CHAPTER II. 



RIO DE JANEIRO. 



A.D. 1808. 



CAPE FRIO. RICH AND BEAUTIFUL VIEWS. BAY OF RIO. THE CITY. FIRST WALK. 



STREETS. HOUSES. JEALOUSIES. EXTENT AND GROWTH OF RIO. POPULA- 

 TION. PROVISIONS. CLIMATE. HEALTH. 



The first land, which is generally seen on approaching the coast of 

 Brazil from Europe, is Cape Frio ; a lofty promontory, giving its name 

 to the adjoining district, and about seventy miles from Rio de Janeiro. 

 To the East of it lies the bay of Papagayos, v^^hich furnishes a tolerably 

 fair specimen of Brazilian scenery. To the right of the entrance, which 

 is about two miles over, is a rock crowned with tropical forest trees and 

 plants. Its sides, where the spray of the sea washes, are quite bare, 

 and large external coats, or thick laminse, are detached from this, as from 

 most other islands on the coast, by the violence of the surf, and slide 

 into the abyss; near the water's edge, therefore, the rock has a bat- 

 tered and broken appearance. Nearly two miles farther in, on the left, 

 is a ledge of sharp-pointed stones, some of which raise their heads above 

 water, and warn vessels of the larger description not to approach on that 

 side. The bottom of the bay, which is four miles from its entrance, has 

 a fine, sandy beach, but, like the rest of this coast, exposed to a heavy 

 surf, as there is little shelter from the weight of the ocean. From this 

 beach the land rises in what, to an English eye, appear abrupt and lofty 

 hills ; but which must be placed among the third order of Brazilian 

 heights. Inland the view is all woody, the foliage extremely rich, and 

 of a dark colour, forming a fine contrast to the naked grey sides of the 

 island on the left, the yellow beach in front, and the deep blue main to 

 the right. The sky, at the time I was first there, was a tropical onCj 



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