Brazil the land of contrasts.—Appearance of the city of Rio and its environs.—Excursion to the Peak of Corcovado, and the Tejuca Waterfalls.—Germans in Rio.—Brazilian literary men.—Assacú (Hura Brasiliensis).—Snake-bite as an antidote against leprosy.—Public Institutions.—Negroes of the Mozambique coast.—The House of Misericordia.—Lunatic Asylum.—Botanical Garden.—Public instruction.—Historico-Geographical institution.—Palæstra Scientifica.—Military Academy.—Library.—Conservatory of Music.—Sanitary Police.—Yellow Fever and Cholera.—Water Party on the bay.—Chamber of Deputies.—Petropolis.—Condition of the Slave population.—Prospects of German emigration.—Suitability of Brazil as a market for German commerce.—Natural products, and exchange of manufactures.—Audience of the Emperor and Empress.—Extravagant waste of powder for salvoes.—Songs of the sailors.—Departure from Rio.—Retrospect.—South-east Trades.—Cape Pigeons.—Albatrosses.—Cape Tormentoso.—A Storm at the Cape.—Various Methods of measuring the height of waves.—Arrival in Simon's Bay.
Brazil—situated on the ocean-highway to the South Seas and the shores of India, endowed by nature, over the greater portion of her territory, with a salubrious climate, and a soil of tropical fertility, very nearly as large as Europe, and ten times the size of France, and yet containing not above 8,000,000 souls—has, far beyond all other States of South America, concentrated on herself, during more than half a century, the interest of the naturalist, as well as of the political economist—of the merchant as well as of the emigrant. Indeed, we may say that there are few countries, beyond the limits of Europe, which in certain parts have already been more thoroughly explored than the Brazilian Empire, while at the same time it can boast the possession of a rich and valuable stock of literature, treating of its history, since its discovery by the Portuguese Admiral, Pedro Alvarez Cabral, on the 22nd of April, 1500, down to the present time.
After so brief a sojourn as ours, we can hardly offer more to the reader than a short sketch of our own few experiences, and some remarks regarding the alterations which took place in the appearance of the city and in its social and political condition, since the period when Martius and Spix, Rugendas, Prince Neuwied, Helmreichen, Natterer, Pohl, d'Orbigny, Wilkes, Castelnau, Burmeister, and others visited Brazil, and so accurately delineated it both by pen and pencil.[37]
[37] Before we left Europe, the wish was repeatedly expressed to us that, during our stay in Rio, more accurate information should be obtained as to the fate of numerous scientific works and collections, by several German naturalists who died in Brazil in recent times, such as Frederick Sello, Dr. Müller (a companion of Castelnau), Dr. Engler, and others. Unfortunately, we can only give the little consolatory intelligence that, with the exception of the scientific memoranda left behind by Dr. Engler, chiefly relating to Itù in the province of St. Paul, there was nothing further to be hoped for. The collections have all been dispersed through want of care, and the manuscripts nearly all destroyed through ignorance of their value.
The magnificent scenery of the Bay of Rio de Janeiro still continues to possess the same absorbing interest for the new comer, wherever it has not suffered by the expansion of the rapidly-increasing city, or the axe of the emigrant settler; it is but little one can add to or alter in the picturesque description which travellers, alive to its natural beauties, had already given, half a century ago, of the wonderful haven of the Brazilian metropolis! Very different, however, is the impression, when the stranger, on disembarking, sets foot on the new world, and has to make his way through narrow, steep, filthy streets, greeted by yelling crowds of blacks and whites, poor negro slaves, and wealthy planters, into the interior of this bustling port. An entirely altered state of affairs has sprung up since the separation of Brazil from Portugal, and he who has not seen Rio within the last ten years would hardly recognize the capital of the Brazilian empire. Along with the most conspicuous deficiencies, in numerous particulars, one finds such institutions as are not to be met with, in a similarly flourishing condition, in any other State of South America, or among the republics of the Isthmus. But Brazil is emphatically "The Land of Contrasts."
When the traveller, stepping on shore from the anchorage for ships of war, (which is a little to the south of that for merchant vessels), has forced his way through the swarms of human beings at the landing stage, and in front of the hotel Pharoux, he finds himself on the Largo do Paço, or Palace Square. Here on his left rises the singular-looking Imperial Residence, and on his right, close to the shore, the Market Hall. A dense bustling crowd throngs the streets, while numerous vehicles, some drawn by horses, others by mules, as also omnibuses of all colours and dimensions, and crammed within and without, dash swiftly about, emulating the din and confusion of European capitals. Turning now to the right, into the Rua Direita, and thence a little further into the Rua do Ouvidor, the two most elegant but none the less most-neglected streets of Rio, there dazzles the eye, in the splendid, richly-decorated shops and arcades, the same profuse luxury as in Regent Street, or on the Boulevards. But how disagreeable the contrast with those cities, presented by the pools of stagnant water, which occur even in the most-frequented streets!
The city proper presents the figure of a square of about one mile and three quarters each way, between the sea beach and the Campo da Santa Anna, and is divided with tolerable regularity by narrow streets built at right angles to each other. Except the most important public buildings, such as the National Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Military Academy, the Naval Arsenal, the Custom House, the Market Hall, the Imperial Palace, the Chamber of Deputies, and several of the churches, only shops and mercantile counting-houses are to be met with.
From the city stretch the suburbs like long tentacles in every direction, on one side along the beach as far as St. Christoph, the winter palace of the emperor, and, in the opposite direction, as far as the charming Cove of Botafogo, while backwards they extend to the valleys leading to the Corcovado, to the suburbs of Larangeiras, Catumbý Grande, and in the direction of the Tejuca mountains, as far as Engenho Velho, and Andarahý. Elegant little villas, frequently built in the strangest and most bizarre style of architecture, alternate in these suburbs with ordinary dwelling-houses, all having most beautifully laid-out gardens. The merchant, the manufacturer, in fact every individual in easy circumstances, remain in the city only long enough to transact daily business. Each has his residence in the suburbs, where his family lives, to whose quiet circle he returns every evening. Among these suburbs, those of Caminho Novo and Catete, along the road leading to the charming cove of Botafogo, are more specially the diplomatic quarter, and the residence of the moneyed aristocracy of the capital.
Amid so much that calls for censure in Rio Janeiro, and of which the æsthetic perceptions of the visitor will apprize him in the course of a stroll in any part of the city, there are two improvements which deserve grateful acknowledgment. The first of these consists in the lighting of the city by gas (prepared from English coal), which had been introduced shortly before our arrival, and is now extended to the extreme outskirts of the suburbs; the second is the magnificent aqueduct, which provides every quarter of Rio with a lavish supply of excellent drinking-water. However ugly Rio may look in the daytime, the gas at night gives it a magnificent and splendid appearance, particularly from the harbour. When, the evening after our arrival, we gazed out upon the brilliantly-illuminated city that lay before us, we could not help thinking there must be some festive occasion for such a flood of light, ignorant as we then were of what we learned afterwards, that Rio is as fairy-looking by night as it appears gloomy by day.
Not less surprising, and forming a strong contrast with the deficiencies and requirements in other particulars, are the stately fountains that adorn the squares. Close by the corner of each street, gushes out through metal cocks, a stream of clear, fresh spring-water, which has been conveyed by the great aqueduct a distance of 10 or 12 English miles from the slopes of the neighbouring Carioca or Tejuca mountain-chains. The water supply has been in existence for 120 years, but the present immense reservoir and various improvements in it have been introduced by the Brazilian Government. With the exception of the Croton aqueduct, near New York, which supplies that city with 40,000,000 gallons daily, we do not remember to have seen in any part of the world a similar work of such magnitude.