OUR LIFE AT RIO DE JANEIRO. 187 



they have a tolerable supply of the finny inhabitants of the 

 bay, who are incautious enough to come close in to shore ; 

 and while I watched them I was surprised at their success. 

 There are, of course, many others who fish from boats in 

 the bay, and also go outside on the Atlantic ; but they are 

 an independent set of men, very different to our own toiling 

 fishermen,* and sometimes the supply of fish runs short in 

 the town because the men have not gone out, owing to bad 

 weather. 



Speaking of fish reminds me that I must mention the 

 pedlars, whose name is legion. Some of them sell fish and 

 prawns — "Peixe!" (fish) and "Camaroes!" (prawns) are two 

 of the most frequent street-cries — others have fruit and 

 vegetables. These pedlars always carry a long bamboo over 

 their shoulder, from each end of which is suspended a full 

 basket, and the weight of the vegetables is often so great 

 that it is a wonder how the bearer can trudge along as 

 quickly as he does. There are also hawkers of stuffs, 

 articles of clothing, ornaments, etc., which are generally 

 contained in a series of gaily painted tin trunks, strapped 

 on the hawker's back. These all carry two pieces of wood 

 fastened together by a leathern strap, and, as they walk 

 along, they are continuously clapped together. Many of 

 the fish pedlars are Chinamen, the remains of a batch of 

 some hundreds who were imported several years ago ; they 

 have abandoned the pigtail and Eastern dress, and wear 

 their straight black hair very unkempt, with the ordinary 

 dress of Western civilization. 



The yellow fever is now quite gone for the winter, 

 though this summer, in February, it was very bad ; there 



* Since my return I have read some most interesting details of the hard- 

 ships borne by the fishers on the North Sea, in Mr. R. M. Ballantyne's very 

 pleasant work, " The Young Trawler." 



