NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



59 



Near to it is the church da Lapa dos Mascates, or Pedlar's Hole. 

 It is a small square building, with a dome and cupola, covered with blue 

 and white Dutch-tiles. Its proportions are by no means good, and it is 

 situated in the midst of narrow lanes and alleys, otherwise the workman- 

 ship would render it an ornament to a city where the art of building is 

 little understood. 



In the Rua do Santo Pedro is a small church, dedicated to that 

 Apostle. It also is covered with a dome and cupola, and has a raised 

 platform before it. The exterior is remarkably plain ; of the interior I 

 cannot speak, having never seen it open. 



Toward the upper part of the Rua d'Alfandaga is the sacred edifice 

 of Nossa Senhora dos Homens, which, though vmfinished, is open for 

 public service. It is a fine building, and, like all the modern churches, 

 has an ascent of two or three steps from the street. The architecture is 

 solid and handsome ; but it stands in a very confined situation. There 

 is little ornament in the interior ; the altar, however, is well proportioned, 

 and, when lighted up, makes a splendid show. 



One of the best buildings in Rio, next to the church of the Cande- 

 laria, is that dedicated to Santo Francisco do Paula, which occupies one 

 side of the square of the same name. It is of brown sand-stone, has 

 two ornamental steeples in front, and a noble flight of steps, surpassing 

 every thing of the kind in the city. Its interior is singularly plain, but 

 spacious and lofty. It forms a fine object at one end of the Rua do 

 Fogo, as the fort of Conce^am does at the other. Some of its subor- 

 dinate buildings are converted, pro tempore, into offices of government. 

 Within its precincts there is, also, a house of miracles, furnished with 

 miserable pictures, written tablets, and models of limbs, placed there by 

 the devout, the superstitious, and the grateful, who have been healed of 

 divers diseases, or preserved from danger. 



The church of Santa Luzia is a small and plain one, situated to the 



South of the city, in a delightful spot, under the brow of a lofty and 



steep hill, and close to the beach. The immediate front of the church is 



defended by large masses of stone, against which the surge beats 



H 2! 



