"Brazilians! confide in your Emperor and Perpetual Defender, who seeks no legal powers; nor will he ever suffer those to be usurped which belong to him of right, and which are indispensable in order that you may be happy, and that this empire may fulfil the high destinies suited to its boundaries of the wide Atlantic, and the proud floods of the Plata and the Amazons. Let us await reverently the const.i.tution of the empire, and let us hope that it may be worthy of us.
"May the Supreme Disposer of the Universe grant us union and tranquillity, strength and constancy; and the great work of our liberty and independence will be accomplished.
THE EMPEROR."
9_th August_.--The day on which the Pes de Chumbo predicted an insurrection has pa.s.sed in perfect tranquillity, excepting for one melancholy accident. Their Imperial Majesties, as had been appointed, went to the Gloria church to return thanks for the Emperor"s recovery.
They were attended by the officers of state, and of the household, and as many officers of the different regiments as could attend. While the company were all on their knees, and just as the sacring-bell announced the elevation of the Host, the Chamberlain, Magalhaens, was struck with apoplexy, and died.
12_th_.--This day, as well as yesterday and the day before, there have been illuminations and dressed operas on account of the Emperor"s recovery; and to-night a vessel, prize to the squadron, arrived, bringing news of their wellbeing, and of the arrival of many prizes at Bahia and Pernambuco. As officers and men from the Imperial ships cannot be spared in sufficient numbers to work the prizes into port, Lord Cochrane makes sure of their going thither by starting the water, excepting what is sufficient for a certain number of days, and cutting away the main and mizen masts, so that they must run for the ports to leeward. Seamen will appreciate this.
_August 14th_.--I went with M. Pla.s.son, a very intelligent Frenchman, to whom I am indebted for a good deal of information about this country, to the museum, which I had seen in a hurried way, on my first visit to Rio.
It is greatly improved since I was here, both externally and internally.
The minerals of the country form the richest part of the collection. The diamonds, both colourless and black, surpa.s.s any thing I have seen; but I believe the crystals of gold to be the most precious articles here: there are several pieces of native gold, weighing three or four ounces; and some beautiful specimens of silver, as fine and as delicate as a lady"s aigrette. I confess that the fine coloured copper, and the beautiful grained iron, pleased me as well as most things: some of the latter specimens yield 99 parts of iron. These are from the mines of St.
Paul"s, and I was shown some specimens of coal, as fine as Scotch coal, that has been recently discovered in the immediate neighbourhood of those very mines. The amethysts, topazes, quartzes of all colours, are innumerable: there are beautiful jaspers with veins of gold, and all manner of gorgeous works of nature, fit for Aladdin"s cave, and the insects, especially the b.u.t.terflies, fit to flit about in it. But the other branches of natural history are not rich here. Of birds there are few of note, beyond a splendid set of toucans; and of quadrupeds, a few monkies, two fawns like the roe-deer[117], and some very curious armadillos, are all I remember. The collection of Indian weapons and dresses is incomplete, and wants arrangement: this is a pity; for by-and-by, as the wild natives adopt civilised habits, these will be unattainable. The African curiosities are scarcely better kept, but some of them are very curious in their kind. One very remarkable one is a king"s dress made of ox-gut, not in the state _le valliant des cubes_, but carefully cleaned and dried, as we do bladders. It is then split longitudinally, and the pieces sewed together, each seam being set with tufts or rather fringes of purple feathers; so that the vest is light, impervious to rain, and highly ornamental from its rich purple stripes.
There is another entirely of rich Mazarine blue feathers; a sceptre most ingeniously wrought of scarlet feathers; and a cap of bark, with a long projecting beak in front, and a quant.i.ty of coloured feathers and hair behind, ornamented with beads. Besides all these things, there is the throne of an African prince of wood, beautifully carved. I could wish, since the situation of Brazil is so favourable for collecting African costume, that there were a room appropriated to these things, as they are curious in the history of man.
[Note 117: I have eaten of the venison, and it is like roe-deer.]
_15th_.--The feast of Our Lady of the a.s.sumption, called here Nossa Senhora da Gloria, the patroness of the Emperor"s eldest child, is celebrated to-day, and of course the whole of the royal family attended Ma.s.s in the morning and evening. I was spending the day with Mrs. May, at her pleasant house on the Gloria hill, and we agreed to go in the afternoon to see the ceremony. The church is situated on a platform, rather more than half way up a steep eminence overlooking the bay. The body is an octagon of thirty-two feet diameter; and the choir, of the same shape, is twenty-one feet in diameter. We entered among a great crowd of persons, and placed ourselves within the choir; and shortly afterwards the Imperial party entered, and I was not disagreeably surprised at being most pleasantly recognised. The salutation, as this evening"s service is called, was well performed as to music, and very short: after it, for the first time, I heard a Portuguese sermon. It was of course occasional. The text, 1 Kings, chap. ii. ver. 19.--"And the king rose up to meet his mother, and bowed himself unto her, and sat down on his throne, and caused a seat to be set for the "king"s mother, and she sat on his right hand." The application of this text to the legend of the a.s.sumption is obvious, and occupied the first division of the discourse. The second part consisted in an application of the history of the early part of Solomon"s reign to the present circ.u.mstances of Brazil; the restoration of the kingdom, the triumph over faction, and the inst.i.tution of laws, forming the grounds of comparison. The whole people of Brazil were called upon to join in thanksgiving and prayers to the Virgin of Glory: thanksgiving that she had given to her people, as rulers, the descendants of the Emanuels, the Johns, and the Henrys of Portugal, and of the Maria Theresas of Austria; and prayers that she would continue her gracious protection, and that most especially to the eldest hope of Brazil, named after her and dedicated to her. The whole was gravely and properly done, with as little of the appearance of flattery to the ill.u.s.trious persons present as possible, and did not last above fifteen minutes. On this occasion, the veadors, and other persons attendant on the Imperial family, wore white silk surplices, and bore torches in their hands.
I went in the evening to a ball and concert at the Baronesa de Campos: on entering, I was met by the young ladies of the family, and led up to their grandmother; and after paying my compliments to her, I was placed among the division of the family where I had most acquaintance. There were only two Englishwomen besides Lady Cochrane and myself, and these were the wives of the consul and the commissioner for the slave business. A foreign gentleman present remarked, that though we were but four, we hardly conversed together. This was perfectly true: I like, when I am in foreign society, to talk to foreigners; and think it neither wise nor civil to form coteries with those of one"s own nation in such cases. Several rooms were open, for cards; the stakes, I fancy, were high. The tea-room was no sooner full, than tea was handed round; and I perceived that some of the older servants, with great respect indeed, spoke to such of the guests as they were acquainted with. After tea, I had the pleasure of again hearing Dona Rosa sing, and almost grudged my gayer companions their ball, which broke in upon that "sober certainty of waking bliss," which music inspires into all, and especially to those who have known sorrow. I am no musician; but sweet sounds, especially those of the human voice, whether in speaking or singing, have a singular power over me.
After the first dance was over, we walked all about the house, and found a magnificent dining-room as to size, but scarcely furnished to correspond with the rest of the house; the bed-rooms and dressing-rooms of the ladies are neat and elegantly fitted up with English and French furniture; and all as different as possible from the houses I saw in Bahia. I am told that they are likewise as different from what they were here twenty years since, and can well believe it; even during the twelve months of my absence from Rio, I see a wonderful polishing has taken place, and every thing is gaining an European air.
I took the liberty of remarking to one of the ladies, the extreme youth of some of the children who accompanied their mothers this evening; and saying, that in England we should consider it injurious to them in all respects. She asked me what we did with them. I told her that some of them would be in bed, and others with their nurses and governesses. She said we were happy in that: but that here, there were no such persons, and that the children would be left to the care and example of the slaves, whose manners were so depraved, and practices so immoral, that it must be the destruction of the children; and that those who loved their children must keep them under their own eyes, where, if they were brought too forward in company, they at least could learn no ill. I love to collect these proofs of the evils of slavery--even here where it exists in a milder form than in most countries.--I left the dancers busily engaged at twelve o"clock, and I heard that they continued the ball until three. There is no peculiarity in the dancing here; the ladies of Rio being like ourselves, the pupils of the French, in that branch of the fine arts.
_19th_.--Sir T. Hardy gave a ball and supper to English, French, and Brazilians: where every thing was handsome, and well-ordered; and every body pleased.
_20th_.--I had long wished to see a little more of the neighbourhood of Rio than I have hitherto done; and had resolved on riding at least to Santa Cruz, about fourteen leagues from hence, and as the road is too well travelled to fear extraordinary accidents, and I am not timid as to common inconveniences, I had determined to hire a black attendant and go alone. This determination, however, was over-ruled by Mr. and Mrs. May, whose brother, Mr. Dampier, kindly offered to escort me. I confess I was very glad to be relieved of the absolute charge of myself, and not a little pleased to have the society of a well-bred, intelligent young man, whose taste for the picturesque beauties of nature agrees with my own.--I think that if there is one decided point in which fellow-travellers agree, however different in age, temper, or disposition, there may always be peace and pleasant conversation, more especially, if, as is our case, they travel on horseback. A difference of opinion is so easily evaded by a reference to one"s horse, which may always go too fast or too slow, or exercise one"s tongue or one"s whip without any offence to one"s two-legged companion.--We were well tried to-day. I had taken it into my head, that after having postponed our journey from week to week on one account or an other, if we did not begin it this day we never should go at all: and, therefore, though the afternoon was most unpromising, we left Mr. May"s at half-past four o"clock, that we might reach Campinha, the first stage, to sleep; for, alas! these horses are not like my Chilian steeds, that would carry me twenty leagues a day without complaining. We mounted then, Mr. Dampier on a tall bay horse high in bone, with a brace of pistols buckled round him, in a huge straw hat, and a short jacket; I on a little grey horse, my boat-cloak over my saddle; otherwise dressed as usual, with a straw riding hat, and dark grey habit; and our attendant Antonio, the merriest of negroes, on a mule, with Mr. Dampier"s portmanteau behind, and my bag before him.--We proceeded by the upper part of the town, and along the well-trodden road to San Cristovao, and after crossing the little hill to the left of the palace, entered on a country quite new to me. From the western side of the entrance to Rio Janeiro, a high mountainous ridge extends close to the sea, as far as the Bay of Angra dos Reyes, formed by Ilha Grande and Marambaya. On the northern side of this ridge there is a plain, here and there varied by low hills, extending quite to the most inland part of Rio de Janeiro, and reaching in a winding direction to the bay of Angra dos Reyes: itself having probably at no very remote period been covered with water, connecting these two bays, and insulating the mountains above mentioned. Along this plain our road lay between grand scenery on the one hand, and soft and beautiful landscape on the other; but to-night all was dark and louring; the tops of the mountains were wrapped in mists, that rushed impetuously down their sides, or through their clefts, and every now and then a hollow sound of wind came from out of them, though the blast did not quite reach us. Under this sort of cloud we pa.s.sed the picturesque Pedragulha, and the little port of Benefica, formed by a creek of the Rio. By the time we reached Praya Pequena, where a good deal of produce is embarked for the city, the clouds had closed dully in, and the grand mountain mists had lost their character. Still we went on, leaving the bay entirely: and first we pa.s.sed the Venda Grande, where every necessary for horse or man travelling, is to be sold; then the Capon do Bispo, a pretty village, which the rain clouds made me long to stop at; and then the stone bridge of Rio de Ferreira, where the rain at length began to fall in large cold drops; then tremendous gusts of wind came out of the mountain gaps, and long before we reached the Casca d"ouro, the protection of cloaks and umbrellas had ceased to avail. There we might have stopped; but having been told that the Venda of Campinha was the best resting-place, we resolved to proceed, and with some pains prevailed on my horse to go on: we reached the venda. But if it be delightful, after a long wet ride in a dark and boisterous night, to arrive at a place of rest, it is at least as wretched to be turned from the door where you hope to find shelter, with dripping clothes and shivering limbs; yet such was our fate. There was nothing at the venda to eat, no place for us, none for our horses, and so we set out again to brave the pitiless storm; a few yards, however, brought us to a low cottage on the road side, and there we knocked. A mulatto serving-man came round cautiously to reconnoitre from the back of the house, when having ascertained that we really were English travellers benighted and wet, the front door was opened, and we found within a middle-aged very kind-looking woman, and her little daughter; her name is Maria Rosa d"Acunha. Her husband and son were absent on business, and she and the little girl were alone. As soon as we had changed our wet clothes, and had provided for the horses, which our hostess put into an empty building, she gave us warm coffee, bread and cheese, and extended her hospitable care to the negro. She gave Mr. Dampier her son"s bed, and made up a couch for me in the room where she and the child slept. These people are of the poorest cla.s.s of farmers, not possessing above four or five slaves, and working hard themselves. They appear happy however, and I am sure are very hospitable.
_21st_.--This morning looked at least as threatening as yesterday, but we determined to go as far as the Engenho dos Affonsos, for whose owner, Senhor Joam Marcus Vieira, we had letters from a friend in town.
Accordingly we took leave of our kind hostess, who had made coffee early for us, and proceeded along a league of very pretty road to the Affonsos. Where that estate joins Campinha there is a large tiled shed where we found a party of travellers, apparently from the mines, drying their clothes and baggage after the last night"s storm. A priest, and two or three men apparently above the common, appeared to be the masters of the party; the baggage was piled up on one side of the shed, and the arms were stuck into the cordage which bound it. There was a great fire in the middle, where a negro was boiling coffee, and several persons round drying clothes. Generally speaking, the men we met on their way from the mines are a fine, handsome race, lightly and actively made.
Their dress is very picturesque. It consists of an oval cloak, lined and bordered with some bright colour such as rose or apple green, worn as the Spanish Americans wear the poncho. The sides are often turned up over the shoulders, and display a bright coloured jacket below. The breeches are loose, and reach to the knee, and loose boots of brown leather are frequently seen on the better sort, though it is very common to see the spurs upon the naked heel, and no boot or shoe of any kind.
The higher cla.s.ses have generally handsome pistols or great knives, the others content themselves with a good cudgel. A short league from the last house of Campinha, brought us to Affonsos, where we presented our letter, and were most kindly welcomed.--The estate belongs in fact to the grandmother of Senhor Joao Marcus, who is a native of St.
Catherine"s, and a widow. His mother, and sister, and brother, and two dumb cousins also reside here, but he is only an occasional visitor, being married, and living near his wife"s family. The dumb ladies, no longer young, are very interesting; they are extremely intelligent, understanding most things said in Portuguese by the motion of the lips, so that their cousin spoke in French, when he wished to say any thing of them; they make themselves understood by signs, many of which, I may say most, would be perfectly intelligible to the pupils of Sicard or Braidwood. They are part of a family of eight children, four of whom are dumb, the dumb and the speakers being born alternately. One of them made breakfast for us, which consisted of coffee, and various kinds of bread and b.u.t.ter.
After breakfast, as the day continued cold and showery, we were easily prevailed on by our host to remain all day at Affonsos. I was indeed glad of the opportunity of spending a whole day with a country family.
The first place we visited after breakfast was the sugar-mill, which is worked by mules. The machinery is rather coa.r.s.e, but seems to answer its purpose.
The estate employs 200 oxen and 180 slaves as labourers, besides those for the service of the family. The produce is somewhere about 3000 arobas of sugar, and 70 pipes of spirits. The lands extend from Tapera, the place where we met the travellers, and where 200 years ago there was an aldea of reclaimed Indians, about a league to Piraquara. There are about forty white tenants who keep vendas, and other useful shops on the borders of the estate near the roads, and exercise the more necessary handicrafts. But a small portion of the estate is in actual cultivation, the rest being covered with its native woods; but these are valuable as fuel for the sugar-furnaces, and timber for machinery, and occasionally for sale. The owners of estates prefer hiring either free blacks, or negroes let out by their masters[118], to send into the woods, on account of the numerous accidents that happen in felling the trees, particularly in steep situations. The death of an estate negro is the loss of his value, of a hired negro, only that of a small fine; and of a free black, it is often the saving even of his wages, if he has no son to claim them.
[Note 118: The wages from a patac and half to two patacs per day, besides food.]
Wheat does not grow in this part of Brazil, though in the southern and inland mountainous districts it thrives admirably. The luxury of wheaten bread is introduced everywhere, North America furnishing the flour.
Wherever one travels in this neighbourhood, one is sure of excellent rusk at every venda, though soft bread is rare.
The sugar-canes are planted here during the months of March, April, May, and even June and July. In the ridges between them maize and kidney-beans are planted, the cultivation of which is favourable to the sugar-cane: first the beans are gathered in, when the ground is weeded, and cleared, and loosened around the roots of the canes; then the maize is pulled, when a second weeding and clearing takes place; after which the sugar is tall enough to shade the ground, and prevent the growth of weeds. The first canes are ripe about May. The Cayenne cane yields best, and thrives in low grounds, the soil a mixture of sand and loam. The Creole cane takes the hill, and, though less productive, is supposed to yield sugar of a better quality. The cool months from May to September are the properest for boiling sugar. After October, the canes yield less juice by one-eighth, sometimes by one-fourth, and nearly as much more is lost in claying by the lightness of the sugar, the pots of three arobas not returning after the operation more than two and a half at most. The clay used in refining the sugar is dug close to the mill; it feels soft and fat in the fingers. It is placed in a wooden trough, with a quant.i.ty of lie made by steeping the twigs of a small shrub, which has a taste of soda[119], and worked up and down with a machine, something like a churn-staff, until it is of the consistence of thick cream, when it is ready for use. I suppose that the main business of expressing the juice, boiling it, and drying the sugars, as well as cleansing them, are carried on here as in every part of the world, though probably there may be some difference in every country, or even in every sugar-work; nor can the distilling the spirits be very different. Nothing is wasted in a sugar-house; the trash that remains after the canes are pressed, when dried, a.s.sists as fuel in heating the furnaces; the sweet refuse water that runs off from the still is eagerly drank by the oxen, who always seem to fatten on it.
[Note 119: This is brought to the Engenhos of the district from the lake of Jacarepagua. I had no opportunity of seeing the whole plant.]
By the time we had examined the sugar-work, and seen the garden, it was two o"clock, and we were summoned to dinner. Every thing was excellent in its kind, with only a little more garlic than is used in English cookery. On the side-table there was a large dish of dry farinha, which the elder part of the family called for and used instead of bread. I preferred the dish of farinha moistened with broth, not unlike brose, which was presented along with the bouillie and sliced saussage after the soup. The mutton was from the estate, small and very sweet. Every thing was served up on English blue and white ware. The table-cloths and napkins were of cotton diaper, and there was a good deal of plate used, but not displayed. After dinner some of the family retired to the siesta; others occupied themselves in embroidery, which is very beautiful, and the rest in the business of the house, and governing the female in-door slaves, who have been mostly born on the estate, and brought up in their mistress"s house. I saw children of all ages and colours running about, who seemed to be as tenderly treated as if they had been of the family. Slavery under these circ.u.mstances is much alleviated, and more like that of the patriarchal times, where the purchased servant became to all intents one of the family. The great evil is, that though perhaps masters may not treat their slaves ill, they have the power of doing so; and the slave is subject to the worst of contingent evils, namely, the caprice of a half-educated, or it may be an ill-educated master. Were all slaves as well off as the house slaves of Affonsos, where the family is constantly resident, and nothing trusted to others, the state of the individuals might be compared with advantage to that of free servants. But the best is impossible, and the worst but too probable; since the unchecked power of a fallible being may exercise itself without censure on its slaves.
One of the dumb ladies made tea, and afterwards we pa.s.sed a couple of hours at a round game of cards, where the sisters felt themselves quite on an equality with the speakers, and enjoyed themselves accordingly. I remember an account given by Bishop Burnet in his Travels, of a dumb lady who had invented a way of communicating with her sister, even in the dark, before the instruction of such unfortunate persons had become an object of public attention. Some such method these ladies possess of discoursing together, and of making themselves understood by their young cousin, an intelligent girl, who is always at hand to interpret for them. They have also invented arbitrary signs for the names of the flowers and plants in their garden, which signs all the family know; and I was delighted with the quickness and precision with which they conversed on every subject within their knowledge.
The cards made way for the supper, a meal almost as ceremonious, and quite as constant, as the dinner. After it, toasted cheese was introduced, with girdle cakes of farinha freshly toasted, and spread with a very little Irish b.u.t.ter; they are the same as the Casava bread of the West Indies, but prepared here are more like Scotch oat-cakes.
On retiring to my room at night, a handsome young slave entered, with a large bra.s.s pan of tepid water, and a fringed towel over her arm, and offered to wash my feet. She seemed disappointed when I told her I never suffered any body to do that for me, or to a.s.sist me in undressing at any time. In the morning she returned, and removing the foot bath, brought fresh towels, and a large embossed silver basin and ewer, with plenty of tepid water; which she left without saying a word, and told her mistress I was a very quiet person, and, she supposed, liked n.o.body but my own people, so she would not disturb me.
_Friday, August 22d_.--The day as fine as possible; and after breakfast we pursued our journey to Santa Cruz, the road improving in beauty as we proceeded.
"Here lofty trees to ancient song unknown, The n.o.ble sons of potent heat, and floods p.r.o.ne rushing from the clouds, rear"d high to heav"n Their th.o.r.n.y stems, and broad around them threw Meridian gloom."
And above all these the mountains rose in the distance, and lower hills more near, between which, long valleys stretched themselves till the eye could follow them no farther; and the foregrounds were filled up with gigantic aloes, streams, and pools, and groups of pa.s.sing cattle and their picturesquely clad conductors. Near Campo Grande, the scenery is diversified by several little green plains, with only an insulated tree here and there, decorated with air plants in bloom, and scarlet creepers. Beyond this lies one of the most beautiful spots I ever saw, namely, Viaga; where the rocks, trees, plains, and buildings, seem all placed on purpose to be admired. Having loitered a little to admire it, we rode on to the New Freguezia of Sant Antonio, where we stopped at a very neat venda to rest and feed our horses. The church is on a little hill, overlooking a very pretty country and a neat village, but the greater part of the parish is very distant. While the horses were eating their maize, we procured for ourselves some rusk, cheese from the province of Minas exactly like Scotch kebbuck, and port wine from the cask of excellent quality. These provisions are always to be had, with beans, bacon, and dried beef. But the hospitality of a Brazilian inn does not extend to cooking food for travellers, who generally carry the utensils for that purpose with them, and who in some shed attached to the inn cook for themselves, and generally sleep in the same shed. At Sant Antonio there are decent sleeping-rooms provided with benches and mats, to which the guests add what bedding they please; but travellers commonly wrap themselves in their cloaks, and so rest. As soon as our horses were ready, we rode on to Mata Paciencia, the engenho of Dona Mariana, the eldest daughter of the Baroness de Campos, and to whom we had a letter of introduction. Here we met with a most polite reception from a handsome ladylike woman, whom we found attending to her engenho, which is indeed an interesting one. We were received at first by the chaplain, a polite and well-informed person; and with him was the chaplain of Santa Cruz, who having been formerly a professor in the college at Rio, is commonly known by the name of the Padre Mestre.
Dona Mariana led us into the engenho, where we had seats placed near the rollers, which are worked by an eight-horse power steam-engine, one of the first, if not the very first, erected in Brazil. There are here 200 slaves, and as many oxen, in constant employ. The steam-engine, besides the rollers in the sugar-house, moves several saws; so that she has the advantage of having her timber prepared almost without expense. While we were sitting by the machine, Dona Mariana desired the women, who were supplying the canes, to sing, and they began at first with some of their own wild African airs, with words adopted at the moment to suit the occasion. She then told them to sing their hymns to the Virgin; when, regularly in tune and time, and with some sweet voices, the evening and other hymns were sung; and we accompanied Dona Mariana into the house, where we found that while we had been occupied in looking at the machinery, the boilers, and the distillery, dinner had been prepared for us, though it was long after the family hour. On our departure, we were hospitably pressed to return on our way back to Rio, which we, "nothing loath," promised to do.
It was quite dark long before we reached Santa Cruz, and exceedingly cold: when there, we easily found the house of the gentleman to whom we had a letter of introduction, the Capitao de Fragata Joam da Cruz de Reis, who is the superintendant of the palace and estate. The Visconde do Rio Seco had kindly furnished us with this letter, and mentioned that the object of the journey was mere curiosity, so that the Capitao told us that he would next day do all he could to satisfy us. Soon after our arrival, several persons dropped in to converse half an hour; among the rest, a surgeon, who comes from Rio once a year to vaccinate the children born in the twelve-months on the estate. The Padre Mestre and another friar also came in; and I soon found that Santa Cruz has its politics and gossip as well as the city, all the difference being in a little more or less refinement. Nothing can exceed the good-humoured hospitality of our host and hostess, who soon made us feel quite at home; and by the time tea was over, we were quite initiated into all the ways of the house and the village.
_Sat.u.r.day, 23d_.--The morning was excessively cold but clear, and the view of the extensive plains of Santa Cruz, with the herds of cattle upon it, most magnificent. The pasture, which extends many leagues on each side of the little hill on which the palace and village are situated, is here and there varied by clumps of natural wood; the horizon extends to the sea in one direction, and every where else the view is bounded by mountains or woody hills. The palace itself occupies the site of the old Jesuits" college. Three sides are modern: the fourth contains the handsome chapel of the very reverend fathers, and a few tolerable apartments. The new part was built for King John VI., but the works were stopped on his departure. The apartments are handsome, and comfortably furnished. In this climate hangings, whether of paper or silk, are liable to speedy decay from damp and insects. The walls are therefore washed with a rich creamy white clay, called Taboa Tinga[120], and cornices and borders painted on them in distemper. Some of these are exceedingly beautiful in design, and generally very well executed, the arabesques of the friezes being composed of the fruits, flowers, birds, and insects of the country. One of the rooms represents a pavilion; and between the open pilasters, the scenery round Santa Cruz is painted, not well indeed, but the room is pleasant and cheerful. The artists employed were chiefly mulattoes and creole negroes.
[Note 120: Taboa tinga, a very fine white clay, proper for making porcelain, very abundant in Brazil, and, as far as I can judge, the same as is found in the valleys of Chile.]
After breakfast, we rode along the causeway that crosses the plain of Santa Cruz, to the Indian aldea of San Francisco Xavier de Itaguahy, commonly called Taguahy, formed by the Jesuits not very long before their expulsion. The situation of the aldea and church is extremely fine; on the summit of a hill overlooking a rich plain, watered by a navigable river, and surrounded by mountains. We entered several of the huts of the Indians, whom I had understood to be of the Guaranee nation.
I enquired of one of the women, in whose hut I sat down, if she knew whence her tribe came: she said no; she had been brought, when a mere child, from a great distance to Taguahy, by the fathers of the company; that her husband had died when she was young; that she and her daughters had always lived there; but her sons and grandsons, after the fathers of the company went, had returned to their fathers, by which she meant that they had resumed their savage life. This is not surprising. The Indians here must work for others, and become servants; a state they hardly distinguish from slavery. Besides, slaves are plentiful; and as the negro is hardier than the Indian, his labour is more profitable; therefore, a willing Indian does not always find a master. The produce of his little garden, or his fishing, is rarely sufficient for his family; and without the protection of the priest, whose chief favour was procuring constant occupation, the half-reclaimed savage droops, and flies again to the liberty of his forest, to his unrestrained hunting and fishing. The Chilian Indians rarely or never return to their forests when their villages are once formed; but that depends on circ.u.mstances, which have nothing in common with the state of Brazil. Many of the Indian women have married the creole Portuguese; intermarriages between creole women and Indian men are more rare. The children of such couples are prettier, and appear to me to be more intelligent, than the pure race of either. The Indian huts at Taguahy are very poor; barely sufficient in walls and roof to keep out the weather, and furnished with little besides hammocks and cooking utensils; yet we were every where asked to go in and sit down: all the floors were cleanly swept, and a log of wood or a rude stool was generally to be found for a seat for the stranger, the people themselves squatting on the ground.
At the foot of the hill of Taguahy there is a very fine ingenho, sold by King Joam VI. to one de Barros; the rollers are worked by a horizontal water-wheel about twenty-two feet in diameter, turned by the little stream Taguahy. The quant.i.ty of sugar made in a given time is something more than that produced by the steam-engine at Mata Paciencia, the number of slaves employed being the same.
After we had admired the neatness of the engenho and the beauty of the situation sufficiently, we left Taguahy to return to Santa Cruz, and re-crossed the river Guandu, where there is a guard-house by the bridge, where pa.s.ses from the police are required from ordinary travellers; but as we had a servant from Santa Cruz with us, we were not questioned. The Guandu rises in the mountain of Marapicu, in the barony of Itanhae; and having received the Tingui, it pa.s.ses to the engenho of Palmares, occupied by the Visconde de Merendal; where there is a wharf where the produce of the neighbouring estates is embarked, and conveyed to Sepetiva, a little port in the bay of Angra dos Reyes, where it is shipped for Rio, the pa.s.sage thither being generally of twenty-four hours.
In 1810 there was an intention of uniting the Guandu with the Itaipu by a short ca.n.a.l; by which means the produce, not only of this district, but of the Ilha Grande, would have been conveyed directly to Rio, without the risk of the navigation outside of the harbour: I know not why the project was abandoned.
Every time I pa.s.s through a grove in Brazil, I see new flowers and plants, and a richness of vegetation that seems inexhaustible. To-day I saw pa.s.sion-flowers of colours I never observed before; green, pink, scarlet, and blue: wild pine apples, of beautiful crimson and purple: wild tea, even more beautiful than the elegant Chinese shrub: marsh-palms, and innumerable aquatic plants, new to me: and in every little pool, wild-ducks, water-hens, and varieties of storks, were wading about in graceful pride. At every step I am inclined to exclaim with the minstrel--
"Oh nature, how in every charm supreme!
Whose votaries feast on raptures ever new: Oh, for the voice and fire of seraphim To paint thy glories with devotion due!"
After dinner I walked about a little in the village of the negroes.
There are, I believe, about fifteen hundred on the estate, the greater part of whom belong to the outlying farms or feitorias, of which there are, I believe, three; Bom Jardin, Piperi, and Serra: these yield coffee, feijoa, and maize. The immediate neighbourhood of Santa Cruz is appropriated to the rearing of cattle, of which there are this year about four thousand head; and a good deal of pasture land is annually let. The negroes of Santa Cruz are not fed and clothed by the Emperor, but they have their little portions of land; and they have half of Friday, all Sat.u.r.day and Sunday, and every holiday, to labour for themselves; so that they at most work for their master four days, in return for their house and land; and some even of the external marks of slavery are removed, as the families feed and clothe themselves without the master"s interference. The Emperor has appropriated great part of a very commodious building, erected by his father for the royal stud, to the purpose of an hospital. I visited it, and found a white surgeon and black a.s.sistant; decent beds, and well-ventilated apartments: the kitchen was clean, and the broth, which was all I found cooked at the time of night when I was there, good: there were about sixty patients, most of them merely for sores in their feet, some from giggers, others a sort of leprosy from working in damp grounds, and a few with elephantiases; fevers are very rare; pulmonary complaints not uncommon.
Several of the inmates of the hospital were there merely from old age; one was insane; and there was a large ward of women, with young children: so that, on the whole, I consider the hospital as affording a proof of the healthiness of the negroes of Santa Cruz.
_Sunday, 24th_, presented a very respectable congregation on its way to the chapel of Santa Cruz. There were all the officers belonging to the palace, with their wives and families; also the shopkeepers of the village and neighbourhood, besides a good many of the negro people; all of them, I think, better dressed than persons of the same cla.s.s elsewhere in this part of Brazil.
I walked up to the tea-gardens, which occupy many acres of a rocky hill, such as I suppose may be the favourite _habitat_ of the plant in China.
The introduction of the culture of tea into Brazil was a favourite project of the King Joam VI., who brought the plants and cultivators at great expense from China. The tea produced both here and at the botanic gardens is said to be of superior quality; but the quant.i.ty is so small, as never yet to have afforded the slightest promise of paying the expense of culture. Yet the plants are so thriving, that I have no doubt they will soon spread of themselves, and probably become as natives. His Majesty built Chinese gates and summer-houses to correspond with the destination of these gardens; and, placed where they are, among the beautiful tea-shrubs, whose dark shining leaves and myrtle-like flowers fit them for a parterre, they have no unpleasing effect. The walks are bordered on either hand with orange trees and roses, and the garden hedge is of a beautiful kind of mimosa; so that the China of Santa Cruz forms really a delightful walk. The Emperor, however, who perceives that it is more advantageous to sell coffee and buy tea, than to grow it at such expense, has discontinued the cultivation.
Our hospitable friends the Capitao and his lady would not allow us to leave them till after dinner, having invited several persons to do honour to us, and to a sumptuous feast they had prepared, where every good thing that can be named was present. However, due honour having been done to the table, we took our leave; and at about four o"clock or a little earlier set off for Mata Paciencia, where we arrived a little before sunset.
On our arrival we went with Dona Mariana and the chaplain into the garden, which unites the flower, kitchen-garden, and orchard in one.
Oranges and roses, cabbage and tobacco, melons and leeks, neighboured each other, as if they belonged to the same climate; and all were thriving among numbers of weeds, of which the wholesome calliloo and the splendid balsam attracted my eye most. A side-door in the garden let us into a beautiful field, whither chairs were brought, that we might sit and enjoy the freshness of the evening. Overhanging that field there is a steep hill, on whose side a great deal of wood has been cleared away, and the gardens and coffee plots of the negroes occupy the ground. This day--and blessed be the Sabbath!--is the negroes" own: after morning Ma.s.s they are free to do their own will; and then most of them run to the hill to gather their coffee or maize, or prepare the ground for these or other vegetables. They were just beginning to return from the wood, each with his little basket laden with something of his own, something in which the master had no share; and again and again as they pa.s.sed me, and displayed with glistening eye the little treasure, I blessed the Sabbath, the day of freedom to the slave. Presently the last few stragglers dropped in. The sun by this time was only the tops of the hills. The cattle flocked in from the pasture, and lowed impatiently at the gate of the corral: we opened it, and pa.s.sed in with them, and crossed the court where the negroes live. All was bustle there: they were bargaining with a huckster, who, knowing the proper hour, had arrived to buy the fresh-picked coffee. Some sold it thus; others chose to keep it and dry it, and then to take the opportunity of one of the lady"s messengers to town and send it thither, where it sells at a higher price. I do not know when I have pa.s.sed so pleasant an evening.