EMMA. "Very well, then, we will merely mention some of these bays, viz.:—Pinzon, Maripani, Gurupy, Turiassu, Cuma, Paraiba, All Saints, Camanu, and St. Salvador Bay, near Rio de Janeiro."
MR. WILTON. "Well, Emma, you have certainly manoeuvred well to bring us over the equator without the usual visitation of Neptune and Amphitrite, and we must all thank you for landing us, without a ducking, in the principal town of Brazil. So now we will walk about and see the lions."
GEORGE. "We can go and fill our pockets, papa; for it is said that through the whole of this country, at the depth of twenty-four feet from the surface, there is a thin vein of gold, the particles of which are carried by the springs and heavy rains into the neighboring rivers, from the sands of which they are gathered by negroes employed for that purpose. There, too, we might happen to find some diamonds"
CHARLES. "You would find it not so easy to collect gold and diamonds as you imagine, and I expect you would come back poorer than you went."
MRS. WILTON. "Rio de Janeiro possesses one of the finest harbors known, having at its entrance a bar, at the extremes of which rise two rocks. This bay is twenty-four leagues in length, and eight in width, and has in it many islands; some are cultivated and possess sugar-works. The most celebrated of them is named De Cobra, off which island ships cast anchor. On the opposite side of this city, a natural wall of rocks, called Los Organos, extends itself as far as the sea, and forms a perfect line of defence independently of the neighboring fortresses."
EMMA. "Paraguay is the adjacent coast, and derives its name from the Payaguas, a treacherous and deceitful people, who subsist by fishing. It is a fertile district, and produces a species of ilex,[[14]] which makes the tea so much used in South America. The laborers, who esteem it vastly more than we do our Chinese tea, will refuse to work if deprived of it. The twigs are steeped with the leaves, and the tea is taken through a silver or glass tube. The gulfs along here are not very important. I have no account of them."
MRS. WILTON. "Monte Video is the next coast, and derives its name from a mountain near the city; it is completely enclosed with fortifications. The inhabitants are humane and well disposed. The ladies in general affable and polite, and extremely fond of dress, and very neat and cleanly in their persons. They adopt the English costume at home, but go abroad usually in black, and always covered with a large veil or mantle. Provisions here are very cheap; and such is the profusion of flesh-meat, that the vicinity for two miles round, and even the purlieus of the town itself, present filthy spectacles of bones and raw flesh at every step, which feed immense flocks of sea-gulls, and, in summer, breed myriads of flies, to the great annoyance of the inhabitants, who are obliged, at table, to have a servant or two continually employed in fanning the dishes with feathers to drive away these troublesome intruders."
EMMA. "Between Monte Video and Buenos Ayres are many bays: False Bay, Brightman Bay, and Union Bay are the principal."
MRS. WILTON. "Buenos Ayres was founded in 1535 by Don Pedro de Mendoza, who gave it that name on account of the salubrity of its climate. This town is in many respects the most considerable of all the commercial towns in South America. Bread is by no means the staff of life here, for meat and the great variety of roots and grain with which the country abounds, afford to the poor inhabitants an equally healthy and even more nutritious substance."
EMMA."—South of Buenos Ayres are Antonio Bay, Nuevo Gulf, Ergano Bay, Gulf of Vera, and Gulf of St. George, which last runs into the country of the gigantic Patagonians."