. Mr. Pennell has most kindly given our young men a general invitation to his house; and accordingly, to-day several of them dined with him, and we had a party in the evening, when some of the ladies played quadrilles, while others danced.
Friday, 19th.—I accompanied Miss Pennell in a tour of visits to her Portuguese friends. As it is not their custom to visit or be visited in the forenoon, it was hardly fair to take a stranger to see them. However, my curiosity, at least, was gratified. In the first place, the houses, for the most part, are disgustingly dirty: the lower story usually consists of cells for the slaves, stabling &c.; the staircases are narrow and dark; and, at more than one house, we waited in a passage while the servants ran to open the doors and windows of the sitting-rooms, and to call their mistresses, who were enjoying their undress in their own apartments. When they appeared, I could scarcely believe that one half were gentlewomen. As they wear neither stay nor bodice, the figure becomes almost indecently slovenly, after very early youth; and this is the more disgusting, as they are very thinly clad, wear no neck-handkerchiefs, and scarcely any sleeves. Then, in this hot climate, it is unpleasant to see dark cottons and stuffs, without any white linen, near the skin. Hair black, ill combed, and dishevelled, or knotted unbecomingly, or still worse, en papillote, and the whole person having an unwashed appearance. When at any of the houses the bustle of opening the cobwebbed windows, and assembling the family was over, in two or three instances, the servants had to remove dishes of sugar, mandioc, and other provisions, which had been left in the best rooms to dry. There is usually a sofa at each end of the room, and to the right and left a long file of chairs, which look as if they never could be moved out of their place. Between the two sets of seats is a space, which, I am told, is often used for dancing; and, in every house, I saw either a guitar or piano, and generally both. Prints and pictures, the latter the worst daubs I ever saw, decorate the walls pretty generally; and there are, besides, crucifixes and other things of the kind. Some houses, however, are more neatly arranged; one, I think belonging to a captain of the navy, was papered, the floors laid with mat, and the tables ornamented with pretty porcelain, Indian and French: the lady too was neatly dressed in a French wrapper. Another house belonging to one of the judges was also clean, and of a more stately appearance than the rest, though the inhabitant was neither richer nor of higher rank. Glass chandeliers were suspended from the roof; handsome mirrors were intermixed with the prints and pictures. A good deal of handsome china was displayed round the room; but the jars, as well as the chairs and tables, seemed to form an inseparable part of the walls. We were every where invited, after sitting a few moments on the sofa, to go to the balconies of the windows and enjoy the view and the breeze, or at least amuse ourselves with what was passing in the street. And yet they did not lack conversation: the principal topic, however, was praise of the beauty of Bahia; dress, children, and diseases, I think, made up the rest; and, to say the truth, their manner of talking on the latter subject is as disgusting as their dress, that is, in a morning: I am told they are different after dinner. They marry very early, and soon lose their bloom. I did not see one tolerably pretty woman to-day. But then who is there that can bear so total a disguise as filth and untidiness spread over a woman?
Saturday, 20th.—As the charts of this coast hitherto published are very incorrect, the captain asked permission from government to sound and survey the bay: it is refused on the ground of policy; as if it could be policy to keep hidden rocks and shoals, for one's own as well as other people's ships.
I walked through the greater part of the town. The lower part extends much farther than I could see the day I landed; it contains a few churches, one of which, belonging to the monastery of A concepçaô, is very handsome, but the smell within is disgusting; the flooring is laid in squares with stone, and within each square there is a panelling of wood of about nine feet by six; under each panel is a vault, into which the dead are thrown naked, until they reach a certain number, when with a little quick-lime thrown in, the wood is fastened down, and then another square is opened, and so on in rotation. From that church, passing the arsenal gate, we went along the low street, and found it widen considerably at three quarters of a mile beyond: there are the markets, which seem to be admirably supplied, especially with fish. There also is the slave market, a sight I have not yet learned to see without shame and indignation[66]: beyond are a set of arcades, where goldsmiths, jewellers, and haberdashers display their small wares, and there are the best-looking shops; but there is a want of neatness, of that art of making things look well, that invites a buyer in England and France. One bookseller's shop, where books are extravagantly dear, exists in the low town, and one other in the ascent to the upper.
The upper town is most beautifully situated on the ridge between the sea and the fresh water lake, and from its height, and the great slope of most of the streets, it is incomparably cleaner than the port. The cathedral dedicated to St. Salvador is a handsome building, and stands on one side of a square, where the palace, prison, and other public buildings are placed. The finest of these, the Jesuits' college, the marble columns of which came from Europe ready cut, is now converted into a barrack. The most useful is the hospital of Nossa Senhora da Misericordia[67], founded by Juan de Matinhos, whose statue in white marble, with a wig like Sir Cloudesley Shovel's in Westminster Abbey, stands at the first landing-place, and is the ugliest piece of carving I ever saw.
This hospital, besides its use as a refuge for the sick, of whom there are generally about 120, maintains 50 young girls of decent parentage, to whom a suitable education is given, and a dowry of 200 crowns bestowed on them when they marry.[68] The building of the Misericordia is a fair specimen of the style of the convents, public buildings, and more noble houses,—rather handsome than elegant. It surrounds a large area, subdivided into smaller courts; the staircase is of marble, inlaid with coloured stucco, and the sides are lined with tiles of porcelain, so as to form arabesques, often of very pretty design. This is both a cool and a cleanly lining to a wall, particularly for an hospital. The principal rooms are also decorated in the same manner; and many of the fronts and cupolas of the churches are covered with similar tiles, the effect of which is often exceedingly agreeable, when seen among the trees and plainer buildings of the city. The chapel belonging to the hospital is handsome, a little gaudy, however. The ceiling is respectably painted, and was probably the work of an amateur monk of the seventeenth century. The treatment of the sick is humane, and they are well provided with food and other necessaries; but the medical practice, though much improved of late years, is not the most enlightened.
There is a great deal of jealousy of foreigners in the present government, hence I was not able to enter many of the public buildings. The government treasury was one I was desirous to see, but there were objections. The treasury here was formerly considered as subordinate to that of Rio de Janeiro, and accordingly paid a portion of its receipts to bills drawn monthly by the treasurer in the capital, upon this, and those of the other provinces. But since the revolution of the 10th of February, the provisional government has taken upon itself to refuse payment, on the grounds that it is entirely independent of Rio, until the pleasure of the cortes at Lisbon shall be known. The revenue is derived from direct taxes on land and provisions, excise upon exports and imports, and harbour dues. Land is subject to a tax of one-tenth of the whole of its produce, and since the revolution, church lands are under the same law, and the clergy are paid by the government.
The taxes on provisions are annually farmed out to the highest bidder: they are imposed on beef, fresh fish, farinha, and vegetables. Each parish has its separate farmer, who pays the amount of his contract into the treasury, and then makes the most he can of his dues.
The import and export duties are paid at the custom-house, between which and the treasury a monthly settlement takes place.
The port dues for foreign ships are 2000 reals per day, a trifle for the light house, and rather heavy charges for entering, clearing, &c. Portuguese and Brazilian ships pay no anchorage, but are subject to a tonnage.