134 



TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



of all parts of the globe, give a European exterior 

 to Rio de Janeiro. But the traveller is soon remind- 

 ed that he is in a strange quarter of the world, by 

 the varied crowd of negroes and mulattoes, who, as 

 the labouring class, everywhere meet him, when he 

 sets his foot on shore. To us this sight was less 

 agreeable than it was striking. The degraded, bru- 

 tish nature of these half-naked, unfortunate men, 

 offends the feelings of the European, who has but 

 just quitted the seat of polite manners and agree- 

 able forms. 



Rio de Janeiro, or properly St. Sebastiano, com- 

 monly called only Rio, lies on the shore of the 

 great bay, which extends from the city northwards 

 into the continent three times as far as the dis- 

 tance to the anchorage. It occupies the north- 

 east part of a tongue of land, of an irregularly 

 quadrangular shape, situated on the west bank, 

 which stretches towards the north, and towards the 

 south is connected with the continent. The most 

 easterly point of this tongue of land is the Punta 

 do Calahougo ; the most northerly, opposite to 

 which is the little Ilha das Cobras, that of the Ar- 

 mazem do SaL The oldest and most important 

 part of the city is built between these two points, 

 along the shore, in the direction of north-west to 

 south-east, and in the form of an oblong quadran- 

 gle ; the ground is, in general, level, only at the 

 most northerly end are five hills, rather long, and so 

 near to the sea as to leave room for only one street 



