RIO DE JANEIRO. 
43 
their diet consisting of fish, vegetables, fruit, and a dish oi farinlia 
de pao, or flour of the maniota root. Almost every thing they 
put in their mouths is first dipped in oil, and then rolled in the 
flour just named, and made up into little balls in the palm of the 
hand. Beef, butter, cheese, and milk, are very scarce in Rio, and 
of very indifferent quality. Of mutton, we saw none that was 
good. The fertile and extensive plains of the southern provinces 
abound with innumerable herds of horned cattle, which are 
slaughtered principally for the sake of their hides, while the car- 
casses are left as a banquet for the tiger, panther, condor, and 
eagle, who share it between them. The richness of the soil ren- 
ders the grasses too luxuriant, rank, and acrid, for the sustenance 
of sheep. 
It is believed that there are very few diseases peculiar to this 
part of Brazil, except such as necessarily arise in all low lati- 
tudes, from bad diet, the neglect of personal cleanliness, and the 
indulgence of various propensities. During the rainy seasons, 
however, and for a month or six weeks afterward, dysenteries 
and intermittent fevers are said to be prevalent. Cutaneous erup- 
tions are common among all classes, particularly those of the 
lower order, and among the coloured population especially. Lep- 
rosy and elephantiasis are among the afflictions of the latter. 
But if the diet of the inhabitants of Rio be not always the 
most favourable to health, they enjoy one blessing which will 
counterbalance a thousand trivial evils, — a supply of pure and 
wholesome water. We have already alluded to the reservoir 
from which the city is supplied with this indispensable article, 
and which is fed by a splendid stone aqueduct, leading from the 
mountains, built, it is said, after the manner , of similar works in 
Rome. This work, which is called Arcos de Cariaco, extends 
across a deep valley, resting on a double tier of lofty arches, one 
above another, and- the water is conducted to the reservoir by a 
succession of stone troughs, laid on the top of this two story 
bridge, under an arched covering of brickwork. Each tier com- 
prises more than forty arches, and the whole of this great work 
of utility is highly ornamental to the city, and reflects lasting hon- 
our on the name of Vasconcellas, the viceroy under whose admin- 
istration it was constructed. All the fountains of Rio are supplied 
from this source ; and the name of the public-spirited projector. 
