NOTICES OP BRAZIL. 



37 



DurTng our visit, every attention was extended to us, and I left, 

 deeply impressed with the kindness and urbanity of the cura- 

 tors. 



We passed along one side of the Campo Santa Ana," now 

 called the Acclamagao," towards the Aqueduct. After turn- 

 ing two or three streets, which are not so much frequented as 

 either the Rua d'Ouvidor, or Rua Direita, we came beneath 

 that part of this great work which is carried over a valley two 

 hundred yards wide, supported on two rows of arches, one 

 resting upon the other, at a height of eighty or ninety feet. In 

 the streets through which we had just walked, I observed that 

 a favorite pastime with a large part of the female community, 

 is to loll out of the window, supporting the trellis shutter, which 

 opens upwards, against the head. Thus every thing falls under 

 their notice, while they are quite perdues, except to persons on 

 the same side of the street. This habit is not confined to fe- 

 males alone. Men, almost en cuerpo, are often seen idling in 

 this way for hours together. In this climate, trellis shutters 

 supply the place of blinds and sash. 



We turned to the right, and ascending the hill towards the 

 Corcovado, passed a number of negresses, washing and spread- 

 ing out their clothes upon the grass to bleach. On the summit 

 of this hill, which is at least two hundred feet high, stands the 

 convent of Santa Teressa. The windows are barred, and trel- 

 lised, and sashed so securely as almost to exclude the air and 

 even the light of day. Near this spot the Aqueduct makes an 

 angle in which there is built a hut. 



"The negroes who live in this cottage," said Brunner, 



spend time in drowzy laziness. All their wants being sup- 

 plied by their garden, they seldom descend to the city." 



"But they must labor at certain seasons to make that pro- 

 duce?" 



"Not so. The soil is so fertile, that, with little more exer- 

 tion or attention than is required to cast the seed upon it, a 

 plentiful crop is produced !" 



"But this little spot will not — cannot yield them their en- 

 tire sustenance ; it may provide fruit and vegetables, but they 

 also require bread and animal food ?" 



