THREE YEARS IN THE PACIFIC. 



*^This is certainly a splendid temple," said I, ««but it is 

 easy to perceive through all the glitter that it is only an imi- 

 tation of reality — the golden candlesticks are but gilded wood, 

 and the tall wax candles are only half what they se^m. Why 

 endeavor to practice a deception in a churcH?- th6 most igno- 

 rant devotee that kneels must know that tile apparently tall 

 candles are tin tubes, with wax ends." 



Had you been in Italy, you would not admire this church 

 so much ; it is not so rich now as it formerly was. The ad- 

 joining temple is the chapel of the empress, but I do not think 

 it superior in beauty or decoration to that w^e have just left." 



We walked along the " Rua Direita," which may be con- 

 sidered the Broadway" of Rio, and stopped before the door 

 of the Hotel du Nord," which, like a spendthrift, had seen 

 its best days in its youth. Degeneration, even of a tavern, falls 

 unpleasantly upon the sight ; this one, from being the best 



public," has dwindled, in five years, to a mean tippling shop. 

 From this spot, we looked along the street, and a gayer or 

 more various scene cannot easily be imagined. -Men of busi- 

 ness were hurrying along the side walks, jostling the leisurely 

 moving free black, or the shop keeper smoking at his own 

 door ; the native military officers were deliberately striding 

 about with an important, arrogant air, the calexas (or calegas) 

 and seges were rattling along by dint of lashing and spurring 

 the mules — the high boots with heavy soles and heels, armed 

 with plated spurs, the glazed leather hat and high cockade, 

 distinguish the calegero from every other kind of servant in 

 the city — gangs of slaves, united by iron collars and chains 

 ten or twelve feet in length, were trotting along, with bags of 

 coffee or sugar on their heads, endeavouring to drown the sad 

 clanking of their irons, in the notes of a song and chorus, 

 which, in happier times, they may have sung beneath their 

 native shades. Each one of these gangs was followed by a 

 black soldier, carrying an unsheathed bayonet in one hand and 

 a heavy whip in the other. Next, we saw approaching, a gay 

 palanquin, borne by two slaves at a short trot. Presently it 

 rested in front of a store, and a sallow female hand, covered 

 with jewels, pushed aside the velvet curtains, and the vender 



