The first division of the town is composed of brick houses of three, four, and even five stories in height; most of the streets are narrow, and some of the older houses in the minor streets are of only one story in height, and many of them consist only of the ground-floor. The streets of this part, with the exception of one, are paved. In the Square are the custom-house, in one corner, a long, low, and shabby building; the sugar-inspection, which bears the appearance of a dwelling-house; a large church, not finished; a coffee-house, in which the merchants assemble to transact their commercial affairs; and dwelling-houses. There are two churches in use, one of which is built over the stone arch-way leading from the town to Olinda, at which a lieutenant’s guard is stationed. The other church belongs to the priests of the Congregaçam da Madre de Deos. Near to the gate-way above-mentioned is a small fort, close to the water-side, which commands it. To the northward is the residence of the Port-Admiral, with the government timber-yards attached to it: these are small, and the work going on in them is very trifling. The cotton-market, warehouses, and presses, are also in this part of the town.[3]
The bridge which leads to St. Antonio has an arch-way at either end, with a small chapel built upon each; and at the northern arch is stationed a serjeant’s guard of six or eight men. The bridge is formed in part of stone arches, and in part of wood: it is quite flat, and lined with small shops, which render it so narrow that two carriages cannot pass each other upon it.
St. Antonio, or the middle town, is composed chiefly of large houses and broad streets; and if these buildings had about them any beauty, there would exist here a certain degree of grandeur: but they are too lofty for their breadth, and the ground-floors are appropriated to shops, warehouses, stables, and other purposes of a like nature. The shops are without windows, and the only light they have is admitted from the door. There exists as yet very little distinction of trades; thus all descriptions of manufactured goods are sold by the same person. Some of the minor streets consist of low and shabby houses. Here are the Governor’s palace, which was in other times the Jesuits’ convent; the treasury; the town-hall and prison; the barracks, which are very bad; the Franciscan, Carmelite, and Penha convents, and several churches, the interiors of which are very handsomely ornamented, but very little plan has been preserved in the architecture of the buildings themselves. It comprises several squares, and has, to a certain degree, a gay and lively appearance. This is the principal division of the town.
The bridge which connects St. Antonio with Boa Vista is constructed entirely of wood, and has upon it no shops, but is likewise narrow. The principal street of Boa Vista, which was formerly a piece of ground overflowed at high water, is broad and handsome: the rest of this third division consists chiefly of small houses, and as there is plenty of room here, it extends to some distance in a straggling manner. Neither the streets of this part of the town nor of St. Antonio are paved. A long embankment has likewise been made, which connects the sand-bank and town of St. Antonio with the main land at Affogados[4], to the south and west of Boa Vista. The river Capibaribe, so famous in Pernambucan history, discharges its waters into the channel between St. Antonio and Boa Vista, after having run for some distance in a course nearly east and west.
Some few of the windows of the houses are glazed, and have iron balconies: but the major part are without glass, and of these the balconies are enclosed by lattice-work; and no females are to be seen, excepting the negro slaves, which gives a very sombre look to the streets. The Portugueze[5], the Brazilian, and even the Mulatto women, in the middle ranks of life, do not move out of doors in the day-time; they hear mass at the churches before day-light-, and do not again stir out, excepting in sedan chairs, or in the evening on foot, when occasionally a whole family will sally forth to take a walk.
The upper harbour of Recife, called the Mosqueiro, as has been already said, is formed by the reef of rocks which runs parallel with the town at a very small distance. The lower harbour, for vessels of 400 tons and upwards, called the Poço, is very dangerous, as it is open to the sea, and the beach opposite to it is very steep. The large Brazil ships, belonging to merchants of the place, lie here for months at a time, moored with four cables, two a-head and two a-stern. If precautions are not taken very speedily, the entrance to the harbour of Mosqueiro will be choaked up, owing to a breach in the reef, immediately within the small fort, which is called Picam. The port has two entrances, one of which is deeper than the other. The tide does not rise more than five and a half feet. The principal defence of the town consists in the forts Do Buraco[6] and Do Brum, both of which are built of stone, and are situated upon the sands opposite to the two entrances. Likewise there is the small fort of Bom Jezus, near to the arch-way and church of the same name; and upon the south-east point of the sand-bank of St. Antonio stands the large stone fort of Cinco Pontas, so called from its pentagonal form. They are said to be all out of order. From what I have stated, it will be seen that the ground upon which the town has been built is most peculiarly circumstanced, and that the manner in which the harbour is formed is equally rare.
The town is principally supplied with water, which is brought in canoes, either from Olinda, or from the river Capibaribe, above the influence of the tide; it comes in bulk, and although the greater part of the vessels are decked, still it is usually filthy, as too much care is not taken in their cleanliness. The wells that are sunk in the sand upon which the town stands only afford brackish water.
The three compartments of the town, together, contain about 25,000 inhabitants, or more, and it is increasing rapidly; new houses are building wherever space can be found. The population consists of white persons, of mulatto and black free people, and of slaves also of several shades.
The reef of rocks, of which I have before spoken, continues along the whole coast between Pernambuco and Maranham, and in some parts it runs at a very short distance from the shore; and in this case is usually high, remaining uncovered at low water, as at Recife; but in other places it recedes from the land, and is then generally concealed. It has numberless breaks in it, through which the communication with the sea is laid open.
Recife is a thriving place, increasing daily in opulence and importance. The prosperity which it enjoys may be in some measure attributed to the character of its Governor and Captain-General, Caetano Pinto de Miranda Montenegro, who has ruled the province for the last ten years with systematic steadiness and uniform prudence. He has made no unnecessary innovations, but he has allowed useful improvements to be introduced. He has not, with hurried enthusiastic zeal, which often defeats its end, pushed forwards any novelty that struck him at the moment, but he has given his consent and countenance to any proposal backed by respectable persons. He has not interfered and intermeddled with those concerns in which governments have no business, but he has supported them when they have been once established. I here speak of commercial regulations and minor improvements in the chief town, and in the smaller settlements of the country. He is affable, and hears the complaint of a peasant or a rich merchant with the same patience; he is just, seldom exercising the power which he possesses of punishing without appeal to the civil magistrate; and when he does enforce it, the crime must be very glaring indeed. He acts upon a system, and from principle; and if it is the fate of Brazil to be in the hands of a despotic government, happy, compared to its present state, would it in general be, if all its rulers resembled him. I love the place at which I so long resided, and I hope most sincerely that he may not be removed, but that he may continue to dispense to that extensive region, the blessings of a mild, forbearing administration.