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NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



Far up the bay, and near to Mata Porcos, is an erection, where the 

 merchant-shipping take in a supply of water, called, from its particular 

 destination, the Bico dos Marinheiros. The water comes from the Rio 

 Comprido, and is therefore plentiful. Formerly boats could lie near to it, 

 but sand being gradually accumulated, and no one to clear it away, it 

 has become necessary to construct a long wooden spout, extending over 

 the bank to a depth of water sufficient for the boats. 



The Aqueduct, which supplies most of the public fountains, is a 

 noble work, executed about the year 1750. It consists of two walls, 

 about six feet high, arched over, with sufficient space for workmen to 

 enter it occasionally, and pass through its whole length. At suitable 

 intervals, there are openings for the admission of light and air. Within 

 is laid the canal, about eighteen inches wide, twenty-four deep, and 

 three miles long. It commences at the bottom of the lofty conical peak 

 of the Corcovado, where the waters, flowing from that mountain, are 

 collected into a covered reservoir, and thence conveyed into the canal. 

 Their course from the summit is through deep and shady woods, and the 

 canal is defended from the sun-beams ; and thus, until they reach the 

 city, little of their freshness is lost. 



There seems to have been a work of the kind prior to this, in nearly 

 the same line as the present ; for I have noticed, in several places, the 

 remains of it. A line of coarse earthen-ware, something like our 

 chimney-pots, made so as that the smaller end of one should fit into the 

 larger end of another, appears to have been laid under ground, to 

 preserve it from injury ; but the contrivers could have known nothing of 

 the pressure of fluids, or they never would have trusted to such fragile 

 materials in many of the descents. The present aqueduct, too, is ill 

 constructed, and must be perpetually liable to accidents ; for the water is 

 sometimes compelled to change its course in a right angular direction, 

 and no provision is made for the harmless discharge of any superfluity 

 which may occasionally come down. 



From the place where the water enters the canal, to the several 

 points of its discharge in the city, is a descent of about six hundred feet- 



