After settling with our host, we hired mules to carry us to Rio de Janeiro, distant forty miles. Owing to the weight of our baggage, we travelled but slowly: this, however, we did not regret, as the fatigues of our coasting-voyage rendered us rather averse to violent exertion. Proceeding through a low sandy country, covered with wood, for about three leagues, we skirted the boundary of the Prince’s farm, which encloses some of the finest and most fertile plains in South America, and gives employment to upward of fifteen hundred negroes. We soon afterwards reached the main road, which in general is very good, but the lands about it are little cleared, and seem almost destitute of cultivators. In the course of twenty miles, we saw only one house that deserved the name of a plantation; the only dwellings by the way-side were miserable huts and dram-shops, exhibiting deplorable symptoms of sloth and poverty. Before sun-set we halted at a kind of inn, where our mules were turned out to grass, and a supper was provided for us of fowls, milk, and coffee. The house, though pleasantly situated on an eminence among orange-groves and coffee-trees, was miserably deficient in those conveniences which its exterior had announced. The room where we supped was lighted by a small poor lamp, (here being no candles,) and the floor was so uneven, that our table stood on only two of its four legs. Tired with this cheerless gloom, we ordered our beds to be unpacked, and retired to rest. The want of candle-light is a serious inconvenience to travellers in all parts of Brazil, and no one ought to undertake a journey without an ample provision of candles, with the necessary implements for using them. Snuffers are articles of luxury, very rarely to be met with, except as curiosities. I need not add that beds are an equally indispensable part of a traveller’s equipage.
We resumed our journey at an early hour next day, along an excellent road in the middle of a valley, formed by lofty mountains. After travelling about three miles, we came to a house, called the Padeira (bake-house), which is reckoned half way between Sapitiva and the capital. From this place the road gradually becomes more enlivened by dwellings and plantations, (but many of the former, are wretched hovels erected for the sale of bacon, corn, liquors, &c.) and by numbers of countrymen bringing produce from every part of the south-west, even from the far districts of Goyazes, Coritiva, Cuyaba, S. Paulo, and Mato Grosso. It is not uncommon to see eight hundred or a thousand mules passing and repassing in the course of a day, besides numerous droves of fine cattle for the use of the city. Our heavy-laden and weary mules travelled so slowly, that we did not come within sight of Rio de Janeiro, until about three in the afternoon. On reaching the eminence, which commanded the first prospect of this fine city, our joyful sensations banished every feeling of fatigue. One of the party, who had advanced a few paces, rode back as fast as his mule could go, exclaiming, “the English flag.” We hastened onward, and beheld one of the most welcome sights that ever greeted the eyes of a traveller, with a remembrance of his native country—a squadron of our men of war at anchor in the bay, which had recently escorted the court of Portugal to an asylum in their own dominions, beyond the reach of their foes. We no longer felt uneasy at the thought of entering a large city inhabited by strangers; we knew that the name of Englishman would be a passport among them, and we anticipated something of that delight which is connected with the near prospect of home. I, who had for eighteen months lingered in exile, and beheld each setting sun close another day of almost hopeless captivity, enjoyed this evening-scene with indescribable emotion; it was here, that, for the first time since my landing in South America, I had just reason to promise myself a night’s repose in freedom, safety, and peace.
We soon reached the suburbs, which are very large and pleasant, being agreeably interspersed with gardens and pleasure-grounds. About five o’clock we halted in the vicinity of Campo de Santa Anna, at an inn, or rather hostelry for cattle, whence, having secured our baggage in the miserable stall allotted to us, we sallied forth in search of the friends who left us at St. Catherine’s. Accustomed, as we long had been, to rude and solitary scenes, we were forcibly struck with the opulence of this city, displayed in its magnificent buildings and regular streets. While engaged in anxious enquiries after our friends, we accidentally met one of them, who, with unspeakable joy, conducted us to the rest; and the evening was passed most agreeably in relating our several encounters, and in asking and answering innumerable questions. Returning to our inn at midnight, we remained with our luggage until morning, when we carted it up to the house of our friends in Rua dos Pescadores.
During our journey from Sapitiva to Rio de Janeiro, we had not much leisure for geological observation. The stratum, in the course of the route, appeared to be generally granite, like that before described. In some parts we observed large stones, approximating to green-stone, and in other parts we found fine clay. Nearer to the capital, and particularly in the environs of St. Cristovão, the Prince’s country-palace, the stratum has a gneiss-like appearance, and produces some fine specimens of feldspar. In the precincts of the city, there is an extensive flat, covered with mangroves, and overflowed by the tide. At the foot of the mountains which bound it, are quarries of granite, large blocks of which are raised for building purposes, as well as for paving the streets of the city.
[CHAP. VII.]
Description of Rio de Janeiro.—Trade.—State of Society.—Visit to the Prince Regent’s Farm at Santa Cruz.
RIO DE JANEIRO has been so often described by former travellers, that, were I to confine myself to the supply of what they have omitted, or to the correction of their mis-statements, my task would be speedily performed, but, as I have uniformly chosen to write freely from my own observation rather than follow the track of others, I shall trespass on the reader with a more detailed account than he might perhaps require. It will, however, be recollected that the period at which I visited this capital, being a political æra in the annals of Brazil, is sufficiently interesting to excuse, if not to justify me in the attempt to improve upon descriptions of an earlier date, though at the risk of a little repetition.
The finest view of the city is from the harbour[24], whence its lofty eminence crowned with convents, and the hills in its environs, interspersed with villas and gardens, have a rich and magnificent appearance. The royal palace skirts the beach, and is seen to great advantage from the principal landing-place, which is within sixty yards of its doors. This palace, though small, is the residence of the Prince Regent and the royal family: the mint and the royal chapel form parts of the structure. Parallel with the beach runs the main street, consisting of noble buildings, called Rua Dereita, from which the minor streets branch off at right angles, and are intersected by others at regular distances.