NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



45 



fiower, and frequently expatiate upon the figure which that plant displays 

 of the instruments of crucifixion. On circumstances so trivial as these 

 do national opinions and customs frequently depend. 



There is a great variety of excellent fish in the w^aters of Rio, 

 but, amidst this abundance, few species were in common use, and 

 fewer still in any great estiaiation. Indeed, the people are generally 

 prejudiced against such food, conceiving it to be unwholesome, and 

 supposing that, where constantly used, it occasioned the leprosy; which 

 is called by the Indians pyra-ay'ba, the fishy or scaly disease. But among 

 such Catholics as those of Brazil, another, perhaps more powerful, reason 

 may be found for their dislike of fish. It is, in effect, prescribed by their 

 religion, for a third part of the days of the year ; other kinds of animal 

 food being then forbidden. Numerous fish-days are first appointed, as 

 means of conciliating an offended Deity ; then the persons, who appoint 

 them, join with those, who stigmatize this food as unwholesome, and 

 demand fees for a dispensation to use other viands ; thus, at once, replen- 

 ishing the treasury of the church, and displaying the value and necessity 

 of their influence in the court of heaven. 



Though people residing near the Sea naturally become fishermen, 

 and many, who have placed their huts round the shores of the bay, gain 

 their support by this employment, yet at this period, fresh fish was com- 

 paratively scarce, and the best sorts sold at high prices. By far the 

 greatest part of that which the city consumed, was taken upon the neigh- 

 bouring coasts of the ocean, dried and brought in at stated seasons ; and 

 in proportion as the fisheries of the bay have improved, those without 

 the bay have declined. 



Most kinds of European Poultry are offered for sale in the city. 

 The common domestic fowls, geese, ducks, and Muscovy ducks in 

 greater abundance than others, were often brought from remote distances ; 

 turkies and Guinea fowls, being too tender to bear long journies, were 

 reared nearer at hand. The prices were, and still are, high ; though now, 

 in part, regulated by the police. There are no birds or animals, of the kind, 

 which we call game ; yet almost all Brazilian animals may be considered 



