Contrary winds detained the ship at Portsmouth for about six weeks. On the 20th November, the wind came round to the northward and eastward, and the signal guns from the ships of war, appointed as convoys, awakened us. All was bustle and confusion at Cowes, where great numbers of persons, belonging to the ships, who were circumstanced as we were, had stationed themselves. In a few hours the vessels were under weigh, and before the night closed in, all of them had cleared the Needles. The Serra Pequeno and other Portugueze ships had taken instructions from a frigate, which was bound to the Mediterranean, intending to keep company with her as far as her destination and their’s obliged them to follow the same course; but in the morning we discovered that we were with another frigate, which was bound to Lisbon. We soon left her, and were accompanied by other two Portugueze ships. On the night of the 22d, we fell in with the Kangaroo sloop of war, which was bound to the coast of Africa, with a few vessels under convoy. On the 24th we parted from this convoy, and on the 26th proceeded with only one Portugueze ship. Our passage was most prosperous; we had no boisterous weather, and few calms. On the 3d December, we fell in with the Arethusa frigate, when in sight of the Canary islands. The captain of the Serra was obliged to take the papers of his ship on board the frigate. The regulations regarding the slave trade, which is carried on by the Portugueze, perhaps occasioned more enquiry than would otherwise have been deemed necessary. We crossed the line on the 22d. In the evening of the 26th we stood for the land, supposing that we had reached the latitude of our port, but that we were much to the eastward of it; however, we made the land about two o’clock in the morning, which was sooner by several hours than the officers of the ship imagined we should. This frequently occurs on board of those vessels which do not carry chronometers; the calculation of longitude without their assistance being of course rendered extremely liable to error. At day-break, it was discovered that we were somewhat to the northward of Olinda. We entered the port about nine o’clock, and came to anchor in the lower harbour called the Poço.
The Serra Pequeno is one of the heavy deep-waisted Brazil ships, requiring a great number of hands to manage her. The business of the ship was carried on in a manner similar in almost all points to that which is practised on board of British merchant vessels; there was however less cleanliness observed, and more noise was made. The second officer, who is called in the British merchant service the mate, bears in Portugueze vessels that of pilot; and the regulations of their marine confine him to the navigation of the ship, giving up to an inferior officer the duty of attending to the discharging or stowage of the hold when loading or unloading, and all other minutiæ of the affairs either at sea or in a harbour.
I was received on shore by all those persons with whom I had before had the pleasure of being acquainted, with the same friendliness which I always experienced at Pernambuco. Several English gentlemen offered me an apartment in their houses, until I obtained one of my own. I accepted the offer which was made to me by him through whose great kindness my health had been so much benefited, after the severe attack of fever which I had suffered in the preceding year. The first few weeks were passed in visits to my friends and acquaintance, with some of whom I occasionally staid a few days in the neighbourhood of the town, which was now much deserted, according to the usual custom, at this season of the year.
I perceived a considerable difference in the appearance of Recife and of its inhabitants, although I had been absent from the place for so short a period. Several houses had been altered; the heavy sombre lattice work had given place, in many instances, to glass windows and iron balconies. Some few families had arrived here from Lisbon, and three from England; the ladies of the former had shown the example of walking to mass in broad day-light; and those of the latter were in the habit of going out to walk towards the close of the day, for amusement. These improvements being once introduced and practised by a few persons, were soon adopted by some, who had been afraid to be the first, and by others who found that they were pleasant. Formal silks and satins too were becoming a less usual dress on high days and holidays, and were now much superseded by white and coloured muslins, and other cotton manufactures. The men, likewise, who had in former times daily appeared in full dress suits of black, gold buckles, and cocked hats, had now, in many instances, exchanged these for nankeen pantaloons, half boots, and round hats. Even the high and heavy saddle was now less in use, and that of more modern form was all the fashion. The sedan chairs, in which the ladies often go to church, and to pay visits to their friends, had now put on a much smarter appearance, and the men who carried them were dressed more dashingly. These cannot fail to attract the attention of strangers, in their gay cloaths, their helmets and feathers, and their naked legs. The annexed print represents one of these equipages.
A Lady going to Visit.
The country residences which had been lately built, were also numerous; lands in the vicinity of Recife had risen in price; the trade of brick-making was becoming lucrative; work-people were in request; and besides many other spots of land, the track between the villages of Poço da Panella and Monteiro, in extent about one mile, which in 1810 was covered with brushwood, had now been cleared; houses were building and gardens forming upon it. The great church of Corpo Santo, situated in that part of the town which is properly called Recife, was now finished, and various improvements were meditated[70]. The time of advancement was come, and men, who had for many years gone on without making any change either in the interior or exterior of their houses, were now painting and glazing on the outside, and new furnishing within; modernizing themselves, their families, and their dwellings.
This spirit of alteration produced, in one case, rather ludicrous consequences. There was a lady of considerable dimensions, who had entered into this love of innovation, and carried it to a vast extent. She was almost equal in circumference and height, but notwithstanding this unfortunate circumstance, personal embellishments were not to be despised; she wished to dress in English fashion, and was herself decidedly of opinion that she had succeeded. Upon her head she wore a very small gypsey hat tied under the chin. Stays have only lately been introduced, but this improvement she had not yet adopted; still her gown was to be in English fashion too, and therefore was cut and slashed away, so as to leave most unmercifully in view several beauties which otherwise would have remained concealed. This gown was of muslin, and was worked down the middle and round the bottom in several colours; her shoes were as small as could be allowed; but the unfortunate redundance of size also reached the ankles and the feet, and thus rendering compression necessary; the superabundance which nature had lavishly bestowed, projected and hung down over each side of the shoes.