786 ANNUAL REGISTER, ISOo. 



on foot ; they go out in parties, and 

 the men, stationing themselves, 

 strike at the deer as they pass, or 

 shoot at them with guns. 



Manners, Customs, and Character of 

 the Natives of Brasil. (From the 

 same.) 



The entrance of the harhour of 

 Rio de Janeiro, is narrow for about 

 a quarter of a mile ; it thence wi- 

 dens into a secure bason, which at 

 the town is five miles in breadth, 

 and extends inland beyond the reach 

 of the eye ; several fruitful islets 

 are SGattcrcd on each side, which, 

 covered with loaded orange trees, 

 almost realize the fiction of the gar- 

 dens of the Ilcspcrides. 



The shores which surround the 

 harbour are vastly mountainous, 

 forming abrupt and craggy preci- 

 pices, of the most wild and extraor- 

 dinary shapes ; Nature seems to 

 Lave sported in the formation of 

 this her ia«t work, and to have com- 

 bined all the fanciful forms, which 

 she scattered more sparingly over 

 the old continent. The entrance of 

 the harbour is pointed out by a 

 towering clitf, on the south side ris- 

 ing perptTulicularly from tlie sea ; 

 while at the head of the port, the 

 mountains rise into higher eleva- 

 tions, and present forms more stri- 

 kingly singular ; 



Rocks rich with gems, and mountains hig 

 wirh mines, 



■Whence niaiiY a burstii>g stream aurife- 

 rous plays, 



are here seen, now faintly peeping 

 from behind the intervening clouds, 

 and now presenting their dark blue 

 summit above the flaky vapours 

 tJiart roll along their sides. 

 1 



These mountains consist entirely 

 of granite, forming an adamantine 

 barrier to the waters of the Ocean ; 

 they are clothed, in every part where 

 the least soil can remain, with trees 

 and shrubs of various kinds ; and 

 even to the naked rock vegetables 

 are seen to adhere, which ai)pear 

 to derive their nourishment from 

 the moisture of the air alone ; her* 

 are many picturesque vallies, nar- 

 row, but winding along the base of 

 the mountains, from the shores of 

 the harbour, to some distance in- 

 land. These glens are super-cmi- 

 ncntly fruitful, from the combined 

 causes of superior heat and mois- 

 ture ; the first proceeding from the 

 reflected heat of the sun, confined 

 in a narrow space, and the latter 

 produced by the condensation of 

 the vapours attracted by that heat, 

 or driven by the winds against th« 

 mountains' sides. The numerous 

 little coves at the entrance of thes* 

 glens are bordered with beaches of 

 the finest sand, whero fishermen 

 have ere6ted their dwellings, and 

 whicU, viewing them from without, 

 have all the apparent neatness of 

 our best f]nglish villages ; but, too 

 soon we find, on entering them, that 

 this is the mere eirect of white-wash, 

 and that Avitbin they are the habi- 

 tations of sloth and nastiness. The 

 town of St. Sebastian is built entire- 

 ly of granite, which appears to b« 

 the only stone found here, except a 

 «pfcies of black and white marble. 

 From the bay the appearance of <h« 

 town is not inelegant, but the de- 

 ception vanishes on a nearer ap- 

 proach ; the streets, though straight 

 and regular, are narrow and dirty, 

 the projecting balconies sometimesv 

 nearly meeting each other ; the 

 houses are commonly two stories 

 Uigb, independent of the ground 



floofs, 



