DON PEDRO II. EMPERADOR DEL BRASIL.

BRAZIL,
THE RIVER PLATE,
AND THE
FALKLAND ISLANDS;
WITH THE CAPE HORN ROUTE TO AUSTRALIA.

INCLUDING NOTICES OF
LISBON, MADEIRA, THE CANARIES, AND CAPE VERDS.

BY
WILLIAM HADFIELD,
MANY YEARS RESIDENT IN BRAZIL, AND SECRETARY TO THE SOUTH AMERICAN AND GENERAL
STEAM NAVIGATION COMPANY.

ILLUSTRATED, BY PERMISSION, FROM THE SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES OF
SIR W. GORE OUSELEY, K.C.B.,
LATE HER MAJESTY’S MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY TO THE STATES OF LA PLATA, AND FORMERLY
CHARGE D’AFFAIRES AT THE COURT OF BRAZIL.

AND, BY PERMISSION, FROM THE DRAWINGS OF
SIR CHARLES HOTHAM, K.C.B.,
DURING HIS RECENT
MISSION TO PARAGUAY,
OF WHICH COUNTRY MUCH NEW INFORMATION IS SUPPLIED; AS ALSO OF
THE REGION OF THE AMAZON.

PORTRAITS, MAPS, CHARTS, AND PLANS.

LONDON:
LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS.
1854.

LONDON:
JOHN CASSELL, PRINTER,
LUDGATE-HILL.

CONTENTS.

Transcriber’s Note: In the original printing, some of the illustrations were not listed in the table of contents. They have been added here.

EXPLANATORY PREFACE.

Steam Requirements of Anglo South American commerce anterior to 1850.—How supplied then.—Inadequacy of Means to the General End, and to Lancastrian Ends in particular.—Subsequent Supply.—Liverpool still left out.—Chartered Liberty to help itself, and the consequences thereof.—Paddle Pioneer of the Ocean Fleet to the Plate.—Dates and Distances in a new Line.—What may be done by putting on the Screw for Three Months.—Fifteen Thousand Miles of Steaming, with the Author’s Notes thereon, and Suggestions for the same being continued by other people.—Epilogue apologetic.

Until 1850, the Eastern coast of South America, including the extensive and flourishing empire of Brazil, and the boundless regions watered by the La Plata and its tributaries, were entirely without European steam navigation. The old process of sailing-ships, and a monthly sailing-packet from Falmouth, conveying mails, were the only medium of communication. In that year, the Royal Mail Company entered upon the service they had undertaken with government, to run a monthly steamer from Southampton to Rio Janeiro, and a branch steamer to the River Plate. The vessels placed on the station were drafted from their West India fleet; and, although not possessed of extraordinary steaming or sailing qualities, they performed the voyage with regularity, and in a space of time which reduced to one half that ordinarily occupied by the sailing-craft. The consequence was an augmentation of traffic, both of goods and passengers, such as few persons contemplated, and the line proved speedily unequal to the task of dealing with either to the extent required. Moreover, it was found that one very important feature in the case, a direct traffic with the River Plate, was quite unprovided for, and no provision whatever made by which goods and merchandize could be forwarded thither, the branch steamer from Rio Janeiro only taking passengers. But, even had mercantile necessities in this direction been supplied, there was a strong feeling that Liverpool, as the emporium of British trade with South America, ought to possess a steam-line of its own, and that goods and passengers should not be compelled to find their way to Southampton. The great manufacturing districts which have Liverpool for their seaport supply at least seven-eighths of the entire trade to South America,[1] and it seemed an anomaly that no direct steam communication should exist between them. Accordingly, in 1851, parties connected with the district, having organized a company, went before the Board of Trade for a royal charter, alleging, as a reason for such concession, the importance of our interests in the quarter named, the necessity of more frequent intercourse since steam had been established, and that once a month was not sufficient for wants so extensive and pressing. These arguments, backed, as they were, by memorials from Liverpool, Manchester, and other places, had weight with Her Majesty’s Government, and a charter of incorporation was obtained. The directors immediately proceeded to contract for the building of suitable steamers; but delay, caused by unusual pressure of work, somewhat retarded intended operations.[2]

On the 27th of August, 1853, the company’s first, or pioneer, steamer intended for the River Plate station, sailed from Liverpool, and was followed on the 24th of September by the ocean steamer, Brazileira, Captain Daniel Green, who had long commanded clipper vessels in the Brazil trade. As secretary to the company, and possessing a local knowledge of Brazil, it was thought desirable that the author should proceed in the Argentina, for the purpose of seeing that proper arrangements were made at the ports of call for their vessels, and to obtain from foreign governments the facilities and assistance requisite to carry on a steam company of this magnitude with any success. The voyage was accomplished in a little more than three months, the writer having returned to Liverpool, by the Brazileira, on the 5th of November, during which time he had gone over nearly 15,000 miles of distance (including a trip up the Parana), spent a fortnight at Rio Janeiro, and three weeks in the River Plate, besides calling at all the stations both ways, namely, outwards—Lisbon, Madeira, St. Vincent, Pernambuco, and Bahia; and, homewards—Bahia, Pernambuco, St. Vincent, and Lisbon, which latter is to be the track of the regular ocean line, subject to modifications, &c.

Thus, it will be seen, from this brief recapitulation of dates and distances, that in the space of two months a merchant can visit his Brazil establishment, and another, under three months, can look after his River Plate affairs, often saving himself much anxiety and loss of time. The manufacturer can, without great trouble, make himself practically acquainted with the markets he wishes to trade to; the botanist and naturalist can quickly be transported to the virgin ground of Paraguay, or, now that the Brazilian government have placed contract steamers on the greatest of all great rivers, may ascend the Amazon, with like certainty of reward as novel and varied, and depend on a prompt return of his newly acquired specimens. Whilst, which is equally important, the natives of those countries have an opportunity of visiting Europe, and forming, by personal contact, those relations of amity and good will which tend so much to soften prejudices, and bring about a right understanding on all points mutually advantageous. Hence the ramifications of such enterprises as steam are most interesting in their results to mankind; and, if once the tide of emigration begins to set in fairly towards that immense agricultural field watered by the rivers of South America, there is no foreseeing the extension of wealth and prosperity that must assuredly follow; for population is the sole requirement to fit these limitless and teeming regions to work out the destiny which it is impossible to doubt that Providence, in the fulness of time, has designed for that portion of the earth, where the majesty and the luxuriance of nature invite the presence of man through highways at once the mightiest and most facile in the world.

A desire to place these objects forcibly before the public is the origin of this work. Though conscious of its imperfections and short-comings, the writer would guard against the imputation of impertinence in offering it as the result merely of the experience derived from the rapid run out and home indicated in the remarks just preceding. He is no book-maker; though he ventures to hope that his book will, in some degree, fill a vacuum left by certain recent accomplished professors of that branch of the fine arts in this department of travellers’ information for the untravelled public. The several topics discussed in the ensuing pages have been the subject-matter of his earnest consideration for many years. Long resident in South America, and familiar with its commercial necessities, his attention had naturally been directed to all the mercantile points embraced in the old circle of communication with Europe; while the circumstances of his position, in connection with a new enterprise, enabled him to contemplate matters in a somewhat novel light; and he was peculiarly fortunate in deriving his knowledge of the recent interesting diplomatic and commercial incidents in the Upper Parana and the Paraguay on the spot, and from the most competent sources. Assiduously availing of these and all others of a like kind whenever they presented themselves,—which was not unfrequently—he has, wherever practicable, rendered the expression of his own remarks subordinate to the main design of bringing together whatever data should serve to make his volume useful as an exposition, at one view, of the present condition, primarily, of the East Coast and the Amazon and Platine interior, and, incidentally, of South America generally—an object embraced in no other single publication of this class. He is well aware that a complete embodiment of such a design would tax powers far higher and opportunities more varied than his. But he will be content, if, in succeeding a little, he should be the means of stimulating others to achieve a great deal more in a like direction.

Though necessarily containing little that is new, the resumé of discoveries, prefixed to the opening chapter, is offered as likely to be serviceable in recalling to the elder reader some of the more salient facts he already knows, but which are necessary to be repeated: and in suggesting to the younger student of South American history,—than which it is hardly possible to name any more exciting, delightful, or instructive,—those sources that will render him easily cognizant of what has been written on the several branches of the subject up to the present date. A similar justification, it is hoped, will serve for the seeming surplusage of the remarks under the head of Lisbon, Madeira, and the Verds; though it will be found that the chapters devoted to those well-known places contain a good deal of fresh information calculated to be acceptable too all calling at the several ports.

Often observing the inconvenience experienced by South Americans coming to England, and by Englishmen proceeding to South America, from unacquaintance with the names and residences of the respective diplomatic and consular agents in both countries, the author has been at some pains to collect the necessary information on this head; and, as regards the antecedents of the English officials, has relied upon that very useful manual, the ‘Foreign Office List for 1854,’ by Mr. F. W. H. Cavendish, Précis Writer to the Earl of Clarendon. The large map of South America has been expressly prepared for this volume, chiefly with a view to exhibit the river navigation affected by the late treaties, and will be found, I have every reason to believe, much the most correct that has yet been published of the whole continent; for, generally speaking, maps of South America, or of any portion of it, are ludicrously inaccurate. The map of the growingly important settlement of the Falkland Islands has likewise been adapted from the most recent surveys, and is calculated to prove of benefit to captains making the homeward Australian voyage by Cape Horn.

Claughton, Birkenhead,
March 30, 1854.

INTRODUCTION.

Cursory Retrospect of South American Discoveries.—Their difficulties then, how to be estimated at present.—Their interest to this age as compared with ancient conquests.—Cruelties of the early invaders.—Retributive visitations.—Columbus and his cotemporaries.—Cortez and the conquest of Mexico.—Subsequent position of the country.—Santa Anna, his antecedents and prospects.—Pizarro in Peru, and his Lieutenant, Almagro, in Chili.—Condition of those Republics since and now: their past gold and present guano.—Modern commanders in those countries.—Predominance of the Irish element in the fray.—The O’Learys and O’Higginses in the Andes.—San Martin and his aid-de-camp, O’Brien, and his auxiliary, M’Cabe.—The Portuguese discoverers.—Magellan and his Straits, and Peacock’s steaming to the Pacific three hundred years afterwards.—Cabra, and Brazil.—De Gama and the Cape, and Camoens’ celebration of the achievement.—Enrichment of the Iberian Peninsula from these causes—Subsequent impoverishment of mother countries and colonies.—Exceptional position of Brazil in this respect, and reason thereof.—Different results in North America, and why.—Imperfect knowledge in Europe of South America.—Works thereon.—Characteristics of the several authorities: Prescott, Southey, Koster, Gardner, Humboldt, Dr. Dundas, Woodbine Parish, M’Cann, Edwards, Maury, and others.—Want of information still on Paraguay and the region of the Amazon.—Object of this Volume to supply that void.—Aim of the Author not Political, but Commercial.

Nearly four centuries have rolled past since the great discoveries of Columbus and his followers led to the establishment of Spanish and Portuguese dominion over the vast continent of South America, and were succeeded somewhat later by the still more important settlement of the Anglo-Saxon race on the northern portion of the New World.[3] These events, marvellous in themselves and in their accessories, and momentous from the way in which they have affected the destinies of the human race, present a study singularly and enduringly interesting, differing so strongly as they do from the characteristics of ancient history. The latter are necessarily contemplated by the reader as types and symbols of the past, on which he has only the privilege of reflecting; whilst in the former case, in perusing the story of these comparatively modern discoveries of hitherto unknown continents, he feels himself almost a sharer in the adventures of those extraordinary men by whose deeds his own present destiny is so essentially influenced. He cannot desire to be a Lycurgus or a Phocion, a Cæsar or a Cato; but it is no tax on the imagination, no repulse to the feeling, to picture himself a Columbus in embryo, and his soul and being is wrapt up in the narrative of that great voyager. The English are proverbially a nautical people, nursed and cradled in the lap of that ocean with whose element their earliest sympathies are enlisted and identified. In these days it is a light matter indeed, with the facilities of progression abounding on all sides, and the great ministrant of celerity, steam, at our command in every form, to ramble from one extremity of the earth to the other; but the slightest retrospection suffices to demonstrate how very different a state of things prevailed at the close of the fifteenth century. The mere existence of a western continent was a phantasy of dream-land, when the mysteries of that mighty waste of waters which separated the then known world from all beyond, was shrouded in obscurity as unfathomable as its deepest depths; when only frail barks and mariners who dreaded to lose sight of the land could be found to attempt the seemingly-desperate fate of exploring an unknown sea in search of what at best existed but in the imagination of those who were regarded as visionaries, and whose presumptuous rashness the very winds themselves seemed to rebuke by blowing with unprecedented constancy in the one direction, as if to proclaim the impossibility of return.[4] Taking these circumstances into our consideration, a most thrilling interest is attached to this recital that will endure to the latest posterity; and school-boys for generations to come will ponder over the amazing achievements of these wondrous knights-errant of the main with the same eager curiosity as the grown men of to-day.

On the other hand, it must be as readily conceded that there is something painfully oppressive in the records of ancient history, with its never-ending conflict between nations for the aggrandisement of a few ambitious monarchs or republican leaders, in which the destruction of cities, towns, and countries, as well as of the lives of their inhabitants, is the theme perpetually dwelt upon, as if the annihilation of his kind were the only achievement entitling man to the admiration of humanity. War in all its horrors, and the military extirpation of our species, is the delight of the classic chroniclers, whether in poetry or prose; and its accompaniments of battles, sieges, pillage, murder, and atrocities such as nature revolts at, are depicted with a species of barbaric satisfaction, calculated (as it no doubt often did) to evoke the vengeance of the Deity against enormities perpetrated in the mere wantonness of licentious ferocity, and too frequently lacking the miserable palliative of provocation. Infinitely is it to be deplored that this sanguinary animus was carried, in a large degree, by the Spaniards and Portuguese, but probably still more by the Dutch (with whom, however, we are not now concerned), into their conquests in the New World; but it brought with it its own retributive punishment; and finally, under Providence, became the most potent instrument that caused war to be looked upon as an enormous evil, and a curse upon any country unrighteously practising it.

To the discovery of the New World we may fairly trace the benign effects of that wholesome correction of a most pernicious estimate of human merit. This, gradually softening the minds of men, instilled the principle of commercial intercourse amongst nations; demonstrating how much more conducive to true greatness and human happiness is the cultivation of amicable relations than even the most successful aggression and devastation, and the acquisition of wealth by iniquitous appliances.

It was in the year 1492 that Columbus landed on one of the West India islands. (See ante, page 8.) Subsequently, what is now termed the Spanish Main was crossed in rapid succession by various Peninsular adventurers, one and all of whom were distinguished by bravery the most exalted and selfishness the most abased, each attribute being inflamed by a fanaticism that sought to honour God and appease His anger towards their iniquities, by incredible offences in the name of religion against the unoffending aborigines. Preëminent, perhaps, among these bold bad captains, on the score of political prescience, military skill, and administrative civil ability, as well as from the magnitude of his acquisitions, was Hernan Cortez, who, in 1521, conquered the table land of Mexico, its coasts being discovered some three years before.[5] The immensity and enormity of his massacres, and the perfidy that distinguished them—the ingenuity of his multitudinous outrages upon the Emperor Montezuma and scores of thousands of his subjects—have rendered his name indelibly detestable, though there were many traits of true heroism about him, beyond what their biographers have been able to preserve of his invading cotemporary destroyers on the same scene. As was the case, too, with so many of them, his fruit in the end proved but bitterness and ashes; for though the vast enrichment of the revenues of Spain, through his means, extorted from an ungrateful sovereign a marquisate, and the grant of a portion of the territories he had conquered, he died at home, the object of courtly suspicion and distrust; stung to death by mortification, that all his achievements had been productive of coldness and neglect; where he had most expected to meet with eulogium and honour, he found, like Columbus, (says the eloquent historian of his conquests) that it was possible to deserve too greatly.[6]

Passing next to him before whose golden sun the star of Cortez waned, we find that the ruthless valour and iron perseverance of Pizarro subjugated Peru[7] in 1531; while one of his followers, who most resembled him in the cruelty of his life, as he did in the untimeliness of his death (caused by a quarrel with his old master about the spoil), after the seeming consummation of his ambition—Diego Almagro—having committed horrors till then almost unheard of, over-ran Chili[8] in 1535. He exterminated the family of Atahualpa, the last of the Incas, in a mode which only the most hardened familiars of the Inquisition, in the mother country, could read of without emotion; and to this day the records of such revolting transactions constitute probably the foulest blot on the Columbian escutcheon of the country of Du Guesclin and the Cid. But the sins of these men may be said to have been avenged by heaven in the noon of their iniquities. Pizarro, having defeated Almagro at Cuzco, and put many of his officers to death, in cold blood, had his old comrade strangled and then beheaded in Lima, where the despot himself was assassinated by young Almagro, who, in his turn, being defeated in battle, also at Cuzco, by Vaca de Castro, was likewise put to death by decapitation.

Passing next to the Portuguese discoveries, that of Brazil was effected by Alvarez de Cabral, he having landed, by accident, through stress of weather, at Porto Seguro, on the 24th of April, 1500, calling the country Santa Cruz (Holy Cross) in gratitude for his delivery from shipwreck; but the appellation was afterwards altered to that which it at present bears, signifying redwood, the well-known substance familiar to us as Brazil wood; yet it was the subsequent exploration of this coast, some four years afterwards, that enabled Amerigo Vespucci to eternise his own name as the accepted discoverer of the continent itself.

Another instance of the vagaries and mutations of geographical nomenclature, in this region of the world, occurs in connection with the great achievement that next solicits our notice, viz., the doubling of the Cape, and consequent opening-up of an oceanic highway to India. This was second in importance only to the discovery of the New World itself, and, indeed, well nigh placed Portugal on a par with Spain in honorary maritime status. Vasco de Gama, whose exploits inspired the muse of Camoens in the Lusiad,[10] which noble poem is in a great measure only a rythmetical narrative of the perils of the navigator, ‘made the Cape’ November 20th, 1497; and, with the expressiveness of all the earlier mariners, named it the ‘Cape of Tempests,’[11] and it was afterwards known as the ‘Lion of the Sea,’ and the ‘Head of Africa.’ These designations were different indeed to that it has long rejoiced in—the ‘Cape of Good Hope’—so called by John the Second of Portugal, who drew a favourable augury of future discoveries thence, because of his adventurous subject, Diaz, having reached the extremity of Africa, at that point, though in doing so, he perished there in 1500, having divided with Gama the honour of being its original discoverer, and supposed by some to have preceded him by nearly ten years. Previous, however, to this latter occurrence, even if we accept the earliest date claimed for Diaz, mankind was amazed by reports of the circumnavigation of the globe—a feat, which, like those already named, has been a fruitful source of controversy as to the just recipient of the meed of priority. Sebastian de Elcano is, perhaps, the most generally accepted by foreign writers. Goralva and Alvalradi, both Spaniards, performed the task—astounding, indeed, when we think of the fragile craft employed, and the unknown courses ventured upon—in one and the same year, 1537, without concert with each other. Mendana, another Spaniard, repeated it in 1567—preceding our own immortal sovereign of the seas, Drake, by ten years. But long anterior to all these, was the Portuguese Magellan, who, in 1519, being in the service of Spain, determined the sphericity of the earth by keeping a westerly course through the straits bearing his name, across the Pacific, and returning to the spot he set out from, or rather the ship did, for he was killed at the Philippines, on his passage back, the whole voyage occupying three years and twenty-nine days.[12] These, and a series of marvels, only subordinate in wonder because inferior in importance, kept the western world in unflagging excitement for a long succession of years, during which Europe tingled with the tidings of vast countries being discovered, assailed, and captured, by mere handfuls of obscure fortune-hunters, and yielding up such exhaustless treasures as rendered the Spanish and Portuguese peninsula, for a prolonged season, the richest kingdoms in the world—the veritable ‘envy and admiration of surrounding nations.’ To all this we may add that momentum given to commerce and navigation which has gone rolling on, until fleets of all nations cover the seas; and, so far as we are aware at present, not an island now unknown, of any importance, remains to reward the search of him[13] who has been last commissioned to find one if he can, even in the comparatively little frequented Polynesian group, for the penal purposes of England.

I will not dwell on the different results that have attended different courses of action with reference to the conquered territories of North and South America; nor attempt to trace the decline of one power at the expense of another. Spain and Portugal, unfortunately for themselves, dealt with their gifts on purely selfish principles; and the consequence of such a system was, not only the loss of the greater part of their colonies, but an almost total estrangement between the parent and child, never afterwards thoroughly healed. We attempted the same game in North America, and the giant-like progress of the United States has followed; only that, wiser in our generation, more forgiving, and actuated by true commercial principles, we have cultivated, to the utmost extent, relations of amity and good-will with the new power, and both countries are largely gainers thereby, and will continue to be so while the same feelings of mutual concession and respect actuate both.

Whilst, therefore, North America has made such astonishing progress, and completely outstrips the Old World in rapidity of thought and execution, carrying her commerce and people to the limits of the habitable globe, the states to the southward have had many severe ordeals to go through—arising, in the first place, from the cause just mentioned, viz., that the mother countries considered their colonies as mere appanages, and prevented communication, in some cases even intercourse, with other nations. Secondly, from the disseverment of the link which united them to Europe, having an entirely new phase to pass through, new forms of government to establish, and fresh relations to cultivate; whilst another immediate effect of the revolution was to drive away most of the wealthy inhabitants who, being Spanish and Portuguese citizens, were not a little vain of their superiority in that respect to their colonial-born brethren. This fruitful source of dissent and violence in nearly all the disturbances by which the several states were torn is by no means wholly obliterated to this day, any more than in some of the transmarine possessions of Great Britain, in either hemisphere. Then came intestine divisions among the American-born colonists themselves, raging between the upstart leaders of mushroom parties, whose very names it taxed the memory of men at the time to remember; and, as a matter of course, there followed all the thousand drawbacks resulting from a state of anarchic confusion. Hence, as is obvious must have been the case under such circumstances, material progress has been slow, and political progress for a long time almost imperceptible, if not frequently retrogressive, if one may use a phrase so seemingly contradictory. Moreover, until of late years very little was known of the internal resources of South America, with the exception of the Brazils—a country to which a variety of circumstances conspired to impart an impetus along the groove of civilization and consequent advancement. Paramount amongst those aids was undoubtedly the establishment there, in 1806, of the old Portuguese monarchy, consequent upon the European troubles of the house of Braganza. The inappreciable advantage of this regular form of government, arising out of local monarchic institutions, that country has retained, though under a new sovereign and with a liberalized system of administration, ever since, with every guarantee for continuously rapid but enduring improvement. Still, even Brazil was, to Europeans, comparatively speaking, an unknown region, to which, in incongruous confusion, attached associations of the soft and the savage, of barbarism and luxury, of the majestic and the feeble, in the minds of all nearly whose reading about her was not corrected by personal familiarity with the country itself. But ignorance so arising is being happily fast dissipated; and it shall not be the author’s fault if its departure be not further expedited on some points to which it still adheres.

Both the Spaniards and Portuguese possess works of rare merit, far exceeding in magnitude and minuteness any we can boast of, illustrating the achievements of their early navigators, and the rise and progress of their former colonial possessions. But few of these works have been rendered familiar to the British public, and are very imperfectly known, even to those writers who profess to treat of the same or similar subjects. Of course we except Prescott, the appreciation of whose invaluable volumes on the Conquest of Peru, the Conquest of Mexico, and the History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, is testified by the exhaustion of six large and expensive editions, and one cheaper edition, in this country, besides the incorporation of the fruits of his extraordinary research in a thousand publications that have since been issued on either side of the Atlantic. Previously, however, to Prescott, and in nearly as large a degree, in respect to the territory described, were we indebted to Southey, for his History of Brazil;[14] to Koster for valuable details of his travels in the northern provinces of the same empire; and to Gardner, for a most elaborate research into its botanical treasures, as also a graphic description of the interior of the empire, which he traversed from north to south.[15] The hygiene of the same region has been thoroughly investigated, and its rationale expounded with consummate ability and simplicity of style, by my learned and accomplished fellow-townsman, Dr. Dundas, than whom no man was more competent for the task; and I rejoice to see that, though the subject is necessarily of a very circumscribed range, comparatively speaking, and one not very likely to command public attention, its treatment was so masterly, that nearly all the professional journals in the kingdom received it as an important contribution to medical literature.[16] Its perusal, however, may be also recommended to the general reader as containing notices of Brazilian life and manners and scenery nowhere else to be met with, and which the peculiar facilities enjoyed by the author enabled him to describe with a life-like minuteness whose truthfulness at once stamps its accuracy both on the stranger at a distance and on the most experienced Brazilian resident or native. In speaking thus, I am merely echoing well-recognized facts; my opinion, which would of course be utterly valueless in a medical sense, being in no degree warped by the personal obligation Dr. Dundas has placed me under from the circumstance of his having kindly consented to enrich this volume with a special chapter on a theme analogous to that which his ‘Sketches’ are devoted to.

It is, however, the now patriarchal, or, as he calls himself, ‘Antediluvian’ Humboldt, who has showered upon European understanding the light of scientific knowledge concerning the vast South American continent, and his inimitable descriptions of the country and its natural resources have scarcely been appreciated amongst us as they deserve. It is only when confronted with the great fact, so long regarded as the sentimental aspiration of utopiaists, that South America is actually becoming an additional field for our industry and enterprise—when its magnificent fluvial highways are about being traversed by an endless succession of steamers, and its plains by railways—that we really discover how infinitesimal is our knowledge of those resources or capabilities to whose development these means can alone effectually conduce. As a medium of forming an estimate of the material position, as well as of the natural features of the countries described by him, Humboldt cannot be too highly commended, as the author, of all others, whose flowing narrative, profundity of reflection, and copiousness of illustration—commensurate with the greatness of the subject itself—will amply repay all ordinary curiosity; apart from that superabounding erudition and scientific affluence which pervade the whole works of the great living father of historical philosophers, though singularly freed, like the treatises of our own Herschel, from technicalities that repel the uninitiated. As relates to the Rio Plata and its immense tributaries, we have had, in the course of the preceding year, Sir W. Parish’s elaborate and excellent volume,[17] whose only, though it is undoubtedly a great drawback, is, that having been written obviously from inspiration of Rosas, and through the sources that personage opened to him for the purpose at Buenos Ayres, events are recorded in a light entirely in conformity with the views of the Dictator, whose whole past policy is upheld, and his intended plans prospectively eulogised in a manner to which subsequent events, and the judgment pronounced upon them, furnish a significant commentary. In harmony with Rosas’s principle of representing Buenos Ayres as virtually constituting the whole Argentine Confederation, and himself as the exponent of public opinion and the embodiment of actual power therein, Sir Woodbine almost altogether ignores the existence of Monte Video, and scarcely alludes to such a state as the Banda Oriental. Hence, as regards the latter province and its capital, and all pertaining to them, Sir Woodbine’s book is a blank, or something worse—a deficiency which it is one of the objects of the present volume, in some degree, to supply. Of the condition of some of the interior provinces, likewise, Sir Woodbine, being obliged to take his information, not only at second hand, but through a channel in which every thing was conductive to the one end, that of exalting Rosas, or depreciating his opponents, gives us particulars not merely inaccurate, but leading to conclusions the very reverse of what a true state of the case would warrant. On this head, especially as regards by far the most important of all the interior states—Paraguay—it is hoped that the present volume will be found to contain much new and reliable information. For this, the writer is mainly indebted to notes of observations made on the route to, and during a residence in, Assumption, by parties personally cognizant of the late most successful and important mission sent out by Lord Malmesbury, whose prescience, in foreseeing the right moment—and in selecting the right agent, Sir C. Hotham, for urging negociations towards that object—the author had the satisfaction of hearing emphatically panegyrized in all commercial circles—whether native, British, or foreign—in the course of his late visit to South America.

Lastly, Mr. M’Cann,[18] whose previous work on the Plate had evinced great knowledge of the subject, has recorded his later experience of some of the Riverine provinces in a very agreeable and instructive work, partly formed on the model of Sir F. Bond Head’s fascinating Rough Rides on the Pampas, and embracing a review of mercantile matters and prospects in those countries. Written with that knowledge of trade which only a mercantile man can be expected to possess, its spirit is so dispassionate as to be quite unique in a critic, on topics which would seem to impart their partizan atmosphere to all who endeavour to detail their position to those at a distance. Neither must I, by any means, omit to mention the labours of another of my townsmen, Mr. Thomas Baines, who, with that mastery of detail and facility of statistic exposition which seem to be an heir-loom in the family of the late estimable member for Leeds, placed in a very lucid light, some years ago, a subject to which it was difficult at the time to draw general attention, and a popular elucidation of which could only be expected from a pen so qualified.

But of all portions of South America, there is one perhaps concerning which our knowledge is most imperfect, and with which it is most essential that it should be extended, because of the rapid extension of both native and European enterprise in that quarter. We especially allude to that district of the vast region watered by the Amazon of which Pará (city) may be considered the entrepot. Fortunately, two very admirable volumes have recently been directed to supplying our deficiency on this head.[19] The obligations due to these sources will be found amply acknowledged in the chapter devoted to a consideration of the subject. Our own text is enriched with matter drawn from original authorities, long resident on the spot, and in every way calculated to supply trustworthy intelligence. From these the reader will draw his own deductions, as our informants, not encumbering their data with disquisition, have left their facts to speak for themselves.

Notwithstanding the number of publications enumerated as being lately issued upon South America, and not taking into account others published in the United States, still there is a field of immense extent, as yet comparatively unexplored and hidden, which requires to be opened up to view, in order to enable us to form a sufficiently accurate judgment of the character and capabilities of such countries as Brazil and the republics bordering on the river Plate and its affluents. The main design, therefore, towards this end on the part of the writer in revisiting the scenes of his early youth, is to endeavour to present some fresh sources of information; partly derived from his own actual observation, and partly from the experience of others, who, possessing the best opportunities, have converted them to the best use in furtherance of the purpose now sought to be attained—viz., the elimination of what shall serve for a compact but comprehensive precis of the general condition of the countries named in the title page, and particularly their commercial status and prospective indications of a mercantile complexion. To refresh the memory on such analogous subjects as may prove interesting in connection with these matters, there is appended what it is hoped will prove a mass of desirable information, in the shape of a collection of notes, bringing down incidents to the latest practicable period antecedent to publication. In order to interfere as little as possible with the current of the narrative, in which it has been deemed expedient to convey the accompanying observations, the writer intends offering his memoranda in the shape of a record of his voyage, taking in all points touched upon as they naturally arose in connection with it; and incidentally referring to those authors who have exhibited the greatest acquaintance with the topics embraced.

CHAPTER I.
OUTWARD BOUND.—LIVERPOOL TO LISBON.

The Argentina on her maiden voyage.—Capacity and capability of the river boat at sea.—From the Mersey to the Tagus in four days.—Lisbon and its Laureats, Vathek and Childe Harold.—Lord Carnarvon on Mafra and its marble halls.—Monasticism and Monarchy.—Aspect and Attributes of the Lusitanian Capital and its Vicinage.—Portuguese Millers and the Grinding process among the Grain Growers.—A ‘bold peasantry, their country’s pride,’ the same everywhere.—Native memorabilia of the earthquake, and Anglo reminiscence thereof.—Anatomical offerings extraordinary.—The hic jacet of Tom Jones, and eke of Roderick Random.—Memento Mori, with admonitions to the Living.—Portuguese peculiarities.—Personal and political economy.—Fiscal fatuities.—Market-place notabilia.—Lisbon society.—Clubs and Cookery.—Tea and Turn-out.—Friars, Females, Fashions, and so forth, Operatic and Terpsichoratic.—Lusitanian fidalgos, or Portuguese Peers in Parliament.—Portugal the Paradise of Protectionists and Poverty.—Free-trade the only corrective of such calamities.—Court Circulars, Conventions, and Commanders.—Few books about Portugal, and necessity for more.—Hints from the newest, including the Oliveira Prize Essay.—A man’s house something like a castle in Lisbon, at the cost of a cottage ornée.—Diplomatic and Consular Memoranda.

ARGENTINA—OUTWARD BOUND.

On, on the vessel flies, the land is gone,

And winds are rude in Biscay’s sleepless bay.

Three days are sped, but with the fourth, anon,

New shores descried make every bosom gay;

And Cintra’s mountain greets them on their way,

And Tagus, dashing onward to the deep,

His fabled golden tribute bent to pay;

And soon on board the Lusian pilots leap,

And steer ’twixt fertile shores where yet few rustics reap.

Childe Harold.

Innumerable as are the craft of every calibre and formation,—sail, steam, and screw,[20]—by which this favourite and familiar route is traversed, seldom had the voyager seen in its course a vessel of dimensions similar to those of the Argentina, paddle-wheel, in which I had embarked, constructed at Birkenhead by Mr. John Laird, to run between Monte Video and Buenos Ayres. She is, (or rather was, for alack, she is now a thing of the past,) 185 feet long by 21 feet beam, and with very fine, hollow lines; her engines of 120-horse power, by Fawcett, Preston, and Co. Intended for river work, and of a light draught of water, it was hardly to be expected that in ocean steaming, when compelled to carry coals, provisions, and all the bulky and ponderous requirements of a long voyage, the same results could be obtained as in the comparatively tranquil waters of inland navigation; but under all the disadvantages of being so laden, and having to make way against a strong head-wind and heavy sea, our average speed to Cape Finisterre was nearly 12 knots. Subsequently, we had a more favourable wind, and canvas assisted us a little, until we made the Berlings, (bold islets standing out some half-dozen miles from the land, with a light-house upon them,) getting to our moorings in the Tagus, before dark, on the evening of the fourth day after quitting the Mersey.

It is impossible to conceive an easier navigation than that to Lisbon; when once across the Bay of Biscay and round Cape Finisterre, you make direct for the Berlings, and other high rocks more to seaward, called the ‘Estellas’ and ‘Farilhoes de Velha.’ There is plenty of spare room for any vessel to pass inside the Berlings, thus saving some distance; and from Cape Corvoeiro the coast tends inwards to the mouth of the Tagus,[21] presenting a succession of scenery, so novel and attractive, as at once to satisfy the spectator that the poetry of Byron and the poetic prose of Beckford,[22] have failed to exaggerate its beauties. Conspicuous among the latter, though it is the handiwork of man availing himself of nature in her picturesquest mood, stands out the height-crowning, marble-built Mafra, termed the Escurial of Portugal, from its immensity, magnificence, and the diversity of its contents, consisting of a palace, a convent, and most superb church, whose six organs were pronounced by Byron to be the most beautiful he ever beheld in point of decoration, and was told that their tones corresponded to their splendour. The town of Mafra itself is a small place, 18 miles N.W. of Lisbon, containing about 3,000 inhabitants, and owes what importance it possesses to the celebrated regal and ecclesiastical edifice, constructed in its vicinity by John V., in pursuance of a vow that he would select the poorest locality in the kingdom; and, finding twelve Franciscan friars living in one hut here, he gave the preference to Mafra—a partiality which its position, if not its preëminent poverty, abundantly justifies.[23]

BELEM CASTLE, LISBON.

A cluster of shoals, called the bar, forms a semicircle at the mouth of the Tagus, but is seldom an obstacle to vessels entering, for there is generally abundance of water on it to float even the largest vessels, the least depth in the north channel, at low water, being 4 fathoms, and in the south, 6. The only time that any difficulty is encountered, is when the freshes, after heavy rains up the country, add their strength to that of the ebbing tide, which then runs out at the rate of seven or eight miles an hour, and encounters a gale from seaward, for this causes the water to break right across, and vessels must await the turn of the tide to get in; but in other respects the approach appears very easy, scarcely any captain who has been there before requiring the services of a pilot. After the intricacies and dangers of our own (the St. George’s) Channel navigation, with the miles of sandbank that have to be threaded in approaching Liverpool, such an entrance as that to Lisbon calls but for small skill indeed in seamanship; and almost the veriest tyro in boxing the compass might enact the part of Palinurus.

Passing up the Tagus there are numerous forts, palaces, and other imposing buildings, or at least what appeared to be such in the dim twilight that prevailed during our advance towards the Lusitanian capital. The most commanding object (whereof presently) among these is Belem Castle, near which we were visited by the health officers, and allowed to proceed to our moorings off Lisbon, or rather to those of the Royal Mail Company, which had been kindly lent until such time as our own are laid down. The rule at the Custom-house, in respect to vessels, is for the masters to enter them and declare whether their cargoes are destined to be landed in Lisbon or not; if this be doubtful, which was not our case, they ask to be put in franquia, that is, for leave to remain eight days in port until the point is decided. On obtaining this they proceed a little way up the river for the appointed period. From Belem to that part of the river which is opposite to the centre of the city, a distance of about four miles, the Tagus is some one and a half wide, and displays on its northern bank, mingled with the dark foliage of the orange and other trees, successive clusters of dwellings and churches, including the palaces of the Ajúda and of Necessidades, in which latter the court is generally held, and from it mostly are dated the royal decrees.

With but few exceptions, these buildings are white, which gives the city, at first sight, a much cleaner appearance than is presented on a nearer view. On the south side, which is hilly, but few buildings, unless we include a small fishing village near the mouth of the river, are visible, until the small town of Almada, opposite to the city, is reached, containing 4,000 inhabitants, and in whose vicinity is the gold mine of Adissa, which has been worked now for some years. A peculiar characteristic of the neighbourhood of Lisbon are the little mills with sails, gyrating away on every eminence, sometimes half a dozen within a few yards of each other, and they whisk round so merrily, as to be quite a pleasant feature in the landscape. It might be the land, par excellence, of Jolly Millers; for the floury sons of the Tagus seem to belong to the same race as their jovial brothers of the Dee, whose philosophic indifference to the opinion of the world has been made alike musical and memorable by Mr. Braham. That the Portuguese should be sprightly, however, is extremely surprising, seeing that they are ground into dust, almost as literally as their own grain, or at least, the growers thereof; for one who knows them well, writing during a visit as late as last year, (1853), says:—

They are a people much resembling in heartiness and good will our own Irish brethren: they are also most apt to learn, and, like the much calumniated sons of Erin, can work, and will work when they are properly encouraged and remunerated. They toil under a burning sun, half-naked and bare-headed, or in the winter under drenching rains and piercing cold, with naught else to protect them from the weather than a straw thatch, or cloak; and without other aliment at times than a lump of Indian-maize bread, and a mess of humble pottage, or, at others, the same bread, and a raw onion, with water from the brook as their only drink. Couve gallego (cow cabbage,) from their own little garden, a spoonful of oil from their own olive-tree, a handful of salt gathered from the rocks on the sea-shore, with crumbled Indian-corn bread, baked in their own oven, (which, as is still the case in Canada, is built outside every tenement,) form a stir-about, on which the labourer contentedly makes his principal or even-tide meal, after the toils of the day are over. Occasionally, he may indulge in a morsel of bacalhao (salt cod-fish), or a rancid sardine: but where the family is numerous, from year’s end to year’s end, they know not the taste of animal food.

There are but few wharves alongside of which vessels can take in and discharge their cargoes, so they lie at anchor in the stream, and those operations are performed by means of lighters. There are, nevertheless, some handsome quays, with convenient landing-places, of which those at the fish-market and the Caes Sodré are the most frequented; at the former, the scene being highly animated, particularly in the season for sardinhas, or sardines, which constitute a considerable proportion of the food of the lower orders. The handsomest quay is that which forms one side of Blackhorse Square (Terreiro do Paço), so called from the statue of Joseph the First on horseback in the centre; the other sides consisting of public buildings, viz.: the Public Library, the Offices of the Ministers of State, the Custom-house, and, at the eastern extremity, the Exchange, being chiefly of marble, as, indeed, nearly all the principal edifices are. It makes a splendid promenade, where crowds of well-dressed persons may be seen, on the sultry summer evenings, walking, or seated on the stone benches, enjoying the cool air from the river, until a late hour. From this square, five parallel and level streets, in which are the best shops, lead to the Roçio—a large, open space surrounded by buildings, and appropriated to reviews, processions, &c., and where, on its northern side, at one time existed the odious Prison of the Inquisition, adjoining the Palace of the same name, now no longer occupied, though sometimes visited on festive occasions by royalty. Just beyond are the public gardens, well laid out, and stocked with flowers and shrubs, that bespeak the luxuriance and brilliancy of the Lusitanian arboretum.

PRACA DO COMMERCIO, LISBON.

All this portion of the city is more regularly built than the remainder, and is situated just over the very spot that felt the effects of the terrible earthquake, traces of which are now and then met with, in the shape of patches of old pavement, in digging for the foundations of houses, &c.; though there are no traces of the successful storming of the city by the French, under Junot, in 1807, nor of its equally successful resistance of a similar attempt a couple of years afterwards. In the vicinity of the Hospital of St. José are the ruins of a church, in which, embedded in the earth, were to be seen, some years since, if not now, skeletons, in various attitudes, of persons who formed the congregation at the time the catastrophe took place, which was, as the reader will recollect, when the greater number of the citizens were assembled at mass in the churches on All-Saints’ Day, November 1st, in the ever-memorable year 1755—a circumstance that will probably account for the enormous number of 30,000 lives being lost; for, although 6,000 private dwellings were destroyed, the fatality could hardly have been so great but for the multitudes being assembled in the mode mentioned. The celebration of the festival, too, was otherwise the occasion of prodigious mischief; for, owing to the immense number of tapers in the churches, the curtains, drapery, and other combustible materials, caught fire, and a devastating conflagration swept the doomed city from end to end, carrying off what the convulsion had not already prostrated in ruin. Indirectly, however, the commemoration of the festival was productive of some good—at least to our countrymen in Lisbon; for, in order to avoid exciting religious prejudice during a fête so solemn in the Papal calendar, they had nearly all retired to their country houses, and but ten who remained in the city were killed, a fact which renders, if possible, more magnanimous the grant by the British parliament of £100,000 to the relief of the suffering Portuguese, immediately the dismal tidings arrived; news of like events, but not on such a scale, continuing to be received for a long time after, from various portions of the New World. As in the case of our own dear delightful ante-diluvian Chester, the older quarters of Lisbon city generally interest a stranger most, from their very irregularity; the streets being narrow, steep, and destitute of trottoirs, and the houses very lofty, ranging in height from five to as many as eleven stories, in each of which dwells a separate family, all using one staircase in common. Notwithstanding the seeming peril from this cause, in the event of another earthquake, the danger of the walls falling is considerably lessened by their being built with a strong framework of timber, dovetailed together, before the addition of brick or stone.

Some of the churches are very handsome, although the absence of steeples will perhaps cause them to be hardly so regarded by the majority of Englishmen; and, moreover, many are in an unfinished state, for want of funds. The one that probably astonishes unsophisticated Saxons most, is the Patriarchal Church, from the circumstance of the pillars which support the roof being covered with wax models of heads, arms, legs, &c.—the naif native offerings of individuals, desirous of testifying their gratitude to the Virgin, for her cures of complaints affecting those corporeal adjuncts. In the church of St. Roque is a small chapel, containing imitations, in mosaic, of several pictures of the Italian masters. These, with the splendid decorations, consisting of lapis lazuli columns, candelabra in the precious metals, &c., are credibly estimated to have cost upwards of one million sterling. This vast expense, of course, could only have been in Portugal’s most palmy days, when the genius of Albuquerque threw open the portals of the East, and showered ‘barbaric pearl and gold’ upon his noble king, Emanuel, rightly indeed called the ‘Fortunate,’ and deserving so to be, as worthily inheriting the throne of Alphonso the Victorious (son of the heroic Henry of Burgundy) who routed five Saracen monarchs at Ourique, and freed his country from the Moors. The British cemetery[24] (Os aciprestes), surrounding a neat chapel, is well worth a visit, including, in its attractions, a monument to Fielding, who there lies buried. Few of our countrymen, who have the opportunity, ever fail to make a pilgrimage to the spot where rests all that is mortal of him who drew Partridge and Blifil, Squire Western and Sophia, Parson Adams and Tom Jones—his tomb being as eagerly sought as is that of his brother humourist, Smollett, at Leghorn. Strange that two of the most essentially English of all our writers should have died and been entombed so far from their native land, whose literature their genius has so long enriched, and will for ever continue to do so.

Besides the public buildings already mentioned, there are several well-managed hospitals, an arsenal, academies for instruction in the naval, military, and other sciences; the Castle of St. George, used as a prison more than as a place of defence: museums; a noble national library, of 30,000 volumes, formed from those of the convents suppressed in 1835; and, lastly, the aqueduct of Alcantara, with thirty-six arches, a splendid structure, north of the city, supplying the greater part of the inhabitants with water, and so solid, that it withstood the shock of earthquake, which laid nearly all else in ruins. The central arch is of sufficient dimensions to allow of a three-decker, under full sail, passing through, were there water to float her.

The population of Lisbon is between 250,000 and 300,000, having increased rapidly of late years, though sadly thinned during Don Miguel’s usurpation, owing to the wholesale murders which were then committed, the numbers obliged to serve in the army, and killed, and also the emigration so many hundreds, nay thousands, were compelled to have recourse to, in order to escape from his cruelties, and those of his satellites. The remembrance of these atrocities, however, would seem insufficient to deprive him of some partizans in the country yet, if we may judge by the intrigues in his favour that have supervened on the death of the queen.

CINTRA, NEAR LISBON.

A first visit to Portugal cannot fail to revive—in the minds of Englishmen—‘memories of the past,’ full of ‘sweet and bitter fancies,’ as being alike the spot where England, by her diplomatic fatuity, earned an immortality of ridicule, and, by her valour, an eternity of praise, thanks to the Great Duke and his troops, so many of whom fell in defence of those liberties, which, if what survives here be a fair specimen, were certainly hardly worth the cost of preservation;[25] for, even at this distance of time, how many families can recal the bereavements they sustained in that glorious struggle. Moreover, Portugal possesses a deep interest from the great deeds of its early navigators, already slightly adverted to. None who sympathize with the noble qualities the mention of these heroic names conjures up can fail to deplore that the spirit of Vasco de Gama, Cabral, Camoens,[26] and many others, has not descended to succeeding generations, rendering the land their genius and patriotism had adorned what it might yet be made under an enlightened government, viz., one of the most prosperous countries in Europe. That it is not so, even after the mismanagement it has endured, and is enduring now, nearly as bad as ever, is a matter of never-ending wonderment to those who know its means and appliances for advancement in the scale of nations. As regards myself, desire for personal authentication on the spot of what I had known from others, imparted an additional zest to my visit, from long acquaintance with the Brazils, even in the time of the grandfather of the late Queen, when the present splendid South American empire was a struggling colony of the now enfeebled and decaying parent kingdom. Hence I was prepared to look with a favourable eye on all that came under my notice in the capital of Portugal—a disposition enhanced by the first glance I had an opportunity of bestowing upon it; for, seen from the river on a bright sunny morning, Lisbon’s strikingly picturesque aspect and position reminded me strongly both of Bahia and Rio Janeiro, a portion of the city being built, like them, on low ground; hills, covered in every direction with handsome structures of variegated colours, chiefly white, rising like an amphitheatre behind; whilst the red-tiled roofs, green verandahs, and other fanciful decorations, lend to the whole a very foreign, almost tropical, but extremely pleasing appearance.

Unfortunately, the parallel between the capital of Portugal and the metropolis of her flourishing transatlantic offspring further holds good, as, on landing, much of the pleasing illusion vanishes:

For whoso entereth within this town,

That, sheening far, celestial seems to be,

Disconsolate will wander up and down,

’Mid many things unsightly to strange ee;

For hut and palace show like filthily;

The dingy denizens are rear’d in dirt;

No personage of high or mean degree

Doth care for cleanness of surtout or shirt,

Though shent with Egypt’s plague, unkempt, unwash’d, unhurt.

Nor are you greatly disposed to make allowances for the cause of your topographical disenchantment, as you find yourself a mere object of fiscal surveillance—obliged to be set ashore at the Custom-house, like a biped bale of merchandise, and have your hat or umbrella scanned as if they ought to be subjected to duty, like everything else, animate and inanimate, that approaches these most absurdly protected waters. Very soon, however, mere chagrin at such petty personal annoyances deepens into gloom, as you observe the mournful absence of that incessant activity you expect to meet with in so large and important a place. The fatal spell of lethargy and exclusiveness seems to be laid upon everything and everybody:—the very carriages and public conveyances (at least a large portion) are redolent of the past century, and all idea of locomotion is put to flight at the sight of them; and just the same is the case with the owners. Torpidity pervades the whole population, from the infant in arms, who is too lazy to laugh, to the cripple on crutches, who is too sluggish to grumble. An exception to this rule, however, is the market-place, where fruit, vegetables, the sardines already spoken of, and other odd articles, are brought for sale. The motley groups, with their baskets or little stalls, sheltered by umbrellas of all sizes and colours, are like so many fancy-fair Chinese, whom Portuguese a good deal resemble in bodily configuration, as well as in other attributes equally little spiritualised, however Celestial. The kaleidoscopic tableau going on here is a relief to the monotony of other places of resort, and so vividly impresses the stranger that he fancies the performers in the scene must be foreigners, and not ‘natives and to the manner born.’ The theatrical air of the whole thing is not a little heightened, in his opinion, on finding that no sooner has the clock told one, than, like one o’clock, they all have to pack up their wares and depart till next day, in preparation for the business whereof the market is thoroughly cleaned and put in order. This regulation might be advantageously adopted in regions where the mention of the word Portuguese, especially in connection with cleanliness, immediately superinduces a spasmodic agitation in the hearer’s nose, if indeed he can keep his countenance at all.

But Portuguese society, as I happen to know very well, from long and varied experience, is extremely agreeable in many places; and certainly the natives of the old country are exceedingly hospitable to strangers. There are several clubs, at the balls of one of which, the Foreign Assembly-rooms, all the rank and fashion of the capital are to be seen, to the number of several hundreds. I had the gratification of being introduced at the Lisbon Club. The house had been formerly, like so many similar institutions in London, a nobleman’s palace. Although not on so grand a scale, it possesses superior accommodation to most places of the kind amongst us; and if the Portuguese keep no Soyer, Francatelli, or Ude, with a batterie de cuisine corresponding in magnitude and diversity to the celebrity of these professors of the finest art—that of giving a good dinner—they have a social party of an evening,[27] when a piquant and substantial tea is provided for those who wish to sacrifice to the ‘Chinese nymph of tears, Bohea.’ The original taste of the Portuguese, who were the first to introduce the beverage to Europe, long before Mr. Pepys drank his ‘cup of China drink,’ [1661,] still survives, as well as the taste for coffee, the berry of Mocha being a favourite among the offspring of the victims of the Arabs. Chocolate, also, is a very popular beverage, and is consumed in considerable quantities at breakfast and supper, the two principal meals among the majority of Portuguese. The upper classes dress like those of other European capitals, but the lower order of females still retain the cloak and hood peculiar to this part of the Peninsula. There is not, however, so much difference now between the costume of the population and that of other cities, as the cowls, sandals, and rope belts of the friars, are no longer to be seen; for, as is well known, all the religious orders (not those of nuns) were suppressed in 1835. There is a strong partiality for gaudy colours and trinkets; but that is passing away.

Though, generally speaking, the female population of Portugal are not of very prepossessing appearance, especially the humbler classes, whose naturally swarthy complexion is embrowned by exposure to the sun, there are few capitals in Europe where more perfect specimens of beauty are to be seen than in Lisbon: and what enhances the effect their somewhat unexpected presence produces is, that they are almost invariably blondes, therein differing from most of their Iberian sisterhood on the other side of the Douro, especially those of Cadiz, of whom the noble lord, already quoted, says that they are the Lancashire Witches of Spain. But the other noble lord, whom we have also quoted—and we certainly can corroborate all he says, from our individual experience in Brazil, of the classes he speaks of—observes: ‘If I could divest myself of every national partiality, and suppose myself an inhabitant of the other hemisphere, and were asked in what country society had attained its most polished form, I should say in Portugal. This perfection of manner is, perhaps, most appreciated by an Englishman: Portuguese politeness is delightful, because it is by no means purely artificial, but flows, in a great measure, from a national kindness of feeling. The restless feeling, so often perceptible in English society, hardly exists in Portugal; there is little prepared wit in Portuguese society, and no one talks for the mere purpose of producing an effect, but simply because his natural taste leads him to take an active part in conversation. Dandyism is unknown among their men, and coquetry, so common among Spanish women, is little in vogue among the fair Portuguese. They do not possess, to the same extent, the hasty passions and romantic feelings of their beautiful neighbours; but they are softer, more tractable, and equally affectionate. Even when they err, the aberrations of a married Portuguese never spring from fashion or caprice, seldom from vanity, and, however culpable, are always the result of real preference. Certainly, with some exceptions, the women are not highly educated; they feel little interest, on general subjects, and, consequently, have little general conversation. A stranger may, at first, draw an unfavourable inference as to their natural powers, because he has few subjects in common with them; but, when once received into their circles, and acquainted with their friends, he becomes delighted with their liveliness, wit, and ready perception of character.’ I quote this passage, believing from all I heard and observed in Lisbon, that it is an accurate summary of the Portuguese character there; that it is nearly equally applicable, in a great degree, to Portuguese society in Madeira; and, knowing that it is so, in respect to Portuguese society in Brazil.

The places of amusement consist of five theatres, including the opera-house, where, as the London and Parisian dilettanti well know, many excellent singers make their début: the getting up the scenery, &c., are inferior to few establishments of the kind anywhere, and the prices are very moderate. It is called San Carlos, and it is scarcely inferior in any respect, either in its architectural extent or the liberality of its appointments, to its more famous Neapolitan namesake. Madame Castellan—herself, I believe, a fellow-countrywoman of Inez de Castro, whose portrait she greatly resembles—has been the principal lyric artiste during the past season. There is also a building for bull-fights, which, though perhaps as much a national sport as in Spain, is not pursued with the same passionate ardour, nor with the same skill, as is displayed by professors of the tauro-machiac art in the sister country.

I also attended a sitting of the two Chambers, which appeared to be conducted with great decorum, but, at the same time, without that listlessness or buzzy-fussiness which pervades our own Senate when a bore or a nobody happens to be on his legs. The accommodation for members is at least as good as ours. To be sure, it could not possibly be much worse, if we may judge from those most qualified to form an opinion—the members themselves; for, what with the perpetual complaints about pestilent smells, hot blasts, freezing draughts, blinding light, and sightless darkness, one would imagine that the British Senate-house was constructed to serve as a ‘frightful example’ of deleterious architecture. The wonder is, that any M.P. has the face to approach a life-insurance office, at the beginning of a session, without being prepared with a ‘doubly hazardous’ premium on his ‘policy,’ knowing that he is going to talk, or listen to the talk, of politics for some six months; and, certainly, the looks of many of our law-makers can be consolatory to none but coffin-makers and residuary legatees. Not so with the Portuguese Conscript Fathers, nearly all of whom seemed as hale as new moidores out of the mint, both as to stamina, complexion, and sensibility. The enormous building where they meet (the old convent of San Bento) contains all the needful official and red-tape-ical departments. In the Upper Chamber, the Patriarch occupied the chair, in habiliments not unlike those of the Bishop of Oxford, when enrobed in his costume of Chancellor of the Order of the Garter; and it was curious to see an epitome of our own admixture of the ecclesiastical with the temporal system of legislation, in the House of Lords, carried out in this Portuguese conjunction of spiritual with lay law-makers.

In vain you look in the Tagus for that forest of shipping which should fringe the watery highway to, and ought to constitute the leading feature in, so fine a port—the capital of a country the once nautical genius of whose people is expressed in the only poem in any language that makes adventures on the deep its theme. A few stray vessels here and there, with river and fishing boats, and those singular latine sails, that so strike the stranger,[28] some steamers and Government vessels, were all that could now be seen on the bosom of the river, so famed amongst the ancients for its golden attributes, not because of its auriferous sands,[29] but because of the affluent tide of its teeming commerce—that port whence, in after ages, though now ages long ago, went forth those expeditions which brought much of Asia into comparative contiguity with Europe, and discovered, and long held so much of, the finest portion of the New World. For a wonder, not a ‘speck of power’ of that nation, whose commerce rose as Lusitania’s fell, not an English man-of-war, ubiquitous in every water, and very often present, and too long at a time, in most unnecessary numbers, in these waters in particular, was to be seen, though Admiral Corry’s squadron, containing many of the finest and latest built men-of-war in our navy, including the ‘Duke of Wellington,’ and now with Napier in the Baltic, has since been there. Their absence, however gratifying to financial economists and advocates of non-intervention in politics, helped to complete the triste and dreary air of the empty mart and shipless bay. The cause of this poverty of trade must be obvious to all, even to enlightened Portuguese. The Government, blind to all experience elsewhere, deaf to the supplications of common sense and even self-interest, draw a kind of cordon round the little trade they still possess, and encumber it with such a net-work of preposterous restrictions, as actually to squeeze the life-blood out of it, or, rather, altogether arrest its circulation, which is the same thing in the end, as regards the vitality of commerce. The evil extends to every ramification of industrial pursuit; and one half of the population live upon a system that seems to have been invented to exclude, instead of encouraging business to come to their shores. Hence, it need hardly be said, that smuggling is the most profitable trade going; and a large and rapidly increasing business in that line is carried on, along the frontier in particular.

If Colonel Sibthorpe, Mr. Newdegate, and the remainder of that Spartan band of fifty-nine, who followed the phantom of Protection into the lobby of the House of Commons a couple of years ago, finding that the sun of England has indeed for ever set, as they so often anticipated, desire to bask in the beams of unmitigated monopoly, by all means let them hie hither forthwith; and they will behold one realm, at least, that carries out their views to the utmost possible extent. By way of apparently bolstering up native industry, Portugal fosters a few stray manufacturing establishments, and farms out monopolies of certain articles (tobacco and soap for instance) to parties who, in the rigorous exercise of their privileges, put another and most effectual drag-chain on the march of commerce. The fruits of such policy are but too apparent; for even the neighbouring state of Spain, so long the synonyme of every fiscal fatuity, but now awaking to a true sense of what it owes to her glorious maritime associations, and to her present and perspective well-being, is taking away a large portion of Portuguese traffic, by judiciously reducing her tariff, promoting railway enterprise, and gradually adopting those liberal views, without whose practical recognition now every country must lapse into almost primeval barbarism. Undoubtedly an extenuation of the imbecility of Portugal is her complete dependence and reliance on her colonies so long, for while she enjoyed a monopoly of them she flourished at their expense. Now things are reversed, and Portugal cannot bring herself to adopt the only remedy, free-trade and unrestricted commerce, in its largest and fullest extent. These would soon fill her ports with shipping, raise rents, augment revenue, and place her in a position worthy of the countrymen of Cabral, and of the prestige which he and so many of his cotemporaries and followers so long secured her. That she has an aptitude for commerce is well known; for, though it was long deemed degrading, and even criminal, in high caste Portuguese, to meddle in commercial matters, or to intermarry or associate with those who did, there is scarcely any ’Change in the world at the present day that does not number a Lisbon or Oporto merchant among its ablest members.

A stay of two days is a short time to enable a stranger to appreciate fully the merits of a large place like Lisbon; but the defects in her national fiscal system as here manifested, at the very fountain head of the intelligence and influence of the empire, and its mischievous tendency in retarding prosperity, are unmistakeable. The handwriting on the wall requires no interpreter; it points out approaching decay, unless Portugal alters her system before it is too late, and determines to go with the stream of events and the destinies of the world. The real hope for the country still points in the direction of Brazil; not only because of the peculiar weight of example in that quarter, where prosperity has progressively and unvaryingly followed every step in the path of commercial and political enlightenment—every assimilation to the existing English system of mercantile polity—but from the circumstance of the affluence of Brazil healthily reacting upon, and wakening up the energies of the old country to join pari passu in the march with her vigorous progeny. In a trading, especially in a passenger-trading sense, the connection between the two is still important, and is every day becoming more so, through Anglo-Brazilian enterprise, (of which the Liverpool Company I have the honour to belong to affords the most prominent instance yet), and is likely to be vastly improved by the establishment of direct steam navigation, chiefly carried on by native and South American capital. The principal promoter of this is Mr. Moser, well known for enterprise of a like kind in the navigation of the Minho, from which river to the Guadiana a screw steamer now plies.

Most of the bourgeoisie of Brazil were either born in Portugal or are descendants of Portuguese. Shop-keeping is a business these Peninsulars fully understand, especially those from Oporto; particularly in everything pertaining to trinkets, articles of jewellery, and goldsmith’s-work, the Portuguese being therein cunning workmen, though for the most part, regarded as indifferent carpenters, shoemakers, and the like, at least by British employers. After realizing money abroad, they naturally find their way to Portugal; where, if even for a season, they enjoy themselves as only children of the South or of the tropics can when they have the means; or spend the remainder of their days where their fathers lived and died before them. They will soon have the invaluable advantage of the steamers of no less than three companies calling at Lisbon, including the ‘Luso-Brazileira,’ which is also composed of Portuguese and Brazilian shareholders. These, let us hope, will prove the immediate harbingers of that good time which can alone be brought about by the multiplication of such instruments of a national good; for it must be obvious to every one who knows Portugal, or the Portuguese abroad, that what is wanted is abundance of communication by steam, both by sea and land, railways, and free-trade, or some approximation to it. With these she may resume her position amongst the nations, and share with her oldest ally, England, the benefits arising from a mutually advantageous intercourse.

Respecting the Royal Family, during my stay at Lisbon, when there was, of course, every apparent prospect of a long, if not a very tranquil and happy reign for the late Queen, I learnt that they kept themselves as retired and quiet as their exalted station would permit, appearing little in public, but understood to be busy in those plots and intrigues, suspicion of which on the part both of the people and the upper classes, deprived her Majesty of much of that popularity which her many excellent qualities were calculated personally to secure her. What may be the course that her husband, the Regent, will pursue, or that may be pursued by her son when he attains his legal majority in 1858, it is of course impossible to foresee. His young Majesty is now in the course of making a tour through Europe, chiefly with a view, it is said, of finding a partner for his throne; and rumour points to one of the house of Coburg to which his father belongs, viz., a daughter of the King of the Belgians. This alliance, though otherwise eligible in itself, is deemed by some politicians likely to aggravate the troubles of the country, by making it a hot-bed of extraneous intrigue, in addition to the domestic Miguelite plottings that appear chronic in Portugal.

There are, as already mentioned, several royal palaces, but few of them completely finished, or ever likely to be so, owing to the limited state of the civil list and the reluctance of the Cortes to grant supplies for such purposes. The Palace of Ajúda is a truly regal building, whose external magnificence at least, fills every one with regret that it should so far resemble so many others, of vast pretensions and undoubted beauty, as to remain incompleted, and in consequence, unoccupied. Visitors to the Court are generally located in a pretty marine palace, with a terrace and garden facing the river, at Belem, the town of which name contains about 5,000 inhabitants. In its vicinage is the burial-place of many of the earlier Portuguese monarchs; it possesses also, in addition to the castle and custom-house already mentioned, and a singular-looking fortress, some other public institutions of note, including a high-school, a convent, and the largest iron-foundry in Portugal, together with a noble church, built to commemorate the memorable departure of Vasco de Gama on his great voyage, as so beautifully alluded to by the national poet.

It may not be superfluous to caution the young or casual reader not to confound this town with one somewhat similarly pronounced, Baylen, in Spain—a spot that sounds in French ears pretty much as Cintra does in ours. And for much the same reason—the blundering incapacity of those charged with the conduct of the transactions that took place, almost simultaneously, in the same year, and within a month of each other; except that the former, having had priority of occurrence, rendered the latter more inexcusable. It was in July, 1808, that 14,000 French, commanded by Dupont and Wedel, being defeated by 25,000 Spaniards under Pena and Compigny, Dupont’s entire division of 8,000 men laid down their arms—the beginning of the French disasters in Spain, as lending courage to the whole native population to pursue that system of resistance which in the end, aided and directed by British valour and science, rendered nugatory all the efforts of the invader permanently to subdue the country. Of Belem, the recent military celebrity is not great, the two chief incidents in its history being its capture by the French, the year before the occurrence just named; and, secondly, its capture under the troops of Don Pedro, in 1833. What lends its real historic, or at least archæologic interest to the place, is its propinquity to the remains of some of the finest Moorish architecture in the world, the Alhambra itself scarcely excepted; and these alone ought to suffice to render a trip fashionable among our ennuyéd tourists, to whom almost all the remainder of Europe is nearly as well known as the beach at Brighton or the Westmoreland lakes. Notwithstanding the charm to British ears of the words Busaco, Vimiera, Badajos, Braga, Torres Vedras, and the Douro, Portugal is a terrâ incognita to the pic-nicish and Pickwickian tribe, and altogether exempt from the remonstrance of the blazé bard—

And is there then no earthly place,

Where we can rest, in dream Elysian,

Without some curst, round English face,

Popping up near, to break the vision?

’Mid northern lakes, ’mid southern vines,

Unholy cits we’re doom’d to meet;

Nor highest Alps nor Apennines

Are sacred from Threadneedle Street!

If up the Simplon’s path we wind,

Fancying we leave this world behind,

Such pleasant sounds salute one’s ear

As—‘Baddish news from ’Change, my dear.’

But how can it be wondered that Portugal should be a yet untrodden Eden to the tourist, seeing that it is the only country, or tract of country, in Europe, or on the confines thereof, from Odessa to Iceland, that Murray hasn’t hand-booked? The ‘Anak of Booksellers,’ who has ‘done’ the Pyramids and the Pyrenees, Styria and Finland, Whitechapel and Wallachia, the Dnieper and the Nile, has left Portugal undone; for it cannot be called doing it, in the Albemarle-street sense of the term, to devote to it a few small pages of large type, and call them ‘Hints.’ Nevertheless, far below the Murrayan standard as that is, still it will be useful, as being likely to incite travellers thitherward;[30] and then the great publisher will, doubtless, provide for their use some Head capable of turning out a sizeable and seasonable octavo of reading as delightful as Borrow and as instructive as Ford has done for the scarcely more romantic region the other side of the Guadiana. Meanwhile, calling attention to that one[31] of the ‘Hints’ which tells how others may be taken, as to the London means of getting there, in addition to those still better Liverpool means furnished by our South American Steam Company, it is well to apprise the reader, desirous of the latest and best information about Portugal, that it will be found in the extremely agreeable and attractive volume[32] which owes its origin to the munificence and patriotism of the accomplished member for Pontefract, Mr. Oliveira, who, sprung of the ancient Lusitanian stock himself, and numbering among his ancestors the Pombals, de Castros, Tojals, and Thomars, has laboured assiduously, and most successfully, in disseminating among the most intelligent and influential minds of either country a correct knowledge of what conduces to the commercial prosperity of both. Towards this end nothing can be more effectual than a careful study of the admirable essay alluded to below, and from which some few of the foregoing facts are taken. Indeed, we would fain hope that, at least some of the excellent arguments it addresses to the Portuguese government have already produced a good effect; for, in the speech to the Cortes by the Regent, in January last, there is great promise not only of railway encouragement, but regulations we have spoken of being relinquished, such as the monopoly on salt, and even that on tobacco is likely soon to be abandoned. Improvements of a similar kind are to be extended to Madeira.

In concluding this brief chapter, which is, unfortunately, necessarily much more brief than the subject warrants, we have only to add, that should its perusal, or that of the several works already enumerated, induce readers to visit Lisbon in search of pleasure, and more especially those in search of health, the important item of house-rent will be found almost fabulously moderate compared with any other capital in Europe, and, I should imagine, in the world. A perfect palace, in the literal meaning of the term, may be had for £100 a year, containing suites of rooms in which a coach and four might be turned. Provisions and all the produce of the country are exceedingly cheap, but all imported articles are equally dear, because of the absurd protective system already spoken of, which permits and encourages native manufacturers to make the worst articles at the highest price, thus of course entailing the most limited consumption, and restricts purchases of all commodities that can possibly be dispensed with. Amongst hotels, the Braganza, built on an eminence overlooking the Tagus, stands preëminent, and is part of the Braganza family estate. The bill of fare is attractive, and charges moderate, regret being felt that travellers by sea cannot go at once to such comfortable quarters, instead of to the vile Lazarette, to which they are now consigned en route from England or Brazil!

ADJUDA PALACE, RESIDENCE OF THE ROYAL FAMILY OF PORTUGAL, NEAR LISBON.

CHAPTER II.
LISBON TO MADEIRA.

Two more days’ pleasant Paddling on the Ocean.—Approach to Madeira.—Charming aspect of the Island.—Unique boats and benevolent boatmen.—Pastoral progression in bucolic barouches extraordinary.—Personal appearance of the inhabitants.—Atmospheric attractions of Madeira, and absence of all natural annoyances.—The Vine-Blight and its consequences, present and prospective, on the people at home and the consumption of their wine abroad.—Funchal, and its urban and suburban et ceteras.—Romance and reality of the History of the Island, ‘Once Upon a Time.’—Importance of English residents to the place.—Cost of living, and what you get for your money.—Royal and illustrious visitors.—Mercantile matters, and consular cordiality.—Grave Reflections in the British Burial Ground.

THE LAUREL TREE, MADEIRA.

Note to the Illustration.—Views of Funchal, of the English Burial-place, and other objects in Madeira, are so familiar, that in preference to any of them, there is here given, as being much less hacknied, one representing a small fort or outwork, called Loureiro, or the Laurel Tree, on the coast to the east of Funchal, being the first of the series copied from the portfolio of the gentleman to whom our volume is so much indebted for such privilege.

Oh! had we some bright little isle of our own,

In a blue summer ocean, far off and alone,

Where a leaf never dies in the still blooming bowers,

And the bee banquets on through a whole year of flowers;

Where simply to feel that we breathe, that we live,

Is worth the best joy that life elsewhere can give.

The glow of the sunshine, the balm of the air,

Would steal to our hearts, and make all summer there.

Our life should resemble a long day of light,

And our death come on, holy and calm as the night.—Moore.

Ocean sailing, perhaps, does not present anything more delightful than the trip from Lisbon to this island in fine or moderate weather. We soon bade adieu to the Tagus, with its merry-going windmills, and its palaces and churches, the bold dome of the Coraçao de Jesus being the last visible in the horizon as we steamed away; and, on the second morning at daylight, made the Island of Porto Santo, which looks bleak and dreary enough, but has the repute of having some verdant spots upon it; and a small harbour called by the same name. Madeira, some 35 miles distant, was in sight a-head, its mountains peeping out of the clouds; and a couple of hours brought us up to the south side, along which we steamed. The hills were covered with innumerable cottages, and huts built amongst the vine plantations, which rise in ridges, nearly from the water’s edge to the height of 2,000 feet; the best vine growths, no doubt, being found at about half that elevation. It is needless to say that the coup d’œil so presented is as charming as it is singular. Immediately after passing Brazen Head, the Bay of Funchal opened before us, and a more beautiful sight cannot well be conceived, the hills towering to a considerable altitude, dotted a long way up with pretty-looking villas and well cultivated gardens, until, reaching the town, these become merged in its compact mass. Funchal, which contains a population of some 20,000 inhabitants, bears the usual Portuguese characteristics of white or fancifully-coloured houses, many being lofty, with look-outs to the sea, forts, churches, &c. The Loo Rock, commanding the entrance of the bay, is very remarkable, being quite separated from the main land, which it there protects from the roll of the sea. Here we found lying in the roads, amongst other vessels, two American men-of-war, just come over from the African station to refresh, as well as the Severn steamer, coaling on her way from the Brazils to Lisbon and England. This opportunity enabled us to send home dispatches forthwith. An assemblage of those peculiarly strong-built boats, with double keels to protect them from being stove in by the tremendous swell that sets in-shore so frequently, soon came to us with offers of service, chiefly in the shape of miscellaneous matters for sale; and we found ourselves amongst a pushing, energetic race, anxious to trade and make money, with an earnestness that was quite refreshing. Many spoke tolerably good English, and showed evident signs of being accustomed to deal with our countrymen. Landing on the beach is sometimes a formidable operation here; but the boats, as we have said, are well adapted for all emergencies incident to the operation, whether performed by those in robust health, or, as is too frequently the case, by invalids, in almost the last stage preceding dissolution. The boatmen are very active and obliging on such occasions, and considerate to a degree that would be perfectly incredible to a Thames wherry-man at Gravesend. We were immediately beset by a crowd of applicants for favours in one shape or another, amongst whom were not a few beggars, although I believe they are prohibited from soliciting alms, and a very good institution exists for the helpless and houseless. Some of our passengers, with the precipitancy of English in all such matters the moment a foreign shore is reached, proceeded to test the vehicular conveniences of the island, by a drive in one of those extraordinary bovine sledges drawn by two bullocks, and which travel up the hills at a pace sufficiently surprising, considering the apparently sluggish conformation of the steeds.

I took a ramble over the town, and made sundry diplomatic calls; afterwards proceeding [aloft, as may be literally said,] to enjoy the hospitality of Mr. Blandy, who occupies a charming country seat about a mile up the hill, where there is a splendid view of the town and bay, as well as of the towering mountains above. One of the sleighs or sledges, just mentioned, carried us along a succession of steep hills very quickly, a mode of conveyance which, notwithstanding its primeval fashion, appears to be of recent date here. This char rustique of the mountains resembles, as nearly as possible, one of our turn-abouts at a fair, with two seats opposite to each other; but the most curious uses to which this odd contrivance is put, is in coursing down-hill by express train, as they call it. Two persons seat themselves side-by-side in the sledge, and an equal number of boys, holding a strap attached to it, commence running down the steep declivities at a pace that must be felt to be understood; but an idea of it may be formed by those who remember the Vauxhall illustration of centrifugal force, some years ago, when an unhappy monkey was placed in a carriage and shot down an inclined plain, at the bottom whereof was a huge wheel, over and around which the traveller and his vehicle were propelled, and brought to a stand-still after attaining a level on the other side. The Madeira roads are paved with sharp stones set very close together; so the machine glides downwards without meeting with any resistance, and, in ten minutes, descends a distance that takes half an hour or more to mount on horseback. It was the most curious sensation I ever felt; and, though assured of its safety, one cannot make the experiment for the first time without thoughts of an upset running in one’s head, contact between which and the stones would not have been very agreeable. Mountainous countries are doubtless favourable to the promotion of personal activity; and certainly the way in which the natives go up and down the steep paths here, with burthens on their backs, especially in such a climate, is something remarkable.

It is no wonder that the English are fond of Madeira, but a very great wonder that far larger numbers do not resort thither, to pass the winter months, with the numerous facilities of steam navigation now presented to them. The climate, the total change of people and scenery, the teeming vegetation, yielding the produce both of Europe and the tropics, the picturesque disposal of the houses on the very ridges of the hills, with every regard to comfort and even luxury, all combine to render this a kind of earthly paradise, to which the seeming rhapsody at the head of our chapter is really only literally applicable. Here indeed nature showers down her choicest bounties: no fogs, miasmas, or even hurtful dews; atmosphere almost always translucent and bright; the thermometer in winter scarcely ever falling below 60 degrees; and where, during the hot summer months, a cool and comfortable retreat, of almost any temperature, may be found up the mountains. Lastly, there are no poisonous reptiles, merely a brown lizard, harmless to everything save the vines; frogs are quite a recent importation; and so far as I could learn, there are none of that numerous tribe of annoying insects which infest the tropical regions, only the familiar household flea, that makes himself at home everywhere.

Unfortunately, the dependence of the population and the staple of Madeira has been its vines, whose produce this year, as well as last, has totally failed, from some cause almost as inscrutable, or at least as incurable, and in its consequences nearly as calamitous, on a small scale, as the potato rot in isles nearer home. I could not have believed without seeing it:—in every direction the grapes were withered up like parched peas, and, in many cases, the trees themselves dying. Such an extraordinary visitation has, I believe, never been known here before. It partakes very much of the same virulent character as the diseases that at times affect the cereal world, and something of the kind was experienced with terrible severity in the Canaries in 1704. Two years’ failure of a vintage, in an island like Madeira, would be almost annihilation, if it were not for its other boundless vegetable resources; and, as in the case of the destruction of the Irish root, it is augured that much good may arise to the people from the increased stimulus to industry so occasioned, and their being induced not to place too great a dependence on any one product. Still, it is a melancholy sight to behold the support of a whole people struck down by such an inconceivable blight. Every means have been tried to arrest its progress, but without success; and, should it continue its ravages, Madeira wine bids fare to become greatly increased in value a few years hence, when, as a matter of course, it will be more in vogue and sought after, than has been the case for a long time back.[33]

The streets of Funchal are narrow, but clean, and intersected by streams of water, brought also into nearly every large dwelling. Their silence, owing to the absence of vehicles, strikes the European stranger as extraordinary; especially at night, when he seems to be placed in a city of marionettes, as it were; and, from the presence of the palanquin, bearing fair occupants about, quite an oriental tinge is imparted to the aspect of the whole urban scene. Speaking of that, a note on the physical attributes of the Madeirans; and we cannot do better than quote the authority of a gentleman[33]—perhaps we should say a lady, as it is doubtless her impressions in letter-press that are reflected on this point[34]—who is the latest authority on what may be called the agremens of the island.

There are aqueducts made to bring the water from the mountain side, and several deep gullies or ravines run through the town and empty themselves into the sea. These cavities being crossed by bridges, the sides have been built up at a considerable expense, and are covered with verdure, tropical and European, producing a most picturesque effect. They are also most beneficial in a sanitary sense, being in fact main arteries for circulating pure fresh air, as well as for carrying off the impurities.

Excepting epidemics, Madeira, both town and country, must naturally be the healthiest place in the world, for the reasons already stated. The population of the island is estimated at upwards of 100,000, or, at least was so till lately; but there is a good deal of emigration going on, and owing to the late distress it is likely to increase materially, both to Demerara and the Brazils, where the natives prove to be most valuable labourers.

The history of Madeira, or at least its political history, is of no great importance. Like Brazil, it is named after its wood, and so is its capital, Funchal, from a species of fern abounding in still greater profusion than the magnificent timber. A romantic interest belongs to its early annals, as it was discovered, it is said, by Mr. Macham, an English gentleman, or mariner, who fled from England for an illicit amour. He was driven here by a storm, and his mistress, a French lady, dying, he made a canoe, and carried the news of his discovery to Pedro, King of Arragon, which occasioned the report that the island was discovered by a Portuguese, A.D. 1345. But it is maintained that the Portuguese did not visit the place until 1419, nor did they colonise it until 1431.[35] It was taken possession of by the British in July, 1801; and again, by Admiral Hood and General (afterwards Viscount) Beresford, Dec. 24, 1807, and retained in trust for the royal family of Portugal, which had just then emigrated to the Brazils. It was subsequently restored to the Portuguese crown.

The residence of Englishmen here, is of course highly advantageous to the place, and they are welcomed, as they deserve to be, by a poor but industrious, and by no means abject or cringing, people. On the contrary, the population of all classes are remarkable for their frank and ingenuous bearing. Living[36] is reasonable; and it is to be hoped that thousands, instead of hundreds, of our countrymen, will ere long find their way here. The visits of our late estimable Queen Adelaide, of the Dowager Empress of Brazils, and others of eminent station and corresponding means, are dwelt upon with gratitude, as they not only caused a considerable circulation of money, but did much good personally. In no part of the world can the bounties of nature, or the precious gift of health be so richly enjoyed, or in a manner so agreeable to Europeans, as here. The island has some little commerce with different places, but administered in a manner that renders all we said about Lisbon restrictions, monopolies, and mercantile impediments, applicable in an aggravated degree, if that be possible; and, of course, until things mend there, no improvement can be looked for here. The trading portion of the community seem to be very social and friendly amongst themselves, although not mixing a great deal with the English, or rather, the English maintain their constitutional isolation from the natives, but with a rigidity which time is rapidly mitigating. The character for British hospitality is fittingly maintained by Mr. George Stoddard, our Consul, who occupies the palatial residence of a Portuguese noble, and dispenses the duties of his office in a manner that may well reconcile the strictest economist at home to the most inadequate stipend of £300 a year attached to it; for the obligations are often irksome, if not very onerous; and not a few of them arising out of melancholy occurrences, to whose frequency the tombstones and monuments in the English burial-ground bear such significant testimony. This Anglo Père la Chaise of the Western Atlantic is one of the first objects visited—and, alas! often the last, by the survivors of those whom

The verdant rising and the flowery hill,

The vale enamell’d, and the crystal rill,

The ocean rolling, and the shelly shore,

Beautiful objects, shall delight no more.

Now the lax’d sinews of the weaken’d eye

In watery damp and dim suffusion lie.

Bidding adieu, however, to these melancholy matters, we again resume our course.

CHAPTER III.
MADEIRA TO CAPE VERDS, WITH A GLANCE AT THE CANARIES.

Oceanic Sailing again.—Halcyon weather, and modern steaming to the Fortunatæ Insulæ of the Ancients.—A stave on the saffron-coloured singing birds.—Touching Teneriffe, and Miltonic parallel to the Arch-Enemy.—Approach to Porto Grande, and what we found there, especially its extensive accommodation for steamers.—Deficiency of water the one draw-back.—Something concerning Ethiopic Serenaders under the Line.—Promethean Promontary extraordinary.—A memento of mortality midway in the world.—Portuguese rewards honourably earned by an Englishman.—Utility of Consuls in such places.—First acquaintance with an earthquake.—Verd Grapes soured by a paternal government.—Interchange of news between the Outward and the Homeward bound.—A good propelling turn towards a brother of the screw.

HOTEL, FORMERLY CONVENT, TENERIFFE.

Or other worlds they seem’d, or Happy Isles,

Like those Hesperian gardens famed of old,

Fortunate fields, and groves, and flowery vales,

Thrice happy isles.—Paradise Lost, Book iii.

This track is, generally speaking, about the most pleasant in the Atlantic Ocean; fine sunny weather and fresh north-east trade winds, which blow with tolerable regularity nearly the whole year round, rendering it very easy sailing indeed, and proportionably agreeable to passengers, who may be supposed by this time to have attained their sea-legs. In our case the wind was, unfortunately too light to be of much use, as a vessel going from ten to eleven knots, under steam, must have a very strong breeze to get a-head of such speed and assist the machinery, as well as obtain another knot or two. We pass the Canaries (or Fortunate Isles, as they were called,) to windward, having in view the far-famed Peak of Teneriffe, upheaving high its giant bulk 12,182 feet, and keeping our course direct for St. Vincent. The Canaries are naturally associated with our earliest school-boy notions, as the original home of the charming little universal household songster,[37] to whom they have given their name, but here called thistle-finch, and having for its companions the blackbird, linnet, and others of the same tuneful and now Saxonized family. The real Canary of these islands, however, the Fringilla Canaria of Linnæus, and which still abounds here, is not of the saffron or yellow colour it attains in Europe; but is, in its wild state, the colour of our common field or grey linnet, the yellow hue being the result of repeated crossings in its artificial state amongst us. The Canaries are amongst several other islands that were known to the ancients, but not discovered by modern Europe until the middle of the fifteenth century, when, after a brave resistance from the natives, the Spaniards conquered and have since retained them.

Though not exactly in the route of the Argentina, nor intended to be touched at by any of the company’s vessels, still being comparatively so near the Canaries, and especially of that particular one whereof mention is made by the great English bard, in verse as majestic as the phenomenon he speaks of:

On the other side, Satan, alarmed,

Collecting all his might, dilated stood,

Like Teneriff or Atlas, unremoved:

His stature reach’d the sky, and on his crest

Sat horror plumed.—Paradise Lost, Book iv.

we must present a souvenir of our proximity to so celebrated a vicinage; and we cannot do so in a more graceful or welcome form than the sketch prefixed to this chapter.

The Cape Verds consist of seven principal islands, and were tolerably populous, but of late years have been subjected to a continuous emigration to South America and the West Indies, where, like the hardy mountaineers from Madeira, they are found most useful in tilling the soil, and in other laborious occupations; thus demonstrating the fallacy of the old notion, that laziness is the predominant element in the Spanish and Portuguese idiosyncrasy. What appears to be a present disadvantage, in regard to this human flight from the Verds, may prove beneficial hereafter, when the Ilheos (as they are called) return to their homes, possessed of a little money wherewith to improve their social and moral condition. The islands produce wine, barilla, large quantities of orchilla weed, and cochineal, the cultivation of which is rapidly forming a more and more considerable item of export. Steam navigation will ere long bring them into much closer commercial contact with the world, and enhance the appreciation of their products and natural advantages. The climate is fine, though subject to occasional high temperature and frequent droughts. Despite the name Verds, suggestive of Arcadian animation, nothing can be more desolate than the appearance of the islands, as approached from the sea; bold, high rocks, against which the surge breaks violently, with mountains towering in the clouds, are general characteristics, to which those of the island of St. Vincent offer no exception. On our arrival the weather was thick, with drizzling rain, as we made Porto Grande; and only cleared up in time to enable us to see Bird Island, a most remarkable sugar-loaf rock, standing right in the entrance of the bay, after passing which we reached the anchorage ground in a few minutes. A more convenient little harbour can hardly be imagined, being nearly surrounded with hills (or mountains as they may be called), which protect it from all winds save the westward, where Bird Island stands as a huge beacon, most admirably adapted for a light-house, and on which it is to be hoped one will soon be placed. There is deep water close to the shore on most sides of the bay, that where the town is built being the shallowest; and here some wooden jetties are run out, having very extensive coal and patent fuel depôts close at hand, where these combustibles are put into iron lighters, and sent off to the vessels. So beautifully clear is the water in the bay that you can see the bottom at a depth of from twenty to thirty feet, literally alive with fish of all kinds, but for which the people seem to care very little, either for home consumption or export, though there is no doubt that, in the latter direction, a large business might be done with profitable results.

Porto Grande must become a most important coaling station, situated as it is midway between Europe and South America, and close to the African coast. Several important steam companies have already adopted it, viz., the Royal Mail (Brazil), the General Screw, the Australian, as also the South American, and General Steam Navigation Company, whilst occasional steamers are, likewise, glad to touch at it. At the period of which I am writing, the Great Britain was the last that coaled here, on her way to Australia. In order to meet this increased demand, a proportionate degree of activity and exertion is observable on shore; and a large number of iron lighters, carrying from 15 to 40 tons each, are now in constant requisition, loaded, and ready to be taken alongside the steamers the instant they cast anchor. Unfortunately, there is a very poor supply of water, the want of it having been the occasion of frequent emigration in the history of the islands; but it is understood to be attainable at a slight expense; and a small outlay conjointly made by the steam companies might not only procure a plentiful provision of this all-necessary element, but also other conveniences, essential to the comfort of passengers. There is no doubt that, as the place progresses, supplies of meat, fruit, and vegetables, will be forwarded thither from the neighbouring islands, which are so productive that there is a considerable export of corn; and the cattle are numerous. Until lately, fowls were only a penny a piece; and turtles abound. Hitherto there has been no regular marketable demand for such things; but one, and a large one too, is henceforth established, from the causes assigned, and will doubtless be regularly and economically supplied. The labourers here are chiefly free blacks and Kroomen, from the coast of Africa, most of whom speak English, and chatter away at a great rate, as they work in gangs, with a kind of boatswain over them, who uses a whistle to direct their toil—the movements of all the race of Ham to the days of Uncle Tom, being seemingly susceptible of regulation to musical noise of some sort or other; whether the ‘concord of sweet sounds,’ or what would appear to be such to more refined ears, does not greatly matter.

But for want of vegetation in its neighbourhood, a more picturesque little bay than Porto Grande can hardly be conceived. Towering a short distance above the town, is a kind of table mountain, some 2,500 feet high; and at the opposite side, forming the south-west entrance, is another very lofty one, remarkable as representing the colossal profile of a man lying on his back, à la Prometheus. He has his visage towards heaven, wherein there are generally soaring vultures enough to devour him up were he a trifle less tender than volcanic granite. The features are perfect, even to the eyebrows; and a very handsome profile it makes, though it does not appear that any tropical Æschylus has yet converted the material to the humblest legendary, much less epic, purpose. On the shore ground, forming the right side of the bay, looking towards the town, there is a neat little monument, erected to the lamented lady of Colonel Cole, who died here on her way home from India. The spot where she lies is, from its quietude and seclusion, most meet for such a resting-place, there being a small, conical hill behind, with a cottage or two near, and a sprinkling of vegetation on the low ground between, serving to ‘keep her memory green’ in the mind of many an ocean voyager in his halt at this half-way house between the younger and the elder world.

This little town was thrown back sadly by the epidemic which afflicted it in 1850 and decimated the population. During its continuance Mr. Miller, one of the few English residents, did so much in assisting the inhabitants, as to elicit from the late Queen of Portugal the honour of a knighthood, in one of the first orders in her dominions. It requires no small degree of patience and philanthropy to aid the development of a place like this, labouring, as it does, under such great natural difficulties, and where everything has to be brought from a distance, there not being a tree or a blade of grass to be seen—nothing but dry, arid sand, or a burnt-up kind of soil. Undoubtedly, the heat is very great at times; and there are about three months of blowing, rainy weather, which is the only period when vessels might be subjected to inconvenience whilst coaling, as the southerly winds drive up a good deal of sea into the bay. There is an English Consul resident here, Mr. Rendall, who has done much to assist in bringing these islands into notice, and into comparative civilization; and, by so doing, has many times over reimbursed this country in the cost of his stipend of £400 a year, saying nothing of the services he has performed to shipping, in the ordinary discharge of his duties.

Cape Verds are a very numerous family of islands, called after a cape on the African coast (originally named Cabo Verde, or Green Cape, by the Portuguese) to which they lie contiguous, though at a considerable distance from each other in some cases. All are of volcanic formation—one, that of Fogo, or Fuego, once very celebrated as being visible, especially in the night time, at an immense distance at sea. The islands generally do not possess any very attractive points, being unlike Madeira and the Canaries in this respect, as well as in extent of population, that of the latter being four or five times more numerous than the others—say about 200,000 in one, 40,000 in the other case, though some statements make the inhabitants of the Verds considerably more. The islands are occasionally subject to shocks of earthquakes; and there was rather a strong one at Porto Grande the night before we left, supposed on board our vessel to be thunder, from the noise it made, though we were not aware until next day that a shock had been felt on shore. The chief product is salt, a valuable article for vessels trading to South America, though it is here manufactured by the somewhat primitive process of letting the sea-water into the lowlands, where the sun evaporates it. Though Porto Grande, in St. Vincent, is the great place for shipping, and as such almost the only place of interest for passengers in transit, Ribeira Grande, in St. Jago, the principal island, and most southerly of the group, is the chief town, though it is at Porto Playa, (often touched at by ships on the Indian voyage), that the Governor General resides, particularly in the dry season. The island second in importance, in point of size, is St. Nicholas, where are some small manufactories, in the shape of cotton-stuffs, leather, stockings, and other matters. The orchilla weed, however, is the great object of governmental interest, and its monopoly is said to yield some £60,000 per annum; the same wise policy that grasps at that interdicting the manufacture of wine, though grapes grow in profusion, and are of excellent quality for the production of a very acceptable beverage.

Before leaving Porto Grande we had the satisfaction of seeing the General Screw Company’s fine vessel, the Lady Jocelyn, arrive on the day she was due from India and the Cape of Good Hope, on her way to Southampton, with mails, and upwards of one hundred passengers. I went on board to give them the latest news from England, which was of course very acceptable, and the columns of the leading journals were eagerly devoured. In exchange I received the ‘Cape News,’ which did not contain anything very particular, all being quiet there, our old perturbed friend, Sandilli, and his ebonized insurrectionists of the hills having apparently subsided into lilies-of-the-valley of peace and philanthropy. The fine steamers belonging to the General Screw line appeared destined to convey a large portion of passengers between England and India, in preference to the overland route; and, certainly, when one could make the passage in about sixty days, direct, without change of conveyance, and with such splendid accommodation and such conveniences as these vessels afford, it was only natural that they should fill well; and a more comfortable, happy-looking group of passengers I never saw in any vessel.

But, alack for the worthlessness of such moralizings and anticipations as these. This enterprising company have been obliged to abandon their Indian contract, owing to their coaling expenses being out of all proportion to the small sum they received for conveying the mails. The Cape of Good Hope contract, too, will most likely be given up, to the great detriment of that important colony, and at the rate we are progressing, steam communication to Australia does not promise to require the coaling facilities of St. Vincent; still we are of opinion that this island must increase in importance, and that whenever coal freights revert to a moderate scale, steamers will gather there to and from the Southern Ocean.

CHAPTER IV.
CAPE ST. VINCENT TO PERNAMBUCO.—A WORD ON THE CLIMATE OF THE BRAZILS.

Progress from Porto Grande to Pernambuco.—Steam triumphs against adverse wind.—Further Superiority of Screw over Sail.—The Argentina in a South-Wester.—Apropos of Malaria, and something sanitary about Brazil.—The yellow fever: whence it comes, and what has become of it?—Quarrels about Quarantine.—Brazil in advance of the old country in these matters.

Leaving Porto Grande, we shaped our rapid course southwards, to the Brazils, across the wide expanse of ocean lying between the two continents, and in all which prodigious waste of waters there is no port of call nearer than St. Helena, latitude, 15 deg. 55 min. S., long., 5. 44 E., unless we except the turtle-famed Island of Ascension, 800 miles N.E. of the Bonapartean place of exile, which itself is 1,200 miles from the coast of Lower Guinea. The trade winds vary a good deal in their extension towards the line, and in these latitudes commence the difficulties of a sailing ship, which has to deal with calms and variable winds, blowing from all points of the compass, until such time as it catches the south-east trade, and is carried onwards. Our course lay towards Pernambuco, a place I visited for the first time upwards of thirty years back, and where I have often been since, but never in a steamer; and only those who have experienced the difference between the two modes of propulsion, wind alone and steam, can fairly appreciate the value of the latter power. In former years, 40 to 50 days were considered an average passage to Pernambuco, lately reduced to about 30 to 35 by clipper-vessels, whilst a steamer will traverse the distance easily in 20 days, including stoppages to coal, and for any other requisite purpose. The consequence is, that numbers pass to and fro, who would never do so but for the facilities thus afforded, and which afford at the same time a further evidence of the trite truth, already frequently dwelt upon, and which will have to be still more frequently repeated, before we come to a close, that steam navigation becomes the great civilizer of the world, and brings distant nations so much nearer to our own shores.

Our run from St. Vincent to Brazil was a very hard one. Losing the trade-wind the day after that on which we left the island, it was replaced by an implacable south-wester, against which our little vessel steamed vigorously, and we could barely carry fore and aft canvas. When, after eight days’ tugging we arrived at Pernambuco, there was not an hour’s coal left, a consideration which naturally rendered all on board anxious for some short time before. We shaved close past the Island of Fernando de Noronha, showing a conical hill, very like a ship under canvas at a distance. It is a penal settlement of Brazil, and considered very healthy.

Before describing other ports of call on our way to the River Plate, let us just take a glance at the Empire of Brazil, which, from its geographical position, immense fertility and internal resources, is second only in importance to the great Empire of the West—the United States of North America. And, first, in regard to that primal consideration, health, as affected by the climate—a subject on which many years’ experience in my own person, and an attentive observation of the health of various classes of Europeans in the tropics enable me to speak with as much weight as should probably attach to the opinion of the majority of non-medical men on a medical topic; and some remarks on that head in the chapter on Pernambuco will probably be found not altogether unworthy of the attention even of the faculty.

Notwithstanding its well-known heat, in common with all other countries within the tropics, and especially a country so large a portion of which is directly beneath the equator, until within the last few years Brazil has been proverbially one of the healthiest climates in the world, and European residents could indulge almost with impunity in the pleasures and luxuries of tropical life. Unfortunately yellow fever has changed all this, and rendered the vital statistics of the harbours and cities of the empire mournful catalogues of suffering and disaster, threatening serious injury to its national prosperity, if the scourge does not soon finally depart from its shores. This, it is devoutly hoped may be the case, and fortunately seems to be so at present, as far as can be augured from the reports now continued for a considerable time. During over thirty years’ acquaintance with, and frequent residence in the country, I never experienced or heard of any existing epidemic worthy of the name, or such as could not be readily accounted for; but the aspect of things, at the period of my last arrival, had sadly indeed changed, and the dread pestilence in its ravages seemed to spare neither the hardy European mariner, the native resident, the blacks, nor indeed any class of persons brought within its influence. How or from whence this mysterious visitation had arisen it was impossible to say. Some maintain that it was brought from the coast of Africa, and is a kind of retributive punishment for the iniquitous traffic in human flesh carried on so extensively in the Brazils, until lately, that the government have shown themselves determined to put it down. But those who argue in this fashion forget that the same doctrine would apply in a thousand instances at home and abroad; that the exceptions are unfortunately more numerous than the rule which would be thus set up by human presumption for the admeasurement of the justice of Omniscience; and that it is always imprudent, to say the least of it, to attempt to interpret the causes of such dispensations of Providence by our own notions of human requirement. Others deny the fever to be either epidemic or contagious, affirming that it must be induced by some peculiar atmosphere, generated, no one knows how, on the sea coast; and it certainly is curious enough that vessels have had the sickness on board, whilst coming down the coast, before even touching at a Brazilian port. Whatever be the true cause of this affliction, it ought to teach the Brazilians a lesson not to abuse the bounties of Providence, which they enjoy in almost unexampled profusion, or neglect those means of sanitary protection which are needful even in the healthiest portions of Europe. No doubt much is required to be done in this way, and not in trying to enforce stupid quarantine regulations, which only add to suffering without arresting the arm of the devastator. Indeed, the Brazilian government has shown great good sense in eschewing the absurd formalities in question, therein again exhibiting an immense superiority of intelligence over the mother country; for at Lisbon all the antiquated and superannuated encumbrances and ceremonials are rigorously exacted, though there be not even the shadow of a pretext for enforcing them; for although a ship’s bill of health may be perfectly clean, and although the ports she last sailed from may have been long known to be uninfected, still the circumstance of their having been once tainted is sufficient warrant for the Portuguese procrastinators in exacting any amount of detention that may be agreeable to their caprice, whether the vessel be sail or steamer.

THE EMPIRE OF BRAZIL.

“Stern winter smiles on this auspicious clime;

The fields are florid in eternal prime;

From the bleak pole no winds inclement blow,

Mould the round hail, or flake the fleecy snow;

But from the breezy deep the groves inhale

The fragrant murmurs of the eastern gale!”

CHAPTER V.
EMPIRE OF BRAZIL.

Rather prefatory and not very particular, though somewhat personal.—Books on Brazil should be in Mediam Viam for the present route, avoiding the Scylla of extreme succinctness and the Charybdis of needless diffuseness.—Object of the Author to attain the golden medium.—With what success, gentle reader, say?—Discovery of the country by the Portuguese. Their subsequent disputes with, and final expulsion of the Dutch.—Extent and Population; variety of soil and produce.—Difficulty of communication between the provinces and the capital, in consequence of extreme distance and imperfect means of travelling.—Extraordinary instance of the roundabout nature of news circulating in Brazil some time ago.—Steam corrective of such sluggishness.—A glance at the Brazilian littoral, beginning with the Amazon, and ending with Rio Grande do Sul.—Pará and its productions.—Rio Negro, and its recent political elevation.—Maranham and its Mercantile importance.—Laird’s steam leveller, on the singular stream of the Itapecuru.—Justice for England by Maranham Magistrates.—Piauhy and its products; also Ceara, Rio Grande do Norte, and Paraiba.—Pernambuco revisited by the writer, and welcomed with a rhythmetical sentimental something concerning ‘Long, long, ago!’

Let not the reader suppose, from the heading of this chapter, ‘Empire of Brazil,’ that he is going to encounter either a dilution or a condensation of Southey, Kidder, Weech, Mawe, Prince Adalbert, St. Hilaire, and others, who have written at great length and in many languages, on so fertile and so expansive a theme. The object of the author in this portion of the volume is merely, by presenting at a glance the position and condition of Brazil generally, to enable those who accompany him in these pages the more readily to recognize the points he is about to put hereafter as the result of his own experience, more especially with reference to the machinery of commercial matters in Brazil. It is often the fault of men very full of a particular subject themselves to take for granted that the public either know a very great deal, or wish to know everything about it. Brazil has suffered much from both these causes in European, and especially in English estimation. Those familiar with and competent to write about it, have either presumed that the public were nearly as wise as themselves, and have passed over matters of great interest, believing them to be stale and exhausted, and dwelling upon the trivialities of personal travel by way of varying a beaten track:—or, on the other hand, the exhaustive process has been applied, and historic and topographic disquisition have been employed with a minuteness that would be only tolerated in English county gazetteers or family chronicles. The consequence is that all but the student or the virtuoso in such matters have been repelled from their perusal. When the idea of writing this book occurred to the author—an idea suggested by frequent inquiries for works that should, in a brief compass, give a tolerable notion of things to be met with and that ought to be known in a route of yearly increasing importance between two quarters of the globe—it was suggested that he should steer between the two extremes just indicated. He has endeavoured to do so; and without further circumlocution, he places before the reader the means of deciding with what success.

Brazil,[38] as already noticed, was discovered by Cabral on his way to India in 1500 (although it has been asserted that the coast was visited by Martin Belem in 1484) who at first supposed it to be a large island on the coast of Africa.[39] The reports as to her mineral wealth not being at that time encouraging, little progress was made in colonizing Brazil until 1542, when the Portuguese rulers sent out Thomas de Souza as first governor, who built San Salvador, (or Bahia, as it is now called, capital of the province of the same name,) and materially aided the mission of the Jesuits in civilizing the Indian population. This Portuguese possession was afterwards disputed both by the Spaniards and the Dutch, and the latter succeeded in appropriating several of the northern provinces, viz.:—Ceara, Seregipe, Pernambuco, and Bahia, which they held for a considerable time during the 17th century, and did much towards the permanent prosperity of the country, by building forts, enlarging towns, and carrying out a number of useful public works, which remain as monuments of their laboriousness and perseverance to this day, especially in the capitals of the two last-named provinces. Much gallantry and patriotism were shown by the native Brazilian and Portuguese residents in their conflict with the Hollanders, ending in the final expulsion of the latter from the entire coast, although this event may be considered a misfortune to the country itself, in losing so industrious and painstaking a race.

The Brazilian empire extends from about 4 degrees north, to 33 degrees south, latitude; its extreme length is from 2,500 to 2,600 miles, and breadth above 2,000 at the widest part; it contains some 2,500,000 square miles of territory, comprising every variety of soil and culture, and is possessed of considerable variety of climate. Its population has been variously estimated at from six to seven millions; but no data exist from which one can form more than an approximate calculation. Out of this number, one half may be set down as slaves, and the other half mixed races, from the native-born Portuguese downwards to the pure Indian. One of the great draw-backs hitherto experienced in administering the government of the Brazils has been the distance of the towns and provinces from the metropolis, Rio Janeiro; and this has more especially applied to the northern provinces, from Pará to Pernambuco, where, owing to the almost constant prevalence of a northerly current, sailing-vessels took a very long time in getting down the coast; so that, in the absence of communication by land, the intelligence of disturbances or temporary rebellion only reached the seat of government a considerable period after the first outbreak. An extraordinary and almost incredible instance of this occurred on the occasion of the formidable revolt of the province of Pará, the first news of which was received at Rio Janeiro by way of England, sixty days after a British sailing ship had left Pará, and another recrossed the Atlantic, and anchored in the port of the Brazilian capital, no ship, within all that period, having been able to make way from Pará to Rio against the monsoon and current and wind that prevails for a great part of the year, blowing from the antarctic circle towards the equator. Perhaps the astonishment created by this state of things will, however, be triflingly mitigated if the reader will bear in mind that Brazil is as large as nearly a dozen Great Britains; and will also recollect what vagueness, incertitude, and delay characterise the receipt of intelligence in London from Constantinople and St. Petersburgh, notwithstanding special steamers, express trains, electric telegraphs, government couriers, and time-and-space-annihilating editors of innumerable newspapers, at both ends and all along the whole line of operations. Steam navigation has however in a great measure remedied this evil, as it has done so many others; and news is now regularly transmitted between Rio Janeiro and Pará by a steam company, liberally subsidized by the government, the former being bound to dispatch a vessel once a fortnight, calling at all the ports. In the absence of internal roads or communications along the coast, steam must very properly be regarded as the main-stay of the executive, at the same time that it offers the needful facility for provincial deputies attending the sittings of the Rio chambers. Steam, valuable everywhere, is invaluable here, and may, indeed, be looked upon as the great civilizer and regenerator of a country like Brazil, with a sea-coast extending nearly 4,000 miles from north to south; while other tributary lines of steamers are being established in the innumerable bays and rivers. The northernmost point is the mighty Amazon, which is being explored and opened to general traffic by another steam company, established at Rio Janeiro, and likewise aided with an ample subsidy from the government; though from the terms in which certain North American and other writers, to some of whom we shall have to allude hereafter, speak of the Brazilian authorities, it might be inferred that not a particle of enterprise of this kind is tolerated, much less encouraged. Considering that it is only 20 years since the first funnel darkened the Brazilian waters, this wonder-working agent of steam may fairly be said to be only in its infancy, and its progeny will no doubt ere long be greatly multiplied on the coast and up the vast fluvial arteries of the empire. A brief glance along the littoral boundaries of this almost boundless dominion will soon shew the transcendent importance of steam to such a region. The northernmost province of the Brazils is

Pará, with a capital of the same name, otherwise called Belem, situated on the north-eastern bank of the Amazon, 80 miles from its entrance. From the cause already assigned (distance from the seat of government) the progress of this important province, containing upwards of a million square miles, much of which is yet unknown, has been greatly retarded by civil wars and an unruly population. Its chief productions are corn, caoutchouc (or gum elastic), ipecacuanha, nuts, &c.; but there is no doubt that the navigation of the Amazon will lead to great additional sources of export, and soon render this province one of the most flourishing in the empire, as its immense fertility, miscellaneous produce, and the incalculable advantages of having the greatest river in the world traversing its entire length, so well entitle it to be. The population, of whom some ten thousand are probably Indians, amounts to about 350,000. Of their condition, and that of the province and its capital, we shall speak in detail under the head of the Amazon; as also of

Rio Negro, an internal province situated on the Amazon, and communicating with the seaport of Pará. It has only lately been raised to the dignity of a province.

Maranhao, or Maranham, or San Luiz, follows on the line of sea-coast, with a large, well-built capital, similarly named, but is not very densely populated, containing probably not more than a quarter of a million inhabitants to an area of nearly 70,000 square miles, the soil being well watered and fertile, and, like nearly the whole of the Brazilian empire, producing wood of the finest kind for almost every purpose. It has always been looked upon as a steady-going place, although its progress has not kept pace with other more favoured provinces to the southward. Its chief production is cotton, of which the export is considerable, averaging about 30,000 bags per annum, and rice and sarsaparilla also form considerable items. The town is situated on an island, some 30 miles from the coast, with rather a dangerous navigation to it, though of easy access for small vessels, a couple of forts defending the entrance. It is said to contain a population of 30,000, which is probably an exaggeration. Its buildings, however, are on a scale not unworthy of such numbers, and consist of a theatre, hospital, several convents, and schools of a very superior order. About 200 miles up the River Itapicuru is the important town of Caxias, formerly Aldeas Altas, and which, though suffering itself considerably in the civil wars of 1838-40, has nearly double the population of Maranham. Its connection with the latter has been greatly accelerated by means of a small steamer running between the two places, and called the Caxiense, built by the constructor of the Argentina, Mr. John Laird, of Birkenhead, under peculiar reservation as to her draught of water; which was not to be more than three feet, and even this appears too much for the shallow places in the river during the dry season, though she seems to have been eminently successful in other respects, and of great utility, not only in going up and down the river with freight and passengers, but also in towing vessels and small craft. The scenery on the Itapicuru is described as most romantic, the banks being high, and lined with towering trees, in many places almost meeting across. The navigation however is very uncertain and irregular, as will have been inferred from what we have said of the necessity of exceedingly shallow-bottomed steamers, in the dry season, when there is not more than from two to three feet of water in some places, whilst in the rainy season it will rise to 20 or 30 feet, inundating, or rather irrigating, the country round to some extent, and rendering it, like the Delta of the Nile, and for the same reason, uncommonly fertile, so much so, indeed, as to leave little scope for industry; for, by merely striking a few plants in the mud, two or three crops a-year can be obtained, more than sufficient for the wants of the inhabitants. On the banks of the river are many large fazendas, or estates, where cotton only was formerly grown, but they are now trying sugar likewise, and with encouraging assurance of remunerative results.

Ascending the river, the first important place arrived at is the Villa de Rosario, situated in a fertile district, and where many influential planters reside. Next in rotation are Paioul and St. Nicholas; afterwards, there comes Itapicuru-Merim, where vessels, drawing 4 feet of water can go in the driest season; but beyond the latter-named place, not more than two feet and a half. Nearly all the produce shipped at Maranham comes down this river in canoes, of about 40 tons register, carrying 300 bags of cotton; and in the dry season this voyage will take three months to perform what the steamer does now in less than four days! In the rainy season these river craft will come down much more quickly; but the average time then occupied in going up is still greater, owing to the strength of the freshes in the river, the vessel having to be hauled up by bodily force, ropes being taken from tree to tree, and requiring a crew for the purpose. This slight sketch of the difficulties attending the navigation of one of the internal rivers of the Brazils by native craft, will show what may be effected by steam, even under the most unfavourable circumstances of a very shallow stream; and what may we not expect from such a communication being established along the mighty Amazon?

Maranham was a short time back the scene of a most brutal murder of an English resident; and, to the credit of the local government, four of the miscreants concerned in it were hanged, the force of which observation will be understood by those who know the difficulty of administering justice in a country like Brazil, where, owing to the vast distance of one town from another, and the consequent difficulty of sustaining the vigilance of pursuit, and the facilities for baffling it, crimes of this nature may be expected to go long unpunished, if the perpetrators be not caught almost red-handed in the very deed of blood. The acting President of Maranham is represented as most energetic and efficient, having done much to improve the town and maintain civil order in his district. His official residence is a very fine one, and should have been mentioned among the imposing structures of the town, or rather city, for such Maranham is, at least in the English sense of the term, being the residence of a bishop, and containing an episcopal palace of considerable dimensions, and of striking architectural appearance. The place, and some of its people, still retain slight traces of its French origin, having been founded by that nation, as late as the end of the 17th century; and, it is said, that that language is better spoken in Maranham than in any other part of Brazil, the capital itself not excepted.

Piauhy.—Beyond Maranham lies the little province of this name, which has no port or outlet; but in the district of Parahyba, 100 miles to the eastward of Maranham, are extensive plains, extending over 6,000 square miles, watered by numerous rivers and covered with cattle, which can be bought exceedingly cheap. Much carne seca (dried beef) is cured here and sent to Maranham, as well as cattle, in beautiful condition. It is easy to imagine what an important element of supply this will be to other parts of the empire not so well provided, so soon as better means of transit exist. Unlike most other portions of Brazil, Piauhy is deficient in wood; but, in addition to its fine pastures, it produces in great abundance maize, millet, sugar, rice, cotton, jalap, ipecacuanha, and some silver, iron, and lead, but none of these yield anything like what may be expected when there is a population something better proportioned to the area we have named, for at present the inhabitants do not exceed 70,000. Its capital, Oeyras, has but about 3,000 inhabitants, but contains some remarkable ecclesiastical evidences of the former presence of the Jesuits.

Ceara is a very sandy district, but with a good back country where many cattle are bred, but which suffers much from occasional drought. Ceara exports a fair quantity of hides, some cotton, and fustic. The town of Aracati is situated on a picturesque river, but with a very bad bar entrance, on which several vessels have been lost; they, therefore, now generally load outside, some miles higher up the coast, where an indent admits of shelter, and to which the cotton is taken in jangadas (native craft.) Though the heat in this province is excessive in summer, the climate is nevertheless healthy. Its population is somewhat about 200,000; and gold, as well as copper, iron, and salt, is among its yet very imperfectly ascertained mineral resources. The town of Ceara is quite on the coast, and has no harbour, or protection, beyond a reef of rocks that forms a kind of breakwater, within which vessels can ride at anchor. It is a curious thing that the reef, of which this constitutes a part, extends along nearly the whole coast of Brazil, from Cape St. Roque to the Abrolhos, near Rio Janeiro, and is of the same hard coral nature. In many places an entrance through, or a break in the reef, enables vessels to get to small ports inside, and jangadas can sail along the coast, within these reefs for hundreds of miles, entirely protected from the sea, which rolls in and breaks upon them with a deafening noise.

Rio Grande do Norte, a name derived from the river which, after an east course, enters the Atlantic at Natal, its capital, possesses a good harbour, but has little direct trade, procuring its supplies chiefly from Pernambuco. Compared with any of the provinces already spoken of, it is well peopled, there being about 140,000 inhabitants to 32,000 square miles. A few cargoes of Brazil wood were formerly shipped here, being the best quality produced in the whole empire, and prized accordingly, till it fell into disrepute from the causes we have already specified, in speaking of that once-prized ingredient in the art of dyeing. Like Piauhy, Rio Grande do Norte is favourable to cattle-rearing; but exports of that kind, in the shape of hides, tallow, or jerked beef, are scanty, because of the paucity of means of transport.

Paraiba is a very fertile province, bordering on that of Pernambuco, and vastly better peopled than the one last described, as it has a population of 70,000 to an area of 9,000 square miles; and cattle of European breeds are raised in considerable numbers with great facility. There is a fine river, some 20 miles in length, leading up to the town, of the same name as the province, where vessels can load alongside the trapixes. The bar entrance is rather intricate, but there is very good anchorage just inside. Paraiba exports largely of cotton, and also of sugar and hides. The upper city is extensive, with large, well-built houses; while the lower, or commercial part of the town, is also extremely good, possessing a splendid Government warehouse, and the whole indicating quondam prosperity, as well as affording additional proof of the industry and perseverance of the Dutch, who formerly held this province in conjunction with Pernambuco. The treasury, in particular, is considered a very fine building; its educational establishments are also excellent; and in the neighbourhood of the town are some of the best-managed coffee plantations probably in the empire.

Pernambuco.—We now approach the most flourishing and remarkable province in the Brazils, upon which the writer hopes he may be pardoned if he descant at some length, as a place intimately mixed up with all his boyish ideas and first impressions; where he spent many happy days, and always returned with considerable pleasure, although, on this occasion, alas! very few of the old familiar faces he once knew any longer arrested his vision, as he cast his eye along the well-known mart and into the well-remembered homes of other days; for a quarter of a century makes a terrible void indeed in the limited ranks of one’s countrymen who take up their abode in such places.

Musical the rippling

Of the tardy current,

Musical the murmur

Of the wind-swept trees,

Musical the cadence

Of the friendly voices,

Laden with the sweetness

Of the songs of old.

ENTRANCE TO PERNAMBUCO HARBOUR.

Transcriber’s Note: map can be clicked for a larger version.

PART OF THE EMPIRE OF BRAZIL, Shewing the Line of the Projected Railway & Navigable Upper Level of the RIVER SAN FRANCISCO.

S Straker lith. 80 Bishopsgate St. London.

CHAPTER VI.
PERNAMBUCO.

‘That Strain Again!’—‘It hath a dying fall.’—‘Auld Lang Syne, or ’tis thirty years ago.’—Aspect of Pernambuco from the Sea.—Tripartite division of the City, Recife, St. Antonio, and Boa Vista.—Note on the old town of Olinda and its new namesake, the late steamer No. 2 of this A 1 line.—March of improvement by land and sea, in respect to ships and city.—Such Brazilian progress a lesson for West Indians.—Frugality and personal activity on the one hand, prodigality and vicarial mismanagement on the other, being the real difference between the position of the planters in either place.—Sugar Manufacturing improvements.—De Mornay’s Patent Cane Crushing Mill, and its Merits.—Appreciation of the invention in the West Indies as well as Brazil.—Exports of Pernambuco to United States.—Political and Martial feeling of the Pernambucanos.—Peculiarities of the Population, soil, and produce.—Unique effects of rain and drought in the Matta.—Hygienic hints to the consumptive and the yellow feverish.—Initiation of the Railway Era, by the De Mornays, in Pernambuco.—Immense importance of the proposed line, and certainty of its success, sustained by British Capital, and specially supported by the Emperor personally, and the Brazilian executive.—Mr. Borthwick’s report on the project.—The writer’s anticipation that it will be successful, and expectation that the reader will approve of his suggestion for making it so.—Note on Planters’ life in America.

PERNAMBUCO.

It is a trite remark, that there is probably no more permanent or abiding impression on the mind than that created by first visiting a country, whose climate, people, habits, and ideas, differ essentially from those we have been brought up with and are accustomed to regard as a part of our nature. After a lapse of more than thirty years, the sensations I experienced on my first arrival here are as fresh in my memory as if occurring only yesterday. The voyage, which occupied no less than fifty-six days; the eager anxiety for a sight of land; the first view of the foreign port and outlandish looking craft; and then the pilot coming on board with a crew of blacks, seen for the first time; the debarkation amongst strange faces of every possible shade of colour; with the curiously formed streets and singular houses, filled with a population of hues so different from that left behind—every one apparently shouting at the top of their voices; whilst hundreds of rainbow-tinted parrots, and harlequin-skinned animals, more numerous than the managerial knowledge of a boy of fifteen believed had ever appeared out of the Ark, all helped to aggravate the preternatural a perpetual din—the whole scene, as may be imagined, being such as to become indelibly engraven on such a spectator for the remainder of his life. It was a season of eager curiosity and enjoyment. ‘Youth at the prow and Pleasure at the helm’ look only to the bright side of life’s river; but neither time nor distance has since dimmed the halo that seemed then to environ the portals of this first launch into active being. Tempora mutantur et nos mutamur in illis; still the characteristic peculiarities of a new country and new scenes remain fixed in our minds, as if no change had ever come over the spirit of our dream; and such is Pernambuco still to me, though in many respects greatly improved, altered, and enlarged, as I shall proceed to show forthwith.

Approaching Pernambuco from the main, it appears, like Venice, to rise gradually out of the waters, though, unlike the ‘Sea Cybele, fresh from ocean,’ we cannot perhaps exactly descry her ‘tiara of proud towers,’ at least in the sense applied to the mistress of the Mediterranean; but still the reality of the resemblance is quite sufficient to justify the comparison. You first discern church-steeples, domes, lofty houses, glittering in the sun; then shipping, and the general features of a commercial town, become visible. The harbour is quite a natural one, formed by a reef of coral rocks, already described as running along nearly the whole extent of the Brazilian coast, and supposed to be continued inland, where the coast projects beyond the line of the reef. At Pernambuco it has positively all the appearance of a wall some yards wide, just as if erected by the industry of man, and extending along the whole sea-front of the town, breaking off the swell of the ocean, and leaving the water in the harbour or creeks perfectly smooth, except sometimes at high water, and at periods of high tide, when the sea, finding its way over the reef, causes a little bubbling inside. The entrance is through a kind of break in the reef, which also forms the mouth of a river, intersecting the town, but not going any great distance inland;—passing through and rounding the reef, in an instant you are in smooth water, and in Pernambuco harbour. The width of the passage is not much above 200 yards, taken from the reef to the shore, and this is lined with quays and wharves, which have been much extended of late years, and a dredging-machine is now constantly at work, deepening the channels, which are influenced by the current and freshes of the river. The bar formerly allowed only of the passage of vessels drawing 14 feet, but, they say, it is now quite safe for those of 15 to 15½ feet; and hopes are entertained that it can be deepened so as to admit the largest class of vessels, which would be a boon of immense importance to the place.

The town, or city, of Pernambuco is divided into three compartments:—the first, called the Recife (literally Reef), being that directly opposite the reef, and where most of the foreign commercial firms are located; crossing a wooden bridge, is St. Antonio, inhabited chiefly by shopkeepers; and a well-built and extensive compartment further on is Boa Vista, to which you cross by another long wooden bridge, but protected with a light iron railing at the sides. The river runs under these bridges very rapidly at times, and with a snake-like course, almost insulating the two first divisions. From Boa Vista good roads branch off to the country, and a new one has latterly been made to Olinda[40] along the margin of the river, lighted with lamps, &c., a very useful and praiseworthy undertaking on the part of the government.

The town is generally well-built; lofty houses whitewashed, with red tiles, and plenty of verandahs, and windows to admit the cool breezes; and for miles in every direction, towards the interior, are comfortable villas, some very large, and constructed with considerable taste. When I first came here in 1821 only two or three carriages existed in the place, old-fashioned ones belonging to equally old-fashioned Portuguese, and I should suppose something like the ‘dormeuse’ of the Grand Prior of Alcobaça, so graphically described by Beckford, when he travelled with that dignitary to the grand abbey of Batalha [vide Lisbon, page 36]; now there are some 200 vehicles, of all sorts and sizes, and many very good ones for hire, besides those belonging to private individuals; and no doubt taste and luxury would be still more extended in this direction if it were not for the narrow archways through which the Recife is traversed.

In all respects, Pernambuco has been not only a thriving but an improving place, so much so that one who would visit it now for the first time could hardly believe it to be the same town of which Koster, a comparatively short time ago, said that the shops were without windows, light being admitted only by the door, and that there were no distinctions of trades, and no municipal regulations worthy of being so called. Extensive waterworks have been constructed, which bring good water some distance to the town; and doubtless, in a few years, it will be lighted with gas. A bank has been established on a safe and respectable footing; and the merchants have their news-room, as a sort of rendezvous for business, instead of an Exchange, whilst extensive quays have been formed on the margin of the rivers that would serve as models for the conservators of ‘Father Thames.’

The increased production of sugar is something marvellous; from 10,000 tons in 1821 to nearly 70,000 during the last year, with the certainty of a still further progressive increase. And this circumstance is adduced as an argument, by the old West Indian interest, to show the great injustice of our present Free-trade system, which, they say, encourages the production of slave to the detriment of free labour. In this instance, however, the assertion is quite fallacious; for the truth is, that whilst this province is the most fertile one in the empire, fewer slaves have been imported into it than into any other. There is, moreover, a large coloured population, a considerable portion of them being analogous to the yeoman class amongst us. The owners of more extensive properties are industrious and enterprising, and not burthened with debts and mortgages, as in the West Indies; they farm their own estates, so to speak, and live amongst their labourers, overcoming local difficulties that would daunt paid agents and attorneys such as swarmed in Jamaica and all the adjacent islands during the period of their prosperity. This is the secret of the well-doing of Brazil, and not the alteration in our fiscal system, although the latter has no doubt acted as a stimulus to the South American planter to increase his productions, by which he is enabled to consume more of our manufactures.

Whether we consider the frugal habits of the planters of Pernambuco, their unremitting attention to their occupation, or their enterprising disposition, we shall arrive at the conclusion that, aided by a soil and climate second to none in their powers of production, they will very soon take the lead among the sugar-producing countries; indeed, the excellent improvements introduced by them within a few years upon the old methods of manufacture will go far to give them that preëminence. Among such recent improvements I may here more particularly mention that of a very practical centrifugal machine, constructed principally of wood, and manufactured in the country. Mr. Eustaquio Vellozo de Silveira has, on his estate, Rainha dos Anjos, one of these centrifugals at work, and with the best results. A most intelligent and much respected member of the General Legislative Assembly, Dr. Domingos de Souza Leao, (to whom I had the pleasure of being introduced at a ball, in Rio Janeiro, and of dancing with his sister-in-law), ordered for his estate, Carauna, in 1851, the first mill of an entirely new patent for crushing the canes, invented by the Messrs. De Mornay. This cane mill is very simple in its construction; and the owner affirms that it gives a much more powerful pressure to the canes than the old mills. Several others on the same patent have since been put up in that province, which have proved quite successful; and it is only this year that others of the same description will be erected in the West Indies, the planters of these islands having been made acquainted with the result of the experiments in Brazil. A very large portion of Brazilian produce, both sugar and coffee, is consumed on the continent of Europe and in the United States, as appears by the returns for 1853, at the end of the chapter on Rio Janeiro.

It will thus be seen that we are not the only customers of Brazil, and that it is a mere fallacy to attribute its prosperity to our legislative measures, although the latter were acts of common justice to our growing trade with the country, as well as to our own over-taxed population. Until the West Indian Islands can exist on principles similar to those established in Brazil, it is idle to suppose that there can be any permanent or rational prosperity in connection with them.

We have said that the province of Pernambuco has long been noted as the most go-a-head and enterprising of the empire; and the same spirit that has led to these results has also been the cause of much political feeling. Several revolutions have occurred here that threatened a dismemberment of the state; the first, during the old regime of the Portuguese in 1817, followed by another very serious affair in 1824, when Manuel Carvalho assumed the dictatorship of the province; and a considerable land and sea force had to be sent there before the revolution could be repressed, the port being blockaded by the Brazilian squadron, under Commodore Taylor, for about six months. Other outbreaks have taken place, attended with much bloodshed, the last in 1848, when the town had a narrow escape from falling into the hands of a set of miscreants, who would first have pillaged and then devastated it with fire and sword; fortunately for the province, their leader, a man of talent and influence, was killed in the outskirts, of the town, and a salutary example set by the punishment of his followers. Since then the province has remained perfectly quiet, and apparently with every prospect of continuing so.

The Pernambucanos, as the inhabitants of this province are termed, have always evinced a martial spirit, commencing with their determined and successful resistance to the Dutch in the 17th century; and it was undoubtedly owing to them that that people were finally expelled. Still, this bellicose feeling is apt to endanger internal tranquillity, when turned in a wrong direction. Happily, the wish to trade and make money seems now to be the predominant sentiment, and we must hope that it will continue to influence the inhabitants.

Like all the other provinces, Pernambuco is governed by a President, selected by the Government at Rio, generally some man of influence residing in the district; and there is a provincial assembly appointed to act under him, as also a municipal and other bodies elected for the local management of the towns.

The coloured and free population of Pernambuco amounts to about 650,000, and the slave races to about 100,000; of the former, 250,000 inhabit towns, and the remainder follow agricultural pursuits. The slaves are about equally divided between town and country. There is a striking difference between the people inhabiting that part of the province nearest to the sea and those living far in the interior; and not only do the people differ in appearance and manners, but the districts differ totally in character and in climate. The sea board, in some parts as far inland as 50 miles, goes under the denomination of the ‘Matta,’ or forest country, and above that it is called Catinga, or Sertao; Catinga, is the name of a peculiar growth of herbage which there abounds, and Sertao means literally desert, applied to this district on account of the peculiar nature of the country, which, being open and unwooded, has an appearance to warrant such a name. The Sertao is, nevertheless, far from being, as the name might lead one to infer, a barren waste, but, on the contrary, the vegetation surprises even those who, born in the ‘Matta,’ have been nurtured among the wonders of the tropical vegetable kingdom. In 1846, two years of drought had driven thousands to seek for food and water in the ‘Matta,’ and had spread desolation and death among thousands of those who remained; and the cotton planters, in the hope of more abundant showers, opened and planted with fresh cotton plants new lands every year, on the first appearance of rain. But they were doomed in each successive season to disappointment, for the little moisture that fell was in each case but sufficient to make the plants germinate, until the return of hot and dry weather parched both ground and foliage. On the third year copious rain fell, and although the young plants of former years had been literally toasted, and the leaves, together with those of all the trees and grass throughout the country, had long fallen to the ground, and might be discerned in heaps where they had been whirled by eddies of wind, looking more like mounds of snuff than foliage of trees, the rain had hardly slaked the thirsty ground, when all the plants, even those longest in the ground, showed signs of vigour in green buds that developed themselves; and pasture land that had been converted into bare earth by the incessant rays of a scorching sun, was, as by magic, from one day to another, converted into fields of the most delicate verdure.

These distressing droughts in the Sertao are now of far more frequent occurrence than formerly, and they are attributable to the fatal practice of clearing and burning large tracts of timber country for the plantation of cotton and maize; for, owing to the peculiar nature of the soil, this land never again becomes wooded; and, being soon unfit for tillage, it is converted into pasture land, and devoted to the grazing of horned cattle and horses. The ‘Matta’ is not subject to a dearth of rain, because, unlike the ‘Sertao,’ it is still covered by the most magnificent forests; and what is worthy of remark is, that here, unlike the former district, the land after clearing becomes again clothed with dense wood, although of an entirely different species to that felled in the first instance. The primitive forest is called ‘Matta Virgem,’ and that of second growth ‘Capoeira.’

There is little difference in the temperature of the two districts of which we have been speaking; perhaps the sun in the ‘Sertao’ is more powerful than in the ‘Matta.’ In the shade in either place it rarely exceeds 85 degrees of Farenheit; but the average heat for the 24 hours in the ‘Sertao’ is considerably below that of the ‘Matta.’ The former, however, has a totally different climate to the latter; while that is dry, and peculiarly healthy, this is humid, and produces in natives and foreigners both remittent and intermittent fever. The ‘Sertanejos’ are a remarkably fine and healthy race; but those of the ‘Matta,’ weak and sickly.

A very singular circumstance attended the visitation of the yellow fever to the seaport towns of this province some years back; viz.:—that it proved as fatal to the ‘Sertanejos,’ who came down to the coast, as to Europeans freshly arrived by sea from cold climates. Another remarkable point about the climate of the ‘Sertao,’ and one that is deserving of the attention of English physicians is, that the most surprising relief is experienced by consumptive patients, who are sent there from the coast by the native doctors, on breathing the exhilarating air of this peculiar climate. I have heard of numerous cases of men going up apparently in the last stage of the complaint, and in a few weeks becoming quite strong, and so stout that they could not get on the clothes they had taken with them.

The most vital question affecting the development of the resources of Brazil just now is the promotion of railway undertakings. The first movement has been made at Rio Janeiro, where a short line of about ten miles opens a communication between the city and Petropolis, a thriving little establishment up the mountains, where the Emperor has a palace. Other extensive lines are projected from Rio; but as regards local advancement, that from Pernambuco, southwards, offers the strongest inducement to individual enterprise, and there is every chance of this one being at once proceeded with; for the design was conceived and the plan matured by accomplished English engineers, long resident in Brazil, though principally occupied in pursuits of the kind mentioned in connection with improvements in sugar plantations. Such plans have been revised and approved of by a distinguished consulting engineer, expressly despatched by British capitalists for that purpose from London; and on the strength of whose report (to be referred to presently) the necessary funds for all preliminaries are being advanced; and, lastly, the Imperial Government of Brazil has made the most liberal concessions on behalf of the project, in which the Emperor has personally most warmly interested himself, having examined the whole of the drawings pertaining to it with that minute, and, it might be almost said, intimate practical or professional knowledge which his Majesty, as is well known, brings to bear on all investigations of the kind, being probably the best informed prince living in the theory of scientific pursuits and in general literature, as we shall have occasion to mention when speaking of the Court of Rio in the next chapter but one.

In order to understand the difficulties of transit here, it must be borne in mind that nearly every article of import and export has to be conveyed on the backs of horses to and from the towns, as mentioned; so that the expense of transport, when the distance to be traversed is considerable, is often equal to the value of the article conveyed.

The proposed Pernambuco Railway is to have three divisions:—1st, from the city to Agua Preta, a distance of 75 miles, and comprising within its range some 300 sugar estates; 2nd, from Agua Preta to Garanhuns, a distance of 85 miles, passing through an extensive cotton district; 3rdly, from Garanhuns to Paulo Affonso, the falls of the great river San Francisco, 100 miles, a fine and extensive cattle district. The total distance would thus be 360 miles; but it is only intended to commence with the first division of the line, which will afford immense convenience to the planters and others brought within its scope, enabling them to send their produce to market at a moderate cost, and to keep the men, at present required to accompany the horses, employed in valuable labour on the spot. Moreover, the planters and their families will then travel backwards and forwards much more frequently between their estates and the city, transact their business, and make their own purchases, whilst the great internal resources of the country will be brought into play, and all will be large gainers by the facilities thus afforded. The ground is in general favourable for the construction of the railway; there are few rivers to cross, none of them deep, whilst there is a population computed at 60,000 free persons (white and coloured) and 15,000 blacks, besides some 50,000 inhabitants of villages, &c., that will be brought within the scope, without taking into consideration the population of Pernambuco itself, which is about 100,000. It is, therefore, clear that few countries possess such strong inducements for the establishment of railway communication as Brazil; for at present she is destitute of internal roads, at the same time that she teems with valuable natural productions, and a healthy vigorous population. It is, in fact, quite a virgin country in many respects, and capable of infinite developement in resources, commerce, and their natural concomitant, wealth.

Mr. Borthwick in his admirable report, in the course of which he pays a high and deserved compliment to the Messrs. De Mornay, who first broached the scheme, and subsequently most carefully surveyed the ground of the section for which they have obtained the concession, viz., from Recife to Agua Preta, says, that a grand internal communication between the capital and the most thriving provinces is of such obvious importance as to be only a question of time, and the way is pointed out by the natural facilities of the San Francisco, extending for so great a distance, and serving so large and rich a territory.

Some idea may be formed of the immense importance of the connection, by means of a railroad, of the River San Francisco, at some point above the falls of Paulo Affonco, with the seaport of the Recife, by referring to the accompanying map, showing the course of that majestic river. From the rapids, in connection with the Falls, this river is navigable to the bar of the Rio das Velhas, in the heart of the province of Minas Geraes, a distance of more than 700 miles; numerous considerable tributary rivers increase the extent of continuous navigation to nearly 2,000 miles. A large portion of the commerce of Minas Geraes, all that of Goiaz, and Matto Grosso, and much of Piauhi, Bahia, and Pernambuco, would be conveyed by this new channel, increasing, in an incredible manner, the present trade, and developing sources of wealth and profit at present totally unknown or unheeded.

The enlightened views of the Brazilian government point to an early consummation of these great arteries of prosperity and riches, so soon as political and monetary affairs in this country become settled. It has wisely undertaken to guarantee a certain per centage on the outlay necessary for making the lines, until such time as they are self-paying, of which no reasonable doubt can exist in the mind of any one who has studied the question fully and fairly. But even supposing this not to be the case, and the government had to incur a permanent guarantee for the construction of the lines, the return in other ways, and the direct and positive benefit conferred by them on the population, are too obvious to require comment. Steam navigation and railways are, as already repeatedly observed, the great desiderata of the empire of Brazil; and, in now taking my leave of Pernambuco, I devoutly hope, if ever I revisit the place, to find these potent civilizers of mankind in active operation. It must not be lost sight of by those who may be dubious as to the success of railway enterprise in such a country, that the inhabitants are a very social, travelling people; that there is a great intermingling of families in the provinces that would be sure to give rise to constant excursions by rail, to and fro, between given points; and, in fact, that all the elements of railway success are at present to be found, only awaiting the appearance of the lines which would successively call them into operation.

CHORA MENINAS—THE PLACE OF THE WAILING CHILDREN.

Note to the Second Illustration.—Domestic Life among the Brazilian Planters.—Chora Meninas, the place represented in the second of the larger sketches in this chapter on Pernambuco, is in the environs of the city of the Recife, situated at an angle formed by two high roads, both leading to localities much liked by the foreign merchants, and consequently selected by them for their country residences. The road shown in the engraving leads to the Magdalena Bridge, over the river Capibaribe, beyond which the Sitios, or country houses, thickly scattered on either side, with their mango, bread-fruits and orange trees, and their fragrant flowery shrubs, convey to the stranger most pleasing sensations as he rides leisurely past them. The other road turn to the right of Chora Meninas, and passing the Manguinho, leads to the Ponte d’Uchoa, the other locality much frequented by foreigners. The two places lie, indeed, in the vicinity of the same river, the Capibaribe, the one on the right bank, and the other on the left. Chora Meninas means, literally, the Place of Wailing Infants, an appellation given to it from the spot having been the scene of much bloodshed in a civil conflict in times gone by, when the children of the slain filled the air with their lamentations over the bodies that strewed the ground. The edifice shown in the sketch was once the dwelling house of the owner of a sugar factory situated on that spot, and the chapel was erected by the planter. The buildings are old, and it is many years since the plantations of canes have been discontinued there, as suburbs of the increasing city of Pernambuco have encroached upon the lands. No vestige even now remains of the out-buildings, once destined for the manufacture of the sugar. The dwelling and chapel are built in the ancient Portuguese style, and exhibit signs of Moorish architecture in various parts. The house is a very good sample of many to be found upon the old sugar estates that are in the hands of rustic proprietors, who are very far behind in all those things that indicate an advanced state of civilization. The low roofs, the small unglazed windows, situated under the very eaves of the building, the lean-to roof over a long veranda, the unceiled rooms, the uninhabited ground-floor, partly used for store rooms, and partly abandoned to toads and serpents, and to the sheep and goats, which, as well as a decrepid ox or two, will, at times, enter by the doorless apertures to procure shelter from the heavy tropical rains,—all are characteristics of many of the residences of the less educated planters, who were born and bred to the occupation of cane-planting, as their fathers and grandfathers were before them. If some old and comfortless brick building does not exist upon the estate, you will find the planter domiciled in an edifice of his own constructing. It will then consist of but few rooms, all on the ground-floor. These will not be ceiled, neither will the partition walls be carried up to the roof, so that in one apartment everything is overheard that passes in the others. Often has the writer of this note had to occupy for the night one of these small partitions, without even a window or aperture to admit the light, and has had to listen to many a curtain lecture, while lying on a camp bedstead or stretcher, rolled up in a piece of printed calico in his uncomfortable dormitory. The following is a specimen of many occurrences of the kind that may be witnessed by a traveller when quartered at such plantations.—Wife. Zuza, have you bolted the strangers in? Planter. No, I forgot it; but never mind. Wife. Never mind, indeed! but I do mind. Gertruda! Black Girl. Nhora! (meaning senhora). Wife. Get up, and bolt the door in the passage leading to the stranger’s room. Black Girl. Nhora, sim, (meaning, sim, senhora.) Pause, during which the stranger hears somebody in his room, and heavy articles being moved across the floor, and he asks who is there? Wife. Gertruda, you baggage! what are you doing? Why don’t you bolt the door? Gertruda. There are some things in the way, and I can’t shut it.—A pack saddle, two panniers full of dried beef, and half a cask of salt cod-fish have been lying near the door, inside the unfortunate stranger’s room, the aroma from the beef and fish being more intolerable than any one not having slept under similar circumstances can possibly conceive. At last the impediments are removed, the door is heard to close, the bolts are drawn, and the stranger would compose himself to sleep, in spite of what has passed, of beef and fish, but he is still irritated by the lady avowing to the unfortunate slave that she is a shameless hussy, and that a dozen blows with the palmatorio in the morning will no doubt improve her morals and her agility.

The meals and other domestic arrangements on these plantations are of a piece with the dwelling. The dinner is served to the stranger and the male members of the family only, and consists of broth and a portion of the contents of the above-mentioned panniers, with perhaps the addition of a little fresh beef; but this, having been several hours on the fire to make the broth, is not easily separated from the other. This dish fills a plate to the very outside, and is well piled up, and another plate equally well filled with pirao, made of manioc flour, mixed with some of the broth, and formed into an unctuous sort of pudding. Besides these two dishes, which constitute the most important part of the meal, there will be a plate containing some of the contents of the cask baked on the embers, and two small plates, one containing bruised chili peppers, lime juice, and broth, as sauce for the beef, and the other some of the peppers, oil, vinegar, raw small onions, and garlic sliced, as sauce for the cod fish. Dessert will consist of bananas, Dutch cheese, and guava, potato, or other sweets. All help themselves with their own knives and forks, when they have such things, sometimes the guest only being supplied with them, because he is a foreigner. In the latter case the rest help themselves with the apparatus nature gave them. It is done thus: each has a plate near him, and the meat, pirao, and sauces remain in the middle of the table. They draw from the dish a portion of the meat which they lay in their respective plates; this is subdivided by hand. With the ends of the fingers each then scoops out a piece of pirao, about as big as a hen’s egg, a shred of the beef is laid into the hot sauce and withdrawn; and the two having been a little worked up together with the ends of the fingers and the palm of the same hand until they are tolerably incorporated, the elongated bolus is conveyed to the mouth and swallowed in a manner that would probably astonish a Neapolitan macaroni eater, and certainly astounds everybody else who witnesses it for the first time.

The class of Brazilians of whose mode of living the foregoing conveys a slight idea is fast disappearing before the rapid strides that civilization is making in the country. The majority of the planters of the present day are intelligent, and free from most of the prejudices inherited from the old Portuguese settlers. Many of the landed proprietors live in large, well-built houses, keep excellent tables, and, indeed, are generally of high acquirements, some having received a university education, and mixed in the first circles in Europe, and at the court of Rio Janeiro, assimilating in a great measure to the squatters in Australia, or the landowners in New Zealand, many of whom, as is well known, consist of cadets and collateral branches of the noblest and most ancient families of the United Kingdom.

The hospitality of the Brazilians to strangers, and their attentions particularly to Englishmen, when travelling in their country, are remarkable. They have got the notion that all Englishmen imbibe wine, brandy, and beer largely; and it is unfortunately but too true that what they have witnessed during their intercourse with our islanders in some measure warrants the conclusion they have come to. They always expressed the greatest astonishment when the writer refused to take wine except at dinner; and when they found that he never took their new harsh rum, or worse liqueurs, they exclaimed ‘Nao hé Inglez!’ When a man is very drunk they say he is Bem Inglez; and a dram they call, huma baieta Ingleza—an English wrapper. Some further particulars relative to domestic life among the planters, and among various grades of the Brazilians, will be found in a note somewhat similar to this appended to the chapter on Bahia; but, as partially helping to complete the foregoing picture of a Brazilian interior and menage, I select the following from a German work published in the course of the present year, entitled ‘Reise nach Brasilien,’ by D. Hermann Burmeister, the original of which I have not seen, and am therefore indebted to a review in the ‘Athenæum,’ of last month, for a translation of the extract:—

At sunrise, the family is awake. The servant, or (where there is none) the housewife lights the fire, and boils the coffee, which, though prepared in a peculiar manner, is always excellent. The raw sugar and the unroasted berries are stirred together and roasted in a covered pan, so that when the sugar melts and cools it forms a tough mass with the berries. A spoonful of this is pounded in a mortar and put into a linen bag. Boiling water is then poured upon it, cups are held underneath, and the beverage is ready. Coffee-pots are not used, but the cups are made separately, and handed about on a salver: they are small, and without handles. Milk is only added in the morning; in the evening the coffee is taken without it. The hour for breakfast is ten o’clock; black beans, porridge (angù), dried meat, meal (farinha), bacon (toucinho), cabbage, rice, and even a fowl, when the entertainment is of a superior kind, are served up. Everyone eats what he pleases, the same plate being used at once for everything. The host and his guests sit at the table to their meal, while the wife remains without, and looks on, eating apart. When these have finished, the slaves and servants take their turn. Now come the occupations of the day. The wife goes to her work, that is to say, she mends her own, her husband’s, and her children’s clothes, while the man goes out to walk, or to game, or to gossip on the highway. At three or four o’clock, there is a fresh repast of the same kind as the other. They eat heartily, drinking water either alone, or mixed with a little brandy, and soon after dinner take a cup of coffee. After this comes the period of repose, during the hottest hours of the day, and then comes another walk, which generally lasts till late at night. Between five and six o’clock, the ladies call upon their friends, accompanied by a black female servant. Some families take a third meal between seven and eight o’clock, but this is an exception.

INTERIOR OF THE MILL HOUSE OF THE ‘CARAUNA’ SUGAR ESTATE, IN PERNAMBUCO, BELONGING TO DR. DOMINGOS DE SOUZA LEAO; SHOWING DE MORNAY’S PATENT CANE MILL.

CHAPTER VII.
ALAGOAS AND SEREGIPE.

Area, Products, and Population of Alagoas.—Maceio, the principal Seaport.—Rivers navigable only by boats, except the San Francisco.—Cataract on the same, at the famous Falls of Affonso; a new sight for Used Up travellers in search of the picturesque in the tropics.—Primitive condition of the Province of Seregipe, and prospects of rapid improvement through Railways.

The adjoining province to Pernambuco is that of Alagoas, so called from lakes situated a short distance from the coast, and where the capital of the province was originally placed; but latterly the shipping port of Maceio has been preferred, and it has grown into a flourishing little town, where a good deal of produce is cleared. It is built on the gentle slope of a hill, a short distance from the bay or harbour, formed, like all others in Brazil, by a reef of coral rocks, inside of which a vessel rides in safety with plenty of water. Its exports first in importance are cotton, and sugar, and then hides. With the exception of the Reconvavo of Bahia, there is probably no part of Brazil so populous as the greater part of this province, which, embracing an area of about 150 by 60 miles, has a population of fully a quarter of a million, chiefly addicted to agriculture, here prosecuted with great success, as the soil is most rich, yielding nearly every Brazilian produce in great profusion; but tobacco, once a prime staple, is falling off, owing to the cessation of imported slave labour; cotton is now fast taking its place, and its cultivation is being followed most encouragingly, common cotton cloth being also made in most of the houses, though the manufactured article is imported, with trifling exceptions. There are numerous rivers in the province, but none of them navigable for any distance, except by boats, in the construction of which the inhabitants greatly excel. In this province is the famous cataract of Paulo Affonso, over which the River San Francisco is precipitated a perpendicular height of fifty feet, one of the grandest sights in nature; and we look forward with confidence to the time when it will be a familiar sight also to the western traveller, as the projected railway from Pernambuco, after traversing nearly the whole province, is to terminate almost at the very foot of the Falls. Of all the provinces of the great empire of Brazil there is none probably that may calculate with greater certainty on a more rapid augmentation of its prosperity from railroads than Alagoas, as nearly all the traffic is now conducted on horse-back and in a species of canoe; and as the productiveness and variety of the soil are vast, correspondingly large will be the result of affording the numerous population the means of transport. The town of Alagoas itself contains about 14,000 inhabitants, and possesses some good educational and large religious establishments, being situate in the midst of an agreeable and fertile country, surrounded by some of the finest timber-trees in the empire, the province yielding to none in the quality or quantity of its forest produce, inclusive of Brazil wood.

Seregipe, contiguous to, is also a good deal mixed up with Alagoas. They are both intersected by the great river San Francisco, which, though it might be made navigable for hundreds of miles above the falls of the same name, and be rendered a source of valuable commerce, is navigable only by small smacks for a comparatively very short distance from the sea, all goods destined for the interior farther up having to be carried on the backs of horses to another part of the river, and there put on board jojos, that is, two or more canoes lashed together, and traversed at top by a piece of board. It is worth remarking, that in ascending this river, and indeed most rivers on this coast, the wind blows up for some two hours continuously, which admits of sails being used, and the descent is easily effected by the current without the wind, which blows downwards for nearly the same space of time towards the coast. The area of Seregipe is estimated at 18,000 square miles, the population at about 200,000. This province is likewise very productive, especially in fine timber, though vast tracts are still altogether uncultivated, but very large herds of cattle prosper on the fine pastures which everywhere abound. The principal town is Sao Christovao, but is not of importance, sufficient to require any detailed notice, or to detain us from the large and important town and province we next proceed to, viz., Bahia.

CHAPTER VIII.
BAHIA.

Bahia, its old name retained in a new place: the province and the city; present condition and splendid prospect of both.—Intra-mural peculiarities and Extra-mural properties.—Prolific sugar produce.—Historic, artistic, and archæological attractions of Bahia.—Souvenirs of the Jesuits.—Relics of St. Ignatius Loyola and St. Francis Xavier.—A Bahian church built in Europe.—British Bahian clergyman and local railways.—Health of the city.—A Brazilian poet warbling native wood-notes very wild.—Necessity for keeping a nautical eye in fine frenzy rolling towards the Abrolhos.—Departure from Bahia.—Approach to the Brazilian capital, and untoward preliminary to the Argentina’s acquaintance therewith.—Stray notes on Bahia, containing memoranda on Brazilian matters in general.

Note to the Illustrations.—Both the illustrations in this chapter are copied from ‘Sketches in South America,’ by Sir W. Gore Ouseley, who, in a letter-press ‘Key’ to his beautiful portfolio of drawings, affords some interesting particulars, of which the annexed is an abridgment:—The first remarkable object in approaching the harbour of Bahia is the Fort of St. Antonio, situated on the point of a rock, forming the extremity of the Cape called after that saint. It is not large, but it is a fair specimen of the numerous solidly-constructed stone forts that have been scattered by the Portuguese (and Spaniards) throughout their colonial possessions, wherever deemed necessary for purposes of defence or aggression, and which bear witness, in their well-built walls, and often handsome details, to the ample means, military skill, and power, that backed the zeal of the first settlers in South America, and founded the Brazilian empire. Fort St. Antonio has on its highest part a light-house, of great service to mariners in making the port at night, as there are shoals off the point. Opposite to Cape St. Antonio is a long low island, called Itaparicá, between which and the port is the channel for large vessels. The scenery near Bahia does not present the striking features that distinguish Rio de Janeiro; it has neither the well-wooded hills nor the lofty precipitous rocks that environ the capital of Brazil. It is, however, very pretty, varied by small hills and acclivities, and ornamented by the tall, graceful cocoa-nut and the usual luxuriant vegetation of Brazil. The Cape, like the coast generally of the province of Bahia, is surrounded by coral rocks; and a reef of coral extends to a considerable distance from and along the shore. The beach is sandy, with large stones strewed on it by the action of the waves. After passing the Cape and Fort St. Antonio, which are on the right on entering the harbour of Bahia, the next prominent objects are the church and villas on the high land, called Victoria, overlooking the harbour. It is a favourite and picturesque suburb of Bahia, and is the chosen site of several ‘chacras’ or quasi country residences. The elevation is sufficient to avoid the extreme heat of the lower town and to get the benefit of the sea-breeze. It is considered a healthy situation, and a tolerable carriage-road leads to the English cemetery, marked by a cross in the foreground, and to the point of St. Antonio, as well as along the coast. On the beach are several ‘Armaçaos,’ or places where whale-boats are kept, and whales cut up. They are provided with capstans and tackle, for hauling up the carcase and blubber to be reduced to food by the poor, the flesh looking like coarse beef. The whale on this coast is pursued in large sailing-boats, and harpooned while the boat is under sail. In the inner harbour are situated most of the wharves, quays, and warehouses along the beach and projecting into the water; and here numerous vessels lie in perfect safety; the foreign men-of-war generally near a round castellated tower or fort, not far from the entrance. Bahia is divided into two towns, the upper and the lower, the former of which being more modern, is built with greater regularity than the latter; and contains many handsome buildings, including a rich cathedral, the palaces of the archbishop and governor, a court of appeal, theatre, hospitals, a library of from 60,000 to 70,000 volumes, and many other edifices, chiefly of an ecclesiastical character. The lower town, San Salvador, or Bahia, is dirty and badly laid out, but in it are to be found the exchange, arsenal, and imperial dockyard. About three miles north-east are yards for the construction of merchant shipping. The houses are mostly of stone, and often lofty. The Dutch have left traces of former possession in the brick paving of some of the streets. At the foot of the steep height, covered with foliage, and crowned by the ‘Paseo Publico,’ or public promenade, is a small landing-place for boats, conveniently situated for those who prefer a steep but clambering ascent to the upper town, to being first taken round the point into the interior basin and landed in the lower town, to be thence carried up by negroes in a sort of palanquin. Those in use here consist merely of a chair on a platform of boards, suspended from the centre of an arched pole or beam, the projecting swan-necked ends of which are born on the shoulders of two men, who relieve themselves by the occasional use of a stick as a lever applied under the pole as it rests under the opposite shoulder. The motion is neither pleasant nor the position seemingly secure. Yet not only ladies, but men, and of no light calibre, invariably use them for transport to the upper town and in visiting. The chairs are sheltered by curtains from the sun, and the woodwork as well as curtains are often gilt and showily and expensively ornamented. The steepness of the streets prevents the use of wheel-carriages, except in a few directions, and causes the substitution of these palanquins. Bahia, founded in 1549 by Thomas de Souza, first captain-general of Brazil, is one of the most important commercial cities in America; and prior to the transfer of the vice-royalty in 1763 to Rio, was the capital of Brazil. It is defended by several forts, some of great strength. It was stated some years ago to contain above 150,000 inhabitants, among whom are many very wealthy proprietors and merchants. This population is divided pretty equally into whites, mulattoes, and blacks. A few miles from Bahia, on the Atlantic coast near Rio Vermelho, is a small ruined chapel, dedicated to St. Gonçalo, said to be the first building devoted to Christian worship constructed in Brazil, or, as some say, in America.

Bahia, or San Salvador da Bahia, is commonly called by the former name, which is only the abbreviation of the title given by the first settlers to the bay, at the head whereof stands the capital, viz., ‘Bahia de todos os Santos,’ or ‘All Saints’ Bay,’ as already stated; but some geographers of the present day retain the old nomenclature; and in so recent and authoritative a work as the eighth edition of the ‘Encyclopædia Britannica,’ now in course of publication, the reader is referred, for the province and city of Bahia, to the article San Salvador, which may be expected to make its appearance somewhere towards the end of 1856, by which time, it is to be hoped, the subject will have expanded to dimensions corresponding with such procrastination in its treatment by such means.

ENTRANCE TO THE PORT OF BAHIA.

This province contains within itself the germs of enduring prosperity: a splendid bay many miles in extent, where countless ships can ride close to the shore, with lakes and rivers branching from it, form so many natural harbours, docks, and canals; whilst it abounds with sugar plantations, forests of timber fit for shipbuilding and other purposes, precious stones, and many tropical productions, the latter of which can be all procured in a degree only limited by the amount of labour and the facility of bringing things down to the ports for shipment.

Everything at Bahia bespeaks the former head-quarter of an important government. The removal of the latter to Rio was of course a great disadvantage to this place, which has since had to work its way up as a commercial entrepot, with frequent interruptions from political disturbances, the last in 1837 amounting to a positive civil war, when a most lawless band obtained possession of the city, which they held for several months, and were only driven out, with much slaughter, after having attempted to fire it, in which they partially succeeded. Since that time things have been tolerably quiet, the discovery of large deposits of diamonds in a district called the Chapada having given an impetus to business, and taken away many restless spirits, there being now a population of some 40,000, collected there in pursuit of gems here found in considerable abundance—some of extraordinary value. It is 50 to 60 leagues distant from the town of Cachoeira at the head of a river of that name, which is navigable for steam-boats and a source of considerable traffic, there joining the Paraguassa, into which sundry small tributaries, of more or less importance, flow.

The production of sugar, for the fine quality of which the province is greatly celebrated, as also for that of its tobacco, so highly praised in Portugal and Spain, has latterly revived, amounting for the crop just finished, to 80,000 tons. As already observed in the case of Pernambuco, this increase has not originated from any fiscal changes in England, but simply from the cessation of civil discord, enabling the planters to devote their entire energies to the culture of their estates. It is true that large importations of slaves have aided this movement, and that Bahia has been the great focus of this detestable traffic; but the stimulus cannot be traced in any way to our treatment of the West India Colonies, however disposed interested parties may be to ascribe it to this circumstance. The Brazilians had begun to find out the advantages attendant on peace and tranquillity, and that the greater the quantity of produce they could export the larger would be the means at their disposal for the purchase of the necessaries and luxuries of life, which they now began to look upon as desirable to possess. Improved machinery for the making of sugar was brought into operation, as well as additional capital for the development of that product, and likewise of cotton; in the export of which latter commodity Bahia now nearly equals Pernambuco, exceeding that port and province, and all the rest of Brazil put together, in the quantity of its sugar. The natural consequence of such application of skill and means has been a largely extended production from almost virgin soil.