46 STATE OF SOCIETY. [1838. 



The time cannot be very far distant when Rio will become, 

 what the capital of one of the richest countries on the Amer- 

 ican Continent ought to be, as celebrated for the taste and 

 refinement of its inhabitants, as for its importance and ad- 

 vantages as a commercial city. 



A fondness for meretricious display and ornament is ex- 

 hibited by both sexes in their dress ; they endeavor to follow 

 the French mode, but are such zealous copyists that they 

 very often overdo the original. This is much better, how- 

 ever, than the opposite extreme. It is certainly more desir- 

 able that the Brazilian ladies should appear in dresses 

 powdered with jewels, or fringed with silver, or in party-col- 

 ored robes and ribbons, on the most unsuitable occasions, than 

 that they should be confined to their boudoirs — their only 

 knowledge of the world derived from occasional glimpses 

 through their half-opened jalousies, and from the balconies of 

 their apartments — or immured for life in the dark walls of a 

 convent. Ease and suavity of manners will, sooner or later, 

 follow a " reverence for Turkey carpets and ormolu." 



There is a large public library, and a well-stored museum, 

 in the city. The latter is open twice a week, and both are 

 much frequented by the inhabitants. 



One of the most interesting sights to be witnessed in Rio 

 is a funeral, particularly of one of the wealthier classes ; for 

 noverty, here as elsewhere, is rarely troubled with ceremony. 

 The body of the humble laborer or artisan is carried to the 

 Misericordia; a hasty prayer is said, a little lime sprinkled 

 over his decaying remains, and he is thrown into a trench 

 with some half-a-dozen others of the same stamp, and left to 

 his long sleep, — while his neighbor of distinction, is borne 

 to his last resting-place, attended with all the pageantry of 

 woe. His body is wrapped in satin robes, and his coffin is 

 decorated with a scarlet pall ornamented with silver lace and 

 fringe. The latter is placed on a black hearse, overhung with 

 long nodding plumes, and drawn by mules in rich trappings, 

 sometimes covered with silver hells. The driver wears a 

 cocked hat, trimmed with lace, and adorned with a black 



