34 
rOYAGE OF THE POTOMAC. 
[OctoBer^ 
CHAPTER HI. 
Harbour of Rio Janeiro and surrounding Scenery — Appearance of its entrance from 
the Offing — Its works of Defence — City of Rid, or St. Sebastian — Public Square) 
Fagade, and Fountain — Public Buildings, Houses, and Shops — Paucity of Accom- 
modations for Strangers — Climate, Food, and Health — Arcos de Carioco, or 
Grand Aqueduct — Discovery and Settlement of Brazil — Injustice to the Natives 
— Origin of the African Slave Trade — Discovery and settlement of Rio Janeiro — 
Emigration of the Royal Family — Their Return to Portugal — Civil Revolution in 
Brazil — Accession of Don Pedro — War with Buenos Ayres, terminated by ah 
unpopular Treaty — Abdication of Don Pedro — Insurrectionary Symptoms — Cler- 
ical Abuses — Population of Rio— Condition of the Slaves — Natural Productions 
— Theatrical /e/e on board- the Potomac. 
Had human agcBCy been exercised in planning and' Constructing', 
for human use, the harbour of Rio Janeiro, it would be impossible 
to conceive a more felicitous result. It is a beautiful and capa- 
cious basin, imbosomed among elevated mountains, whose conical 
summits are reflected from the translucent surface of its quiet 
waters. The entrance is so narrow, and its granite barriers so 
bold, that it was, doubtless, often passed by early navigators, be- 
fore it was suspected that such a retired and hidden inlet existed. 
To the aborigines of the country, it was known by a name corre- 
sponding to its character ; for they called it " Hidden water," 
which, in their language, is expressed by the term Nithero-hy. 
As this part of the Brazilian coast runs nearly east and west, 
the entrance of the harbour opens to the south, a few miles, of 
the tropic of Capricorn. It is defended by the Fort of Santa 
Cruz on the east, opposite to which are others of suitable 
strength, in vicinity of a high conical hill, called the " Sugar- 
loaf," which some modern travellers have compared to the " lean- 
ing tower of Pisa."^ 
The entrance to this celebrated estuary, when seen from the 
offing, presents the appearance of a gap, or chasm, in the high 
ridge of mountains which skirt this part of the coast ; and which, 
doubtless, once dammed up the waters within, until their con- 
tinually accumulating weigljt burst the adamantine barrier which- 
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