EIO AND ITS ENVIRONS. 191 



and is suppoi'ted within the bay by other defensive works crossing the promontories 

 on both sides. The elongated islet of ViUegagnon facing the city proper is also forti- 

 fied and used as a marine barracks and outpost of the arsenal which occupies the 

 nearest headland over half a mile distant. 



ViUegagnon, formerly Serigipe (tScrgij)e) marks ihe site of the first European 

 settlement by the Huguenot adventurer who here erected Fort Coligny in lÔoô. 

 A few years later the victorious Portuguese captain, Estacio de Sa, established 

 himself on the mainland near the Pao d'Assucar. After his death this military 

 station was removed to the Morro do Casfello promontory, at the northern foot of 

 which were grouped the first houses of *S^. Sebadiâo do Rio de Janeiro, in some 

 documents called also Sebastianopolis. The heart of the city which was gradually 

 developed round this position during the eighteenth century, stretches over a mile 

 east and west, being limited on the south by the Morros do Castello and de Santo 

 Antonio, and northwards by the S. Bento and Conceiçâo heights. 



Within this narrow space, houses, streets, and squares are necessarily crowded 

 together, giving difficult access to carriages, although most of the thoroughfares 

 are laid down with tramways. The mean and commonplace houses receive little 

 sunshine, and gloom prevails in all the large warehouses. Yet in the middle of 

 this wretched, badly-paved quarter, with its open drains and close atmosphere, is 

 situated the Rua do Ouvidor, chief resort of merchants, loungers, and fashionable 

 society. 



But this old quarter, traversed by the Rua do Ouvidor, forms a mere frag- 

 ment of the present metropolis, which has overgrown its natural limits in every 

 direction. After covering the low saddleback between the Castello and Santo 

 Antonio heights, it has spread out along the shores and tributary valleys, succes- 

 sively absorbing all the surrounding hamlets, villas, and other groups of rural 

 habitations. 



Gradually the hills near the waterside have been encircled like islands by the 

 surging tide of buildings, while the more inland hcM'ghts project like peninsulas 

 amid the semi-circle of expanding suburbs. Thus have been formed the districts 

 of Lajm on the creek of like name at the foot of the Santa Thereza hills; Flamengo 

 farther south ; Larangeiraa, the " Orangeries," between the Carioca and Corcovado 

 cliffs ; Botafogo, on a circular inlet enclosed by the Pao d'Assucar and other 

 granite heights. Farther on the chain of suburbs is continued along the shore 

 by Capocabcnui, and south of Corcovado by various other quarters stretching 

 beyond the Rodrigues de Freitas lagoon to the Botanic Garden and to Gavia. 

 Northwards the semi-circular S. Christovao Bay is skirted by a large quarter 

 grouped round the former imperial palace ; westwards, beyond the vast public 

 grounds of Largo da Republica, follow other serpentine suburbs all the way to the 

 brooks descending from the valle^^s of the Tijuca mountains. Altogether from 

 Gavia on the Atlantic to Cajii on the bjy, or to Cascadura in the interior, the 

 distance in a straight line is no less than 17 miles, and even beyond these points 

 other suburban groups are springing up in various directions. 



Nidheroy also has spread like the metropolis along the shores of the bay and 



