The human frame will seldom bear, without injury, its transmission
to a climate very dissimilar to that to which its birth and previous
residence have accustomed it. Thus the English residing here exhibit in
their appearance the effects of this tropical climate, and, although
they are otherwise in health, there is a debility manifest in their
countenances, something resembling the appearance of a person in a
state of convalescence after illness.
I waited upon Henry Chamberlaine, Esq. the British charge d’affaire,
with a letter of introduction from a nobleman, and discovered, at that
interview, that my expectations of entering actively upon the functions
of a public situation were not likely to be realized; I therefore
adopted the determination, to which my mind was pre-disposed, of
devoting my time to the acquirement of such intelligence, regarding the
vast regions of the Brazil, as circumstances would admit of. Houses of
public accommodation may be said scarcely to exist in this city, and
are of such inferior order, that strangers are peculiarly fortunate
if they are received into the residence of a friend. The liberality
and frank hospitality of a merchant, to whom I brought a letter of
introduction, relieved me from any inconvenience on this score.
Previously to my entering upon a general description of this city, and
the several provinces composing the Portuguese possessions in South
America, of which it is now the metropolis, it may not be irrelevant
to give some account of the first discovery of this widely-extended
continent.