EIO DE JANEIRO. 19 



days, has two sides of the larg-e irreg-ular square in 

 which it is situated, occupied by shops and other 

 private building's. Close by is the market, which 

 the strang-er, especially if a naturalist, will do well 

 to visit. The variety of fruits and veg-etables is 

 great, that of fish scarcely less so. On the muddy 

 shore in the back ground, the fishing* canoes are 

 drawn up on their arrival to discharge their cargoes, 

 chiefly at this time consisting of a kind of sprat and 

 an anchovy with a broad lateral silvery band. 

 Baskets of land crabs covered with black slimy mud, 

 of handsome Lni'pece, and the large well-flavoured 

 prawns, called Cameroons, are scattered about, and 

 even small sharks {Zygcen^, &c.) and cuttle-fish are 

 exposed for sale. 



The streets, which, with few exceptions, are very 

 narrow, are paved with large rough stones, — they 

 have usually a gutter in the centre, and occasionally 

 a narrow pavement on each side. For building 

 purposes, unhewn granite is chiefly used, the waUs 

 being afterwards smoothed over with a layer of 

 plaster, whitewashed, and margined with yellow or 

 blue. The two principal streets are the Rua Direita, 

 the widest in the city, and the principal scene of 

 commercial transactions, and the narrow Rua do 

 Omddor, filled with shops, many of which equal in 

 the richness and variety of their goods the most 

 splendid establishments of European capitals. Of 

 these the most tempting, and the most dangerous 

 to enter with a well-filled purse, is the famous 



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