PROVINCE OF RIO DE JANEIRO--_continued_.
_Population of the Capital--Negroes--Nocturnal Clamour of
Reptiles--Vampire Bat--State of Literature--Jealousy--Dead
Bodies--Military--Bank--Revenue--Imposts--Diamonds--Visit
to Campinha--Tenure of Lands--Proof of Fertility--Swiss
Emigrants--Visit to the Cascades of Tejuca--Commerce--Judicial
Procedure--Pauta and Convention--New Exchange--Foundation
of English Church--Towns, Villages, and Productions of the
Comarca of Rio de Janeiro--Boundaries, Productions, Rivers,
Lakes, and Povaoçoes of the Comarca of Cape Frio--Boundaries,
Indians, Rivers, Lakes, Towns, and Sugar Works of the Comarca of
Goytacazes--Boundaries, Coroado Indians, and Povaoçoes of the
Comarca of Canta Gallo._
The population of Rio de Janeiro is estimated at about one hundred and
fifty thousand souls, two-thirds of which are negroes, mulattoes, and
others, exhibiting every variety of complexion. The Brazilians residing
here, and in the vicinity are denominated _Cariocas_ by the
European Portuguese; the meaning or origin of which term I could not
learn; the latter falsely considering themselves much superior to the
former.
The mulattoes are a portion of the population much the most healthy and
robust, their mixture of African and Brazilian constitution appearing
exactly adapted to the climate. The negroes are probably not used with
more inhumanity here than in other colonies. In the interior they are
treated much better than at Rio de Janeiro, where, in some instances,
much cruelty is practised. For a trifling offence, they are sometimes
committed to the charge of two or three soldiers, who pinion them with
cords, and beat them in the most unfeeling manner along the streets,
to the Calobouco, a prison for the blacks, where they are destined
perhaps to receive a severe castigation before they are liberated.
Their owners procure an order from the intendant-general of the police,
for one, two, or three hundred lashes, according to the dictates of
their caprice or passion, which punishment is administered to those
poor wretches by one of their own countrymen, a stout, savage-looking,
degraded Negro. A gentleman obtained an order for the flagellation of
one of his runaway slaves, with two hundred lashes. On his name being
called several times, he appeared at the door of a dungeon, where the
negroes seemed to be promiscuously confined together. A rope was put
round his neck, and he was led to a large post, in the adjoining yard;
around which his arms and feet were bound, while a rope secured his
body in like manner, and another, firmly fastened round his thighs,
rendered the movement of a single member wholly impossible. The black
degradado set to work very mechanically, and at every stroke, which
appeared to cut part of the flesh away, he gave a singular whistle.
The stripes were repeated always upon the same part, and the negro
bore the one hundred lashes he received at this time with the most
determined resolution. On receiving the first and second strokes he
called out “_Jesu_,” but afterwards laid his head against the side
of the post, not uttering a syllable, or asking for mercy; but what he
suffered was strongly visible in the tremulous agitation of the whole
frame. The scene was deeply afflicting, and it was to be regretted that
the man who was capable of such fortitude should be in a condition that
subjected him to so painful and degrading an infliction. He received
the other one hundred lashes on the third day following, after which, a
heavy iron chain to his leg, and an iron riveted round his neck, from
which a trident stood up above the head, by way of ornament, would be
no pleasant appendages with which to pursue his usual labour.
There are men who profess to be catchers of runaway negroes, and
frequently detain and ill use them when they are proceeding upon their
employment, keep them confined during a night, conduct them home tied
with ropes, and pretend they have detected them running away, for which
they demand certain charges and a recompense. I was present when two
of those fellows brought a poor negro girl whom they had detained, and
it was proved that they stopped her when she was really in pursuit of
her occupation. They failed in receiving the recompense they so basely
sought, but they ought to have been made a severe example of. It is
painful to observe, that if a negro is stopped, or forced away, or in
any manner ill-treated, nobody takes his part or believes his story.
A great many persons live entirely in idleness, upon the earnings
of one, two, or three slaves, who are denominated “_negros de
ganho_,” and stroll about the streets for employment: they are
distinguished by a large basket which they carry; others of both sexes
are employed in carrying water in tubs, from the fountains, for the
supply of the inhabitants; the fountains are crowded all day, and are
attended by a couple of soldiers to preserve order. The streets after
dark are most offensively filled with negroes, carrying tubs of soil
to empty at the beach, a water-closet, or privy, not being known in
this city. If these negroes do not bring a certain sum of money to
their owners at night, the penalty is generally a severe castigation.
Many of the negro slaves are remarkably well formed, particularly some
of those who labour at the custom-house, and exhibit much muscular
strength about their whole frames, combined with such symmetry of form,
that the lineaments and swelling muscles of their naked bodies reminded
me of some fine antique models. They wear cotton trowsers, the rest
of the body being exposed. The principal part of the importations are
removed from the custom-house by them, and their dreadful shoutings
and yellings, as a stimulus under their burdens, resound through the
streets and suburbs all day. Few waggons are used, and those of a rude
construction; the axle-trees, revolving with the wheels, produce a loud
and discordant noise.
The humane attempts of some English merchants to introduce waggons,
for conveying goods from the custom-house, were effectually opposed
by the clerks of that establishment, who have the privilege through
intrigue of exclusively letting out their slaves for this employment.
The universal diet of the negroes is the farinha, or flour, of the
mandioca root, which they mix up with warm water, and occasionally are
indulged with a little _toucinho_, or fat bacon, to it; but in the
mining districts they use the flour of Indian corn, which a negro, who
had worked at the gold mines, informed me, was preferred amongst them
to the first. The Brazilians themselves use a great deal of farinha,
many families almost subsisting upon it; and when dressed up, as is
the custom in some parts of the Brazil, particularly at Pernambuco,
with green peppers, &c. into a state they call _pirao_, it is
very palatable. _Feijaos_ and _carne-secco_, which are black
beans and dried beef stewed together, is a dish much used amongst the
Brazilians, and an European with a sharp appetite will not find it a
bad relish.
[Illustration:
_On Stone by C. Shoosmith from a Sketch by Jas. Henderson._
_Printed by C. Hullmandel._