VIEW OF RIO JANEIRO FROM THE SEA.
Its general shape is that of a triangle, and it is nearly a hundred miles in circumference. There is but a single entrance, and that a narrow one, so that a ship once inside is in water as smooth as that of a lake. It is set in mountains whose sides are thickly covered with foliage, and its surface is studded with islands, nearly a hundred in all. The name of the bay, "Rio de Janeiro," was given under the supposition that it was not a bay, but the mouth of a large river. There is no stream of consequence entering the ocean at this point, and the "River of January" exists only in the imagination.
Not wholly in the imagination, however, as it belongs to the city which is the capital of Brazil, and has a population of three hundred thousand; to the municipality containing the city, and having an area of five hundred and forty square miles; and to the province containing city and municipality, with an area of eighteen thousand square miles, and a population of a million and a quarter, of many races, colors, and kinds. In the bay, city, municipality, and province we have Rio de Janeiro four times over. Perhaps in some future day the empire will cease to be known as Brazil, and adopt the name of its capital.
The larger islands in the bay are occupied, and cultivated wherever possible; many of them are fortified, and several are surmounted by churches or chapels. The entrance to the bay is only two thousand feet wide, and defended by forts, one at the base of the Sugar Loaf and the other nearly opposite. Together they would make it very tropical for a hostile fleet, and just inside the entrance is another fort, which is intended to take care of anything that escapes the outer defences.
As the steamer came to her anchorage she was surrounded by a swarm of boats, which kept at a respectful distance until the arrival of the health officer, without whose authority there could be no communication between ship and shore. If the doctor and the youths had been unaware of their latitude the merchandise of the boats would have told them, without the aid of the hot sun in the sky overhead. There were monkeys and parrots in great abundance; an assortment of snakes and other creeping things; bananas, pineapples, and other tropical fruits; yams, sweet potatoes, mandioca root, and other "garden truck" of the country; tobacco and cigars in all conditions of badness; and other merchandise only to be designated by native names. The boatmen kept up an incessant talk, mingled with many gesticulations, and the half-hour spent in waiting for the health officer was by no means lost.
By and by that official came, the ship was pronounced "clean," and the passengers were free to land. From the anchorage the city does not present an imposing appearance, as it is only partially visible; portions of it are screened by the hills, which break its front and divide it into several quarters. In consequence of these hills it straggles over a considerable area, and is really made up of a series of suburbs; from the centre of the city to Botofago is a good three miles, and it is the same distance the other way to another suburb or district of equal importance. Like our Washington, it is a city of magnificent distances; in order to see it all at once you must climb the hills in the rear, and look at the metropolis nestling at your feet. Only till you do this can you realize its greatness.
FRONT VIEW OF THE CITY.