The manners and customs of the people differ little from those of the inhabitants of the capital; but it is said that in the best societies here, more gaiety and refinement prevail, and the higher classes are more sociable, than in Rio de Janeiro. A taste for music is general; there are few houses without the guitar, and all the more respectable families have piano-fortes. The ladies dress in the English style, and ornament themselves with gold chains: they wear very few diamonds; their favorite gem is the chrysolite. For deshabille at home they wear a kind of loose dress, over which they throw a veil on the entrance of strangers. They are considered as far less industrious than the females of the southern districts. The domestic dress of the men consists of a jacket and loose trowsers, made of light printed cotton.
Religious processions take place here, as in Rio de Janeiro, on great festivals and rejoicing days; and these festive occasions are distinguished by various amusements, which continue from morning to night. At these times the Brazilians have a custom of covering the walls and balconies of their houses with velvet or beautiful silks, embroidered with gold lace, in architectural orders, made and ornamented for the purpose; thus adorned the houses exhibit a most splendid appearance.
One of the most memorable seasons of rejoicing of late years was when the Prince touched at this city on his voyage to Rio de Janeiro, and remained several days. The inhabitants testified their loyalty and attachment to him by every public demonstration of joy, and by a display of all the grandeur and magnificence which they had means to furnish. As a more solid proof of their attachment and regard, they unanimously voted to subscribe a sum equal to a million sterling to build a palace for the royal family, if the Prince would condescend to reside among them.
The climate is always warm, but is refreshed by the sea-breeze, and is in some degree tempered by the long absence of the sun, the nights being of almost uniform length throughout the year. Though hotter than Rio de Janeiro, Bahia is considered much more healthful, having a more airy situation, and being better supplied with water. The practice of bathing is very general, and most of the houses have conveniences for this purpose.
Bahia is plentifully supplied with provisions. Beef and pork are in abundance; the former is decidedly bad, the latter tolerable. Fish are in great plenty and variety, and form a principal article in the diet of the inhabitants. Fish, with sallad, is the general supper of almost all ranks; even the rich desire nothing more for this repast in family. Numbers of retail shopkeepers, who sell wine, cheese, groceries, &c. buy fish and fry it, and afterwards retail it in small quantities. Poultry is in plenty, but not cheap; vegetables, and pulse of every description, are in very great profusion. The markets are well supplied with all the tropical fruits, many of which are said to be in great perfection, particularly the pine, the mango, and the banana; the latter is esteemed the best in America. Preserved fruits are in great abundance, owing to the cheapness of sugar; great varieties of them are sold in the streets, and two or three preserved limes in a cup of syrup may be bought for less than a penny. Even the lower orders conclude the meanest dinner with this delicious delicacy.
The soil of this capitania is peculiar, and is esteemed the best in Brazil for the growth of the sugar-cane. This advantage, and the conveniences arising from the numerous rivers that flow from the interior into the bay, have occasioned the establishment of many sugar plantations, undoubtedly the finest in the country, which have produced immense quantities of that article. The soil most adapted to the plant, and held in the highest estimation, is a black greasy loam, a deposit, containing a large quantity of decomposed vegetable matter.
The opulent and best informed planters have imported steam-engines for the crushing of cane, which will probably prove very advantageous, and cheaper in many situations, as they can at all times be worked, and are as easily regulated as a water-mill.
The mode of cultivating the cane has already been detailed. If planted in new soil, it is fit for cutting in fourteen months, but in old and poorer land it requires eighteen or twenty months. When ripe, the canes are cut and dressed by taking off the top leaves, &c. which afford excellent provender for cattle; they are then brought to the mill, which is composed of three wooden or iron cylinders, moving on their axes in a perpendicular position, and between them the canes are repeatedly passed until all the juice is expressed, and they are reduced to a mass of dry fibres.
The cane-juice is conducted through spouts to a large boiler or clarifier, where a certain quantity of alkaline matter, called temper, is added to it[66]. Afterwards it is conducted to the largest of a range of boilers, consisting of three, or sometimes four, one less than another. The largest seldom contains more than one hundred gallons. Here the syrup boils for a certain time, and is continually skimmed; it is then laded to the next, where it continues to boil until more of the aqueous fluid is evaporated; after which, it is laded into the third boiler, and is there sometimes sufficiently boiled without removing it into the fourth. They judge of its consistency by the touch; a little of the syrup is taken between the thumb and finger, and if it forms threads, and breaks on being drawn about an inch, it is supposed to be boiled sufficiently[67]. It then begins to granulate, and is gently laded into earthen pots of the form of a sugar-loaf, about two feet deep and ten inches in diameter at the open end, where, on cooling, it becomes concrete. In the lower end of each pot is a small hole, which at first is nearly closed; but after the sugar begins to cool, it is unstopped, and a piece of cane is put in to admit the molasses to drain. Soon after the moulds are filled, they are removed into an airy room, where they are placed so that the molasses drain into a large cistern, from whence they are conveyed into the fermenting vats, which are recepticles for all the refuse of every description in the sugar-house. In the process of fermentation much depends on the quality of the wood of which the vats are made; some of them bring the liquor into a proper state for distillation two or three days sooner than others.
The greatest part of the sugars made here are clayed, by a very simple operation, which consists merely in covering the sugar with very moist clay, the water from which percolates the mass, and carries with it the remaining molasses. When the earthy matter becomes dry, more is applied until the sugar is perfectly freed, and nearly white. This operation renders the article unfit for making loaf sugar. After remaining in the drying-house about six weeks, the moulds are placed with the large end downwards, and the sugar leaves them; they are then beaten down to powder in large strong cases, constructed of four entire planks, and the two ends, generally about eight feet long, and about twenty-six inches square[68], holding from fifteen to sixteen hundred-weight. The cases, when filled, are nailed down, and are ready for shipping.