NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



at 



liie free circulation of air gladly obeyed ; others, who wished to gratify 

 the Court, followed without hesitation ; the rest felt themselves obliged 

 to submit. The effect was curious ; for want of glass or blinds to the 

 windows, the houses became suddenly exposed ; most felt ashamed of their 

 appearance, some strove to improve it, and some, as usual, imitated 

 what seemed fashionable, if not, in their view, an improvement. In 

 this respect, as well as others, a taste for the conveniences and modes of 

 Europe commenced, and doubtless will increase. 



To improve the appearance of the streets vvas the ostensible ground 

 of this royal order ; and it was suggested, " That as the city had 

 " advanced in the scale of privileges and importance, it ought to make a 

 " corresponding advance in external show." The real cause, it was 

 reported, was an apprehension that, sooner or later, these jealousies 

 might become ambuscades for assassins, who, unseen and unsuspected, 

 might from thence discharge a fatal bullet. Be this as it may, the 

 Regent, by a stroke of his pen, has done more to promote the health and 

 comfort of Rio, than could have been effected by the suggestions of 

 foreigners, backed with all the force of reason, in a whole century. 



But persons circumstanced like myself were cliiefly solicitous about 

 the prospects of Commerce. In our walk we observed that the retail 

 shops were confined to the heart of the city, and mostly to one street, 

 the Rua Da-Qui-Tandi ; while the wholesale warehouses were situ- 

 ated between this street and the water. The former were small, but 

 tolerably well stocked with cotton and woollen goods, some of them of 

 British fabric, which had apparently been long on hand. The shops of 

 hardware and haberdashery were miserable concerns, kept evidently by 

 people without property, or the means of acquiriug it. The Avholesale 

 warehouses were, in general, long open stores, extending far backward 

 from the street. As far as we could observe, they contained few goods of 

 any kind, calculated for the consumption of the country, while they 

 were full of articles of produce intended for exportation ; the state of 

 Portugal, then in the hands of the French, rendering these stocks 

 unusually large. 



