50 



PROVINCE OF RIO DE JANEIRO. 



avoid the dirt and holes of the badly paved streets. Another annoyance is 

 the Senhors Picadores, or royal gentlemen mule breakers, the most miserable 

 looking wretches, who assume all the self-will peculiar to their animals, and 

 some of that consequence which the servants of the royal family generally think 

 themselves entitled to. The royal attendants are called, by the Brazilians, the 

 largura, that is, the occupiers of all the road, and make no ceremony in 

 upsetting you, or running against the carriage, gig, or horse, of any plebeian 

 they may encounter. Next come the royal cadets, in such a helter-skelter, 

 that it may justly be compared to the suddenness and fury of one of the gusts 

 of wind we experienced in our passage across the Equator. They are the 

 signal of the approach of some part of the royal family; and, as it is the 

 custom for every one they meet to take off their hats, and persons in carriages 

 and on horseback to dismount, it is not a little amusing to see the general 

 bustle that prevails on the occasion of those ceremonial storms, some flying for 

 fear of being ridden over, others drawing up their carriages and horses to a 

 corner or side, and all bending the knee to the royal party. At these times, 

 it is lucky if a person on horseback, caught in such an encounter in a narrow 

 street, gets off without some personal injury. 



It may be necessary to observe, that any of the royal family going out 

 are generally attended by a party of cavalry, mounted on small and poor 

 horses, two of which, who are something superior to a common soldier, called 

 cadets, precede the carriage at full gallop, through the streets or along the 

 roads, the rest of the cavalry immediately following it. They are succeeded by 

 other royal cabriolets, with the fidalgos in waiting, the domestic servants pro- 

 ceeding without any order on horseback ; amongst whom, he who carries before 

 him, at full gallop, the royal crimson night-stool, is no inexpert horseman. 



Some foreigners have resisted the right which the royal cadets assume of 

 compelling them to dismount, and it will be readily conceded, that such a 

 ceremony cannot but be very repugnant to the feelings of Englishmen, Ameri- 

 cans, and others, although they have generally complied with it. The Queen, 

 who has the character of being extremely particular and peremptory on this 

 point, a few years since, taking her usual ride to a small cottage and 

 garden, at the bottom of the Orange Valley, met Lord Strangford, who refused 

 to comply with the accustomed ceremony. The cadets instantly insulted his 

 Lordship, by using their swords in compelling him to dismount. The only 

 redress which his Lordship obtained, was the imprisonment of the guards 

 for a short time. About three years ago, Mr. Sumpter, the American 



