I may here observe, that neither in S. Paulo, nor in any other place which I visited, did I witness any instance of that levity in the females of Brazil, which some writers allege to be the leading trait in their character. I allude to the custom which has been said to prevail among them, of throwing flowers from the balconies on such of the passers-by, as they take a fancy to, or of presenting a flower or a nosegay to their favorites, as a mark of partiality. The circumstance which seems to have given rise to such an ill-founded conjecture is this: flowers are here considered an indispensable part of the female head-dress, and when a stranger is introduced to a lady, it is nothing more than an act of common courtesy for her to take one from her hair to present to him. This elegant compliment he is expected to return in the course of the visit, by selecting a flower from the profuse variety which adorn the garden, or the balcony, and presenting it to her.
One singular custom I must not omit to notice, that of throwing artificial fruit, such as lemons or oranges, made very delicately of wax and filled with perfumed water. On the two first days of Lent, which are here celebrated with great festivity, persons of both sexes amuse themselves by throwing these balls at each other; the lady generally begins the game, the gentleman returns it with such spirit that it seldom ceases until several dozens are thrown, and both parties are as wet as if they had been drawn through a river. Sometimes a lady will dexterously drop one into the bosom of a gentleman, which will infallibly oblige him to change his linen, as it usually contains three or four ounces of cold water. On these days of carnival the inhabitants parade the streets in masks, and the diversion of throwing fruit is practised by persons of all ages. It is reckoned improper for men to throw at each other. The manufacture of these missiles, at such periods, affords no inconsiderable occupation to certain classes of the inhabitants; I have been informed, that in the capital of Brazil, many hundreds of people derive a temporary subsistence from the sale of them. The practice (as I can testify) is very annoying to strangers, and not unfrequently engenders quarrels which terminate seriously.
During our stay here an unpleasant report was circulated, that the port of Lisbon was shut against the English, and that war was daily expected to be declared between the two powers. Had it not been for the kindness of the governor in offering to permit our departure before he should receive orders to the contrary, we should have felt ourselves in a very disagreeable predicament. But news soon arrived that his Royal Highness the Prince Regent had left Portugal with all the court, and that they were embarked for the Brazils, under the escort of a British squadron, dispatched by Sir Sidney Smith. This intelligence was most joyfully received by the Brazilians; they considered, indeed, that the occupation of Portugal by the French, was a disaster very likely to ensue, but they consoled themselves with the hope of receiving a Prince, in whose praise every tongue was eloquent, and to whose cause every heart was loyal. The Brazilian empire was considered as established; and the worthy bishop consecrated the auspicious era by ordaining daily prayers in the cathedral, to invoke, from Divine Providence, the safe arrival of the Royal Family. News of their having touched at Bahia arrived in about ten days, and was welcomed by every demonstration of public joy, processions, fire-works, &c. Hoping, every day, to hear of their arrival at Rio de Janeiro, I made all ready for my departure, and devoted the few remaining days to a second excursion to the gold-mines, and to some farewell visits among my friends in the vicinity of S. Paulo. The governor and many of the principal inhabitants gave us parting invitations, and by their urbanity rendered the last hours we passed with them at once delightful and melancholy. Some of the latter accompanied us two leagues on our way, and on separating testified the warmest wishes for our welfare.
I never recal to mind the civilities I received at this city without the most grateful emotions, in which those will best sympathize who have known what it is to visit a remote city in a strange country, where, according to the narratives of preceding travellers, nothing prevailed but barbarism and inhospitality, and where they have been agreeably undeceived. It may easily be supposed that I found it difficult to reconcile the character of the Paulistas, such as I beheld it, with the strange accounts of their spurious origin, quoted by modern geographers. These accounts, founded on the suspicious testimony of the Jesuits of Paraguay, and at variance with the best Portuguese historians, have been of late most ably confuted by an enlightened member of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Lisbon[22]. He fully exposes the inconsistencies of Vaissette and Charlevoix, in ascribing the origin of S. Paulo to a band of refugees, composed of Spaniards, Portuguese, Mestiços, Mulattos, and others, who fled hither from various parts of Brazil, and established a free-booting republic; and he satisfactorily shews that the first settlers were Indians of Piratininga and Jesuits, and that the city, from its first foundation, never acknowledged any other sovereignty than that of Portugal. The veracity of this account is further supported by the predominant character of the Paulistas, who, far from inheriting the obloquy, which an ancestry of rogues and vagabonds would have entailed upon them, have long been famed throughout all Brazil for their probity, their industry, and the mildness of their manners[23].
[CHAP. VI.]
Coasting Voyage from Santos to Sapitiva, and Journey thence to Rio de Janeiro.
WE left S. Paulo at ten in the morning, and took the same road to Santos by which we had come, there being no other, fit to travel. On the following day, before noon, we arrived at Cubatão, where we were detained by rain, until four in the afternoon. About seven we arrived at Santos, and as we were provided with a letter of introduction to a judge, and another to a merchant, we relied on a kinder welcome than we had met with on our first visit, the more so as we came from S. Paulo. We were, however, deceived. The judge received us coldly, and when I asked him where the person lived to whom our other letter was addressed, he seemed quite rejoiced at the opportunity for shewing us out of his house. The merchant was as frigid as the judge, and made us a paltry excuse. We then repaired to an apothecary, from whom we had experienced some acts of urbanity, and who had attended one of our friends, who, having left S. Paulo in a bad state of health, had waited here three weeks for a passage to Rio de Janeiro. After telling him our situation, and stating that the wet weather prevented us from passing the night in our canoe, he kindly offered us his shop-floor for a lodging, it being the only place under cover he had to spare. We commissioned him to offer four dollars to any of his neighbours who would admit us for the night, but he said it would be of no avail, as the people of Santos were proverbially notorious for their want of hospitality. The great influx of strangers and renegadoes from all nations into this and other towns on the coast, had completely steeled the hearts of the people against those claims on their good-will, which the inhabitants of the interior, less frequently imposed upon, are ever ready to acknowledge and to satisfy.
Thus disappointed, we resolved not to wait at Santos for a ship, but to proceed to Rio de Janeiro, along the coast, in a canoe. Having hired one we embarked, and after rowing all night in a strait between the continent and the island of S. Thomas, which forms one of the passages to Santos from sea, we arrived by sun-rise at Bertioga, situated at the north end of that island. It is a village, consisting of some tolerably good buildings, erected for the convenience of the Capitão Mor and his attendants, who superintend a fishing establishment here, similar to that near St. Catherine’s, and belonging to the same company, but very much inferior in extent and capacity. At both places the most expert of the negroes are employed in dressing whalebone, which is a considerable article of commerce, though smaller and less valuable than that of the Greenland whale. Along the coast which we passed, are several fine bays, where, in the best times of the fishery, large quantities of whales were annually caught. The buildings for boiling the blubber and storing the oil were conveniently situated.