TO RIO DE JANEIRO. 



11 



The human frame will seldom bear, without injury, its transmission to a climate 

 very dissimilar to that to which its birth and previous residence have accustomed 

 it. Thus the English residing here exhibit in their appearance the effects of 

 this tropical climate, and, although they are otherwise in health, there is a debi- 

 lity manifest in their countenances, something resembling the appearance of a 

 person in a state of convalescence after illness. 



I waited upon Henry Chamberlaine, Esq. the British charge d'affaire, with a 

 letter of introduction from a nobleman, and discovered, at that interview, that 

 my expectations of entering actively upon the functions of a public situation 

 were not likely to be realized ; I therefore adopted the determination, to which 

 my mind was pre-disposed, of devoting my time to the acquirement of such 

 intelligence, regarding the vast regions of the Brazil, as circumstances would 

 admit of. Houses of public accommodation may be said scarcely to exist in 

 this city, and are of such inferior order, that strangers are peculiarly fortunate if 

 they are received into the residence of a friend. The liberality and frank hospi- 

 tality of a merchant, to whom I brought a letter of introduction, relieved me 

 from any inconvenience on this score. Previously to my entering upon a 

 general description of this city, and the several provinces composing the Portu- 

 guese possessions in South America, of which it is now the metropolis, it may 

 not be irrelevant to give some account of the first discovery of this widely- 

 extended continent. 



