t 
RIO DE JANEIRO. 77 
little doubt can be entertained. Its ancient barrier having 
given way to the pressure of the water within, the more solid 
parts of the fragments, in being forced into the sea, still re- 
main as a bar before the entrance of the harbour, on which 
the depth of water does not exceed from seven to ten fathoms, 
whilst close to both the inner and the outer margin the depth 
is not less than eighteen fathoms. Part of the foundation, 
indeed, appears in pointed rocks above the surface of the sea, 
towards the western extremity of the bar. 
If the Portugueze of Rio have done but little towards im- 
proving nature, they are entitled at least to the negative 
merit of not having much disfigured her. The point of situa- 
tion for building the town is well chosen out of a great number 
of good ones that presented themselves. The principal build- 
ino;s which have been erected, though not eleo-ant, are free 
at least from extravagant whims, and are by no means ill 
suited to their respective situations. A fortress, however re- 
gular, is far from being an vmpleasant object in a landscape ; 
but when its lines are carried over the inequalities of a broken 
mount, whose sides are fringed with wood, it frequently 
unites to grandeur no inconsiderable share of picturesque 
beauty. Almost every eminence in the vicinity of the town 
of Rio is crowned with a castle or a fort, a church or a con- 
vent ; and many of the islands on the expansive harbour are 
enlivened and ornamented by buildings of a similar nature. 
Not one of the numerous islets were disgraced by such ridi- 
culous and uncouth edifices, the whimsies of a sickly taste, 
as distort and disfigure those once lovely spots on the beautir 
ful lake of Keswick, and which are now a reproach to 
f 
