SECOND JOURNEY. 



77 



the line, its climate is remarkably salubrious, and ren- 

 dered almost temperate by the refreshing sea-breeze. 

 Had art and judgment contributed their portion to its 

 natural advantages, Pernambuco, at this day, would 

 have been a stately ornament to the coast of Brazil. 

 On viewing it, it will strike you that every one has 

 built his house entirely for himself, and deprived public 

 convenience of the little claim she had a right to put in. 

 You would wish that this city, so famous for its har- 

 bour, so happy in its climate, and so well situated for 

 commerce, could have risen under the flag of Dido, in 

 lieu of that of Braganza. 



As you walk down the streets, the appearance of the 

 houses is not much in their favour. Some 

 houses^ and °^ them are very high, and some very low ; 



some newly whitewashed, and others stained, 

 and mouldy, and neglected, as though they had no owner. 



The balconies, too, are of a dark and gloomy appear- 

 ance. They are not, in general, open, as in most 

 tropical cities, but grated like a farmer's dairy window, 

 though somewhat closer. 



There is a lamentable want of cleanliness in the 

 streets. The impurities from the houses, and the accu- 

 mulation of litter from the beasts of burden, are un- 

 pleasant 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 

 nambuco. Per " tne r i cnest commodities of Europe, Africa, 

 and Asia are brought to it ; when you see 

 immense quantities of cotton, dye-wood, and the choicest 



