ISO A VOYAGE TO 



ill-contrived copked hats, and all appeared desirous to 

 distinguish their persons, by the wearing of some 

 badge or uniform. There was no smile of welcome to 

 us in their countenances; but rather repulsive half 

 scowling glances. A number of them were priests 

 dressed in loose gowns, and wearing hats as broad as 

 parasols. In front of the palace there is a large 

 open square, at the lower end of which is the king's 

 chapel; on the right there is an immense unfinished 

 pile intended as a monastery, but on the arrival of the 

 king a stop was put to any further work on it, as he 

 seemed to think that monks and nuns formed already 

 a sufficient proportion of his subjects. In front of the 

 palace there was a body of infantry constantly on 

 duty; but their arms with the exception of those who 

 stood centry, generally stacked; but every now and 

 then the drum beats and they fall in. Towards the 

 lower end of the palace a similar duty is performed by 

 a troop of cavalry; but composed of young men of dis- 

 tinction, as I presumed from the richness of their uni- 

 form and general appearance; they were almost the 

 only good looking men I saw at Rio; and several of 

 them were uncommonly handsome. Below the land- 

 ing there is a fountain of fresh water conveyed hither 

 for the aqueduct, which is constantly surrounded by a 

 crowd of noisy negroes waiting for their turn. I saW| 

 about twenty of these miserable wretches chained 

 together by the neck, and each one carrying a bucket 

 of water on his head: they relieved the bodily pam or 

 suffering, by a kind of harsh noise not unlike that 

 made by a flock of wild geese. I saw others hitched 

 to carts or carrying burthens, and all screaming in the 



