NOTICES OF BRAZIL. 43 



feet above the level of the stage, and in the centre of the stage 

 lights, intended to conceal him, but answers the end very 

 badly, for as his eyes follow the lines of his book, his head, 

 generally covered with a white net cap, crowned with a tassel, 

 is seen moving from side to side ; and his voice sometimes rises 

 above that of the actors, so that at times, they seem only to 

 gesticulate while he reads. The house is dimly lighted with 

 dingy tallow candles. Order is preserved and enforced by a 

 number of black soldiers, distributed through the pit. 



The house was full, which argued much in favor of the mu- 

 sical taste of Brazil. The ladies were dressed much in the 

 style of our own belles, and wore the hair high on the top of 

 the head, ornamented with artificial flowers made of feathers ; 

 these are beautiful, and are the best imitation of natural flowers 

 I have seen ; they are made in the convents at Bahia. Jewelry 

 is more fashionable than with us. Many dark eyes, lively 

 countenances, and fine busts, appeared in the dress row, yet I 

 will not say the ladies were handsome ; I complained of the 

 immoveable, placid, unmeaning expression of most of the faces, 

 but I did not quarrel with the brunettete of their complexion. 

 There was not a female in the pit; negroes and whites were 

 promiscuously mixed. 



After the opera there was some fine dancing ; but according 

 to my notion, the performers should diminish the extent of 

 their genuflexions, and increase the thickness and longitude of 

 their dresses : they appeared, 



" In very thin clothing, and but little of it." 



This over, we walked into the cofiee room. Blacks and 

 v^^hites were gay and noisy, eating and drinking together, ap- 

 parently on the most intimate terms of equality. We next as- 

 cended to a small bar in the fourth tier, where several gentle- 

 men were refreshing themselves with lemonade, orgeat, and 

 similar beverages. The Brazilians are a temperate people, 

 seldom drink in the evening, and usually confine their libations 

 to wine, and that. Port. The annual consumption of Oporto 

 wine is 32,000 pipes of 145 gallons each, equal to 4,640,000 

 gallons ! The import duty is only six dollars the pipe. 



