Sept.] 



HARBOUR OF RIO JANEIRO. 



35 



cepting the royal or imperial chapel, which adjoins the palace. On 

 the same side of the square, also, are the theatre and opera house, 

 neither of which presents a very striking appearance. The exterior of 

 the theatre, however, is fully equal to the performances within, which 

 are wretched abortions. Their operas are better conducted, as the 

 Brazilians appear to possess a natural talent for music, which they ex- 

 ecute with much taste and effect. 



The market is well supplied, and so eligibly located, that with a 

 very little trouble, it might be kept in fine order : but the inhabitants 

 are idolaters at the shrine of Filthiness, whose nostrils, if there be 

 such a goddess, must be perpetually regaled with the odour of her fa- 

 vourite incense. The public square before mentioned, and some of 

 the streets in its vicinity, are kept tolerably clean, but most of them 

 are disgustingly filthy. Gold-street is the most attractive, being the 

 general resort of strangers whose object is to procure jewelry and 

 precious stones, the natural product of the country. Here, however, 

 they too often suffer from an organized system of imposition and fraud. 

 Since this place has become the seat of government, great numbers 

 of commercial adventurers have flocked hither from England, Ireland, 

 Scotland, and the United States. The most of these, under Portu- 

 guese tuition, prove to be apt pupils in the school of knavery ; so 

 that from any of them a stranger is more than likely to receive a bit 

 of paste, while he pays for a genuine gem. 



The shops are well supplied with English goods, and all other kinds 

 of merchandise ; the trade of this place being considerable from va- 

 rious parts of the world. There is a Chinese warehouse of great ex- 

 tent ; where, at certain periods, the merchandise of that country may 

 be purchased at a low rate. Sixty or seventy American and English 

 mercantile houses are established here, and the export trade is almost 

 entirely in their hands. The imports consist of English manufac- 

 tures, and every article of European produce that can find a purchaser 

 in the Brazilian market. Their principal exports are sugar, coffee, and 

 hides ; and the Rio coffee holds the third rank in the American market. 

 Besides these, the country produces wheat, rice, cocoa, cotton, tobacco, 

 salt, and wood. It has recently been asserted that the trade of Bra- 

 zil has lately become unprofitable to the foreign merchant, from the ex- 

 cess of capital employed in it ; and that European produce is now 

 sold at or below prime cost. However this may be, the revenue of 

 the custom-house at Rio is estimated at one million and a half per 

 annum. The population of the city is calculated at one hundred and 

 fifty thousand ; two-thirds of which are slaves. 



The harbour of Rio Janeiro is perhaps the finest in the world for 

 beauty, capacity, and safety ; and were the heat less oppressive than 

 it is, the surrounding country would be a perfect paradise. As before 

 stated, it is formed by a narrow opening in the ledge of rocks which 

 line this part of the coast like a granite palisado, or wall. Notwith- 

 standing the entrance is so narrow, the basin within this little strait 

 increases to the width of three or four leagues, speckled with small 

 islands clothed in perpetual green ; on some of which are deligtful 

 little hamlets, while others contain elegant country-seats, belonging to 



