RESIDENCE AT RIO DE JANEIRO. 



27 



must be reckoned the numerous churches, many of which are inter- 

 nally very richly decorated. Religious festivals, processions, and ce- 

 remonies of that kind, frequently occur : on these occasions it is cus- 

 tomary to exhibit fire-works before the doors of the churches. 



Rio has a tolerably spacious Opera-house, for the performance of 

 Italian operas, with French ballet-dancers. The Aqueduct is a very 

 splendid work : the walk to the eminence from which it descends into 

 the city is most agreeable ; and you have a magnificent prospect 

 ^hence of the harbour, and over the city, spread out in a valley, with 

 the cocoa palms towering above it. On the land-side the city is sur- 

 rounded with marshes, interspersed with mangrove-trees, but their 

 proximity, as well as the situation of the place in general, is considered 

 as very unfavourable to the health of the inhabitants. 



The European, transported for the first time into these tropical re- 

 gions, is every where charmed with the beauties of nature ; and above 

 all, with the luxuriance and richness of the vegetation. In every 

 garden you see the finest trees ; for instance, the lofty and colossal 

 mango, with its broad shade and agreeable fruit ; the slender cocoa 

 palms ; plantains, in thick groups ; dark-green orange groves, bend- 

 ing under the weight of their golden produce ; melon trees ; the mag- 

 nificent erythrina, with its scarlet blossoms ; and many more. These 

 and several other plants, in the immediate vicinity of the city, afford 

 numerous agreeable walks, while they present to the admiration of 

 travellers new species of beautiful birds and butterflies, among which 

 I will mention only the golden humming-birds as the most conspi- 

 cuous. The walks along the sea shore, and the view of the ships en- 

 tering the harbour from remote parts of the world, are also great 

 sources of recreation here : nor should I pass over in silence the public 

 promenade, with its delightful shade and terraced walk. 



Hitherto nature has done more in Brazil than man : however, 

 since the King's arrival, much has been effected for the advantage 



