I accompanied a gentleman, in the month of September, to see the
Casa de Don Pedro, from whence we proceeded along the delightfully
shaded walks of the shacara to the palace, which is in the progress of
augmentation by some buildings under the inspection of Mr. Johnson, who
came to the Brazil with the gates from the Duke of Northumberland,
and who has been since employed by the King in superintending the
progressive enlargement of the palace. On this day, all bands were
fully employed in finishing a suite of rooms which his Majesty had a
great wish to occupy that evening.
On descending a hill from the palace, we perceived Prince Don Miguel
in a field below, dressed in a pair of great jack-boots, a cocked hat,
and a star upon his breast, with a pole about 10 feet long in his hand,
attending a plough with one handle, drawn by six bullocks, followed by
five or six negro drivers and a _feitor_.[12] They executed their
work very imperfectly, allowing the greatest portion of the turf to
fall down again. From the superfluity of animal power employed in this
defective specimen of agriculture, our attention was directed to the
royal stables, which contained about three hundred mules and horses of
a diminutive size, with double the number of persons to look after them
that would have been deemed necessary in England.
Prince Don Pedro had been breaking horses into harness all that
morning, and we met him with the fourth pair; he used a large unwieldy
whip, which, however, he administered pretty freely, making as much
noise as a French postilion would, on announcing his arrival at a
town, by the cracking of his whip. On passing him we stood still and
took off our hats, which was only returned by an ungracious look. We
also met Prince Don Miguel, returning from his agricultural amusement,
accompanied by his _feitor_. He is a spare and pale-looking
person, about sixteen years of age. Passing close to his elbow, we paid
him the most respectful obeisance, but we were not honoured even with
the least inclination of his head.
I walked one evening to see the fire-works, which had been preparing
for some time for the celebration of a saint’s day, in front of the
palace, ranged along, and a few yards distant from the gates and
palisades. The veranda was filled with a great many priests and friars,
and others about the person of the King. His Majesty and the rest of
the family took their station at the fifth window, on the right of the
handsome flight of stairs erected by Mr. Johnson. The fire-works were
ill executed, and could not be put in comparison with such exhibitions
in Europe, which is much to be wondered at, considering the immense
revenue here annually expended in this way, and the great number of
persons that live by it and follow no other pursuit. Every evening at
eight o’clock, excepting holidays and Sundays, the King receives the
public, in a room appropriated for the purpose, at St. Christovao, to
the honour of _beija-māo_;[13] and the roads of Cidade Nova,
Catimby, and Matta Porcas are covered, on those occasions, with
officers, and numerous persons in cabriolets, on horseback, and on
foot, pressing towards the palace, consisting of those who have some
object to carry with his Majesty. When the door is opened there is a
promiscuous rushing forward, and a mulatto will be seen treading upon
the heels of a general. They advance in single rank up one side of the
room to the upper part, where his Majesty is seated, attended by his
fidalgos in waiting, and, passing him in review, they countermarch in
the same order. It is said that the King has an extraordinary memory,
and recollects each individual as he passes, and the object of his
visit; those who please speak to him, but a great proportion do not.
It would appear that his Majesty is partial to seeing people in this
way for a considerable period before he concedes what they want. A
gentleman from Lisbon informed me that he had come to Rio expressly to
gain some object with the government, and he anticipated a residence
of twelve months there before he accomplished it. He purposed omitting
none of those numerous attendances of _beija-māo_, unless his
neglecting to do so might be observed by his Majesty; who, he observed
was particularly desirous of detaining all Europeans there as long as
possible. Senhor Thomas Antonio de Portugal, the minister of state,
who has a shacara upon the left side of the road, already described,
leading to Andrahi, holds a sort of public levee two days in each
week, where crowds of officers and others attend, to submit their
applications or to solicit his patronage, afterwards proceeding to
perform the accustomed ceremony of _beija-māo_ at the palace,
during which period, from eight to nine o’clock, a band of music, in no
very harmonious strains, is heard through a portion of the valley.
The fidalgos, and those who may be denominated the higher orders of
society here, are infinitely behind corresponding classes in the
leading states of Europe, both in the knowledge and practice of
civilized life. The pleasures and refinements of social intercourse are
alike unknown to them: jealous of foreigners, their conduct towards
them is not marked by that attention or hospitality so conspicuous in
other countries, where the cultivation of a liberal system of society
prevails. Their main occupation consists in outward show, in the
punctilious observance of court-etiquette, and a regular attendance
upon the superstitious rites and festivals of the Catholic religion.
Whatever little exists of pomp and splendour in this city is to be
discovered in the temples, which are fitted up with rich profusion,
more especially the parish churches, their altars and shrines
exhibiting decorations of the most costly kind, in which respect St.
Sebastian, or the Royal Chapel, stands pre-eminent; its richly-gilded
walls, carved work, and splendidly-ornamented altars, glittering with a
profusion of gold, silver, and precious stones, surpass in brilliancy
any thing that could be imagined, by a plain Christian, as essential
to the purposes of divine worship. The chapel has some paintings, and
one large piece over the chief altar, into which the late Queen and
the principal part of the royal family are introduced. The King has a
large box, not unlike an opera-box, above the place where grand mass
is performed; here his Majesty and the rest of the family take their
seats on festival-days; the bishop, in white or yellow satin, richly
embroidered with gold, his mitre of the same, sits in great state
below, opposite to the King, when he is not engaged in any part of the
ceremony, in which he is assisted by a prodigious number of padres, and
the service is performed with vast magnificence. The organ, accompanied
by a crowd of vocal performers, amongst whom are five or six eunuchs,
gratify, with some of the finest music of the Brazil, the audience,
consisting, on some occasions, of many fidalgos, judges, ministers, and
various individuals, who, in their gaudy robes, sit upon benches along
the body of the chapel. There are others also who are led there by
curiosity.
Here the King will sometimes spend the whole day, and, upon the
celebration of some favourite saint’s day, will remain till midnight.
These holidays and festivities are usually attended by an immense
consumption of gunpowder, in rockets, fire-works, &c. The days of some
saints are remarkable for the right every man, bearing the same name,
assumes of lighting up a great bonfire in front of his house; and I
remember accompanying a friend in his chaise, on the evening of St.
John’s day, when we had some difficulty in getting the horse through
the flames and sky-rockets that illuminated and occupied the whole
street fronting the dwellings of all the Senhor Joaos. The horses
generally, however, do not regard it, being so accustomed to fire and
gunpowder. During my stay at Rio, a bell was christened, and placed on
the south side of the royal chapel with much ceremony. The King was
godfather and the widow Princess godmother. The bell was named John the
Sixth, in honour of his Majesty, who sprinkled it with salt and water,
and at the period that it was hoisted to its ultimate position, the
town resounded with fire-works and sky-rockets.
Religious exhibitions and feasts succeed each other with very little
intermission; and the Brazilian calendars present an innumerable list
of them. At Whitsuntide, three or four days are dedicated to the
consecration of oxen, fowls, &c. and their consumption. The churches
retail these articles at high prices, producing a considerable revenue.
In some of the parishes, at this time, the inhabitants, by turns,
are at the expense of a public feast, and it occasionally costs some
individuals seven or eight hundred pounds. A boy, the son of the person
giving this entertainment, sits upon a throne, attended by boys and
girls of his own age; he is called the emperor, and, with a sceptre
in his hand, presides over the feast. I saw two exhibitions of this
sort on the 1st of June, one in the Campo St. Anna, and the other at
the Lappa, accompanied with fire-works. They are extremely ludicrous.
The festival of Corpus Christi, on the 10th of June, is one of their
grandest processional displays. It is only upon these occasions that
the ladies appear in public. Early in the day cabriolets, drawn by
mules, are seen driving in every direction towards the Ruas Direita
and d’Aquitanda, containing females in their gala dresses, while the
military of every description are assembled in the streets to assist
in the procession, which consists principally of priests and friars,
whose prodigious numbers are calculated to swell out a cavalcade,
together with numerous inhabitants of different parishes, wearing
cloaks peculiar to the churches, which are various and showy. The whole
form two lines, preceded with banners, each person, including the
priests, carrying a preposterous-looking wax candle, about six feet
high, one end of which is placed, at every step, upon the ground. The
royal horses, sumptuously caparisoned, and decorated with ribands from
their noses to the end of their long tails, are led by grooms dressed
in the most tawdry style, the royal servants of every order following;
then the judges, and all classes of people employed by the government.
The fidalgos and ministers precede and follow the bishop, who carries
the Host, under a superb canopy, attended by Princes Don Pedro and
Don Miguel, the supporters of his train! The King usually follows the
bishop as a train-bearer, but on this occasion he did not. The dresses
of all were rich and costly; and the procession, amounting to some
thousand persons, proceeded along the Rua Direita and returned, by the
Rua d’Aquitanda, to the palace chapel; after which there was a grand
display of fire-works. All the balconies were crowded with females,
adorned with precious stones. The fronts of the houses were hung with
silks and crimson velvet, gilded with ornaments; and the streets were
strewed with green leaves. The general effect of the whole was very
imposing.
There is rather a celebrated annual procession, on the 10th of October,
in the Rua dos Ourives, having its foundation in some religious
observance peculiar to the church of that street. All the houses
are hung outside with tapestry and other stuffs, and ornamented
with looking-glasses, and a great portion of the furniture which the
house contains, not of the most elegant sort, and generally not over
abundant. A procession of padres, and numerous others belonging to the
parish, takes place during the evening, drawing together an immense
concourse of people, while the females, who spend the last penny to
procure a gay dress for these occasions, appear at the balconies
in a profusion of finery. The houses are illuminated, not with any
transparent or appropriate devices, but with wax and common tallow
candles; some placed in the front of looking-glasses, in order to
produce a double brilliancy at half price.
The funeral processions are rather singular; and the interment of a
child particularly would appear to be the season of rejoicing rather
than grief. On these occasions the musical performers are the most
choice and costly. The corpse is never kept more than one day from
the time of the demise, and the funeral rites are usually celebrated
after dark; every one that chooses enlisting into the procession by
the acceptance of a wax-light. At a funeral which I saw at the Carmo,
a large and handsome church adjoining the royal chapel, two lines of
persons were ranged along the body of the building, from the entrance
towards the altar, facing each other, every one holding a wax-light,
nearly six feet high, in the right hand, and projected rather forward.
Some of the individuals of this assembly might be friends of the
deceased, but the major part consisted of persons casually met with
in the streets, or such as were led by curiosity into the church. The
acceptance of a light is deemed an honour done to the friends of the
dead, and the agents of the padres are not very scrupulous in forcing
them, if possible, into the hands of every one they see; the motive for
doing this is ascertained on knowing that the remainder of all candles
which are used become the perquisite of those very _worthy_
brethren. At the head of the two lines, amounting to perhaps from one
hundred to one hundred and fifty persons, the corpse was placed upon a
table or elevated platform, with the head exposed to view, while its
last vestments displayed the ill-founded notion of importance which
its survivors attach to outward and meretricious show. The ceremony
of itself not being calculated to impress the mind with awe, none of
those feelings of respectful gravity were visible, which so solemn an
occasion ought to have produced. When it was finished, the body was
conducted, with no regular procession, through some outer avenues of
the church, to the catacombs, situated in a passage opposite to the
jesuitical library. On arriving at an inner cemetery of the catacombs,
the lights of those who followed were extinguished and taken from them
by the persons whose duty it was to secure this perquisite; and every
one retiring in consequence, the body disappeared by some other avenue,
and I could not possibly discover how it was afterwards disposed of.
Upon another occasion of the funeral obsequies of a general officer,
I attempted to see their mode of executing this last office; but,
from the quickness with which they slid away, and the extinguishing
of the lights, I was again disappointed. A friend, however, gave me
the following description of the interment of a girl, at which he was
present. After the ceremony and the music had ceased, they proceeded
from the said church of Our Lady of Carmo to the catacombs, where he
arrived, with two or three others, at that point of the cemetery which
was to receive the remains. The padres had disappeared, and no one was
there but the father of the girl and a person who may be styled the
sexton. The outer coverings had been taken off, and the girl appeared
richly dressed in embroidered muslin, with silk stockings, and new
shoes on, as if equipped for an assembly. The coffin had no bottom,
but the body was supported upon a piece of satin, securely nailed
around the upper part of it, when the nails being withdrawn from the
sides, the father, who was not dressed in the sable vestments of a
mourner but in those of a bridegroom, disgusted my friend by his wanton
and unfeeling conduct, and at this moment threw a piece of muslin
to the sexton, urging him to despatch by shouting out “_depressa,
depressa_.” The muslin being drawn over the face of the girl, a
large quantity of quick lime was placed upon it, and another portion
spread from the head along the breast to the body, with a quantity on
each side, when the man, with much ceremony, formed a cross upon it
with his trowel. During the operation, the father, devoid of every
proper sense of decency, cried out to him, “_Vamos, vamos_” (let
us go); and, at another time, “_Vamos, depressa, filho da pouta_.”
To render this last exclamation into English would only wound the
feelings of those who do not understand it. Quick lime being now placed
upon the flat stone of the cemetery, which runs horizontally a long way
back, exhibiting its awful contents, the coffin was lifted up, and the
nails of the end being also taken out, the body and piece of satin fell
upon the quick lime, and the coffin was removed away. The cemeteries
are afterwards walled up and plastered over in front. This father then,
and even before, at the close of the church ceremony, embraced many
people for joy, invited some to go home with him to a grand supper
prepared for the occasion, and felt convinced that his child was gone
to Heaven. Two or three hundred pounds are occasionally expended at
funerals.
The catacombs are small but extremely neat, the first part forming a
square, ornamented with vases, and containing aromatic shrubs and
flowers, is surrounded with a sort of piazza, the inner walls of
which present the front of cemeteries, neatly plastered and numbered.
Opposite the entrance, and crossing the square, a door-way leads to
inner avenues, lined with cemeteries, kept exceedingly clean and in
good order. At the extremity of one of these avenues is situated the
general charnel-house, where the bones are piled in accumulating
masses. After a certain lapse of time, the bones of individuals are
taken from the cemeteries, bound together, and a large label, with
their names inscribed upon it, affixed to them, then piled upon the
bones of their predecessors in the charnel house, where two tapers are
constantly burning; and it is not uncommon for the relatives of the
deceased to visit this house of the dead on a certain day in the year,
offering prayers in their behalf.
The bodies of the churches are open spaces, without seats or pews, and
the women sit down in the Turkish style; they, as well as the men,
occasionally fall upon their knees, and, during mass, go through the
ceremonies of crossing their foreheads, chins, and breasts, at regular
stated periods, frequently beating their bosoms with great vehemence,
but which probably must not be taken as a positive demonstration of
sincerity, however imposing it may outwardly appear.
The relation of one more procession will enable the reader to form
some estimate of the religious character of this people. On the event
of illness having assumed the appearance of terminating in death, the
Host is conducted by one or more padres, and its usual attendants, in
much pomp, with a burning of incense and the tinkling of bells, to the
house of the dying person, to afford him the last consolations of his
religion.
The procession of the Host requires from the public more obsequious
reverence than all the other component ingredients of the Catholic
faith. Many persons prostrate themselves before it on their knees, in
the streets and balconies; others bend the body, and all take off their
hats. I have frequently met this procession some miles in the country,
the padre mounted on horseback, carrying with the same facility as an
umbrella, a canopy in his hand, and under its sacred shade the Host,
or emblem of the Holy Ghost, accompanied by some attendants uncovered,
and robed in scarlet cloaks, also on horseback; the whole moving on
at a quick ambling pace, with the tinkling of bells, the peculiarity
of which announces their approach, producing an universal prostration
of all persons, white and black, who may be in the fields or houses
adjoining the road. There is one custom the Brazilians have, which,
if sincere, cannot but be admired; every evening at sun-set, by a
simultaneous movement, they take off their hats in the public streets,
offer up a prayer, or repeat Avi Marias; from which they have acquired
the habit of denoting that period of the evening by the term of Avi
Maria. And they say so and so before Avi Maria, at Avi Maria, or after
Avi Maria.
I have been in the house of a Portuguese family at Avi Maria, when
they appear to repeat a short prayer, after which a general salutation
takes place, by saying “_boa noite_,” (good evening,) and holding
out their hands, as if they were mutually bestowing a blessing. It is
the custom for all slaves to hold their hands out in a similar manner
night and morning, as soon as they see their superiors, for the purpose
of offering a blessing, while their usual expression is “_Abençoa
senhor_.”
Rio de Janeiro, although the residence of the court, is centuries
behind in the comforts and enjoyments of civilized life. Strangers
are disgusted with a first ramble through this city, and would not
voluntarily pay it a second visit. Friendly attention to foreigners,
although they may have letters of introduction, the Brazilians are
seldom or ever known to practise. After some ceremony, they follow
the person introduced to the top of the stairs, wait there till he
arrives at the bottom, subject him to the further form of turning
round to receive their final salutation, and thus the matter briefly
ends. How different to the refinement of their neighbouring colonists,
the Spaniards, whose houses and tertulas, at Monte Video, at Buenos
Ayres, and all other parts of Spanish America, are open to strangers,
who experience every liberality and social attention from them. I was
assured by an English gentleman, who has resided ten years in the
Brazil, that he never witnessed any symptom of genuine hospitality,
and he had notwithstanding acted with friendship to many; and to one
gentleman, in particular, he had rendered frequent services, at whose
house he had called on various occasions, and sometimes casually at
the dinner hour, but was never invited to take dinner or any kind of
refreshment. Even the principal people have no idea of the comforts of
the table; when they give feasts, it is with an extravagant profusion
of dishes, without any regard to the arrangement, and unattended with
any of that elegant ease and order practised by similar classes in most
European countries.
[Illustration:
_On Stone by C. Shoosmith from a Sketch by Jas. Henderson._
_Printed by C. Hullmandel._