_Vianna_
Amongst the hundreds of islands in the Bay of Rio, there are two which
have special claims upon the attention of visitors to Rio, as well as on
the gratitude of all good Brazilians.
Vianna and Santa Cruz are two islands lying in the north-west corner of
the bay, about an hour’s run from the Caes Pharoux, the picturesque
landing-stage and promenade of Rio. The journey across the bay is full
of interest; indeed there is not a nook, corner, or islet of the great
harbour that does not call forth some expression of admiration,
surprise, or pleasure. The surrounding hills are ever changing in
expression, and give a sense of security and protection to the shipping,
large and small, that can never crowd the vast waters. Past the Islas de
Cobras, with its naval barracks perched high up on a rocky base of
grass-grown rock, the town grows smaller and smaller, until its wharves
and buildings are lost in the distant haze. When the island of Vianna is
reached, further surprise is in store for the visitor. Its owner, Senr.
Antonio Lage, is the descendant of a French family, and calls himself a
Brazilian, but he is really a cosmopolitan who can speak perfectly at
least three languages, and who has relationships with distinguished
foreigners in many lands. His life story is a Brazilian romance. His
grandfather bought the island of Vianna in the harbour in 1856, to
obtain the stone to build up warehouses on another island, Enxadas,
which he had acquired in 1836 from the friars, whose convent still
exists upon the island. In the warehouses he built, his son carried on
the business of bonded warehouseman. Owing to the failure of a banking
firm in 1864 the warehouse business was involved, and but for the
intervention of an English house, Stephen Busk and Co., the Lages’
business must have ceased.
[Illustration: END OF SANTA CRUZ.]
Through this assistance they were able to carry on. They rented the
island and kept the business going until 1881. In the following year the
company of Lage Bros. was formed, and they came over to Vianna, their
former quarry, and started operations. That was thirty years ago. At
first the island was used as a coal depot and bonded warehouse, and
although some changes were made, it was not until after the declaration
of the republic that things began to move. The constitution of the
United States of Brazil, in Article 13 of the first title, enacts that
“the rights of legislation on the part of the Union and of the States in
regard to railways and the navigation of inland waters shall be
regulated by Federal enactment” and that “the coastwise trade shall be
carried on in national bottoms only.” Lage Bros, entered into
negotiations with Lamport and Holt, who at that time had a fleet of
coastal steamers running in the Brazils, and purchased their steamers. A
company was formed, which began navigating on a small scale. They
started with four steamers, and when the revolution broke out in 1893
their fleet had increased to eighteen, two of which were express
steamers, which ran between Rio and Rio Grande de Sul (Port Alegre),
making the journey in forty-eight hours. The new line was hardly
established when the political upheaval in 1893 disturbed all the
commercial activities of the new republic. The first President, General
Deodoro, was driven from power, and great unrest
[Illustration: AN OLD CHURCH NEAR RIO.]
prevailed in Rio. The next President, Floriano Peixoto, was in his turn
intrigued against, and the navy fell into the hands of the rebels, and
poor Rio had to endure the ignominy of a six months’ intermittent
bombardment. The Government, in order to prevent fresh sources of
strength falling into the hands of the rebels, ordered one of the Lage
express steamers, which was then lying in dry dock, to be burnt, and
purchased the other for transport purposes. During this trying time the
island of Vianna was not left unmolested by the rebel navy. They had
been accustomed to go to Vianna for repairs, and they knew how well the
warehouses upon it were stocked with stores and provisions for the
coastal service. They were not long in taking possession of it, and were
well set up with all they required to keep them going. The greatest
difficulty the revolutionaries had to contend against was the dearth of
fresh water. They were fortunate in getting possession of the
water-boats, and with
[Illustration: THE SHORE, SANTA CRUZ.]
these they stole up the bay, and refilled from the streams that trickle
down from the mountains. They next captured all the Lages’ steamers that
were in the bay, and found on them coal and further stores. In order to
displace the rebels from the island, which was now their base, guns were
taken up the heights of a mountain on the mainland opposite, and a fort
was established, which bombarded Vianna for nearly three months, the
rebels taking refuge behind the hill which stands upon the island. It
was not until the Government succeeded in placing guns upon all the
surrounding heights that the rebels were brought to bay in March, 1894.
Vianna suffered severely during the long struggle, and its owner nearly
as much, for it was not until September of the same year that he got
possession of his wrecked island, and found the machine shops, stores,
and dock smashed to pieces by shot and shell. He started immediately to
repair his loss, and the only compensation he received was the loan of
7000 contas of reis at 7 per cent interest from the Government. For
twelve months business had been at a standstill, and the fleet either in
the hands of the rebels or held up in distant ports, the expense of
paying the crews, port charges, running on all the time.
[Illustration: SANTA CRUZ.]
Such was the stormy, troubled sea that the new shipping company had to
weather. That they did so was due to the dogged persistence of Antonio
Lage, whose enterprise and ability have brought about the present
prosperity of the company. The line now possesses nineteen steamers, of
which four carry passengers as well as cargo, eight are cargo boats
only, while seven are new passenger boats of over 3000 tons, with all
the latest improvements, twin screw, freezing chambers, and having a
speed of over twelve knots. They are all fitted with Marconi apparatus,
and the many comforts which passengers travelling upon modern vessels
are accustomed to. Seven more ships of
[Illustration: SANTA CRUZ.]
this class are being built to continue the coastal trade right up the
Amazon to Manaos. From 1894 the rebuilding of the destroyed island has
gone steadily on. Each year additions have been made, and the great rock
which covered the larger part has been cut through to form a dry dock.
The material removed was utilised to extend the shore and circumference
of this island, and its contiguous neighbour, Santa Cruz, which Sen.
Lage purchased in 1902. Large and spacious stores have been erected,
with machine shops, bonded warehouses, foundries, boiler-makers’ shop,
electric power station, and shipbuilding yard, houses for the employees,
and all the buildings necessary for a growing shipbuilding and
repairing yard. The island of Santa Cruz is a little paradise, and is
now connected with the industrial Vianna by an imposing bridge. It has
been laid out as a large park, and upon it are beautiful houses which
its owner has built for the members of his family. These houses are in
the American colonial style, luxuriously appointed, and lacking in no
comfort which the furnishing world can supply. From the windows and
balconies magnificent views of the expansive bay are obtained, while the
surrounding grounds are filled with many varieties of exotic shrubs and
trees. Flowers, fruit, and kitchen gardens flourish on Santa Cruz in
ordered beauty, and from every spot upon the island vistas and views of
astonishing loveliness meet the eye. Nature and art combine to make an
entrancing island, unsurpassed by any, even in this silvery bay so
famous for the beauty of its shores. Birds, native and foreign, of many
brilliant hues, flit unmolested through its trees and along its shores;
their confidence in the protecting care lavished upon them holds them to
a spot where they find perfect freedom and plentiful provision for all
their needs. Upon gravelled paths, on lawns of softest green, water and
grain are daily spread for their repast by thoughtful hands. So tame are
many of these birds that they respond to the call of their master’s
voice, and even fly in through the open windows and perch on chairs and
tables. In the early morning the mingled song of myriad songsters
heralds the dawn. In the shade of leafy mango trees the woodpigeon coos
his tender notes. The air is alive with melody. The whir of wings, and
the rustling of the dew-drenched grass as the tame deer bounds along,
vary the sounds. The warm light of the new-risen sun tinges all objects
with the mellowest hues. The greens are softer in the morning light; the
thousand distant isles and hills lie veiled in the melting mists; the
colonial architecture of the dwellings on the island imparts an air of
homely comfort to the scene--an air that most tropical scenery generally
lacks. The trailing and climbing flowers that hang from the balconies
and walls call up thoughts of England. The gardeners who tend with care
the lawns and walks are early astir, and accomplish much of their day’s
work before the sun’s rays gain their full strength. The sound of voices
and the faint echoes of hundreds of busy hammers in the sheds upon the
neighbouring island blend with the music of the birds. Nature, art, and
industry are brought into closest contact upon the twin islets of
Vianna and Santa Cruz. Order, taste, and industry have transformed one
of them from an overgrown, chaotic, mangrove fringed wilderness into an
Eden. A Chinese writer who, centuries ago, in answer to the question
“What is it we seek in the possession of a pleasure garden?” said, “The
art of laying out gardens consists in an endeavour to combine
cheerfulness of aspect, luxuriance of growth, shade, solitude, and
repose, in such a manner that the senses may be deluded by an imitation
of nature. Diversity, which is the main advantage in a judicious choice
of soil, an alternation of chains of hills and valleys, gorges, brooks,
and lakes covered with aquatic plants. Symmetry is wearying, and ennui
and disgust will soon be excited in a garden where every part betrays
contrival art.” Had the writer of these lines seen Santa Cruz as it is
to-day he would have been satisfied that it fulfilled all the
requirements necessary to a perfect garden.
[Illustration: SANTA CRUZ.]