CHAPTER II. 



RESIDENCE AT RIO DE JANEIRO. 



The City and its Environs — Indians of St. Lourenzo — Preparations for the 

 Journey into the Interior. 



Rio de Janeiro, which in the last half of the seventeenth century 

 had only about two thousand five hundred inhabitants and six hun- 

 dred soldiers, has now risen to the rank of one of the first cities in 

 the New World. As there are already many descriptions of this capital 

 before the public, it would be a useless repetition were I to attempt 

 a formal account of it. Barrow has given a tolerably accurate idea 

 of this place ; but its appearance is now greatly changed, because 

 when the King emigrated, nearly 20,000 Europeans came hither from 

 Portugal, the natural consequence of which was, that Brazilian man- 

 ners gave way to those of Europe. Various improvements were also 

 made in the city ; it lost much of its original character, and has now 

 assumed a greater resemblance to European cities. It seems indeed 

 strange to the new-comer, when he sees that among the number of 

 people who crowd the streets, the principal part are of a black, sallow 

 and mulatto colour ; for in the numerous population of Rio de Janeiro 

 there are more negroes and people of colour, than whites. Indivi- 

 duals of various nations are attracted thither for the purposes of trade, 

 and many different mixtures spring from their consequent inter- 

 marriages. The principal part of the inhabitants of the Brazilian 



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