Sunday, 16th.—I had the pleasure of seeing on board Mr. W. May, who has long been a resident in Brazil, and with whom I had spent many happy hours in early life. The pleasure such meetings give is of the purest and wholesomest nature. It quiets the passions by its own tranquillity; and, in recalling all the innocent and amiable feelings of youth, makes us almost forget those harsher emotions which intercourse with the world, and the operation of interest, passion, or suffering have raised.
Monday, 17th.—By the assistance of some friends ashore, we have procured a comfortable house in one of the suburbs of Rio, called the Catete, from the name of a little river which runs through it into the sea. To this house I have brought my poor suffering midshipman, Langford; and trust that free air, moderate exercise, and a milk diet, will restore him. We have been visited by several persons, who all appear hospitable and kind, particularly the acting consul-general, Col. Cunningham, and his lady.
December 18th.—I have begun house-keeping on shore. We find vegetables and poultry very good, but not cheap; fruit is very good and cheap; butcher's meat cheap, but very bad: there is a monopolist butcher, and no person may even kill an animal for his own use without permission paid for from that person; consequently, as there is no competition, he supplies the market as he pleases.[78] The beef is so bad, that it can hardly be used even for soup meat, three days out of four; and that supplied to the ships is at least as bad: mutton is scarce and bad: pork very good and fine; it is fed principally on mandioc and maize, near the town; that from a distance has the advantage of sugar cane. Fish is not so plentiful as it ought to be, considering the abundance that there is on the whole coast, but it is extremely good; oysters, prawns, and crabs are as good as in any part of the world. The wheaten bread used in Rio is chiefly made of American flour, and is, generally speaking, exceedingly good. Neither the captaincy of Rio, nor those to the north, produce wheat; but in the high lands of St. Paul's, and the Minas Geraes, and in the southern provinces, a good deal is cultivated, and with great success. The great article of food here is the mandioc meal, or farinha; it is made into thin broad cakes as a delicacy, but the usual mode of eating it is dry: when at the tables of the rich, it is used with every dish of which they eat, as we take bread; with the poor, it has every form—porridge, brose, bread; and no meal is complete without it: next to mandioc, the feijoam or dry kidney-bean, dressed in every possible way, but most frequently stewed with a small bit of pork, garlic, salt, and pimento, is the favourite food; and for dainties, from the noble to the slave, sweetmeats of every description, from the most delicate preserves and candies to the coarsest preparations of treacle, are swallowed wholesale.
We have hired a horse for our invalid, and I have borrowed one for myself. These animals are rather pretty at Rio, but far from strong; they are fed on maize and capim, or Guinea grass, which was introduced of late years into Brazil, and thrives prodigiously: it is cultivated by planting the joints; the stem and leaves are as large as those of barley; it grows sometimes to the height of six or seven feet, and the flower is a large loose pannicle. The quantity necessary for each horse per day costs about eightpence, and his maize as much more. The common horses here sell for from twenty to one hundred dollars; the fine Buenos Ayres horses fetch a much higher price. Mules are generally used for carriages, being much hardier, and more capable of bearing the summer heat.
December 19th.—I walked by the side of Langford's horse up one of the little valleys at the foot of the Corcorado: it is called the Laranjeiros, from the numerous orange trees which grow on each side of the little stream that beautifies and fertilises it. Just at the entrance to that valley, a little green plain stretches itself on either hand, through which the rivulet runs over its stony bed, and affords a tempting spot to groups of washerwomen of all hues, though the greater number are black; and they add not a little to the picturesque effect of the scene: they generally wear a red or white handkerchief round the head; and a full-plaited mantle tied over one shoulder, and passed under the opposite arm, with a full petticoat, is a favourite dress. Some wrap a long cloth round them, like the Hindoos; and some wear an ugly European frock, with a most ungraceful sort of bib tied before them. Round the washerwoman's plain, hedges of acacia and mimosa fence the gardens of plantains, oranges, and other fruits which surround every villa; and beyond these, the coffee plantations extend far up the mountain, whose picturesque head closes the scene. The country-houses here are neither large nor magnificent; but they are decorated with verandas, and have often a handsome flight of steps up to the dwelling-house of the master, beneath which are either store-houses, or the habitations of the slaves: they have all a gateway, large and handsome, whatever the house may be; and that gateway generally leads to at least one walk where every kind of flower is cultivated. Brazil is particularly rich in splendid creeping flowers and shrubs; and these are mingled with the orange and lemon blossoms, and the jasmine and rose from the East, till the whole is one thicket of beauty and fragrance. I scarcely know whether my invalid or myself enjoyed the morning most. A few more such, and I should think all sickness must disappear.
December 20th.—Spent in paying and receiving visits in the neighbourhood. The houses are built a good deal like those of the south of Europe: there is generally a court, on one side of which is the dwelling-house, and the others are formed by the offices and garden. Sometimes the garden is immediately close to the house, and in the suburbs this is generally the case. In town, very few houses have the luxury of a garden at all. These gardens are rather like oriental flower-plots, but they assimilate well with the climate. The flowers of the parterres of Europe grow by the side of the gayer plants and shrubs of the country, shaded by the orange, banana, bread-fruit (now nearly naturalised here,) and the palms, between straight alleys of limes, over whose heads the African melia waves its lilac blossoms; and on the raised water channels, china vases are placed, filled with aloes and tuberoses, and here and there a statue intermixed. In these gardens there are occasionally fountains and seats under the trees, forming places of no undelightful rest in this hot climate.
Friday, December 21st.—Mr. Hayne, one of the commissioners of the slave trade commission, and his sister, having proposed a party to see the botanic gardens, we set off soon after daylight; and drove to their house on the bay of Boto Fogo, perhaps the most beautiful spot in the neighbourhood of Rio, rich as it is in natural beauty; and its beauty is increased by the numerous and pretty country-houses which now surround it. These have all grown up since the arrival of the court from Lisbon; before that time, this lovely spot was only inhabited by a few fishermen and gipsies, with, it might be, a villa or two on the sloping banks by the fruit gardens. Beyond the bay, we drove through a beautiful lane to the Lake of Rodrigo de Freitas: it is nearly circular, and about five miles in circumference; it is surrounded by mountains and forests, except where a short sandy bar affords an occasional outlet to the sea, when the lake rises so high as to threaten inconvenience to the surrounding plantations. It is impossible to conceive any thing richer than the vegetation down to the very water's edge around the lake.
Larangeiros.