Hunting a home in Brazil

by James McFadden Gaston

The idea that I wished to convey was, that her dress was in bad condition from this accident; but I learned afterwards that the true import of my words was, Your dress is very worthless. It is to be hoped, however, that she would attribute it to my ignorance, though I observed at the moment that she had rather a peculiar expression of dissatisfaction, and made no reply to my remark.

The music on this occasion was very superior; there being one band with brass instruments at the outer front door where the company were assembling, and another band which made music for the dancing when it began about 9 o’clock in the evening. At the close some pieces were performed upon the piano by a gentleman, and accompanied by a cornet-a-pistons, which received the undivided attention of the assemblage.

The refreshments were served upon waiters by the gentlemen in attendance, and the wants of every one were looked after assiduously. This is a feature of difference that will strike all as corresponding to the courtesy alluded to in regard to rendering assistance in mounting, and more remarkable in a slave country where the houses are supplied with excellent servants.

Tea, chocolate, and coffee were handed, with quite a variety of cakes and sweetmeats; while at the close of the evening, or rather the morning, for it was then 2 o’clock A. M., a concentrated chicken-soup was served in teacups. This struck me as very proper to meet the exhaustion incident to the active exercise and loss of sleep at this late hour, and yet it was new.

Though the want of a common tongue was embarrassing to all parties, the evening passed very pleasantly.

Friday, November 17, 1865.

While there was much elegance and many conveniences connected with the large establishment in which we were quartered, we were surprised to learn that there was no privy about the place, and the only alternative was the use of chamber-pots in the rooms for all the uses of such places. The repugnance felt with American gentlemen to this proceeding is not lessened by the necessity of their situation in the midst of a city, and one of the improvements much needed in the domestic arrangements of this country is the addition of latrines to their premises. If a room was set apart for offices of this kind, it would obviate some of the embarrassments; yet a neat privy kept in good order is a very genteel appendage to an establishment; and by inviting to the regular discharge of the functions of the intestinal canal, it exercises a beneficial influence on health, and the general comfort of a family.

Upon being introduced to a lady in the house as the sister of our host, I was informed by him that she was the mother of his wife, which of course makes him the uncle of his wife. Had I not found previously that this kind of marriage takes place here very frequently, and that among the best class of people, it would have been regarded as a matter of too much delicacy to refer to in a record of this kind. In three instances, of the most intelligent and most refined people met with in this country, the lady is the niece of her husband, and I must forbear to express my convictions of the consequences that must be entailed upon posterity by this course.

It was arranged that we would leave this morning; and, in consideration of the temporary illness of the General last evening, a carriage was provided, with four horses, to convey him to Jundiahi, and Mr. Bennaton takes a seat with him.

The rest of us being ready to go in advance, moved off on horseback, escorted out to the edge of the town by Senor Joaquim Bonifacio and several of his friends. He pointed out on the way a number of houses occupied by Germans who were formerly colonists upon this place, and also their school-room filled with children, which, taken together, indicates that they are getting along prosperously in their new homes.