20 CAPTAIN COOK'S VOYAGES 



ninety feet from the water. In the centre of the square is 

 a fountain supplied with water from a spring at the distance 

 of three miles, .conveyed by an aqueduct. From this 

 fountain both the shipping and inhabitants are supplied 

 with water. At every corner of the streets was an altar. 

 Negroes were almost the only people employed in selling 

 the different commodities exposed in the market, and they 

 filled up their leisure time in spinning cotton. 



The gentry keep their carriages, which were drawn by 

 mules ; the ladies, however, used a sedan chair, boarded 

 before and behind, with curtains on each side, which were 

 carried by two negroes. 



The apothecaries' shops served the purposes of a coffee- 

 house, people meeting in them to drink capillaire and play 

 at backgammon. Beggars, who infest the streets of most 

 European cities, were not to be found in this. 



With regard to the women, it was on all hands agreed, 

 that the females of the Portuguese and Spanish settlements 

 in South America, are much addicted to gallantry. Accord- 

 ing to Dr. Solander's account, as soon as the evening began, 

 females appeared on all sides in every window, and particu- 

 larized their favourites, by giving them nosegays. 



The climate of Rio de Janeiro is both agreeable and 

 healthy, being free from any inconveniences that are in- 

 cidental to other tropical countries. The air is but seldom 

 immoderately hot, as the sea breeze constantly begins to 

 blow about ten o'clock in the morning, and continues until 

 night, when it is generally succeeded by a land wind. 



The soil produces all the tropical fruits, such as oranges, 

 lemons, limes, melons, mangoes, and cocoa-nuts, in great 

 abundance. 



The mines are rich, and lie a considerable way up the 

 country. They were kept so private, that any person found 

 upon the road which led to them, was hung upon the next 

 tree, unless he could give a satisfactory account of the cause 

 of his being in that situation. Near forty thousand negroes 

 were annually imported to dig in these mines, which are so 

 pernicious to the human frame, and occasion so great a 

 mortality amongst the poor wretches employed in them, 

 that in the year 1766, twenty thousand more were drafted 

 from the town of Rio, to supply the deficiency of the former 

 number. Who can read this without emotion I 



The harbour is safe and commodious, and may be dis- 

 tinguished by a remarkable hill, in the shape of a cone, at 

 the west point of the bay. 



Thursday, December 8th, 1768, having procured all 

 necessary supplies, they left Rio. They did not meet with 

 any material occurrence from this time to the 22nd, when 



