112 WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA 



mouldy, and neglected, as though they had no 

 owner. 



The balconies, too, are of a dark and gloomy 

 appearance. They are not, in general, open, as 

 in most tropical cities, but grated like a farmer's 

 dairj^ window, though somewhat closer. 



There is a lamentable want of cleanliness in the 

 streets. The impurities from the houses, and the 

 accumulation of litter from the beasts of burden, 

 are unpleasant sights to the passing stranger. 

 He laments the want of a police as he goes along ; 

 and when the wind begins to blow, his nose and 

 eyes are too often exposed to a cloud of very 

 unsavoury dust. 



When you view the port of Pernambuco, full of 

 ships of all nations, when you know that the 

 richest commodities of Europe, Africa, and Asia 

 are brought to it; when you see immense quanti- 

 ties of cotton, dye-wood, and the choicest fruits 

 pouring into the town, you are apt to wonder at 

 the little attention these people pay to the common 

 comforts which one always expects to find in a 

 large and opulent city. However, if the inhabit- 

 ants are satisfied, there is nothing more to be said. 

 Should they ever be convinced that inconveniences 

 exist, and that nuisances are too frequent, the 

 remedy is in their own hands. At present, cer- 

 tainly, they seem perfectly regardless of them; 

 and the Captain-General of Pernambuco walks 

 through the streets with as apparent content 

 and composure as an English statesman would 

 proceed down Charing-cross. Custom reconciles 

 everything. In a week or two the stranger him- 

 self begins to feel less the things which annoyed 



