of easy and gentlemanlike manners; some of them proposed dancing, and although they did not join in the amusement, still they were highly pleased to see others entertained in this manner. Our music was a piano forte, played by one of the professors, who good-humouredly continued until the dancers themselves begged him to desist. About midnight, we left these pleasant people, and returned to the beach; the tide was out, and the canoe upon dry land; we therefore determined to walk; the sand was very heavy, the distance three miles, and after our evening’s amusement, this was hard work. I did not attempt this night to go beyond Recife to my cottage, but accepted of a mattress at my friend’s residence.
Three or four families are in the practice of having weekly evening card parties, as was usual in Lisbon. I attended these occasionally, but in them there was no peculiarity of customs.
The foregoing pages will, I think, suffice to point out the kind of society to be met with in Pernambuco, but this must be sought for, as the families in which it is to be found, are not numerous. Of these, very few are in trade; they are either Portugueze families, of which the chief is in office, or Brazilian planters who are wealthy, and prefer residing in Recife or Olinda; or, as is frequently the case, a son or brother belonging to the secular priesthood, has imbibed more liberal notions, and has acquired a zest for rational society. As may naturally be supposed, the females of a family are always glad to be of more importance, to be treated with respect, to see, and to be seen. The merchants, generally speaking, for there do exist some exceptions, live very much alone; they have been originally from Portugal, have made fortunes in trade, and have married in the country; but most of them still continue to live as if they were not yet sufficiently wealthy, or at least cannot persuade themselves to alter their close and retired manner of living, and, excepting in the summer months, when sitting upon the steps of their country residencies, their families are not to be seen.
The gentleman, chiefly by whose kindness I had been introduced and enabled to partake of the pleasantest society of Pernambuco, was among the first British subjects, who availed themselves of the free communication between England and Brazil, and he even already observed a considerable change of manners in the higher class of people. The decrease in the price of all articles of dress; the facility of obtaining at a low rate, earthenware, cutlery, and table linen; in fact, the very spur given to the mind by this appearance of a new people among them; the hope of a better state of things, that their country was about to become of more importance; renewed in many persons, ideas which had long lain dormant; made them wish to show, that they had money to expend, and that they knew how it should be expended.[16]
It was the custom in Pernambuco, to uncover when passing a sentinel, or on meeting a guard of soldiers marching through the streets. Soon after the opening of the port to British shipping, three English gentlemen accidentally met a corporal’s guard of four or five men, and as they passed each other, one of the latter took off the hat of one of the former, accompanying the action by an opprobrious expression; the Englishmen resented the insult, attacked and absolutely routed the guard. This dreadful mark of submission to military power was universally refused by every British subject, and has been very much discontinued even by the Portugueze. Another annoyance to these visitors was the usual respect paid to the Sacrament, carried with much pomp and ceremony to persons dangerously ill. It was expected, that every one by whom it chanced to pass, should kneel, and continue in that posture until it was out of sight; here Englishmen, in some degree, conformed in proper deference to the religion of the country, but the necessity of this also is wearing off.[17]
CHAPTER III.
THE GOVERNMENT.—THE TAXES.—THE PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS.—CRIMINALS.—PRISONS.—MILITARY ESTABLISHMENTS.—THE ISLAND OF FERNANDO DE NORONHA.