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BRAZIL AM) LA PLATA:
THE
PERSONAL RECORD OF A CRUISE
BY
C. s! STEWART, A.M.. C.S.N.,
Al'T'Ii«a OP
.4 UBIIMBrCI AT TIIK BANDWIGH ISLANDS," "vi-ii i.i nil. BOUTB BXA8,"
.hi. in.- in QBKAT r.mi.UN and uiki.av
■rth Into the ma, O ship]
Through wind and (toward al
Til.- Dioifil : lip,
A- t afgoa of doobt and fear. —
forth, nor iV:ir to br
Our hearts, our hopes, are .;; with Easel* 1
LOXOFEIXOW.
NEW 5TORK:
a. P.PUTNAM & CO., 321 BROADWAY.
1856. ^A-l.5 &^
e >h*
Entered according to Act of Congress, in tlie year 1356,
Bv G. 1'. PUTNAM A: I'm.,
Clerk's Office of the District Coort of the United States i'.>r Uio Southern
District of New York.
John 1". Tbow,
1 1 way,
Vvrntr o/ WUt* Urttt.
-
TO
MY DAUGHTERS,
THIS VOLUME
1>KAWN" 1'KoM MANUSCRIPTS A.DDBESSED TO THEM,
I a a i r i:< TIO \ a I E i. Y
|nsmbcb.
PREFACE.
Two inducements have led to the publication of the
following volume: one, the favor with which similar
work-; from my pen have been received ; the other, the
belief thai a book of fact, for light reading, would he wel-
come to many, amid the floods of fiction of the present
day.
It was with im purpose of making a book, that the
record from which the volume is drawn was kept : on the
contrary, the chief difficulty 1 have found, in fitting it for
the pr 38, has arisen, from its being - ily personal
and private. To remodel the manuscript so as to change
its character in tic-- r pects, would have been a labor
which I was unwilling to undertake : and to select from it
such matter i lit be at once suitable for publication,
and acceptable to the general reader, without affecting the
connection and unity of the whole, has proved a task not
easily acomplished. In attempting it. I may have en
in judgment by putting into mint, in some instunci
VI PREFACE.
what might better have been omitted ; and again perhaps,
in others by omitting what would have been welcomed by
the reader.
Besides such matter as was essential in giving an out-
line of the cruise of the Congress, and such observation
of the places visited by her, as would be expected in a
work of the hind, I have thought it proper to retain of that
which related specifically to the ship, sufficient to convey a
general idea of life on board a man-of-war ; and also, of
that which referred to myself in my office, enough to
throw light upon the position, duties, and influence of a
chaplain in the naval service.
Should the volume meet with any degree of accept-
ance from the public in general, I shall he grateful ; and
should its circulation be limited to the decks of a man-of-
war, or to the forecastle of a merchant-ship, the object in
its publication will not be entirely lost.
C b. b.
RtVEBSIDE, 1856.
CONTEN T S .
OHAPTEB I.
TACK
I -tare from Cape Henry — Sacrifices In Naval Lift — Evening Prayen — First Ca-
Mialty— 8 - ae in the Gulf Stream — My >Lii> and Bhipmatee — The
Crew 1
< ii ai-it.i: ii.
Great i of Punishment— The Cat-oMiine Tails— Moral Eflects of the Lash
— Evening on board a Man-of- War off Havana— Entrance* into Port, . 13
CHAPTEB ILL
Tli. Prisoners of Contoy— Excitement ai I Captan General ani
i ■•■ a on E ore- Tl e Volant and Champa
. to— Visit to Regis by Night— The Captive Filibusters
—Destiny of < M
CHAPTEB IV.
Gulf of Florida— The Wreckers— Incidents in the Bick Bay— Maury's Wind and Cur-
rent Charts — The Dol rossing t Ii «- Line — Neptune Aboard — Dreams of
— Impedimenta to Piety on board a Man-of- War— Giving np Grog, . . A'l
CH 1PTEB V.
ii -Bay of Bio— Bemlnlsoenoe of I -City of Bio — Vel«
low i Drive to Botafogo — A Tropical Home, .... 68
OHAPTEB VI.
First Impret ionsal Rio— Mixture of i: sr— Impel
—Form of I Court la
State — Tl r and Empress 70
Vlll CONTENTS.
OHAPTEB VII.
PAGE
Cemetery of Gamboa— Governor Kent— Tomb of the Hon. William Tudor— Island
and I of Villegagnon -Discover) of Brazil — Huguenot Colonists — Treach-
ery of Villegagnon— Progress In Civilizatio of the Empiri — [ts Dangers
and Safeguards, 80
OHAPTEB VIH.
Qrand< andPrnyaE BayofSt. Francis Xavier— Pa to the
Plata— Montei Ideo — Sea-Birds — < Sape Pigeon - Albatros — Booby — Stormy Pe-
trel— Dolphin— Nautilus— Portngnese Man-of-War, 90
OHAPTEB IX.
Bio de Janeiro — The City Palace Scenes ri Courf Mode of Presentation Charac-
ter of the Emperor and Empress — Their Habits of Life — Suppression of Slave
Trail. of a Sailor-boy — Firsl D ith on board the Congress, . . .104
OHAPTEB X.
All Souls 1 Day— Church and Convent <■!' Ban Antonio— Commemoration of the Dead
—Manner of ] Bones of the D< ivado — Pano-
ramic View — Sou: its Con ad History— Descent of
the Bill of Santa Th< resa 117
CHAP! Ki: XI.
Pi ad P plin< — Ball on Ship-board— Fete at the American Ambassa-
dor's— "Western Suburbs of Bio— C i in Seal of Mr. B —British Flag-Ship
- vimiral and Mr. Beynolds— Garden of Don Juan M Madame M — . 128
OHAPTEB XII.
o— Meteorological Change —Mountain Walks- Shops and Shopping
— Re trlctions upon Females by Custom Auction — Birthday ol Hen
r. Iro I ! National Hymn and Air— A Xankee Captain's Opinion of Court State
— The Empen 148
i II iPTEB Mil.
Wedding at the American Co " Asylum— Foundling
II" pita Vrrivals in Port— 1 , St Mary— Captain
Ma rudi Bol deal Garden Storm from the Corcovado ipel
I on Christmas Ev< — Twelfth Night Partj —Youthful Pii
in Military Life 154
CHAPTEB XIV.
Montevideo [ts Political Condition— Firsl Impressions on Shore — Mr. U and
Family- I lurch and -
CONTENTS. IX
CHAPTEB XV.
r.vcs
Buenos A]
rotuen — Carts of the Panipa — Washing thday —
M i d" Affaires — Qulnta oi • > — Dona)
l: uro Qroands — Interview with Bosas — His Apj and Conver-
sation, 175
' CHAPTEB XVI.
•ion — Early Lift —A Tyi>c of i •— V\U- in
1 ity — Vi>it to tbo
ConUe J<? Beasl — Nuncio from the Pope 188
CHAPTEB XVII.
thampton— Dr. C . Fl ' 'ii — Tin' Poor of
ntevideo — French Troops — Dress of the Onacho — Mr. and Madame I.
Mrs. Z Pamperos at Montevideo — I dseases of I Dr.
K of the Bt. Louis— Fn Protestant Borial-G .198
CHAPTEB XVIII.
-Scei tain Cathcart acting Consul —
Cfty of Desterra — Ii~ Public Square — Market Plao — Hotel— Civility of the In-
ond Shells — Dinner — Waiter ami
Waitress — W i u— An Cnezpected Recognition— Dangerous Walk-
. round,
CHAPTEB XIX.
Return to 1 -iro — Winter Weather t] Val-
ley — Walk a] • hnrcfa — ' -ti
Orphan Asylum — Hospital ,: era-
f the -■'.-. M
At a Wedding— Lieut B Sn . tence — A I
u< Despondency 220
CHAPTEB XX.
Political State of Montevideo — Defect! m • ;' Urquiza — A • of
Oribe— Visit to the Mount— P o — Termination of the Siege
M'li.i: xxi.
to Urquiza — His Encampment at Pantanoso— Marqu< of Commander-in-Chief
— T rj— Per-
.1 — Hi- Pi t Mastiff-
tor — 1! - —
-
P:l-;
X CONTENTS.
chaptee xxrr.
r.\'.E
Return to Brazil— Assault of a Runner on board the Congress— Captain Mcintosh—
nrfer to the Falmouth— Depart -Making Daylight
—Ship's Library— Sailors as Readers— Street Calls in Bio— Civility and Patienc
People— Disinclination to locomotion— Omnibuses— Males and Omnlbns
Drivers, 266
« HAPTEB XXIII.
San Aliexo — Mr. and Mrs. M Steam Packei ders — Snn
Antonio Ition of the People — Experience in Miracles— Admiral T
Luncheon— N< Pi —An American Wagon— Wl -Turn-
pike— Charact rof the Bci nery— Town of Maj6— Private Road of Mr. M
Cotto iry and American Housi — Sabbath at San Aliexo— Romish Clergy —
Peak \ .-. River— Rain in the Moi udden Rise in the Streams—
Mandioca Mill— Difficulties encountered by Mr. M , -2~:,
CHAPTER XXIV.
Christinas— Mai K N Holidays— f y in
the Larangeiras — Ami nstom-Honse Regul aracter-
istic want of Confidence— Security of Property and Person— Criminal Prosecu-
tions — Forms in Court -Manner of taking the Oath— Publ I irn
to Monteridi o in the Plata— Invasion of Buenos Ayres by I'r-
quiza— Tragic Fato of Mi in Terra del Fuego, 'J'.U
CHAPTER XXV.
Overthrow of Rosas— Dona Manuelita at Palermo — Her Escape at Nigbl in Dlsg
on board an English Man-of-War — Pillage in Bnenos Ayres— First Cheoked b]
Marines of the Congress and Jame town — Summary Punishment of the Marau-
o at Palermo- General Terero — Visit to the Wounded in the Hospi-
tal I i i ity — English Burial-Ground — Government House built by
807*
CHAPTEE XXVI.
field of Mont i Scenes on the Way— Santos Lngares- Anecdotes of
the Conflict— Triumphal Entry of the Allied Armies into Bnen<
Dsum at the Cathedral and Thanksgiving Sermon, 889
CHAPTER X.WII.
os Ayres— Return to Montevideo— Public Rejoicings— Admirals
I • •• > lour and Grenfell Deep-Sea Sonndii ks at Di terro—
Praya C preda— A Yankee Cobbler- Bide to Ban Pedro d'Alcantara- Indoor
and bis Housemaid— Preparations for the Night- Chapel
letery — Mountain Scenery— Morning Visit to a German Family— A Featof
Agility— Luncheon— Milk and Mandio irture from Han Pqdro— Rldeby
;
CONTENT XI
en xxvm.
neral of :Iar
— Habit? in Rural l.:f. — Indian — Ven
.kos — Wl. ror — I'n • -
riii' : me
at Santa Cruz— lu. (Germans I.
At. '. — t onp tfEtat by I'njuiza— :
taut Churches— Rural Beenes— Na tr.fi Mr. and
Fletcher, 859
CHAPTEB XXIX.
.■ul Mule-
's — Mountain Wool in Fl ita — II Hall — Arrival at Constant
— Mr. Heath — II- - a and their Treatment — Morning and I
Benedii I nt.iin Route to P - nery — Monkey —
Isolated Peaks — Valley of Piabanha— Mul. . ;*>Us — German Prot
Unt Church,
CHAPTER XXX.
Buenos Ayres in 1-" :tion and Civil Wa-
irty — l'x.'.
tion — Final Departure of Commodore McKeerer and suite — Homeward Round.
Postscript
BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
CHAPTER I .
I'. B. Bb HS, Capes M VnemJu
June %th s 1850. — The time for my promised record has
arrived : the Congress is at sea. This afternoon, with light aud
baffling winds, in a most lazy and listless manner she gained a
.' ten miles outside of Cape Henry, where, a bn
springing up sufficiently fresh to insure an offing before nightfall,
the pilot took his leave for the land and we filled away upon the
The 8th of June thus becomes for a second time an anniver-
sary with me. Twenty J go t -■lay. amid the bright beauty
of a Bummer's afternoon, I entered the hay of New York from a
of the world. But, in what wide contrast were the feel-
gs of thai hour with those of this in which Inow write ! Then,
the sunshine of the soul, beaming from face to face and reflected
from eye to eye, outrivalled the brightness of the joyous scene
around. We were Bafely at home, after a long and adventurous
. and within reach of the salutations aud embra
1
2, BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
those we most loved. Now, there is sunshine neither without nor
within : without, a thick and gloomy haze ohscures its smiles,
and within, the sadness of separation for years from home and
country, with all the uncertainty of its issues, entirely beclouds
them. There is nothing joyous to us in the " glad sea : " it does
not dance in our eyes as it was wont, or as we have, at times at
least, imagined it to do.
Little do they who may envy the lot of an officer in the navy
— in its opportunities of varied travel, the knowledge it affords
of men and things, and observation of nature in her most im-
pressive forms — know at what a sacrifice of the affections, in their
choicest exercise, and by what a penalty of wearisome duty, in
irksome routine, the privileges of the position are bought. A
sacrifice and a penalty which, when the novelty of travel and
" The magic charm of foreign land "
are passed, and the enthusiasm of youth is chastened by the ex-
periences of maturer years, are felt with a keenness which, to be
justly appreciated, must be personally known. The long con-
viction of this has been impressed afresh upon my mind by an
incident of the passing hour. Mr. B , a gentleman of wealth
and distinguished social position in one of our principal cities,
his for some days past been a guest of the ward-room mess, as
the close friend of a fellow officer. He chose to accompany us
to the open sea, and ri.sk the discomfort of a night on board the
pilot boat in a return to the shore, rather than take leave at an
earlier moment. While the little craft was still hovering around
us, waiting the signal to approach and take off its ouster and his
passenger, the officer referred to, in momentary expectation of
this second leavttaking of home, as it were, in parting from one
who was going directly to his family, approaching me, exclaimed,
in a spirit of half desperation — "Oh I Mr. S , if I were in cir-
rmnstances to live on shore with niy family independently of my
profession, I would go straight over the sides of the ship into
EV F.XINi; PRAYER. 3
that boat, and tlirow my commission to the winds. When I think,
of my wife and children, I fee] as if I would dig and grub— do
any thing for an honest living — rather than thus for three years
1> aw them for a drudgery so distasteful to me as life on board
a man-of-war in time of peace, with scarce an object but to
through an irksome duty." Such must be the feelings, in a
_ iter or leas degree, of every sea-officer who has reached the
meridian of life ; and such would be my own, were there not con-
: with my office and its duties, issues, in hope at least,
sufficient to outbalance all earthly considerations.
June hHh. — Little worthy of record, even in a journal for
home, can be anticipated in a passage to Cuha ; yet an incident
has already occurred, which I would not pass over without notice.
A\ hen Mr. 15 and the pilot left us on Saturday, the shades
of a sombre evening were settling around us, and, as is customary
on board a man-of-war in ordinary cruising, we reefed topsails for
the night. This done, as the lighthouse fires began to gleam
over the dark waters, from Cape Henry at one point and from
('ape Charles at another, all hands were called to our fir.-t evening
prayer on the quarter-deck. The deep twilight and the gloomy
made the service the more impressive. Few on board, even
among the officer-, knew of the intention of Captain Bfolntosfa
with the sanction of Commodore McKeever, to have daily evening
worship. One or two of those who did, had never witnessed such
an observance on board ship, and doubted its expediency. But
the impression made by it was at once effective and conclusive on
the mind3 of those even who had most doubted. This they
readily admitted to others as well M to myself: and while saying
that it was the first time they had ever been present at such a
service in the navy, added a hope that it would never be discon-
tinued on board the Congr
I WM sheered by this frank avowal from those whose ju
meiit I prized, and whose high-toned character carries with it
j redominating influence among their associates. Long experiei
warrants me in regarding this appointment as a most imj
4 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
auxiliary in the work of a chaplaincy, and an efficient promoter
of discipline and good order on board a man-of-war. It is
honorable to the principles and moral perceptions of those who
framed the existing laws of the navy, that the second article in
the code enjoins a daily service of worship on board every ship
having a chaplain ; and it is to be regretted that an injunction
so salutary, in the moral economy of a crew, and in its general
tendency, should in so few instances have been carried into effect,
The evening worship of the Cotter's fireside — where,
" Kneeling down to Heaven's Eternal King,
The saint, the father, and the husband prays,"
presents a picture which might well call forth the inspiration of
the poet. In every grade of life, the social altar, encircled in the
sincerity and simplicity of the Gospel, is in like manner an eh>
vating and a touching sight. But if impressive in the comparative
security of the shore, far from the fitful changes and dangers of
the sea, how much more so when exhibited in the floating dwell-
ings of those whose " home is on the deep." If lie, who alone
"commands the winds and the waves, and they obey" — He, who
" rides upon the whirlwind and directs the storm," is the receiver
of our thanksgiving and the only hearer of prayer, who sooner
than the sailor should be found in supplication, or who be more
frequent, or mure fervent than he in praise?
Whatever may he the ultimate results in individual eases of
h a service, few persons have fur a lir-t time witnessed it,
without bearing testimony to its impressiveness on the eye,
whatever may have been the influence felt upon the heart. But,
it i< nut without cause, that I. ever Look for something m
from it. The man of-wars-man with all his reckless ml,
too often, degrading vices, ha-, in many oases, moral sensibilities
affections which bring him, where the means of grace are
enjoyed, within the pale of hope; ami L have never yel been
Long on board a ship where, to the preaohing of the Gospel
FIRST CASUALTY. 5
the Sabbath, there lias been added this daily evening prayer,
without hearing from some troubled Bpirit the inquiry, " What
shall I do to be saved?" followed, not infrequently, by the
resolution of the repenting prodigal, " I will arise and go to my
ther, and will say to him, Father, L have sinned against Heaven
and in thy Bight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son."
The exoitemenl incident to our depart are and the tedium of
a 1' lay, with little progress till we were at sea. disposed all
on board not on watch, to retire early; and for the most part Buoh
were Boundly asleep, myself among the number, when suddenly
aroused at midnight by the cry, " A man overboard!" Th
was little wind and not much sea; but the darkness was Egyptian;
the rain poured in torn nt-; and while the booming thunder of an
approaching gust rolled heavily over the deep, occasional flashes
of vivid lightning added double intensity, in the intervals, to the
blackness around. The rescue of the perishing man seemed
hopeless. Supposing him of course to be one of the crew —
perhaps the most active and gallant of their number, who had
Lost his foothold in sonic effort of duty in preparation for the
coming squall — I felt disheartened by so sad a casualty at
rer I of our cruise. I thought of our evening prayer, and
of the cling with which, in its brief worship, we had sup-
plicated the defences of the Almighty, and in confiding trust
committed onn I > his protecting care. Had the Lord not
had respect to our offering — had the Almighty not regarded our
prayer 2
In the midst of thoughts such as these, it was a relief, though
a melancholy one indeed, to learn that the wretch overboard \
Dot any of the fine fellow.-, whose physical aspect and general
ring had already won from me, in my position, B dee], inter
but a poor drunkard, who had been brought on hoard in a si
of delirium tremens, from the reoeiving ship, the day we left
Norfolk; and who had at once been consigned, in care of the
surgeon-, to the nek-bay. In a paroxysm of madni ad
now rushed from his i below to the gun-deck; and. kno
6 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
ing down with a billet of wood caught up at the galley, one in
pursuit, had plunged headforemost through an open bridle-port,
to be seen and heard of no more.
The life-buoys were cut away, the ship put about, boats
lowered and sent off, at the risk of life both to officers and men,
in the pitchy darkness and rapidly approaching squall : blue lights
were burned, and repeated shouts through a trumpet made, in
hope of some response, but all in vain, in rescuing him from his
doom. After the first plunge, nothing was seen or heard from
him. A miserable madman from strong drink, the accompani-
ments of his end on earth — the midnight gloom, the angry light-
ning, the muttering thunder, and the moaning wind, were befittiug
the fate of an immortal spirit " unanointed — unannealed," thus
passing into the eternal world. He was an old man-of-wars-man,
and, three years ago, in a similar condition and near the same
place, jumped overboard from a frigate the first night from port,
and was with great difficulty saved. How faithful the admoni-
tion, " He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall
suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy."
Yesterday, the Sabbath, was a bright and beautiful day, with
favoring winds and a smooth sea. The quarter-deck, screened
from the sun by awnings, was our chapel ; the capstan, spread
with the stripes and stars of an ensign, our reading desk and
pulpit ; and the band, with sacred music, both our organ and
choir. My sermon, suggested by the incident of the preceding
night, was an exposition of the evils, physical, moral and spiri-
fu.il, of intemperance, and the frightful condition of such as
become its hopeless victims. The fatal proofs of the truths ad-
vanced, in the bodily and mental state of him who had just per-
ished before our eyes as it were, caused the most fixed attention
to be given to what was said, both by the officers and men.
I was happy to be told by the captain, immediately after the
service, that it had been officially reported to him the day before,
that more than three hundred of the crew, or two thirds of the
whole number of foremast hands, did not draw tho ration of rum
BCSHI IN THE GULF STREAM. 7
furnished them by the government : this of their own voluntary
choice, no persuasion having yet been used on board to influence
any one on the subject. An encouraging fact certainly, at the
offset, in this essential point in the morals of the sailor, and one
that ought to be suggestive to our national legislators of the
duty of striking at once from the list of naval allowances, a
-on tending to the destruction of both body and soul. The
day was a happy one to me, in the retirement of my own little
room, U well as in the public discharge of my duties. A long
and kind letter from an officer, in answer to a note with which I
had returned one given to me to read, was so encouraging to me
in my office, and so full of promise spiritually for himself, as
deeply to affect me. I could but regard it as a token of grace
from Him in whose hands are all hearts, and as an intimation of
the good that may be accomplished on board, even in the most
influential quart
Our worship, at sunset, was commenced, after an air of sacred
music from the band, by the reading of Addison's beautiful
hymn —
'• How are thy servants blest, Lord !
How sure is their defence !
- .al Wislom is their gni le,
Their help, Omnipotence."
To-day we are crossing the gulf stream under a fresh breeze
amounting almost to a gale : a " smoky southwest er"' with a short
and high sea, into which the frigate plunges deeply, taking in
large quantities of water forward. This rushing aft, H the ship
rises, makes the gun as well as the spar-deck wet and uncomfort-
able. The wardroom, with all the stern and air-ports closed,
is dark and stifling in its atmosphere, and every thing on board
partakes largely of the disagreeable at sea. The motion i-
great that nothing can be left by itself; and, at breakfast, eaeh of
us secured, as best he could, the very indifferent fare that came
in his way . bread like so much lead ; biscuits which, bagged and
8 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
netted, might have passed inspection as grape-shot ; rancid butter ;
addled eggs ; and execrable stuff' under the Dames of tea and
coffee ! As I cast my eyes over the mess-table and its surround-
ings, in the gloomy twilight falling from the hatchway above, and
upon a disconsolate-looking and silent set of companions, I could
not avoid contrasting the whole, involuntarily, with a breakfast room
in my mind, on shore, in the fresh beauty of a morning in June —
with a brightly gleaming lawn in front; the mingled bloom of the
rose and the honeysuckle at the windows; the cheerful family
group; and the varied fare fresh from the garden, the farm-hoi]
and the dairy — and sigh at the difference in the pictures. Such
a day as this, on shipboard in the gulf stream, with its discomfort
in almost every form, would be enough to make a landsman con-
tent, for the rest of his life, with the blessings of the shore.
Apropos of our steward. We have been sadly imposed on
by the professed qualifications of this important functionary.
Claiming to be perfect in all, we find he knows nothing of any of
his appropriate duties. The day we left Norfolk he gave a char-
acteristic proof of his fitness for the office. It was at dinner,
our guest Mr. B being of the number. Among the coin
was a salad dressed by our maitre d'hote. Mr. V> was
first Berved with it. I was the next to take from the dish, and
in doing so, happening to look towards the visitor, was struck
by a very peculiar expression of the eye and countenance a? he
tasted it — a blending of surprise, comical inquiry, and effort at.
self-command, while tie- fork was very quicth returned to his
plate, as if he were done with it. Suspecting the salad to lie
the origin of all this, and hastily testing the point by a mouthful,
I found to my utter disgust, that, in obedience to the direction of
the caterer to use plenty of oil in the dressing, he had. in ignor-
ance of any other, dashed the whole most copiou.-ly with the
vilest lamp oil! The effect upon the palate can be more readily
imagined than described.
June Vlth. — A breeze from the north-east, which ^'i in last
night, promises to prove a regular trade-wind, and we are running
MY SHir AND SHIPMATES. 9
rapidly before it on our course V.m may easily follow our track,
by marking, on a map, a pretty Btraight line from the month of
the Chesapeake to the channel of the Bea, between the Islands of St.
Domingo and Porto Rico. It is our intention to pass between
these, by what is named on the charts of the West Indies, the
Mona Passage, and then lay a course by the soutb side of Cuba
t<< Havana. Should it be asked why we go, seemingly, so much
nut of our way and so far round; I answer, that for a large ship,
it is not only the safest, but, in point of time, the shortest route.
The strong and adverse current of the gulf stream, and the in-
tricate and hazardous navigation of the Florida channel, are the
objections to the direct conrse along tbe coast. The weather is
now fine — in strong contrast witb that last described; and, at
it. we have a splendid moon, enticing to constant visits in
thought and affection to Riverside. Beautiful as moonlight is at
sea, I must confess to a preference, in the enjoyment of it in the
montb of June, for the soutli-west corner of a vcrandab on the
banks of the Hudson.
I have, thus far, been giving my time chiefly to visits through
my floating parish — from the quarters of the Commodore to tl
of " Jemmy Ducks.'" and •' Jack of the du.-t," as tin' f< edi r of the
1 poultry, and the sweeper of the Purser's store-room-;, in
shipboard nomenclature, are respectively styled. Almost every
day, since coming on board, I have discovered here and there a
shipmate of some former cruise; and perceive hourly evidence of
having through thea — in part at least — already gained the marked
good will of the crew. I am quite at home in all my walks
among them; and have every reason to be more than satisfied —
to be truly thankful — in my official relation with them.
The Congress, a fifty-gun .-hip. is one of the li'
of her el She is a model of Btrength and symmetry in
bull ami spar.-, and of imposing and effective equipment in her
batteries and armament: never failing to attract the notict
all who have an eye to appreciate a chef dYcuvre in naval archi-
1*
10 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
tecture. She is, too, a swift messenger over the waters, as well
as a tower of strength and beauty on the sea.
The intellectual and moral tastes of many of my immediate
associates and equals in naval rank, are such as not only to
make them agreeable companions, but also to give to our mess
in general, by their example and influence, a high-toned and
elevated character; and I regard it a providence of special kind-
ness that, in those chief in authority and executive power, I find
cordial friends personally, and firm supporters in my duty offi-
cially. Their views, too, and their purposes, in regard to disci-
pline and naval reform, harmonize with my own, in the persua-
sion that kindness is the surest key to the human heart; and that, in
government, the law of love is more effectual than the rule of fear.
I felt this particularly, in a long conversation with the commodore
this morning, during a walk on the quarter-deck, and at breakfast
with him afterwards. On this point I like his views much ; and
augur great good from them, in the support they will lead him to
extend, officially, to the executive officer of the ship, in carrying
out a system of internal rule based upon the principle of kindness
and good will, of the practical well-working of which he it
entirely persuaded.
The crew, physcically, are a fine set of men : healthful,
athletic and young, the average age of the four hundred fore-
mast hands scarcely exceeding twenty-five years. This general
youthfulness of the ship- company encourages me to hope much
from them as subjects of moral culture. They are more likely,
than seamen of a more advanced age, to have had the benefit of
a religious training in the Sabbath schools now so universally
tablished in most sections of our country; and, thus, be more
susceptible to moral impressions aud persuasion, should they not
have already felt the influence of the general improvement in the
character of sailors which, confessedly, has taken place within
the last ten or fifteen year.-. Still, at best, a man-of-war is a
sterile and rocky field for spiritual Labor. Then is ever on board
a large- ship of the kind, a greater or less bomber of reel I
CHARACTER OF THE CREW. 11
and desperately wicked men : some who have been convicts and
the inmates of state prisons and penitentiaries, and more who,
long under the surveillance of the police, and pressed by close pur-
>uit. liavi' sought refuge at the rendezvous and receiving ship, from
the merited penalties of the law. Of these last we are certain
of having quite a company, composed pretty equally of ' South-
wark killers,' 'Schuylkill rangers,' ' Baltimore rowdies,' 'Bowery
boys,' and ' Five Pointers.' The whole number of both these
Hi now, however, does not amount to more than fifty; the hun-
dreds of others on board are either honest-hearted and true sailors,
or inexperienced and raw landsmen : 'good men,' according to the
ethics of the sea. The " baser sort," though comparatively so
few in number, are ever first in gaining prominence and notoriety
on board, by bringing themselves, through a manifestation of their
evil propensities, in contact with the discipline of the ship, while
the true sailor and old man-of-wars-man, in the quiet discharge of
their duty remain for a time unappreciated, and perhaps person-
ally unknown.
To an inexperienced eye, a man-of-war with her crew of five
hundred, seems only like a bee-hive full of confusion and uproar,
while, in truth, there is throughout in every department perfect
organization and order. Every individual has his class, his
number, and his Btation; the duty of each in his place is clearly
defined; and whatever is to be done i> accomplished with much
of the regularity of a machine operating through the Bans
number of wheels. To the same eye there would appear no
signs of caste or grades of distinction, moral or social, in the
general mass : there would be only so many hundred sailors,
seemingly alike in all respects. Little would be dreamed of the
extremes, not onlv of moral character, existing amonjr them, but
of social distinction also — from the exclusivcs of the u upper ten,"
priding themselves on moving only in the first circles, through.
three or four marked sets to the canaille, utterly below recognition
or social intercourse. There is a marked difference, too, among
many, in the outer man. Though the dress of all is uniform in
12 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
color and general material, still there is often the widest differ-
ence in the quality, fitting, and make of the entire wardrobe ; and,
while one is so careless and slovenly in his attire, as to require the
daily inspection of an officer, others are perfect sea-dandies, as fas-
tidiously neat and clean in person, as the whole series of brushes
known to the toilette-table can make them; and as fond of being
assured of this, by repeated inspections and last glances in the
miniature mirrors carried in their hats, or about their persons, as a
beau of the first water on shore, before a Psyche in preparation
for the ball or opera.
After the public worship of the last Sabbath, Mr. T , the
first lieutenant, who has had long experience in Sabbath schools,
both as a teacher and superintendent, aided me in the formation
of one among the twenty-four boys on board, from ten to fifteen
years of age: each of us taking charge of a class of twelve.
The value of a voluntary agency of this kind, from an officer of
commandiug influence, can scarcely be over-estimated. My next
attempt, as a means of good, will be the establishment of JSible
classes among the men. If successful in this, I am happy to
know that others of the officers stand ready to assist mu in the
like manner.
It is an interesting fact, and one strikingly illustrative of the
improved and elevated tone of morals in the navy, that of the
fourteen gentlemen constituting the wardroom mess, five are pro-
fessedly religious men of consistent and exemplary character.
CHAPTER II.
, At Sea.
June 19tfi. — Two days ago, at noon, land was descried from
the mast-head. We were approaching the Bahama Islands, not
in the direction of the Mona Passage, hut in that of the Caycos,
more to the west, the wind having headed us off from our first
course. During the previous night, we had passed over a point
on the ocean, memorahle in its historic interest, where, on the
of joyful triumph, the illustrious discoverer of tin-
western world suffered the severest trial of his darn It
- hi*re that the discouragement and fears of his followers in
their frail barks, approached desperation and open mutiny; and
'Mint hope had well nigh ended in disappointment, and tri-
umpha- in failure. It was impossible to traverse the
Bame waters, without recalling vividly to mind the scene of trial
and conflict which they had witnessed more than three hundred
and fifty years before, and sympathizing afresh with the great
navigator in his distress; or to hear the cry, "land hoi " with-
out recurriug in thought to the devout exultations of his heart,
when, in the watches of the night, the interrupted glimmerings of
a distant light peered upon eyes eagerly searching its gloom, dis-
pelling for ever the fears of his companions, and crowning his
adventurous enterprise with imperishable honor.
The land descried aloft, soon became visible from the deck
It was th( -, the most eastern of the Bahama*
14 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
low, flat island of sand, surrounded by extensive shoals. There
was little to interest in its appearance ; a mere tufting of bushes
on the water, along the line of the horizon, of which we soon
lost sight. The next morning, and for the rest of the day, the
west end of St. Domingo was in view, furnishing in its turn
abundant subjects for musing in the tragic scenes of the revolt
of 1791. Before nightfall the eastern extremity of Cuba was also
in sight. Both are lofty and mountainous, but less picturesque
in general outline than the islands of the South Seas. The sail
of the afternoon and evening was delightful, — the perfection of
its kind. The trade-wind was fresh and balmy, and so steady,
that the lofty mass of canvas we spread to it was as motionless
as if it were a fixture on the sea ; while the ocean, of the most
beautiful tint of marine blue, was every where gemmed with
white-caps of the brilliancy of so much snow.
June 2.0th. — Hitherto the duty of the ship has been carried on
admirably under a kind and humane discipline. The lash, formerly
in such constant requisition on board a man-of-war, in bringing a
new crew under ready control, has neither been heard nor seen.
A fight, however, which came off a day or two since, between
two of the marines, led to a kind of drumhead court-martial,
yesterday, and to the punishment of the parties this morning,
with the cat-o'-nine-tails. It is the first instance with us of such
a revolting spectacle, and I most devoutly hope it may be the
last. I am sure it will, unless there be those on board so incor-
rigible and so determined to subject themselves to it, that no
other mode of discipline will meet their case. Before we Lefl
port, Captain Mcintosh, in an excellent address, after the firs!
reading in public of the "articles of war," assured the crew with
deep feeling, that nothing could give him greater pleasure than to
return to the United States and have it in his power to report to
the Na\ \ Department that a lash hail never been given on board
the Congress during the Cruise, lie reiterated the same sentiment
this morning to the ship'.- company, mustered to witness tho pun-
ishment, with the fresh avowal of hie utter unwillingness to resort
CASE OF PUNISHMENT. 15
to n degrading a mode of chastisement : adding " thai tli«' exist-
ing law, however, made the duty imperative upon him as an ul-
timate means of enforcing his command, and protecting his ship
from insubordination and misrule; and that it should be remem-
bered by all, whenever the necessity was forced on him of admin-
istering this punishment, that it would only be through the deli-
re purpose and choice of any one subjecting himself to it.''
The eat-o'-nine-tails, as a mode of punishment, is a relic of
barbarism di-^raceful to the age in which we live, and autajjonis-
tic to its entire spirit. The wonder is. not that men-of-wars men
are BCaroe, and recruits for the navy few, but that, with such a
barbarous punishment legalized, an American tailor can be found
willing to place himself in a position in which he can, by any con-
tingency, be exposed to the disgrace of its infliction.
In place of attempting a description of the spectacle, as just
witnessed by as, I will substitute one, which happens to be before
me, of a similar scene, from the pen of an officer in the British
Navy. It is more graphic than any I could furnish, and as truth-
ful to the reality, in its leading features, as can well be pictured.
It is drawn from his early experience a- a midshipman. " I had
not been many days on board." he Bays, " before I heard a hollow-
rating round the frigate's deck<. and which seemed
t<> bring a shade of gloom over the faces of all around me.
tin the words were repeated. " All hands, Ahoy! " I eagerly
inquired the meaning of this mystery, ami was answered by a lad
about sixteen years of age, ' It is all hands to punishment, my
: you are going to mm- a man flogged. 1
•• The idea of a man beiug flogged at all, under any possible
circumstances, had never before entered my brain. I had as
no notions that such a degree of barbarity could exist; I had
indeed known that boys were flogircd. but how tiny could hor.
man was to me a mystery. My reflections were broken in upon
by observing all my messmates busily engaged in putting on their
ked-hats and nde-arms. And a- this was the firs! time 1 had
sported in v new dirk, I felt very Btrange and mingled sensations,
16 RRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
as I stepped forth on the quarter-deck. The marines were drawn
up on the larboard side of the deck, with their bayonets fixed,
and their officers with their swords drawn, and resting against
their shoulders. On the main deck the seamen had all assembled
in a dense crowd around the hatchway, and the said hatchway
was ornamented with several gratings fixed up on one end, evi-
dently for some purpose which I had never yet seen accomplished.
The officers in their full uniforms, with swords, and cocked hats,
were pacing the decks : but all was still and solemn silence. At
length the captain came forth from his cabin, the marines carry-
ing arms at his first appearance on the cpuarter-deck. The first
lieutenant, taking off his hat, approached him, and reported that
' all was ready.'
" As the captain came up to the gangway, he removed his
hat; which was followed by all the men and officers oing
uncovered. Then, taking a printed copy of the articles of war,
he read aloud a few lines, which denounced the judgment of a
court-martial on any person who should be guilty of some par-
ticular offence, the nature of which I did not understand. This
done, he ordered Edward AVilliams to strip; adding, ' You have
been guilty of neglect of duty, sir, in not laying in off the fore-
topsail yard when the first lieutenant ordered you; and I will give
you a d d good Hogging.' By this time the poor fellow had
taken off his jacket and shirt, which was thrown over his
shoulders by the master-at-arms, while two quartermasters lashed
the poor fellow's elbows to the gratings, so that he could not stir
beyond an inch or two either way. It was in vain that he begj
and besought the captain and first lieutenant to forgive him;
protesting that he did not hear himself called, in consequence of
having a bad cold, which rendered him almosl drat'. His en-
treaties were unheeded* and at the words, 'Boatswain's mate,
give him a dozen,' a tall, strong fellow came forward with a cat-
o'-nine-tails, and, having taken off his own jacket, and carefully
measured his distance, so a- to be able to strike with the full
swing of his arm. he flung tie- tails of the cat around his head,
THE CAT-O'-NINE TAILS. 17
and with all the energy of his body brought them down upon the
fair, white, plump back of poor Williams. A sudden jerk of the poor
fellow almost tore away the gratings from their position : he gave
.. and again begged the captain, for the sake of
• ' - Christ, t<> let him otF. I was horror-struck on Beeing nine
1 "ii his back, spreading
from his shoulder-bis irly to his loins; but my feelings
were doomed to bo still more harrowed. For as soon as the tall
tswain's mate had completed the task of running his fins
through the cord- ar them and prevent the chance of a
rfe lash being -pared the wretched sufferer, he again flung
them around his head to repeat the blow. Another slashing
sound upon the naked flesh, another shriek and struggle to get
free succeeded, — and then another and another, till the comple-
ment of twelve agonizing lashes was completed. The back v.
by this time, marly covered with deep red gashes; the skin
roughed up and curled in many parts, as it does when a no]
blow i brasion. The poor man looked up
with an imploring eye toward the tirst lieutenant, and groaned
out, ' Indeed, -ir. as I hope to 1 !. I did not hear you oall
me." The only reply was on the part of the captain, who gave
the word, 'another boatswain's mate!' 'Oh, God. sir, have
mercy on me;' was again the cry of the poor man: 'Boat-
swain's _ro on; and mind that you do your duty I ' the
only answer.
" The effect of one hundred and eight cuts upon his bare
back had rendered it a fearful si^-ht. but when these had been
repeated with all the vigor of a fresh and untired arm. the poor
fellow exhibit 1 spectacle indeed. The dark red of the
wounds had assumed a livid purple, the flesh stood up in mangled
ridges, and the blood trickled here and there like the breal
out of an old wound. The pipes of the boatswain and his mat
now sounded, and they called ; all hands up anchor ! ' The -rat-
ings were quickly removed, and of all the human 1- tings who had
witnessed the cruel torture on the body of poor Edward Wil-
18 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
Hams, not one seemed in the slightest degree affected. All was
bustle and activity and apparent merriment as they went to work
in obedience to the call."
In this account there is no exaggeration : no exaggeration of
the usual manner of inflicting such punishment ; no exaggeration
of the trivialty of the alleged offence; no exaggeration of the
earnest asseveration of innocence ; no exaggeration of the hard-
ening effect of the scene upon the spectators. I have known men
to be thus flogged for acts or omissions equally if not more trivial
— not only singly, but, in one instance at least, a dozen at a time,
and that, too, where it was known that one only of the number
was really in fault. Because some one of a quarter watch in
the top did a careless and lubberly thing, in the estimation of
an officer, though doubtless, from the circumstances of the case,
accidentally, and none of his topmates would give up his name,
the whole watch were ordered on deck, and, in succession, re-
ceived a dozen lashes each.
The entire experience of the writer of the above account, as
to this punishment, corroborates fully the opinion I have formed
from my own observation as to its effects — that in all its bearings
it has a tendency to demoralize and harden rather than to
reform. He proceeds to state that the captain under whose com-
mand the case of flogging described occurred, changed ships not
long afterwards with one who abominated the system of corporal
punishment ; and adds, " For four years I served under his
orders, and witnessed no more of the inhuman practice. The
men were allowed to go on shore frequently sixty and seventy at
a time, and in all respects were treated so kindly that but one
case of desertion occurred during all that period. The captain
made it a point to visit the whole crew when at dinner, to
sec, himself, that they had every thing they required to make
them comfortable. This he did every day ; and the sick were
always fed from bis own table. The result of this was that our
ship was the smartest frigate on the station, and fought one of
the most glorious actions which ever graced the annals of the
British Navy."
MORAL EFFECTS OF THE LASII. 19
His experience iu the matter did not end here. He thus pro-
ceeds : " I joined another ship, the captain of which was wont bo
Bay, * I never forgive a first offence — tor if there was no first offence
there could be do po eond. 1 Profane swearing and drnnkenni
he never by any accident forgave. The result was a flogging
iiiat<-h every Monday morning, and very frequently once or twice
in the week b< side-;. The crew grew worse and worse from this
treatment, till, at length, there was scarcely a soher seaman or
marine on board the ship, though her complement was about six
hundred men and boys. The more drunken they became the
more he flogged them; hut the crime u ! punishment seemed to
react on each other, and the ship became at last so very notorious
for the cat that he was jested upon it by his fellow captains, and
men deserted at every opportunity."
I believe the experience, thus presented, of these two ship-
be a fair exposition of the general and direct tendency of the
-tcms. Revolting as punishment with the 'colt ' and ' cat '
ever has been to me, and often as my blood has been made to
boil in wife it, a want of practical knowledge in the case led
me, for a time, reluctantly to acquiesce in the opinion universally
held, so far as I could discover, by those most experienced in
naval rule, that it was indispensable as a means of discipline on
rd a man-of-war. But the teachings of my nature, that this
i~ an error, have been corroborated by long observation; and
had no previous conviction of this been fastened on my mind, the
success of the executive officer of the Congress in devising and
substituting more humanizing modes of punishment for trans-
gressions of law and delinquencies in duty, would have gone far
in persuading me to it. I doubt not that should the law of the
bah be abrogated by our national legislature to-morrow,* and the
change be met by the enactment of a wise and philanthropic eode
of naval rule, the discipline and efficiency of the service would
be more perfect than ever before.
* Hogging was abolished, both in the navy and mercantile marine, :i
months after the above was written.
20 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
June 24M. —
. " The twilight is sad and cloudy,
The wind blows wild and free,
And like the wings of sea-birds
Flash the white caps of the sea."
So sings Longfellow, and such is the imagery around us from
the passing of a heavy squall. The rushing wind and the
dampness brought with it, from the approaching rain, are v
come and most refreshing, after two or three days and nights on
the south side of Cuba, sultry almost to suffocation. Whether
correct in our recollections or not, all hands agree that, in no part
of the world in which we have been, either on land or at sea,
have we before suffered so much from the intensity of the he
Notwithstanding, I was never in the enjoyment of more vigorous
health or in more clastic spirits.
In the afternoon of my last date, we had a distant view of a
part of the island of Jamaica, as well as of San Domingo and
Cuba: a sail, too, was in sight, and the smoke of a steamer
marked on the horizon — all taking much from the solitariness of
our position. The next morning we were slowly advancing west-
ward, along the lofty, but mist covered and cloud obscured
mountain range of the Sierra de Cobra, beneath a point in which
lie the port and city of St. Jago de Cuba. At sunset the same
evening we were directlj abreast Cape de Cruz, in full view of the
coast, but at too great a distance to make out the distinctive
features of the landscape, even with the best glasses. We are
now off the Isle of Pines, famed in the annals of the Buccaneers
of the olden time, and a haunt of pirates in our own day.
Light and baffling wind.-, with alternate calms, have mado our
progress slow. The tedium of the time has been relieved in part
by a first interchange of dinner parties between the wardroom
mess and the commodore and captain. The kindest feeling ezi
among the officers of all grades on board, and these reunio
where the formality of official intercourse gives place for the time
ETCHING BOEOTS OM BOABD. 21
to the free interd :' thought and feeling, and of sympathy
in intellect and taste, are salutary in their inliuences on both
mind and heart. The Sabbath is the day usually chosen on board
a man-of-war for I tesies; but it lias been unanimously
decided, by our mess, that the entertainments given in the ward-
room shall be on a week day.
During the continuance of moonlight in the evening and
early part of the night, the enjoyment of it on deck in quiet
musings, after the heat of the day, seemed the prevailing mood of
the sbip"s company. The band in whole or in part, at times,
added music to the sympathies which were sending our thoughts
and affections homeward by the way of the moon. But now that
she is on the wane, and reserves her beams for the later watches
of the night, the sailors cheer themselveo in the darkness, by
singing on the spar-deck, grouped in their respective limits from
the fife-rail to the forecastle. La.-t evening, even the quarter-
deck was invaded, under the sanction of an officer, by a party
of negro minstrels: not such mock performers as are beard on
shore under the name, but of tbe genuine type, consisting of the
T s of the wardroom. For half an hour or more they Bfl
in] ' 1 harmony and with effect, many of the more sentimen-
tal and popular of the negro melodies ; while forward and in the
gai . here was echoed forth, in varied song, the feats of
warrior knights and the love of ladies fair. Others of the cr
were, at the same time, listening in groups between the guns along
the entire deck, to a rehearsal by their shipmates of tragic stol
of shipwreck, piracy and murder; to recitations from tr: j
and conn dies: to cl - on various topics — navi_
and seamanship, politics, morals and religion — and. at one
• • a lecture on history, of which I overheard enough to
learn the subject ie life and achievements of the brave
Wallace, dQafe i upon in the broad dialect of the " land
- ! "
ntmenl Beem every where to \
22 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
vail, and all manifest by their conduct, as well as by word, that
they feel themselves to be on board a favored ship.
Had I time for the record, you would be amused by many
things I hourly hear and see, in my walks of leisure. To-day,
while on the quarter-deck after the men's dinner, I overheard one
of the messenger boys, who had just come from this meal, say to
a companion, " I tell you what, Jim, I couldn't eat much of that
dinner : old mahogany and hard tack, is what I call pretty tough
eating. To-morrow too is bean day, and I wouldn't give a penny
for a bushel of them." A sprightly young sailor who completed
an apprenticeship in the service, happening to pass at the time,
stopped for a moment, and with an assumed air of indignant re-
proof, exclaimed, " Why, you ungrateful young cub ! — you growl-
ing at Uncle Sam's grub ? why you ought to be down upon your
knees thanking God that you have so good an uncle to give you
any thing ! "
Just afterwards, I fell into conversation with an old salt who
had been with me, in the Delaware linc-of-battlc ship, in 1833.
After mutual inquiries of various officers and men who were
shipmates with us then ; what had become of this one and
what of that — he said, in all honesty of heart, and with a most
lugubrious expression of face, " And there was Lieut. M
too : they tell me, sir, he stepped out entirely, the other day at
the Hospital!" — meaning that he had died there. I never
heard the expression in such a connection before, and could not
avoid being struck, not only with its oddity, but also with its force.
J 'mir 29th — Just at nightfall, on my last date, we doubled
Cape Antonio, the extreme westerly point of Cuba, at a distance
of ten or twelve miles. It is long and low, covered with dark
woods, and, in general aspect, nut unlike the coasts of Long
Island and New Jersey, as seen from the sea. As soon as our
course was turned northward for Havana, the regular wind
became adverse to us, and the next morning we were in the
Florida Channel, far from the land and a hundred miles and more
from our port. The tediousuess of a dead beat to windward was
SCENES OFF HAVANA. 23
relieved, however, by the greater freshness and elasticity of the
air, in oompariaon with that on the south side of Cuba. For two
or three evenings, lure, the sunsets were among the most gorgeous
I recollect. The whole western hemisphere, filled with fantastic
and richly colored clouds, glowed with a brilliancy and glare of
crimson light, as if the entire sea beneath were one vast bed of
volcanic tire.
After two days we again made the land, with fine views during
the afternoon, of two lofty ranges of mountains in the interior
of the island — the Sierra del llosario and the Sierra de los
Organos or Organ mountains; but it was not till last night that
we reached the parallel of Havana. At 10 o'clock the Moro light,
at the entrance of the port, was descried, some fifteen miles dis-
tant. Its brilliant flashings, through the darkness of an un-
settled sky, came cheerily upon the sight over the troubled water,
in the assurance they gave of our true position, amid the changing
currents and hazardous navigation of these straits.
Before daybreak this morning we fell in with and spoke the
sloop-of-war Germantown, Captain Lowndes, cruising off the
harbor. I was early on deck. The morning was fresh and
beautiful, but the shores less bold and striking than I had antici-
pated; and the mountains in view were more remote. Still the
landscape was pleasing iii its verdure, though neither varied nor
picturesque in its outline. Having been lying to for the night,
we were still eight or ten miles from the entrance of the harbor ;
but the Moro Castle and city were in distinct view — the former,
surmounted by its pharos towering loftih on a precipitous cliff
of rock on the left of the entrance, and the hitter stretching
beneath it to the right, in a long line of whiteness on a level with
the -
The scene increased momentarily in interest. A fresh trade-
wind, creating a sea which, in the brightness of the sun, to
up jets of diamonds on every side, hurried us rapidly forward,
under topsails and topgallant-sails only: the Germantown, a
beautiful craft, followed closely in our wake, fluttering over the
24 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
water with the lightness and huoyancy of a bird. There were
besides some eight or ten square-rigged merchant vessels in sight,
under various degrees of sail — some entering and others leaving
port. While in the midst of these, the Gerniantown and Congress
interchanged salutes, with pretty effect on the general picture.
The wind had now increased to a half gale ; a pilot had
boarded us, and we bore away with a rush for the Moro, which
immediately overhangs the entrance to the port. This is narrow
— very narrow ; seemingly a mere creek, a few ships' length only
in width. It runs at right angles with the line of coast along which
we were flying. This made it necessary in entering, to haul
suddenly, from a free course, closely on the wind. We did so, at
the speed of a race-horse, almost grazing the surf-lashed rocks
over which tower the frowning battlements of the Moro, and
within biscuit throw, as it were, of the batteries of the Punta on
the opposite side— the pilot, momentarily alternating the ex-
clamation " Hard a port ! " " Hard a starboard ! ' : " Steady —
steady ! " kept the men at the helm on the full spring in
shifting the wheel from side to side ; while at the same time the
yards were filled with the crew reducing sail to bare poles, as if
by magic, under the trumpet orders of the first lieutenant. I
thought it one of the most exciting moments, and one of the most
beautiful Bights, in the navigation of so large ;1 ship, I had ever
witness* d.
In le.-s time than is required thus to state it. we were trans-
ferred from the tossinga of a rough sea, to the glassy surface of
an apparent river. The seine on either hand was picturesque and
animated. On one side, were the terraced heights adjoining the
Moro, grim with the defences of war, relieved here and there by
sentries and groups of soldiers, lounging about the batteriebj and,
on the other, level with the water, a range of stom quays, lined
with shipping and coasting craft, and covered with Bailors,
boatmen, negro porters, and Btev< Beyond rose the
buildings of the city, painted in everj variety of light and .
colors, and overtopped by the time-stained domes and towers of
ENTRANCE INTO TORT. 25
the churches and other puhlic structures. The asped of the
whole was so entirely transatlantic, that I could scarce the
illusion that I was again in old Spain, and that it was " fair l.'a-liz"'
I saw stretched before me. The gallantry of our entrance had
attracted the gate of the thousands crowding the quay in its
whole length, and murmurs of admiration were every where
heard at the beauty of our frigate, and the dashing style in which
she glided rapidly along under the headway brought in by her
from the m
the end of half a mile, the straight and narrow inlet ex-
pands into a round basin, five or six miles in circumference. Near
the centre of this we dropped anchor: having the city and its
defences towards the sea on one side of us, and green hills tufted
with palm-trees and dotted with cottages and country seats on
the other. The harbor is a gem of beauty, capable of containing
the navies of half the world. Five Spanish men-of-war, includ-
ing a ship-of-the-line, are moored within pistol shot of us, and the
Germantown immediately at our stern. The dropping of the
anchor was followed by salutes from our batteries of twenty-one
guns to the flag of Spain, seventeen to that of the Spanish ad-
miral, in command, and nine in honor of Mr. -Campbell, the
American consul, who soon boarded the Congress.
CHAPTER III.
Havana.
July 1st. — The object of a visit by the Congress to Culm,
before proceeding to her station on tbe coast of Brazil, is
to bring to a close the negotiations which have been for some
time pending with the authorities here, in reference to our fili-
bustering compatriots, the prisoners of Contoy.
The report made by Captain Lowndes of the Gerniantown, .
on boarding us in the offing, and by Mr. Campbell afterwards,
of the state of public feeling in reference to these, and to the
citizens of the United States in general, led us to apprehend
there would be great difficulty in securing an amicable arrange-
ment of the point at issue — the disposition to be made of the
prisoners. The excitement and indignation of the Spanish pop-
ulation of the city, on the subject of the attempted invasion, had
been great; and manifested especially, within a few days, against
Mr. Campbell, for sentiments on the subject, exposed in a cor-
respondence between him and the Secretary of State, recently
called for by Congress, printed in the newspapers in the United
States, and republished here. At one time the consulate was
believed to be in great danger of violence from the mob ; and
the excitement is still far from being allayed. In view of this
representation we apprehended a long delay. The first interview,
however, between Commodore MoKeever and the captain-gen-
eral, the Conde d'Alcoy, relieved us from all fear of this. Every
disposition was manifested to receive favorably the mission of tho
CHIEF OF POLICE, AND CAPTAIN-GENERAL. 27
and the belief is that the special matter of negotia-
tion will be speedily adjusted.
The commodore and suite were received, at the vice-regal
palace, in the most frank and cordial manner, and the personal
relations of the treating parties placed, at once, on a friendly
footing. The governor-general treated lightly the fear that had
1. of violence to the consulate, avowing that all
property and life in the city and island were in the keeping of
the government ; and that safety in both was more sure to none,
than to the representatives and citizens of the United Stat
gammoning the chief of police at once to his presence, the fol-
lowing dialogue in substance took place between them. " Have
you heard, .-ir. of an apprehended attack by the populace upon
American consulate ? " " No, sir.'' " Do you believe, sir,
that any such danger exists ? " " No, sir." " Could a project
of the kind be in agitation without your knowledge ? " " No,
sir- S to it. sir,*' added the count, with an intonation of voice
not to be mistaken, as he di the functionarv. "that
nothing of the kind takes place ! "
The truth is, the warmth of sympathy felt by some of our
fellow-citizens fin the would-be revolutionists within Cuba and the
marauding filil without, backed by visions of national and
it may be personal aggrandizement, through annexation, had
them to magnify every grievance imaginary or real, and to fan
into a name each spark of ill will elicited by the collisions that
occur, in the hope of embroiling our government with the crown
of Spain; and. through conflict and conquest, of making sure
to us this choicest gem left in her colonial tiara.
That the Cubans are most fearfully oppressed by the vice-
regal rulers here, and that the government under which they suffer
is tin i _irous military despotism in the civilized world, no
one with the slightest knowledge of the condition of the island can
doubt. The simple fact that twenty-four millions of dollars are
annually wrung, by various forms of taxation, from a white j. ovu-
lation of little more than six hundred thousand, prove- it, with-
28 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
out an enumeration of the different unjust monopolies, the pro-
hibitory imposts upon the first necessaries of life, the depreciating
levies on all the products of labor, and the vampire presence of
a foreign soldiery, sufficient to furnish a constant sentinel, it is
said, to every four white men in the country ; or, a reference to the
fact that there are no common schools — no liberty of the pr<
no liberty of speech, and scarce the liberty of thought. Still,
sad as the truth of such a condition is, it does not justify pirati-
cal invasion from without, or agitating and revolutionizing influ-
ence on our part within.
The probability is that the stay of the Congress will be very
brief; and that, consequently, my personal knowledge of Havana
and the Ilabaneros will be limited to a hasty glance, through such
loop-holes of observation as I may accidentally light upon.
The beauty of the panorama from the anchorage is so varied
and so striking, that in the enjoyment of it, I have been satis-
fied thus far without a visit to the shore, though this is the third
day, including the Sabbath, since our arrival. While examining
closely with a glass again and again, every feature of the open
country to the east and south, I could but indulge in many a re-
miniscence of tropical life at the Sandwich Islands and South
Seas, awakened by the plumed palm and broad-leafed banana,
the brightly gleaming hill sides and velvet-like slopes character-
istic of the scenery. On the opposite sides of the harbor, the
city and its fortresses, — its private dwellings and public buildings,
its towers and domes and embattled walls, — are open to like in-
spection through the same medium, a sea-telescope of surpassing
excellence.
"While in the midst of these observations this morning,
screened from the mid-day sun by the well-spread awnings of the
poop-deck, my attention was drawn to a movement near at hand
on board, occasioned by a succession of visits of ceremony from
the "powers that be " in this viccroyal dependency, to our com-
mander-in-ohief and our captain. I am told, whether correctly
or not, that the same policy which of yore prevented Ferdinand
VISITS OF CEBEMONT. 29
and [sabella from keeping faith with Columbus, in his appoint*
jiitiit ;^ viceroy of the New World with undivided power, is
still adhered to by the Spanish throne. The supreme authority,
in place of being rested in one representative of the crown, is
distributed among three — one at the head of the civil affairs,
another ohief in those that are military, and a third supreme in
the control of the marine. Each is in his own department inde-
cent of the other, and keeps check on his compeers in any
imption of undue authority. The captain-general, however,
in matters of ceremony, and is the nominal head
of the government. He does not visit vessels of war, and the
courtesy on his part is expressed through an aide-de-camp. The
visitor in his stead on this occasion, was the Conde Villeiicuva,
line-looking young man, in a richly embroidered dress of blue
and silver, but without military decorations. He had scarcely
been ushered on the deck, with the usual ceremony, when a
barge, still more stately in the number of its oarsmen and the
dimensions of its banner of " blood and gold," than that by
which he had arrived, was reported by the quarter-master. This
bore the Intendante, or Military Chief, who crossed the gangway
in full costume, with a magnificent star on the breast and three or
four crosses and badges of knighthood at the button holes. Nei-
ther name nor title was announced with sufficient distinctness to
be heard, and in view of the number and brilliancy of his deco-
rations, I felt authorized in giving him precedence of the count,
at least one grade in the peerage, and set him down for a
marquis : especially as the state in which the next dignitary
approached would lead to the supposition that he could be noth-
ing less than a duke — a grandee of the first rank. He cam in
a superb sixteen-oared barge of the purest white, picked out in
gold. He was a most -tatelv old gentleman, portly in person,
fresh in complexion for a Spaniard, and of the most courticr-like
and finished manners. Three magnificently jewelled star- deco-
rated his htt breast, with the crosses of twice as many ord<
rtdant beneath, and over all the broad ribbon and insignia of
30 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
the Golden Fleece. It was the Commandant-general of Marine,
or Naval Chieftain. These visits of mere ceremony were brief,
referring in conversation to the most common-place topics, fol-
lowed by a departure in the order of arrival.
The weather since we have been here has been like that of the
finest days in June on the Hudson : the sun very hot, the sky
glowingly bright, the breeze fresh and seemingly pure, with heavy
showers occasionally in the afternoons. In the evenings and at
night the scene from shipboard is striking and impressive.
Long lines of brilliant gas-lights, marking the walls of the city
abreast of us, with the gleamings of others from fortress and
tower reflected by the glassy waters of the bay in streams of
gold, and a glorious canopy of sparkling stars above, compensate
in a degree for the absence of the moon ; while a fine military
band stationed on the ramparts nearly opposite us discourses elo-
quently, till nine o'clock, the compositions of the masters in
opera.
July &th. — My first visit on shore was in company with my
messmate F , after the heat of the day had begun to pass.
The low quays of a yellowish stone which face the water, are
thickly lined with the smaller craft, engaged in the commerce of
the port. We made our way along these for some distance,
through an atmosphere redolent of tar and pitch and cordage —
coffee and tobacco, — amid soldiers and Bailors and throngs of
brawny negroes, more than half naked and reeking with perspi-
ration, in the labor of loading and unloading cargoes. On
turning into a narrow street leading into the city, we soon dis-
covered, that the buildings which from our moorings meet the
eye so strikingly in their gay tintings of sky-blue, pea-green,
peach-blossom, lemon and straw colors, with their mouldings, cor-
nices and balustrades of the purest white, are thickly inter-
spersed with others, dingy, shabby, decayed and dirty : barn-like,
stable-like and prison-like. To an untravelled visitor from tin:
Northern States, this Last characteristic would be the first peculi-
arity in the aspect of the houses to attract his attention. Every
DRIVE IN VOLANTE. 31
man's dwelling here is literally his ca.-tle. the defences of which
give tn it- exterior, on the ground floor especially, the appearanoe
of a jail at boma The heavy doors -'pining on the street, are
of the moei massive make, and bossed and studded with iron so as
to be bullet-proof, while the lower windows are universally guard-
ed from top to bottom' by strong bars and network of the same
material. The general style of building is the Spanish-Moresoan,
many of the dwellings being only one story in height. The
Streets an straight and regular, but very narrow, scarcely admit-
ting two vehicles to pass each other, while the sidewalks, as termed
by us, arc on a level with the way for carriages, and a foot or
eighteen inohes only in width.
A short walk from the point at which we left the quay,
brought us upon a small but pretty and artistic square, called the
Plaza do Armas. It is enclosed with a handsome iron railing, is
gularly laid out iu walks, bordered with gay flowers and
shrubbery overhung by the silvery trunks and long pendant
branches of the palm-tree, and ornamented in the centre with a
fountain and statue of Ferdinand VII. of Spain. Its south-
ern side is need in its whole length by the palace of the governor-
general, a spacious and handsome quadrangular structure of stone,
stuccoed and paii. blue, with pilasters, cornice and balus-
trade around its flat roof, of white.
Our chief object iu going on shore was the enjoyment of a
drive outside the walls. The vicinity of the Plaza furnished OS
with the opportunity of a choice of equipage for the purpose. Lines
and groups of vehicles were -tan-ling along its sides and at the cor-
ners. An omnibus of American fashion and manufactun \\
on its route, and a carriage of modem style passing here and
e, but those on the stand were exclusively the common vehicle
of the city and country, the volante — a two-wheeled clumsy-look-
ing machine of by-gone times drawn on ordinary oo by
oue horse. The body i> larger than that of an American gig or
chaise, hung very low like an old-fashioned phaeton, and so
delicately poised on springs of great elasticity as to -way about,
32 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
under the slightest impulse, with a most buoyant and luxurious
motion.
I find even a pen-and-ink sketch so much more satisfactory
than verbal description, in conveying just ideas of novelties such
as this, that I am more than half disposed to attempt one here,
at the double hazard of defacing my paper and bringing in con-
tempt my skill in the arts. I will try it. The experiment is not
quite so successful and effective as I could wish it to be, but it
will answer the purpose. Do not think it, however, defective in
the proportions exhibited, either in regard to man and beast, or
to the distance of both from the body of the carriage. The
wheels in their size and height, in comparison with the top of the
volante, the length of the shafts, and the bulk of the black cal-
esero, or postillion, in contrast with that of the little pony he
bestrides, are all true to the reality, rather underdrawn than
exaggerated. You must not suppose either that the little horse
is without a tail : for though not very distinctly visible in the
sketch, the tail is there ; neatly plaited and closely twisted round
the hip, like the braid of a lady's hair around her ear, and made
fast by a gay ribbon to the postillion's saddle.
The colors of these carriages, in body, shafts and wheels, are
more varied than those of the rainbow : scarlet, yellow, blue,
green — in endless tintings, contrasting showily with mountings
of silver or silver-gilt, in greater or less profusion and massive-
ness, according to the rank or riches of the owner. The harness
to our eyes appears complicated and heavy. It also is ornament-
ed more or less elaborately with silver or gilt platings. As to
the postillion, picture to yourself the most perfect personification
of Congo blackness you ever saw, in the form of a stout muscular
negro, with features and heels to match ; put him in a very short-
waisted jacket — scarlet, blue, yellow or parti-colored, and gay
with worsted lace for livery, and into very high riding boots, large
enough for Goliath, and with the sketch, you will have a tolerable
idea of the equipage in which F and I set off from the Cat'.;
PASEO AND CHAMPS DE MARS. 33
Dominica, not far from the Plaza do Armas, for a drive in the
suburbs.
At the end of a half mile, it may be, through the narrow
>tret.ts, with Bhopa and counting-rooms and dwellings on either
. widely open and within reaching distance by the hand, we
to the principal gateway in the western walls, leading din i
n the Pasco de Isabella II., the fashionable promenade and
drive, without the walls : the Hyde Park and Champ- Elysee of
Qabaneros. This extends the whole length of the western side
of the city, and is garden-like and beautiful in its trees, shrubbery
and Bowers, Tw-p broad carriage ways run from end to end with
four or more gravelled walks between them ; a fountain ornaments
either extremity, and in the centre is a statuette of Isabella II..
erected shortly after her succession when a child : the more wel-
come from tions of purity and innocence, which an in.
of her majesty in later years would be little calculated to suggt Bt.
A range of stately buildings on the west, faces and overlooks
this point of aristocratic and fashionable reunion : an opera house
and palatial cafe with other imposing structures, giving quite •.
metropolitan air to the scene. The first two mentioned bear the
name of Tacon, in honor of the captain-general of that name,
during whoa* rule they were built, and whose administration a
few yean ago. was distinguished by such signal reforms in I
police of the city, and the entire suppression of the cut-throat
outrages before so common. The enlarged views, public spirit,
energy and determination which characterised his measui
:nped his name indelibly on the city ; and to these IE the pop-
ulation indebted, not only for the effectual suppression of crime,
but for much also of the ornamental architecture which it boa
South of the Paseo is the Champ de Mars, an extensive
parade ground, lined with spacious barracks and other govern-
mental buildings. Passing these we drove three or four miles
over a broad and well-kept macadamized avenue, filled with
animated lift- in every form, and lined with suburban r< Bidei
luxuriant in the richness and beauty of tropical !_'i"\\tli in ti
34 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
shrub and Cower : all in such wide contrast with scenes witnessed
in a drive of like length in the suburbs of a city with us, as
to excite the wonder, why more of our citizens of wealth and
leisure do not take the short trip to Havana in the winter, to be
amused and instructed by its novelties, and charmed by the
blandness of its climate and the splendor of its vegetable life
Although the soil in this section of the island is of an inferior
quality to that of most other regions, there are evidences on every
hand of the richness and beauty which have secured to Cuba the
proud and winning title of " Queen of the Antilles," and make
her the choicest colonial possession left to Spain.
Prom the heat of the climate, the construction of the houses,
in general, is such as to make them little more than so many open
pavilions, from which as you drive by, you unavoidably catch not
only the
" Manners living :is they rise,"
but many, if not all, the habits of life of the inmates. The eye
penetrates at a glance, as it were, the entire domestic economy
of the household. The dwellings are, for the most part, one
story only in height, with a tower or mirador at one end or
corner, for a "look-out." Externally they seem all door and
window. These are very wide, and extend from the ceiling to the
floor, "ii a level with the street. Thrown widely open in the
cool of the day, the interior becomes fully exposed : furniture
ami inmates — the whole family group in full dress or dishabi
ae the case may be — a scene on the stage of life, as open to in-
spection as one from a drama on the boards of a theatre. This is
ae true of the dwellings of the rich as of the poor. In seeing
the whole diagram of the interior thus exposed without any
appearance of bed or bedroom, the wonder in my mind was when:
the people could sleepf On expressing some curiosity on this
point, 1 was told thai in many cases, the beds of the family •
sigl of mats or maim -■ -. spread at night on the floor, or in cots
EVENING PROMENADE. 35
in the ivcept ion-rooms, while in most homes an inner court is
encircled by small deeping and dressing-rooms.
Many of the residences of the gentry and moneyed aristocracy
in the suburbs are luxurious and princely; exhibiting long suit. -
of spacious and elegantly furnished apartments, with floors of
polished marble and the oriental luxury of jetting fountains and
clustering flowers, endless in the variety of their tint and per-
•fumc. The gardens attached to some of these are laid out with
taste, and kept in the nicest order, filled with an exuberance of
choice plants known to us at the North only in the dwarfish and
Btanted growth of the conservatory. Indeed, many which arc
cherished exotics with us, are here seen in rank profusion in the
hedges and by the roadside, like the thorn and the thistle of our
ruder climate.
By the time of our return, the hour for the drive and prom-
enade of the citizens had arrived; and, as we approached the
Paseo, we were met and passed by great numbers of equipages
of varied style. Some were altogether American and European
in their appointments; but most were the native volante in
greater or Less elegance and richness — some with one horse only,
and others with two. When two are used, the second is placed
ahr f the one in the shafts and ridden by the calesero.
eh carriage contained from one to three females, in full dr. —
■e if at a party — low necks and very short sleeves: to which
may be added, very fat figures and very dark skins. Bonnets
are not worn of course with this costume, nor indeed with any
ether. The coiffure at this season is of ribbons, gauzes, laces and
other zephyr-like materials, with flowers and jewelry ; but, in the
winter, I am told, these give place to head-dresses of velvet and
satin, with ostrich plumes, pearl- and diamonds. As thefolanl
pass and repass along the carriage drive, salutations are exchanged
between the ladies in the vehicles with each other, and with
acquaintances and friends among the gentlemen on foot or on
horseback, by the eyes, the fan and hat, more than with the
but, so far as I obserred, the ladies did uot alight as is
36 BRAZIL AJSiD LA PLATA.
the custom in Europe in many places of the kind, to join in the
promenade on foot, or form groups for conversation. At night-
fall there is a return to the city, where, for an hour or two, the
ladies amuse themselves in driving from shop to shop, to have
such articles as they ask for brought to their carriages for inspec-
tion, or, proceeding to the Plaza de Armas, again join their
associates of the beau monde in display and flirtation by lamp-
light or moonlight as the case may be, while a regimental band in
front of the governmental palace gives a free concert of instru-
mental music till nine o'clock. The evening on this occasion was
delightful, and we prolonged our stay and observations till that hour.
So well pleased was F as well as I with this first peep
on shore, that we repeated the visit two days after, driving as far
as the Bishop's garden, the principal attraction of tin- kind in
the neighborhood of the city. Since then there has been much
heavy rain. The trade wind at the same time ceased, causing a
closeness of atmosphere that has been very oppressive, and made
me more than content to remain for the most part quietly on
board ship: I say for the most part, for I went once into the
city, on a solitary pilgrimage to the tomb of the good and great,
and ever to be honored, discoverer of the New "World. As you
know, his remains were removed at intervals of time of varii
length, from Valladolid where he died, to Seville, and from
Seville to St. Domingo, the resting-place designated for them in
his will. On the cession of that island to France in 1796, they
were brought to Cuba, and deposited with great ceremony in the
cathedral of Havana. A medallion likeness in marble, with a
short inscription on a mural tablet, marks the spot in the chan-
cel near the high altar \\ lure tiny have found, as it is to be hoped,
a lasting sepulchre. No American can stand near thru: an
moved : or without a recurrence in thought to the Bublime vision
of an unknown world, winch so long filled the mind, and amid
< ndless discouragements and disappointments sustained the hopes
and energies of the adventurous navigator, till it issued in a
glorious reality; or without deep sympathy in the \i'
VISIT TO BEGLA. 37
tilde? and trials of his after life, and the neglect and injustice
which brought his gray hairs with sorrow t<> the tomb. Near
are exhibited — I the ignominious, but I recall
the epithet — the ennobled fetters with which an ungrateful
narch permitted a jealous rival and enemy to manacle
«li:.
-ion II • ship after night, for a row
;- the harbor with Lieut. T in 1 It had 1
our intention to pass the evening in the city, in a v: nie
mainta: .'horn he wished to introduce
but th nd dampness of a debilitating tokening aim
phere during the day, determined us • this till the
l more invigorating and elastic air. Our row was from
the anchorage of the men-of-war through that of the mere]
ships, at another point in the harbor, to a landing near the town of
v ; a place of no enviable notoriety, in ti:
l a kind of city of refuge through the indulgent wink/
of government officials, first for the pirates who once infesl
th' and more recently fur dealers in the slave trade.
Here :: -ne of the principal amphitheati ibi-
:i of the favorite national amusement, the bull fight. The
I of the trip, on the part of my companion, had some
reference to the d id of the slush of the Congress, if .
can comprehend the import of so elegant a term in a ship's econ-
omy : mine partly the pleasure of his company, and parti,
impair 1 -ick in a private hospital for cases of
yellow fever, and to learn the practicability of \i-it:-_
.eriean seamen, who might be suffering there from this pest of
Havana, already beginnii b uual r:
The night was very dark for a tropi _:on. and the m
rnible. as we threaded our way ami
:>ping, was the black masses of spa
: the long line of brilliant li_'!it- mark-
ing the walls of the city reflected in stream- of Ji r- • on the
glass, 'ternate dim glimmerings and blind
38 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
flashes of the revolving pharos, surmounting the lofty tower of the
Moro.
July 10th. — Bright weather has returned, and with it the
regular trade wind from the sea. We rejoice in this, not only
from the greater comfort it insures, hut also from the promise it
holds out of continued health in our ship's company. The
change induced Lieut. T and myself to make our contem-
plated visit on shore last evening. For a couple of hours before
nightfall, we drove in a volante a circuit of some mileS through
the environs, amid scenes and scenery of unceasing novelty and
endless variety, embracing the attractive and beautiful ; the
grotesque and ludicrous ; elegance and magnificence, filth, naked-
ness and degradation, strangely commingled. Here, a splendid
equipage as perfect in its appointments as any to be met in New
York or London ; there, a vehicle as rude and clumsy as if be-
longing to the birthday of invention. Here a cabalero admirably
mounted, riding a blooded horse with all the stately solemnity of
a grandee of the first order ; there, a negro or montero, in rags
and half nakedness urging onward, at a most sorry pace, as
broken down a skeleton of a pony or jackass as ever contrived
to put one foot before another. Here a squad of well-equipped
soldiers; there a gang of manacled and ruffian-looking galley-
slaves — thus without end, exciting alternate admiration and dis-
gust, smiles and pity. Before commencing the visits of the
evening, we took a bird's-eye view of the fashionable movements
in the Paseo, from the upper balconies of the Caft Tacon win
overlook it, and of the magnificent panorama of the city, the sur-
rounding country, and the sea. commanded from the leads of its
Hat root'. .Hid then proceeded to meet an engagement at the con-
sulate for tea.
July llth. — It has been known for two or three days past,
that the object of our visit was well nigh accomplished, and that
the prisoners of Contoy were to be delivered to the keeping of
our flag, on the condition of their immediate transportation to
the United Btates. The U.S. Bteamer Vixen came into p
THE CAPTIVE FILIBUSTERS. 39
kerday, bringing Commodore Morris as an additional agent of
our government in the negotiation of this matter, bat too late for
the object of bie mission, the work being already done.
^ At twelve o'clock this morning, the prisoners were brought
onboard the Congress in the boats of the Spanish Bhip-of-the-line
near oa Th.y are -ome forty-two or three in number, appearing
a Berry-looking set of adventurers indeed, as they crossed the
ship - to be mustered in the gangways, and turned over to
our charge by the Spanish officer bringing them. Most of them
I — many mere boys — and a majority evidently scape-
graces, inolnding a few wild-looking, muscular and wiry Western
men, tall Kontuekiaus and Mississippi black-legs. They have
been well fed and well taken care nf.it is said ; but they all
looked pale, and some seemed nervously agitated. This is to be
attributed, it is probable, to the uncertainty till the very moment,
of the result of the sudden summuus they had received from
their keepers to prepare for some event of which they were kept
rant, and which they had more reason to fear might be
death under the fire of a platoon of soldiers, than liberty
beneath the flag of their country. During their captivity they
had been denied all intercourse with others, and had no m<
of learning their probable fate. A: times, the mosl intclli-
I among them had been subject to threats of immediate
execution, seemingly in the hope of extorting some confession
differing from the general attestation, that they had been en-
trapped into the expedition, under a contract of being CO]
to the isthmus, on their way to California, and on discover]
the imposition had refused to take part in the attempted invasi
The m> Bring hopes that had reached them were derii
from the salute.-, in honor of the 4th of July. They inf. r
from these the presence of American men-of-war of heavy metal,
and that their case was neither forgotten nor neglect< d by the
American government. I well recollect thinking and 1
he time, that the repeated thunder of the heavy 1
the Congress, from sunrise to .sunset on that day, re-echoed by all
40 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
the men-of-war in port, must have brought them hope with
no uncertain sound, whether it reached their ears in the hold
of the guard-ship or the dungeons of the Moro castle : for even
the place of their confinement was withheld from us. At three
o'clock this afternoon, the whole number was transferred to the
sloop-of-war Albany, for passage to Pensacola. She is to sail
to-morrow morning at daybreak, and it is announced that the
Congress will leave the harbor in company with her, and proceed
to her destination on the coast of Brazil.
Great credit is due to Commodore McKeever for the speedy
adjustment of this difficulty. His courteousness and amenity at
once made smooth the way to negotiation. He is a man of peace-
fulness and good will, more disposed to pour the oil of kindness
on troubled waters than to cast in any new element of agitation,
and to his firmness and gentleness combined, are to be attributed
the early and desirable result attained.
Thus terminates this filibustering invasion of Cuba. But is
it the end ? The enterprise, as projected and fitted out, was most
ill-judged and piratical. But is it true that its origin and means
of equipment were entirely from abroad ? Is there no deep
sympathy with such an adventure among the Creole inhabitants
of the island themselves ? Is the spirit of patriotism and of
liberty here dead ? Are there no groanings beneath the galling
chains of a cruel and grinding despotism ? No sense of degra-
dation, no purpose to be free, among the intelligent and aspiring
of the native population ? It is impossible that there should
not be. The prosperity and the glory of the unfettered nation
immediately facing them are too near, and too brilliant, not to be
reflected eventually in attractive splendor, through every valley,
and over every mountain top of this gem of the seas. An
atmosphere of freedom so near, must impart something of its
elasticity and its power even to the depressing vapors of such a
despotism. The Cuban in his BUmmer visits of business or of
pleasure to the United States, inhales and carries it back with
ldm, and the Am- ri an in his winter sojourn here. insensiM
DESTINY OF CUBA. 41
it wherever he gogs. The breath of liberty lias been, and will
continue to be inspired by the natives of the island ; and unless
the mother country, with timely -wisdom, changes her colonial
policy and ameliorates her iron rule, restlessness, agitation and
"It, must be the issue, and Cuba become independent in self-
rule, or free by voluntary annexation to the nation to which,
geographically at least, she rightfully belongs.
CHAPTEK IV.
Gulf of Florida.
July Vlih. — True to the announcement last night, all hands
were called to weigh anchor at daybreak this morning ; and, by
sunrise, under the double impulse of a light land breeze, and the
oars of a long line of man-of-war boats having the Congress in tow,
we made our way, through the narrow entrance of the port, to
the open sea.
Many merchant ships also were taking their departure. The
shrill calls of the bugle from barrack and fortress ; the unfurling
of signal and banner from mast-head, battlement and tower;
strains of military music from different points ; the lively move-
ment in all directions of boats and small craft on the water ; and
the rising hum of active life from the city, gave exciting animation
to the picture, while the purple hues of the morning and its
balmy breath, added a fresh charm to the whole.
After enjoying the scene till we were outside the harbor, I
went below, intending to return to the deck in time for a farewell
view, not only of the island, but of the Moro castle and city also.
So rapid was our course, however, from a strong current, as well
as a fresh breeze, that, on reaching the poop for this purpose,
" the blue above and the blue below" were alone to be seen ; and
undisguised satisfaction was every where manifested that, not only
the sickly, though beautiful port, but the entire island had been
left out of sight behind us.
GULF OF FLORIDA. 43
The first object that met my eyes this evening, at the oleae of
our accustomed worship on deck, was the silver en. - f a
new moon beantifully defined in the empurpled sky: and, I inl
the mild and benignant beamings sent down upon us, from
young course, as an omen of good in our voyage across the
wide sea.
J 22 N. Lat. o7 : . W, L^ng. 59 c . — We made our way
gently* and pleasantly through the Straits of Florida : sighting,
during successive nights, on either sides of the channel, while
making long - - _ . head wind, the lights
Weal and >..::d Key, Caiysfbrl and Gun Key. T.
numerous beacons speak the perilous navigation of the region.
It is peculiarly the empire of the w: i:ves are spent
in constant search along I hich for two hundred mi
here edge the coast, for the which in great numbers are
rly cast upon them by storms, or the treacherous currents of a
•:• value of the commerce which annually ; - I trough
Gulf of Florida is estimated at four hundred millions of
dollars, of which not loss than half a million, each j by
shipwreck, notwithstanding the vigilance and prompt exertion of
the amphibious and heroic race, whose busi: :he rescue of
lives and property here endangered.
r three days after retraining a latitude which admitted of
plain sailing, we had boisterou- .er and a wild sea, but
an unclouded - The elastic and invigorating atmosphere at-
tending it, was most welcome after the I iba. A: meh
times the ocean, in its ever-varying forms of beauty and changing
shades of prismatic light in the sunshine, often outrivals in
tractiveness the still life of a wid> . landscape on shore.
There is, too, a voice of music breathing over it : for. not leas
truthfully than poetically, has it been said of the ocean, there Lj
I a its deep a melody,
And in its march a psalm."
Now, however, in place of the
" Restless, seething, stormy sea,"
44 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
we have on every side an illimitable plain of the deepest blue,
with scarce a perception of those giant heavings from beneath,
which ever, in a greater or less degree, tell of an unfathomable
abyss of waters. Over this we are hurried, without a conscious-
ness of motion, at the rate of ten miles the hour, by a breeze as
balmy, if not as fragrant, as the zephyrs of " Araby the blest."
Add to these surroundings, the moon, at night, riding the heavens
above in sublime tranquillity, and you will not be surprised, if, at
times at least, I am ready with the poet to exclaim —
" Oh ! what pleasant visions haunt mo,
As I gaze upon the sea,
All the old romantic legends —
All my dreams come back to me ! "
July 29th. — Happily I am not unfitted for mental occupation ;
by being on shipboard, as is the case with many, and, with the
prospect of a voyage of fifty or sixty days, I have set myself
closely to work. The early part of the day I give to the graver
studies of my profession, and the later to lighter reading ; visits
to the sick, when there are such ; exercise on deck with some
fellow-officer ; and such " walks of usefulness " as I can light
upon among the crew, in different parts of the ship in the evening,
fill up the intervals of leisure till bed-time.
One of our young officers, Midshipman L , has the mis-
fortune to be incapacitated for duty, by a nervous affection of the
eyes and head, the consequence of three separate attacks of fever
in the Gulf of Mexico. The surgeons interdict to him all use
of the eves; and, to relieve the ennui into which he is thus
thrown, I have invited him to my room for an hour or two evory
day, that by my reading aloud he may have the benefit of such
works as I am running over ; travels and biography — Maxwell's
Russia, Irving 's .Mahomet, and the excellent books of Miss
Mcintosh, the accomplished sister of the captain of the Coogi
interspersed with tliose of a more serious character, sueh as An-
gel] -linns' "Young Man from Home" and Pike's "Persuasives
INCIDENTS IX THE SICK-RAY. 45
Early Piety" — have thus far occupied these hours. The touches
of deep feeling frequently a the writings Miss Mcintosh,
in her lifelike and instructive delineations of character, have been
of bringing into exe: apathies, the involuntary
.1 of which to each -other, has led to quite an intimate
friendship, considering the disparity of our \ irs.
k after leaving port, we had every rea-on to hope
that it had been with entire impunity, in regard to health, that
1 been i I to the burning sun, and, at this season of
the year, pestilential air of Havana. But on the eighth day. just
a- \\. w re congratulating ourselves on the certainty of our escape
from all infection, a light fever made its appearance among both
officers and men. Some dozen in number were brought down
by it. It was the yellow modified a type, that,
in a few days, all were convalescent and no i urred.
whether of a nature or not. | - an
opportunity of approach, and often give- - to the confidence
which I am careful to improve. I was much interested, a day or
two a"o, in an interview with a fine-lookintr young man of the
r the influence of the prevailing epidemic. He had
evidently been familiar with better as oa than I if a
man-of-war; and, I soon learned from him that he was the pr
.-'•n "i' a pious mother, by whom he had been carefully trained
and cherished, and was a child of many prayers The first glance
of hit I approached his c ' I me by the starting tears
— not from alarm, for no danger was apprehended in hi- liut
from remembrances of the past — that he was in a state of mind
. his heart to me ; and, in the admissions and confessions
of a long conversation, I became deeply interested in the peni-
tence and purposes of future well-doing which he avowed.
In a hammock near by I found a middle-aged Scotchman, of
intelligent and respectable appearance, who was equally
rel : tion. He told me he h: ply
sensible of his guilt and mi- ner, and greatly troubled
in mind and conscience; that a conflict had been going on in his
46 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
soul, as if a good and an evil spirit were ever in contest there for tho
mastery over him : but that the good at last had gained the tri-
umph, and he was " at peace with the Father, through the Son
and Spirit, and feared no evil — not death itself."
August 1th, N. Lat. 12°, W. Long. 38°. — Delicious seems the
only epithet descriptive of the atmosphere we are now breathing,
and " delicious — delicious ! " is the stereotyped exclamation of
every one, as he mounts to the deck from below and drinks in the
pure ether, as if it were the very elixir of life. The morning is
in all respects lovely. The heavens have a look of infinity. A
snow-white cloud alone floats here and there in them ; and, as,
rushing over the blue sea, before the fresh trade-wind, we dash
the foam widely from our prow, unnumbered flying fish spring
into the air, and skim the surface of the water before and around
us, like so many birds of silver gleaming brightly in the sun.
August 28th, N. lat. 3° 30', W. Long. 25°.— The region,
through which we have been making our way, for the last ten
days, is known among seamen by the very unsentimental name
of the " doldrums." The origin of the epithet it might be diffi-
cult to trace. It is an equatorial belt, characterized by light
weather and head-winds ; by alternate calms and squalls, clouds
and rain. Hence every thing on board and without, is, and has
been, in as wide contrast as possible with that of my last date.
The whole ship is saturated, both on deck and below, with rain,
and the washings of the sea through the ports and hawser-holea.
The air on deck is close and oppressive, and below stifling and
musty, and the tossings and pitchings and rolling of the ship
any thing but agreeable to the fastidious stomachs of many
on board — especially to my friend T , who, though famil-
iar for more than twenty years with the eaprioes of the
deep, is in a most annoying state of discomfort at every re-
turn of rough weather. The progress made on our course is
small, averaging not more than twenty-five or thirty miles in the
twenty-four hours, though we sail by tacks in that period, from
a hundred to a hundred and fifty. We are navigating by Lieut.
maury's ciiakts. 47
M . :rv fa wind and current charts, and notwithstanding the seeming
iuin of our Q beating ; what he denomin;i
the south-west monsoons of these latitudes, are satisfactorily
demonstrating the truth of his theory and the corr of his
ng directions in conformity with it.
It -.tie six. or eight years since this distinguished
young officer, whose attainments in abstruse and practical science
have reflected such high honor not only on his profession but on his
countrv, conceived the idea of collecting as many of the log-books
of uavigat >uld be secured, with a view of collating them,
and of projecting upon eh; aid in the better navigation of the
the general experience in winds and currents, at all peri
of the year, in the different regions of the ocean. He at the same
time urged upon the masters of ships, the importance of adding
• the usual subject-matter of their log- mperature of the
wa* set of currents, and the depth of the bed of the oc
when it was practicable to obtain soundings As an incentive to
the trouble of thus keeping a log, and of furnishing an abstract of it
to the National Observatory at Washington, the promise wat
that each shipmaster complying with the - on, should re-
ire gratuitously from the government, a oopj of the charts and
sailing dirt' irhioh might be the result.
t fully alive to the object or aware of its great importao
the wupmw WIS slow and imperfect. In the course - of a few
iiowever, sufficient data were -ecured; and the first practi
lit was the shortening by ten days of the voyage to the
equator, and consequently to Rio de Janeiro. From the ear!
times this passage, from North America, had been made by run-
ning obliquely across the Atlantic to the longitude of the Cape
de Verde Islands, before venturing to strike the north-east trade-
wind. A traditionary report and belief in the existence of
strong adverse currents along the South American coast, and
fear of not being able to double Cape St. Boqne, should
equator not be crossed far to the East, led to this. It required
little moral courage and determination in one of a class ]
48 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
bially wedded to custom and subject to superstition, to venture
the trial of the new route. Such an one was found, however, and
the result was most satisfactory. The opinion is now firmly
entertained by many of the most experienced navigators, that by
following the direction of the wind and current charts, the length
of the voyage is diminished one fifth. This is an immense saving
of time in a commercial point of view. Doubtless the patient perse-
verance of the accomplished astronomer, in this new field of dis-
covery, with the aids which are now rapidly placed in his posses-
sion, will lead to similar results on all the grand routes of
navigation over every ocean, and place the commercial world in
indebtedness to his genius for savings in time, and consequently
in money, of incalculable amounts.
Last night, from nine till ten o'clock, we enjoyed a beautiful
spectacle, in a halo around the moon of colors as vivid as those
of an ordinary rainbow, and in concentric circles most clearly
defined. The moon, near the full, retained her face of silver in
the midst of a field of gold, shadowing towards the outer edge
into a delicate amber and then into the deepest maroon. A belt
of the purest blue intervened, when the encircling colors were
repeated in fainter hues ; apparently, though not philosophically, a
reflection of the first. The phenomenon was so striking, and so
singularly beautiful, that Lieut R , the officer of the deck at
the time — one ever alive to tbe poetic and impressive in nature,
as well as to the scientific and practical in his profession — dis-
patched a messenger hurriedly for me. The commodore and
captain wnc also summoned, and soon, with most of the other
officers, joined us on the poop, while the whole crew, from differ-
ent parts of the ship, shared in the admiration excited by the
scene. It is the first exhibition of any tiling unusual in sky or
sea that has thus far marked our passage. A humid atmosphere
and a thin fleecy scud wen: its accompaniments.
August tl'Sd. — In the course of the night of the 2'2d inst. we
took the south-east trade-wind, three degrees north of the equator,
and at once bade adieu to the doldrums. We crossed the line at
CROSSING THE LINE. 49
high noon, yesterday, on the parallel of 28° 30' W. long, without
any very perceptible ' Jul; ;' and arc rushing on our course at the
rate of ten miles the hour.
Just in the edge of the evening, after hammocks had boon piped
down, the -hip was hailed loudly from the bows, and it Was reported
to the officer of the deck, that " Neptune was alongside and request-
ed permission to oome on board." This was granted, and very
unexpectedly to me this monarch of the seas, hi- queen and suite
made their appearance on dock. They were soon enthroned on
the forecastle, with an immense bathing tub filled with salt water
in front of them, in readiness for the presentation of those of the
orew who had never before l>een in this section of their watery
dominions. The sun being long set, and the moon, for the time,
lured, L could not make out very well the costume of their
majesties further than to judge it to be of the latest marine
fashion. The most conspicuous article in that of Neptune was
a full bottomed wig of white manilla grass, closely curled, like
that of a lord chancellor on the woolsack, but covering not only
his head, face and shoulders, hut his entire figure, giving him the
aspect in general of a polar hear with the head and mane of a
lion. lie bore himself with imperial dignity, while .Madame
Amphitritc of very sturdy and Dutch-like make, sat meekly by
his side, iii a fashionably made dress of coarse canvas, or sacking,
with a shepherdess hat of the same material, hair in long ringlets
'a l'Aiiglaise,' cheeks highly rouged, low neck and short sleei
with bare arms which bore a \ cry BUSpiciouS resemblance, in
muscle and color, to those of one of our most brawny forecastle
men.
The commodore, with whom I was walking on the poop-deck,
being informed of the presence of the distinguished company,
made his way to the forecastle, claiming courteously from the
monarch the privilege of the entree, from having crossed the eqo
tor already i .-.. n of times. This Neptune mosl graciously
conceded, with the flattering remark that he "recollected his
countenance perfectly, and was very glad to see him." The
50 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
interview, like most others on state occasions, was brief, conclud-
ing on the commodore's part by his saying, " he presumed the
presentations of the evening would be numerous," Neptune reply-
ing " yes," that he had " never seen so many green-horns on
board one ship in his life ! " A call of the names of candidates
for the honor was now begun, and the gentlemen of the court,
disguised in dress and with blackened faces, began to drag from
every hiding place many an unwilling, but vainly resisting sub-
ject, who had never before entered the southern hemisphere.
Forced into the presence with good-nature and laughter, by over-
powering numbers, and blindfolded and seated on the edge of the
tub, the victim was hailed by Neptune with stentorian voice
through an immense paste-board trumpet, in the questions —
" What is your name ? " " Where are you from ? " " Were you
ever in these parts before ? " While in the act of answering
each of these respectively, a coarse brush dipped in a mixture of
tar, slush, and lampblack was hastily passed over the mouth of
the respondent. The court barber was then called to do his duty
in shaving the gentleman with No. 5, No. 9, or No. 15, refer-
ring to the qualities of the razor ; this being determined by
the degree of submissiveness and good-nature, or the surliness
and resistance of the subject in hand. The lathering brush
was something of the form and softness of a broom of split
hickory, the lather the composition before described, and the
razors, two or three feet in length, of different degrees of edge,
from the smoothness of straight wood to the roughness of a jugged
piece of iron hoop. When an order for dressing the hair was
added, in penalty of special refractoriness and ill-humor, the
brush used was formed of long wooden pegs fixed in a board with
a handle, like a hatchel for dressing flax; the pomatum, tar; to
which, in extreme cases, was added a powdering of flour in the
style of " '76," the whole winding up with a sudden souse, back-
wards, heels over head into the tub of salt water. The presenta-
tion thus completed, the new courtier, half drowned, and dripping
NBFTUNE ABOARD. 51
like a water god, was loft at liberty to free himself at leisure
from the tar and Lampblack, and dry himself as best he could.
The case of all Others, in which the least sympathy \
elicited, was that of a young landsman, who, after lung impunity,
had been detected aome time before as a thief — supplying his own
wardrobe rery freely from the clothes-bags of his shipmates. The
answer to the usual question, " who is this ?" when he was brought
forward, u Jackson the thief!" was received with a general shout
of applause, and the following dialogue ensued. " What is your
nam • .laekson." " Yes, sir ; and the sooner you slip your-
self out of one so illustrious the better."' " Where are you
from?" "0 ." "And a disgrace you are to so respect-
able a place. Were you eyer in my dominions before?" " No."
'• I knew it: and take care you are never found in them again ;
or, if you are, look out how you fill your bag with other men's
clothes for an outfit ! " " Barber, do your duty: give him No. 15,
and see that you dress bis hair in the first style ! "
The striking of eight bells and the calling of the first night
wateh brought the rough sport to an end. I have not time to-
night to moralize on the subject or to speculate upon the pro-
priety of the indulgence. By whose authority it WBS sanctioned
I do not know. Many of the officers regarded it I believe with
disapprobation, as a species of saturnalia unsuited to the rigid
discipline of a man-of-war. and liable to be abused, while others
defended it on the ground of old usage among sailors, and as an
amusing relief to the tedium of a long voyage. By B little
management I succeeded in screening from observation, till all
hands wre called to duty, two or three youngsters who w<
anxious to escape the annoying proci .
August '2bth. — Sailing in the latitudes of the south-east
trade-winds is the very perfection of life at sea. The waters, as
smooth and level as a prairie, are of the deepest tint of blue, with
the addition in certain declinations of the sun, of a dash of rose
color, imparting to the whole, for a time, the appearance of a
in of velvet of the true Tynan purple. Though moving with
52 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
great rapidity, through a wide and deep furrow of sparkling foam
cast up by our bows, the sails of our frigate, fully set from the
deck to the royal-mast-heads fore and aft, sleep by the hour,
without the slightest apparent motion, as if, in place of canvas
spread to the breeze, they were a like quantity of chiselled
marble. Then, at night, such a moon ! with the southern cross
in marked beauty inviting to the sublimest meditations. The
Magellan clouds, too, are in sight : small spots of fleecy whiteness in
the sky, similar in general aspect to the nebulae of the milky
way. Indeed, with the mercury by Farenheit at 06° the whole
Southern hemisphere is in brilliant exhibition, many of the
most conspicuous stars flashing on the eye, not only with the
brightness, but apparently with the varying tints of the dia-
mond.
The smoothness of the sea and steadiness of the wind have
afforded a good opportunity for exercise at the batteries, and in
the various evolutions incident to an engagement in battle. The
station of a chaplain, in action, is with the surgeons in the cock-
pit in attendance upon the wounded and dying; or, at his option
perhaps, on the quarter-deck, in taking notes of tho conflict. In
these sham engagements, at least, I prefer the deck : and hare
stood with the commodore and captain, while broadside after
broadside has been fired, till the whole ship has been enveloped
in smoke, and I found myself at the end as well powdered as a
miller, though not in such whiteness. An evening or two since
trial was made in throwing shell with the Paixhan guns. The
explosion ' took place eight seconds after the discharge, with
beautiful effect. The tendency of all these exhibitions, though
only as an exercise, is ever to make mc regard with fresh horror
and abhorrence the entire system of war — its principles, spirit,
implements and cruel results.
August 30th. — The prevailing thoughts and feelings of my
mind ami heart this morning, traceable to visions of the night,
may be best expressed, perhaps, by the familiar quotation —
DREAMS OF HOME. 53
•• Who has not felt how sadly sweet
The dream of homo — the dream of home
'( r the heart too soon — too fleet.
Win n t'ar e'er BBS, or land we roam !
Sunlight more soft may o'er as fall,
To greener-shores our bark may oome,
But far more bright, more dear thau all,
That dream of home — that dream of home ! "
Little a- 1 may have confessed it, "Riverside!" — "Riversidi
the oonstant echoing of my heart, ami my home i- ever in
bright vision before me. I breakfast with you every morning,
sit by moonlight with yon in the verandah every evening: walk
with you every day to " Prospeot Rook " — to " Gcrtlee " — to the
upper fields beneath the mountain, and drive with you. if at no
other time, at least every Sunday to your little church, along the
magnificent terrace of the river-road.
I Bay, I breakfast with you every morning. Did you know
exactly the state of the larder and store-room of our mess, you
would wonder that I do not include all my meals in the avowaL
For some time past, on each successive day. the giving out of
artiole after article for our table, has been reported, till nothing
now remains hut salt hard as fully to justify the sailor's
gnomon of " Uncle Sam's Mahogany," and salt pork as rusty
he beef is hard. No potatoes or other vegetables, no butter
latter than ram-id lard, and no bread lit to be eaten except the
ship'- •' hard tack," are left. Dried beans and peas we have, but
!i filled with Weevil, which the cook has devised no mean,- of
iratdng, before being served, from the article itself. The eon-
-. that when they come to us in the form of soup, the
floating insects drowned and overdone, are the most conspicuous
part «d' the mess, and when baked, give to the di.di the appear-
ance of being already well peppered. 1 can join very cheerfully
in a jest over such untempting fare, and think of home; but
cannot, like some of my messmate.-, persuade myself into the
illusion that the little black insects speckling our board are only
54 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
a rich condiment to give zest to the repast, and with them par-
take of it con gusto.
Yesterday our last turkey, after having given flavor to a tu-
reen of watery soup, was served as a boiled dish. As we were
about taking our seats at the table, a suggestion, made either seri-
ously or in mischief, that the poor bird had not waited for the
cook to bring its head to the block, but had died unexpectedly
of its own accord, put a participation of either soup or meat, on
my part, out of the question ; and led, by the time the report
had made the circuit of the table, to a kind of impromptu Court
of Inquiry in the case. The steward was at once summoned by
the head of the mess, who, fond of a joke, and knowing that the
fat and shining negro, now honored with this office, like many
of the more imitative and aspiring of his race, was somewhat
grandiloquent in his language, put to him the question — " Stew-
ard, are you quite sure that the old fellow under this cover was
entirely vigorous when he was taken from the coop ? " " No !
sir, he wasn't wigorous at all ! he was perfectly good ! " " Why,
steward, what do you suppose I mean by vigorous ? " "I don't
know, sir, but I suppose from the way you ask me, something
bad." " Well, steward, I do not wish to be too particular in
this investigation, but just tell me this much, could the old fel-
low really stand on his legs when he was killed ? " " Sartain,
sir, he could." " Then, gentlemen," says Mr. , addressing
himself to the mess, " I go for the turkey," and lifting the cover
disclosed to view a mere skeleton in a shrivelled bag of skin,
with scarce an ounce of flesh on the whole carcass.
You must not infer, either from the feelings expressed at the
beginning of this date, or from the dietetic disclosure into which
I have been incidentally betrayed, that I am otherwise than
entirely content and happy : as much so as I well can be in this
world of imperfection and sin. This is attributable, however,
chiefly if not solely to the conviction in mind and heart, that
I am at the post of duty —
imi'ki>i.mi;nts to piety. 55
" The shepherd of a wandering flock
That hus the ocean for its wold —
That has the vessel for its fold ; "
and am, as I trust, in a spirit cheerfully and faithfully to meet
abilities. Whether to any high result or visible effect,
it is not in the power of man to say. The sufficiency for this is
of Qbd aloue. I am thankful that I feel no discouragement iu
use of the means for moral reformation and spiritual grace
in those around me. Nothing but personal experience could per-
suade one of the almost insurmountable obstacles that exist, on
board a man-of-war, to the conversion of any of the crew, and
to a life of godliness in one of their number, or make him credit
without close observation, the number and the power of
" The secret currents that here flow
With such resistless under-tow,
And lift and drift with terrible force
The will from its moorings and its course."
Nothing less than a miracle, humanly speaking, could achieve
such a result ; but, as the conversion of any soul, and a life of
godliness in any heart, anywhere, are miracles of grace, I do not
allow myself to despair of such results ultimately through the
word and Spirit of God, whether I ever know them or not. So
firmly is hand joined in hand among the crew, against every thing
savoring of a profession of or pretension to personal religion,
that it would require no ordinary degree of moral courage, iu
any one — whatever might be his secret convictions, feelings or
purposes — to disclose or avow it. Many cheerfully give counte-
nance, both by their words and conduct to good morals in others ;
but all seem tacitly- at least to say " thus far only shalt thou go."
Though it is by no means unusual to see one and another in dif-
ferent parts of the ship reading a Bible or a Testament either
alone or aloud to others; though tracts, and religions papers, and
books, are eagerly accepted and seriously read, .-till, to get the
56 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
name of a ' Bible-man ' by joining a class for reading under the
chaplain, or of a psalm-singing and praying man, from being
known to practise such devotion, is as much dreaded as would be
a scurrilous reproach. From this feeling it is, that I have thus
far attempted in vain to establish Bible-classes or secure a meet-
ing for moral and religious instruction, beyond the public worship
of the Sabbath and our daily evening prayer : and from the same
fear of man it is that one or two spiritually-minded members of
a church, whom T have discovered among the ship's company, are
unwilling to have their true character and profession known.
The purpose of those chief in authority, to abandon as far as
practicable, in the discipline of the ship, the iron rule, and in
place of the " cats" and the " colt," the kick and the curse, to
substitute a treatment less degrading to man and more befitting
him as a moral agent and an intelligent being, has been carried
out. Thus far the experiment has been successful ; and we have
a cheerful, obedient, active and efficient crew. We are also de-
monstrating the fact by experience, that a crew can be content and
happy without having served to them the ration of grog furnished
by government. Knowing that two thirds of all the evil and mis-
ery to which sailors, as a class, are subject both at sea and on
shore, arises from the use of strong drink, I, early after the com-
mencement of our cruise, made efforts by private argument as
well as by public addresses, to demonstrate the magnitude of the
evils arising from intemperance, and to persuade all to follow the
example of those who had stopped drawing rum. In securing
so desirable an object, I have had the warm support of those in
authority, whose opinion and influence would be likely to have
not effect. Commodore McKccver and Captain Mcintosh have
both given me their aid; and the former has twice publicly
addressed the ship's company on the subject. The consequence is,
we shall enter port without the name of an individual on the
grog list ; with the universal admission that the ship's company,
to say the Least, are as contenl and happy without the rum
they were with it, and certainly more quiel and orderly.
GIVING UP GROG. 57
In the course of my canvass on the subject, I bad, not only,
many interesting, but many amusing conversations and arguments
with various individuals. Before yielding, there was a gr<
struggle in tin- minds of some half a dozen old topers — old men-
of-wars-men, perfect sea-dogs, who, for half a century have drunk
their grog as regularly as the roll of the drum announcing its
readiness was heard, and felt that they could not live without it.
I really pitied some of these old fellows, in the mental struggle
they suffered, between conscience and a desire to follow the ad-
vice of those they honor, and the continued craving of an appe-
tite strengthened by the habit of a whole life. I fell in with two
of these one day immediately after one of the addresses of the
Commodore. They were looking most doleful — as a true sailor
seldom does look except in some great moral extremity. Sus-
pecting the cause, I opened a conversation in which one of them
met my persuasions by saying, with a most appealing look,
- Why, Mr. S 1 I haven't been without my grog every day
for fifty years. Why, sir, I should die without it. I was
brought up on it ; my father kept a public house, and I Bucked
the tumblers, sir, from the timo I was a baby ! " Bui the
man soon joined the rest of his shipmates in the resolution to
banish the grog tub. He has now gone a long time without his
rum; and, in place of dying from the want of it, as he said he
should, came up to me yesterday, looking hale and hearty, and
with a bright smile and sparkling eye, said, " Mr. S , 1
wouldn't have believed it — but, it's true. I don't miss my
grog at all. You told me I would live through it, if I did knock
it off. And so I have, and I feel ten times better without it
than I ever did with it! "
CHAPTER V.
Rio de Janeieo.
Sept. 4th. — Land was descried at ten o'clock, on the morning
of the 1st inst., and before noon we had Cape Frio in full view,
tweuty miles distant. Isolated from other highlands of the
coast, it stands out boldly and loftily in the ocean; and, after
being once seen, is not easily to be mistaken in its outline. AYe
were rushing onward, before a fresh trade-wind beneath a brilliant
sky, at the rate of eleven miles the hour ; and at twelve o'clock,
hauling closely round the Cape to the westward, opened a lofty
and picturesque mountain coast on our right.
The speed at which we were sailing was in itself sufficient
to produce great exhilaration. Add to this, the beauty of the
sportive Bea — leaping, foaming, and sparkling around us; the
varied and noble outlines of the shore; the objects of increasing
interest coming hourly in view, with the assurance o$ an early
termination of our passage, and you can readily imagine that
by nightfall, the continued excitement been me almost painful.
As darkness began to gather round us, the faint outlines of the
famed Sugar Loaf marking the entrance to the harbor of Rio,
were discernible; and the first gloamings of the light on Rasa
I land, some seven miles seaward from it, came cheerily upon tiie
eye. The wind still continued fresh, and we had the prospect of
entering the port at night; but, jusl as we were attempting to do
so by heading into the channel, J;he breeze died suddenly away,
COAST SCENE. 59
lad We dropped anchor on what is called the "rolling ground."
The appropriateness of this name was fully demonstrated to us
before morning, by a depth of rolling on the part of our good
ship in a dead cabs, which we had not before experienced in the
heaviest weather at sea. '
As for myself, I was more than content to pass a restless
nightefrom this cause, rather than lose the opportunity of enter-
the harbor by daylight. I was anxious to test the fidelity
of the impressions received twenty years ago from the same
aery; and to determine how far the magnificent picture, still
lingering in my memory, was justified by the reality, or how far
it was to be attributed to the enthusiasm of younger years and
the freshness of less experienced travel. The early light of the
morning quickly determined the point. I was hurried to the
k by a message from Lieut. R already there ; and do not
recollect ever to have been impressed with higher admiration by
any picture in still life, than by the group of mountains and the
coast scene, meeting my eyes on the left, as I ascended the poop.
The wildnesa and sublimity of outline of the Pao d'Assucar, Duos
1 i rmanos, Gavia and Corcovado, and their fantastic combinations,
frnui the point at which we viewed them, can BCaroe be rivalled,
while the richness and beauty of coloring thrown over and
around the whole in purple and gold, rose color and ethereal
blue, were all that the varied and glowing tints of the rising day
r impart. No fancy sketch of fairy land could surpass this
scene, and we stood gazing upon it as it' fascinated by the work of
a master hand.
The pyramidal hills on the eastern side of the channel are
less Lofty and less wild than these, but impressive in their nia-
sivene.", and beautiful in the verdure of various growth clinging
to their steep sides and mantling their summits. Together they
form a portal to Rio worthy, not only the city, but the vast and
magnificent empire of which it is the metropolis.
There was full leisure for the enjoyment of the BoenO, for the
did not >et in. with sufficient strength to enable as to
60 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
get under way, till after mid-day. In the mean time I secured
a drawing, while a thorough ship-cleaning was going on, both in-
side and out. This was bo satisfactorily accomplished by four
hundred busy hands, before the breeze would allow of taking our
anchor, that, with the crew freshly dressed in a uniform of white
and new summer hats, we looked, on taking our position among
the men-of-war at anchor, more like a ship on a gala-day in port,
than one just arrived from sea.
The width of the entrance is a mile, though the loftiness of
the granite shafts by which it is formed, gives the impression of
its being much narrower. The Sugar Loaf on the left — the naked
peak of a mountain of rock whose broad base lies far below in
the great deep — rises, with a slight leaning westward, to an fixa-
tion of twelve hundred and ninety-two feet according to the
measurement of Captain Leechy. The corresponding mass on
the eastern side, less isolated and more rounded, is six or
seven hundred only. At the base of this, upon a tongue of rook
projecting into the channel, is the strong and massively built for-
tress of Santa Cruz, against whose Cyclopean foundations the
swell from the open sea beats heavily. Its white walls and
embattled parapets, pharos lantern and telegraph fixtures, with the
imperial flag of green and gold flaunting in the breeze, arc the
first features of civilization meeting the eye : all else along the
coast looks as primitive and untamed as on the day it was first
discovered.
From the point at which we were at anchor, little within the
harbor could be seen : a small fortified islet or two, the tall
masts of tlic shipping at the man-of-war anchorage, distant five
miles, and the faint outlines of the Organ mountains in the far
north. But on passing the Sugar Loaf and fort the bay opens,
and the extent and magnificence of its leading features are
rapidly disclosed. The mountain group, which so impressed us
in the morning and seemed to belong exclusively to the outside, is
found to constitute in new aspects and relative positions, the
grand outline of the western Bide within.
BAY OF RIO. 61
To tli- its of nature there was soon added the charm of
art. Long lines of imposing edifices edge the shores; white
cottages and villas sprinkle the hill-sides and crest the mountain
ridges; while ohuroh steeples and convent towers and the thick-
et' building in the city gradually rise to view.
A- our ship moved gently onward the effect was like the iiii-
ling of a panoramic picture. First came the land-locked has
of Botafogo, backed ami overhung by the lofty peaks of the Ber-
manoe and Gavia — its circular shores and sweeping sand-beach
being embellished with a palace-like hospital ami numerous
suburban residence- of the aristocratic and wealthy. Then the
en and pictures pie valley of the Larangeiras, with cottages
hanging like birds' nests on its hill-.-ides, beneath the wooded cliffs
and naked summit of the Corcovado; followed quickly by the
of Eiamengo, the Gloria, hill, the hills of Santa Theresa and
5 I Antonio crowned by their convents, Castle hill with its
Capuchin monastery and old bastions, the hill of San Bento,
and the entire city overtopped by the mountainous range and
L-shaped peak of Tejuca.
While these objects on the left successively absorb the atten-
i, on the right a precipitous range of granite hills, extending
or three miles northward from the fortress if Santa Crus,
falls sheer into the water like the Highlands of the Hudson. It
terminates in a bold promontory which divides a deep, circular
inlet, called the bay of St. Francis Xavier, from the chief harbor,
and which from some joint.- of new is strikingly in the form of a
colossal lion couchant, with the head settled backward in Btateli-
- upon ti,,- shoulders. At the further distance of a mile i
picturesque elift-bound little islet — evidently once a part of the
adjoining mainland — mar northern entrance to this inner
bay. Surmounted by a white chapel facing the sea, dedicated to
•■our Lady of good v the special patroness of the sail
it is a conspicuous and interesting feature in the topography, the
first and the last upon which the ignorant and superstitious amo
*oj _ land seafaring men. have long been accu tomed to ti\
62 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
their eyes on entering and on leaving port. Beyond this, upon a
widely sweeping beach, stretch the populous rural suburbs of
Praya Domingo and Praya Grande, immediately facing the city.
These terminate in a lofty rounded hill, partly under cultivation
and partly in wood, which cuts off all further view northward,
except clusters of islands on the distant waters, and the far-off
mountains rising six thousand feet against the sky. The whole
was seen by us under the strong lights and shades of the after-
noon, as with a light sea-breeze we floated gently up and dropped
anchor abreast the city, midway from either shore. A cluster of
men-of-war were moored inside of us, from whose mast-heads
floated the national flags of England, Portugal and Brazil, but
none bearing the stripes and stars of the United States.
Towards night the coloring thrown over mountains and val-
leys, city and bay, was most gorgeous. A light haze, like that of
Indian summer at home, characterized the atmosphere; through
this the sun shone in fiery redness, empurpling the mountains,
gilding dome and steeple and convent tower, and spreading a
crimson glow over the entire bay. I have been thus minute in
the description of the panorama surrounding us, because tl
winding shores and curving beaches, these verdant hills and
towering mountains, are for many months in two or three suc-
oessive years, to be the objects of hourly observation and the
haunts of my daily rambles. The Sugar Loaf and the Corcovado,
the Qavia and the Peak of Tejuoa, Gloria hill, Botafogo, Praya
Grande and the Organ mountains, will become in my communica-
tions to you, familiar as household words.
Admiration of the natural scenery was not the only feeling
of which I was conscious, in advancing up the harbor. Remem-
brances of the past came unbidden to my mind and heart. With
the first opening view of the Praya Flamcngo, I was quirk in
mysran-h with aglass among its mansions, for the dwelling which
during my former visit had been to me a happy home. It was
iiy distinguished in its unchanged exterior. But where was
REMINISCENCE OF THE PAST. 63
the brilliant and accomplished diplomatist, whose genial spirit
and polished mind gave such charm to its hospitalities? Long a
tenant o\' the tomb ! and I could not but recall the fact, that, with
him, every one whose acquaintance I had here made — an acquaint-
anceship which, in some instances, from after intercourse, ripened
into mature friendship — was also in the world of spirits : Tud( r,
Inglefield and Walsh, all gone. A generation had wcll-
I away : and all was changed. A new Emperor was on
the throne — a new Bishop over the see : there was no one to meet,
and no one to look upon, whom I had ever seen before.
It was the predominance of feelings such as these that led. in
my first visit on shore, to a solitary pilgrimage to the former
v. to look once more upon its familiar portal — now in pos-
-ion of strangers, — and on my return at eventide through the
embowered pathways of the Gloria hill, to think what a dream is
lite, and how vain as an abiding good, the highest attainments and
most honored positions gained by man on earth.
Scptem 1 ' r 6th. — Rio de Janeiro, if not built like Rome on
en hills, can boast an equal number around the bases of which
her Btreeta and dwell! jely cluster. The bright verdure of
these — in tufted groves and shrubbery and in gleaming turf— a-
they rise abruptly here and there, from one to two hundred feet
above the red-tiled penthouse roof- of the dwellings and the sum-
turret and towers of church and convent, adds greatly to the
beauty of the city, whether seen from shipboard, or in ristas at
the end of the on shore. One of the most conspicuous and
lofty i-^ Castle hill, so called from being surmounted at one of it-
angles, by the ramparts and dismantled batteries of a small fort,
en oted by the first colonic. It is also called by foreign
Signal hill — from being the telegraphic station to which the move-
ments of all shipping in the offing is made known, by signals
from other stations at the entrance of the harbor and al"
coast. Besides the ruin of the ancient fortress and the lixn.
of the telegraph, it is conspicuously marked by the double-pin-
naeled church of a former Capuchin monastery, and by the old
64 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
college of the Jesuits, both now converted to the use of the
public — the one as a military hospital, and the other a medical
school. The hill juts so closely on the bay as to interrupt, for a
half a mile, the line of the city along the water, and to leave
room only for a single street. This is not built upon, but being
open to the sea-breeze and commanding a fine water view, is much
frecpiented as a drive and promenade in the afternoon and eve-
ning. Inland from Castle hill, and separated from it by what
was once a deep glen, but now a densely inhabited part of the
city, rises the hill of San Antonio, so called from being the posses-
sion of a brotherhood of that name, whose convent stands in mas-
sive dimensions on its brow. These hills occupy the centre of
the city, while that of San Bento, also crowned by a stately con-
vent; that known as the Bishop's hill, from being surmounted by
the Episcopal palace; and the hill of Lavradio, an on its northern
side. The hills of Santa Theresa and Gloria, thus named — the
one from a nunnery, and the other from a church dedicated
to our Lady of Glory, arc on the south. All originally rose
from and encircled a marsh, the site of the present metropolis.
Till within the last half century, the whole city then containing
only some thirty thousand inhabitants, lay between Castle bill
and the hill of San Bento, a distance of less than a half mile as
a water front, in a parallelogram of rectangular streets extending
about as far inland. This section is still regular ; but in most
others since built, the streets follow the curvature of the lulls at
their bases, and straggle from these, in every direction, up the
ravines intervening between the spurs running from the mountains
to the plain. The streets in general are narrow, and roughly
paved with cobble-stones: the sidewalks being comfortable for
two persons only abreast. The population is now about 200,000
— including the suburbs which are very extensive, and reach south
some five miles and nearly the same distance west; while Praja
Domingo and Praya Grande, on the opposite side of the bay, foi m
quite a town in themselves.
The general climate of Brazil from its great equality ha be< a
THE YELLOW FEVER. 65
:i'l. d as one of tin- most salubrious and healthful <>f the tropical
regions of the world. Before the Congress left the United
States, however, it was known that within the lasl year the yel-
low fever had made it- appearance along the seaboard, and had
1 with great mortality in the principal cities ; especially in
oambuCO, Bahia, and Rio de Janeiro. AVe were uneertain
what the State of health might be on our arrival : and were thank-
ful to* learn, by the first boat boarding us. that the epidemic
bad ceased, after frightful ravages among natives and foreign.
both afloat and' on shore. The business of the port was aim
spended by it- virulence for Bis or eight months; the citiz
in great numbers having fled to the country, while the shipping put
i" sea. The general health is now good, public confidence is
1. and the inhabitants have returned to their shops and
dwelli;.
The origin of the pestilence is a mooted point lure, among me-
dical men of the most distinguished talent and experience. Some
contend that it was imported from Africa by slave ships;
others that it was introduced at Pernambuco in a ship from New
Orleans; and other- again believe it to be of domestic genera-
tion, Connected with atmospherical phenomena, thus far inscru-
table to the observations of num. This last opinion is sup-
ported by changes of a meteorological character universally ac-
knowledged : one the interruption, amounting almost to an entire
-ation, of thunder-storms in the afternoons, formerly of such
.dar daily occurrence, that appointments for business or
pleasure were made in reference to them, as to taking place
■• before" or "after the shower." It is a fact also atti rted by
medical men, that of late years, marked modifications fiw the
worse have been observed in the types of fever prevalent, till
their malignancy reached the climax just experienced. There
was, too, at the commencement and during the continuation of the
itilenee, a stagnation and want of elasticity in the atmosphi
from the cessation to a great degree of the fresh and regular
winds from the sea, very perceptible and very oppressive : all
66 BRAZIL AND LA FLATA.
confirmatory of the belief that the sickness was atmospheric and
indigenous. History and tradition are also brought to support
this supposition; nearly a century ago, a similar pestilence is said
to have prevailed in llio, with the same devastating effect; and
records of the years 1666, 1686, and 1694, bear testimony to
visitations of a like kind. There is reason therefore to hope that
the scourge will disappear as it has done before, and not become
annual and endemic as in the West Indies.
The weather now is as delightful as can be imagined, with a
clearness and brilliancy of atmosphere like that on the Hudson
in the month of June, throwing an enchantment around the
scenery of the bay perfectly irresistible.
September 10th. The first two or three days after our arrival
were marked chiefly by an interchange of visits of ceremony,
between the officers chief in command of the foreign squadrons
near us and our ship; accompanied by a succession of salutes
deafening to the ears, filling the pure atmosphere of the heavens
with smoke and sulphur, and awakening in tones of thunder the
ten thousand echoes of the adjoining mountains. In no harbor
in the world, perhaps, is more powder wasted in the course of a
year than in this. There seems ever to be among the Brazilians
some new occasion for a salute. On the day of our arrival, in
the course of a half hour the Congress alone fired eighty
heavily charged thirty-four pounders : all of which were answered
in the :>anie space of time, gun for gun. Two of the intervening
days Bince have been fete days on shore, calling for three separate
saluds — morning, noon, and night — of twenty-one guns from all
the furts and Brazilian men-of-war in the harbor, and at mid-day
a general one of the same number, from all the flag-ships of the
foreign squadrons. A commutation for the powder thus annually
wasted, would he a princely income for any one securing it.
These observances of etiquette afloat well through with,
Commodore McKeever invited me yesterday morning to join
him, Captain Mcintosh and Lieut T , in visits on shore to
the American Ambassador, and others of our countrymen in offi-
EQUIPAGES. 67
cial positions, and to Mr. H , a leading English merchant, who
had called on board the Congress early after our arrival. In
1829, aud till within a year or two past, the principal landing
- in the centre of the city upon an inclined plane of solid
masonry, de.-eending into the water so aa to be aoceasible by
boats at any .-tate of the tide; this conducted to a tine mole of
granite, parapetted with stone, and forming one side of the
palace square. Against the flush wall of this mole the water r
high, carrying oft' into the current, in its reflow, the offensive
matter, which in want of - '.s cast along the Bhorefl of the
citv at night An extension of the square on the bay IE QOW in
progress, however, by the driving of piles aud tilling in with
kh and rubbi.-h ; and the landing is at a temporary stairs and
platform of wood, at an adjoining point, in the midst of outpourings
of filth disgusting to the senses, and making impressions on the
.-t ranger most unfavorable as to the purity and civilization of the
imperial city. A carriage had been ordered for us litre, and in
Btyle aud appointments we had evidence, at once, of the im-
provement in equipages which has been made since my last visit.
Then, the old-fa.-hioued Port . desa, or chaise, and a clu
close-carriage on leathern braces, of a similar Btyle and date, v.
uuiver.-ally in u.-e. I do not recollect to have seen vehicles of
any other kind, except the imperial carriages and those of the
British Ambassador. Now, although the Calesa is still fre-
quently met. and occasionally its con-frere in antiquity, the low
D four-wheeled carriage of the fashion aud finish of those
most modern in New Y'>rk, London and Paris, and equal to t!
in all their appointm> in general use. Besides many li\
stables at which these may be found, stands of them occupy the
Palaoe .Spiare and other public points at all hquif of the day.
Twenty years ago, mules only were driven, except in
above mentioned; but, now, fine showy hoi
oft . in the turn-out. The carriage we entered was drawn
by a pair of spir'r k. long-tailed blacks. The coachman in
a livery of sky-blue and silver, made aware, by the broad pennant
68 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
of the uiany-oared barge in which we came on shore, and by the
lace and epaulettes of my companions, of the rank of some of the
party, dashed off with a flourish of whip and a prancing of his
beasts that won the admiration of the bystanders. He kept
for the whole morning a Jehu speed characteristic of the manner
of driving here; and significant, it would seem, by its accelerated
rapidity, of the degree of rank of those it hurries along, from the
Emperor down.
The route we took, is one of the finest the city and its envi-
rons afford, leading three or four miles southward, immediately
along the bay, by a continuous street bearing different names
in different sections, to Botafogo, the most beautiful of the sub-
urbs. The green and palm-tufted hills overhanging the way
inland; the luxuriant little valleys receding, here and there,
from it, and terminating in wild and inaccessible ravines; the
flower gardens and shrubberies, encircling the better residences,
with beauty in endless forms, and the perfume of everlasting
spring; the gay coloring, novel, and in some instances fantastic
architecture of the houses; the vases and statuary and statuettes
around and surmounting them; and the stately and ornamental
gateways, opening into fine avenues of old trees terminating in
embowered perspective at inviting residences remote from the
road, with magnificent views at one point and another of the
mountains on the one side and of the bay <>n the other, made
the drive both in going and returning inspiriting and delightful.
Botafogo itself is a gem of beauty: a seeming lake, three or
four miles in circumference. The one half is as untamed and
wild as granite-bound shores bristling into mountains can make
it; the other, a semicircular beach of white -and overhung with
trees, and lined by a succession of fine residences. From the
curving street on which these Btand others run westward, forming
a villacc-likc settlement On one of them we found the mansion
of Mr. II , a spacious establishment with an air of aristocratic
elegance approaching magnificence. Besides the loft) entrance
hall and stately drawing-room into which we were ushered, there
A TROPICAL HOME. 69
were glimpses through different vistas of a fine library, a music
room, dining hall and billiard room of proportionate dimensions
and appropriate appointments. Situated immediately beneath the
pyramidal shaft of the Corcovado, with a view of other mountain
peaks, the waters of Botafogo at near access on one side, and
those of the ocean not far distant on the other, and bloom and
blossom on every hand — the rustling banana around and the
plumed palm above — the whole presented a tempting picture of a
home in the tropics.
It was late in the afternoon before we again reached the city.
On inquiring the charge for the carriage for the four hours we
had it in use, I was rather surprised, notwithstanding the large
number ' ; eight thousand," that met the car in answer, that the
whole was only four Spanish dollars, the thousand being reis, a
nominal term in the currency of the country, one thousand of
which constitute a mille-reis, a silver coin of the size and about
the value of an American half dollar.
CHAPTER VI.
Eio df. Janeiro.
September 12th.— On returning from the drive of Monday, I
did not accompany the party to the ship, but gave the remainder
of the afternoon to a stroll in the city. Its two principal and
most attractive streets are the Rua Direita and Rua Ouvidor. The
first runs north and south, parallel with the water, forming in its
course the western side of the Palace Square; the other is at
right angles with this, running east and west from a point near
the square. A central section of the Direita is quite wide, and
beside the palace contains the imperial chapel adjoining it, the
Church of the Carmelites, used as a Cathedral, and that of the
Holy Cross : in it also are the Custom House and Exchange, the
Post Office and Commercial Reading-rooms, and the offices of
the principal brokers and money-changers. It is in fact the
Lombard-street and the Wall-street of Rio ; while the Ouvi-
dor, a mile in length, filled from end to end with shops of
all kinds— fancy goods and millinery, prints and pictures, jewelry,
articles of vertu and bijouterie — is its Bond-street and its
Broadway.
The Rua Ouvidor terminates in a small open square, having
on one side the fine facade of the church of St. Francisco dc Paolo,
and on another a more modern and well built structure, in Gre-
cian architecture, used as amilitarj BchooL A ahorl street Leads
from this into a larger square diagonal to it, called the Roscio, in
FIRST IMPR] i IN IUO. 7L
which is the Opera House; and a quarter of a mile further west
lies the grand square of the Campo D'Acclamacao, bo named from
the proclamation iu it of the independence of Brazil in lMi'J.
My walk extruded to this. It is a rectangular common of large
extent, bat partially built upon, and is distinguished by some fine
public edifices. On the side next the city are the Treasury, the
Museum and the Courts of Justice ; on that opposite, the Senate
Chamber of the Imperial Legislature ; and on a third, a long line
of Barracks. Heads and foot-paths cross it irregularly in vari-
ions; but, ungraded and implanted, it offers little
attraction to the eve, being covered with coarse grass and we
mud-puddles and rubbish. Though thus neglected and shabby
in itself, the views from it of the encircling hills and more dis-
tant mountains are full of freshness and beauty.
The Senate Chamber, a large square building of stone, is
without architectural beauty or ornament. Originally the pri-
te residence of a governor of Bahia, when in the metropolis,
it was sold by him to the government for its present uses. In it,
in L829, I witnessed the opening of the Imperial Legislature by
Don Pedro I. ; and learning incidentally this morning when on
shore, that the same body v be prorogued to-day by the
• Emperor, I turned my steps again in that direction :
partly for the accomplishment of my purpose of a walk, and part-
ly for such observation as I might secure as an outside spectator.
It was too late to seek a ticket of admission to the house, at the
En or elsewhere, and the Brazilian who gave me informa-
tion of the ceremony, thought I could not without one gain ad-
mittance to the interior, in the ordinary morning dress I wore.
There would, however, it was probable, be a gathering of I
populace to the scene; and with an opportunity of the study
this might afford, I was content. It is the remark of a V.
rapher of the brothers Humboldt, I think, that, " however fertile
nature may be, man is always its most interesting and its m
important featiiri' ; " and, after the almost exclusive observation
of inanimate objects, from their surpassing magniticcne for week
72 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
and more, I felt doubly inclined to avail myself of the chance
of scrutinizing my fellows in new aspects of life.
The first impression made on an intelligent stranger on land-
ing at llio would, probably, arise from the numbers, evident dif-
ference in condition, the variety of employments, dress and un-
dress, almost to nakedness, of the negro and slave population.
Such figures, such groupings, such costumes, as are exhibited by
these on every side, it would be difficult to picture or describe:
the rapid lope and monotonous grunt of the coffee-bag carriers,
their naked bodies reeking with oily sweat; the jingling and
drumming of the tin rattles or gourds borne by the leaders of
gangs, transporting on their heads all manner of articles — chairs,
tables, sofas and bedsteads, the entire furniture of a household;
the dull recitative, followed by the loud chorus, with which they
move along; the laborious cry of others, tugging and hauling
and pushing over the rough pavements heavily laden trucks and
carts, an overload for an equal number of mules or horses, all
crowd on the observation. Others, both male and female, more
favored in their occupation, are seen as pcdlers, carrying in the
same manner, trunks and boxes of tin, containing various mer-
chandise ; glass cases filled with fancy articles and jewelry;
trays with calces and confectionery ; and baskets with fruit,
flowers and birds. And yet again others of the same color and
race, more fortunate still, iu being free — the street-vender, the
mechanic, the tradesman, the Boldier; the merchant with the
dr. ss and manner of a gentleman; the officer in uniform and the
priest in his frock; all by their contrasts tilling the mind with
speculation and' opening channels for thought.
An impression which would follow this iii-t one, in (piiek suc-
-ion, would be derived from the fearfully mongrel aspect of
much of the population, claiming to be white. Mulattoes, quad-
roons, and demi-quadroons, and every other degree of tinted
complexion and crisped hair, met, at every turn, indicate an al-
most unlimited extent of mixed blood. This cannot fail to be
revolting, at least bo a visitor from the Northern States of our
E
MIXTCBE OF RACI>.
oountr oially as exhibited in the female portion of the
low e community, as they hang over the under half
of the do ieir boos g _ r up and down tl. or
m — black, white, and gray, three and four together, in the
closest juxtaposition from their latticed windo-
A striking exhibition of this incongruous mingling of r
I mixture of blood, was presented in the first object upon which
mv 11. on entering the Camp • I> Acclamacao on my
A squadron of dragoons in a scarlet
uniform, had just been placed in line on one side of the square.
I band in Hussar dr< - : ::ie same cok>r was in at-
I took a station for a moment near this. It
en performers ; and in the number included
ry shaii inplexion, from the blackest ebony of Ai
eh demi. quarter, and demi-quarter blood to the pur
swarthy Portuguese and Brazilian, and the clear red and white
of the Saxon, with blue eyes and flaxen hair. Such, in a gre:.- r
or less de T the mixture seen in every sphere of common
— dom< . -•' - iril and military; and scarce K
^here, in the vestibule of the palace and at the
.re of the church.
With: prion of th < .f horse-guards and its band,
little indication in the square of the approaching
spectacle. Two or three hundred idlers only, in addition to the
binary movements on the common, were seen loitering about.
who had begun to l»k\ however, were in clean and
Jay garb. The Senate Hall, which last evening loot
-habby enough in its exterior, appeared now in gala
:'ty wind bore and below, w
on the ou- ith hai._ g f crimson silk; and the do-
le open, wen. by draperies of green cloth,
d in the centre with the imperial arms in colon A
body-guard of Halberdiers, in liv ri - '"green tood in
— • '.t lufty gpe 1 with
•ing at rest near at hand.
4
74 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
Numbers of well-dressed citizens began to arrive and enter the
building by a side door. Perceiving among them one and another
in costumes not differing much from my own, I made bold to follow,
leaving it for the door-keepers to question my right of admission.
I knew not where I might be led, and after a long ascent by a
dark, circular staircase, very unexpectedly found myself in an
open gallery in the middle front of the hall, in a line with the
diplomatic tribune on one side, and that appropriated to the
Empress and her ladies on such occasions, on the other. All the
best places in this gallery were already filled. As I was looking
about for a choice in such as remained unoccupied, a Brazilian
gentleman, recognizing me as a stranger, though there was nothing
in my dress to indicate either my nation or profession, immediately
approached and insisted on relinquishing to me his seat. It was
in vain that I objected to dispossessing him, till, overcome by his
courteous manners and unyielding purpose of civility, I bowed
my way into it. The point of view was one of the best in the
house, being immediately in front of the throne and the chairs
at its foot, for the ministers and chief officers of the household.
Besides the whole interior, it commanded also, through a large
open window, the avenue, by which the imperial cortege would
make its approach in state from San Christovao, the country
palace, three or four miles west of the city.
The Chamber has been remodelled since 1829. Instead of
being oblong as then, it is now semicircular, like the Senate
Chamber at Washington. The canopy and hangings of the throne
and the draperies of the windows, are of velvet and silk in green
and gold, the national colors.
The members of both Houses began soon to enter; many in
magnificent attire — naval and military uniforms stiff with embroi-
deries of gold, various conrt-dresses and pri< stly robes — and
many in a full dress of black alone, with an abundance of glitter-
ing stars and cro < and the broad ribbons of different ord
In the number were many men of mark, not only in oame and
title, but in talent and popular influence. There was no friend
IMTKIUAL LEGISLATURE. 75
near me, however, as on the former occasion, to point them out
individually ; and I had only the unsatisfactory assurance, from
the circumstances of the cum', of seeing before me not only the
ministers of state and other officers of the government, but I
leading politicians and ecclesiastics of the empire. Among them
were many heads and countenances indicative of talent and un-
mistakable intellect, with a refinement and dignity of bearing
that gave a most favorable impression of the whole as a Legis-
lative body.
Y"U are aware that the government of Brazil is a constitu-
tional monarchy, similar in its limitations and general organization
to that of Great Britain. A Council of State consisting of three
members holding office for life, corresponds to the Privy Council
of Her Majesty. The ministry, composed of the heads of ~i.\ de-
partments — those of the Empire. Justice, Foreign Affairs, Marine,
War. and Finance — is appointed by the Emperor. The Legisla-
ture consists of two chambers, the Senate and the House
ef Deputies, and is elected by the different cities and provinc
The Senators, titled and untitled, the proportion of each bei
limited by law. are fifty-four in number, and like the Counsel]
of State hold office for life. The deputies amount to mere than
one hundred and Berve tor a limited time. TitL -, of which there
a considerable Dumber, of the various grades of Marquis,
Count, Viscount and Baron, besides those of different orders
of knighthood, are not hereditary, and there is no right of pri-
mogeniture in the descent of property.
The Legislature in its two branches, like the Parliament of
ESngla f the United States, has cognisance
of the entire busini B8 of the empire. It- discussions and deb. I
on i -abject, are I the two bodies named,
and, I am told, ar<' often marked with distinguished ability, varied
(earning and accomplishment, and true parliamentary eloquei
The temperament of the Brazilians is impulsive, and off D 1
displays of imps L oratory, on points eliciting tl inal
jealousies of the Senators and Deputies. With an empiri
76 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
widely spread as our own, and the centralization of the entire
revenue at Rio, occasions often occur in which this feeling in
regard to appropriations and other legislative measures is mani-
fested. In times past, the ground of the strongest and warmest
partisanship, was found in the early rivalry between the old
Portuguese population and the native Brazilians, from the absorp-
tion by the former of the chief offices and emoluments of the coun-
try when a colony, and the patronage and favoritism extended by
the crown to those who accompanied and followed John VI., in the
transfer of the court from Lisbon in 1808. This cause of party
irritation is now, however, rapidly disappearing. The native party
with its purely native policy and views is entirely predominant,
and can never again lose its power and influence.
A flourish of trumpets and a general bustle outside soon
intimated the approach of the Emperor ; and, through the open
window before mentioned, I had a view of the procession of state.
A company of lancers in rapid movement cleared the way.
These were followed by a detachment of horse guards, in a
uniform of white and gold with scarlet plumes, accompanied by
a mounted band playing the national air ; then came sis coaches-
and-six — each flanked and followed by its guard of honor — contain-
ing the great officers of the household. The state carriage of
the Empress and her ladies, drawn by eight iron grays, next made
its appearance ; after which came the imperial state coach with a
like number of horses ; a long cavalcade of troops completing the
cortege. Each pair of horses had its postillion, and each carriage
its coachman and three footmen. All were in state liveries
of green, still' with lace and embroideries in silver. The
postillions wore jockey caps fitting closely to the head, with !
and embroideries to correspond with the livery, and the coachmen
and footmen, old-fashioned cocked hats hroadly laced and Fringed
with white ostrich feathers. The postillions, mostly handsome
young lad-, and the coachmen and footmen wore powder, and I
head of each carriage-horse was surmounted by three ostrich
feathers arranged like the Prince of Wales' plume. The panels
THE EMFKBOB. 77
and top of the Emperor's carriage were "1" crimson velvet ; but
all other parts, the irheels included, of the heaviest can ing, richly
gilt; — the pattern and style of the whole reminding me of the
Blase eoaohi a of his great ancestor, Emanuel of Portugal, in the
palmiest days of his reign, which I recollect to have had pointed
out to me, as matter- of antiquity, in the Royal Mews at Lisbon.
A procession of courtiers now appeared, in an upper corridor,
i't" new from the gallery, and, by a double line, formed a
-age way for the Empress and ladies in waiting, \<> the
tribune appropriated t i her. This was screened in front by
curtains. A- Ber Majesty entered I ere drawn, and all in
the gallery rising and bowing, remained standing. In the mean
time the hall below became deserted, the senators and deputi
having Left it ; : the Emperor from the robing room. Tl
returned in procession in a few moments, with His Majesty at the
head in full coronation attire, wearing the Grown and bearing the
sceptre or gilded staff of state. While he mounted the steps of
the throne the members filed off on either side to their respective
places. Bowing to them, as he turned to face the assembly, the
Emperor bade them be seated, and rested himself on his chair of
state. A secretary tin n presented him with a sheet of letter
paper in a portfolio, from which he read an address some five
niiuut' gth. At its close, rising and again bowing, he
,ded and passed through the centre of the hall as he had
red, followed in procession by the entire body.
Don Pedro II., whom I saw as a child of thre Inside
father at a presentation on my former visit in llio, is now a
tall and stalwart \oung man of twenty-five, standing anc
those around him, like Saul in Israel, " higher than any of the
people from his shoulders and upward."' He is finely and
massively built, with great breadth of shoulders and fulness of
che.-t. Qig German descent, through his mother, the Arch-
duchess Leopoldiua of Austria, is strikingly manifest in his light
hair, blue eyes and fair complexion. There is nothing either in
the feature.- or expression of his face to remind one that, on his
78 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
father's side, he is a direct representative of the united blood of
Braganza and Castile. His countenance, in repose, is heavy and
inexpressive, and in the. reading of his speech exhibited little
flexibility. A fixed and, seemingly, determined indifference was
all that could be inferred from his enunciations and intonations.
I could not detect the slightest emotion of any kind or perceive
a ray of feeling in his eye, as he went mechanically through it.
How far this might be attributed to the subject matter, I BOO
unable to say ; it was in Portuguese, which I do not understand,
and I have not yet seen a report of it in French iu the daily
journals. Still he is known to be a man of mind and character;
has been most carefully and thoroughly educated ; is extensively
read ; scientific in his studies aud pursuits ; and of exemplary
correctness in his moral principles and character.
The Empress Dona Theresa is a Bourbon of Naples, ;i younger
sister of the present King of the two Sicilies, and, of course, of
Christina, Queen Dowager of Spain. She is apparently some
four or five years the senior of her lord. In person she is short
and stout, full iu face, with well-defined features, and great amia-
bility and benevolence of expression. Her walk and general
mien, however, are not particularly marked with the high bearing
and finished air, which give such grace and such prestige of regal
birth and training to some of her compeers in rank, whom I L
seen in Europe. She was in court costume — an under dress of
white satin heavily embroidered with gold, with a profusion of
rich lace falling deeply over the corsage and forming its sleeves.
These were looped with bands of diamonds magnificent in size
and lustre. The train was of green velvet with embroideries
in gold, corresponding with those of the skirt. Her head-dn
with the hair worn in long ringlets in front, was a wreath of
diamonds and emeralds, in the shape of flowers, rising into the
form of a coronet over the forehead, and from which B white
ostrich feather fell on one side gracefully to the shoulder. A
broad sash, the combined ribbons of different orders — scarlet,
purple, and green — crossed the bust from the right shoulder to
THE EMPRESS. 79
the waist, above which a mass of emeralds and diamonds of the
first water sparkled on her bosom. The ladies in waiting were
also in dress* a of green and gold of corresponding character.
By the time the gallery was sufficiently cleared to allow of
a comfortable descent, the procession was formed for a return, in
the same order in which it had arrived. The Empress was
entering her carriage at a canopied doorway, as I gained the open
air. Bome amusing incident had just occurred, and in taking her
; she indulged in quite a laugh with her companions. This
entirely confirmed the im] a of her good looks and amiabil-
ity. Ti 11 yean of apparent age were at once thrown off, and
both vivacity of mind and S\ IS of manner indicated by it.
A pleasant break upon the frigidity of imperial etiquette, having
the effect of a burst of sunshine on a cloudy day, over a laud-
scape whose chief beauty till then had been in shade.
A lowering morning by this time began to settle into a heavy
rain ; and a heavy rain here is a rain indeed. It soon poured in
torrents; and it seemed a pity, in an economical point of view, at
-t. as the long display moved off for a ride of three miles to
San ( 'hristovao, that so much gilding and embroidery, so much lace
and velvet, and so many tine feathers should be exposed to the
peltings of tie- BtOrUL
CHAPTER VII.
Rio in: JA3TEIHO.
September Wth. — There is no seaman's chaplain or other
American clergyman, at presenl at Rio ; and the religious Bervices
of the Sabbath on board the Congress, since our arrival, have
been attended by many of our compatriots, both ladies and gen-
tlemen, residents here, including the Ambassador and Consul and
their families. Occasions occur not unfrequently both in the
shipping and on shore, calling for the special a of a Pro-
testant minister of the Grospel. This has been the ease within
the passing week. The commander of an American schooner
spoken by us the day we crossed the line, but which did not
arrive till ten days after the Congress, died suddenly of apoplexy
the morning he entered port. The Bchooner was put in quaran-
tine, immediately, by the health officer; and it was with great
difficulty permission was obtained from the authorities for the
burial of the body on shore. Mr. Kent, the consul, formerly
Governor of the State of .Maine, solicited my attendant fficially
at the interment. This took place at the Protestani cemetery
at Qamboa, a northern suburb of the city, situated on a broad
indenture on the western side of the bay. Here the body had
been carried l.y water. Gov. Kent took me in a calesa by land.
The drive is through a mean and unattractive part of the city,
by a winding course from street to street, between the hill of
San Bento and that surmounted by the Bishop's Palace.
:i.n.uV 01 BAMBOA. 81
This burial-ground was purchased by the foreign residents
of Rio twenty-five or thirty Tears ago. It was then, and
still is, comparatively, a Beoladed and rural spot, upon a hill-side
overhung and crowned with tree-, and commanding a beautiful
view northward of the upper bay and its many islands; of the
rich valleys to the west; and of the Organ Mountains sweeping
majestically round in the distance. It is enclosed with high
and substantial walls of stone, and is entered by an ornamental
t' iron. From this a winding avenue of trees marks
nt t" a neat little chapel on a terrace near the centre of
the ground. Here such religious services as may be desired, or
can be secured, before committing the dead to the grave! are
usually observed.
The morning was wet and gloomy, according well witb the
object of our visit, and the peculiar circumstances in which the
burial was to take place. A funeral more sail in its desolateness
could scarcely be: that of a stranger, in a strange land, un-
wept and unattended by any one who bad ever seen, or ever
heard of him when living. Tbc consul, the undertaker, the
digger and I, as chaplain, being the only persons brought
to the spot either by duty or humanity. The officers and crew
of the schooner wi re in quarantine, and, from some omission or
mistake in the arrangements, no representative from other Ameri-
can in port was present.
The kindness of Gov. Kent, in giving his personal attend-
ance, was at a sacrifice of feeling which could not fail to elicit
my sympathy, though a stranger to him till within a few di
•t. It is but a very brief period, BCarcely a mouth, since ho
committed to the newly-made grave near which we were standing,
an only son of great promise just verging into manhood: one of
the last of the victims of the late epidemic. The associatii
of the passing scene could not but revive in painful freshnesc a
sorrow that has not yet Lost its keenness.
The rain, and the wetness in every pathway, prevented all
observation, except a general glance around, or an) lingering
4*
82 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
among the memorials of those who rest here, far from the sepul-
chres of their, fathers. It had been my purpose, before bciug
called thus by duty to the spot, early to visit in it the tomb of my
friend Tudor. This was the only one I now sought, to stand a
moment beside it in remembrance of the dead, and, in thoughts
of the living, who most loved him, but who may never be ]
mitted to look upon his grave. It is marked by a plain while
obelisk of Italian marble, bearing the following simple inscrip-
tion :
Ossa
Gulielmi Tudor
Rerump : Feed : America; Sept :
Legati.
Natus Bostonias A. D. MDCCLXXIX.
Mortuus est
Rio Janiero A. D. MDCCCXXX.
.Mult is ille bonis
flebilis Occidit.
September l&tk. — The objects, at Rio, of historic interest to
the stranger, or suggestive to him of thoughts of the past, are
few. There is, however, at least one entitled in these respects
to a passing notice from a J'rotestant. It is a small island,
situated a short distance seaward from our anchorage, beneath the
green heights of Castle Hill, a half mile from the shore, [ts
entire area is occupied by a fortress, whose white ramparts, demi-
turreted angles, and floating banner, form conspicuous objects in
coming up the harbor. My eye never consciously rests upon it
without recurrence to a fact in the early history of Rio, insepa-
rably associated with the name which both island and fortress now
bear — thai of Villegagnon. However imposing and aristocratic
in sound, it is synonymous in its application here, with treachery,
and not less surreptitious — to compare small things with great —
as regards the name of the noble old Hugueaol Ooligny, first
given to them, than that of Amerieus. borne bj half the globe,
instead of one in honor of the true finder of the western world.
DISCOVERY OF BRAZIL. 83
Brazil was first discovered by Vinceute Pinzon, one of the
companions of Columbus iu his first voyage, on the 26th of Jan-
uary. 1499. The laud descried by him was Cape St. Augustine
in tin.- vicinity of the present city of Peruainbuco. He took pos-
lion of the country in the name of the crown of Castile, wh<
flag he bore, and, coasting northward to the mouth of the Ama-
zon, returned to Spain without forming a settlement About
the same period Pedro Cabral was fitting out a large fleet in the
Tagus, to be conducted to India by the newly known route of
the Cape of Good Hope. Fearful of the calms iu the Atlantic
off tin.- coast of Africa, in pursuing the voyage, he ran so far to
the west as to make, on the lifith of April, 1 ;"><)!'>, the same shores
Pinzon had, some degrees further to the south. Entering a fine
bay, in imitation of Columbus, he erected a wooden cross on the
shore, before which he and his followers prostrated themselves,
and high mass being performed, possession of the country was
taken in the name of his sovereign Emanuel of Portugal. He
gave to the hay the name of Porto Seguro, since changed in honor
of him to Cabralia, and to the country thatof the Terra de Vera
Cms — the Land of the Holy Cross. This appellation, however,
was Boon lost in that of Brazil, from the abundance of the wood of
that name found in it and the high value placed upon the article
in Europe: a result pathetically deplored by a pious Jesuit, in
the Lamentation that " the cupidity of man by unworthy traffic,
should change the wood of the cross, red with the real blood of
Christ, for that of another wood which resembled it only in
color."
The harbor of Rio de Janeiro was not discovered till 1516.
De Solis, in search of a western passage to the Pacific, looked
into it, in that year, as he coasted his way to the Rio de la Plata
where he lost his life He gave to it no name, however, and it
remained unvisited again till De Sousa entered it iii 1531. I ader
the impression that it was the outlet of a great river, this cai
tor called it Rio de Janeiro, the day on which he made the sap-
i aed discovery being the first of the sew y< ■■'■■ It did not,
84 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
however, particularly attract the notice of the Portuguese, and
still remained unoccupied by them.
In the mean time adventurers and traders from France made
their way to this part of the New World, and secured the good
will and friendship of the natives. Among them was Villegagnon,
a knight of Malta, who had seen service in the east, was an olli
of distinction in the French navy, and had commanded the vessel
which carried Mary Queen of Scots and her retinue from France
on her return to her kingdom. His visit to Brazil inspired him
with the ambition of establishing a colony at Rio. Desirous of
the favor and aid of the crown in this project, and believing the
influence of Coligny with the king the surest means of accomplish-
ing this end, to winjiis confidence and co-operation he professed a
deep interest in the condition of the Protestants of France, and
avowed the purpose of making the proposed colony a refuge to
them, from the persecutions to which they were subject at home*
The king was led by his friendship for Coligny, to regard the pro-
position with such favor as to grant to Vilegagnon two vessels for
the expedition, while the admiral interested himself in securing a
number of respectable Protestants to accompany it as colonists.
On arriving at Rio in 1555, Villegagnon first took possession
of the small island Lage near the mouth of the harbor; but
soon finding this too much exposed to the sea, removed to one
larger near the site of the present city, to which, with the F
erected upon it, he gave the name of Coligny. The v<
were scut back to France for reinforcements. Great interest in
the enterprise had in the mean time been excited among the
Protestants there. Two clergymen and fourteen students of the-
ology had been selected in Geneva to secure the spiritual good
of the colony, and were received, preparatory to their embarka-
tion, at the chateau of Coligny near Chatillon, with great atten-
tion. Large numbers of respectable emigrants joined them, and
sanguine hopes were entertained that the principled of the refor-
mation would be sm-ely implanted in the New World.
Early after the arrival of this reinforcement, Villegagnon,
HUGUENOT COLONISTS. 85
believing himself sure of the support of the OTOWn in the farther
prosecution of his object, under the pretence of having return* d
to his old faith, commenced so bitter ;i persecution of the Prot-
uts, that, in place of the peaceful enjoyment of freedom of
conscience for wliieh they had been led so far from their native
land, they found themselves in a worse condition in this respi cl
i they were at home. They were- driven, at length, to the
determination of returning to France The only vessel, however,
granted tu them for the purpose was so old and so ill found for
the voyage, thai five of the number, after going on board, refused
to .venture their lives in her. Of these, three were afterwards
put to death by Yillegagnon, and the others, flying for refuge to
settlements, were constrained to apostatize to save
their lives. The company who embarked reached France oidy
after having Buffered all but death from starvation. At the time
of their return, ten thousand of their brethren were in readin*
under the auspices of Coligny, to embark for the new colony. The
irt brought by them of the treachery of him who was to have
i their leader at once changed their purpose ; and the proj< Cl
of a l'i lony in ' France Antarctique,' as the region had
D styled. was abandoned. Thus it was that the re-
ligious and civil destiny of one of the riches! a ctiona of the N, w
W ;M was changed for centuries now past, and, it may be, for
centurn i conic.
With the remembrance of this failure in establishing the
Reformed religion here, and of the direot cause which led to it,
I often find myself speculating, a- to the possible and pro-
bable results which would have followed tic successful estab-
lishment of Protestantism during the three hundred years
which have intervened. With th- wealth and power and in-
Creasing prosperity of the United States before as as the fruits,
at the end of two hundred year-, of the colonization of a few
ble bands of Protestants on the comparatively bleak and barren
- iore of the Northern Continent, there i.> no presumption in the
lhat, had a people of similar faith, similar morals, similar
86 BKAZ1L AND LA PLATA.
habits of industry and enterprise, gained an abiding footing in
so genial a climate and on so exuberant a soil, long ago, the
still unexplored and impenetrable -wildernesses of the interior
would bave bloomed and blossomed in civilization as the rose, and
Brazil from the sea-coast to the Andes become one of the gardens
of the world. But the germ -which might have led to this w;is
crushed by the bad faith and malice of Villegagnon ; and, as
I look on the spot which, by bearing his name, in the eyes
of a Protestant at least perpetuates his reproach, the two or
three solitary palms which lift their tufted heads above the em-
battled walls, and furnish the only evidence of vegetation on the
island, seem, instead of plumed warriors in the midst of their
defences, like sentinels of grief mourning the blighted hopes of
the long past.
The conduct of Villegagnon soon met its just recompense.
The course he pursued towards the Huguenots led to the early and
utter failure of his enterprise. Had he been true to his followers
of the Beformed faith, the colony, in place of being weakened by
the return of any to France, would have been so strengthened and
established by the ten thousand prepared to join them, that the
Portuguese would never have been able to dislodge and supplant
tbem. Needing reinforcements, Villegagnon proceeded himself
to France to secure more settlers and the further aid of the gov-
ernment. Every thing there was adverse to his object. lie had
forfeited the favor of Coligny, and put an effectual end to the
emigration of Protestants to Brazil. The king was too much
occupied with the civil war existing to give heed to him. \\ bile
thus delayed the Portuguese litted out a strong expedition under
Mem ile Sa from Bahia. This was successful. The French were
driven to tbeir ships, and the Portuguese, possessing themselves
of the island on which they had been established, gained such
foothold as never afterwards to be displaced. This occurred on
the 20tb of dan. 1560, St. Sebastian's day, under the patron
of which saint the expedition had been placed: and in wh
honor the citj afterwards buill on the mainland, received the
PBOGRESS IN I IVI1.1ZATION. S7
name of St. S m. This i> now, however, entirely aup-
planted by thai of Rio de Janeiro.
In 1676 the c- i t v had become so populous as to be made the
of a Bishop, and the palace now crowning the brow of the
hop'fl Hill was built. At that time, and for more than a
hundred jean afterwards, Bahia was the seat of chief authority
in the captaincies of Brazil; but in 1763, so greatly had the
Jth and influence of Rio increased, from the discovery of the
_ 1 and diamond mines, whose product- w< re poured into her
a market, that the residence of the Viceroy was trans-
ferred from Bahia and became permanently fixed here.
It was not, however, till the arrival of the royal family of Por-
. il. in their flight from Lisbon before the French army in 1 -
that the prosperity and true progress of Rio, and Brazil in gene-
ral, may be said to have commenced. Till then, the wbole country
had been subject to the restrictive and depressing influences of
the policy adopted by the motber country, in the government of her
colonies: all foreign trade interdicted, heavy import and export
duties imposed on the commerce with Portugal herself, grasping
monopolies claimed by the crown at home, and extortionate ]
qui* d by ite sntativee on the ground. There were
o newspapers, no books, no schools. The whole country
- in a si E darkness and ignon yond that of the
Middli ai d Rio an unenlightened, unrefined, and demora-
lised provincial town. But with the Prince Regi ai ol Portugal,
thi a mother, the court, and more than twenty thousand
followers, European manners and customs, and the habit- and
u-ages of modern eivili/.ed life were introduced. Commi I
opened to all nations ; and the press, literature and the arts
Thechang .most miraculous; and
so constant and so rapid have been the improvements to the prec
time, that .-he now presents to the \isitor, in many of her leadi
features, an asp . the met] it Empire.
The progi nlightened government, enlarg rty and
ended commerce, has been commensurate with the advance.- in
88 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
civilization, intellectual culture and the refinements of life. The
measure of throwing the ports open to all nations, so wise and so
essential, at once adopted and proclaimed by the Prince Regent —
afterwards John VI. — in 1808, was followed by him in 1815 by
the no less important step of elevating the colony in its united
provinces to a distinct kingdom, on an equality in its rights and
privileges with those of Portugal and Algarvcs, under the one
crown.
In 1S22, Brazil became an independent empire under Don
Pedro I. with a constitution which guaranteed to her a represen-
tative legislature, and the largest liberty compatible with the
immunities of the limited monarchy by which she is still governed.
This political progress was not made without obstacles and
threatened anarchy and disaster. The return to Portugal of
John VI. in 1821, was followed in 1831, by the abdication of Don
Pedro I. in favor of his son, a child four years of age; and par-
tisan conflicts, during the regency which followed, made oecessary
the sudden termination, in 1840, of the minority of Don Pedro
II., at the age of 14, in violation of an article of the constitution
fixing the majority of an heir to the throne at eighteen. Si
then, however, general tranquillity and progressive prosperity hai e
prevailed. After years of deficiency in the revenue there is now
a surplus; the receipts of the imperial treasury for the last year
being seventeen millions and a half of dollars, and the expendi-
tures Little more than (if teen millions. The national debt is sixty
millions, but with increasing exports and an enlarging commeroe
this may soon be liquidated; and the finances of the country be
placed in unfettered condition. The revenue is derived from
duties on exports as well as imports; those on exports being ap-
plicable alike to the internal commerce of the empire betw<
province and province, and to that with foreign countries. The
export duty on coffee, transferred from one province to another,
is ten per cent. On .shipments of the same article for foreign
ports, there is an additional duty of two per cent. Every pro-
duet — rice, sugar, cotton, Farina is thus taxed. The export duty
DANGEBfl AND SAFEGUARDS. SO
on mandiooa, the staff of life of the country, is regulated by the
market value of the article, and not by fixed per oentage.
There is no direct tax on landed property, but, in lieu of it,
a levy of ten per cent on every transfer of real estate. There
is also an annual tax od slaves throughout the empire at the
rate of two milreis a head.
The greatest danger to which the empire seems exposi d, ari
m the vastness of its extent, and the i which have
hithert I to a ready intercourse, between its different sec-
tions and the eentral power at 11 io de Janeiro. But steam
tion already established along its coast, and soou to be
introduced on it.- northern rivers, with projected railroads and
telegraphic routes, promises to overcome this difficulty; and, as in
the United States, so to facilitate communication, and so closely
and firmly to bind the different provinces in a whole, as to secure
the perpetuity and integrity of the empire.
CHAPTER VIII.
At Sea.
September 23d. —
" The sea again ! the swift, bright sea ! " —
and, at the rate of twelve miles the hour,
" Away, away upon the rushing tide
We hurry faster than the foam we ride,
Dashing afar the waves, which round us cling,
With strength like that which lifts the eagle's wing,
"Where the stars dazzle and the angels sing.
We scatter the spray,
And break through the billows,
As the wind makes way
Through the leaves of willows ! "
We hud expected to meet at llio de Janeiro, the frigate
Brandywine, the ship the Congress came to relieve; but instead,
Commodore McKecvcr found orders awaiting him there to pro-
ceed to Montevideo. In obedience to these we got under way.
early on the 17th inst. ; but, after dropping down the bay a couple
of miles, the land breeze failed us and we again came to anchor.
For three successive days, we made a like attempt to get to
but to no purpose ; and, on the morning of the 21st, employed a
steam tug to tow us out. The British Admiral had previously
proffered the use of a small steamer, in attendance upon his Hag;
PBATA GRANDE. 91
and now sent Lrr, to aid the little tow-boat in stemming with !
stately burden, the tide just beginning to set in. When well out-
side we took a smacking breeze; and, though scarce two days at
run tive hundred miles — nearly half the distance to
Montevideo.
There was no special reason for regret at the delay in getting
off. The position we occupied while detained was the finest pos-
sible'fbr the Btudy of the imagery amidst which we lay. But tin-
some accidental cause of the kind, we should not have had an
opportunity of enjoying it. and I availed myself of the chance to
Becure a panoramic drawing, embracing points of beauty not
commanded from the customary anchorage of men-of-war. Dur-
ing the detention. Captain Mcintosh took me with him in two
or three excursions upon the water in his gig, followed by walks
on shore of interest and novelty. One of these was to Praya
mdc, opposite Rii and another to the bay of St. Francis
Xavier, called by the English Five-fathom Bay, on the same
side of the water, but nearer the sea.
The formation of the land on the eastern side of the harbor
bold and lofty than that on which the city lies. The
mountains arc more distant, and the spurs from them come down
in rouuded hills, interspersed with valleys and broad interval lands.
Praya Grande and Praya .San Domingo form one gently curving
beach 00 this shore, some three miles in length, extending north-
ward from the fragmentary islet — on the bluff creel of which is
perched the little chapel of Boa Viagem — to a beautifully
rouuded promontory jutting far westward into the bay. They
are contiguous parishes, seemingly but one settlement, and are
rural and village like. The greeu banks along the water side are
overhung with trees, and the houses every where inter*
with large gardens and ornamented enclosures. The population
of the two places amounts to about three thousand. The n
deuces, for the most part, are well built, and many of them tasti -
ful in architecture, and fanciful in their embellishment. In com-
parison with the city opposite, the whole district is pure and
92 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
cleanly ; and, in place of the villaneous smells too often met there,
abounds with the mingled fragrance of the orange, cape jessa-
mine, heliotrope, and unnumbered other blossoms — constituting
:i sweetness more fresh and grateful than the choicest ' mille Hours'
of the pcrfumist. Wild roses, multiflora, and clustering flowers of
varied hues, mantle the tops and fringe the sides of the hedges
of myrtle and mimosa, aloes and cacti which border the roads,
while many of the pleasure gardens, of which we had glimp
through the iron railings and open gateways, are adorned with
plants and shrubs of novel forms and gorgeous bloom, amidst foun-
tains of greater or less beauty.
We made our way into the open country, meeting, at one
or two points, features in the scenery epiite homelike : one — a
meadow of coarse grass edged by a copse and thickets inter-
spersed with single trees ; and another, a large field on a hill-side
haying the earth freshly turned up, like newly ploughed ground
with us, over which noble mango trees, with their thickly set
leaves, and rounded tops, were scattered like oaks in an English
park. On every hand there was a great variety of growth in
shrub and tree, and it was with no slight degree of pleasure that
I recognized among others, as old friends at the Sandwich
Islands, not only the cocoa-nut, palm and banana, but also the
bread-fruit, the tamarind, and ahterites triloba — or caudle tree.
Not knowing how far the road we were following might lead,
before it would again conduct towards the water, we wire about
to retrace our steps the same way, when, a question accidentally put
to a negro passing, led to a return under his guidance over a hill, by
B wild and romantic bridle-path. This was BO overhung by densely
interwoven growth, that the glare of midday soon became twi-
light to us, and the heat of a burning sun tempered to the cool-
1U-- of a grotto. At many points of the entire walk, the \i
of the bay and city iu the distance, and of the mountains over-
hanging them were of unsurpassed beauty. Indeed, there was
no end to the forms of loveliness by which we were Burrounded, and
to the associations in memory and affection brought to my mind
BAY 01 rKAM'lS X A\ IKi;. 93
by them. With the expectation of spending many a tedious
unui th of our Lone exile on tin- adjoining waters, it was a delight
to know that walks of such freshness and beauty are so near and
so accessible.
The row to the bay of St. Francis Xavier was made the -ur-
ding afternoon. A bold and strongly defined promontory of
granite, separates this sheet from the waters of the general harbor,
and makes it so land-loeked as to give to it the aspect of a
laded lake. Till we had doubled this, I had no idea of the
depth to which the hay sweeps seaward behind the promontory,
or of the feeling of remoteness from civilized life which its gen-
eral features at once impart. The wild mountains, with a rude
hut clinging here and there to their uncultivated sides; the
primitive look of the lowly cottages of fishermen stretched along
a distant beach; and the canoes drawn up on the sands, or resting
lightly upon the water, again transported me to the South Seas,
and I felt as if at the Maicjuesau or Society Islands, rather than
within a half a dosen mile- of the metropolis of a magnificent
empire. Just so untamed, just so Indian-like. 1 am told, were
the entire surroundings of the bay of Itio, till within the last
thirty or forty years.
ii .-id.- of this inht i- formed by a long curving
eh of -and. called the Praya Carahy. It fronts an extensive
plain of low alluvial ground through which, at cither end. two
streams from the mountains make their way. Landing at the mouth
of the most southern of these, with orders for the boat to meet
us at that to the north, we walked upon the sands the interven-
ing distance, in alternate admiration of the scenery inland, on the
oue Bide, and the SpOrtingS of a heavy surf on the other. This
illumined by the ray- of the declining sun, rose high in emerald
aasses, till, cresting into ten thousand diamond-, it thundered on
the beach and came rushing to our feet in sheets of foam.
§ piember 27th. — The fresh wind mentioned in my last date
ught OB, the next evening, on soundings off the Rio de la
Plata. A change then suddenly occurred with every indication
94 BEAZIL AND LA PLATA.
of heavy weather. The mercury in the barometer fell low ; and
during the night there was heavy rain, with a good deal of thun-
der and lightning, while meteors, called by seamen, oompesant —
a corruption of corpo santo or holy body — liitted about the yard-
arms and mast-heads of the ship. All these were forerunners of
weather more like a gale than any thing experienced since leav-
ing Norfolk : indeed, a regular pampero, a storm of wind so called
from the pampas or boundless plains between the Rio la Plata
and Patagonia, over which the cold south and south-west winds
from the polar regions sweep, corresponding in force and temper-
ature to our fiercest north-west winds at home. The storm was
not of long continuance, and yesterday afternoon we made the
land near Cape St. Mary, the northern entrance to the river.
We lay off shore for the night, and sighting the land again this
morning, soon after made the little islet of Lobos, a chief land-
mark in entering the Plata from the north, seventy miles from
Montevideo. It derives its name from tin: multitude of seal fre-
quenting it. Many of these were seen, as we approached, bask-
ing on the rocky shores and swimming about in tin- water. A
strong and offensive odor was also very perceptible. The island
is a governmental possession of the Republic of Uruguay, but
leased for a long term of years to a gentleman of Montevideo,
ami yields a handsome income in skins and oil.
The river is here one hundred and twenty mile-- wide It-
northern shore only, of course, is visible. This is low and Bandy,
marked here and there by a green hillock. With a glass, great
numbers of horses, in vast droves as if wild, could be seen graz-
ing in the distance; also the church towers of Maldonado, the
town next in size in the Republic to Montevideo. Prom all we
<-:iii learn, it is in such decay and depopulation at present, that
the euphony of its name is its chief attraction.
Midway between the island of Lobos and Montevideo are the
highlands of Monte Negro. The next landmark is the isle of
Plores, surmounted bya lighl bouse, fifteen miles distant from the
MONTEVIDEO. 95
anchorage. This light we are in momentary expectation of
making.
Montevideo, October 1st — On the night of the 29th nit.,
after having run a sufficient distance beyond the light of Floit B
to bring us abreast of Montevideo, we dropped anchor without
haying caught sight of any shipping in the roadstead, or discov-
ering anv signs of the town. On the lifting of a dense fog the
next morning, the first objects discernible were the men-of-war of
a French squadron about live miles in shore of us. Shortly
after, the Mount — a conical hill situated on the western side of a
circular indenture in the river, constituting the harbor — which
gives name to the place, was disclosed ; and lastly, the town itself
on a point opposite, distant from it a mile or more, in a direct
line across the water. The whole landscape is as different as pos-
sible from that at Rio de Janeiro. It is low and level, without
rock or tree: a soft verdure covered the shore and gleamed in
the sun, like so much velvet, as it came peering on the eye
through the fog bank.
The Mount is an isolated hill rising gradually and regularly
on all sides, at an angle of }.". . to a height of 480 or 90 feet.
It is crowned by a small rectangular fortress, above which the
lantern of a pharos rises some twenty or thirty feet. Being in
-ion of a besieging force, no light is shown from it, that
additional embarrassment may he placed on the commerce of the
port. Midway between the Mount on the west and the town on
the t . ;i st. a .-mailer hill rises two or three miles inland, in like
manner in regular lines from the plain. This too is crowned
by a little fort, which, like the other, is in possession of the
besieging party. It is called the " CerritO," or little hill, in
contradistinction to the other, known as the " <'< rro," or hill par
excellence. The town is situated on a peninsula of tufa rock, a
half mile in length by a quarter in width, rising gently from the
water on thre' to an elevation of eighty or a hundred )•
much in the shape of a t k. From a distance it pre-
sents a mass of compactly built, white, flat-topped houses, one
96 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
and two stories high, of Spanish aspect, with multitudes of
small, square turrets or miradors overtopping them, from the midst
of which, on the central height, rise the lofty roofs, dome and
double towers of a cathedral.
It was in vain we searched among the shipping of the outer
roads, where alone there is sufficient depth of water for a frigate,
for the broad pennant of Commodore Storer. The sloop-of-war
St. Louis, however, was recognized in the inner harbor. On
communicating with her, we learned that the Brandy wine had
.sailed for Rio de Janeiro ten days ago, again leaving orders for
the Congress to follow. Our trip has thus been for naught.
We sail again for Brazil, with the first fair wind, and I shall
defer all observation in the city to the more favorable oppor-
tunities of an after visit.
The general view around us is more homelike than any thing
seen by us since leaving the United States. The growth is no
longer tropical. The sky, the temperature of the air, the tinting
of the clouds at sunrise and sunset are all those of the Northern
States. Yesterday, the Sabbath, was altogether like a fine,
bright, fresh and transparent day in October on the Hudson ;
though, while October there is the gradual freshening of autumn
into winter, here it is the softening of spring into summer. The
mercury in Fahrenheit has not yet fallen below 50°; still the
change from the heal of Rio was felt so sensibly, on reaching the
latitude of the river, that flannels, cloth clothes, and overcoats
were found comfortable, if not absolutely necessary. The region
of the La Plata is famed for the transparency of its atmosphere
in fine weather. To this probably is to be attributed, in pari at
Least, the great beauty of the Bunsets at this place. We have
been delighted by two already gazed on; the one remarkable for
the exquisite delicacy of its lints in blue and gold, amber, pink
and pearl, and the other, equally soft and beautiful at Bret, but
afterwards gorgeous to sublimity, from the reflections in crims
and gold of a Canopy of fleecy clouds spread widely over the
heavens.
SEA-BIRDS. 97
At Sea.
October Vlth. — We made an attempt to leave Montevideo
on the 2d inst., but succeeded in making a small change only
in our anohorage. At the end of three days, we had scarcely
pasai d the island of Flores, fifteen miles from the city, though
we had weighed anchor not less than three times each day in the
hope <'f taking a final departure. The difficulty was caused by
a B 'ii of 'alms, thick fogs, head winds and adverse tides
characteristic of fche Beason lure. It was not till the Gth that
we again passed Lobos and were fairly outside.
oleoring Cape St. Mary, we have been experiencing all
the vicissitudes of the sea : first in a long stretch, off our course,
far to the south-east, close hauled upon a head wind ; and, since
the !>th iii.-t.. when this changed in our favor, in a rapid but boJS-
terons run of more than half the distance to Rio de Janeiro.
While thus careering on our way, in addition to the ever-varying
rush and roar — the cresting, breaking and foaming of the billows
behind and around u.«, we have found an interesting relaxation on
deck in watching the sportings and unwearied movements of
unnumbered Bea-birds, following closely in the broad and troubled
wake of our ship, in pursuit of the fragments of food thrown
rboard from the different i at all hours of the day. It is
not often that so rich a windfall as the waste of such a ship falls
to their lot. To this fact they seem fully alive, and were inde-
fatigable in making the best of their good fortune. Amidst
ks of beautiful Cape pigeons, outrivalling in numbers the
crows of Cram Elbow* in an autumnal evening, were to be seen
the gigantic albatross, sweeping round on wide-expanded and
motionless wing; I a-mew and man-of-war bird, black
ravens; the booby, and any quantity of the stormy petrel, trend-
ing the water more confidently and more securely than did the
unbelieving Peter.
* A well known point on the Hudson River, overhung by precipitous dill's,
ii favorite resort of crow-;.
5
98 BKAZtL AND LA PLATA.
The Cape pigeon — Procellaria Capensis — is beautiful on the
wing or as scon tossing gracefully on the water. Its size is that
of a large dove. Its breast is snow-white, with back, wings and
tail of slate color, thickly set with oval spots of white, having
much the effect on the eye of a tasteful dress in second mourning.
Several were taken with hook and line, baited with pork, and
one by the mere entanglement of its wings in a line. They are
not so pretty or symmetrically formed, on close inspection as at a
distance; and in place of the gentleness of the dove, which they
at first so much resemble, are as snappish and resentful in spirit
against their captors as the most carnivorous of their species.
The albatross — Diomcdia Exulans — is white, with wings
and back varying in different birds from black to a light brown.
It is an ugly-looking bird, about the size of a domestic goose,
with large head and great goggle eyes. The wings are very
long — from eleven to fourteen feet from tip to tip. This inter-
feres much witli the facility of rising when seated on the water.
It is only with evident effort and an awkward floundering that
they mount again after having alighted ; but then, it is a wonder
to observe the ease and rapidity of their flight, and their ability,
with seemingly motionless wing, to sweep in wide circuit round
and round the ship, and still kcop up with her in her swiftest
career; and this day after day, without apparent exhaustion or
fatigue, though sailing at the rate of two hundred miles and more
in the twenty-four hours. The fiercer the winds and the more
tumultuous the towering and thundering of the waves, tin- more
joyous arc their sportings, and the more triumphant their mastery
of the elements.
The booby — Sula Bassana — is somewhat like the alba-
tross in general appearance, but less clumsy, smaller, more angu-
lar in outline and pinion, and less majestic in flight. The man-
of-war bird — Fregata Pclicana — is less adventurous in its wan-
derings over the sea. [ts form is more that of the eagle — hence
one of its names, Taehypetes Aquilas — with long feathers on
the wings and tail, and its color a jettj black. ItOM English
STORMY PETREL. 99
nam.- t.> a supposition of the ignorant, that in returning to the
land it heralds the approach of a ship; but, only from the IV
that, like tie- ship it seeks the shelter of the i«< >rt on the approach
of a storm, and makes an earlier and Mirer arrival.
The in -taut in its companionship with us. iii every lati-
tude and in all of the weather, is the little petrel — Tliclas-
,\a Pelagica — a small swallow-tailed bird, about the size,
with much of the appearance, of the common house martin.
Wilson in his ornitholog - a graphic description of thi
bird- a- Men in a gale. "oOUTSing 0V6T the waves, down I
declivities and up the asot Qtfi of the foaming surge, that threat-
to bury them, as it bursts over their hi ping again
through the hollow trough of the sea, as in a sheltered valley,
and again mounting with the rising billow, skimming just above
it- Burfaoe, occasionally dipping their feet in the water and thr
ing it up with additional force: sometimes leaping, with their
rallel on the surface of the roughest wave, for yards in
ion; meanwhile continually coursing from side of
the .-hip's wake, making excursions far and wide to the right and
to t!i,- left — now a great way ahead, now shooting far astern and
returning again as if the vessel was stationary, though often run-
ning at the rate of ten knot- the hour.''
The most singular faculty of these birds, however, is that of
.ding, and of running on the face of the water, with the great-
apparent facility. When any greasy matter is thrown ovcr-
rd they instantly collect around it with greedy and clamorous
chattel ad, facing to the windward, with their long wi:
expanded and their little webbed feet pattering the water, eagerly
ze the booty. It is the lightness of their bodies and the force
of the wind against thfiir wings that enable them so readily to do
this. In calm weather they perform the same manoeuvre, by
ping their wings just BO much in action as to prevent their
• from sinking below the surface. According to BufFon, ;•
this habit which has given to the whole genus the name th<
n the walking on the water of the Apostle Peter. It is amus-
100 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
ing, and partly vexatious, to see a clumsy albatross or great booby
come swooping down among them, while they arc thus collected
around their food, and, flapping them away with its monstrous
wings, at one mouthful rob them of a whole meal. Greasy sub-
stances are their choicest food, and their little bodies become a
mass of oil : so much so, that dried and strung on a skewer, they
are burned on some of the islands of the Atlantic as a substitute
for candles.
The boisterousness of the weather has made the frequent
reduction of sail necessary — at times, almost to bare poles. This
has afforded a more than ordinary opportunity of witnessing the
exposure and daring intrepidity required from the sailor in the
discharge of his duty. The taking in of sail and the reefing of
topsails in so large a ship, by a crew of four hundred men, emu-
lous of excelling in skill and expertness, is an exciting scene
even in a moderate breeze. When this occurs amidst the
rushing winds and howling storm, with such masses of heavy
canvas as compose our sails, flapping seemingly in unmanage-
able force, and snapping like thunder in the gale, it is frightful to
look aloft. "While the masts are bending to the wind ami
the ship careening in the water, you see the yards covered with
hundreds of the crew with no guard from destruction in the giddy
height, but the habit of keeping their feet firmly on the foot-
ropes, while their hands and arms are occupied in overcoming the
fearful thrashings of the sails, and in gathering in the canvas ami
binding it down with the reef-points. Some of them on the
upper spars, like birds in the topmost branches of a tree, sweep
to and fro over the roaring gulf below; and, occasionally a
man or boy is beheld flinging to a slender spar or single sheet at
the very mast-head, two hundred feet from the deck, disen-
tangling a halliard or conductor — causing one's nerves to -1
under the apprehension of seeing him hurled, in Borne pitch or
roll of the frigate, far overboard into the raging sea, or dashed to
death at your feet on deck.
DYING DOLPHIN. 101
October VMJi. — The mountains and islets around the harbor
of Ri<> are in full view, and I will dose this section of mv record.
In doinir this, I must follow the subject matter of my last date —
the birds of the sea — by a word on some of its lislies. In
a calm yesterday we were surrounded by a great number of
dolphin — Cyrophcvna hippuris — certainly. moving in its
blii' s, the most beautiful of the inhabitants of the deep.
W : Dtfull grown, it is from two to three feet in length, elegant
and symmetrical in shape, and brilliant in colors: the prevail
hue being mazarine blue, or Pompadour, shading from the back
to the uud<r parts into emerald and gold, with tins and tail
green running rapidly into a bright yellow. Its motions are easy
and era eful, and were watched, in great numbers, under the ad-
vantages of a smooth sea and brilliant sun. Dolphin are
common in all tropical latitudes, and so frequently seen, that 1
might not have thought of taking note of them in this instance,
but for an assertion respecting them recently met in a book on
natural history, which, emanating from a fellow of Oxford, ought
to be of good authority. After stating the fact that the shape of
given in heraldic and classic representations, is entirely
poetical and untrue, the author — "Wood — adds: "indeed almost
the whole history of the dolphin is imaginary — very poetical, but
ry untrue. The red and blue of the heraldic lion are not 1< as
fabulous than the changing colors of the dying dolphin, so dear
try. Ala- ! our uupoetical dolphin, when we have har-
pooned him and brought him to the deck is only black and white,
and all the change that he makes is that the black becoi
brown in time, and the white gray. ' This assertion I know, from
personal observation in company with many witnesses, to be an
error. In the first voyage I ever made, I had an opportunity of
ind admiring the varying and beautiful colors of the
dolphin while dying; and now, fully proved to myself the truth-
fulness of the record of it then made. Mr. <i Becretary to
our commander-in-chief, caught one with a hook and line, and
102 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
quickly drew Lira over the stern on deck. I happened to he
present, and, though the dying throes even of a soulless fish can
scarcely be looked ou without Bympathy, the effect on its coloring
could not be watched without admiration. The first change
which took place, after the fish reached the deck, was of the whole
surface into a bright yellow or gold, spotted, like the speckled
trout, with deep blue ; then the whole became blue again, the
spots of a deeper hue still remaining distinctly marked ; a third
change was into a pure and spotless silver, over which prismatic
colors, like those in an opal under a shifting light, passed rapidly
and tremulously for a few moments, when the beautiful dolphin
became brown and gray like any other dead fish.
It is possible that, when struck with a harpoon, the violence
of the shock may be such as to produce death so suddenly that
these changes have passed away, before the fish can be drawn on
board, as their duration is but momentary. Either this is the
truth, or Mr. Wood is not authority in the case. You may still
believe therefore that
" The dolphin, 'mid expiring throes,
More exquisite in beauty grows,
As fades the strength of life :
And tintings bright of sapphire blue,
And rainbow lights of every hue
More exquisite each moment shew,
As fainter grows the strife."
Portuguese men-of-war — Physalia physalis — have also been
floating past us. These are moluscas with long feelers, and fur-
nished with an air-bag which they have the power of inflating at
pleasure when moving on the surface. This is provided with
apertures at either end, by which they can expel the air, or take
in sail, as a seaman would say, when they wish to sink. This air
bag, when inflated, is of an oval shape, and of the tenuity almost
of a soap-bubble, and exhibits like it, though in stronger shades,
many of the hues of the prism. The beauty discoverable in many
PORTUi MAN-iH -WAK. 103
of these animals is Baid by naturalists to equal any thing in or-
ganic nature.
A passage in Montgomery's Pelican Island applied to the
convoluted nautilus, which rises and lloats on the surface of the
water, but spreads no sail, is perhaps more truthfully descriptive
of this man-of-war :
" Light as a flake of foam upon the wind,
Keel upwards, from the deep emerged a shell,
aped like the moon ere half her horn is filled ;
Fraught with young life, it righted as it rose,
A nd moved at will along the yielding water.
The native pilot of this little bark,
Put out a tier of oars on either side ;
Spread to the waiting breeze a two-fold sail,
And mounted up, and glided down the billow
In happy freedom, pleased to feel the air,
And wauder in the luxury of light."
Should you be disposed to think that such commonplace
observations indicate the tedium and monotony of sea life —
the paucity of for occupation and amusement — and
are not worth the time required for the record, I must take
Iter from the reproach in the example of a voyager no lesa
illustrious than Humboldt, who, at the end of forty years, con-
>'s to the delight still aflforded by reminiscences of such pastime
on the sea. True, we may not, like him, mingle our admiration
with thoughts of deep philosophy, or make our observations sub-
servient to generalizations in science; still, we can take equal
delight in the varied phenomena of the sea, and, in humble adora-
tion, thus u look through nature up to nature's God," and rejoice
in the infinitude aud perfection of his manifold works.
CHAPTER IX.
Rio de Janeiro.
October 20#&. — On entering the harbor on the lGth inst. the
lofty masts of the Brandy wine were soon descried through a mist
and vapor which, to a great degree, enshrouded the general
scenery. Hauling down our broad pennant of blue, while yet
three or four miles distant, that of Commodore Storer was
saluted by us, and one of red was run up to the masthead of the
Congress. To this only Commodore McKeever is entitled in the
presence of a superior in command. The Brandywinc at once
returned the salute, and, soon afterward, greeted our arrival with
" Hail Columbia " from a band, as, passing alongside of her, we
dropt anchor under her stern.
The early return of the Congress was quite a surprise, the Bran-
dywinc herself having but just arrived. AW' had made the trip
down and back again in the same number of days — eighteen —
which had been occupied by her in the one passage. Though a
surprise, it was, however, a greater joy to her officers and crew.
They are more than three years from home, and have long been
waiting a relief. Moreover, Commodore Storer had given the
assurance, before we were sighted, thai they should be under way,
homeward-bound, the next day but one after the Oo should
arrive. True to his wonl, his anchors were up with the early
dawn of the 18th inst. The departure, with its associations, was
CITY PALACE. 105
quite ;m exciti e. The mist and fog of the two preceding
days h;t'l disappeared, and the whole panorama of eity and bay
was in the perfection of its beauty in light, Bhades, and coloring.
A- with the iir.~t rays of the sun the frigate swung from her
moorings, the Con we a salute. With the first echoings of
this, her rigging was filled by the crew, clustered together like
-warm, Bending forth three cheers for the homeward-
md, with a feeling and will that swept every chord of the
heart Then came " Hail Columbia " from our band : the whole
quickly followed by the salute, the cheers, and the music of
•• Home, sweet home," from the Brandywine. By this time
she was completely enveloped in a broad and lofty pyramid of
arointing and pearly Bmoke, beautifully illumined by the sun.
I thought it a good time to bid her adieu, while thus lost to
t in a glory of her own creation, and descending to my state-
room, left her to make her way out of the harbor as she best
could.
The 19th inst. was a court-day at the palace. Commodore
McKeeyer availed himself of it for a presentation to the Emperor
and Empress, as the new commander-in-chief of the United
. al Force on this station. I made one of hi : and left
ship at noon for the ceremony, with a party of ten, including
iteriant BtfoKi ever of the ( . 8. army, a son of the cormnod'
who, on furlough for six months after service in Florida, came to
zil in the Congress on a visit to a brother connected with a
principal mercantile house in Rio.
The palace fronts immediately upon the chief landing-place,
a few hundred yards only from the water. It is an old buildil
originally the gal residence, appropriated to the court of
Portugal on its immigration in 1808. It is of stone, stucc-'
and [tinted yellow, in part two and in part three stories in
height, and without architectural pretension. The front, occupied
oa the ground floor by a vestibule leading to the grand stairca*
tarce a hundred feel in width; but the building, end
small quadrangle in the centre, runs back along the public Bquai
•
106 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
about five or six hundred feet to the Rue Direita, Over this
a gallery — thrown from the second story — communicates with
a still older range of structures on that street, at right an-
gles with the other, extending also some five or six hundred
feet to the royal library and imperial chapel, both appendages of
the palace. The rooms of state and the throne-room occupy the
whole length of the second floor, on the side overlooking the
square; and the imperial apartments and private rooms the whole
of that on the other side of the quadrangle. The only use made
of the palace is for receptions, at levees and drawing-rooms, and
the giving occasionally of a state-ball : the family seldom if ever
lodge in town. Having, in September, twice witnessed the ar-
rival of the Emperor and Empress in state, from their residence
at Boa Vista, I lost nothing of the usual spectacle on court-da
by not being on shore in time for this, on the present occasion.
In both instances I happened to be crossing the square, when the
approach of the cortege was signalled by a call, from bugle and
drum, for the guard and bands in attendance to turn out for the
reception. The degree of state and the splendor of equips
vary on different occasions. Sometimes mules only are driven ;
sometimes horses only — sometimes both attached to different
carriages. The general display, at all times of ceremony, is much
the same as that described at the prorogation of the legislature,
a month ago. As the cavalcade approaches, the halberdiers with
their battle-axes at rest, form, in single lines, on either side of
the principal entrance, through the vestibule to the foot of the
grand staircase. No objection was made to my taking a position,
almost in a line with these, and within touching distance of thek
maji \£ they passed. On the drawing up of the carriages
at the entrance, the great officers of the household and ministers
of the empire descending from the waiting-rooms, form a line on
either side, within those of the guard, from the carriage door to
the staircase. Immediately on the alighting, a kissing of ha>
by these i.- commenced. The Emperor, a step or two in adrai
of the Empn i !• Mil- hi,- righl hand for this purpo e, first on
SCENES AT COURT. 107
one side and then on the other, the Empress following in the
BaflM maniii r with ;i constant short and <|uick bow of the head, and
an axproon ion of great kindness and benignaney. Both occasion-
ally extend a hand beyond the courtiers to individuals among the
halberdiers on the qui vive for the honor. As they thus j
the grandees of the court close in after them, and the ladies and
gentlemen in attendance, and in procession, mount the broad stair-
This guard of halberdiers is not of hireling soldiery, but of
volunteers of respectability from the middle ranks of life in the
citv ; and the indulgence accorded by them of so near an approach
of speetat allowed me, affords an opportunity for many
a poor subject to place a petition in the hands of the Emperor or
Empress, without the intervention of an official or courtier. I
1 with the readiness and condescension with which two
or three were received by the Emperor, from women of the
humblest class in evident distress, and were placed in the crown
of his chapeau, while kisses, tears, and thanks were showered on
hand.
On entering the palace we were received bj" Mr. Tod, the
American ambassador, in the diplomatic saloon — the richest of
the apartments excepting the throne-room. The imperial party
re in the chapel at mas-. Mr. Tod proposed to conduct us
there, by the corridor over the Eua Direita, and we followed him
in that direction, through a long succession of rooms, till met by
enl of the foreign ministers returning with the report, that
the diplomatic tribune in the chapel was undergoing some re] ;.
and was closed. We therefore retraced our steps to await the
close of the religious service. This was not long ; and Don Pedro
and Donna Theresa, followed by some twenty or thirty attendai
soon made their appearance on their way through the long suite
of rooms to the audience chamber. The court dress of the ladies
here, as in Rut • uniform : a white brocade embroidered in
gold, train of green velvet with corresponding embroideries, and
head-dress of ostrich plume.- and diamonds. This i- a sensible
108 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
regulation promotive of economy, by an avoidance of the rivalry
in expense and display, among the ladies, though at a sacrifice of
the picturesque, from variety in taste and elegance in such a
spectacle. Among the ladies in attendance was one more than
eighty years of age, a venerable condessa, who accompanied the
royal family from Portugal in 1808, and has been a leader of the
fashion in the court circles, through the change of four dynasties,
to the present time.
The Emperor led the suite a little in advance of the Emp]
He is in stature truly a splendid specimen of humanity. The
maturity of his countenance, as well as figure, leads to a supposi-
tion of his being full ten years older than he really is. An im-
perturbable gravity and unbending dignity contribute to this im-
pression.
The diplomatic corps and our party fell into line on one side
of the room, and saluted the Emj^eror and Empress as they passed
by a bow, receiving a stately return from each, accompanied by
a very decided look of scrutiny at such as were perceived to be
strangers. A long range of apartments was to be passed
through, before reaching the throne-room, and it was some
minutes before a chamberlain announced to Mr. Tod — the senior
ambassador in residence, and thus entitled to lead the diplomatic
procession — that their majesties were on the throne.
The intervening rooms were thronged with Brazilians, repre-
senting in strong force the chureh, the army, the navy and
judiciary, with many in civil life, in distinctive uniforms and
varied court dress; but I missed in the throng much of the pic-
turesque variety noticed in 18:29. There were now no barefooted
friars nor mendicant monks — no Augustines in white, nor Fran-
ciscans in gray, with corded belts and dangling cross and rosary.
It was manifest that, at court at least, the monkish days are past :
the high dignitaries of the church in purple and scarlet, in satin.,
and lace, were the only representatives of the religious orders.
The state apartments in general appeared naked and unattrac-
tive compared with the recollections of \^-'.K The best paintu
PRESENTATION. 109
have been removed; one or two only worthy of attention remain.
One, tin- martyrdom of St. Sebastian, is impressive, and the work
of a master in the art. There arc also some good battle-] >i<
illustrative of Portuguese history, in the olden times. The two
largest piotures represent respectively the coronation of Don
Iro I., and the marriage of the present Emperor and Empress.
Th - id inartistic in execution, but valuable from the
number of portraits they contain, the principal figures introduced
being from sittings to the painter of the personages delineated.
The throne-room is a large and magnificent apartment, the
predominating colors in the finish and furniture being green and
1. The lofty, vaulted ceiling, among other embellishments in
fresco, presents medallion portraits, real or fictitious, of all the
ereigns of the House of Braganza, from the establishment of
the kiugdom of Portugal to the present time.
The occasion of the court was the anniversary of the marriage
of their majesties, and the address of congratulation, from the
diplomatic corps, devolved on 3Ir. Tod. Entering the room with
a bow, — followed by those to be presented by him — he advanced
midway from the door to the throne, where making another how,
he took hi >n, with our party grouped around. He con-
cluded his Bpceoh of felicitation by adding, that " Commodore
Mi Keevcr, on assuming the command in chief of the U. S. Naval
Force on this station, availed himself — with the officers of his ship
— of the opportunity for a presentation to their majesties. The
Emperor's reprj in Portug as brief, and of course courteous.
Immediately on it- close, a hand in tl uck up the na-
tional air : and filing ojf before the throne, we each in succession
bowed respectively to the Emperor and Empress, and moving ba<
ward in a semicircular .-wc p from the door by which we had en-
, e,\, d ourselves, through another corresponding to it, from
the pr to an ante-room. Being in clerical robes, I might
chaps have claimed the privilege of a straightforward exit. It
-aid that, owing to the fall backwards, in the royal presence,
;i bishop-legate from Rome — a hundred and i o —
110 BRAZIL AND LA TLATA.
from treading on the tail of his gown, in retreating from the
throne at a levee in Lisbon, a permit was issued excusing, there-
after, all clergy in robes from the established etiquette. Not
having ascertained however whether the privilege had been trans-
mitted to the court of Brazil, I thought it most safe to con-
form to the general usage, though at the risk, in accomplishing
a distance of forty or more feet in the manner of a crab, of Buf-
fering a disaster similar to that of the bishop.
The rest of the foreign ministers and their suite followed us
rapidly. After these came the hundreds of Brazilians, according
to their rank and precedence, each kneeling on a step of the
throne and kissing the extended hand of their sovereigns : a
ceremony which, between wedding-days and birth-days, saints
days and days of independence occurs, on an average, at least
mice a month during the whole year.
This bow before the throne will doubtless be the nearest
approach to personal intercourse with their majesties that I shall
enjoy; and I may, at once, in connection with it, give such intel-
ligence, in regard to them, as I have derived from those having
the best opportunities for correct information on the subject,
Their personal appearance I have before described. The power
vested in the Emperor by the constitution is very limited :
almost nominal indeed, with less influence through the right of
appointments and political patronage in general, than is possessed
by the President of the United States. So carefully restricted
and so jealously guarded are the prerogatives of t\m throne, that
the abuse of them, by despotic rule or usurpation, would be im-
practicable. The hereditary descent of the crown is the strongest
monarchical feature in the government: and it is to this alone,
doubtless, thai Brazil is indebted for an exemption from the
anarchy and bloodshed which have proved so destructive to the
advance of liberty and civilization, in all sections of South
America. While it places an effectual check upon the reckless
ambition of selfish politicians and patriots, falsely so called, it
forms a point of permanency around which the wise and good
UEPXBIAL FAMILY. I I 1
may rally, in the support and in the defence of true liberty. It
is cot impossible that tip itutional restrictions resting on
the Emperor, and an accompanying feeling of irresponsibility, may
can- me degree, the seeming nonchalance which marks his
air ami deportment in public, and also induce to some extent, at
-t. to the quietude and Beclusion of his ordinary Life. From
all I-learn, nothing can be more simple and domestic than the
habits of himself and family. The library, and it- cabinets, the
pleasure-grounds and gardens of San Ohristovao, chiefly oc-
cupy their leisure-time, and are principal sources of their happi-
Prudeut and high-minded as a ruler, cultivated and aeconi-
soholar, benevolent as a man, and pure and irre-
proaehi a husband and father, the Eniperrjr is justly
irded with honor and affection by his people; while the
exemplary in all the relations of life, through
her amiability and kindness of heart shares largely with him in
general popularity and good will.
The annual stipend of the Emperor is four hundred thousand
doll Uowanoe to the Empress fifty thousand. The
civil li-' :all. the 1 lenieii of the household
in number. Tiny live with prudence and economy;
lom entertain except by an occasional ball at the palace in
;i. With ' - on the vicissitudes of empire and the
instability of throi - frequently given in these modern times,
it is wise in them thus to husband their resources, ami to familiar-
ize themserres of choice with habits of life which, by possibil-
ity, may yet become those of nee. They have already
i afflicted by the loss of two or three children; one, the Prin
Imperial and heir to the crown. Though two young pril
' them, this may have had a chastening effect on tl
hopes in life, by placing the succession in a female, and thus
rendering tin' perpetuity of their dyn rtain, than if
then a male heir to tin- empire.
It must col h> inferred from what I have stated of the out-
112 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
■ward bearing of the Emperor, or of his babits in private life, that
be takes no interest in tbe policy of the government or active
part in its executive administration. While content under the
constitutional restrictions of his power, and with the prerogatives
accorded to the throne, he holds his position and exercises bis in-
fluence firmly and with a noble regard to what he believes to be
the highest interest of the nation ; and gives the strength of a
mind, endowed with more than ordinary natural gifts, to the
promotion of measures calculated to advance tbe honor, dignity
and prosperity of the empire. This has been strikingly manifested
recently, in successful efforts to persuade those around him of
paramount influence in the various provinces, of the evil and
reproach of a continued connivance — in disregard of national faith
given by treaty — at the slave trade, and of the ultimate in-
evitable disadvantage and disaster to tbe country of a more ex-
tended slave population. So zealously and so wisely bas be
urged his views of public policy on this point — though in the face
of long-established national prejudice as to the necessity of slave
labor — that the legislature, sustained in the measure by their con-
stituents, have pronounced the slave trade piracy, and enacted
rigorous penal laws against it. This has been accomplished
by demonstrating to the agriculturists of the empire, the
economy and advantages of free labor, through colonization from
Europe, over that of slaves, and by enactments for the en-
couragement of immigration from abroad. This is a most im-
portant and most desirable step forward in national good, and is
sufficient alone to mark the reign of the young monarch with
true and enduring honor.
October "22d. — Night before last, while walking the poop-deck,
just before our usual evening worship, I met, engaged in some
momentary duty there, a young man named Ramsey, whose frank
and open-hearted face, bright smile, and confiding look and manner
towards me had long ago attracted my notice, and led to more
familiar intercourse with him than with mosl others of the cr
Stout in figure and strong and muscular n limb, he might have
CASE OF ILLNESS. 113
ilectod as a pcrsonitioation of health and buoyant youth.
In various conversations I had learned something of his history:
of residence, oiroomstanoes, and position in life of his
parents ami family. He had been religiously trained, was a I
totalcr in principle and practice from the example of his father,
and, BO far as 1 could learn, free from the open yioefl which too
de tli*- sailor.
In addition to the prepossession in his favor, from an attractive
exterior, and from the promptness and activity with which he
was observed to discharge his duty, he had early won the praise
and good will of all on board, both officers and men, by saving,
at the risk of his <>\vn life, that of a small boy, who fell overboard
from the Congress when at anchor in the stream at Norfolk.
The boy could not swim, and a strong tide was carrying him rapidly
away when Ramsey jumped after him and succeeded in sustain-
him half-drowned, till both were rescued by a boat.
A t .v evenings ago 1 had observed that one of his eyes was
inflamed and swollen from a cold, and, now, in reference to this,
asked him if he were well again. " Oh, yes, sir — all right —
r in my life," was his reply, as with his accustomed
bright .-mile he passed down to the iptartcr-deek, where his ship-
mate-; wer bling for prayers.
M v usual time for exercise on shore is in the afternoon, but
terday, beii to the Commodore at a dinner given by
him to the British admiral and family, I took the morning for a
walk. On coming on board ship at three o'clock, Dr. Williamson,
the fleet surgeon, mentioned to me that one of the crew had been
taken ill with symptoms of the cholera. It was but a moment
after hearing the name — Ramsey — in answer to the question who
it was ? before I was beside his cot on the berthdeok. He had
been relieved from cramp and pain, bythe treatment adopted; the
pulse which had intermitted was p Stored, and he BUppOSed to be
altogether better. It was not yet twenty hours Binoe I had met
him seemingly in the fullest health ; but how altered now, and
how utterly prostrate ! He looked rather than spoke his gladu
114 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
at seeing me, and listened to my conversation with interest
and satisfaction. It was evident that he was still under groat
physical oppression, and though endeavoring, occasionally, to rally
his spirits, was dejected and sad — his eyes filling with tears as lie
pressed again and again the hand I had given to him at first,
and which he continued to retain in his own as I remained by liis
side for a couple of hours, attempting to soothe him by words of
consolation and by whispered prayer.
The sympathies which had been awakened by this unexpected
scene forbade any enjoyment of the party in the cabin, and at
the earliest moment practicable I excused myself from the table
and returned to the poor fellow, not to leave him again till he
should be out of danger. He was much in the state in which I
had left him : had, if any thing, a stronger pulse and more natural
state of the general surface. I again conversed tenderly with
him and encouraged him to look in penitence aud faith to Him
from whom alone help cometh in time of trouble. I never wit-
nessed greater submission and patience, and the tones of his voice
and whole manner were as gentle as a lamb. In seeming apology
for the irresistible depression he felt, though he considered him-
self to be relieved and better, he said to me with a look and accent
I cannot soon forget — " Oh ! Mr. S , I was never sick
before, and it makes me too down-hearted — too down-hearted ! "
Pour fellow ! who under the same circumstances would not have
been down-hearted — stricken down, in an hour as it were, from
the very fulness of health and strength, and in the bloom and
buoyancy of early manhood, to the feebleness of the merest infant,
and to the very borders of the grave !
The surgeons had told me that every thing in his case de-
pended upon the fidelity of those in attendance upon him to the
directions given ; and that there should be no failure here, I at
once took the place of nurse in administering the prescriptions,
and gave myself entirely to him. As the night wore away 1
could not discover the change for the better 1 wished, though I
was not conscious of any for the worse. Dr. Howell, the assistant
FIKST DEATH ON BOARD. 115
surgeon, who visited him every two hours, encouraged me to con-
tinued vigilance and hope. One, among other injunctions from
the BOX on no account to give any water to the patient,
and only tally a mouthful of a tea prepared for the
purpose. But he lunged for water, and at one time well-nigh
overcame my purpose of rigid ohedienceto the orders given. Be
had bc.eu almost covered with cataplasms, and had on him be.-!
two or three large blisters; ami the tenderness of his entreaty
in gentle Scotch dialect, after having been once refused — as he
looked up with pleading eyes and said, " Oh ! Mr. S , one
wee drop, for I am all on fire! " touched my very heart. Poor
fellow ! from the best of motives and in the hope of soon seeing
him better I reasoued with him aud persuaded him to submission:
but now lament it. The indulgence would have given him tem-
porary comfort and could have done him no harm : for in a short
time afterwards a return of cramps threw him into convulsions,
and 1 saw that the stroke of death had been given. Unwilling
uuavailingly to watch the rapid changes which betokened too
surely the flight of the soul, with the hand which so often during
day and the night by its warm pressure had given assurance
of the comfort imparted by my presence still clasping mine, I
kueeled by his cot, now surrounded by the surgeons and many of
. and in tears and in strong though silent Bupplica-
:, plead with Him who alone is mighty to save, to spare the
immortal spirit of the dying man from the sorrows of the second
death. I do not recollect ever to have been sensible of a nearer
access by faith to the only II arer of prayer, and never saw more
clearly how it is possible for Him, in the sovereignty and bound*
lese riches of his grace, in the eleventh hour even to have " mercy
on whom he will have mercy." At four o'clock this morning,
he gently breathed his last without a stru^ide or a groan.
Such i.^ the fir.>t of death's doings among us, and such was the
last on earth of this poor sailor boy. I am devoutly thank-
ful that though he died in a foreigu land far from his home,
I have it in my power to assure those who most loved him, that
116 BKAZIL AND LA PLATA.
while all was done that the highest professional skill could devise
to save him, but in vain, he did not die uncomforted, unprayed
for or unwept.
His funeral took place this afternoon. Captain Mcintosh,
with the Christian kindness of heart characteristic of him, led the
procession in his gig — the flag of the Congress, as well as those
of the boats leaving the ship, being at half mast. The body was
buried in the beautiful cemetery of Gamboa,
" where palm and cypress wave
On high, o'er many a stranger's grave,
To canopy the dead ; nor wanting there
Flowers to the turf, nor fragrance to the air."
CHAPTER X.
Eio de Jaseiko.
No v e mb er 2d. — This is " All Souls day," an anniversary of
the church of Rome in commemoration of the dead, when ma-- -
are specially said fur the repose of their souls ; or, as an Irish
ant. in explaining ite character to me, says, " the day when all
the dead stand round waiting for our prayers." It is one on
which here, as in other Catholic countries, the living also visit the
of their departed friends. As the observance is universal,
and all the churches are open, we thought it a good opportunity,
not only for viewing the interior of the principal edifices them-
ations of the people ; and a party left
tho ship for this purpose early after breakfast
The number of churches in the city amounts to forty-five or
fifty. Scarce a half dozen of them, however, are worthy of
notice either fox their externa] architecture or internal decorations
in sculpture and paintings, especially to those familiar with the
treasures, in t -pects, of the churches of Italy, Spain, and
other European countries. The imperial chapel and a church
adjoining it. formerly belonging to the barefooted Carmclit
I now a cathedral; the church of the Candelaria, so named
n its being the chief place for the consecration of candles on
dlemas Day; and thai S . Francisco de Paulo at the head
o\ the Rua de Ouvidor, are the principal.
118 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
Having been told that the Emperor and Empress would attend
mass at the church of San Antonio, where the remains of their
infant children are deposited, we made our way first there. This
church is attached to the convent of that name, and forms one end
of the extensive and imposing establishment which so conspicu-
ously crowns, with its lofty and massive walls, and terraced
gardens and shrubberies, the hill to which it gives name in the
centre of the city. The broad platform in front of the church
and convent, paved and parapetted with stone, commands mag-
nificent views of the city and bay ; as does the entire front of the
convent. This is three stories in height, with a tier of balconied
windows running the whole length of each. Within, each story
opens upon a cloistered quadrangle; while the church with two
or three smaller chapels, various vesting rooms, sacristies and
corridors form another end of the pile. Every part of the
building on this occasion was open to inspection. The floors of
the corridors surrounding the quadrangle, and those of the
churches and chapels are formed of loose planks, >ix feet in length
and of the width of a grave; each being fitted with a mortised
hole at one end, that it may be the more readily lifted for the
deposit beneath of body after body of the dead : so that none walk
here without literally
" Marking with each step a tomb."
That which first arrested the eye on entering was the range, on
either side through the church, chapels and corridors, of miniature
cabinets, urns and sarcophagi of ebony and other valuable wood,
containing the bones of the dead thus preserved, after having
been freed from the flesh by the action of quicklime. Tie
receptacles are of various sizes, forms and degrees of elaborate
workmanship. Each bears a plate of silver or gold with an in-
scription, and is furnished with B dour which gives access to
the ghastly memorials. They were arranged — some on rich tai
and platforms and others on the pavement and floor — with more
ALL SOULS DAY. 119
or less display of ornament: lighted wax candles in m:i-
idlesticke of silver, in: 1 in some instances with other
pi' silver plate, wore clustered around them, and the whole
Landed and f stooned with wreaths of the purple globe ama-
ranthns and other flowers- of the tribe "immortelle." Each
cabinet, or urn, was in charge of a well-dressed ne .ant or
other humble domestic of the family to whom the relics apper-
tained. I was forcibly reminded by the scene of the custom of
the Sandwich Islanders, in their heathen state, of preserving the
bones of the dead in a similar manner. It was this usage, and
the car. deration with which the relics of their monarchs and
chiefs were guarded, that enabled Kihoriho — Kamchameha II —
to restore to England, on his visit to that country in 1825, the
skeleton of Captain Cook. After h. ination the principal
f hi- body were prepared according to their custom, and
placed with those of their race of kings. .
The principal church and the adjoining chapels were decorated
profusely with artificial flowers, and with hangings of silk and
velvet, and of gold and silver tissue; the high altars, ahru
trihunc. and organ-lofte of all were one blaze of wax lights. One
of the chapels is covered throughout with elaborate carvings
in wood tr :. In the centre of this a lofty catafalque I
ted, surmounted by a colossal Barcophagus covered with a
>uperb pall. A mass was in pn>^ we entered ; after which
a procession of monks headed by a party of eoclee - — each
bearing a wax candle of the size and length of a stout walking
stick, and all vociferating a chant — marched slowly from chapel
to chapel, and from shrine to shrine, through the corridors lined
with the memorials of the departed, stopping at various points to
ter in com e and utter prayers for the dead. Every spot was
thronged with spectators; but I could detect no feeling of de
ability in the affections, no solemnity in any one. The
only object of the assembl i to be to witness a show, and
xamine with the curiosity observable at a fair, or the
hibition of an institute, the varied ornamental display. Three
120 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
fourths of the crowd were negroes, male and female. Here and
there, in two or three instances, I recognized a party of ladies in
full dress in black with mantillas of lace, but a majority of the
Brazilians and Portuguese present was evidently of the lower
orders. We afterwards entered the churches of San Francisco de
Paulo, the Candelaria and the Carmelites, where the bishop of
Rio was officiating, but without witnessing any thing essentially
different from what we had already seen.
All observation of the day confirms me iu the impression
before received, that a great change has taken place, since 1829, in
the respect paid by the people to the superstitious ceremonies of
the religion of the country. There is now little in the general
a-pect of things in the streets, even on days of religious festivals,
to remind one of being in a Romish city. A monk or even
ecclesiastic is scarce ever met, and whenever I have entered a
church during service, a few poor negroes, sick persons, and
beggars have constituted the principal part of the assemblage.
November 4th. — I have just accomplished quite a pedestrian
feat, in the ascent of the Corcovado. After two days of such
rain as the tropics only often witness, the weather this morning
was as fine as possible, the atmosphere clear and transparent, very
like the most brilliant days of June in the Northern States, when the
wind is from the north-west. Lieutenant R . Mr. G (secre-
tary of Commodore McKecver), Prof. Le Froy of the British flag
ship, and I, were induced by it to attempt the excursion, though it
was Dot in our power to set off before two o'clock in the afternoon
— a lit. hour for the accomplishment of a walk of nine miles, to
tic tup of a mountain, two thousand three" hundred and six feet
highj according to the measurement of Bcechy, and two thousand
three hundred and thirty-nine, by that of Captains King and
Pitzroy.
The Corcovado is one of the lofty shafts of granite which, in
a greater or less degree of isolation, are characteristic of the
geological formation in this region, [ts relative position to the
range of mountains of which it forms so conspicuous a part, ami
. OF CHI COBCOVADO. \-\
the height to which it towers above it, can best be compared,
perhaps, to a • oloasal buttress standing against a massive building,
with a pinnacled top rising high above the adjoining roof. As
looked up to, from its eastern base in a green valley by the sea-
. it appears, as it there really is, an utterly inaccessible man
of perpendicular rock. Ou the west, however, it is so joined to
•O angle of the general range for two thirds of its height, as to
be comparatively easy of ascent. The first half of the distance
from the city may be made by either of two ways: the one,
through the valley of the Larangeiras, and the other, by the spur
of mountain along which the aqueduct descends into the heart of
the town, near the nunnery of .Santa Theresa. We chose this
last. At the outset, the ascent is a sharp pitch, but after gaining
a height of one or two hundred feet, is so gradual for four miles
as e to be perceptible. The way leads along the flattened
ridge of the hill by a bridlepath immediately beside the aque-
duct, the refreshing sound of whose waters, as they murmur and
rumble in their covered channel, is a pleasant accompaniment to
the sea-breeze sweeping by. It is overhung by embowering ti
which, while they form a screen againsl the sun overhead, are
Lofty to interfere by their branches with a full view of the
prospects on either hand. These, for the whole distance, Burpassin
ity and vari« ty any of a similar nature I recollect ever to have
met. As we gradually gained terrace after terrace of the spur, the
pictures opening immediately beneath OS in the ravines on the right
— up which the suburbs Btraggle in tasteful dwellings and bloom-
ing gardens; in the broad and bright valley of Engenho Velho be-
yond, thickly Bprinkled with the country residences of the wealthy,
and adorned by the imperial palace; in the city itself — the upper
bay and it.- islands; the Organ Mountains and whole panorama,
are beyond the powers of description. At the end of two and a
half or three miles, the aqueduct, sinking to a level with the
of the ground, crossi - the ridge which it has thus far been
following, and Leaving the course of this, runs along the face of
the mountain at an elevation of a thousand feet, The pathway
6
122 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
follows it, and I can compare the suddenness in the change of the
prospect to nothing that will give a better idea of it, than a new
combination in a kaleidoscope, by a turn of the instrument. It
is entire. By a single step, as it were, in place of the above
pictures, which are at once lost sight of, you have the southern
sections of the city — Gloria Hill, Flamengo, Catete, Larangieras
and Botafogo, the lower bay with its moving imagery, the Sugar
Loaf and its companion at the entrance of the harbor, the islets in
the offing and along the coast, and the boundless sea. The walk
for a mile here, with this picture beneath you on one side, and
the beautifully wooded mountain cliffs above, on the other, is a
terraced avenue worthy of fairy land itself. Of it Dr. Walsh
justly remarks — " Without exaggeration, it may be said, that there
is not in the world so noble and beautiful a combination of nature
and art, as the prospect it presents."
Five miles from the city, near a natural reservoir in a ledge
of granite where the aqueduct originally commenced, the direct
pathway to the summit leaves the water-course and strikes steeply
up the mountain. Here it is stony and rough, and was now wet
from the recent rain. The angle of elevation, equal to that of
an ordinary staircase, made the ascent fatiguing : but it is
adorned at points by noble specimens of the primeval growth of
the forest, reminding me of the finest of tlie old elms occasionally
left standing by the pioneer settlers in Western New York, as I
recollect to have been impressed by them thirty years ago. A
mile and a half through this wood brought us to a clearing of
some extent, with a rancho or cottage, formerly a place of refresh-
ment for those making the ascent. It has been purchased
recently by the Emperor, and the land is designed by him for a
plantation of foreign pines and other evergreens, which he is
introducing. It lies in a dip or notch between the general chain
of mountains and the peak i>f the Corcovado; and the cottage, in
fall view from the city and harbor, forms a picturesque object
from the anchorage of the Congress, though seemingly, in its airy
height, but a bird's uest clinging to the wooded cliffs.
PANORAMIC VIEW. 123
Here the ascent of the Corcovado proper commences — the
the summit about two miles. The waj p and
me, especially after so forced a march over the preceding
part, aa we had made; but we pressed on, notwithstanding the
I and fatigue, cheered by the exhortation and promise of the
• —
»
"Let thy foot
Fail not from weariness, for on the top
The beauty and the majesty of earth
i.l wide beneath, shall make thee to ft
The steep and toilsome way. There thy expanding heart
Shall feel a kindred with that loftier world,
To which thou art translated, and partake
The enlargement of thy vision."
In less than three hours from the city, the bare peak rose
directly before ni — a pinnacled platform of rock scarcely twenty
square, separated from the general mass by a broad and deep
ire, over which a rude wooden bridge is thrown. As the peak
- been known to be frequently struck by lightning, it is supposed
that this chasm was originally caused by a thunderbolt. A
rail, supported by iron posts Boldered into the solid granite, fur-
nishes a guard on three sides to the precipices descending perpen-
dicularly from them.
The panorama commanded by it, embracing as it does all the
imagery that combines in securing to Rio de Janeiro its world-
wide celebrity for wonderful beauty, could not fail — under the
advantages of the brilliant atmosphere, bright sunshine and
lengthened shadows in which we gazed on it — to meet our expecta-
tions. The entire city and its suburb- lay at our feet; and, like
a map, the bay — near a hundred miles in circuit — its many
picturesque headlands and islands and the Organ Mountains and
chain along the coast, the peak of Tejuca, the Sugar Loaf redu
to insignificant di . ia, the outer islets and tho
illimitable sea ! The silence one is disposed to keep, in view of
h a scene from such a point, best express* a perhaps the kind
124 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
of admiration felt. Had Bryant in an inspiration of bis genius
stood with us, he might possibly have given utterance to a de-
scription more sublime but to none more graphic or minutely
true to the scene, than one already recorded by his pen —
" Steep is the western side, shaggy and wild,
"With mossy trees, and pinnacles of flint,
And many a hanging crag. But to the East,
Sheer to the vale, go down the bare old cliffs —
Huge pillars, that in middle heaven up bear
Their weather-beaten capitals, here dark
With moss, the growth of centuries, and there
Of chalky whiteness, where the thunder bolt
Has splintered them. It is a fearful thing
To stand upon the beetling verge, and see
Where storm and lightning, from that huge gray wall,
Save tumbled down vast blocks, and at the base
Dashed them in fragments, and to lay thine car
O'er the dizzy depth, and hear the sound
Of winds that struggle with the woods below,
Come up with ocean murmurs."
There is danger, in the impressiveness of a scene of such
mingled beauty and sublimity, of forgetting the risk of taking
cold, even in the finest weather — after the unavoidable heat and
temporary exhaustion of the ascent — from the reduced temperature
of the elevation, and the freshness of the Bea-breeze sweeping over
and around the rock in strong eddies. But reminded of this by
a sense of chilliness, and aware of the lateness of the day, at the
end of a half hour — grateful for the favorable auspices under
which we had enjoyed the view — we gave a farewell gaze and
turned our faces for the descent.
I omitted to state that, before reaching the plantation of
the Emperor in the dip of the mountains, we had again fallen
upon the line of the aqueduct. At this point it passes to the
ithern side of the range, which here makes an angle in that
direction; and Mr. Lefroy, familiar in his walks with ail the
BOUBOSfi OF THE AQUEDUCT. 125
region, pr tliat before descending we should follow it
tit least a short distance : with the assurance that we \\"tild
hnd it equal, in picturesque wildneaa and beauty, to any
thing we had en. Though already pretty well lagged,
and a walk of Beven miles yet to be made in reaching the citv,
we readily as-entrd; and most amply indeed weir we rewarded.
Th i ry od every hand — above, beneath and around us, in
the strong contrasts of bright sunshine and deep .-hade, was like
with a variety and richness of foliage to be
found <mly in the tropica The aqueduct and path beside it,
u-ped on the very face of the precipitous mountain, wind round
the head of a deep glen, at an elevation of two thousand I
above the valleys beneath and the surf of the ocean; and com-
mand uninterrupted views, far and wide, over land and sea, of
indescribable beauty and grandeur. Parasitical plants and run-
ning vines add to the rich drapery of the woods overhead and
eath the feet, and hang in long pendants from the rocks and
in festoons from tree to tree, while, here and there, the tree fern —
a novelty to me till now — rises rankly to a height of twenty and
thirty feet : throwing out its closely feathered leaves in an
umbrella-shaped top, proportionate in size to the height of the
stem.
Tempted from point to point, by one new object of admiration
or another, we w. re led two miles amid this luxury of beauty
before aware of it, almost to the very sources of the work. At
one point, from the impossibility of securing space in the face of
the precipice for stone work, the water is led along in small
wooden troughs, and the footpath, constructed of planks supported
by -trong bolts of iron fastened into the rock, is suspended in
the air, with a frightful depth beneath. There is no partic-
ular spring or fountain head, from which there is a supply of
water, but from the beginning of the aqueduct, the small
streamlet that trickles down the mountain summit is carefully
collected by side troughs, and the drippings of • revice,
as well as the gushings of more abundant springs, fully secured.
126 BRAZIL AND LA l'LATA.
This aqueduct is a magnificent work for the period at which
it was constructed — a hundred and thirty years ago. It is of
solid granite- with a semicircular bottom for the water-course,
and is four feet in width and the same in height ; at places
entirely above, and at others partially beneath the ground. It
is capped with granite in the form of a roof, is furnished with
ventilators protected by iron gratings at regular intervals, and is
accessible for the use of the water at different points, by doors
under lock and key. The honor of having projected and accom-
plished so important a work is due to Albuquerque, captain-
general of the province at the period — 1719-23. A record of
this is made on a tablet on the front of the fountain of the Carioca,
near the convent of San Antonio, above which is the reservoir in
which the work terminates. The inscription is of a rudeness
of outline and execution characteristic of the art of writing in
Brazil a century ago; and undecipherable, except by an anti-
quarian like Dr. Walsh, familiar, from his favorite studies, with
the abbreviations and readings without a division into syllables
and words, of olden times.
The following is the translation of this inscription as given by
Dr. Walsh. " In the reign of the high and powerful king Don
John the Fifth, Ayrcs de Saldanha and Albuquerque, being
governor and captain-general of this place, by his directions this
work was made, which was begun in the year 1719 and completed
in the year 1723."
The most magnificent and costly section of the aqueduct —
and one which the now well-known principle in hydraulics, that
water will rise to the level of its head, shows to have been useless
both in labor and expense — is a lofty arcade, a conspicuous orna-
ment of the city, by which the aqueduct is carried across a deep
valley from the hill of Santa Theresa to that of San Antonio
opposite. It consists of two ranges of arches one above the
other, the lower six hundred and the upper eight hundred and
forty feet in length, and forty feet in height. Next to the Roman
remains of the Pout du Garde in Langucdoc, the aqueduct
DESCENT FROM THE CORCOVADO. 127
across the Alcantara at Lisbon, and the High Bridge at Harlem,
it is the finest structure of the kind I have seen.
It was near sundown before we reluctantly turned our backs
upon the surprising beauty which still enticed us forward. By a
forced inarch we accomplished the stony and staircase descent
through the woods, while there was yet sufficient daylight to make
good our footsteps over the rough and slippery way. Safely at
this point, though the night soon gathered around us, we had no
difficulty in keeping the path under the brilliant starlight of the
evening, and reached the city at eight o'clock, having accomplished
the trip of twenty-two miles in six hours.
CHAPTER XI.
Rio dk Jactdiko.
November 9th. — Saturday more than any other is a day
trying to my spirits. It is that which I appropriate to special
preparation for my professional duties on the Sabbath; and with
it, the hardness and seeming barrenness of my Held of labor is.
unavoidably, brought painfully to view. The moral condition
of our ship is equal, probably, if not in advance of that of men-
of-war in general, in our own or any other service ; and the dis-
cipline and general order on board good. Indeed, we regard our-
selves, and are regarded by others around us, in these respects as
a peculiarly favored and a happy ship. But mere external pro-
priety of conduct docs not Batisfy my expectation, or meet my
hopes. I look for evidences of higher results, from the preaching
of the Gospel and other means of religious influence established
among us, but look in vain; and instead, especially when in port,
find daily discouragements which would lead a spirit, less clastic
than my own, utterly to despair of being instrumental in any
spiritual good.
During the last fortnight, the crew in successive detachments
have been on shore, on a general liberty of forty-eight hours.
The drunkenness and debauchery of many, incident to this
unavoidably obtruded on my notice in a greater or Less degree,
have tilled my heart with sadness, and my lips — at the end of a
PRISONS AM" 1 LINE. V20
miuist' :x months — with the desponding language of the
phot. •• Who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the
arm of the Lord been revea'. This has ; tped the
the men themselves, and yesterday, one of them as
nan of a group with whom I fell into conversation, said to
are afraid, Mr. 8 . that you will become -
.•ed with our wickedness that you will leave the .-hip,
il altogether : but we hope not." To do
this would be to act the part of a coward and a traitor : and
knowing in whom alone is the sufficiency for these things, I n.
still labor — bear and forbear — preach with fidelity and love, pray
without fainting, and hope against hope.
The privileges of the shore over, all were settling down into
cu.-tomary contentment and quietude when, by some means I
large quantity of strong drink was successfully sniug_
into the ship. There is ever in a man-of-war a greater or less
degree of unmitigated rascality which, on such occasion -
not fail to manifi If, giving the executive of the ship an
abundance of trouble, and bringing reproach upon the better \
•' the crew. Tl. pence of the sacceasfo] Btrafa
a good deal of disorder last night at the
ship's company, and a nervous headache and a heartache this
e re.-ult of the liberty on shore, was the incarceration for
drunkenness and i onduct, of a half dozen or more of our
i, in the ealabuu^a or common jail of the city. An early
intimation of the dilemma in which these were placed reached
me, with an appeal for aid in procuring their release. A visit I
this purpose, gave me the opportunity of a personal
pectkm of the prison. While confessing and lamenting the
folly which had brought them there, they complained v
rously, as well thi f the horrible ; time
indeed for MOM II rward ' in Brazil ; audi rejoice V> barn
that the state of her ; aid the subject of prison discipline,
:ather the fact of an utter want of all discipline, is attracting
130 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
the attention of some of her philanthropists and statesmen. Our
fellows, at the end of two or three days, were almost starved. No
food is served to the prisoners hy authority. They are entirely
dependent on their own resources, the kindness of any friends
they may happen to have, or the supplies furnished gratuitously
by some of the brotherhoods of benevolence in the city. I found
those from the Congress — chargeable only with having broken the
peace in a drunken brawl — in a filthy room of horrible smells,
crowded with eighty or a hundred felons, black, white and colored
of every hue. Among these were robbers, and murderers, and
criminals of the most desperate character : without classification
in age or crime — beardless boys, arrested for the most trifling
and venial offences, being placed side by side with gray-headed
veterans in vice.. Our men had stripped themselves more than
half naked, that their clothes might furnish no ambush for the
vermin with which the place was filled ; and gave pitifid
accounts of the nights they had spent, in stifling heat, amid clouds
of mosquitoes and other insects, with no beds but the rough
plank of the floors, open in large crevices to the effluvia from the
common cesspool of the whole prison immediately beneath. A
civil and intelligent young man of their number told me that,
till " this spree," he had not tasted strong drink for two years
pasl ; and had been well punished, for the indulgence, by a week
in this frightful and disgusting hole. Giving them the means of
relief from immediate hunger, I promised to do what I could for
their liberation ; and the youngster referred to, the last — from
Borne mistake in his name — to gain a release, has just oome thank-
fully "ii board.
November Vlth. — A ball on board the Congress and a soiree at
the American Embassy have afforded, within the week past, our
lirst opportunities of mingling in the society of llio. It required
but a short time to transform the quarter-deck of the frigate
from a grim battery into a brilliant ball-room. The guns having
been run <■'"' of sight on the forecastle, the awnings screened bv
the Hags of all nations, in (lutings overhead and in festoons at
BALL OS SUIPBOARD. 131
the sides, and the docks artistically chalked in colors, the interior
ated the aspect of a spacious and gay saloon. In this,
at different points, muskets arranged in thick clusters with candle
in each muzzle, funned glittering and becoming candelabra : and
pistols and bayonets similarly arrayed and mounted, made brackets
for lights along the sides and chandeliers above, while a grace-
ful amenity was thrown over these implements of death, by wreaths
of en intermingled with bouquets of flowers rich in color
I perfume. The poop-deck overlooking this dancing room, v
transformed by similar decorations into a lofty, tented pavilion,
from which those not disposed to join in the amusement below,
might view the sjiectacle and enjoy each other's society in con-
versation.
The ship was illuminated outside, by lines of lights running
up each mast and by lanterns suspended from the yard-arms.
While the company were assembling, rockets were sent up, to add
t" the brilliancy, and blue lights burned on the arrival of tho
most distinguished of the guests. Thus the effect without, in
approaching in the dark, was scarce less striking and beautiful
than the coup d'ceil within, on crossing the gangway. The only
interest I took in the preparations was in having the draperies,
which separated these brilliant apartments from the forward deck,
allow the crew — who would be kept from their
hammocks till a late hour by the entertainment — to be spectators
of the scene. This indulgence was readily accorded; and,
duriug the whole evening, our hardy tars in a uniform dress of
white and blue, clustered in thick rows from the mainmast for-
ward, formed by no means the least .striking feature in the
■'tacle. Indeed, their fine physical aspect and becoming de-
portment attracted much observation ; and elicited the most
complimentary remarks upon them, as a body of men, from the
-t distinguished str on board.
The company on this occasion consisted principally of resident
fori diplomatists, and their families, and the officers of the
national ship- in port. There were few native Brazilians among
132 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
them. Under the impression that the entertainment given by
Mr. and Mrs. Tod would embrace the higher circles of the native
society, I joined the party from the ship attending it. The man-
sion occupied by the Legation is at Praya Flamcngo, ■where T was
so much at home in 1829. It is spacious and lofty, with a stately
suite of reception-rooms on the second floor, which command
fine views of the bay and its chief features near the sea. It \
illuminated in front, and brilliantly lighted and tastefully decorated
with flowers within. According to Brazilian custom on occasions
of fete, the tesselated pavement of the vestibule and hall, and
the marble staircase leading to the reception-rooms, were strewn
with the fresh leaves of the mango tree and various aromatic
plants which, under the pressure of the feet, send forth a irrateful
perfume. A garden in the rear, filled with myrtle and orange
trees, and gay with the blossoms of the pomegranate and olean-
der, was also illuminated, and seen opening in perspective
from the hall, with pretty effect. The company was large ;
exhibiting a good deal of dress among the ladies, in the latest modes
of Paris, and some fine diamonds. There was, too. a sprinkling of
title and nubility, and a little beauty, but nothing more distinc-
tively Brazilian, or characteristic of nationality, than in the party
on board the Congress.
At an early hour after the civilities of the reception, and a gen-
eral interchange <>f salutations, dancing was commenced and con-
tinued to be the chief amusement of the evening. There was no-
thing in the scene with which I could sympathize, ami I withdrew
from the crowded and heated rooms to the terraced-walk fronting
the beach. Here, a land breeze, deliciously fresh and fragrant,
came fanning down the mountain's side; and I passed two hoi
and more in the enjoyment of it. in a promenade back and forth
of a quarter of a milej beneath a gloriously lighted sky, while
every thing was hushed to a midnight repose, except the sounds
of the distant music of the dance, and the rush, and roar, and
the thunder at my feet of the foaming surf.
On returning to the house 1 met Mr. Tod in the lower rooms,
WB8TSKN BUBUBBS OF RIO. 133
the rapper-room being :il><>ut to be thrown open. The banquet
profuse ami luxurious. A ohief novelty among itsdelicaoii
:tt either end ot* the principal table, was the choicest fish of the
adjoining Beai — the garoupa. It is very large, ami, on the
pr< - sasion, was baked whole and served cold. Prom the
general demand for it dly among tin' ladies, I should have
judged the dish to be in high estimation, without the aasuranoe
of tlir fact. It i.- a rarity, and its market price very high. Sum.-,
I am told, are sometimes given for it which I dare not venture
to state, -without further inquiry, lest either my veracity or
credulity, or both, might be jut in ijue-tion.
November 15th. — Yc.-n rday afternoon I accompanied Captain
Mcintosh, Lieut. P of the British flag ship, and Lieut. T
of the Congress, in a drive of five miles to the country r
dence of Mr. 11 , an English gentleman, a partner in one of
the wealthiest mercantile houses in Rio. An invitation to an
oing party had been r d from Mrs. E , a few d
before, and the call we now made was in acknowledgment of the
civility. The direction of the drive was westward, through the
rioh and broad valley which extends seven or eight miles from
th< • the foot of the mountains of Tejuca. High walls of
brick and stone, or lofty hedges equally unpenetrable to the eye,
cut off the new Of the pleasure gardens and grounds surrounding
the residences in the suburbs, from those seated in the low
carriages at present in fashion, and 1 a more elevated seat
de the coachman — though at the risk, in a black dress ami
white cravat, of being taken fol a servant out of livery — rather
than forego the advantage of this better point for observation ;
especially a was no inconvenience from the sun. die after-
noon being overcast and nch as do not often occur 1.
without rain. But for this position 1 should have lost much of
the enjoyment of the drii
Baifthe distance is a continued suburb of the city; and the
remainder a succession of . rillas, and man-inns in a
greater or e of proximity — the residi I the aruto-
134 BKAZ1L AND LA TLATA.
cratic and wealthy, both natives and foreigners. A predominating
fancy with these seems to be the exhibition of showy entrances
and gateways, little in keeping in their stateliness, in many
instances, with the inferior style and dimensions of the dwellings
themselves. Some of these last, however, arequite palatial. One
of this kind was pointed out, as an evidence of the talent for
business, and the prosperous fortunes of a colored man. The
gardens and grounds on every side are luxuriant in the display
of flowers, shrubbery and trees, and often tastefully embellished
with vases, casts, statuary and fountains of graceful and classic
model. The rapidity of vegetation in weeds and grass, as well as
in more valuable growth is such, however, as to make perfect
neatness and good keeping in the grounds difficult. One great
defect in them, which cannot fail to arrest the eye unaccus-
tomed to it, is the entire absence of the close sod and velvet turf,
which give such smoothness and softness to lawns and pleasure
grounds in the United States and in England. The burning sun
of this latitude kills the roots of such growth, and there is no
close set grass here. All that is native is coarse, tufted, and
straggling. The site of the city was originally a marsh, and this
interval land, between the bay and the mountains, is low and wet.
The soil, a stiff clay, causes the roads in rainy weather soon to be
so cut up as to become almost impassable, and in dry, to be both
rough and dusty.
The residence of Mr. R , crowning a gently swelling hill
in the midst of a lovely \ alley, rises conspicuously to the view
while \et a mile from it. It is an old Brazilian house of unpre-
tending and cottage-like aspect, soon to give place to a new build-
ing: but looked rural and attractive, and commands a splendid
panorama. Here the gateway is of a simplicity corresponding
with that of the house. It opens, at the distance of a quarter
of a mile from this, into an avenue of young mango trees, winding
gradually up the ascenl and bordered on either side by a hedge
... the (1. mlile scarlet hibiscus, whose polished leaves of green
were Btudded with brighl flowers.
COUNTRY SEAT OF KB. B . 135
A. long and lofty saloon, so well furnished with window -
to be readily oonverted almost into an open pavilion, occupies
tin- whole front of the house. A flight of stone steps at either
end la from the carriage drive to this. A similar apartment
in the rear forms the dining-room ; while between these, and
lighted only through them, is the drawing-room. In a colder
climate an apartment thus situated would, in the day time, be
dark and gloomy; but here, where for a great part of the year a
glaring and glowing BUD pours down upon every thing, it forms a
welcome retreat into which the light comes only in subdued and
grateful shade.
We had made the acquaintance of Mrs. and Miss R. at
the entertainments mentioned under my last date ; and, on being
ushered into the saloon were received by them in a most frank
and courteous manner. Mrs. K , though a native Brazilian,
been much in England, and Miss K has but lately com-
pleted her edmation there. Both are of pleasing address and
most gentle and amiable. After a half hour in conversation a
walk in the grounds was proposed, the freshness of the evening
with a land bfeese from the mountains having get in. We had
already iews in every direction to be lovely:
eml j the rich valley through which we had driven, the
mountains bordering it on one side and the fantastic peaks in
which they terminate at its head behind; with cot and
country bouses scattered thickly around, and the imperial pal
of San Christovao encircled with plantations in full view.
Glimpses of the city were caught in the far distance in front;
and, with a glass, the tapering masts of the Congress, surmounted
by her broad pennant, rising high above the tallest of its towers
I Bteeph
From the end of the saloon opposite to that at which we had
entered, an embowered grapery leads to a stream at the foot of
the hill, overhung with trees and beautifully fringed with the
lofty and graceful hand Along the green hanks of this, the
rdens, tilled with the greatest variety of shrub and flower,
136 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
spread widely among fruit-bearing and ornamental trees, includ-
ing a succession of orange groves. Through these we sauntered
with great delight, tasting of the various fruits; examining, in
the fine display of the botanical kingdom around, things old
and new ; resting upon a rustic seat here and there ; and finally
becoming grouped in a picturesque bower of living bamboo, whose
thickly clustered stems at the sides and feathery tops interlaced
overhead effectually exclude the sun, and secure, even at mid-
day, a retreat of refreshing coolness. Among entire novelties to
us were the Jaca or jack fruit — artocarpus Indicus — or East
India bread fruit, and the Brazilian plum.
We were here joined by Mr. 11 and his sons, by Lieut.
F of our ship, and Mr. Lawrence McKcever, a son of the
commodore, an attache of an American partner of the house in
which Mr. It is the English principal. Mr. It to the re-
putation of an able and successful merchant adds that of a well-
read man, thoroughly furnished with intelligence in regard to all
subjects of local and general iuterest in Brazil. His conversa-
tion is thus both interesting and instructive.
As twilight began to gather round us, we returned to the
house, and were summoned to a tea-table in the dining-hall well
spread as in the olden times at home, not only with every delicacy
appropriate to the repast, but with such substantial dishes, also,
as those who had been riding and driving and walking, since an
early dinner, might be disposed to welcome. There was an air
of genuine hospitality in the well-covered length of the board,
which carried me back to the tallies of our friends of Mass< na
and of the Lakelands in former days, telling that like theirs it
was no unaccustomed thing thus to be drawn out to its full length
by the presi nee of some eight or ten unexpected guests, in addi-
tion to a Large family circle. With a number of well-trained and
neatly-dressed negro servants in attendance, the whole scene was
more like that of an ordinary exhibition of American hospitality,
;r I recollect it in boyhood, even in the Northern States, than any
thing I have for a long time witne ed. It was half pasl nine
BRITISH Flag-ship. 137
such is tin- Jehu style of drii
that we were not only at the landing in the city, where the
in waiting for us, but safely on board shin by
The rainy strongly marked at Rio as in many
pica! regions, though at this period of the year more rain falls
'her. To-day it poured in torrents from the early
tiling; while an impenetrable fog has been rushing from the
a driving wind. The wont of this state of things, to
f us on board the I BD engagement of several
days' standing to a dinner with Admiral Reynolds, the Engli.-h
nuander-iu-ehief on this station. We looked in vain as the
ap] iiour approached, fur any abatement in the wind and
rain, or the arrival of a we would not be ex-
.t a cpuart' . .. the barg' - lied away and
omodore McKeever, i Mcintosh and I, with such
protection a- our beat cloaks conld give, were in the midst of the
■in pulling fur the flag ship. Fortunately the distant
roely more than a quarter of a mile. AY' d gettu e
I in the -belter and elegant appointments of the admiral s
got the dis oi the pull on board.
.lit of a higher grade of rank in the navy of the
than tl. tain, while i ee and
that of other nations there is not only that of admiral, but
- of advancement in that rank, often leal- to embarras
i an on] te of feeling between 1 a that
flags and our commauders-iu-chief. The pr< tat ion
and, in m tiuacious claim of equality in rank
and reciprocity in official honors, where there is confessedly an
inferiority of i —ion, and in contravention of the established
rules of military etiquette, nut unfirequently limit the inter
between American commodores and European admirals to the
rmalitie- of an official visit. Where this is th
joeiation of the officers of the respective aqua -. in a
greater or I . of the - Happily f->r myself
138 BRAZIL AND LA TLATA.
I have never been placed in tins position. On the contrary, in
all the ships to which I have been attached, the most friendly-
relations have been established with English ships of war, on the
same station. Such is the case with the Congress and the South-
ampton. By mutual courtesy and good will, the official and
social intercourse of the two commanders-in-chief was on our
arrival at once placed on a desirable footing. The consequence is,
that the officers of the respective ships are left to an unembar-
rassed association. This has proved cordial, and many in both
ships visit each other with the intimacy and informality of con-
genial neighbors on shore.
Mrs. Reynolds accompanied the admiral from England and
lives on board ship. She is a person of intelligent and cultivated
mind and of frank and pleasing address; and the birds and
flowers, the drawings and cabinets in natural history which, in
addition to a choice library, adorn the apartments of the South-
ampton, at once bespeak the presence and taste of an accomplished
woman. In addition to the military family of the admiral, which
consists of the captain of the ship, the flag-lieutenant and the
secretary who are regularly at his table, we had the company
of two or three other officers, including the Rev. Mr. P ,
the chaplain. Besides this gentleman, I was happy to meet in
the party others whom I found to be enlightened and spiritual
Christians, as well as agreeable and well-bred men. It is un-
necessary to say that the entertainment was sumptuous : served
in plate, with all the appointments of the table in the elegant
keeping of English aristocratic life. The summons to the dining
cabin was by music from a fine band; and with the removal of
the cloth and her majesty's health, we had " God save the Queen,"
followed by " Hail Columbia " and a succession of passages from
the choicest operas. Our reception was the more cordial, perhaps,
from the badness of the weather ; and the whole evening marked
with such free interchange of thought and feeling that it seemed
a family party at home. The effect to me of such an impression in
this far oil laud, has been an irresistible fit of the " mal du pays."
QABDKN OF DON JUAN M . 139
November -10th. — The Praya San Domingo and Praya Grande
on the eastern Bide of the bay, continue tube favorite resorts with
as, especially when Captain Mcintosh is leader of the party.
Ho holds in abhorrenoe the filth of the city aide. The interest
of our visits has bees nnieh increased by the acquaintance
accidentally formed with a Portuguese family, shortly after the
return of the Congress from the Plata. In a Btroll we were
taking there, we passed a plantation, the extent and thriftini
of which had before attracted our notice. The principal gateway
now stood open, exhibiting, in lung vista, an avenue of young
palms, whose interlacing branches compb tely over-arched the walk
beneath. A group of slaves were at work just withiu; and
coupling our admiration with a question as to the privilege of en-
tering, we had scarcely received an affirmative reply, before the pro-
prietor, Don Juan M ,made his appearance from a wilderness of
luxuriant growth on one side, courteously bidding us welcome, and
aning himself our guide. There is nothing artistic or par-
tieularly tasteful in the manner in which the grounds are laid
out ; but they are in high cultivation, and the variety and exuber-
ance of the growth, and the novelty to us of many of its forms,
made them very attractive. Fruits, flowers, and vegetables —
shrubs, plants, and tree- are so closely intermingled, as to shut
out all view, except in each immediate path, or at the intersecting
angles of the larger alleys. In other places endless beds, mi
arranged as to be easily irrigated, are filled with every kind of
rotable in the greatest profusion; while above wave the broad
leaves of the banana and plantain, the feathery palm, and the
closely set, and pinnated foliage of the mango. Many of the
paths are bordered with coffee trees, now in full bloom. These are
allowed to grow to a height of ten or fifteen feet, and arc in the
form of a bosh. The blossoms, of the purest white, appear in
general effect like those of the double jessamine. They clu
thickly over the branches, and contrast beautifully with the dark
green of the polished leaves. Among the exotics arc the einna-
140 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
uiou, clove, and nutmeg, and the climbing vine of the black
pepper.
In the course of our ramble we came upon the wash-house of
the establishment — an open, tile-covered lodge or verandah, sup-
ported by pillars of brick, and furnished with a wide and d<
tank or reservoir of water, troughs, tubs and slabs of stone for
the various operations of the laundry. Three or four ncgre-
were engaged in the appropriate work of the place, with their
children at play around. Near one of the mothers, in a Hat
basket on the ground, lay, kicking and crowing as if ready to
spring out of its skin, an entirely naked and shining little negro,
six or eight months of age — one of the brightest and clean
looking little rogues I ever saw. It was black as the purest
ebony, and in a perfection of form fitting it for the model of a
cupid, or infant Apollo, or Adonis. It looked so healthy, and so
wholesome, and so perfectly pure, as to be provocative almost of a
kiss; and one of our party — who, in strong remembrance of his
own little ones at home, has a perfect passion for every child he
meets, whether black or white — was so delighted that I thought
he would scarcely rest satisfied in his caressing, short of such an
evideuce of admiration.
At the end of a half hour Ave came again into the principal
avenue, leading from the gate to the base of a steep hill, or rather
cliff, overhanging the gardens, from the brow of which the dwell-
ing of Don Juan looks down as upon a map. Detained already,
it appeared, from an appointment of business by his attentions
to us, be here apologized for the necessity of taking leave, but
begged as to continue our walk up the hill, from which we would
have a magnificent view; and called a negro lad to guide us.
We willingly complied, and advanced by a winding path up the
Bteep. Among the growth not before noticed, we here observed
the peach, apple, and pomegranate, interspersed with grove after
grove of orange trees, heavily laden with golden fruit. The
bouse is a Long, tile-roofed cottage of one story, surrounded by
broad piazzas, opening upon flagged terraces. The pointed top
MADAME M . 141
of the liill has been cut down to a platform, sufficient only in
extent tor the area of the dwelling, with a shrubbery and flower
garden on one side, and a dovecote and quarters fur the house-
- on the other. The whole is perched upon the angular
point of a precipitous promontory overlooking the hay of St.
Pranois Xavier, from which a heavy surf rolls beneath, breaking
in part, amid a cluster of fautastic and columnar rocks, and in
part upon a white sand beach. To reach the best point for a
•ramie view at the end of the flower garden, we were con-
ducted through the reception rooms, in the centre of the cottage,
furnished with some showy articles of French manufacture — a
of painted china. The landscape and water
if at every point are superb — especially on the garden front,
with the wild surf beneath, and the islet of Boa Viagem for
a foreground — its fantastic cliffs of strongly colored earths
draped witli bright verdure, and crowned by its picturesque little
chapel. The varied movements of sail in the lower harbor ; the
bright gleamings of the city along the shores of FlamengO and
Bot with the SiiL r ar-h>;if and adjoining hills, and the (iavia
and Coroovado in sublime groupings in the distance, formed
r a picture of unrivalled beauty. The coloring, and
eflV ;' a sunset of crimson and gold, exhibited the
whole with as effect; and we stood fascinated by it, till the
gathering twilight ha>tcned us to our boat.
Commodore McKeever and Mr. G accompanied us in a
•nd visit which we were invited by Don Juan to make, a few
forwards. We were welcomed with the cordiality of
old friends, and after a walk through the grounds, were conducted
to the bouse, introduced to Madame M , aud served with
cof; 3 and liqueurs. "We soon discovered the mi.-t'
of the establishment to be of the order of women, so graphically
oribed by the wise man — " she seekcth wool and flax, and
worketb willingly with her hands She looketh well to the ways
of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her
children arise and call her blessed, her husband also, and he
142 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
praisetk her." Through the open windows of the verandah, as
we entered, we saw her busily engaged, amid a group of female
slaves, old and young, in the cutting and fitting of garments which
they were sewing ; and learned from her husband that her agency,
as well as supervision, was thus exercised in the whole economy
of the establishment. In dress, she was in the dishabille common
among the females, and males too, in this climate, at least till a
late hour of the day ; a loose wrapper with a colored silk pocket-
handkerchief over the head. On the summons of Don Juan, she
joined us without apology in regard to her toilette ; and after the
refreshments were served, while we were enjoying the view at the
point of tho promontory, gathered and arranged for each of us a
choice and beautiful bouquet.
In acknowledgment of the kindness of thus throwing open
their grounds and house to us, an invitation was given for a visit
to the Congress. This was readily accepted, and they have since
passed a morning on board. It was their first visit to a man-of-
war, and they professed to take more interest in it, and to feel
themselves more highly honored from its bearing the stripes and
stars of the United States, than they could under any other flag.
AVe scarcely recognized the Dona at first, under the aspect of
a visitor. In place of the Portuguese neglige, in which we were
received by her at home, she now appeared in the latest style
of Parisian promenade costume : with silks and laces and ex-
pensive embroideries, in a correctness of taste and good-keeping,
that proved her by no means unaccustomed to the elegancies of
the toilette. Don Juan is a man of intelligence and of much
practical good sense and observation. Among many tilings on
board, which attracted his attention, aside from the equipment
and peculiar character of our ship in military appointment, was
a small homoeopathic medicine chest, in the captain's cabin. He
is a warm advocate of this system, and a practitioner of it in his
own family/ ami he informed us that in forty cases of fever,
among his Blaves, during the late epidemio, he allowed of no other
treatment, and did not Lose a single patient, though many negroes
around him died of the pestilence under allopathic practice.
CHAPTER XII.
Kio de Janeibo.
November 2Gtb. — The heat of the mornings on shore is be-
coining so intense as to make walking oppressive. Till the set-
ting in of the sea-breeze about mid-day, the ship is altogether
more desirable than any other place accessible to us. Moored
in the direct line of the winds from the sea, her decks with awn-
ings spread fore and aft, form a delightful lounging-place ; one
r without attractions, in the constant movements on the bay,
and thr varying and beautiful effects produced upon its imagery,
ly hourly atmospheric changes. This you can readily understand
from daily experience at Riverside. Like the verandah there,
the poop of the Congress here commands a wide-spread panorama
of water, mountain, and valley, ever varying in its aspects of lights
and shade, sunshine and clouds, tints and coloring, and tempting
one to give too much time to mere admiration of the changing
picture.
When the atmosphere is peculiarly brilliant, the mountains
stand out with a nearness and strength of light that exposes to
clear view the chiscllings of their minutest features. With a
good glass, every rock and tree, and almost every shrub, of tin'
nearer ranges is then brought, seemingly, within touch; while the
sublime chain, forty and fifty miles distanl in the north, exhibi
through the same medium, not only the fantastic spike- and fin-
144 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
gers from which it derives its name, hut the minuter formations
of the wooded Bides also, furrowed by water-courses, and Btreaked
here and there with the silver line of a cataract in a deep glen.
Then again, the whole stand, with undistinguishable features, like
massive walls of purple and blue, the upper profile only of their
jagged outlines being marked boldly against the sky.
In the morning, the whole bay is smooth and glassy as a lake-.
one vast mirror, along whose edges are repictured in strong and
unbroken reflection, mountain and city, church-tower, fortress, and
convent, in minute fidelity, while all the men-of-war, and the
little craft floating by with useless sails, lie in duplicate around.
The sun glares hotly — not a breath of air is stirring, and every
one is oppressed. But watching seaward, the topsails of the
inward-bound in the far offing are seen, by and by, to be gently
filling with a breeze; presently, ' cats-paw ' after ' cats-paw ' COl
creeping through the channel and up the bay ; till soon, in place of
a glaring and oppressive calm, its surface is dancing with ' white-
caps ; " tlic lateen sail boats, careening to the wind and dashing
the spray from their bows, rush past and around us like "playful
tilings of life; " the inward-bound with wide-spread wings come
hastening to the anchorage; everyone drinks in with delight
the welcome draught; and for the rest,of the day, new aspects
and new life are imparted to every thing and every body. At
times, this sea-breeze is supplanted by a half gale from the same
direction, causing so much of a swell as to raise breakers between
us and the lauding, and partially to interrupt communication
with the idiore. This was the case a day or two since, when the
surf rolled along nearly the whole length of the city. 'I
change in the temperature too, is frequently so great as to li
to the substitution of cloth clothing for that of light summer
wear, and to the buttoning closely of the coat to avoid a sense
of chillim
Towards evening the sea-breeze ordinarily dies away; and
sunset, a glassy surface again reflects the gorgeous coloring which
now mantles the mountains, and gilds with brightness the promi-
METEOROLOGICAL 0HAHGE8. 145
at architecture of the oity. A- the ahorl twilight Betties into
darki • lar lines of brilliant lamps gleam for miles a]
the shores on either aide of the bay, and up the ridges and over
the tops of the hills in the city; the bright radiance of uunum-
d -tar.- falls from above; and the land-breeze, gently fanning
down the mountain .-ides, brings with it the freshness and fra-
grance of their woods and flowers.
a thunder-storm of thick "blackness, with forked light-
nirv d raging among the mountain peaks without approaching
nearer ; and oftener .-till, magnificently culminating summer clouds,
heaped pile upon pile above them, exhibit a play of electric light,
of a beauty and splendor sufficient for the pastime of the even-
We had a remarkable display of this kind a night or two
: the flashes were more vivid and more incessant than I
jet before to have witnessed. Masses of black clouds.
towering to the zenith on everj Bide, made the night exceedingly
dark. In the momentary intervals between the flashes there was
a darkness that might almost be felt — utterly impenetrable ei
at the ahorti si distance — and making inexpressibly grand and
utit'ul the more than mid-day bright n ss which in.-tantly fol-
i microscopic view i ;>ject far and near.
From the cause named at the beginning of this date — the heat
of the morning.- — my i shore, for the long walk which you
know to be an essential daily enjoyment to me,are chiefly in the later
hour;, of the afteruoon and evening. As the last regular boat of
the ship leaves the .-bore punctually at sunset, this necessity of
og so late a period of the day would subject me to the
inconvenience of < b off in a shore boat, and the disgust of
athing the atmosphere by which the vicinity of the common
landing is nightly polluted, were it not for the social arrangements
of the Commodore. Intimacy with the Ambassador and his
family, aud other AjDW rican friends in the same neighborhood,
Is him with Mr. (i to pass most of his ei the
PrayaFlanu e . Eisbarg awaits him i _ularly, at nine o'clo
i sheltered and - at landing near the 61 »ria Hill. \
7
146 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
in this is always in reserve for me ; and, whether visiting with him
or not, I am sure of a passage in good season to the ship. I am
thus left at liberty to range the hills and valleys at my pleasure
towards the close of day, and to take my fill of such delights as
nature, in her exuberauce and ever-varying beauty in ten thou-
sand forms, here affords. A chief drawback to the pleasure is
the want of a companion in my rambles. Such of my messmates
as have a round of ship's duty in their order, find sufficient exer-
cise in pacing the decks in its discharge, and are often too much
fatigued to start in search of the picturesque ; others, though at
leisure, less inured to fatigue than I am, think the beauty of the
upland haunts I most frequent, scarcely worth the effort required
at all points, in the first sharp ascent of a half mile, by which
only they are attained. Hence my evening strolls of this kind
are solitary : still —
" My steps are not alone
In these bright walks ; the sweet southwest, at play,
Flies, rustling, where the tropic leaves are strown
Along the winding way.
And far in heaven the while,
The sun that sends the gale to wander here,
Pours out on the fair earth the quiet smile —
That sweetens all the year."
The row, at night, of two miles and more to the ship is of
itself a pleasure : Bometimes beneath a bright moon, with the palm-
topped trees and convent towers of Santa Theresa on our left,
marked in silver against the sky; sometimes amid a darkness which
leaves nothing for our guide but the signal lanterns for the Com-
modore, at the peak of the far-off Congress; and sometimes
again, amid a display of phosphorescence in the water, sufficient
to excite both admiration ami surprise. The regular dip of the
oars, then, creates splendid coruscations: streams of apparent fire
run from the uplifted blades, while the barge, under the impulse
of fourteen stalwart oar-men, rushi - "ii through a wide trough
emingly of molten silver
SHOPS AND SHOPPING. 147
But I am forgetting the object for -which I opened ray journal
— to say, that in despite of the heal I have spent two mornin
within the past wick, in a stroll along the shaded side of the Rua
Ouvidor, in company with the Commodore, Captain and Mr.
(J . iin a visit of curiosity to the various shops with which it
is lined. The show windows of these rival those of Broadway,
in the display of rich fancy goods of English, French, and German
manufacture, and of jewelry, articles of vertu, drawings, engrav-
j, and bijouterie. Among the jewellers* -hops which we entered
one. having for its sign the imperial arms and crown in rich
gilding — thus indicating the special patronage of their majesties
and the court. The person in attendance received us most polite-
ly, and, though we at once apprised him that our object was not
to purchase, exhibited his choicest caskets, from those valued at
a few hundred dollars to those at as many tens of thousands. Mot
of the contents were native diamonds and other precious stones
fully arranged and artistically Bet. The workmen here are
celebrated for skill in this respect, and for the delicacy and finish
of their filagree in silver, and chasings in gold, Bio is also c>
bratcd for the manufacture of artificial flowers from feathers.
Those most valued are of the choicest and rarest humming birds.
The changing tints of BOme of these are more rich and varied
than those of the opal. Such are much prized and are expensive.
The counterpart of a set recently ordered by the Princess de
Joinville was as costly as BO much jewelry. The manufactories
are in large .-hop- open entirely in front to the street, and, the
artisans being chiefly young girls, are favorite resorts and loung-
ing places of shoppers and idlers.
It must i: nferred that in thus spending a morning in
shopping, we were encroaching on the prerogatives of the ladies of
Brazil. The usage of the country denies them this pastime. Por-
tuguese and Spanish views of the liberty of outdoor Locomotion to
be allowed to females — traceable to the Moorish estimate of their
trust worthiness and virtue — prohibit to them here in a great degree
the privileges of (he -treet. Tn the early morning they may lie seen.
148 BKAZIL AND LA PLATA.
dressed in black, and attended by a servant or child, walking to
and from church; and on the Sabbath, likewise, in long family
procession, in performance of a like duty ; but, to take a prome-
nade as such, for pleasure or display, or to pass from shop to shop
looking at fine goods by the hour, without finding the article
sought, or any thing to suit the fancy, would be regarded as an
indecorum, and an unmistakable mark of vulgar boldness. Na-
tive prejudice on this point, has doubtless been modified by the
example of numerous foreign residents and visitors; still, when
a lady is met in the streets in promenade, it may be safely in-
ferred that she is not a Brazilian : if wearing a bonnet, it may be
deemed certain.
Aside from the light thrown upon the general estimate of
female virtue, by this prohibition, from usage, there are habits of
indecency among the people, witnessed even in the most public
thoroughfares, sufficient to justify it, so long as the nuisance is
permitted ; moreover, a lady in walking is subjected to an im-
pudent stare and look of libertinism from shopkeepers, and
clerks, and passers-by, which is in itself an insult, without the
addition of the remarks of levity which at times may be heard.
There has been an advance in civilization of late in this respect;
still, effrontery enough is left in connection with it to offend the
delicacy of a woman in walking, and to excite the indignation of
any male friend accompanying her.
The native female of the better classes is, therefore, still to be
regarded as a kind of house prisoner; she may stand against or
ban over the railing of an upper balcony by the hour — as is
much the custom — gazing in listless silence upon whatever is
taking place in the street ; but a promenade below, with the chance
of a flirtation, is denied her.
liuw then, yon will ask, is the shopping of the ladies for fine
dresses and fine feathers accomplished? I answer, either by hus-
bands and fathers, who 1 am told are well versed by experii
in the business, or },\ a running to and from shop to drawing-room
of boys and porters with pattern-books and pieces. A lady from
SLAVES AT AUCTION. 149
the country will drive to the house of some friend, or secure a
hired room, and, sending forth a Bervant, will put the errand-boys
of half the shops in the city, in motion for the day.
On one of these mornings, we entered a common auction-room
for a mom at, and accidentally stumbled on the humiliating and
iit'ul Bight of a sale of men and women bj a fellow man.
N • -till within a few years past might here have been the
f newly imported captives from Africa, bnt of natives of
. thus passing under the hammer from owner to owner like
any article of merchandise. They were eight or ten in number of
both 9) H s. varying in age from boyhood and girlhood to years of
maturity and middle life. They Btood meekly and submissively,
though evidently anxious and sad, tmder the interrogations and
examinations of the bidders, and a rehearsal and laudation by the
auctioneer of their different available working qualities and d
their health, strength and power of endurance. All,
in their turn were made to mount an elevated platform, to display
their limbs almost to nakedness, and exhibit their muscular pOK
by var -. like a horse his movements and action,
re the bidders at Tatter-all's.
They were rapidly knocked down at prices varying from two
hundred to a thousand and more milreis : that is, from one to five
hundred and more dollars. As we turned away, the indignation
of one of our party found vent in the exclamation: "Such a
Ctaole is a disgrace to human nature. It makes one sick at
heart, and ready to fear that in the retributive justice of the
Almigh ty the time may come, when the blacks here will put up
the whites for sale in the same manner ! " And why not? Why
should the blood boil at the mere ion of the thought in
the one case, and yet flow coolly and tranquilly on, in view of the
other ?
Happily Brazil has been aroused, through the influence of
her Emperor and the wisest of her statesmen and legislators, to
ear - in that suppression of the traffic in slaves to which
has so long stood pledged by treaty. It is no longer in name
150 RRAZIL AND LA TLATA.
only that the trade is a piracy. The landing of a cargo any
where in the Empire subjects it to forfeiture. A high premium
is given to an informer in a case of smuggling of the kind, and
the law cuts off all recovery of payment for the proceeds of a
sale that may have been effected. The consequence is, that the
millionnaires of Rio, whose coffers have been filled to repletion
with the price of blood, finding the government in earnest in the
execution of the laws, are forsaking their gilded palaces here —
some of them among the most luxurious and ornate residences of
the city — for homes where they may pursue their nefarious busi-
ness with less reproach to reputation, and less liability to the pen-
alty of the laws. It is said that there are residents here, entitled
by birth and citizenship to stand beneath the protecting folds of
the stripes and stars of our country, who till now have been
active agents in, and have shared largely in the emoluments of
this wicked outrage on the rights of man.
December 10th. — The 2d Last, was the Emperor's birth-day, a
chief gala among the anniversaries of Rio. His Majesty then
completed his twenty-fifth year. The day was fine, and the cele-
bration consisted of a grand military procession of regular troops
and national guards through the palace square ; a Te Deuni in
the imperial chapel, at which the Emperor and Empress assisted,
as the phraseology is ; a review of the troops by their Majesties
from a balcony of the palace; a levee for hand-kissing after-
wards, for such as are entitled to the entree; and at night a visit
of the Court in state, to the opera. The whole accompanied by
the firing, morning, noon and night, afloat and on shore, of
unnumbered cannon.
I was in Captain Mcintosh's party in going on shore. He
has a horror of crowds, which to me afford some of the best oppor-
tunities of judging of the character of a people, and after seeing
him comfortably seated in a balcony commanding the square,
Lieut. T and I sallied forth "among the horses," as he ex-
pressed it, to be in closer proximity to the populace.
The Brazilians are manifestly an orderly, civil, good-natured,
BIRTHDAY OF PEDRO II. 151
timid, and temperate people; contrasting favorably in their man-
lier.-;, language, indulgences ami general deportment, on similar occa-
sions, with the masses in large cities, in the United State-. 1 saw
nothing rude or ooarse in any one. nothing offensive or insulting:
no profanity, DO intoxication, no quarelling, no call for the inter-
ference of the polii
•In the course of the morning, among various other experiences,
we elbowed his .Majesty and the ministers of the household, the
metropolitan and his chapter of the priesthood, and the great
officers of state in the Imperial chapel; scrutinized the Empress
and her ladies in their tribune; listened to the effective music of
the Te Deum, performed by the chief singers of the opera corn-
pan}-; witnessed the return of the court in procession from the
chapel to the throne room ; a-id gained a point of observation for
the review, so near Don Pedro and Dona Theresa as to have been
able readily to have carried on a conversation with them, had it
been according to rule.
The regular army of Brazil consists of some tweuty thousand
troops. Very few of these are at present here. The great mass
of those under arms on the present occasion, amounting to some
five thousand, was of municipal guards, corresponding to the
volunteer companies of New York. They were in neat and
handsome uniforms, are well appointed, and well drilled; but are
ill and light in figure, without an appearance of much phys-
ical force, and most motley in complexiou and the mixture of blood.
An abundant supply of fine bauds was in attendance. Negroes
and mulattoee predominated in these, testifying to the gift of
musical taste in the race 1. with us in the United States.
There was a partial illumination in the evening, but to no
striking effect, except in the streets hailing from the palace to the
opera-house. The progress of the court in state through tl
was a showy spectacle. The glaring flambeaux of liveried out-
riders, preceding and flanking the open carriages, th<
brilliantly lighted, and the illuminated houses, exhibited the
diamonds of the Empress and her attendants to great advantage.
152 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
The left breast of the Emperor's coat, too, flashed with the
brilliants of the many orders with which it was decorated. The
vivas of the multitudes were tolerably loyal, aud the spirited
strains of the national air, caught, as the cortege approached,
from band to band, stationed at various points on the route, quite
spirit-stirring. The music of this air is a composition of Don
Pedro I., who was a master in the science. It is one of the most
animated, spirit-moving national airs I know — equal almost in
this respect to the Marseillaise. The words of the anthem to
which it is set are said to be also from the pen of his late Majesty ;
and, in the native language, are scarce less incitive than the tune,
to emotions of patriotism and valor —
la podeis, fillios da patria,
Ver contente a niui gentil,
la raiou a liberdade,
No horizonte do Brazil
Brava gente Braziliera
Longe vai temor servi] !
Ou ficar a patria livrc,
Ou mourer pelo Brazil.
I could not be otherwise than amused by an incident, char-
acteristic of the too widely spread spirit of my countrymen,
which came under my observation just after reaching the shore.
The court were alighting at the palace, on their arrival in state
from San Christcvao : the turn-out, in equipages and their appoint-
ments, the same as described at the prorogation of the legislature
in September. The hurried rush across the square of the mounted
guard in advance; the flourish of trumpets and striking up of the
bands; the glitter of postillions and coachmen in livery, stiff with
lacings of silver; the tossings of the plumed heads <>t" the long
lines of richly caparisoned horses; and the ceremonies <»t' the
vestibule, in the salutations and kissing of hands at alighting,
were jusi occurring, as a rough specimen of our compatriots, in
the character of a Y.h.I captain happened by. He stood
THE KMPBBOB AFLOAT. 153
near me for a moment gazing at the pageant, evidently with
of admiration than of contempt, and, as he passed on with a
-.itk-aiit " Humph ! " 1 hoard him add in half soliloquy — " I toll
you what, there i- a little too much nonsense here ; it is time
this pL-i >}'lt- were annexed ! "
lay the weather has been wet and stormy. Notwith-
Brazilian naval officer came on board the Congi
breakfast, to say that the Emperor would be afloat in an
irsion on the bay. It is customary on such occasions for the
national vessels in the harbor to fire a royal salute. That
they may be in readiness tor this, on the appearance of the im-
al standard, the official notice mentioned is given. The
iziliau men-of-war man their yar . and nine cheers are
given for their sovereign as he | At 11 o'clock the fir
was commenced by the Brazilian flag-ship; and, on going on d
I found myself ^lrrounded by a blaze from guns on every quarter.
At the same time, a procession of state barges was seen mo\
from the naval arsenal near the convent of San Bento, to a Bteamer
not far from us. The barge of his Majesty, of white and green,
ificently gilded, and furnished with a standing canopy
of green and gold over the stern sheets, surmounted by the im-
ial crown. A naval officer in epaulets and chapean actrd as
coxswain, the boat being handsomely pulled by twenty-four ft
looking oarsmen in a uniform of white. The object of the exeur-
i visit iu the steamer to a foundry and steam-engine
manufactory at Praya Grande, on the opposite side of the bay ;
where, in proof of the rapid advancement of the empire in
scientific works and national power, native talent and enter] :
is succes.-fully competing with foreign skill, in the construction and
equipment of men-of-war and other steamers.
CHAPTER XIII.
Rio de Janeiro.
December V&th. — On the morning of the 17th iust. I was called
to officiate at a marriage on shore. The ceremony took place at
the American Consulate, where a dejeuner a la fourchetie was
given to the party by Gov. and Mrs. Kent. The groom, a native
Brazilian, a young physician, had attended a course of medical
and surgical lectures in New York. He became there a member
of the Protestant Episcopal church; and was altogether so much
interested in our institutions, as to file, in the proper office, an
intention of becoming a naturalized citizen of the United Stal
These eircuiiistances led him to desire a marriage ceremony in the
Protestant form, under the American flag, though, the bride being
a Romanist, they had already been united by the rids of her
church.
AVhile on shore on this occasion, I came near being a spec-
tator, accidentally, of a more interesting scene of the kind. In
passing the foundling hospital, which fronts an open, irregular
space imt tar from the ordinary landing, beneath Castle Hill, I
perceived the grated windows of the Becond ami third Btories t.>
be filled with females of different ages, from childhood to maturi
in holiday dress, evidently awaiting the oeeupancy and departure
of a couple of private carriages, drawn up before the principal
entrance. Stepping into the opes vestibule of the Imilding — in
MARRIAGE AT THE ORPHAN ASYLUM. 1 7)7)
one corner of which La the roda, or turning-box, for the deposit of
the infants clandestinely left — I rightly conjectured from the
white glovi and breast-knots of two or three you
men present, that the occasion was one of marriage, and learned
that the ceremony had just taken place in the chapel of the
hospital. This, which opened from the vestibule, was, however,
now. empty. An aged female of dignified appearance, in a
moi a of white, was walking back and forth in a small
corridor behind a grated door. She appeared to be waiting to
unlock this. Almost immediately the bride and groom, in the
lifieant garb of the newly welded, were seen to approach from
the interior. They were both ijuite young. An elderly lady,
lently of distinction, attired in purple velvet with a display
of rich lae - !ry and ostrich plumes, accompanied them, and
was herself followed by a dignified and well-dressed gentleman,
who appeared to be her husband. A crowd of the inmates of
til.- institution quickly filled the entire corridor behind. The
bride was in tears, as she hurriedly gave a farewell embrace to
one ami another of the youthful companions crowding around her,
and, on coming to the aged female at the door, dropped on her
knees, and covered her hands with \ A tears. The groom
harried her from this BO the first carriage, and dmve off
iiowed by the second containing the fine folks, probably
i-muther and god-father, or the patron and patroness of the
bri . .e whole explained to me a usage, in connection with this
iblishment, of which I had heard. A recolhiemento, or female
orphan asylum i> an appendage of the foundling hospital, many
of i being c lected from the inmates of the latter. In
addition to the nurture and education of the orphans, care is
taken to provide for their settlement in life, with the bestowinent
of a marriage portion, varying from one to two hundred dollar-.
That an opportunity may be afforded for young men of respectable
character to make choice of a wife from the inmates, the establii
at is open to vi ae day in every year — that of the auni-
aary of St Elisabeth, the patroness of the asylum. Before a
156 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
union is sanctioned, however, satisfactory testimonials of good
character in the applicant for marriage must be furnished, and
guaranties of ability to support a wife be given. Such was the
origin of the marriage which had just taken place. The dress
and lady-like bearing of the bride, the respectable appearance and
manners of the groom, the rich attire, equipages, and evident
position in life of those under whose patronage they appeared, all
indicated, in this case, something in her lot above the destiny
of common orphanage.
While the establishment of a home for the friendless young
is one of the most self-commending of charities, the philanthropy
which provides an asylum for the secret reception of foundlings
is no longer questionable, in the judgment of the wisely benevo-
lent and truly good. It is but to foster vice, and to encourage
the unnatural ami depraved in the abandonment of their offspring.
This is well known here, and readily admitted to be the effect.
The number yearly left in the roda, or turning-box, of this
hospital, amounts, I am told, by those best informed, to five and
six hundred — white, black and mongrel of every degree. More
than half of these soon perish from diseases seated upon them
before being abandoned ; from the impossibility of securing
natural nourishment for the feeble ; and from the various ills to
which early infancy under the most favored auspices is subject.
December 20th. — One source of agreeable excitement with
us, is the daily anticipation and frequent arrival of sailing ret
and steamers, governmental and mercantile, from the United
States and various parts of the world. The number of vessels
entering the port of Rio annually, besides those engaged in the
coasting trade, which are very numerous, averages about eight
hundred : importing cargoes to the amount of some two hundred
thousand tons. Of course, scarcely a day passes without the
entry of two or three foreign vessels in the regular trade,
besides such as merely touch for repairs or refreshment.
It is a remarkable facl — especially in view of the achievements
in navigation, of the Portuguese of old, and the boldness and
FOREIGN COMMERCE. 157
enterprise with which tl sustained their part in
the bommeree of the world — that their descendanta here should
have viild, d that of the empire, which is foreign, entirely to the
Other nations. It i< extremely rare fora Brazilian ship
tn cross the Atlantic, or double Can-' Horn, or the Cape of Good
Bope; ami 1 learn, from Gov. Kent, that not a Bingle vessel of the
mtry ha- 1 for the Unit - ince he ;
Their trading -. though .-mall, are generally well
built. Btrong, and well modelled ; and are navigated with care and
ty along rtended coasts of the continent, from the Plata
t" the Amazon. But. as the consul remarks, "the native naviga-
n afraid to compete on the high Beas, with the vessels of
this age of hurry and locomotion — with the reckless driving of
the -Flying Clouds' and ; White ^.pialls,' the 'Sea Witch -
and other wild bird- of the ocean, and yield, without a struggle.
the enterprises in foreign commerce to the hardy northmen — the
unwearied and ever-present Yankee, and the pushing and exacting
man." The truth i-. as he adds, the Brazilian is not by
nature a trader or experimenter. He thinks it sufficient for him
tor it to a market : he lacks the energy, the ind
try — the 'arne-t. long-continued, unwearied effort which leads one
willingly to Bacrifi , comfort, and quiet, to t!
' nf future gain, and which makes the - bant. " Go
ahead." "stri-. _!■•." " compete" — are words not belong-
ing to his vocabulary, lie Bhrngs hi- shoulders at the very mention
of them — not in contempt, but in despair; and prefers Bitting in
his easy chair, or lolling out of the window, to the tussle of life
common with us, of which the very thought would throw him
into a perspiration. "Lit th< rk," is his motto ; "and
let what they cannot do remain undo The Yanki
xhibited here within the year or two past, in the rush by of
the tho^ands of emigrant- on their way tn California, struck the
pie with astonishment. They were looked upon as most reck-
- and daring adventurers, who. born in snow-drifts ai d cradli d
in ice, had a hardihood and enterprise it was in rain to attempt
158 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
to rival. But I am forgetting the subject with which I com-
menced.
The telegraphic station on Castle Hill, to and from which the
appearance of all sail in the offing is reported, is in full view fiom
our moorings. The quarter-masters of the Congress are furnished
with explanations of the various nags used, and the combiiiaf
by which the nation, character, and position of the sail in sight
are made known. Few moments of the day pass without a turn
of the glass in that direction. The distinguishing flag for an
American vessel is a long, pointed pennant of white and deep
blue iu closely-arranged perpendicular stripes, giving to it the
appearance, as it flutters in the wind, of being ring-streaked. With
a Yankee fondness for sobriquets having a political or national
import, Jack has dubbed this pennant " the coon's tail," from a
fancied resemblance to the well-known emblem of the party of
which the great statesman of Kentucky was so long an illustrious
leader ; and, " the coon's tail is up I " or " there goes the coon's
tail ! "' is the regular announcement of an American ship in the
offing.
Anion" uncounted merchant vessels which have thus been
reported since our return from the Plata, there have also been
the frigate Raritan, storcship Relief, and sloops-of-war Saratoga
and St. Mary of the navy. The St. Mary was especially wel-
come from the number of officers attached to her, closelj a-^soci-
ated in friendship with several on board the Congress. Captain
Magruder, her commander, is of this number; and is justly held
iii high estimation. The intercourse on his part with our ship
has been most intimate. After an interchange of civilities by
various parties on board both vessels, Captain Mcintosh and I
took dinner informally with him to-day, with the purpose of a
drive afterwards to the Botanic Gardens. These lie six or eight
miles south-wesl from the city, on the sea-shore, beneath the ra
of mountains, of which tin' Corcovado and the Gavia are such
conspicuous points. For three miles the way is the same d<
in a visit to Botafogo. The remainder does not differ materially
BOTANICAL GARDEN. 159
from it, except that the suhurbs of the place change gradually,
i>\ the greater distances intervening between the villas and
country houses which adorn the sides of the road, into a thinly-
occupied and open country. At the distance of five miles, the
interval between the mountains and the sea is taken up chiefly by
a lake or UftOOD called llodri^o de Freitas. A Bhort drive hence
ly plain brought us to the gates of the garden. This
WES Originally a pleasure-ground of the royal family in the time
. VI . and was appropriated by him to its present use.
on the accidental arrival in 1809 of various eases of exotics from
the Isle of France, in a vessel which brought to Rio a company
of Portuguese prisoners. The collection was afterwards augmented,
at the <»rder of the king, by additions from Cayenne, then under
his rule; and eventually by the importation of the tea-plant from
China, with a company of Chinese laborers skilled in its cultiva-
tion and in the preparation of the leaf for use. The attempt proved
a failure ; not so much from a want of adaptation in the soil and
climate, or from the quality of the tea produced, as from the
expense above the cost of the imported article. Both here, and
at 8 Cruz — an Imperial estate fifty miles west of Hi", where
also a plantation was tunned — the culture has been abandoned; a
few plat- of stunted, mildewed, and neglected bushes only are
left as a botanical Curiosity.
The gardens cover BOme fifty acre- of ground — an alluvial
Hat of rich soil, and constitute a nursery from which plants of tip
cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, camphor, allspice, and tea, originally in-
troduced 1, re, have been widely dispersed through the empire.
Specimens of all the-.' wen' examined by us.
The cinnamon and camphor trees arc of the laurel family —
the laurtu cinnnmonum and laurtts c amphora ; — the nutn
clove, and allspice, of the myrtle. The cinnamon grows to a
height of fifteen or twenty feet. The stem and branches
of a light green; the have-, of the -liape of the laurel, are also
lighl _ . and are pliant and tender. "When they tir.-t bud fo
they are of a light red, and gradually become green a- ;]■ .
160 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
advance in growth. The blossoms are white. There is no per-
ceptible fragrance, cither in the stem or leaf, till bruised or broken,
but both when bitten have the cinnamon flavor. The clove is the
flower-bud of the caryophylius aromaticus. The tree was in
blossom and the bud very strong in its peculiar taste. Specimens
of all these in branch, blossom, and fruit, were readily furnished
by a negro in attendance, who expected a trifling gratuity in
return.
Long avenues of the Sumatra nut — vernicia montana — fur-
nish abundant shade, and yield great quantities of nuts. The
mulberry tree is also introduced for the purpose of shade. The
bread-fruit — artocarpus incisa — so familiar to me in the South
Seas, was also conspicuous in the beauty of its strongly-marked,
shining, and digitated foliage, and its ponderous fruit of light
green.
The whole garden, though a national property, for the good
keeping of which an annual appropriation is made by the imperial
legislature, appeared in a neglected state. There is nothing
strikingly tasteful or artistic in the arrangement or embellish-
ment of the ground. At the western end, a mountain stream
comes brawling down a rocky channel, and on reaching the
level, meanders lazily eastward, betweqii banks beautifully fringed
with bamboo, and overhung by the dense foliage of loftier growth.
Where this mountain stream enters, there is an attempt, on
a small scale, at landscape gardening. A little basin of water
with projecting points, and an islet or two, overhung by willows,
represents a miniature lake ; and near by, on an artificial and
terraced mound, is a chapel-like summer house, formed of the
flat cedar or arbor vitae, so planted and so trained as to be per-
fectly architectural in its outline, and to appear to be an old ruin
overrun with living green. That, howe\<T, which more than any
other ornamental feature of the place attracted our notice, was an
avenue of royal palms, a quarter of a mile and more in length,
Leading in a straighl line from the principal gate, and crossed at
right angh midway of the distance, by another corresponding
ROBM PBOM THK OOBOOVADO. 1G1
with it. The trees are at perfectly regular distances from each
other; arc all nf n, and, either by nature or by artificial
training, rise from uniformly shaped swelling bases, into perpen-
dicular Bhafts, forty or fifty feet in height The Bilver-gray
trunks, marked in their whole length by rings, showing the
wth of each year, terminate in plumed capitals of true Corin-
thian magnific The effect of the perspective is very beauti-
ful: Btrikingly like that which we would imagine a colonnade of
equal length in Egyptian or Asiatic architecture to be,
A- :: I i ■: u ical gardi D, the place is unworthy the name, and
JUch to the cause of science. The realization of one
here, such as John VI. projected, would he exceedingly inter* -i-
1 important. There is no empire in the world in which a
botanical garden on a magnificent scale could he more readily
I, or whose native vegetable kingdom is so rich, and so
full of novelties to the scientific world.
When we left the city the weather was magnificent ; the
atmosphere clear and pure, clastic and bracing, and the lights
and shades on the BCenery in perfection. But ere we were aware
of it. an entire change occurred. The Corcovado towers in gi-
tie altitude over the garden, and, almost without warning,
a violent >t<>rm came rushing down it- precipici -. bearing with it
masses of cloud of unpenetrable blackness, surcharged with tor-
rents of rain, which were poured upon us with unahating fury
during the entire drive back to the city. Notwithstanding the
individual discomfort incident to such showers, they are wel-
with joy by the people in general, as indications of contin-
ued health. Previous to the epidemic of the lac they w< re
almost a- regular in their return as the afternoon itself But
during the pestilence they intermitted almost entirely. The i
ularity of the sea breeze also was greatly interrupted : and light-
ning and thunder for the most part ceased. Believing that th<
meteorological changes w aected in some way with the in-
tion existing in the atmosphere, a return of the shower- of old
is regarded as an indication of the accustomed .-aluhrity of the air.
162 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
December 27th. — The little chapel of Santa Lucia fronts the
bay at the southern end of the promenade beneath Castle Hill.
This saint is a kind of deputy-patroness of seafaring men, under
Our Lady of Good Voyages, whose shrine crowns so conspicuously
the little islet of Bonviagcm. In my usual walk two or three even-
ings ago, I accidentally fell upon an anniversary fete here ; the
birthday of her saiutship. The chapel is the parish church of the
neighborhood, and I could scarcely have believed, without the ocu-
lar proof, that within hearing of the hum of the busy metropolis
a gathering of people so entirely rustic and village-like, could
have been brought together. Great preparation for the celebra-
tion had been made. Long avenues of young palm-trees, twenty
or thirty feet in height, and from which brilliant lamps were sus-
pended, were planted beside the road along the water ; alternating
with these, were lofty flag-staffs, from which varied colored ban*
in irs and streamers floated in the breeze. Frameworks with com-
plicated pyrotechnic preparations were placed thickly around, as
in the parks and squares of New York on the Fourth of July.
Indeed, the whole aspect of things — the crowds of people in holi-
day dress, the many venders of refreshments in fruit and confec-
tionery, cakes, orangeade and orgeat, the talk and the laugh, and
the general hilarity — was that of a general muster, or other simi-
lar holiday, iu the United States. The little chapel was in a
flutter of flags and gay hangings without, and within, gaudy in
the profusion of gilt paper and tinsel, and coarse artificial flowers.
It was, too, one blaze of light from a pyramid of wax candles on
the high altar.
An animated sale of engravings of Santa Lucia was going
on. These were in different degrees of artistic execution, and on
various qualities of paper to suit the taste and finances of the
purchasers. Men, women, and children, black and white, master
and mistress, freeman ami slave, crowded with equal earnestness
around the priest, seated behind a counter for the sale, all seem-
ing alike delighted to secure the consecrated likeness, as, deposit-
0HUBCHB8 OB CHRISTMAS EVE. 1G3
ii.g their money, one after another were served with it, and then
struggled baok through the throng.
A Bervioe of musie took place at eight o'clock; and as this
hour approached, the little church became crowded to suffocation.
Tin- females were admitted to a portion of the nave, nearest the
chancel, separated from the rest of the area by a rail. They sat
in full dre.-s on the carpeted pavement, as closely crowded as |
Bible, while the men outside of this separating line stood as
thickly packed. The musie, both instrumental and vocal, \
that of a regular opera, and delightfully performed. The festiv-
itiee continued till midnight: and, as we .eturned by boat to the
.-hip at a later hour than usual, rookete in constant succession
WON seen rushing to the sky, and bursting in glittering corusca-
tions of colored lights; balls of fire were Hying through the air;
inese crackers every where exploding; and fiery serpents hiss-
ing along the ground. But there was no intoxication, no quar-
relling, no rudeness; in their stead, general civility, decorum,
and light-heartedni
On Christmas eve, I. visited the cathedral on the Palace
Square, and the church of Ban Francisco de Paulo in the square
of the Roscio. The former was first open. It was of course
richly ornamented with tapestries of brocade and velvet, and
hangings of (doth of silver and gold, and was brilliantly illumi-
nated with wax lights, amid a profusion of art ilieial ilowers. The
chancel was tilled with the dignitaries of the church, in striking
costumes of scarlet and purple silk, with any nuautity of the rich-
lace in the form of capes and togas. The Bishop, wearing a
mitre studded with jewels of immense size, and holding a massive
gilded crosier, was seated on his throne on one side of the high
altar : presenting, with the encircling groups of Dean ami Chap-
ter and officiating priests, a scene of hierarchical Btatelinesa and
splendor, befitting the palmiest days of papal supremacy. The
music here is always of the fir-t order : it was on this occasion,
isual, altogether operatic in style and execution.
The church of .St. Francis is much more spacious than this
164 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
of the Carmelites. The interior is unbroken by galleries or col-
onnades, and the coup-d'ceil, on entering, was now brilliant and
effective. A ball-room for a civic fete could not have been deco-
rated with more taste and richness, or with greater regard to
effect on the eye. Lines of closely-arranged lights marked the
general architecture of the whole interior; while, midway be-
tween the pavement and loftily-arched ceilings, beautiful clus-
ters in brackets, gave a dazzling brilliancy to the walls. The
display upon and above the high altar was magnificent. The
music was fine; and the throng greater than at the cathedral,
more mixed in its character, and full of levity. A third of tho
nave was appropriated exclusively to females. The various per-
sonal attractions and deportment of these, seated closely together
in full evening dress, seemed chiefly to occupy the attention of
the men ; while innuendo, badinage, and loose remarks upon them
were freely passed in whispers by one and another. The place
seemed little like one of devotion, and any other than a house of
God.
January 8th. — We arc once more at sea. The weather for
the last few days, though magnificent in clearness and brilliancy,
has been too excessively hot for us to remain longer with comfort
at llio. A rumor, too, of the reappearance of the epidemic of the
last year, was becoming prevalent, and the region of the Plata
was deemed in every respect most desirable for the ship. At
this season of the year, light winds and calms are characteristic
of the weather at sea, in the latitudes between llio de Janeiro and
the Rio La Plata : it is probable, therefore, that our passage of
ten days or a fortnight thither, will be destitute of any thing
worthy of record.
The cordiality which I mentioned as existing between the offi-
cers of the Congress and those of the British ilag-ship, Southamp-
ton, continued to the last A banquet, surpassing in its appoint-
ment- any thing upon so huge a sealc that I recollect to have wit-
ed "li board ship, was given some time ,-ince by the offic-rs
of her gun-room to those of the Congress — embracing as guests,
TWELFTH-NIGHT PARTY. 165
the eommanders-in-ohief and captains of both vessels; and night
before last, Admiral and Mrs. Reynolds gave a farewell dinner to
mmodore BloKi I laptain Mcintosh, and one or two others
from our -hip. It was Twelfth-night, the last of the Christmas
holidays; hut it was in vain that I attempted to hring into exercise
any associations of the Beason, in connection with my thoughts of
1m. inc. While suffering here more than midsummer heat, it is
difficult to reconcile even the imagination to a picture of festivi-
ties on the same occasion, with the accompaniments of howling
winds and drifting snows — a frozen river in front of you, and a
leafless grove behind.
This farewell entertainment was even more genial in its sym-
pathies than any of those previously enjoyed. The company
embraced a number of intelligent and spiritually-minded Chris-
tian-. A Beat between two of these fell to me, and I was most
• ■'ably and profitably entertained. It is ever a delight to me
to find intelligent piety openly professed and consistently main-
tained by a young officer, especially where an elevated position
in BOcial life, as well as the military profession, exposes the indi-
vidual to peculiar temptations from the world. Such is the case
with young W , and such that of his chosen companions. li-
lt 'nt me, a few days since, a memoir of a young friend, an offi-
in the army, printed like that of your early companion, M —
I . fir private circulation only. Like hers, it is a portraiture
from life of gift d and devoted youthful piety. Lieut. St. J ,
the Bubject of it, went to India on duty, in tin- war of Afghanistan.
The cholera broke out in his regiment when on march there.
I' irless of uences, and trustful in faith and Christian hope,
he gave himself up at once to unremitted, personal attendance
upon the sick and dying -oldiers. Though but a youth of twenty-
two, the parting breath of many of these was spent in blessings
in him. a- a minister of en- ilation and spiritual grace to
iii. till seized at last himself, he was carried off at the end of
hours, with the triumphant exclamation on his lips, " All's
I I'
CHAPTER XIV.
Montevideo.
January 30th, 1851. — Our passage "down," as the phrase is,
was devoid of incident. We arrived on the night of the 20th
inst., and are at anchor in the outer roadstead. In October, I
described the general aspect of the mount, the city, and the sur-
rounding country from this ; and reminded you of the existence
of a civil war, and the close siege of the city, for eight years
past, by Oribe, a citizen of Montevideo, and formerly President of
the Republic of which it is the capital. The right to this office,
though once resigned and abandoned by him, he still claims ; and
to enforce it, invaded the State with an army of Argentines, fur-
nished by Rosas, Governor of Buenos Ayres, and minister of
foreign affairs for the Argentine States. With this he would
have gained possession of the town long ago, had it not been for
the armed intervention, in 1845, of Englaud and France ; and the
continued guardianship of the place by the latter, with a squad-
ron, in the roadstead, and a body of fifteen hundred or two
thousaud troops on shore.
The prinoipal Kuropcan powers, rejecting the pretensions of
Oribe, acknowledge the constituted authorities of the inside, or
city party only, as the government of the Republic. The policy
of the United States \< bag a strict neutrality, Commodore
McKcevcr pays a like respect to both ; and, under an escort fur-
CONDITION OF MONTEVIDIX >. 1< /
Dished 1 v Grille, hafl paid an official visit to him at his camp
outside of the line-. M well as .me to the President within, at the
government house in the city.
When here in Ootober, an armistice had existed for some
time, in connection with the negotiations then pending between
the belligerent parties and Admiral Le Predour. commander-in-
chief of the French force. We had not heard of its termination :
but a movement of the troops on shore at daylight, the morning
after our arrival, attracted the notice of those on board on watch.
and led to the supposition that an engagement was about to take
place. A messenger from my ever mindful friend R , the
officer of the deck at the time, summoned me to witness it ; and
for an hour, with other officers of the ship, I gazed through a g]
upon what seemed a spirited conflict, between the outside and
ide forces. We learned afterwards, however, that it was only
ham battle between different parties of the French troops,
and the Ifontevidean soldiery, composed of a foreign legion of
ad Italians, and a native regiment of negroes. So far
•he effect upon the eye. and. under our misapprehension, upon
the heart was concerned, there was, in the manoeuvres of the
battle field — the rapid charge, the roar of cannon, the .-harp
rattle of musketry, and the flying through the air and the burst-
ing of shells — much of the reality of an actual engagement.
Poor Montevideo, for nearly a half century past, has been
singularly ill-fated, even for a South American city. The greater
part of that period, it has been the victim of calamitous wars,
cither foreign or civil. In 1807, while yet a colonial dependency
of Spain, it v. 'ge<l> bombarded, and carried by storm by
th> i. under Sir Samuel Achmuty. After the inglori
defeat of (Jen. Whithead at Buenos Ayres in 1808, and the
consequent expulsion of the British from the Plata, as a colonial
city faithful to the crown of Spain it was besieged Brom 1810
to 1814. and eventually made to capitulate t" tin- troops of the
then revolted and republican province of Bucno- A . ; -. Shortly
afterwards, the republican forOSS 1" ing withdrawn, it fell into tic
168 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
hands of the bandit Artigas, a native chieftain, so lawless and
marauding in his rule at home, and in his depredations on the
adjoining frontiers of Brazil, as to give just cause for invasion by
the Portuguese of that kingdom, who gained possession of the
city in 1817.
This occupation of the place led to a warfare of more than
ten years, between the royalists of Brazil, and the republicans of
Buenos Ayres, the chief disasters of which centred in Monte-
video ; till, in 1829, through the intervention of England, a peace
was effected, by the withdrawal, by both parties, of all claim to
the territory in dispute — known then by the name of the Banda
Oriental — on condition that it should constitute an independent
Bepublic, to be called Uruguay, after the great river which forms
the western boundary between it and the Argentine States.
From that period till the year 1842, the territory enjoyed
peace. Under a constitutional government, with a president,
ministry, judiciary, and legislature of two houses, both city and
country had gnat prosperity. The population of the city
increased rapidly from fifteen to fifty thousand, and that of the
state to two hundred and fifty thousand. The exports in a few
years amounted to six millions of dollars, and the imports to five
millions. Fortunes were readily accumulated; fine buildings in
great numbers were erected within the city; and beautiful
country houses, with tasteful and luxurious surroundings, spread
over the environs without. Poverty ami want were unknown, a. id
the evil days seemed entirely past. But the civil war, into which
the republic was plunged by Oribe, soon produeeel a sad chai
The invading Argentines speedily devastated the entire country,
and by the wanton destruction of vast herds of horses and
cattle — the chief sources of its wealth and commerce in hides,
jerked beef, and tallow — and the plunder of their estaucias or
farms, paralyzed the enterprise of the inhabitants, and forced
tin in to emigrate; while the (dose siege of the town, intercepting
all supplies for support and all means of commerce, at once
sapped the sources of its prosperity, and drove the citizens by tens
FIRST tMPBSSSIOXa 1G9
of tho ; elsewhere for maintenance and lite. The result
upon the w ■alth and population of the port may be readily
imagined. I do n Uect ever b re to have been so deeply
ini] with the desolateness of any place a.s on first landing
here, and on taking a stroll through its streets, and the limited
suburbs within the lines of defence. The mole, once alive with
busy commerce, was I red and silent as a churchyard; and
opting at Pompeii, I never wandered through streets which
seemed to be more truly those of a city of the dead.
This impression, however, I afterwards discovered to be in
some degn ptive, owing, partly, to the hour of the day;
that for the universal Scarcely an individual was to be
seen anywhere. With screened windows and closed doors, the
inhabit ung and old, rich and poor, were yielding them-
to the insinuating influences of the dolee far niente; or to
ni'-re oblivious indulgences of sound sleep. It is now mid-
summer here ; the day was hot, for this latitude, and every thing
in a -t ; - Spanish repose customary in such weather, after an
iinner. The dilapidation and decay on every side, the
manifest poverty, and the seemingly utter desertion of dwelling
after dwelling, through whole streets, were so saddening and
oppre s si ve, that, for the time. 1 felt that I would never wish to
vL-it tl. . in. As to the suburbs without the walls, ex-
i Pompeii itself is scarcely more a region of ruin and
iation.
An hour at the American consulate afterwards — where our
party received the most frank and hospitable welcome from .Mr.
and Mr.-. Hamilton and family; an application there within
fifteen minutes, for my official services from a stranger in the
marriage ceremony — showing that bad as the state of things in
ntevideo is, the voice of the bride and of the bridegroom is
i to DC heard in lie with other assurances of a better
general than 1 had been led to infer, changed in some
the current of my sympathies. Still, however deceptive
the first impressions on landing may have been, there is too much
170 BKAZIL AND LA PLATA.
reality in the wretchedness to which hundreds and thousands of
the inhabitants are reduced, to allow them to he at once dis-
pelled.
The city is finely situated upon a peninsula of granite, which,
in its form, has been compared, not inaptly, to the shape of a
tortoise's back : an area a half mile square descending gradually
oti three sides, from a central height of a hundred feet or more,
to the level of the surrounding water. This, though only a river, is
seemingly a sea; for, a hundred miles in width, it presents a hori-
zon on the south as boundless as the ocean. Like most towns of
Spanish origin, the streets are rectangular, with an open square or
plaza in the centre, on which stand the principal church and the
cabilda, or town hall and prison. It is well built. Many of the
private residences are spacious, and the principal public buildings,
the cathedral, and an unfinished hospital, are rather imposing in
their architecture. From long disuse the streets are in many
places tufted with grass, and in others, the pavements are so torn
up and broken as to be impassable with wheels.
One redeeming fact, in regard to the general want of interest
in the place, has very unexpectedly presented itself to me per-
sonally, in an invitation from the standing committee of the
British Episcopal Church, to officiate for them in public worship
on the Sabbath. This I have already done, and shall continue
to do whenever the Congress shall be in the Plata. The English
government, with commendable interest for the spiritual good of
its subjects abroad, makes a liberal provision, under certain con-
ditions, for the maintenance of the ministry and its ordinances
where they may be. Its chief embassies in foreign lands are
furnished with regular chaplains; and, wherever British subjects
abroad contribute to a fund for the ministrations of the Gospel
among them, the same amount, to a specified limit — four hundred
pounds is the maximum, I believe — is allowed by act of parliament
for the same object.
Might or ten years ago, Samuel Lafone, Esq., a principal
English merchant hen . and a chief capitalist and landed propri-
BRITISH CHURCH. 171
etnr in the Uruguay, secured from the authorities the privilege
of erecting a chapel for Protestant worship. The site of an
elevated circular bastion, overlooking the rocky shores of the
river, on the smith side of the town, was chosen for the purpose,
mid purchased by him. -Upon this, at a cost of forty-five or fifty
thousand dollars, he erected a fine edifice in Grecian architecture.
It is of brick, stuccoed, and painted in imitation of Portland
and is ornamented in the front by a well proportioned pedi-
nit -nt, supported by four lofty Doric columns, and altogether is
one of the most conspicuous architectural ornaments of tho city.
The interior is spacious and lofty, the wood-work — the pews,
chancel-railing, the reading desk, pulpit, and organ-loft — being of
solid mahogany, and is capable of accommodating an audience of
era! hundreds. When completed, Mr. Lafone made an uncon-
ditional gift of it to the British community resident here. These
joined by the few Americans engaged in commerce, raised a fund
sufficient, with the governmental gratuity, for the comfortable
support of a rector. The Rev. Mr. Armstrong officiated for
several years in that capacity, and till ill health obliged him and
his family, not long since, to seek a different climate. The Rev.
Mr. Lenhart of the Methodist Church, my predecessor as chap-
lain of the American BQUadron on this station, was invited by the
iding committee to occupy the pulpit thus left vacant: and
now, with eiiual ecclesiastic liberality, on the part of the com-
mittee and church, I am invested with a like temporary rector-
ship.
lit is customary to have but one service on the Sabbath. This
takes place at one o'clock, the earliest hour practicable for me to
be on shore, after the discharge of my official duties on board
the Congress.
The interruptions to commerce, and the disasters attending
the long siege, have reduced the Protestant residents of Monte-
video comparatively to a mere handful, and the usual audi' i
iposed of English, Scotch and American worshippers, male and
fc.nale, numbers only from sixty to eighty persons. Still it ;
172 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
privilege to minister in holy things, even to so small an assem-
blage, with 'none to hurt or make afraid' amidst a people once
wholly given to superstition and bigotry, and to witness a depth
of interest and solemnity of devotion characteristic of spiritual
Christianity. I have already been called to officiate at two
marriages, and have twice administered the ordinance of baptism
Thus, though a Presbyterian of the ' straightest sect,' I feel it not
only a privilege and happiness, but a duty, under the circum-
stances, to follow the prescribed ritual of the English prayer-book
in worship, and — in surplice and bands — to pray statedly, not only
"for all in authority/' but specifically, for " the most graei
Lady the Queen Victoria, His Royal Highness Prince Albert,
Albert, Prince of Wales, and all the royal family."
CHAPTER XV.
Buenos A tees.
February 'list. — I am unexpectedly in Buenos Ayres, having
accompanied Commodore McKeever in an official visit to General
Rosas, tin- sagacious but unscrupulous despot of the Argentine
Confederation.
The distance from Montevideo is about a hundred miles due
-t. The intervening navigation is rendered intricate by sand
banks and shoals, and the general shallowness of the river ; and,
for tin.' last forty miles, is impracticable for a frigate. In making
the trip, tl . the broad pennant of the Congress was trans-
ferred to the sloop-of-war St. Louis, on board which the commo-
dore and his party became, for the passage, the guests of her com-
mander, Captain Cock. The U. S. Brig Bainbridge, Lieut. Man-
ning, accompanied the flag.
W« left Montevideo on the evening of the 18th inst The run
is usually made in a night, but the wind being light, the current
strong, and the St. Louis not in sailing trim, we did not reach the
outer roadstead here till the morning of the 20th. The ]
was phasant. Though it is midsummer, the temperature is cool
and bracing, with clear skies and a brilliant atmosphere, remark-
able for the magnificence of its coloring along the horizon, at
sunrise and sunset. There is, too, a full moon at prea I ; and
though the river from mid-channel is often seemingly shoreless,
174 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
and its waters of the veritable mud-puddle hue. the scene from
the deck of the St. Louis, both by night and by day, was not
without attractions : especially in the companionship of the Bain-
bridge. This is a beautiful little craft; and was as buoyant and
graceful on the waters as a bird in the air, as with greatly
reduced sail, to avoid passing us by her superior speed, she at
times fell far behind, and then again, with newly spread wings,
rushed forward closely in our wake. Various other sail were in
sight, at greater or less distances, some ascending and some de-
scending the river, with no little display of nautical evolution,
in making the best of their way.
Early yesterday morning, Buenos Ayres was in sight, at a
distance of ten or twelve miles ; gleaming showily in the sun,
from the whiteness of the general architecture, and the number
of its lofty and finely proportioned domes and church towers. It
is situated on a bluff, which extends along the river a couple
of miles, and rises at the highest point eighty or a hundred feet
above its level. At the distance, however, from which we first saw
the city, this formation of the shore was scarcely perceptible : it
seemed to be resting, like Venice, upon the water, while a tufting
of tree-tops, in long stretches on either side, showed the general
flatness of the surrounding country. The river is here twenty-
five miles wide, and its northern shores, equally low as the south-
ern, are not ordinarily visible. But for the smoothness of the
water, and its muddy hue, we might have thought ourselves still
upon the open sea.
A first surprise is the very great distance from the city — five,
six, and nine miles — at which vessels of moderate tonnage even,
are obliged, in the midst of such an expanse of waters, to come
to anchor. A long shoal stretches out thus far in front of the
city, preventing nearer approach, except by vessels of light draught.
When the water is high, such can cross the shoal, and, at other
times, find a channel by a circuitous route to an inner roadstead,
where there is anchorage for vessels of different draught, respective-
ly, one, two, and three miles from the landing. In the outer road-
LANDING AT BUENOS A.YBE8. 175
id, fo» I distance of miles, tall masts rose above the wai
like steeples on a populous plain, while quite a fleet of small
was lying three miles within. The St. Louis came
to, six mi] more from the city ; and, after an exchange of
salutes with the flag of. Buenos Ayres, and those of France and
Sardinia, borne by Bhips-of-wai of these respective nations near
US, W« left her in a procession of small boats.
The formation of the shore in front of the city, and for a
considerable distance above and below it, is a flat tufa rock which
extends irregularly, far out upon the sands. Its surface is fretted
and broken, and, when the water is low, boats cannot approach
the landing nearer than from a quarter to a half mile. At such
times the intermediate distance is made in strongly-constructed,
high-wheeled carts, drawn bv two horses, one of which is mounted
by a wild-looking postilion. These carts, like hacks at home, arc
in attendance in great numbers, for the transportation of passen-
gers and freight from the boats to the shore ; and often present a
scene of strife and rivalry in the water, between the drivers,
similar to those witnessed in the rush of carriages, the brandish-
ing of whips, and the exercise of lungs at a pier in New York,
on the arrival of a Bteamer. It seemed now to be high water,
and we were apprehensive that we should miss this novel mode
of debarkation, and thus lose, for the time a spectacle character-
istic of the place. Our fears were unfounded, however; for
soon, a CQckcd hat of portentous dimensions, with other insignia
of official and military dignity in the wearer — himself of no
ordinary dimensions in height or rotundity — was seen rising
above the water. It was that of Don Pedro Ximenes, the captain
of the port, who had been deputized by his imperious master to
receive the commodore; and was patiently waiting in a cart, far
out in the stream, the approach of the barge. Mr. Graham of
Ohio, the American Consul, was also in attendance. The floor
of the clumsy, high-sided vehicle, was scarcely above the surface
of the water, as we rowed ' handsomely ' alongside its open back,
and stepping aboard, were transferred from the protecting shadow
176 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
of the broad pennant, to that of Don Pedro's cocked hat. In
this novel reception-room, the ceremonies of an official introduc-
tion took place ; and we were soon plunging and tumbling through
the splashing waters — a wheel on either side rolling, first up ami
then down, over the rough tufa bottom — with an artistic lashing
of whip and vociferation by the postilion, till, backed up, accord-
ing to custom, in coal-cart style, we were dumped on an inclined
plane descending ten or twelve feet from the Alemeda, or public
Avalk in front of the city, to the water.
A large crowd had gathered to witness the arrival — foreign
merchants and native citizens, soldiers, sailors, porters, peons and
boatmen. In the number, were many in the demi-savage di
of gauchos — the peasants of the country. This is picturesque
and showy; and, with many other things which met the sight,
gave promise of a more novel field for observation than we had
yet lighted on. A glaring red coach, something of the dimension
and style of those employed by hotels in New York, in conveying
guests to and from the steamboats and railroad stations, was in
waiting, by order of the government, and quickly conveyed the
commodore to the Hotel do Provence, in an adjoining stmt.
llooms had been secured for us there, and a hospitable welcome
was extended to the party, including Captain Cock, to the ne
table of a private club, consisting of Mr. Harris of Virginia,
Aim -rii-an charge d'affaires to the Argentine Confederation; Mr.
Graham, American Consul, Count Frolich, Swedish Consul-gen-
eral; and two or three American gentlemen, connected here
with the principal mercantile houses engaged in the South Amer-
ican trade.
Every thing in the general aspect of the city is Spanish :
with the addition to the universal whitewash on all that is stone,
of an equally universal display of veil on all that is wood or iron.
This color of blood has Keen for twenty years the prescribed
signs of adhesion to the remarkable man who maintain- here an
undisputed reign of terror: hence the red waistcoats, red hat-
bands, red breast-knots, universally seen — the red doors, red
EVKNlNi! DRIVE. 177
window-frames, red bases to the houses, red lamp-posts, red carta,
red railings, and red fixtures on every thing.
The place is subjeot, at all seasons of the year, to occasional
high winds of two or three days' continuance. Then the tumul-
taois Bess which r<dl over the shallow bed of the river cut off all
communication between the shipping and the shore; and the city
and its suburbs are tilled with driving du.-t. Weather of this
character set in yesterday, shortly after we landed, and has kept
us housed much of the time siuce, principally at the reading
rooms of a club, where we were introduced, and where we found
tiles of the American and European papers, and the latest
This evening, notwithstanding the wind, Mr. D of New
York, one of the mess at the Provence, took me a drive in his
tilbury. Our route was westward, along the course of the river,
in the direction of Palermo de San Benito, the quinta, or country
t of Rosas. Policy — by such demonstration of courtly atten-
tion to the supreme chief — as well as pleasure, leads all who drive
or ride, to take that direction ; and as we descended from the
heights of the town, through the Ahnuda fronting the river, to
the road along its banks, tin' whirl of carriages and gigs, and the
prancing and galloping of gay riders on horseback, was quite
metropolitan. Tl. i of all was very much that of Gilpin —
the females being mounted in the in-door costume of short
dresses, bare arms, bare necks and ban' heads : with the excep-
tion, in some cases, of the partial covering of a silk handkerchief
on the head, tied under the chin. 1 .-aw none in the hat and habit
worn in England and America, though doubtless in a city where
foreign fashions are so extensively introduced, the.-' have been
adopted, to some extent at least, by the higher classes.'
On training the level of the beach, the road passes over a flat
and marshy common, without any enclosure of fence or hedge on
either side. Here, by the riwrV aide on the right, was present) !.
for a mile and moz iking spectacle, in hundred- after hun-
dreds — I had almost -aid thousands of negro washerwomen, in-
178 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
dcscribable in their costumes — scrubbing, beating, slapping, rinsing,
and bleaching ten thousand articles of clothing. It is a natural
laundry, to which the soiled linen of the whole city is brought
for cleansing. The soft rock of the shores is filled with holes,
some natural and others artificial, which, on every flow of the
tide, are filled with fresh water. These are converted into
wash-tubs, and, after being used, are left to be emptied of the
suds by the next flood, and to be refilled with clean water by its
ebb. Each washerwoman has her own little reservoir of this
kind, to which she gains the exclusive right, by the payment of a
small fee to the government. The wind was blowing a half gale,
lashing the river into foam, and dashing the spray far on the
shore ; while clouds of dust on the laud were driven before it,
like drifting snow in a winter's storm at home. When on our
way back the whole company, spread along the banks for a mile
or more, were preparing to return to the city ; and such a Babel,
in the varied intonations and chatter, the laugh and the wrangle,
the shout and the jeer, I scarcely recollect to have heard ; while the
oddity of the packages and bundles, the trays and baskets, borne
on their heads, the endless form and color of the rags and tatt
they wore — their old hats and old shoes, presented a scene gro-
tesque beyond description.
Another novel scene was vast numbers of the lofty, cumbrous,
reed-sided and hide-roofed carts of the pampas, arranged in a
kind of camp on either side of the road. They are "the ships
of the desert" here, by which the whole produce of the interior,
for hundreds of miles, is brought to the market, and by which
tin: returns of foreign import are carried to the remotest
districts of the Confederation. They constitute the only habi-
tations and homes of their owners and their families: bear
with them all the household furniture and worldly goods of
these; and, in addition, often have lashed to their tups or under
their axles the trunk and branches of a tree, for wood with
which to prepare, whenever a hall is made, the indispensable
mate, or native tea. Their wheels are from six to eight feet
CARTS OF THE TAMPAS. 179
in diameter, and their covered tops rise fifteen feet from the
ground. They are long and narrow, of most heavy and clumsy
construction, with tongues of rough-hewn timber, each in itself a
toad for a beast. They are drawn by oxen, attached by ropes of
hide, in any Dumber of pairs requisite for the draught. As means
of transportation, they correspond well in their massive clumsiness
and ponder ight with the elephant of India, or the burden-
bearing camel of Egypt and Turkey : and as they move in long
lines over pampas of almost unlimited extent, form a feature not
aid not less in harmony with the surrounding scene,
than the caravan in the deserts of Arabia, or the elephant on the
plains of Bengal.
February '24th. — On "Washington's birthday, the 22d inst.,
Mr. Harris, the American charge d'affaires, gave a banquet to
Commodore MeKeever, and others of his fellow countrymen,
visitors and residents in the city. The evening of the same day
had been appointed for the reception of the commodore by " the
governor," is is here styled. A government-house, cover-
ing the area of half a square, in the centre of the city, has recently
•i completed by the chieftain. It encloses quadrangle after
quadrangle of spacious and elegantly furnished apartments, but is
visited only occasionally by him for a few brief hours, at uncertain
times Bis chosen, and, indeed, only residence, properly so
called, is the palatial quinta, or country-house of Palermo de
Benito, situated in the midst of an extensive domain, on the
banks of the Plata, three or four miles west of the city. I most
readily accepted an invitation to be of the party, glad to avail
myself of the opportunity for a sight of the tiger in his den.
Pardon the figure, but I have heard so much of his bloody ferocity
in subduing the people to his abject rule, that no other will so
well express my sense of his nature, and of the mysterious and
guarded retirement of his present life: an unchained monsl
in the security of a well-protected lair. The prospect of the
interview revived in fresh force all I had overheard and read
of his atrocious deed & the anticipation <jf being in his
180 BRAZIL AND LA TLATA.
presence, was not without the superstitious feeling of being ex-
posed by it to the hazard of the " evil eye." There was no cer-
tainty, however, notwithstanding the appointment, that an interview
with him would take place. He is so arbitrary and so capricious
in his imperious rule, as to pay little regard to the ordinary
civilities of life ; and makes not only his own ministers and people
abide his whims and pleasure, but diplomatic agents and foreigu
ambassadors also, are often obliged to dance attendance by the
hour in his ante-rooms, without an audience, if such be his will.
In the exercise of this despotic habit, however, one redeeming,
and — socially, if not diplomatically — compensating indulgence
is ever granted to such persons : the presence aud smiles, tin-
spirited conversation and the winning grace and manner of his
accomplished daughter, the Dofia Manuelita de llosas. Of a re-
ception by her we were sure.
We set off at a sufficiently early hour to allow time for a view
of the grounds of Palermo before nightfall; and followed tin-
same route I had taken with 3Ir. 1) . At the distance of a
mile from the city, after having crossed the common along the
beach, we entered a broad and straight macadamized avenue,
scientifically constructed, and in fine order. It is enclosed on
either side by a neat iron railing, and is bordered with plantations
of willow, and furnished with handsome lamp-posts and lamps for
the night. It is a public road, constructed bj Rosas: com-
mencing at Palermo and to be extended to the city, and is still
in progress. At the end of a mile and a half, a similar, but
more beautiful avenue branches from this, and forms the private
entrance to the domain, leading directly in front of the palace-like
domicil of the Dictator. It is a half mile in length, is lined with
orange trees in addition to the willows; and, besides these, is
separated from the public road which runs parallel with it, by a
broad and deep canal of brick-WOrk. This private road is formed
of sea-shell, and is as white and hard as so much marble. All
dust is kept down bj the Bprinkling of water; while the -ward on
cither side, clipt with the can- of an English lawn, through the
QTJINTA OF PALERMO. 181
same means is ever in living freshness. The orange trees are
nurtured with great care, and are frequently washed with brush
and soap-suds, hat* by leaf, by persons in charge of them. As
we passed, numerous peons, in the gay and picturesque dress of
the country, « d engaged in this process on a kind of step
ladder, by which aocesa was had to every pari of each tree.
Equal care is taken of them in the winter season, by enclosing
h in a temporary house, to guard against the effect of frost.
A nearer approach lirought us to a cantonment of soldier.-, con-
king of a village of regularly disposed brick huts, of uniform
construction. A park of artillery was near by, and clust
of soldiers in scarlet ponchos and petticoat-like rl,'>repas were
grouped on every side. These multiplied in number to the very
dours of the villa.
The first impression, as we drove rapidly through this im-
• BtriHng and peculiar : the picture, in its still life, was
one of high civilization and princely expenditure not anticipated;
but one, strongly marked in all that gave animation to it, with
evidences of a demi-savage state. But for these — the Indian-like
tame, the dark and wild countenances, and the
seen sticking in the belts of the soldiers and peons — one might
almost have believed himself on the shores of the Zuyder Zee :
bo dead is the level of the ground; while the broad and deep
canals of finished workmanship, the artificial lakelets, aquatic
plant- and water-fowl, the gay parterres and embanked terraces,
gery answering well to a scene in Holland Every
thing, too, was in straight lines; roads, canals, plantations, and
the villa itself This is a parallelogram, having a rectangular
pavilion projecting from each angle. it stand.-, on one corner of
two intersecting avenues, pres< iting a facade of two hundred and
by fret front and rear, by one of two hundred and fifty on
either ride. It i- one story in height, and the architecture through-
out uniform. A wide corridor, supported by heavy arches, rn
around the whole. All the apartments open by doors and French
window- up .u t',i-. ;,- well a- upon a quadrangular court within.
182 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
The roof is flat, and is surrounded by an iron balustrade, ornamented
at regular and short intervals by a kind of demi-turret, having the
effect of a like number of chimneys, a purpose to which many of them
are, in fact, appropriated. The preparations for the reception, in
a guard of honor, to present arms as the commodore should alight,
were not at the principal front, but at the farthest angle of the
most western pavilion, on the garden front. We thus pa-
two sides of the structure before being set down. We were then
conducted through a spacious saloon of state, to the corridor or
arcade on the east end of the building, again through the length
of this to the extreme eastern pavilion on the front, past which
we had first driven — thus making the circuit of the entire estab-
lishment, before being ushered into the private drawing-room of
Dona Manuelita. We found her standing here with two female
companions in waiting, and were received with the cordiality and
affability of long acquaintance.
This daughter of " the governor" is probably the most re-
markable woman in South America : certainly so, as the imper-
sonation of a government, which she confessedly is, and the only
visible agent of its influence and power. Rosas himself, in
his official position, is a kind of invisible personage — never, on
any occasion, or under any circumstances, making his appearance
publicly. It is said there are thousands of people in Buenofi
Ayrcs who have never seen him. A sight of him may often
be caught in his grounds, superintending a gang of workmen,
or perhaps witnessing the punishment, even to death, of a soldier,
or some victim who is suffering, justly or unjustly, the penalty
of the law or of his displeasure. He may be seen, too, at times,
talking and jesting with the fishermen along the shore of the
river on his domain, or driving Jehu-like, in the dead of the
night, from Palermo to the city, or from the city to Palermo: it
being his habit, from motives of policy, to make his appearance
suddenly, at an hour, and under circumstances least to be ex-
I ii cted ; lmt never in public, in his appropriate place as chief
magistrate and head of the people. On all public occasions, and
DONA MAN! I II.ITA. 1 S.'J
in all public places, Manuelita alone appears as his representa-
tive; and as tlie embodiment of his will and the channel of Ins
favor, receives the homage of sovereignty. While she acts no
unimportant part in the negotiations of diplomacy and in foreign
affairs, she i-, virtually, the minister both of the " Interior " and
of" Justice " in the government, tempering with mercy, as tar as
in her powi r, every act of oppression, and diffusing, in name at
mblanoe of benevolence wherever her influence reach
Four hours of each morning are appropriated by her, to the
ipt of petitions, the hearing of individual grievances and
applications for redress. For this object, a bureau with a regular
set of secretaries is established, where records are made of all
eases brought before her, for her own decision, or for the inter-
vention of her influence with her father. As may be rightly
interred from these facts, she is a woman of talent and judgment,
and of infinite tact. Her age is thirty-five. She is of good
height and fine figure, has regular and good features, black hair
and eyes, with a beaming and benignant expression, and in com-
plexion is a Spanish brunette. Her manners are graceful and
winning, her conversation animated and playful, with a word
complaisance and a smile of kindness to all who approach, and
are around her. Though a polished and elegant woman, she aff
thing of the stately dignity and lofty bearing of some of the
aristocratic and high-bred whom I have seen — but has the ei
self-possessed, frank and cordial air, often met in every-day soci-
She is said to be exceedingly popular, and to be sincerely
beloved by the people: as well she may be, if she does, indeed,
exert the immense influence for good, which is reported of, and
claimed by her friends for her, in softening, by acts of clemency
and womanly mercy, the iron rule of her father.
9 arlet, or the veritable blood-tint, is the prescribed color of
the government, and the silent, though exacted pledge of alle-
giance to the chief in power. Every man and hoy under hi-
rule, must don at all times the BCarlet wai.-teoat, scarlet hat-
band, and the scarlet brea.-t-ribbon, stamped with the motto of
184 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
death to his political opponents. Women and girls, also, of
every rank and all ages, must exhibit the scarlet ribbon in their
hair or head-dress. It was no surprise, therefore, to see the
Dona and her ladies, on a hot evening in midsummer, arrayed in
scarlet silk bareges of large plaid, over under-dresses of white,
with the scarlet ribbon and its savage motto, streaming among
the tresses of their black hair. The predominating hue of the
reception room — in the hangings of the walls, the draperies of
the windows, and the carpet, was of the same color. This
apartment is lofty and spacious. A grand piano and harp were
conspicuous among its furniture.
The usual apology was made, — the pressure of important bu-
siness — for the delay in the appearance of the governor, with the
gracious assurance, however, that he would give audience to the
commodore ; and it was proposed, in the mean time, to take a view
of the grounds, before nightfall. This we did, under the guid-
ance of the sprightly and accomplished mistress of ceremonies
and her ladies. They are very extensive, in a perfection of
order, and in many respects novel and striking ; but are too full
of straight lines for beauty and artistic effect. The whole
domain is a dead level — a swamp redeemed by draining and em-
bankments from the overflowings of the river, and the quagmires
of a marsh. The sums expended in transforming it into a para-
dise, compared with every thing around, are-beyond all estimate j
and make the place, at least in the outlay of money and labor,
the most princely estate in either North or South America.
The predominating growth in trees is the willow, imparting
to the whole a sombre aspect ; but the flower-gardens and shrub-
beries are brilliant in the display of colors, and sweet in the
variety and richness of their perfume. A paved court extends
along the arcades around the whole building. On the two sides
communicating with the lawns, this court is enclosed by par-
terres of choice flowers, elevated three or four feet upon walls,
and ornamented at regular distances by classically modelled urns
PLBASUBI QR0UND8 at PALERMO. 185
and vases, also crowned and festooned with floral beautv. The
effect of both i~ ornamental and pretty.
A rasti arbor with a dome-shaped top, overrun with cluster-
Ibine, and Bweetbrier, and encircled with busts in
marble on pedestals, and one or two full-length figures in plaster,
was specially commended to our notice, as the favorite retreat of
I ' ua Mannelita Not far from it, on the lawn, is a humble
whitewashed oottage — the first domicil of Rosas on taking pos-
non of the estate. It is scarcely superior, in its aspect and
modations, to the rancho of a common peon : but is retained
in its original state aa a memento of the past, or possibly for con-
trast with the courtly splendor of the present establishment.
Some yea: _ an American brigantine, at anchor in the
river. Mas driven by a violent storm and flood, high and dry into
woodi of Palermo. Eta restoration to the water was imprac-
ticable. She was still stanch and uninjured, 1.-th in hull and
Bpars, and Rosas, in place of permitting her to be broken up for
the Bale <>t' the material, purchased the craft with the purpose of
converting bx r, -t 1, into a pavilion of pleasure. Brought
t.> an even keel, she was substantially underpinned ; and thus
firmly moored, and, remodelled d desks into a dancing
Bafeon and refresh m ent r as, is a favorite place f.r the enter-
tainment of select parties in summer. It is situated a half mile
from the house, and our walk extended to it.
A- toned to the quinta, the shades of the evening were
beginning to fall. Two of the pavilions mentioned as being
iched to the angles of the main building — those on the garden
front — are unenclosed by walls, each forming an open saloon, fur-
ihed with ranges of crimson sofas, on which beneath the pro-
; roof, the cool of the evening may be enjoyed with unin-
side. Into the most retired of these
were now conducted ; and, while standing in a group in the
.tre. with our faces directed to the lawn and shrubbery. I
perceived a figure stealthily approaching from behind, without the
warning even of a footfall, till a little pliant riding-whip of
18G BRAZIL AM) LA PLATA.
polished whalebone, mounted with red coral, was playfully tapped
on the bare shoulder of the DoTIa. Turning suddenly, as if in
surprise, she exclaimed in a tone of pleasure and affection —
■• Tatita! :? a diminutive nf fondness by which she addresses and
m. of her father; and following her example in a change of
position, we found ourselves in the presence of the far-famed
Ruler. Though the place and circumstances of our presentation
were seemingly thus accidental, both doubtless were of previous
arrangement, to give greater informality to the audience. Rosas
is now a thick-set, portly man of sixty, of medium height, with
finely marked and well chiselled features, and of florid com-
plexion. In youth and middle age he is said to have been re-
markably handsome. The feature which first and m< oiy
arrested my attention was a piercing, restless, fiery eve of grayish
blue. Whether from previous preju or not, to me its ex-
pression seemed singularlj devoid of ingenuousness and benignity
— indeed, to be positively sinister and tiger-like. His dress was
a round-jacket of dark blue, with small military buttons; the
inevitable scarlet waistcoat, ribbon, and motto ; and an undi
military cap, with the visor drawn low over his eyebrows. His
manner and address were common-place and familiar, without any
mingling of the dignity of the Spanish Hidalgo in high por-
tion.
After an interchange of salutations, and some brief conversa-
tion mi indifferenl topics, he led the way, with Commodore
McKeever by his Bide, through the Ion rvening arcade to
the drawing room in the front pavilion, in which wi had lii>t been
received. Here, seated in an angle of the lefty apartment, with
the leading gentlemen of our party on his right, and his daughter
and her ladies on the left, he ;it once took the lead in conversa-
tion, running loquaciously from subject to subject of trilling
importance, and often interlarding his statements and opinions
with low anecdote and vulgar details, unfii " for ears polite," much
less for tin- hearing of women of delicacy and refinement.
INTKKV11.W WITH B08A8. 187
So full of conversation was he, and seemingly so anxiou
please, that our stay was prolonged beyond all expectation ; and
we were disappointed in the pleasure of an evening with Mr. and
Mr-. C • whose country-seat lies between Palermo and the
city.
CHAPTEll XVI.
Buenos Atrks.
February 2bth. — The Argentine confederation, composed
originally of thirteen states, joined together in compact, but not
by constitution, under the style of the United Provinces of La
Plata, has become practically consolidated and merged in the
State of Buenos Ayrcs. Being the only province possessed of a
sea-port, and enjoying an extended commerce, she was enchai
by the others with the management of the foreign relations of
the confederacy. This naturally made her the controlling power ;
she increased while the rest decreased. The result was a division
of the people of the provinces into two parties, and speedy con-
flict and anarchy. At this juncture Rosas raised his standard,
and subdued the whole to his sway ; and though nominally only
governor of the city and province of Buenos Ayres, encharged
with the sole ministration of the foreign affairs of the confedera-
cy, he is, in fact, the despotic ruler of the whole.
He is the most remarkable chieftain in South America;
possessing all the elements of character essential to the successful
despot: firmness, energy, shrewdness, subtlety, unserupulous
purpose, ami unfaltering cruelty. Sprung from a Spanish family
of respectability in Buenos Ayres, the reoklefsnees of his early
\outh led to his removal h\ them to what is here termed the
" Camp " — the open country of t he pa mpas, over which are scattered
EARLY LIFE OF ROSAS. 189
the estancias. or estates of landed proj for the raising of
sheep, and haras. Here, among the gauchos. or demi-
savage peasan* interior, he was made an overseer by a
.lthy relative in Buenos Adopting the usages and
habits of savage life of the people, he became, in the course of
years, thoroughly a gaucho ; and distinguished himself by the
control he acquired over his associates, and over the scarcelv more
untamed Indians of the southern territory. He excelled in all
d qualities and feats of skill most prized by them, and
gained their unlimited favor. The reputation thus established,
lied the attention of partisan leaders in the confederacy to
him ; and secured for him. as early as _ >m the party in power
appointment of colonel of the militia of the southern frontier.
In this position he gained additional reputation and new popular!
till, fired with ambition, he began in 1S29 to lay the foundations for
the despotism which he has since exercised. Having secured the
favor of the good among the people, by the evidences he had
given of a power to win the confidence and to control the will of
the wild men around him, he is charged with the determination
of gaining that of th> r making his camp the sanctuarv of
every class of criminals ; and thus surrounding himself — with the
deliberate purpose of making the use of them he afterwards did —
m organized band of assassins. "Whether this be true or nc
is an undoubted fact that, after being placed at the head of I
government, he soon put an end to all hazard of rivalry in po*
by processes of bloodshed and assassination through such minions
of his favor, almc- d belk: V | .:.. - might be written,
as volumes already have been, upon the tragedies with which, from
time to time in his early rule, he startled and terrified the com-
munity, til. one was brought to the subjection of abject
fear : all this, too, under the pretence and plausible plea of sus-
taining the law and securing public quietude and order.
justification which he himself pleads, for acts of era-
which are admitted, is that ' the Argentines can only be governed
with the knife at their throats; " and the highest vindicati-.-n of
190 BKAZIL AND LA PLATA.
his character which I have heard from some foreigners, who do
not believe in the extent of the atrocities with which he is charged,
and are disposed even to admire him as a man and a ruler, is that
his faults are to be attributed to the defects of his education and
his habits as a gaucho — that he is but a type of the people.
This may be true ; but what is the state and character of the
people — the gauchos of whom he is the type ? The best descrip-
tion I have seen of them, is in a pamphlet by the Chevalier de
St. llobert, a French gentleman, who visited the Plata officially.
This you may not be able to refer to, and I furnish the extract
in point.
He says : " There is nothing to be found in the Pampas —
those immense plains which extend over a space of more than
seven hundred leagues, from the extreme north to the extreme
south of the Argentine Confederation — but cstancias, or farms,
scattered here and there, which form so many petty republics,
isolated from the rest of the world, living by themselves, and
separated from each other by the desert. Alone in the midst of
those over whom he is a complete master, the estanciero is out
of every kind of society whatsoever, with no other law than that
of force, with no other rules to guide him but those that are
self-imposed, and with no other motive to influence than his own
caprice. There is nothing to disturb his repose, nothing to dis-
pute his power, or interfere with his tranquillity, except the tiger
that may lurk about his grounds, or the wild Indian that may
occasionally make a hostile incursion on his domains. His chil-
dren and his domestics, gauchos like himself, pass the same .sort
of life ; that is to say, without ambition, without desires, and
without any species of agricultural labor. All they have to do
is to mark and to kill, at certain periods, the herds of oxen and
flocks of sheep which constitute the fortune of the estanciero, and
that satisfy the wants of all. Purely carnivorous, the gaucho'a
only food consists of flesh and water — bread and spirituous liquors
arc as much unknown to him as the simplest elements of social
life.
LIFE IN THE PAMPAS. 191
" In a country in which the only wealth of the inhabitants
•rises from the incessant destruction of innumerable herds and
Bocks, it can easily be understood how their sanguinarj occupa-
tion must tend to obliterate every sentiment of pity, and induce
an indifference to the perpetration of acts of cruelty. The rcadi-
,1 blood — a ferocity which is at the same time obdurate
and brutal — constitutes the prominent feature in the character
of the pure gaucho. The first instrument his infantile hand
grasps is the knife — the first things that attract his attention as a
child, are the pouring out of blood and the palpitating flesh of
animal-. 1 : >m his earliest years, as soon as he is able to walk,
he is taught how he may with the greatest skill approach the
living beast, hough it, and, if he has strength, kill it. Such are
the sports of his childhood : he pursues them ardently, and amid
the approving smiles of his family. As soon as he acquires
sufficient strength, he takes part in the labors of the estancia ;
they are the sole arts he has to study, and he concentrates all his
intellectual powers in mastering them. From that time forth he
arm> himself with a large knife, and for a single moment of his
life he never parts witli it. It isto his hand an additional limb —
he mal. >f it always, in all cases, in every oiroumstanoe, and
constantly with wonderful skill and address. The same knife that
in the morning has been used to slaughter a bullock, or to kill a
r, aid- him in the daytime to cut his dinner, and at night to
carve out a skin tent, or else to repair his saddle, or to mend his
mandoline.
" With the gaucho the knife is often used as an argument in
support of his opinions. In the midst of a conversation, appa-
rently carried on in amity, the formidable knife glitters on a
sudden in the hands of one of the speakers, the ponchos are rolled
around the left arm, and a conflict commences. Soon deep gashes
are seen on the face, the blood gushes forth, and, not unfreijiiently,
one of the combatants falls lifeless to the earth; but no one
thinks of interfering with the combat, and when it is over, the
conversation is resumed as if nothing extraordinary had occurred.
192 BKAZIL AND LA PLATA.
No person is disturbed by it — not even tbe women, who remain
as cold, unmoved spectators of the affray ! It may easily be
surmised what sort of persons they must be, of which such a
scene is but a specimen of their domestic manners.
" Thus the savage education of the estancia produces in the
gaucho a complete indifference as to human life, by familiarizing
him from his most tender years to the contemplation of a violent
death, whether it is that he inflicts it on another, or receives it
himself. He lifts his knife against a man with the same indiffer-
ence that he strikes down a bullock. The idea which everywhere
else attaches to the crime of homicide does not exist in his mind ;
for in slaying another, he yields not less to habit than to the
impulse of his wild and barbarous nature. If perchance a murder
of this kind is committed so close to a town that there is reason
to apprehend the pursuit of justice, every one is eager to favor
the flight of the guilty person. The fleetest horse is at his
service, and he departs, certain to find, wherever he goes, the favor
and sympathy of all. Then, with that marvellous instinct which
is c(iiinnon to all the savage races, he feels no hesitation in VentUr-
ing into the numerous plains of the pampas. Alone, in the midst
of a boundless desert, and in which the eye strains itself in vain
to discover a boundary, he advances without the slightest feeling
of uneasiness : he does so watching the course of the stars, listen-
ing to the winds, discovering the cause of the slightest noise that
reaches his cars, and at length arrives at the place he sought,
without even straying from it, for a moment. The lasso which is
rolled around his horse's neck; the bolas suspended from his
saddle, and the inseparable knife, suffice to insure him food, and
to secure him against every danger, even against the tiger.
When he is hungry, he selects one out of the herds of beeves that
cover the plain, pursues it, lassos it, kills it, cuts out of it a piece
of flesh, which he eats raw, or possibly cooks, and thus refreshes
himself for the journey of the following day.
"If murder be a common incident in the life of a gaucho, it
often also becomes the means to him of emerging from obscurity,
TOLICE OF BUENOS AYRES. 193
and of obtaining renown among his associates. When be has
rendered himself remarkable by his audacity and address in single
oombats, companions gather round him, and he soon finds himself
at the head of a Considerable party. He 'commences a cani-
paig - himself in open defiance of the laws, and in a short
time acquires B oelebrity which rallies a crowd about him, and
makes him a chieftain." Such are the people of whom llosas is
tic type, and Midi the processes, in a qualified degree at least,
bjf which he attained, and still holds his supremacy.
Arc you not afraid of your life even in Buenos Ayres ? you
will be ready to ask, after reading such a description of the
pie who surround, and have the military guardianship of the
city. I reply, that there probably is not a city in the civilized
world, in which all. not suspected of political or partisan offense,
are more perfectly secure in life, limb, and propcrt}". The police
is | The stranger and f u-eigner especially, may move about
the streets at any hour of the night, with perfect impunity.
Theft, robbery, and burglary are unheard of; and a pocketdiand-
kerchief or purse dropped in the street, if bearing any mark
which indicate- its owner, will be sure to be returned to him, or
quickly be found in the keeping of the police.
/' -t'lth. — The impressions made by Buenos Ayres in
it- external aspeot, are increasingly favorable. The plan of
town is rectangular, like that of Philadelphia. Every street is
of the -line width, and every square of tbe same dimensions. The
street- are narrow, just wide enough for two vehicles to pass each
other, and the sidewalks comfortable only for those moving in
Indian file. In walking two abreast, or arm in arm, there is a
constant jostling against passers-by. In some parts of the town
the sidewalk- are elevated two or three 1 ve the level of the
carriage-way. The city being a dead level, and the sir.
tight, long vistas in them are every where commanded. Some
of these are .-diking, and where the domes and line towers of the
old Spanish churches conn/ in a- hading features, are .piite
European. These stately old structure- are scattered about in
194 BEAZIL AND LA PLATA.
various localities, and, with the citadel on the highest rise of
ground overlooking the river, are the chief, if not the only sombre
objects in the architecture of the place : still retaining the natural
color of the brick of which they are built, or exhibiting time-
stained surfaces of stone or stucco, and roofs covered with moss,
lichens, and grass. Till within a few years, the houses were uni-
formly one story only in height. This is still the case in many
quarters, but in others, successive blocks and almost entire streets
are now composed of those of two stories. The general plan of
all is the same : the Spanish, or rather Moorish quadrangle, upon
which all the apartments open, with a oisternfrad sometimes a
fountain in the centre. In many of the establishments of the
wealthy, there are a succession of these quadrangles. Filled with
shrubbery and flowers, and often ornamented by a fountain, the
view from "the street through them, terminating not unfrequently
in an assimilating scene in fresco against a wall in the far per-
spective, is quite impressive in stage effect. The custom of con-
stantly applying fresh whitewash to buildings new and old. gi i
to the whole city a clean and bright look. Here and there,
however, in almost every street, a quaint and antiquated building
is seen, contrasting with later structures, in the manner of the
old Dutch houses still remaining, a few years ago, in New York
and Albany, with those of modern date. Those are a single story
in height, with slanting, instead of flat roofs, covered with tile.
Over the central door, however, there is a kind of demi-tower,
furnished with a window and projecting balcony, as a look-out and
place of parley with an outsider whose motive for demanding
admittance might be questioned. In many cases these look-outs
arc quite tasteful in their architecture, and pleasing to the •
from the air they bear of the ''olden time." Lichens, air-
plants, and tufting grass clinging to the cornices and mouldiDgs
and ornamented pinnacles, give to them a venerable, moustached,
and bearded aspect, that cannot fail to arrest the eye of the lover
of the antique.
Greal improvements have been made of late years, both in the
DESCRIPTION OF THE CITY. 195
external architecture and internal arrangements of private dwell-
ing* Many of the mansions recently erected would scarcely
goffer, in point of richness and elegance, by comparison with some
of tla' most Luxurious of the Fifth Avenue in New Yurk. This
dally true of one. ju-t being completed by (Jen. P , the
minister of war : though the lofty and massive entrance-gates, in
complicated and artistic patterns of east-iron bronzed, and the
colonnades of Moorish arohes surrounding its quadrangular courts
within, would not entirely harmonize with the prevailing archi-
ire of that Btreet of palaces.
Every house lure is necessarily a castle, having its windows
on the Btreet barred and grated, with portals not easily to be
forced, and parapets, upon the flat roof, capable of effective de-
fence against assailants below. Being without cellars or basement-
rooms, the level of the floors is elevated but little above that of
the street, and as no railing or area intervenes between the side-
walk.- and the large windows, which descend to thefloors, the interior
of the room is as open to the inspection of the passers by, as to
the inmates themselves. In some residences of wealth and taste,
a vista of room after room in long suites, richly furnished, is thus
exposed to new. The apartments on the street, with scarcely an
■ption, are reception and drawing-rooms ; and, in the after-
noons and evening-, the promenaders in the Btreet are thus fur-
ni.-hed with a succession of tableaux vivans of females — not
occupied as with us in conversation, or reading, or fancy work, or
other employments of leisure and taste, and grouped with husbands,
i fathers, and brothers, and .-ens, and other male friends —
but seated in formal rows, or in a semicircle around the windows,
in a greater <t less degree of 'full dress, 1 with little interchange
of conversation among themselves, and evidently for the mere
purpose of seeing and being seen. Every thing in their dre.-s and
manner shows the studied purpose of exciting admiration. Ti:
exhibitions, however, are only in hours of costume. Till late in
the day the ladies of the country in general are invisible ; very
196 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
much in undress, lounging, and idling, and sipping Paraguay tea
through the silver tube of the mat6 cup.
An American or Englishman cannot fail to be struck with
the seemingly slight intercourse of the male and female members
of a family. The latter are to all external appearance without
husbands, fathers, brothers, or sons. You meet them in numbers
in the morning, going to and returning from mass, followed by a
servant or servants, but seldom, if ever, attended by a male
relative. The evening is a favorite time for shopping, and the
streets are often crowded in some sections, with ladies thus en-
gaged, but unattended by a gentleman in escort. And in the
hundreds of parlors and drawing-rooms into which I have looked
in passing, I do not recollect ever to have seen a gentleman, old
or young, in the groupings of a family circle.
A week being the extent of the leave of absence which I feel
willing to take from my charge on board ship, and from the volun-
tary duty I have assumed at the chapel in Montevideo ; with the
purpose of returning to the Congress to-morrow, I gave therefore
the mornings of yesterday and to-day to calls in acknowledgment
of the civilities from our fellow-countrymen, and various foreign
residents, in which, as. one of Commodore McKeevcr's party, I
have shared. In the course of these, I accompanied the Com-
modore and Mr. Gr in a visit to the Conde de Bessi,
bishop of a diocese of unpronounceable name and unknown
region, and nuncio from the Pope to Rosas. The disregard
which Rosas has shown in ccclesiastieal matters for the supremacy
of the Pope, and the sacrilege, in the view of the Romish Church,
of some of his acts, led long ago to his excommunication, and the
witiidrawal by the Papal States from all diplomatic intercon
with him. The Conde de Bessi has recently arrived, with over-
tures of reconciliation. Though everj civility has been paid to
him in his official character, by the government, and a house ele-
gantly fitted and furnished been appropriated to his use, with
other mark- of i OUltesj — carriages and horses at his service — he
Ins not yet been admitted to an audience, anil, it is believed, will
I
NUNCIO OF THE POPE. 197
not be. The preliminary to negotiation ■which the nuncio de-
mands — the release of the clergy from the obligation of wearing
the red ribbon, stamped with the motto of death to the political
opponents of the dictator, which they are forced to do, even
while officiating at the altar — is one that will not be accorded ;
and unless the legate yields on this point, he will fail in his
-ion.
Our visit bring announced, we were ushered into the cabinet
of his excellency — first through a large and elegantly furnished
Baloon, and then through a smaller apartment, fitted as a chapel
with all the appliances of Romish worship. The reception of
our party by the count was most courteous, and the conversation
in French which ensued, animated, and on his part, most compli-
mentary to the United States, as to her prosperity and her power.
II. appears to be about forty years of age; is very plump and
healthful, with little that is ascetic in look or manner. He is very
handsome, with a face a- fresh and smooth and round as that of
a female, and an expression beaming with benignity and high
brecdhiL'. His voice and intonation are of the most silvery
— . and his whole manner as feminine and polished as that
of a duchess. Indeed, so remarkably was this the case, that as
I louked at him in his silken robe of purple reaching to the heels,
and with a oap of velvet on his head, of corresponding color, I
found it difficult to disabuse myself of the impression that the
interview was with one of the fair sex.
CHAPTER XVII.
/
Montevideo.
May 30^/t. — Scarcely any duty in naval service can be
more destitute of interest, than such as the Congress is perform-
ing off Montevideo at the present time. To the close invest-
ment of the city by land, a practical blockade is added, from a
decree of Rosas, by which every vessel touching here on her way
up the Plata is denied entry at Buenos Ayres. The consequence
is — there being little demand for imports and nothing to export
at Montevideo — that no vessel in the trade of the Plata comes
into the port except from necessity, and the arrivals are limited,
for the most part, to a man-of-war, occasionally, and the regular
mail-steamer from England, by the way of Rio de Janeiro, once
each month. My chaplaincy on board, and the additional service
of worship each Sabbath on shore, furnish the only variation in
my duty ; and an occasional row or sail to the city for a walk or
the visit of an hour, in a limited circle of acquaintance, my only
recreation. For opportunities of visiting the shore I am indebted
chiefly to the kindness of Commodore McKccver : Captain
Mcintosh, so frequently the companion of my walks at Rio, here
scarcely ever leaves the ship.
The recent arrival in which we were most interested was that
of the U. S. storeship Southampton. It brought Dr. C to the
Congress as fleet surgeon, in place of Dr. W , who returned
THE POOR OF MONTEVIDEO. 199
home invalided, shortly after our arrival on the station. This
loea to the medical corps of the ship and to our mess was regretted
In the substitute furnished, we are greatly favored. As a physician
and Borg . Dr. C is worthy of all confidence ; ami as a gen-
tleman and Christian, carries with him predominating influence.
The value of snoh an. accession to a naval mess-table and to the
oiationa of the gun-room of a man-of-war, can scarcely be
over-e-timated.
Another circumstance connected with the Southampton, in
which we felt great interest, proved less happy in the issue. The
Ooi _ through a mistake not disc ivered till she was at sea,
left the United State- without a suitable library for the use of
the crew. As soon as this was known, I took measures to have
one sent after us. This was shipped by the Southampton and
arrived safely here ; but from an oversight of the officer in
charge, was carried again to sea by her, on proceeding to her des-
tination in the Pacific. The disappointment to the crew is great,
and only to be remedied by patiently waiting for the return of
a fresh order to the United States.
Mv visits on shore are most unvarying in their character.
- netimes I take a solitary .-troll through the less public .-treets
of tie but never withoul feelings of commiseration for
the dei and suffering condition of the poorer classes. The
pale and haggard faces of the females. Been at the doors and win-
dows, tell one story of privation and want — of listle-s despondency
and gloom. The extent and degree of destitution, from the long
suspension of all business, ifl fearful, among those even who have
been aceu-tomed to independence, if not to affluence and luxury.
Among such, the poorest scraps that fall from the tables of the
more fortunate are most thankfully received ; and any kind of em-
ployment i- eagerly sought. Females of the first respectability are
glad to be employed in making up linen in a most finished side,
at a half dollar a shirt, and at six and eight cents a collar. The
demoralization among all classes, in consequence of tie- pressure
200 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
of want, is very great, I am told, and of a character fatal to the
purity and self-respect of individuals and whole families.
The only senihlance of general cheerfulness observable, is in
the daily evening promenade to witness the relief of guard.
This takes place at the inner lines without the walls, every even-
ing at sunset. During the previous hour, in fine weather, hun-
dreds of the better classes of the citizens both foreigners and
natives, in a greater or less display of dress, may be seen issuing
through the ancient gateway of the northern wall, for the walk
of a mile through the broad and straight street, leading from it
to a battery where the relief of guard takes place, and to listen
to the music of the bands with which this is accompanied.
I have mentioned the presence here of fifteen hundred or two
thousand French troops with their officers. They are quartered
in barracks, a part within and a part without the walls of the old
city ; and may be seen in groups and small parties in the streets
at almost all times of the day and evening. AVell dressed and
well fed, young and athletic, fresh and healthful in look, and
cheerful and animated in movement and manner, they constitute
quite a redeeming feature in the aspect of the city. They have
a parade-ground just without the walls, and are regularly and
severely drilled, but take no part in the military duty of the
place, and perform do patrol. This devolves exclusively upon the
Monti vidian soldiery. These, amounting to three thousand, con-
sisi chiefly of a foreign legion, composed of emigrants — Italians
from the vicinity of Genoa, and from Piedmont, and Basques
from the frontiers of Spain and France; and of a negro regiment
under the command of native officers. The negroes, till the com-
mencement of the war were slaves; but were then liberated by a
decree of the government, without compensation to their masters,
on condition of entering the army for the continuance of the war,
with a right to a bounty of land on the restoration of peace.
The foreign legion form the municipal or national guard. They
consist of artisans, porters, laborers and boatmen, who, in suce
sive companies are on duty as a patrol one day in three, and en-
DRESS OF THE GAUCHOS. 201
ged in their various callings the rest of the time. The negroes
are regular soldiers. They are said to be brave and faithful,
and have proved themselves most reliable on post and in battle.
The dress of the foreigners is that of their every-day labor —
the jacket and tr< :id Pelasgic cap of the Basques; but the
iment are in uniform — the dress of the gauchos, or
Indio-Spa&iaxds, of the country. This is striking and pictur-
te, though Indian-like and savage in its general effect : at best
barbarism, ' picked out," — as carriage painters say — with civiliza-
tion. It is composed of a red flannel shirt, beneath a poncho of
red of the same material, lined with green ; a green cheripa, or
swaddling blanket for the loins and lower limbs ; drawers of
white e«>tton terminating in wide pantalets ornamented with in-
sertings of lace work, and a deep fringe falling over the ankles
and bare feet : the covering of the head being a conical cap of
green cloth, without visor, laced with yellow cord. It is seen to
the best effect at Buenos Ayres, where there is in the soldiers
more of the Indian and less of African blood ; and wh<
exhibited on horseback, the long black hair and streaming pon-
chos of the riders are in keeping with the flowing mam - and
tails of the horses, as they scamper with the fleetness of the wind
along the beach and over the plain.
The free hospitality of two or three houses, both English and
American, in addition to the Consulate, is extended to us: and
usually, after the relief of guard, we join the family of one or
another of these for tea. It is pleasant in a strange land thus
to be received informally in a home circle, and to be made wel-
come, in this, the winter of the year, to the elegant comforts of
carpeted floors and curtained windows — of the glowing grate of
the inside, and the hissing urn of the tea-table, and for the hour
to share in the social enjoyments of conversation and music. Tin-
chief drawback to the pleasure, is the remembrance forced U]
by such scenes, of our distant homes, and the vision in fanej • t'
what we there lose. This was particularly the case in the visits of
the last evening. I made an early call at Mr. L 'a, and. on
202 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
entering the drawing-room, found Madame L at the piano.
After giving the accustomed kind welcome, she was prevailed
ii | n mi to continue at the instrument. Though the mother of a
fine family of carefully educated and intelligent children — gath-
ered at the time in various amusements round a centre-tahle of
the saloon — she has not thrown aside her music, but is still in
good practice. Her touch and execution are very much in the
style of Mademoiselle R , and in some fine passages from
Verdi and other masters, brilliantly given, carried me at once to
Riverside.
I do not recollect to have mentioned the romance of the
honey-moon of Mr. and Madame L at Buenos Ayres, in tin-
early days of the despotism of Rosas. Madame L , previ-
ously the Signorita , a native of the city, and member of the
Romish church, ventured to be married to Mr. L by au
American missionary, without the consent of the Dictator. This
was contrary to an existing law ; and the consequence was that the
bride was very unceremoniously immured for three months in a
nunnery, while the groom and clergyman were as summarily ar-
rested, and thrown into prison. Mr. L was then established
in mercantile business at Buenos Ayres. But indignant at such
an interference with the rights of conscience and personal freedom,
on regaining his liberty, he withdrew with his wife to Montevideo,
and is now a chief capitalist in this section of South America.
On joining the Commodore at Mrs. Z \s, I found quite a
party of the II 's and other friends. The ladies were iu
more dress than usual; the rooms were well lighted; and the
tea-table richly and elegantly appointed ; and in the enjoyments
of an evening of music, both vocal and instrumental, including
some fine chants and psalmody, we were tempted for the time to
forget our exile.
The private dwellings in Montevideo, whether only one, or
two Btories high, are all built in the Spanish-Morescan st}le,
having a quadrangle within, enclosing a pateo, or open Bquare in
the centre. UpoD this, where there i- but one Btory, and upon an
PAMPEROS AT MONTEVIDEO. 203
SBOireling verandah or corridor, above where there are two, all
the apartments open, through doors and French windows. The
pateos in the one case, and the verandahs in the other, are usually
filled with ruining vines, and flowering plants and shrubs, in fa]
of earth, or in urns and va- -. The parapeted walls of the flat
roofs are also often ornamented by vases, containing aloes and
various . and I have often been struck, on passing to the
reaae in leaving, with the ornamental and picturesque effect
of • oially in bright moonlight — as they stand out in
strong relief against the sky.
However good the promise of fair weather may have been in
going on shore, we never take leave for a return to the ship at
night, without a greater or gree of uncertainty, as to the
manner and circumstances in which we may get on board. The
shallowness of the r 1 oblige vessels of the draught of
the Coj to lie two or three miles from the shore; and even
then, such are often cradled at low water in a bed of mud three
or four feet deep ; but the distance is a trifle, compared with the
obstacle to a \i.-it to the shore, either for exercise or pleasure,
ari.-iug from the frequency and suddenness of the south and
winds called pamperos. These often burst over the
water with little or no warning, and by their fierceness and the sea
th. . cut off, for twenty-four hours or more, all communica-
tioi iiip and the shore. Twice within the first week
of our arrival, a party in the Commodore's barge was detained a
it and a day onshore under such circumstances; and other
boats sent on shore on various objects of duty, at least as many
times. Fortunately for some of us, Mr. Frazier, of the American
house of Frazier. Zimmerman «fc Co., being without other family
than the employees of the count' .1. had it in his power to
offer some of us, on those occasions, an asylum in the well-ap-
poi: in which he dispenses a liberal and genen
nitality. The few hotels in the place, kept principally by
Frenchmen and Ita: re comfortless, especially in their
accommodations for si
204 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
A few nights ago, on reaching the mole, a high and piercing
■wind was blowing, very much from the point we wished to steer,
tumbling a rough and wild sea before it. We could not lay
our course for the ship within several points : leaving a long and
heavy pull for the oarsmen, after we should take in sail. Close
hauled upon the wind, and plunging into the head sea, all hands
were well showered, even as far aft as the stern-sheets, by the
spray dashed from the bows. In disgust at this winding up of
the pleasures of the evening, the Commodore exclaimed that it
would be " the last of his night expeditions from the shore;"
that hereafter he would limit his visits to the daytime, and then
to fine weather. However, the barge is a beautiful sea-boat,
riding the swelling waves — whether propelled by oars or cam
— like a duck, and under sail, skimming the crested waters like
a sea-bird. When obliged at last to take to the oars, the pull to
the ship was not so long, or the trouble in getting on board on the
lee-side so great, as we had apprehended. The next morning
the weather was trancpiil as a summer's day ; and the Commodore,
beckoning me to join him on the poop as he was taking a turn
before breakfast, said, " Why, Mr. S , the getting off last
night was not so bad after all. I must take back my hard
speeches about the place and weather, and recall my rash vows.
I think we may still venture an evening's visit." This we soon
did, and our return on board, for that and two or three succes-
sive nights, was the very perfection of every thing lovely in
moonlight upon the water. The air was mild and balmy ; the
river, smooth and glassy as a lake, seemed beneath the moon.
beams, a very sea of silver ; a fair and gentle land-breeze kept
the sails of the boat just steadily full — wafting us imperceptibly
along, while every thing above, beneath, and around us, was so
tranquil, bo bright, and so pure, that we were charmed by it into a
musing mood of the profoundest silence.
The prevailing weather, at present, is like that of the finest
October at home, with which season — that of autumn — it corre-
DISEASES OF THE CLIMATE. 205
sponds. The mornings are cool, bracing, and brilliant; at noon,
the temperature is almost hot, and the nights are humid and cold.
The Bnnsets are equal, in the beauty and softness of the tintings
and colors, to any L reoollect to have observed in any part of the
rid. To judge from the apparent purity and elasticity of the
atmosphere, it would seem that the climate could not be other-
He than healthful ; yet the sick list on board the Congress, from
catarrhs, inflammation of the lungs, and rheumatism, is greater
than at any time since the beginning of our cruise. Some
of the cases of pneumonia are very severe, and threaten to prove
fatal. This increase of sickness and its character, are attribut-
able, probably, to the frequent recurrence, amidst all this bright-
ness, of wintry storms of two or three days' continuance : like a
cold and boisterous ecpuinoctial gale in the United States, with
pouring rain and piping winds. Indeed, the anchorage here is a
terrible place for winds at all seasons of the year : terrible, not
(real danger to the ships — for the whole bottom is a soft and
tenacious mud, into which large vessels safely cradle — but in the
discomfort on board in a storm, and the inconvenience of coin-
municating with the shore.
The special interruptions to the monotony of a daily routine
on my own part, have been a series of infant baptisms, in the
.dies of various foreign residents, English, Scotch, and tier-
man; three marriages in which the grooms were foreigners also —
American and English ; and the funeral of an American lady,
loDg a resident of Montevideo. The groom at one of the wed-
dings was Dr. K of the navy, surgeon of the St. Louis;
his bride, the Signorita L , daughter of Don Juan L ,
Secretary to the Senate of the Itepublic of Uruguay. The cere-
mony was private, Commodore McKeever, the captain of the St
Louis, one or two other naval officers. .Madame L , the god-
mother of the bride, and the immediate members of the family
constituting the party. Another of the marriages was in the pre-
sence of a large company, and was followed by a general reception
of the society of Montevideo, and ball. The parties being
206 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
English, the presence of the representative of the British govern-
ment was necessary, to give validity to the rite, according to act
of parliament; and the ceremony was followed hy the making
out of a certificate, at a centre-table of the drawing-room, oa a
folio sheet of paper, to which, as first witness, the Hon. Mr. Gore,
H. M. Charge d' Affaires, attached his name officially. Nearly
the whole company, both ladies and gentlemen, gave witness to tin'
event in a similar manner, so that, in the end, the document, in
its length of signatures, rivalled a Magna Charta or Declaration
of Independence. It was the first occasion, except at the chapel,
in which I had met so large a company of Montcvideans, or in
which there was a mingling of the native Americo-Spanish society.
The ladies of this blood have been celebrated by travellers for
their beauty, and for sprightliness and grace of manner ; and
justly, I would say, were I to judge in the matter, from one at
bast, of those present on this occasion : Mrs. R, , the wife of
a young, but retired captain in the British navy, a son of Admiral
Sir J K . She is beautiful, and apparently truly lovely,
with more of the bearing and manners of polished life than most
other ladies I have met since I left the United States. Others
equally favored may have joined the party afterwards, but of this
I cannot speak. The general company were only beginning to
arrive, as, under the guidance of Mr. Gore, I left for the British
Consulate, to officiate in the baptism of a child, which had been
appointed for the same evening.
The first funeral I have been called to attend, was at the
house in which I performed the first marriage ceremony after our
arrival. The mother of the young and lovely bride, an American
lady. was. at the time, in so feeble a state from consumption, as
scarce to be aide to be present. She has failed rapid K since, ami
was buried on the 10th.
During the years of prosperity in Montevideo, a Protestant
burial-ground was laid out, a half mile beyond the outer gate,
along the edge of a narrow ravine and watercourse. It was
enclosed by a handsome wall of brick, planted with trees and
PROTESTANT CEMETERY. 2(Jf7
shrubbery, contained many tombstones and monuments of marble,
ami was (me of the moat attractive spots in the suburbs. It. was
fouml. however, on the commencement of hostilities, that the
walls ami trees gave shelter to the assailants, in their approaches
to the city, and interfered with the effect of the batteries of tin
besieged. The walls consequently were razed, and the trees cut
down by the inside party. The result is au entire ruin. The
tombs and monuments are mostly overturned and destroyed, and
the place, though still appropriated to its original 'use, is utterly
desecrated. Scarce a stoue is standing, and not a vestige of
ornament or beauty remains. I could not avoid being struck,
amid other objects in the scene — at the funeral, with the appear-
ance of the hearse — the be.-t the city now affords, and emblematic
of all its attempts at display. Its curtains of velvet, once douht-
less black, are now faded to a muddy orange, and are all tattered
and torn ; and what were, originally, plumes of ostrich feather-,
nodding gracefully at each corner, are now only bristling quills,
from which every feather has fallen in decay. It was drawn by
two miserable, starved mules in a wretched harness, and altogether
was a mockery of the pomp and pageantry of the grave.
• subject reminds me to mention the receipt by the last
English mail, of a letter from the family of Ramsey, in whose
fate you express an interest, from the account given of his sudden
death, last ((■■tuber. It is in answer to one by which I communi-
cated the bereavement. lie was of a pious household, who
were deeply afflicted by the intelligence sent, but consoled by the
oxanee, that every possible attention had been paid to him.
The letter is from a young man, the only surviving son of the
family. He says, " It is impossible to attempt a description of
the scene exhibited, as I endeavored to read aloud the heart-
rending account of the death of one we loved so dearly. It can
.<t be forgotten by any one present. The whole family were
overwhelmed, and I myself entirely unmanned ; " and adds in
another part — " the oighl after we received the melancholy
tidings, a moi t touching incident occurred : caused by my young
208 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
sister Jessie, a child of six years, -when preparing to retire to
rest. She had not heen told the sad news, and while on her
knees hy my mother's side praying aloud, her little hands resting
upon her lap, she prayed, as was her custom, that God would keep
and bless her dear brother at sea, and bring him in safety home
to us. The scene that ensued was most afflicting ; we all wept
most bitterly, while the little one cried as if her heart would
break, when told that the poor brother, for whom she prayed,
was lost to her for ever in this world.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Island of St. Catherine.
June ~ih. — The tedium of the long stay of the Congress at
Montevideo was relieved once, by a cruise of three weeks off
the Plata. The chief object in this, was to exercise the crew at
the sails and in working ship, and to give practice at sea with the
. uns and small arms. The effect of the change was good,
both morally and physically. The vicinity of a port, so free to
ipati"n - M mtevideo, is demoralizing both to officers and
men; and it is well, as Commodore McKeever remarked tome
in speaking on the subject, occasionally at least to put the hi
:i the ship and the seductions of the shore.
: I all we again set sail for this place. The island
- closely on the coast about midway between the Plata and
Rio de Janeiro. It i- twenty-eight miles long, from four to
it wide, and is separated from the main by a narrow and
irregular Btrait, varying in breadth from one and two, to three and
more miles. It was settled earlier than any part of the conti-
nent in this section, and gives name to the province on the main
opposite, within whose boundaries it is included. Its harbor is
one of the best in the Empire, and was once a great resort for
shippi] g ially for refreshment and repairs by thoc
in the whale tishery. The principal town, call' Senhora
do Desterro, or " Our Lady of Banishment or Exile," contain-
210 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
ing a population of eight or ten thousand inhabitants, is the cap-
ital of the province and the residence of its President.
On the morning of the 2d inst., the island, overtopped by the
loftier mountains of the main, was in view at a distance of thirty
miles ; and coasting along it we entered the straits and came to
anchor by nightfall. The land is broken and lofty, and beauti-
fully verdant : the eastern shores next the sea presenting, as we
.sailed along them, alternate stretches of white sand beach and
projecting promontories of rocks crowned with woods. Tberc is
not a sufficient depth of water for a frigate to pass through the
channel, and the entrance for large ships is by the north end of
the island. It is winding, and with the mountains of the island
and the main on either side, presents the features of a magnifi-
cent harbor rather than the appearance of an arm of the sea.
We were delighted with the varied outlines and general beauty
of the whole, in contrast with the scenery of the Plata, though
but few evidences of civilization are visible; a small habitation
here and there along the shore, being the only indications of the
presence of man.
The next morning the whole surface of the water, glassy as a
mirror, was dotted two or three miles south of us with the canoes
of fishermen; their white hats, shirts, and drawers contrasting
strongly in the early sun with the black sides of their canoes.
"We were some miles from the customary anchorage, and the pr< -
ence of so large a ship as the Congress even, attracted no atten-
tion from them, and brought no canoe with the milk and eggs and
tropical fruits for which we were longing. Soon after breakfast
we ran some miles further south to our present anchorage just
inside of two forts, one — that of San Jose — on the island, and the
other — that of Santa Cruz — on an islet of the same name near
the main. The panorama Burronnding us is truly beautiful —
approaching, m some respects, even that of llio dc Janeiro,
though less wild and sublime in outline. The lofty and massive
mountains on the main, jutting down to the water in bold pro-
montories, indent the Bhore with little white-beached cores wh<
SCENERY AT SANTA CRUZ. '211
overhanging cliffs arc created with palm-trees and festooned with
oreepen. The white dwellings of the inhabitants, sprinkled
•long the shore, and the checkered cultivation of the uplands
behind, combine in furnishing attractive imager; to the eye and
mentions of rural comfort and simplicity to the heart. The
.metrical outlines of the old fortresses on either side, and their
moss-covered and grass-tufted parapets and rainparK give an air
of antiquity to some points of the scene, while the primitive
canoe of the aborigines, under paddle or rude sail on the water,
tell mificantly of a .-wo of semi-civilization only. With the
brightly g] sun of the mornii.. was a freshness and
ela- f atmosphere, welcome and most exhilarating.
The present acting American consul of St. Catherine resides
at .- I ruz, the name of the anchorage at which we are. His
name is Cathcart, formerly the master of an American whale-
ship, but now long a resident of this part of Brazil, where he
married a native of the country, and has a family of children,
ions in lands and slaves.
His residence is nearly abreast of us on the main, a mile or
more distant. It is situated on an I platform above the
beach, in a beautiful little cove, with a glen in the rear: the
whole overhung by a wooded mountain. I availed myself of the
hr>t opportunity of vi.-iting the shore, and accompanied Pur
W and Lieut. 11 who went on duty. Mr. Cathcart «
on the beach to receive us and conduct us to his house. With
the exception of this structure — which is of stone, stuccoed, and
whitewashed, and roofed with tile — every thing here, in general
act, i- -o like the South Seas, that I felt B8 if .suddenly tr.
ported there, and again amidst the scenes and places so familiar
and so dear to mc twenty years ago. The palm-tree, tossing
plumed branches in the wind, the broad leaves of the banana
rustling in the breeze, the perfume of the orange bl wd
mine, the sugar cane and coffee plant, tfa D bush,
the pahna chri.-ti and guava — the light canoe upon the wal
and the rude huts dotting the shore — all hurried me in im
212 BKAZIL AND LA PLATA.
nation to the Marquesas, the Society and the Sandwich Isl-
ands.
As the Consul proposed returning to the ship with us our stay
was hut short. I, however, accomplished my purpose of a ram-
ble for half an hour. This I found quite sufficient for the time.
The hills descend so abruptly at all points to the water, and are
so furrowed with ravines, that one can proceed scarcely a hundred
rods in any direction along the shore, without making ascents
and descents of such steepness, as soon to induce fatigue, and
make a short walk go far in point of exercise.
Large ships cannot approach nearer to the port and city of
Desterro than the anchorage of Santa Cruz ; a distance of twelve
miles. The day after our arrival, a party of officers made a
trip to that place in one of the ship's boats; and on the 4th inst.
I joined another, by a similar conveyance. The morning was bril-
liant, with a cool and bracing air. There was no wind, but with
ten stout and willing oarsmen we made good progress, though the
tide, for a portion of the distance, was against us. Two beautiful
wooded islets lie midway in the straits, or bay, as the water — t we] \ i •
miles in length and from three to five in width — appears here to
be. The largest of these has a battery planted on the north end,
the site of which is scarped from the solid rock, about half the
height from the water line to the summit of the islet. With the
exception of this battery, and two or three buildings connected
with it, the whole is one mass of foliage interspersed with boulders
of granite. We rowed closely along its western side, and were
charmed with the freshness of the verdure and the variety and
richness of its growth ; especially in the drapery and festooning
of parasites and creepers. As we approached our destination we
fancied a striking resemblance, in the formation and general as-
pect of the western side on the mainland, to the section of the
Hudson lying between Tarrytown ami the entrance to the High-
lands. This led to a comparison of the scenery of the straits in
general with that of the Hudson. Beautiful indeed as this St.
CITY OF DESTERRO. 213
Catherine is, all who hail seen both, admitted a close rivalry at
least on the part of the other.
A promontory of the island projecting far eastward into the
straits, cuts off the view of the town from the north — excepting
a church tower or two over the land — and gives to the water tin'
appearance of being land-locked. It is not till sweeping through
a narrow channel past the bluff point, you find yourself in a
horse-shoe bay. — a half mile perhaps in diameter, with the city
encircling its sandy beach.
The ?iow of the town is striking, as, on doubling the point, it
opens thus abruptly to the sight. It contains eight thousand in-
habitants. It is prettily situated on the widely curving shore,
I, facing the straits southward, is flanked on the east by lofty,
\< plant, and overhanging bills. A double-towered church, ris-
ing from the centre of the city, and a spacious snow-white hospital,
crowning a t< rrace on the eastern side, are the most conspicuous
of the public buildings.
A small platform of plank on piles, forms the landing for the
boats of the shipping; but the oanoes of the country are gener-
ally run upon tin- beach. There was a cleanliness about this, and
in the market-place adjoining, truly welcome in Brazil, and pre-
pare ! as to be most pleasantly impressed with the general aspect
of a spacious, unenclosed square — like the green, or common of
a New England village — upon which we immediately entered.
This lie- close by the water and in the middle of the town. The
principal church or cathedral, whose towers we had seen over the
land, ornaments it on the north side It stands upon a terrace plat-
form, having circular I QClOBUree on either side, tilled with plants
and shrubbery, and overtopped by two or three graceful palms,
and an Australian pine. On the west ride near this, is the palace
or Governmental House, occupied by the President of the pro-
vince ; the dwellings of two or three wealthy citizens; and a
hotel near the water. From the balconies of the last, tin' party,
who had preceded u- the day before, were beckoning to as a wet
eome. The establishment i- in charge of an American from Ne w
214 BKAZIL AND LA PLATA.
England, married to a native of the place. It is more homelike
in general appearance and better kept than any public-house
we have seen in South America, excepting the Hotel de IV'vence
in Buenos Ayres.
As it was my purpose to return to the Congress the same
evening, there was little time to search for objects of special
interest, if indeed there were such ; and I contented myself with
a walk through and around the place. The streets are laid out
with regularity, but are ungraded and pass over hill and through
hollow, according to the original surface of the ground. The
buildings stand upon them at irregular distances from each other ;
and many having gardens and yards about them, the whole has
a village-like aspect, not indicative of the amount of population em-
braced within the boundaries of the town. The people seem kind
and well disposed ; arc simple in their habits and courteous in man-
ners. Though my dress furnished no badge of naval service, or
distinctive mark of my profession, yet, recognized as a stranger, I
was every where saluted as such with the greatest deference and
respect. I had been told that a new cemetery, situated on a hill
on the western side of the bay, commanded a fine general view of
the city and surrounding country. Under the impression that I had
reached this, I passed through a fine gateway, and by a flight of steps
to a terrace walk, but at once perceived that I was in the grounds
of a private residence, and was retreating to the road again, when in-
vited by some attendants near to enter and stroll over the place at
my pleasure. This I did. It was tastefully laid out in lawns and
flower gardens, and abounded in fruit. On expressing thanks to
the Portuguese gardener when taking leave, he added to my ob-
ligatinn by presenting a choice bouquet, with an offer of oranges
and other fruit ad Kbitum : adding, that the Bignor, his master,
would have been happy \>> receive me had he been at home, and
would be pleased at any time with a visit from me.
The day was exceedingly fine, and my ramble <>f an hour and
more in the suburbs, over Bmooth paths and through hedge-shaded
and flower-scented lanes, was mosl grateful after the dreary mo-
ARTIFICIAL FLOWERS AT DESTERRO. 215
notony of the scenery in the Plata and the tedium of long confine-
ment on board a ship.
The females of Desterro are celebrated for their skill in the
manufacture of artificial flowers from feathers, beetle wings, fish
leg, aud sea shells ; and an arrival of strangers in the place
causes the doors, and halls, and rooms of the hotel to be thronged
with negroes and i s, bearing tray-loads and boxes of these
artiolee for .-ale. Many of them are tasteful and ornamental;
■cially those formed from the polished wings of the beetle.
Those of fish-scales wrought into necklaces, armlets, wreaths and
bou'pn t- are also pretty ; ami. were the material not known, would
appear costly. The first of these 1 ever saw were worn by a
bride at Montevideo ; the effect by caudle-light was much that of a
set of pearls, which I at first supposed the ornaments to be. A
coarse but serviceable thread lace, is also a manufacture of the
place. The chief article of commerce is coffee, that of St. Cath-
erine being of superior cpuality.
At 3 o'clock we sat down to a profusely spread table d'hdte,
one of the most tempting public boards I have seen since leaving
the United 3 . consisting of a variety of fish, oysters, lobster,
different kinds of meats, chickens, turkey and bird-, ((inked and
served in American style. The bread was excellent, and upon it
alone, with the delicious fresh butter from the German settlement
of San Pedro d Alcantara, twenty miles distant in the mountains
on the main, I could have made a most satisfactory repast. The
interest of the feast was enhanced by some intelligence communi-
cated in regard to the chief attendants on the table : the head
waitress was no less a personage than a Princess Royal of Cab-
inda, eldest daughter of the monarch of that Btyle, and niece of
" King John," chief of the Kroomen. She is a fine intelligent-
looking woman of thirty years, whose mien and general hear-
ing were by no means unbecoming the rank she held in her nati\e
land. Another of the servants WEB a male .-lave of the same age,
full of activity and spirit, and Beemingly very cheerful and happy.
By industry and economy, and the gratuities i e bas received, for
216 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
civility and fidelity in his situation, he has laid up the amount of
his purchase-money, with the exception of a small sum. He
expects soon to be free ; and, having caught a spirit of adven-
ture and enterprise from the many of our compatriots, who of
late years have touched at St. Catherine's for refreshment on their
way to California, designs pushing his fortunes in that golden re-
gion — an example of adventure, in purpose at least, almost without
parallel, I am told, among the Brazilians of Portuguese blood.
While the whole world has been excited to enterprise by the
modern discoveries of gold, not a vessel, I learn, has been fitted
out from Brazil in quest of fortune in this way, and scarcely a
Brazilian tempted to join the thousands who have touched here
and at Rio on their way to California.
The next day I joined Commodore McKeever and his secre-
tary in a stroll on shore at Santa Cruz. Captain Cathcart met
us on the beach, and, becoming our cicerone, first led us up a
romantic little glen in the rear of his dwelling, by a well kept
pathway overshaded with orange trees and palms, and bordered
by coffee-plants and bananas. It followed the course of a mur-
muring and babbling mountain stream, which fretted its way over
a bed of rocks, and beneath and around massive boulders of gran-
ite. The pathway itself was sufficiently attractive to have in-
duced us to take the walk, but there was, as we found, a special
objeel for pursuing it. It leads to the graves of two sisters of
the ages of fifteen and seventeen, daughters of Major Gaines,
(iovernor of Oregon, who died here a year ago on their way to
that territory, after a few days 1 illness with yellow fever, con-
tracted during a brief stay at llio. Their sudden death, within
a day of each other, in the opening bloom of youth, and their
burial by the wayside, as it were, in a Strange and undesired
land, with the many affecting incidents related to us councch d
with the event, threw a touching interest around the spot, and
caused us to Linger with deep sympathy near their graves. They
lie side by side within a small, picketed enclosure, where the p
1 willow and other appropriate growth, planted by the hand of
WALKS AT SANTA CRI'Z. 217
the Consul, are already spreading in tropical luxuriance. They
are said to have been intelligent and accomplished, and full of
the buoyancy and hope of young life. The bereavement under
the circumstances most have been desolating to the parents, and
their burial on these strange shores a most affective trial.
ter tlif examination of a mandioca and coffee plantation,
and of a fruit yard, we strolled over a spur of the mountain to
an adjoining cove in which Captain Cathcart formerly resided,
i which is still his possession. His former dwelling is con-
verted into a Bchool-house for his own children and those of two
OX three of his neighbors. The tutor, a young Brazilian, is em-
ployed by the Consul at his individual expense. The books and
!'>ol apparatus were most primitive, and limited to the merest
elements of instruction ; still, the scene presented by the assem-
bled group of scholars and their young teacher, had more of pro-
mise in it for the future, than any thing before met in this region.
I -pent yesterday morning in going over the same ground
with Captain Mcintosh, who had not previously been on shore.
We extended our walk across two or three additional ridges of the
hills, which feather down from the mountains to the water, and
break up the shore, by their projecting points, into numerous little
coves encircled by interval lands and bright glades. In these
chiefly are nestled the humble eottages of the poor, in single dwell-
ings or in hamlets <d* three and four. The views from the side-
hills above are varied and beautiful, and ever bring with thein to
-tronij associations of the .South S<
Iu the afternoon, accompanied by Dr. C and one or two
others, 1 took a walk northward from the consulate, first across a
natural meadow running inland a half-mile from the beach, and aft i i-
wards, by a mule-path, over a steep and thickly-wooded hill of the
primitive growth — the whole mountain of which this is a spur, dense-
ly covered with wood, presenting in many point.- mass* s of foli
of great ri auty. Our walk terminated at a clear-
g, where preparation.- were making for the erection of a shanty
small timber, wattled at the sides and ends, preparatory to
II)
218 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
being filled in with clay. The scene reminded me of parts of
Otsego near Cooperstown in my boyhood, where the felling, and
logging, and burning of trees by the first settlers were in progi
The timber here, however, is by no means so tall and heavy as
the white pine and old hemlock of that region, and appears to be
exclusively of hard wood. We saw, at too great a distance to
admit of examination, two flowering trees with blossoms of most
brilliant hues ; and were afterwards shown at the consulate a
branch of an azalia, loaded with flowers of the purest white varie-
gated with bright cherry color.
I must not omit to mention the very unexpected recognition
of each other, by Captain Cathcart and myself yesterday. After
taking leave of him the evening before, I said to Dr. C ,
" The oftener I see the Consul, the more I am persuaded I have
met him before : it must have been at the Sandwich Islands."
A similar impression it seems was on his mind ; and he remarked
to a party of officers, as the boat in which I was, shoved ofi*, " I
am sure I have known Mr. S soniewdiere ; but I have not
been out of Brazil for twenty years — it must have been when I
was whaling." To this, one replied, " it may have been at the
Sandwich Islands, when Mr. S was a missionary there." " A
missionary ! is it possible that this Mr. S is the same : now,
I know all about him. I remember him well ; the first time I
was on shore he invited me to church, and though I was an en-
tire stranger to him, only a boat-steerer, he took me afterwards to
dine with him and his lady." This being repeated to me, gave
identity to my own reminiscence, and led to a very cordial greet-
ing the next morning as old friends.
My Last walk, in this short visit of a week, was taken this
afternoon, in company with Commodore McKcever and Dr.
C . It was on the island. We landed at one end of a long
curving beach, beneath the rocky bluff which is surmounted by the
dilapidated fortress of San Jos6, now dismantled and abandoned.
After enjoying the view from it- parapets, we followed a path
leading up the ridge of the hill, till we gained a lofty point of
DANGEROUS WALKING GROUND. 219
root, commanding a wide stretch of country to the eastward not
in view from the Bhip. A j»art of this, embra circuit of
many mil' - wl. It appeared to be well fitted for the cul-
ture of rice, much of which is grown in St. Catherine, but appa-
rently is a t jungle in a state of nature, with-
out indication of an inhabitant. The evening was very fine,
r >o exhilarating, that we skipped and jumped from
rock to rock, amidst bush and bramble, with a freedom we would
Featured bad we known what we afterwards learnt, that
the spot is noted for the venomous reptiles with which it abounds.
Of ' - iw none, however, and indulged in our gymnast
without fear. Iudeed, I have not seen a living serpent or rep-
tile of any kind since I have been in Brazil : not a scorpion, and
but one centipede, and that in a ship-chandler's in Rio de Janeiro.
On our return we passed, near the beach, grove after grove of
orange trees, so laden with fruit that the ground beneath was cov-
ered, as in an apple-orchard at home, after the trees have been
shaken in the gathering - >u.
CHAPTER XIX.
ElO 1--K J A.SEIKO.
June 20th. — On entering this port on the 16th inst., we all
felt anew the exciting influence of its wild and magnificent scenery,
and were constrained again to pronounce it unrivalled, by any
thing seen by us in any part of the world.
The last report of the health of the place which had reached
us at Montevideo, was favorable. The yellow fever, after having
prevailed a second season as an epidemic, was said to have dis-
appeared. Our apprehensions on this point were excited for a
time, however, as we came in, by perceiving the man-of-war
anchorage to be entirely deserted. In place of three or four
different squadrons, English, French, Brazilian, Portuguese and
American, riding at their moorings, like a flock of water- fowl, not
a solitary ship was discoverable : nor was there a sign of move-
ment of any kind, on the whole bay. This we thought ominous
of bad news, but happily without just cause. The first boat
from the shore, assured us of the good health of the port. What-
ever malaria may exist lias lost its malignancy, and exhibits itself
only in cases of imprudence and special exposure, in the milder
types of intermittent fever. It is the winter season, or period at
which the ran bas reached its farthest remove in this latitude,
and all nature is in double freshness and brilliancy. The coloring
of the skies in the mornings and evenings is beautiful : this is
WINTER WEATHER AT RIO. 221
especially the ease after sunset, when at times a golden and ver-
milion glory has filled the west with a Bplendor I do not recollect
to have sees surpassed. The effect of this upon the pinnacled
rocks and precipices <>f the mountains — brought into hold relief
by the shades of the hour — and upon the promontories and islets
of the hay, the church and convent towers, and the leading
architecture of the city, is gorgeous. This was particularly the
ease, an evening or two ago, while Dr. C and I were enjoying
a stroll over Gloria Hill. Our progress was arrested by it : and
after standing for some time in silent admiration of the picture
lented, from the elevated terraces in front of the church, we
joined iu the exclamation, " no words in our own or any other
language can describe such a scene : painting itself could do no
justice to it! "
The temperature now, even at mid-day, is not too hot for ex-
eroise, the mean height of the thermometer being 73° Fahrenheit.
The weather resembles that of the finest in June at home , the even-
ings and nights, howei er, are cooler. This is the general character
of the weather from March to September ; and nothing in climate
can be finer. During the rest of the year, the heat, with the
mercury at mid-day at 90 , is oppressive and debilitating.
We have reuewed our acquaintance pleasantly with Don Juan
1 Dofia M , and are disposed to regard the simplicity of
mind and heart, evidenced by them, the kindness of their
manners, and the cordiality of their hospitality, as character-
istic of the people ef the country in general ; and to believe that
they would be manifested to all foreigners of respectability, as
readily as to us, under circumstances to call them into exercise.
Our friends of Praya Domingo, however, make no secret of the
fact that our nationality is a strong recommendation to them.
Both profess great admiration of the United States as a nation,
not from what they have seen of its citizens — for we are the first
and only Americans they have known — but from what they have
heard and read of our history and condition, and the practical
working of our institutions.
222 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
I have taken but one new walk : this was through the valley of
the Larangeiras, in company with Captain Mcintosh and Dr.
C . Much as I bad often admired its general features, in pass-
ing tbrough the open street of the Catcte, from which it branches
westward to the mountains, the heat of the weather, and its dis-
tance from the ordinary landing, prevented a visit to it. It is a
half mile, perhaps, in width at the entrance, but soon becomes
only a narrow glen, terminating at the end of a couple or more
miles, beneath the steep sides of the overhanging mountain. A
fine carriage road winds through it, crossing and recrossing
repeatedly a sparkling mountain stream, which brawls and bab-
bles and murmurs, from side to side. It is charming through-
out : so quiet and secluded, so embowered and rural, so fresh
in atmosphere and luxuriant in growth, and so varied in the
architecture of its dwellings, from the ornamented villa and
sculptured palace, to the simplest and most humble of cottages.
The orange and coffee tree, the banana and other broad-leaved
vegetation of the tropics, cluster thickly around ; and are over-
shadowed by the loftier growth of the magnificent mango, the
towering palm, the feathery foliage of the tamarind and acacia,
and here and there that of the thorny cotton-tree or Bombax, with
its trunk and limbs well guarded by the defences which give to
it a descriptive name.
Roses and jessamines, and brilliantly flowering creepers ; the
gay hybiscus, the thick-set bloom of the purple bignonia, and
the gorgeous glare of the poinsctta, meet the eye at every turn,
and fill the air with sweet perfumes. In contrast with our im-
prisonment on board ship at Montevideo, it was a luxury scarcely
appreciable by others, to stroll amidst such imagery; with an
occasional glimpse, through an open gateway or the ornamental
railings of an enclosure, of the fountains and grottoes, the alcoves
and bowers, the gravelled walks and tesselated pavements, the
busts, the statues and statuettes, which embellish the grounds of
those " rich in this world's goods."
Near the head of the valley, a winding pathway on one side
LAKANiiF.IRAS OR OBANOS VALLEY. 223
leads up tin- acclivity bj Bteep ascent, to the line of tin* aque-
duet, fifteen hundred fee* above the Level below. One Bection of
this is peculiarly beautiful. It overhangs the valley, and em-
bowered overhead, reminded me forcibly aud pleasantly in many
of its features — with the exception of the tropical growth — of the
Felled terrace of the old road at Cooperstown. which leads to
the • Bfomd Viaon" of Cooper's Pioneers. In a secluded nook
near bv, is the residenee of the Britiah minister: an irregular
. buried in shade, aud vocal with the murmurings of water-
courses. After paaaing this, as we' gained height after height,
and looked down with bird's-eye view, the Larangeiras and its
surroundings seemed, iu the lights and shades of the hour, like a
sketch in fairy land.
The fatality in the city, of the late epidemic, has led to the
oonatrnction, recently, of great numbers of residences along the
span and aides of the mountains. One of these is just finished,
near the point at which we reached the aqueduct. The site is
superb; and, while resting from the fatigue of the sharp aacent,
we greatly enjoyed the magnificent prospect of both land aud sea
which it commands. Prom this point, the descent of five miles
along the aqueduct to the city is so gradual, for the greater part
of the way, as to be almost imperceptible For two miles the
pathway ifl a lofty terrace, cut iu the face of the mountain for the
cour>e of the aqueduct, from which, beneath overhanging tn
you look up on one side, upon steep rocks and wild woods, aud
down on the other, as from the parapets of a lofty castle, upon
u of views of cultivated and surprising beauty. In-
deed, the whole walk seemed to me like that through a picture-
gallery of magnificently drawn, and gorgeously colored landscapes.
The aqueduct does not follow a straight line, but runs zigzag, at
long, obtuse angles. The pathway is beside it, and in following
its course, new and varied both before and behind, are
constantly presented The massive masonry, and finished work-
manship of the time-marked, and moss-covered old structure,
contrast strongly in their aspect of civilization, with the wild-
224 BEAZIL AND LA PLATA.
ness of the overhanging cliffs and forests, while in many places,
the gay coloring of the endless vai'iety of lichens and orchidsc
■which cover it, gives to the surface the appearance of richly
variegated marble.
Before we reached the city, the shades of the evening had
gathered around us, as deeply as the moon near her second quarter
would allow. Many of the objects around and above us, were
thus brought in bold outline against the sky. This effect was
particularly beautiful, where the palm or cocoa-nut tree spread
its long and graceful plumage, in dark masses upon the light
beyond.
The last striking picture which met the eye as we descended
the hill of Santa Theresa, was that of a family, grouped in an
arbor of roses and honeysuckle, canopied with clustering bigno-
nia, on the angle of a wall twenty feet above our heads, silently
enjoying in the twilight the last tannings of the sea-breeze, while
from the towers of the convent close by, the vesper bell sent
forth its silvery sounds in invitations to prayer.
June 26th. — It is to the Romish Church that we are here
chiefly indebted for every thing in the way of spectacle. Two
principal feast days have occurred within the week past : that of
Corpus Christi on the 19th, and that of St. John the Baptist on
the 24th inst. The fete of Corpus Christi was observed with
great display. It was instituted by Urban IV.. six hundred
years ago, in honor of the then newly adopted doctrine of transub-
stantiation, and consequent adoration of the host. Its legendary
origin is traced to Juliana, a nun of Liege, who, while looking at
tlie full moon, saw a gap in its orb, and by peculiar revelation
from heaven, learned that the moon represented the Christian
Church, and the gap the want of a festival for the adoration of
the body of Christ, in the consecrated wafer. This she was to
begin to celebrate, and to announce to the world. The authori-
zation of the festival by papa] bull, was induced by the following
miraculous incident. While a priest, who did not believe in the
ohange of the bread into the body of Christ, was going through
FESTIVAL OF CORPUS CHRISTI. 225
the ceremony of benediction, drops of blood fell upon his but-
plioe, which, when he endeavored to conceal them in the folds of
his garment, were formed into bloody images of the host His
pticism was thus overcome; and the bull of Urban, authoriz-
ing the adoration, was published. This occurred in 1264, and
the bloody surplice is still shown at Chita Vecchia as a relic!
Iu ltio de Janeiro, as in all papal countries, Corpus Christ i
chief festival in the year. Its celebration was commenced
at the dawn of day, by a general peal of the bells from every
church and convent tower, by the booming of cannon along the
shores, and the hissing and crackling of rockets in the sky.
Flags were every where unfurled; draperies of silk and satin, of
gold and silver tissue, of damask and velvet of every hue, were
displayed, from the windows and balconies of the houses in tip-
principal streets; and the windows of the palace ornamented on
the outside with rich hanjnnjxs of crimson damask. Iliirh mass
was performed in the imperial chapel at 11 o'clock. This was
now opened for the first time, after having been for a year undergo-
ing a thorough renovation, by residing and new painting in fresco.
The el I is rich and chaste. On either side of the nave, between
the entrance and the transept, are the shrines of the apostolic
saints, above which hang paintings of each, with the accustomed
emblems of their individuality. "The Supper," by a masti
ornaments the altar of a side chapel at one end of the transept,
and a beautifully executed and classically draped effigy of St.
Julian in wax. in a sarcophagus of glass, adorns the other. The
altar-piece of the grand altar covers the entire end of the chapel
within the chancel. The subject is the assumption of the Vir-
gin. The royal family of Portugal — at the time of the immigra-
tion — in attitudes of adoration, occupy the foreground: tic
Queen mother, John VI. and his wife, Carlota of Spain, and
Don Pedro L, then a lad, being the chief figures.
The imperial body-guard in state dresses, with halberds at
rest, early formed in lines on either nde of the nave from tin-
entrance to tin transept. The intervening space, newly car-
lo-
226 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
pctcd, was in reserve for the ministers of state, the officers of
tin' household, and other dignitaries of the Empire. A proces-
sion of these soon made its appearance from a vestiug-rooni com-
municating with the palace, and opened in file along the nave for
the passage of the bishop and his ecclesiastical attendants to
the chancel, and of the Emperor, who followed them, to a cano-
pied throne near the high altar. The Empress and her ladies
had already entered the imperial tribune facing the throne. The
bishop was in full prelatic dress, wearing his mitre and bearing
the gilded crosier emblematic of his office. When the chapel
was thus filled, the coup d'oeil presented a brilliant scene in the
masses of rich embroideries in gold ; the jewelled decorations of
the dignitaries of state ; and the court dresses of the different
classes of the aristocracy. These last were chiefly of velvet in rich
hues, lined with white silk — purple, maroon, mazarine and sky
blue, light and dark green, and here and there a suit of the same
of plain black.
The orchestra was full, and embraced the best performers of
the opera company, both vocal and instrumental. As the service
proceeded, the varied attitudes aud groupings in the chancel and
at the altar, of the officiating priests
" Glaring in gems and gay in woven gold ; "
the floating incense ; the harmony of the duo, the trio, and the
quartette; the touching strains of the solo; and the burst of the
full chorus, could scarcely fail to impress the senses. And
when added to this general effect, at the elevation of the host
each halberdier, with battle-axe reversed, dropped on his
bended knee ; every courtier bowed his forehead to the ground;
the bishop bumbled himself at the steps of the altar, and the
Emperor kneeled on the platform of his throne; the whole ta-
bleau was one mosl striking in its dramatic show, Externally all
a profoundness of adoration, which, directed spiritually to
the Godhead, would have been irresistibly impressive; but
CORPUS CHMSTI AND ST. JOHN'S DAYS. 'I'll
addn-sed to a mere wafer, and to be regarded as gross idolatry,
it was both painful to the mind and maddening to the heart.
Loiil' before the termination of the mass, a procession was
marshalled in front of the chapel in the palace-square, await-
ing the addition from -the church of the ecclesiastics and the
court, before moving through some of the principal streets. The
leading group was unique; and apparently the most attractive
part to the surrounding crowds. It consisted of a colossal effigy
of St. George, in knightly armor, mounted upon a splendidly
oaparisoned eharger from the Emperor's stud, led by a groom in
oriental dress. An armor-bearer in black mail, and other attend-
ants in characteristic costume, formed the suite; while a dozen
led horses in housings of green cloth, stiff with the imperial arms
in massive silver, completed the cortege of the pasteboard saint
All else in the show was purely ecclesiastic, with a great display of
the varied costumes and emblematic devices of the Ilomish
Church. At the end of the religious service, the dignitaries, both
of Church and State, fell into the line, and were followed by the
host, borne by the bishop beneath a fringed and tasselled canopy
of cloth of gold, one of the gilt supporters of which was held
by tin- Emperor with uncovered head.
Don Pedro, when a, bean inspection well; and carries
with him as much of the impress ofhis station as any monarch I
have seen.
There was no public procession on St. John's day, but its
approach was heralded bj tting off of rockets and other
fireworks the night previous, and the glare of bonfires in different
parts of the city. These were seen with fine effect from the ship ;
especially the rockets, with the dark mountains for a back-
ground. The evening following was observed in a similar man-
ner : altogether like the night of the fourth of July at home
At every respectable-looking house, fireworks of more or !
elaborate workman-hip were displayed; rockets of all descriptions
were .-hooting in brilliant coiTUSCations through the air; and illu-
minated balloons -c u up, while colored Lamps^ thickly clustered
228 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
upon the convents crowning the hills, flashed through the dark-
ness like diadems of diamonds.
July 2d. — On a former visit at Rio, I gave you some account
of the Foundling Hospital and Female Orphan Asylum, in con-
nection with the marriage of an elcve of the last. This is the
second of July, the fete day of St. Elizabeth — that on which
the asylum is open to visitors, and on which, usually, the mar-
riages of such of the inmates as are under engagement take
place. The Emperor and Empress were among the visitors to-
day, and sanctioned by their presence the marriage of four couples
in the chapel. The anniversary had been fixed upon, for throw-
ing open to public inspection a new building for the Hospital of
the Misericordia, of which both the Foundling Hospital and
Orphan Asylum arc appendages. I improved the opportunity
to pass through the wards of the sick. These were in the
most perfect order and neatness. Every possible provision seemed
to be made for the care and comfort of the inmates ; and the
whole establishment gave evidence of fulfilling the benevolence
of its design.
The practical benevolence of the Romish Church is exhibited
in no form more general and commendable, than in the care which
is taken of the poor and the sick. Rio abounds in hospitals for
these. Some are connected with convents or monasteries, and
others are separate and independent institutions. They are
founded and sustained by incorporated societies, corresponding in
their general features with the voluntary organizations with us at
home for philanthropic and charitable purposes, but here calleil
brotherhoods. These are of various names ; that of the -Miseri-
cordia or " House of Mercy," is the largest and mosl wealthy,
and owes its origin, nearly three centuries ago, to the piety and
benevolence of the celebrated Jesuit, Anchieta. The hospital is
situated on the bay beneath Castle Hill. Its doors are open at all
hours, night and day, to the sick of both sexes, of all religions
and of every country and color, without any form or condition of
admittance : all receive gratuitously the ablest medical attend-
HOSPITAL OF THE MISERICORDIA.
anee ami the best nursing and care. The numbers of its patients
amount to thousands yearly, the proportion of deaths occurring
being about one-fifth of the whole received.
The original building is old, and has been long insufficient in
- aud convenient'. \ for the numerous applicants for
relief A tructure has been for tei - and more in pro-
:i an adjoining sil V large section of this, two-thirds of
the whole plan, is now completed, and was opened to the public
the first time to-day. The edifice is a noble structure. The
ide on the street of the part finished being four hundred feet.
It is four Btories in height, and is surmounted, in the centre, by a
finely proportioned and symmetrical dome. The whole present ^
the finest architectural feature of the city, in the approach
from the sea. The interior throughout is palace-like. The plan
i- admirably arranged for ventilation and light, and embra
:y modem improvement for the iusurance of cleanliness and
purity. The structure i^ quadrangular. The parts already fin-
ished enclose two spacious courts, beautifully laid out in walks
intermingled with flower-gardens and shrubberies, as places of
exercise for the convalescent Bach is ornamented with a foun-
tain ; when the building shall be completed, corresponding courts
on the new part are to be added. The perspective through the
long corridors and the lofty wards, which communicate with each
other the whole length by folding-doors, i- exceedingly fine:
indeed, the whole structure is a credit to the civilization of the
age, aud is a splendid monument of the munificence and bene-
volence of the Brotherhood of Mercy.
The institution embraces a department for the insane. For
the separate accommodation of such patients, another imperial-like
structure is in pr and nearly completed, on the beautiful
of Botafogo. It already attracts the eye of the Strang
entering the port, more than any other object in the surround;
panorama. Of this the Emperor has been a principal and nmni-
>t patron.
Tli us and funded capital of the Miserioordia I
230 BEAZIL AND LA PLATA.
very great. The dying bequests of the charitable, in money and
in real estate, for the long period of centuries, with the advance
of value in property, make it one of the most richly endowed in-
stitutions of the Empire, and insure perpetuity to its worthy and
Christ-like charities. Membership is secured by the payment of
an initiation fee and an annual subscription : this guarantees the
right to a support in sickness and in poverty, and to the religion -
services of the church in burial. Members to the brotherhood-
are received at any age, even that of the merest childhood. On one
occasion, I witnessed the ceremonies of an initiation to the frater-
nity of the Carmelites. It took place with much ceremony in the
church of the order. A very large number were received, and in-
cluded boys from the ages of five and six years to full manhood.
Assembled in the sacristy, each placed over his ordinary dress
a cape or mantle of silk, the badge of the order on occasions of
ceremony, and each receiving from the appointed officers a conse-
crated amulet, a girdle of patent leather, and a rosary, walked
in procession to the grand altar of the church. The whole build-
ing was in high decoration, with a superb display of gold and sil-
ver plate on the altar, and of reading desks of solid silver in the
chancel. The dresses of the officiating priests, and the officers of
the society, were new and rich ; and the music of the first order.
Tin; ceremonies of the initiation consisted in verbal pledges on
the part of the novitiates, anointings, crossings, sprinklings with
holy water, and perfuming with incense, and were followed with
showers of rose-leaves scattered widely from silver salvers, over
the newly received.
July 22d. — The principal incident of the last few days has
been a wedding, OH the 20th, in the family of Mr. 11 , the
bride being Miss 11 , his daughter. The marriage took place
at the residence of Mr M , the maternal grandfather of the
lady, who holds a ehief place among the merchant princes of
Rio. It is Bituated seven or eight miles westward from the city,
beyond the ealley of Engenho Velho, beneath the mountains of
Tejuca. Our commander-in-chief, to a seat with whom 1 had been
COUNTRY-SEAT OF MR. M .
invited, is a man of great simplicity in his habits of life, and
averse to any thing like display in his movements. The appear-
anee. therefore, of a Bhowy equipage with four hom — -as the ear*
riage which he had directed to be in waiting at the landing — took
him quite by sun id led to an order immediately fox the
dismissal of two of the animals ; but to this the ooaohman objected
so strongly, with the assurance from his master that the four
would )'«• found necessary before reaching our destination, and
that no one ever drove to Mr. M "s with a single pair, that
the Commodore was obliged to submit. So, ordering his valet,
who happened to be in attendance, to mount to his place — that
there might be some keeping in the turn-out — we were off with
a whirl, four-in-hand.
The drive for the great) r part of the way. was the same we
had made in our visits to the country-seat of Mr. B . While
a couple of miles from our destination, we had full proof of
the desirableness at least, of having four horses to the carriage'.
Though there has BOarcely been any rain for a fortnight past, the
road through the flat valley, in a soil of stiff clay, became so
heavy that it was difficult for the four to save us from being fixed
in the mire, in which the wheels at times were sunk to the hub-.
In due time, however, we reached the stately gateway, bv which
the bread domain of Mr. M is entered This is a 9emieir-
cular strueture of white marble, with massive gates and railing
of east iron in rich pattern- : I at a cost of more than seven
thousand dollars. The drive from this to the house is a broad
avenue of closely planted mango trees. The mango i- one of
the noblest of what may be called the civilized trees of the coun-
try, in contradistinction to the natives of the forest. In its lofti-
-. roundness '•:' t"p, wide-spread limbs, and thickset folii
of deep green, it resembles the black ash of the Middle States,
more than any tree familiar t which occurs to my recollec-
tion at the moment : tl ral outline is perhaps more spreadu
It i< the 34 \s m of it- blossoms, though these are : in full
display. The flowers come out in spikes, like those of tie- hot
232 BKAZIL AND LA PLATA.
chestnut, and rise thickly over the whole tree. Their color, while
now yet in bud, varies from a light pea-green to a brownish red,
the general effect being like that of the common chestnut when
in bloom ; when fully blown, however, the flowers are white.
These, when close at hand, contrast beautifully with the dark
green of the leaf; but, at a distance, present an almost indistin-
guishable mass of whiteness.
The want of neatness and good keeping in the grounds of
Brazilian country-houses is observable, even in those of Mr.
M , though his residence is cpiite a palace, and his wealth
estimated by millions. The mansion is of stone, massively built,
and about eighty feet scjuare. The general height is two stories,
but a central section, having an ornamented pediment and entab-
lature, rises to three. It is in the Italian style, with balustrades
around the flat roof surmounted by marble vases filled with aloes.
The facade in extent and in general effect reminds me of the
President's house at Washington. A spacious portico with tcs-
selated pavements, leads into a lofty hall, from which a stain
with a double flight of steps conducts to the drawing-rooms, on the
second floor. The principal rooms of the ground floor are a din-
inf-hall, ball-room, music-room, and chapel. The views are beau-
tiful. That in front commands the entire plain, filled with the
country-houses of the rich and their surroundings, the spires and
towers of Rio, and the mountains across the bay, in the distance ;
and that in the rear, a great variety of wild mountain scenery, hi
primitive luxuriance and solitude, close at hand.
We were among the first to arrive, but were quickly followed
by a large company, among whom were many richly attired ladies.
Rich and fashionable dress is here peculiarly a passion with the
sex ; and I was tuld by a geutleman present, when speaking on
the subject, that a lady would not think of moving in general
society in Rio, without an allowance for the toilette of at least
two thousand dollars a year.
The groom being an Englishman, (he marriage as a civil con-
tract had taken place early in the day, at the British Consulate:
SCENES AT A MARRIAGE. 233
he being a Protestant also, while the bride is a Roman Catholic,
the religious rites were twofold — Romish and Protestant Episco-
pal Contrary to the usage at home, the bridal party joined
the general company in the drawing-rooms while the guests were
jembling. When all expected had arrived, Mr. M , the
adfather, who in the Romish ceremony was to give away the
bride, approached, and taking her by the hand, led the long pro-
— ion to the private chapel below. The service was performed
by the priest of the Parish, who is also the family chaplain, in
the sacerdotal robes of his grade.
It was in the Portuguese language, and much abreviated, we
were told, from the fact that one of the parties was a Protestant.
Immediately after the benediction, when the parties had been pro-
claimed man and wife, female servants in the rear of the chapel
scattered from baskets of silver, over the bride and her party, as
she turned from the altar to meet the embraces of her friends,
handfuls of freshly gathered rose-leaves and orange-blossoms.
The effect, as fluttering lightly through the air they fell in thick
showers on the group and the whole company, was poetic and
pretty.
Th> Pn • -• •.• ceremony, conducted by the Rev. Mr. Graham,
Rector of the -British church in the city, took place immediately
afterwards in the principal drawing-room, a magnificent apart-
ment, with hangings and furniture of crimson damask and dec-
orations of gold. The closing scene here, in place of the shower
of rose-leaves and orange-flowers of the chapel, was the tableau
preseuted by the bride kneeling on a rich footstool in the midst
of her bridesmaids, receiving with bowed head and tearful i
the touching blessing with which the Ki -■ opal rite ends.
The marriage-feast, of sixty covers, was served in the ball-
room, a lofty hall with decorations in white and gold. The en-
tertainment, in the display of china, glass, and plate, and of flow-
ers in vases of S - manufacture; in ornamental confectionery,
and the profusion of luxurious viands, was all that wealth in its
liberality and taste in it.> artistic exercise could command.
234 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
On shipboard, two incidents of more than commonplace inte-
rest have occurred since my last date. One is the departure for
the United States of Lieut. 11 in ill health from the effects of
the climate. In this, the wardroom mess and the ship sustain a
great loss. He is one of the most interesting young men I have
known in the service. Firm in principle, cultivated in mind, clear
in judgment, prudent in action, and accomplished in his profession,
he exhibits great symmetry of character as an officer, while the
frankness and polish of his manners, and the warmth of his affec-
tions, make him attractive as a companion and dear as a friend.
My last interview with him before he left the ship was most
gratifying to me, from the assurance it gave, that to the many
other attractions of his character there would be added, imme-
diately on his arrival home, that of openly avowed membership
with the Church of Christ. Nothing during our cruise has im-
parted to me such unfeigned satisfaction : indeed the result of our
conversation on this subject, was a joy I cannot well express.
The other incident was of a painfully different nature : one
of those outbreaks, which, so long as strong drink holds its sway
over so many seamen, no precaution or vigilance can, at all tunes,
effectually guard against on board a man-of-war. For a long
time the Congress has been under the most favorable auspices in
regard to discipline and general good conduct. Contentment,
cheerfulness, aud ready obedience, seemed to be the prevailing
feelings of the crew. But, on the evening of the 18th inst., just
as the last guests of a party— similar to that of which I gave an
account in October, had left the ship, it became known that
liquor in large quantities had been smuggled on board, and that
many of the men were intoxicated. Sixty or seventy were soon
beyond all self-control, and, maddened by rum, were most insolent
and insubordinate to the officers who attempted to restrain them
In the darkness <>f the deck, it was difficult to distinguish the
ringleaders; and alter these were secured in double irons, they
made the rest of the night hideous, by their boisterous profanity
and drunken ribaldry.
A BEPBOOF TO DESPONDENCY. 235
The investigation of the matter showed that the 'dinkey,' 1 a
small boat - i tender by the messenger-boys and servants in
oommnnicating with the shore, had inadvertently been left at!
■Btern, in place of being hoisted from the water as usual, before
dark. One or two of the crew made their way to this, and suc-
ceeded in bringing off from the shore, liquor sufficient to have
int I the whole ship's company. It was freely offered to all,
but sixty or seventy only would partake of it ; a fact speaking well
for the mass in contradistinction to the few. Still, such an
outbreak, though limited to a small number, and those the veri
vagabonds on board, is disheartening to those who believe in the
practicability of maintaining the discipline and good order of a
ship, by a rule of kindness.
The consequence of this conduct was a kind of quarantine of
the ship the next day ; no boats were allowed to leave for the
shore, and both officers and men remained on board. It was Satur-
day, and I had not sufficiently recovered from the shock before
the Sabbath, to throw off a despondency in regard to any high
nits from the preaching of the Go-pel to such hearers, or to
overcome a feeling that I was .-peaking but to the wind. There
is never a want, however, of the li.-teuing ear ; and 1 felt reproved
for my unbelief by the fir.-t chapter of the Bible read at the
service, in which occurs the declaration:
•• As the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven,
Anl return th not thither,
But watereth the earth,
And maketh it bring forth and bud,
That it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eat
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth :
I- -hall not return unto me void,
But it shall accomplish that which I please,
And it shall prosper in tl whereonto I send it.
dd of the tborn — shall rome up the fir tree,
And instead of the brier — .-hull oome up the myrtle tree.
And it shall be to the Lord for a name,
For an everlasting sign, that shall not be cut ofil"
236 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
I was the more impressed with this reproof to my despon-
dency, on returning to my room, hy accidentally falling upon a
paraphrase of the same truth, in the following verses :
" Ye who think the Truth ye sow
Lost beneath the winter's snow,
Doubt not Time's unerring law
Yet shall bring the genial thaw.
God in nature ye can trust :
Is the God of grace less just ?
Workers on the barren soil,
Yours may seem a thankless toil ;
Sick at heart with hope deferred,
Listen to the cheering word :
" Now the faithful sower grieves —
Soon he'll bind his golden sheaves."
If the Almighty have decreed —
Man may labor, yet the seed
Never in his life shall grow,
Shall the sower cease to sow ?
The fairest fruit may yet be borne
On the resurrection morn ! "
CHAPTER XX.
Montevideo.
September 3Qth. — New aspects hi the political affairs of tho
La Plata, led to the return of the Congress to this place, early
last month. Previous to our departure from Rio de Janeiro,
the U. S. steamer Susquehanna, bearing the flag of Commo-
dore Aulick, of the East Indian squadron, arrived there, bring-
ing as passengers, the Hon. Mr. Schenck, charge d'affaires at
the court of Brazil, and the Hon. Mr. Pendleton, commissioned
with the same office to the Argentine Confederation. This last
gentleman came to Montevideo in the Congress, on his way to
Buenos A\
The French Government not having sanctioned the articles of
pacification, agreed upon by Admiral Le Predour and General
Oribe, a year and more ago, the armistice between the belliger-
ent parties on shore is terminated. Hostilities are again com-
menced by the interchange of occasional shots between the out-
posts, and now and then a slight skirmish, in which a few persons
on both sides are wounded, and sometimes one or two killed.
The change would be comparatively of little importance, as
to the promise of any speedy is.-ue, were it not for simultaneous
movements connected with it, on the part of Brazil on the one
side, and two of the principal States of the Argentine Confederacy
— those of Entre-Rios and Oorrientee — on the other. By refer-
238 BKAZIL AND LA PLATA.
cnce to an atlas, it will be perceived that the chief rivers, "whose
confluent waters form the Rio de la Plata — the Uruguay, the
Parana, and the Paraguay, corresponding in their extent and
their importance to the broad valleys through which they flow
with the Ohio, the Missouri, and the Mississippi of the Northern
Continent — have their rise in Brazil, and, in their course, border
her territories for long distances. The free navigation of these is
essential to her interests. One chief object in the policy of Rosas,
however, has been to keep them closed to all foreign commerce,
that the trade of the confederacy might centre exclusively in
Buenos Ayres; and thus to enrich and aggrandize her, at the sac-
rifice of the interest both of Brazil and of the sister republics of
the confederation. All negotiation on the part of the court of
Brazil, to secure free access to the interior of the Empire by the
tributaries of the Plata, having proved abortive, that govern-
ment has determined to try the effect of arms. General Urquiza,
the President of the States of Entre-Bios and Corrientes, long
the principal coadjutor of Bosas, and the most successful and
distinguished of his soldiers, weary of his tyranny, and opposed
to his narrow-minded and selfish policy, has entered into a com-
pact with Brazil to aid in the accomplishment of her purpose.
The first object to be attained is the overthrow of Oribe, and
the consequent relief of Montevideo from siege; and thus to lay
the basis fur a joint attack on Buenos Ayres. Urquiza, with a
force of fifteen or twenty thousand Entre-Bians and Oorrientans,
is approaching in one direction ; and the Baron Caxias, having an
equal force of Brazilian infantry and artillery, in another : while
a squadron, consisting of a frigate, two sloops of war and three
steamers, under the command of Admiral Grcnfell, lias arrived
from Bio, and is at anchor near us.
'I' his determination of Urquiza, as the governor of two of the
principal Argentine States, and the public measure by which it
was avowed, have I'd to a striking proof of the mendacity, by
which it is charged that Bosas has hitherto sustained his despotic
sway. It is said, and with no little show of truth, that his whole
DEFECTION OF URQUIZA. 239
stem of government — notwithstanding the boasted patriotism,
disinterested and Belf-saerifioing toil in the public service, which
the preas and archives of the confederacy printed by his order and
uuder his immediate personal control, attribute to him — is but
a cunningly devised tissue of deception and falsity.
For yean, it has been the custom of Kosas formally to ten-
der to the representatives of the confederation, the resignation of
his office as Minister for Foreign Affairs, pleading to be released
from it. on the grounds of the great burden of the charge, his
advancinir age, broken constitution, and declining health. This
mvariably followed by the most laudatory and fulsome pane-
gyrics, from the leading members of the House, upon his charac-
ter — the value of his past services, and the necessity of their con-
tinuance, and the unanimous resolution that he shall still fill the
offiee : it being well known that not a member dare — even if he
had tli will — to move or second the acceptance of the prof-
fered resignation. The Archivo Argentine, or Government Regis-
u r, printed in English, and French, and Spanish, and sent widely
over the civilized world, is filled with the record of these political
farces. This year, however, (Jrquisa, as the President or Gover-
nor of Bntre-Rios and Corrientes, promptly accepted the resigna-
tion; and by public proclamation, released llosas from all further
charge of the foreign relations of t: - ites. The address of
B sas to the House of Representatives, in view of this detection,
has just been issued. It is strikingly characteristic of the man.
and is a curio.-ity, both as a literary production and a document
of State. As such, I furnish it to you entire, though not respon-
sible for the translation; that is by 'authority,' and is taken
from the official print.
The first two lines of the motto it bears are the prescribed
caption of every official paper, from the most important to the
most trifling; and are stamped on the badges, hitherto universally
worn by the Argentines. The third line is an addition just de-
creed. The terms " Unitarian - ' and " Federal, - ' designate the
original parties in the confederation; the first being applied to
240 BEAZIL AND LA PLATA.
those who are in favor of a consolidated government, similar to
that of the United States, and the last to those who advocate
that of the compact at present existing. Under llosas, the Uni-
tarian party became outlawed and in effect exterminated.
Long Live the Argentine Confederation !
Death to the Ruthless, Loathsome Unitarians !
Death to the Insane Traitor, the Ruthless Unitarian
Urquiza !
Palermo de San Benito, Sept. 15th, 1851 —
Year the 42d of Liberty, 3Gth of our Independence, and 22d of
the Argentine Confederation —
To the Honorable House of Representatives —
Messieurs Representatives : —
To command the Republic during a long period of agitation
and social disorder ; to save the country from fratricidal war ; to
accompany it in the glorious defence of its liberties; and contri-
bute to preserve it from the ambition of the destructive and
treacherous band of ruthless unitarians, was the eminently hon-
orable mission that the Argentine people imposed upon me, and
which I gratefully accepted with the enthusiasm and love due to
my country and to my fellow-citizens.
After a memorable epoch, in which was assigned to the Argen-
tine Confederation the glory of consolidating its independence
overwhelming its enemies; and to the undersigned, the distin-
guished honor of presiding over it; after the Republic had sup-
pressed internal anarchy and was in the enjoyment of peace, de-
veloping its elements of prosperity, I considered the moment had
arrived to resign the supreme command, to which 1 bad been ex-
alted by the spontaneous, reiterated suffrage of my countrymen,
— and I earnestly recpiested you to appoint another citizen as
my successor.
You refused to admit my fervent prayer — the inhabitants of
this province also opposed it with kind firmness, and exercising the
right of petition, begged your honors to persist iu not acceding
to my repeated tenders of resignation ; and the Provinces of the
ADDRESS 01 -41
through their Honorable
Legislatures and Governments, likewise exacted, with generous
interest, my continuation at the head of the national affairs, u
the means of insuring the present happy condition of the Kepub-
and of preparing for it a glorious future.
Overpowered by such decision, and bo much benevolence;
op] bya deep-felt gratitude toward the Argentine Federals,
yet destitute of words becomingly to express those feelings, I pre-
to your honors, to my fellow-citu I to the confeder-
ate provinces, the b of my most ardent and profound
acl. ut — I recognized with veneration the immense
debt which the magnanimous vote of the republic imposed upon
me, but unwilling to sacrifice to grateful emotions the sacred
im luntry, 1 continued vehemently yet respectfully
to demand from your honors and the confederate pi mic-
who, unbiassed by the scruph - arising from my republican
view-, oould co-operate more effi'.;; than myself, to the
randisement of our dearly bel untry.
The tranquillity which the Republic exp I, the union
which prevailed throughout it- provinces, the wisdom with which,
ameliorating its institution-, it expanded the resources of its wel-
fan the external p. ace which its loyal, upright and generous
policy toward.- all nations foreshadowed, indicated to in,- that the
moment had j 1 itself for resigning the command, without
injury to the nation.
Animated by bo cheering a conviction, I insisted in my fervid
renunciation before your honors, and the i ate Provim
B that my prayer, the sincerity of my words, and the
y of my reasons, would duly ba£ the minds of the
tine people, and induce them to: to my separation
from the supreme authority.
But while I expected this, and the undisturbed state of the
B public warranted me to entertain such hope: at thi
at, the i: unitarian (Jrquiza, rai- d
the standard of reb< Uion and anarchy. A r, with his
11
242 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
degraded sword, the bonds that unite the people of Entre-Rios
to the confederation, and to constitute himself the arbiter of the
Argentines, he ignominiously sold himself to the Brazilian Govern-
ment, that, persisting in its obstinate ambition, has invaded and
attacked, with unprecedented treachery, the territory and the
Independence of the Republics of the Plata.
In so solemn a crisis for the Argentine community, when its
loyal sons, displaying, as at all times, their renowned valor, rise
in arms to resist and chastise their enemies, avenging so many
and such scandalous outrages; when they prepare themselves with
sublime self-denial for the most honorable efforts, I have received
a new declaration from the Confederate Provinces, that perempto-
rily demands my continuance in the supreme command, and of
which you will be informed by the correspondence that I wiil
have the honor of presenting.
And since the nation so demands it of me, in such critical
moments for its trancpiillity ; since in the presence of violent for-
eign aggressions, and an unexampled rebellion, my compatriots
request me to accompany them in the post I occupy, to defend
our independence and national honor; since the Republic, exas-
perated by the audacious hostilities of the Brazilian Government,
and the treason of the ruthless Unitarians, prepares to retaliate
the war which they have precipitated; at so notable an epoch I
cannot refuse, nor do I refuse, honorable Representatives, my
continuance in the Government, provided your honors, my com-
patriots, and the Confederate Provinces consider that it may be
useful and necessary to the national welfare.
Consistently with my principles, my obligations, and n.v repu-
tation, I cheerfully defer to the call of the Republic in the actual
circumstances, and thus continuing in the supreme command, I
also will have the signal honor of accompanying m\ beloved fed-
eral compatriots, in their heroic resolution of vindicating Che
national independence and glory, attacked by the perfidious Bra-
zilian Cabinet, by the ruthless, loathsome Unitarians, and by the
despioable insane traitor, the ruthless unitarian Vnpiiza.
BETBEAT OF OBIBI. 243
In accordance with this determination, T therefore present
myself, in the Borne manner as the Loyal Argentines, resolved to
fulfil once more my reiterated pledge, of sacrificing all in defence
of the order, the liberty, and the honor of the Confederation.
My fellow-oitiseos, who have always found me participating
in their difficulties, will now find me the same, with sound and
robusl health, and always consistent with those principles. They
will sec that, if when the Republic enjoyed peace and tranquiUity,
I desired to withdraw from the supreme command, to continue
my services in Borne other subaltern post, where 1 might have
performed them to advantage, now that new enemies of the Con-
federation appear, and that the loathsome hand of the ruth I
Unitarians, headed by the insaue traitor, ruthless unitarian
[Jrquiza, dares to raise its bloody standard, here 1 am, ready at
the eall of the nation, and with energy equal to my duties, and
to the hopes of the public, willing to contend in union with the
virtuous Argentine Federals, till we have left triumphant and
eossolidated, the independence, the rights, the dignity, and tin'
future fate of the nation.
This, Messrs. Representatives, is the resolution I have adopt-
ed in view of the preet ni events and oiroumstanc
And desiring ere now to transmit it to your knowledge, I had
the honor of announcing it verbally to tiie Honorable President,
and to one of the deputy secretaries of your honorable Corpora-
tion, requesting the former, on reporting it to the Honorable
Representatives, at the firs! session they might have, to reiterate
to them my profound gratitude.
God pn serve your honor- for many years.
• i , \ M wi i.i. in-: Rosas.
October (»//<. — Affaire ire are rapidly approaohing a cri
Orihe, who led his troops westward some days ago, to meet the
advancing force of Urquisa, has been driven back into what b
n SO long hi- besieging Camp; and, cut oil both from the in-
terior and the river, he is virtually the besieged instead of the
244 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
besieger. Deserted already by some of his troops, who have
joined the advancing enemy; limited in the supply of provisions
for those who remain ; and daily more and more closely encircled.
he must speedily capitulate, or fall in an unequal conflict.
The external aspect of the region about the Mount is com-
pletely changed. Instead of the utter desertion which has hith-
erto marked it, without a sign of man or beast over its whole
extent, it now exhibits every where the animation and activity of
a bee-hive. A detachment of Urquiza's cavalry, in charge of
vast herds of cattle for the subsistence of his army, has taken
possession of the Mount; and their horses, tethered and grazing,
are passing up and dowu its sides, from the beach to the little for-
tress on the summit, and run straying about in every direction.
The intervening heights of the country, are crested with
mounted videttes, almost within gun-shot of the encampment and
batteries of Oribe, as if the force of wliieh they are the advance
guard was already in battle array; presenting, through a glass,
picturesque and striking objects, as they stand with poised lames
and fluttering pennons, in strong relief against the sky. It Was
confidently expected, from the general appearance of things, that
an assault would take place last night; but it passed without
any thing more than a random shot occasionally from a musket,
and now and then the booming of a great gun.
During the long siege of nine years, a large town, numbering
eight or ten thousand inhabitants, has grown up in the vicinity
of the encampment of Oribe. It is called " Restoraeion," in
reference to the object of this chieftain — the restoration of him-
self to supreme power, or the restoration, as he may consider it,
of peace and prosperity to the Republic. It is a port of entry,
with an open roadstead, called the Buceo, five miles east of B$en-
tei ideo. The greatest consternation prevailed there at first, when
Oribe, breaking up his encampment, marched forth to meet 1 r-
quiza, with orders for his whole force to follow : leaving Ri
cion entirely unprotected. It was industriously rumored that the
departure of his troops would be the signal for an attack ly the
VISIT TO thi: MOUNT. 245
soldiers of Montevideo) with liberty from their commanding offi-
cers of pillage and rapine. Representations of this were made
to the various foreign Bquadrons here, and a vessel of war from
each was despatched to the Buceo. to afford proteotioa to any of
the inhabitants who might seek an asylum, by flying to them.
The alarm, however, has in a great degree subsided, from the re-
turn of Oribe, and a proclamation by the Government of Monte-
video, with orders under the severest penalties, against ever}
ressioD and violence by the Boldiery in case of the occupa-
tion of the place by them.
Tin- Mount being now, for the first time since our arrival in the
Plata, free of access without an apprehension of risk or annoyance
of any kind. Captain Mcintosh gave Dr. C and me a row
in his gig to yisit it. It was a great treat to ramble freely over
the hitherto forbidden ground, and from the summit to command,
at a single glance, the topography of the whole country for miles,
as if it were a man before us : all, too, robed in the fresh and bright
8D of the opening spring. The general surface of the region
in view here, a- indeed throughout the republic, is a rolling prairie.
d now with vast herds of cattle and droves of horses, and
the rude encampments of the liberating army, in bivouac here
in tin' distance, it reminded me much of some of Cat-
lin's pictures, illustrative of Bcenes and Boenery in the Buffalo
i Indian regions of the far West. Oribe's encampments and
defences, with the town of Etestoracion and its port, were in dis-
tinct view in the east, over and beyond .Montevideo. There was
- appearance of immediate hostilities, than on the day previ-
ous. An armistice of twenty-four hours for negotiation, had
n agreed upon. The videttes and reoonnoitring parties had
been withdrawn, and the detachments of troops iii Bight were
dismounted, and lounging about among their grazing horses and
cattle. Some two or three hundred German troops, nicrccnar
in the employ of Brazil, who had arrived by water, were on the
beach immediately beneath as, in entire readiness for marching
— their baggage- cart- and other appliances of war prepared for
246 BRAZIL AND LA PLATA.
#
immediate movement. They are a fine-looking corps; young,
healthful, and fresh, enlisted in Eolstein with the expectation of
remaining in the country as settlers. The day was bright and
beautiful, and the excursion of an hour or two, exceedingly
pleasant.
October 10th. — The pacification hoped for, has actually taken
place, by the unconditional surrender of Oribe, with his entire
force, amounting to some fifteen thousand men to Urquiza. This
occurred on the *th inst., and was officially proclaimed throughout
the city the same evening. The ringing of all the bells of the
place, the firing of cannon and musketry, the setting off of rock-
ets and the glaring of bonfires, assured us on board ship of the
reality. The next morning the whole city seemed but a floating
mass of flags, thrown to the breeze from every pinnacle and house-
top, exhibiting all the colors of the rainbow, in the devices of
every civilized banner; English. French, and American, Austri-
an, Prussian and Sardinian, Peruvian and Chilian, Dutch, Monte-
videan and Brazilian. Captain Mcintosh took me early on shore
with him. A suspension of all business, and the general holiday
of a week-, had been proclaimed by the government; and the peo-
ple both within the city and without, were half mad with joy.
And well might they be, after nine years of non-intercourse —
those within, pent up fin- that length of time in the narrow lim-
its of their walls and fortified lines, and those without, cut off
from all communication with the town. The consequence has
been a general rush of men, women and children, from the town
to the country, now in all the freshness and bright verdure of
Spring; while the outsiders, so long excluded, have hastened with
like, eagerness, if not in equal numbers, to the streets and squares
of the city. The scene presented was one of great and some-
times touching excitement, in the meeting for the first time in
years, of those bound to each other in the closest ties of relation-
ship. Busbanda and wives, parents and children, brothers ami
sisters, lovers and friends, who had been thus separated, rushed
into each other's arms in the open streets. An American lady
SCENES AFTER THE PACIFICATION. 247
told me Bhe could nerer have imagined such a Bpeotacle ; and
could scarcely do any thing for the day, but atand in the balcony
of her house, alternately in laughter and in tears, at the -
coniie and tragic, taking place 
