Hunting a home in Brazil

by James McFadden Gaston

Notwithstanding the apparent system of this extensive establishment, I understand that it has not proved very profitable to the proprietors; and it may be that there is more style than efficiency in its management.

There are three other large tanneries in the suburbs of the city; and, from the specimens of leather examined, the art certainly seems to have attained a high degree of advancement. Whether the materials ordinarily used here are preferable to red oak bark, I have no means of determining. In some sections, the logwood is a native growth, and it is employed for tanning the heavy sole leather; but this is not regarded the best quality of leather for any domestic use, and is generally shipped to other parts where heavy shoes are more in demand.

Subsequent to the examination of the tannery, Dr. Shaw and myself visited the butchering establishment, where the greatest portion of the beef eaten in this little world of a city is slaughtered, and the appliances are co-extensive with the immense demand. Some of the machinery for securing and killing the animals would afford an interesting item for description; but, having no taste for this species of mechanism, I will pass it over with the simple mention, that it is evidently well adapted to the object in view. The huge carcases that were suspended in the building were of the well-defined varieties of Pharaoh’s cattle, and it occurred to me that I should like to make my choice here of what I should eat.

There is no general meat-market in Rio as in most large cities; but there are houses in all the different streets who deal in the flesh of different kinds, thus supplying all demands. One of the noticeable features connected with this butchering establishment is the immense collection of the largest horns that have ever been produced in any country. It would have afforded quite curious information to have measured one of these tremendous developments; and, most assuredly, the slang phrase of taking a horn never had its origin from the use of those having such proportions as were exhibited here. The cattle from the lower provinces of Brazil, that furnish many of the beeves for this market, are very large, and have the most disproportionably large horns that it has fallen to my lot to see upon the head of any animal, being, thus, of huge size.

All the juices are extracted from the bones of the animals that may be left on hand, or returned here for this purpose, and soap is produced from it, while the substance of the bone is reduced to a charcoal that commands a good price.

The entrails of the beeves are also cleaned of every portion of the tallow, and they are afterwards used for making soap on the premises.

The negro women engaged in this operation of washing the intestines present quite a graphic scene. Instead of using vessels of water, they carry a lot of these filthy things into a canal of water which is located between the butchering-house and the boiling establishment, and the water being considerably above knee-deep, it behooves them to have their clothing protected from getting wet at the expense of denuding their entire lower extremities. Their skirts are tucked about their waists, with a fold passing round between the thighs, which thus gives a display of nature unadorned.

According to appointment, Mr. Mello called at my room this afternoon, and Dr. Shaw, Major Meriwether, Mr. Brown and myself joined him, to make a visit to the Botanical Garden, and also to call at his mother’s house on the way.

Taking an outside seat on the hack, I enjoyed a good view of all the scenery along the drive of five miles, and found the many fine improvements and the beauties of nature on the mountain sides very attractive. At several points the road lay close by the water’s edge, and in one locality the wall which had been erected as a barrier for the waves had been undermined, and had tumbled down, with a considerable caving in of the land, reducing our passage to a narrow way. The lofty peak of the Corcovado was towering above us, and the little rivulets of water coursing down its sides glittered in the rays of the descending sun, while here and there along its base were neat cottages or palatial dwellings of those who sought refuge from the din and confusion as well as the heat of the crowded city.

Going forward, we reached the garden, with its grand and gorgeous colonnade of majestic palm trees, which is doubtless the most perfect type of quiet dignity and simple beauty that the world can present. Much has been done in rendering portions of these grounds artistically attractive, and yet the beauties of art are overshadowed by the greater beauty of nature presented in the forest that has been left upon the back of the garden. From this hillside there is a stream of water tumbling down in artificial cascades, and running on to form a beautiful lake upon the plain below, all fringed with green.