Though the Line had been crossed at a more westerly point than usual, we

were able, in the night from the 18th to the 19th of July, to pass

easterly between the rocks Las Roccas and the island of Fernando da

Noronha.[34] On the 20th July we were carried again by unfavourable winds

to a distance of 100 miles from the Brazilian coast, where we parted from

our faithful companion, the _Caroline_. She sailed for Pernambuco, whilst

we kept out to sea in order to continue the observations on the westerly

currents, and be able freely to double Cape St. Augustin. Bad weather,

showers, and heavy swells prevented complete success in our task; it was,

however, ascertained that the current close to the land is not so strong

as at some distance from it, and that the extreme point of divergence is,

at this particular season of the year, somewhat east of the south point of

Fernando de Noronha. In the angle formed by the direction of the two

currents between the point of division and the land, partial currents

(according to circumstances and the strength of the wind), run towards one

or the other side, of which the stronger tends towards the north-west.

[Footnote 34: This island, situated 300 miles from Pernambuco, which

supplies it with provisions, is at present used by the Brazilian

Government as a penal settlement. It is extremely beautiful and fertile,

but very little cultivated, and admirably suited for a coal depôt, and a

place for ships obtaining stores, particularly when epidemics are

prevalent in Rio de Janeiro.]

On the 23rd July the weather cleared up; we approached the coast and came

in sight of Cape St. Augustin, the first land descried since leaving

Madeira. On the 1st of August a rock was announced ahead; as nothing of

the kind was indicated in the charts, we were curious to know what this

could be. A boat was manned, and we were soon made aware, by our olfactory

organs, of the real nature of the object, which turned out to be the

carcase of a dead whale in a state of putrefaction, over which a number of

birds were hovering, whilst a troop of sharks feasted on the putrid mass,

boring themselves into the body. This incident shows how many rocks marked

in charts as doubtful may owe their origin to similar circumstances; for,

had we not been convinced of the real nature of the object, we should have

believed this carcase to be a rock, and thus augmented the number of

"doubtfuls" and interrogations in the charts of the Atlantic.

On the 3rd August we made Cape Frio, and after a rough and stormy night

reached at last, on the morning of the 5th, the numerous small islands

situated in front of the harbour of Rio. The _Sugar Loaf_, that remarkable

black basaltic rock at its entrance, stood grandly forth, as we ran in.

Unfortunately the gloomy state of the atmosphere prevented the enjoyment

of the exquisite beauty of this so often described charming bay.

Here we found an English, a French, and an American frigate, as also a

dirty old Brazilian sloop of war. Besides these ships of war, a Spanish

frigate and galliot lay in the mercantile dock for repair; they had

shortly before their arrival lost their masts in a _pampero_,[35] which,

however, had borne all the characteristic marks of a cyclone.[36] The

occurrence of tornadoes in the South Atlantic has been so often and so

decidedly denied, that the mariner does not readily believe the violent

storms of those latitudes to be hurricanes. This Spanish frigate had

accordingly sailed heedlessly into the storm, and, with only such

precautions taken as referred to mast and sail, had without further

concern proceeded on her course. She thus had got into the very heart of

the cyclone, and escaped entire destruction only by a fortunate chance.

Now, had her commander considered this storm to have been a real hurricane

he would have undoubtedly steered a different course, and probably in that

case would have reached the harbour in safety. But the notion of the

non-existence of hurricanes in these waters is so pertinaciously

maintained that it was no wonder the careful and able Spanish commander

had also been misled. Our own opinion is, that any storm in the ocean may

assume a revolving motion, and it is therefore highly advisable always to

bear in mind the well-founded theory of cyclones, in order to act upon it,

as circumstances may require. Were this always done, how many valuable

lives and property might be saved from destruction!

[Footnote 35: A squall of wind of the South American Pampas.]

[Footnote 36: The following succinct statement of the characteristics and

general laws of cyclones will be found useful by way of reference:--

1. It has been fully ascertained that in both hemispheres the air in the

cyclone rotates in a direction _contrary_ to that of the sun. Thus, in the

N. hemisphere, the course of the sun being from E. to S., W., and N., the

course of the hurricane is from N. by W., S., and E.; and in the S.

hemisphere, the sun's course being from E. by N., W., and S., the

hurricane runs from N. by E., S., and W.

2. They originate in the space between the equator and the tropics, near

the equatorial limit of the trade winds.

3. There is no instance on record of a hurricane having been encountered

on the equator, nor of any one having crossed the Line, although two have

been known to be raging at the same time in the same meridian, but on

opposite sides of the equator, and only 10° to 12° apart!

4. Their movement, which is always oblique from the equator to the poles,

is usually from E. to W. at first, and towards the end W. to E., which is

but a development of the gyratory motion that forms their most essential

characteristic.

5. The "motion of translation" varies from so low as 9 miles an hour to 43

miles an hour. There is no precise estimate of the velocity of the

gyratory motion.

6. They are liable to dilate and contract in area, the contraction always

implying a great accession of violence. (See _post_, p. 183.)]

[Illustration: CAPE FRIO.]

[Illustration: THE QUAY AT RIO.]

V.

Rio de Janeiro.

Brazil the land of contrasts.--Appearance of the city of Rio and

its environs.--Excursion to the Peak of Corcovado, and the

Tejuca Waterfalls.--Germans in Rio.--Brazilian literary men.--

Assacú (_Hura Brasiliensis_).--Snake-bite as an antidote

against leprosy.--Public Institutions.--Negroes of the

Mozambique coast.--The House of Misericordia.--Lunatic

Asylum.--Botanical Garden.--Public instruction.--

Historico-Geographical institution.--_Palæstra Scientifica._--

Military Academy.--Library.--Conservatory of Music.--Sanitary

Police.--Yellow Fever and Cholera.--Water Party on the bay.--

Chamber of Deputies.--Petropolis.--Condition of the Slave

population.--Prospects of German emigration.--Suitability of

Brazil as a market for German commerce.--Natural products, and

exchange of manufactures.--Audience of the Emperor and

Empress.--Extravagant waste of powder for salvoes.--Songs of

the sailors.--Departure from Rio.--Retrospect.--South-east

Trades.--Cape Pigeons.--Albatrosses.--Cape Tormentoso.--A

Storm at the Cape.--Various Methods of measuring the height of

waves.--Arrival in Simon's Bay.

Brazil--situated on the ocean-highway to the South Seas and the shores of

India, endowed by nature, over the greater portion of her territory, with

a salubrious climate, and a soil of tropical fertility, very nearly as

large as Europe, and ten times the size of France, and yet containing not

above 8,000,000 souls--has, far beyond all other States of South America,

concentrated on herself, during more than half a century, the interest of

the naturalist, as well as of the political economist--of the merchant as

well as of the emigrant. Indeed, we may say that there are few countries,

beyond the limits of Europe, which in certain parts have already been more

thoroughly explored than the Brazilian Empire, while at the same time it

can boast the possession of a rich and valuable stock of literature,

treating of its history, since its discovery by the Portuguese Admiral,

Pedro Alvarez Cabral, on the 22nd of April, 1500, down to the present

time.

After so brief a sojourn as ours, we can hardly offer more to the reader

than a short sketch of our own few experiences, and some remarks regarding

the alterations which took place in the appearance of the city and in its

social and political condition, since the period when Martius and Spix,

Rugendas, Prince Neuwied, Helmreichen, Natterer, Pohl, d'Orbigny, Wilkes,

Castelnau, Burmeister, and others visited Brazil, and so accurately

delineated it both by pen and pencil.[37]

[Footnote 37: Before we left Europe, the wish was repeatedly expressed to

us that, during our stay in Rio, more accurate information should be

obtained as to the fate of numerous scientific works and collections, by

several German naturalists who died in Brazil in recent times, such as

Frederick Sello, Dr. Müller (a companion of Castelnau), Dr. Engler, and

others. Unfortunately, we can only give the little consolatory

intelligence that, with the exception of the scientific memoranda left

behind by Dr. Engler, chiefly relating to Itù in the province of St. Paul,

there was nothing further to be hoped for. The collections have all been

dispersed through want of care, and the manuscripts nearly all destroyed

through ignorance of their value.]

The magnificent scenery of the Bay of Rio de Janeiro still continues to

possess the same absorbing interest for the new comer, wherever it has not

suffered by the expansion of the rapidly-increasing city, or the axe of

the emigrant settler; it is but little one can add to or alter in the

picturesque description which travellers, alive to its natural beauties,

had already given, half a century ago, of the wonderful haven of the

Brazilian metropolis! Very different, however, is the impression, when the

stranger, on disembarking, sets foot on the new world, and has to make his

way through narrow, steep, filthy streets, greeted by yelling crowds of

blacks and whites, poor negro slaves, and wealthy planters, into the

interior of this bustling port. An entirely altered state of affairs has

sprung up since the separation of Brazil from Portugal, and he who has not

seen Rio within the last ten years would hardly recognize the capital of

the Brazilian empire. Along with the most conspicuous deficiencies, in

numerous particulars, one finds such institutions as are not to be met

with, in a similarly flourishing condition, in any other State of South

America, or among the republics of the Isthmus. But Brazil is emphatically

"The Land of Contrasts."

When the traveller, stepping on shore from the anchorage for ships of war,

(which is a little to the south of that for merchant vessels), has forced

his way through the swarms of human beings at the landing stage, and in

front of the hotel Pharoux, he finds himself on the Largo do Paço, or

Palace Square. Here on his left rises the singular-looking Imperial

Residence, and on his right, close to the shore, the Market Hall. A dense

bustling crowd throngs the streets, while numerous vehicles, some drawn by

horses, others by mules, as also omnibuses of all colours and dimensions,

and crammed within and without, dash swiftly about, emulating the din and

confusion of European capitals. Turning now to the right, into the Rua

Direita, and thence a little further into the Rua do Ouvidor, the two most

elegant but none the less most-neglected streets of Rio, there dazzles the

eye, in the splendid, richly-decorated shops and arcades, the same profuse

luxury as in Regent Street, or on the Boulevards. But how disagreeable the

contrast with those cities, presented by the pools of stagnant water,

which occur even in the most-frequented streets!

The city proper presents the figure of a square of about one mile and

three quarters each way, between the sea beach and the Campo da Santa

Anna, and is divided with tolerable regularity by narrow streets built at

right angles to each other. Except the most important public buildings,

such as the National Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Military

Academy, the Naval Arsenal, the Custom House, the Market Hall, the

Imperial Palace, the Chamber of Deputies, and several of the churches,

only shops and mercantile counting-houses are to be met with.

From the city stretch the suburbs like long tentacles in every direction,

on one side along the beach as far as St. Christoph, the winter palace of

the emperor, and, in the opposite direction, as far as the charming Cove

of Botafogo, while backwards they extend to the valleys leading to the

Corcovado, to the suburbs of Larangeiras, Catumbý Grande, and in the

direction of the Tejuca mountains, as far as Engenho Velho, and Andarahý.

Elegant little villas, frequently built in the strangest and most

_bizarre_ style of architecture, alternate in these suburbs with ordinary

dwelling-houses, all having most beautifully laid-out gardens. The

merchant, the manufacturer, in fact every individual in easy

circumstances, remain in the city only long enough to transact daily

business. Each has his residence in the suburbs, where his family lives,

to whose quiet circle he returns every evening. Among these suburbs, those

of Caminho Novo and Catete, along the road leading to the charming cove of

Botafogo, are more specially the diplomatic quarter, and the residence of

the moneyed aristocracy of the capital.

Amid so much that calls for censure in Rio Janeiro, and of which the

æsthetic perceptions of the visitor will apprize him in the course of a

stroll in any part of the city, there are two improvements which deserve

grateful acknowledgment. The first of these consists in the lighting of

the city by gas (prepared from English coal), which had been introduced

shortly before our arrival, and is now extended to the extreme outskirts

of the suburbs; the second is the magnificent aqueduct, which provides

every quarter of Rio with a lavish supply of excellent drinking-water.

However ugly Rio may look in the daytime, the gas at night gives

it a magnificent and splendid appearance, particularly from the

harbour. When, the evening after our arrival, we gazed out upon the

brilliantly-illuminated city that lay before us, we could not help

thinking there must be some festive occasion for such a flood of light,

ignorant as we then were of what we learned afterwards, that Rio is as

fairy-looking by night as it appears gloomy by day.

Not less surprising, and forming a strong contrast with the deficiencies

and requirements in other particulars, are the stately fountains that

adorn the squares. Close by the corner of each street, gushes out through

metal cocks, a stream of clear, fresh spring-water, which has been

conveyed by the great aqueduct a distance of 10 or 12 English miles from

the slopes of the neighbouring Carioca or Tejuca mountain-chains. The

water supply has been in existence for 120 years, but the present immense

reservoir and various improvements in it have been introduced by the

Brazilian Government. With the exception of the Croton aqueduct, near New

York, which supplies that city with 40,000,000 gallons daily, we do not

remember to have seen in any part of the world a similar work of such

magnitude.

The dreary, uncomfortable feeling left by the city, gives way to most

enjoyable impressions so soon as one emerges from the suburbs of Rio, and

seeks compensation for the absence of the appliances of European

civilization in the eternal grace and majesty of Nature. Walks may be

taken in every direction, each opening up a fresh point of view, while, if

the visitor take horse or mule, he may in the course of an hour or two

transport himself into the very midst of the most extraordinary features

of tropical vegetation.

Among the most charming of these is a ride to the rocky peak called

Corcovado, 2300 feet high, the road to which runs through magnificent

shady forests. On the highest pinnacle of this rocky cone, which rises

rather abruptly on the side of the valleys of Clementi and Broca, a

parapet has been erected within these few years, so that the traveller can

gaze over the delightful panorama below with as much, or even more,

comfort and security, than from the Righi or the great Winterberg in the

Saxon Switzerland. In the south and south-east rise the two stern-looking

mountains, Gavia and Dos Irmaos, both of considerable height, and

encircled by the mirror-like lagoon, Rodrigo das Freitas, near which

stands out, clothed in the most luxuriant verdure, a part of the botanical

garden; thereafter follows the beautiful valley of Clementi and Broca,

with the splendid Lunatic Asylum and the fort of Praya Vermelha; beyond

which is the smiling cove of Botafogo, and the singular Sugar Loaf, which

forms such a characteristic feature of the entrance of Rio harbour; close

beside the latter is the fort of San Juan; and lastly, facing the entrance

of the bay, that of Santa Cruz, the strongest in the empire. At our feet

lay stretched out the city itself, with the beautiful valleys of

Larangeiras, Engenho Velho, and Catumbý Grande. On the other side of the

bay, just opposite Rio, is Praya Grande, the capital of the province, and

in the background the lofty, spectre-like mountain-chain of the Organos--

so called from the rocky peaks projecting like so many organ-pipes. What a

wondrous prospect! It is scarcely possible to have, from a single point of

view, a grander or more varied natural picture. We lingered here more

than an hour, and tore ourselves away with reluctance from all those

glories which Nature has shed with so profuse a hand over this enchanting

landscape.

One of our companions was the veteran Brazilian naturalist, the venerable

Dom Antonio Ildefonso Gomez, who passed several years in Europe when a

young man, and had, together with Humboldt, once attended the lectures of

Cuvier at Paris. M. Auguste de St. Hilaire, during his visit to Rio, spent

several months at Dom Ildefonso's hospitable abode. Although now a

septuagenarian, the old physician is uncommonly hale in person, full of

his pristine enthusiasm, indefatigable in the pursuit of knowledge, and

able to pass an entire day on the back of his mule, so that he can ride to

the most distant consultations without betraying any symptoms of

exhaustion. He had brought with him a number of large oranges, some cheese

and bread, and a bottle of excellent port wine, so that there was no want

of wherewithal to recruit our strength; and there, on the summit of the

Corcovado, our hearts swelling with rapture as the eye ranged over the

marvellous landscape that lay unrolled at our feet, we drank to the

prosperity of Brazil. Dom Ildefonso, a warm friend to all foreigners,

remarked that within forty years Brazil will probably be more German than

Brazilian or Portuguese, and expressed a hope it might be so, as only by

that means, so far as his observation went, could his beloved native land

hope for a prosperous future.

We returned through most charming forest scenery by way of Larangeiras

and Andarahý. Throughout the entire distance we rode amidst the most

exquisite specimens of tropical vegetation, palms, ebony trees, bignonias,

plantains, mangoes, papayas, and bread-fruit trees, mingling with which we

could discern the various trees and shrubs of the Northern Hemisphere, and

occasionally strange plants from China, Japan, and Australia, which had

been planted here by the enterprising hand of foreign settlers.

Not less charming is the excursion to the Falls of the Tejuca, to which a

broad road leads through blooming flower-gardens, and past delicious

country seats, extending far into the mountains, and surrounded and

overshadowed by a wall as it were of verdure, consisting of the flowers of

_Bignonia bella_, intermingling with the shining leaves of the gigantic

_Bougainvillea_. The coral tree (_Erythrina coralliflora_), the indigenous

magnolia, the fan-shaped _urania_, numerous species of palms, and lofty,

carefully-tended screw-pines, plantains with gigantic fruits, bread-fruit

trees, eugenias, casuarinas, and melon trees--such are the blooming

odoriferous attractions that here adorn garden and field. Ever threading

his way among such charming plantations, the traveller finally reaches the

path which, hemmed in between two mountain ridges of moderate height,

leads direct to the Tejuca mountains, while to the right branch off

numerous narrow paths conducting to the various adjoining eminences, from

which a view can be obtained of the small cascade. The tropical richness

and profusion of vegetation, has here crowded together upon a few square

feet of soil hundreds of plants of all kinds. They strike into the soil,

or struggle upwards to the light, or give out roots from the stems or

branches, and all twine and tangle with each other to such an extent that

often in these tufts and thickets one sees the top of a fern, without

being able to distinguish any part of its stem, or a passion-flower

without any visible stalk or leaves, all suspended in mid-air, like so

many elegant festoons.

A short distance from this singular, thoroughly tropical landscape, is the

second, known as the Great Cascade, which, however, owes its special

attractions rather to the character of the surrounding vegetation than to

the volume of water. The trees here grow on a sort of amphitheatre of

rocks, all of colossal size, and the most widely different forms, no two

of the same species adjoining each other, their stems and branches adorned

with the most beautiful parasites and the blood-red leaves of innumerable

creepers, which in their lavish luxuriance now stretch like garlands from

tree to tree, now hang perpendicularly down from the very highest branch

of the tree like a network of green lace, till they sweep along the

ground.

The water welling out from the granite rock, rushes into the abyss below

after traversing a rocky declivity, somewhat resembling a sloping terrace

of about twenty fathoms wide. Its track is indicated by the

irregularly-shaped blocks piled upon each other, some of which at a little

distance below, their huge wide ridges enclosed by retaining walls, serve

as spots in which to dry in the sun the ripe berries of the coffee plant,

which in many parts hereabout forms an almost impervious forest.

As we prosecute our wanderings further, we finally emerge upon the green

hills of the vicinity, and obtain a charming glimpse of the ocean; we have

now arrived in front of the gigantic outline of the Gavia, and directly

facing us lies the salt-marsh, known as Tejuca-Lake, in the midst of which

rises an island, thickly overgrown with mango-trees, standing on their

distorted hundredfold roots; melancholy-looking examples of the inactivity

and absence of all attention of the Brazilian authorities, who permit such

a hot-bed of poisonous miasma to remain in the immediate vicinity of the

city, and leave these plants unchecked to carry on their pestiferous vital

processes!

Returning from such a delightful excursion to Rio de Janeiro, the stranger

feels doubly uncomfortable and lonely in the dreary and sombre city. The

Brazilians are in general neither very social nor hospitable, and only,

after many years' acquaintance, is a familiar intercourse formed with

strangers.

In this respect they bear a strong resemblance to the Spanish-Americans,

whom they also greatly resemble in many of their habits of life.

Foreigners settled in Rio spend their evenings generally at their country

seats, some distance from the town, so that the occasional visitor is

deprived of the social intercourse that might otherwise be so accessible.

We met with a most hospitable reception at the houses of the Austrian

Minister, Chevalier de Sonnleithner, and our Consul-General, as well as

from some German families, and also from the "Germania," a Club founded by

twelve Germans as far back as 1821. This Society numbers now about 200

members, and is well supplied with German newspapers and periodicals,

besides possessing a well-selected library of several thousand volumes,

and a reading-room, with _restaurant_, smoking, billiard, and

dancing-rooms attached. Of the various nationalities represented at Rio,

the Germans are the most respected by the Brazilians. They are about 3000

in number, and as the majority are Protestants they have their own church,

founded by three Germans in 1827, which now numbers 600 members, and has

an annual income of 5000 milreis.[38] The community is under the protection

of the Supreme Ecclesiastical Council in Berlin, and accordingly, as often

as public worship is joined in, prayers are offered up for the King of

Prussia, as head of the church. Despite its existence for more than thirty

years, the position occupied by the Evangelical church with reference to

the State, has never been accurately defined, so that differences are

constantly occurring. In connection with the congregation are a school,

and a society for aiding distressed Germans, which numbers 200 associates,

and has an annual income of from 6000 to 7000 milreis (£600 to £700). The

objects of the association are the advance of money, pensions, payment of

passage-money for transport, assistance to unemployed or sick German

workmen, education of orphan children, and so forth. The German choral

union had given a concert in aid of this humane society, which alone had

realized 3100 milreis (above £300)!

[Footnote 38: One milreis = 1000 reis = about 2_s._ English. The Brazilian

milreis is of this small value as compared with that of the Portuguese (3

to 7), in consequence of its being represented by paper-money of

fluctuating value, which gradually became so depreciated that Government,

when regulating the value in 1846, were not in a position to restore it to

its par value of 3_s._ 4_d._ sterling.]

It is not alone, however, as merchants, engineers, and artisans, that the

Germans in Rio occupy a conspicuous position; they likewise contribute

their mite to the advancement of art and science. For example, the most

important literary enterprise in the empire is in German hands, viz. the

printing and bookselling business of the brothers Laemmert. Their

publications embrace two hundred and fifty works, chiefly of Portuguese

(not Brazilian) authors, original or translated, treating of Brazilian

legislation, history, medicine, public instruction, poetry, popular

literature, works on religion, novels, romances, kalendars, and theatrical

pieces. One publication due to the founder of the firm, Mr. C. Laemmert, a

Bavarian by birth, has already proved of immense utility, the "_Almanak

administrativo, mercantil, e industrial_," compiled by himself, first

published in the year 1843. From a most defective little pamphlet at its

start, this periodical publication has, in the course of time, become

developed into an elegant, simply-classified octavo volume, 1400 pages

thick, which, compiled carefully and kept constantly corrected to the

latest moment, despite the most disheartening material difficulties, gives

a very interesting insight into the entire internal organization of the

empire, and at the same time supplies the most authentic information as

to the scientific, commercial, and industrial activity of the city and

province of Rio. Even more important as a medium for the diffusion of

useful knowledge among the masses is a sort of popular kalendar, which is

published in duodecimo form, under the title of "_Folinhas_" (Leaves), and

for 320 reis (about 7-1/2_d._ English), gives upon 360 pages an immense

amount of useful information. Of this publication 80,000 copies were sold

throughout the empire in the year 1857. There are very few works of

importance written by native authors, as they devote their energies

chiefly to periodical literature. Of daily and monthly publications there

are abundance, both in Rio and in the provinces, but they have only an

ephemeral existence. The press enjoys the most unbounded freedom, and

probably in very few continental cities would such language be tolerated

as that of the _Courier du Brésil_, edited by a French refugee. If the

influence of journalism in Brazil is as yet insignificant, it is in

consequence of the prevailing ignorance, as four-fifths of the population

are unable to read or write, and the papers published are consequently

only in the hands of the upper classes.

While we found but few opportunities of intercourse with Brazilian

families, the public authorities received and treated us in the most

obliging and distinguished manner. In this respect, we were particularly

indebted to Dr. de Lagos, Dr. Schüch de Capanema, Dr. F. de Paulo Candido,

and Dom M. de Portoalegre.

These gentlemen took especial pains to make our stay in Rio as instructive

as useful, and likewise gave us in reply to various scientific queries the

most valuable information and practical hints. Thus, for example, we were

favoured by Dr. de Lagos with the following particulars respecting the

alleged efficacy of the milky sap of the assacú tree (_Hura

Brasiliensis_), and of the bite of the rattlesnake as antidotes in cases

of _Elephantiasis_, as also regarding the "Curaré," that celebrated poison

with which the Indians of Brazil tip their arrows.

The assacú had long been employed as a remedy for the frightful malady

known as _Elephantiasis Græcorum_, and its use was occasionally followed

by the happiest results, without any attempt having been made thoroughly

to investigate the specific action of the juice, although, like that of so

many other Brazilian plants, it would probably surrender, if

scientifically analyzed, the therapeutical energies which enable it to

overcome occasionally the most obstinate cases of disease. The assacú is a

tree growing in the northern provinces of Pará, on making an incision into

which there exudes a resinous sap, of a brownish or reddish-white colour,

which coagulates, and gradually hardens. This inspissated substance is of

a dark brown, rather resembling gum than resin, and readily soluble in

water. When dissolved, it regains the colour and odour of the sap as it

first trickles from the tree. A committee of physicians of Pará long ago

presented to the Brazilian Government a memorandum as to the practical

efficacy and peculiarities of the assacú in cases of the above malady,

according to which it appears, that the symptoms of the patient improve in

the most marvellous manner from the very first day on which the remedy is

used; the illness seems to be suddenly arrested, or, at all events to make

but very slight progress. The milky sap is exhibited internally, in the

form of pills, and a decoction of the bark is also administered by way of

a beverage for the patient,--externally an infusion of the bark is used

for bathing purposes. Some of those affected, to whom this remedy was

applied, felt a sensation as of formication, immediately on taking it,

while others experienced a feeling as though they had been submitted to a

series of shocks of electricity, only weaker and more equable.

It is a well-established fact that in many parts of South America, a

popular belief prevails that the bite of the deadly _Cobra de cascavel_,

or rattlesnake, heals _Elephantiasis_, or pustular leprosy, in which

disease, as is well known, the legs and feet of those attacked are covered

with a scurf resembling the cuticle of the elephant. However, instances of

the practical application of so terrible a remedy, which seems to be

almost more dreadful than the disease it professes to cure, are in all

probability of rare occurrence, and are therefore doubly important when,

as in the case detailed to us, they occurred under the very eyes of a man

of science, and are related by the observer himself.

A native, named Marianno José Machado, from Rio Pardo, in the province of

southern Rio Grande, fifty years of age, had long been afflicted with

morphea (_Elephantiasis Græcorum_), and had already passed four years in

the Lazarus Hospital at Rio, when one day, worn out with his loathsome

malady, he resolved as a last chance of being delivered from his dread

disease, to submit to the bite of a rattlesnake. All the warnings and

representations of the physicians, who entertained well-founded doubts as

to the remedial efficacy of so dangerous a remedy, were disregarded.

Marianno betook himself to a house in the Rua da Imperatriz, the occupant

of which possessed a living rattlesnake, and there in the presence of

numerous witnesses declared, signing at the same time a document to the

same effect, that what he was about to do he did of his own free will,

without any influence on the part of strangers, and that he assumed to

himself the entire responsibility of his own deed. Marianno was of

middling stature and athletic build; his entire skin was covered with

rugosities, but without any appearance of ulceration, while his face was

frightfully disfigured. The points of his fingers, moreover, had entirely

lost their form, the skin readily peeling off from them.

The daring sufferer opened the box in which lay the deadly reptile, and

roughly seized it; but it at first attempted to escape, as though it too

was disgusted at the horrible object before it. When, however, it felt

itself once more squeezed, the snake turned round in self-defence, and bit

the man on the finger. Marianno was sensible neither of the puncture of

the teeth, nor of the instantaneous activity of the injected poison, but

it became ere long apparent that he had been bitten, from the blood making

its appearance, coupled with a slight swelling of the hand. Several

physicians watched by the bedside of the sufferer; almost every half-hour

the observed results were circumstantially reported. When, however, the

symptoms rapidly became worse, antidotes were applied, and every effort

made to save the patient. Nevertheless, the result of the experiment was

as anticipated--within twenty-four hours after the bite of the rattlesnake

Marianno was a corpse.

Several members of the medical society of Vienna laid great stress on our

procuring a considerable quantity of the celebrated poison, "_curaré_,"

used in South America for tipping arrows, with the view of instituting

fresh experiments--similar to those already made, so as to elucidate its

chemical and physiological properties. As the curaré is not to be procured

in Rio, but comes thither from the northern province of Pará, where the

natives procure it from the sap of the _Strychnos toxifera_, Dr. de Lagos

promised he would take care to procure some, so as to transmit samples

direct to the Vienna _savans_, and at the same time gave us much

information as to the latest researches touching this substance, with

whose remarkable properties Alexander v. Humboldt had made the scientific

world acquainted, more than half-a-century previously, in his classic

"Travels through the Equatorial Countries."

One special peculiarity of the curaré consists in the fact that, like most

other organic poisons, it is only active when absorbed into the

circulating system, and proves entirely innoxious, nay in some cases even

beneficial, when introduced into the body by other means.

The more the faculty became acquainted with the terrific activity, and

invariably fatal results of this poison, the more zealously did science

bestir itself to discover some means of neutralizing the operation of the

curaré. Quite recently the preparations of iodine-natron, when

administered in certain proportions, have been recognized as antidotes;

dissolved with the curaré they seem entirely to obviate its evil effects.

Careful observation and a gradual acquaintance with the properties of the

curaré, have further led to the conclusion that it may be regarded as a

remedy in certain cases, and it has actually been administered with good

results to animals affected with tetanic convulsions. May it be reserved

to the physicians of our native country, to elicit from the quantity of

this subtle and singular poison, which they may expect to receive through

the kindness of Dr. de Lagos, such results as shall make its remedial

properties available for man, instead of leaving its baleful energies as

at present solely directed to the destruction of organic life!

In the company of our Brazilian friends, already mentioned, we also

visited the most interesting of the public charities and educational

institutions of Rio.

On the occasion of a visit we paid to the in part newly-erected Casa de

Correçâo, which is managed on what is known as the Auburn system, we were

shown three Mozambique negroes, who, in 1852, had been smuggled in a

"slaver" from the east coast of Africa into Brazil, there to be sold as

slaves, despite the interdicts against the introduction of slaves, then

actually in force. The vessel was, however, captured by the Brazilian

cruisers, and the negroes forthwith restored to liberty, when, in their

own interest, and with the view of preventing their being a second time

sold into bondage, they were removed to a quarter of the prison away from

the rest, and specially set apart for what are called "free Africans,"

where they had been carefully educated and instructed in various

handicrafts, all at the expense of the State. As a vocabulary of the

idioms spoken by the Mozambique negroes, was an especial desideratum of

the class of philosophic history in our Imperial Academy of Sciences, and

there seemed to be but little prospect of our expedition visiting the

eastern coast of Africa, we gladly availed ourselves of this unexpected

opportunity to compile the wished-for vocabulary, in which Professor

Portoalegre, Director of the Academy of Fine Arts, materially assisted us.

Two of these negroes, Camillo and Ventura, were born in Quillimani, and

belonged to the Mananpi race; the third, Jeremias, was born about sixty

days' journey from the coast, of the Maqua race, and spoke a dialect of

the Mozambique idiom. Ventura, a youth of, at the outside, seventeen years

of age, related that he could perfectly remember having been stolen one

night from his parents in Quillimani, when he was brought to a

slave-dealer named Jones, after which he was shipped off in a wretched

leaky vessel to the coast of Brazil. On our asking these three swarthy

fellow-labourers, hearty of aspect and neatly clothed, who had been so

carefully tended by the State, and earned, one as a house-servant, the

other two as stonemasons, thirty milreis (£3 3s.) a month, whether they

did not feel themselves better off in Rio than in their own home,--they,

with one accord, answered that they longed to return to Quillimani, where

it is hardly requisite to work above six months, and the rest of the year

may be consumed in a genuine "_dolce far niente_" existence, instead of

being compelled, as in Rio, to work the whole year round!

In spite of long-continued efforts, the vocabulary turned out much less

complete than we wished, in consequence of the limited capacity of these

negroes. We did not content ourselves, however, with merely transcribing

the answers to our questions, but also endeavoured to obtain a more

accurate idea of the precise meaning attached to each, by repeating each

of the words of the Mozambique language, and translating into it from the

questions put in Portuguese. This method seemed to be the most effectual

for ensuring the correctness of the pronunciation, so as to permit of its

being afterwards reduced to writing. In the arrangement of the vocabulary,

we availed ourselves of what is known as Gallatin's method, as it appeared

to us more complete and comprehensive than that sent to our academy by the

celebrated naturalist and traveller, Dr. Martius, of Munich, with a

request that it should have his list of Latin words translated into the

various languages hitherto unknown, or such idioms as have been as yet but

little examined and investigated.

The race, to which these three negroes belonged, seems to have been

already converted to Christianity. At least, they all had Christian names,

but could give us no information either as to certain heathenish rites in

their own country, or concerning an idol of carved ivory which we showed

them, brought from the east coast of Africa, and the method of worshipping

it.

Two of the most elegant edifices of Rio Janeiro, worthy indeed of being

placed side by side with the largest charitable establishments in Europe,

are the immense palace-like Hospital of the Santa Casa da Misericordia, in

which between 8000 and 9000 patients are received and treated annually,

and the really splendid Lunatic Asylum (_Asylo dos Alienados_), in the

cove of Botafogo. The latter institution, founded in 1841, which, whether

as regards the tastefulness of its architecture or its munificent

endowment, can hardly be rivalled anywhere, owes its existence to one of

the most estimable benefactors of his native country, Don José Clemente

Pereira, Minister of the Interior at the time of its erection. This

genial, benevolent soul, deeply acquainted with the human heart and its

weaknesses, hit, as we were told, upon the following eminently original

and ingenious method of raising the sums required. All grades of the

various Brazilian orders, as well as the titles of Baron, Count, and

Marquis, were put up for sale at fixed prices, the proceeds resulting

from which purposes were applied to the erection and endowment of the

asylum! And thus arose, at the south end of the cove of Botafogo, a

splendid palatial edifice--a monument less of humanity and love of our

afflicted neighbours, than of the vanity and frailty of poor human nature,

the tributes to which erected it. Unfortunately, in this establishment,

mere succour is all in all, and the cure seems entirely lost sight of, the

sanative treatment of the patients lagging far behind their careful

supervision; in short, it being rather a place for the safe confinement

than the recovery of those deprived of their reason.

One of the most instructive examples of how little the inhabitants of Rio

make use of the natural capabilities of the site of their capital, is

incontestably furnished by a piece of ground immediately adjoining the

Lunatic Asylum, which has been dignified with the name of the Botanic

Garden. With the exception of a very fine alley of hundreds of graceful

king-palms (_Oreodoxa regia_), which present a magnificent spectacle,

growing as they do with such admirable regularity as to appear rather

artificial columns than planted trees, the eye encounters nothing but

uncultivated land, abounding with the commonest vegetation, alternating

with badly-selected nursery plantations, although both in the climate and

the soil every facility is at hand for enabling this garden to be made a

means of representing the vegetation of every zone of the globe. Even a

large tea plantation, for the cultivation of which 10,000 Chinese were

imported at the cost of Government, and from which, if the experiment had

proved successful, the most important results might have been anticipated,

stood there uncared-for and untended, a melancholy witness of how things

are inaugurated in Brazil, and then suffered to fall through. When we

enquired how long the garden had been laid out, our guide, a witty

Portuguese, replied with a sarcastic smile; "Since the beginning of the

world!" In that part of the garden which adjoins the Lagune, called

Rodrigo das Freitas, stands a common mud hovel, with broken windows, and

doors hanging by the hinges. This was pointed out to us by a labourer as

the spot at which the Emperor alights and reposes when he visits the

Botanical Garden.

Singular to say, Brazil possesses no regular university! The jealousy with

which any one city invested with certain privileges and prerogatives is

regarded by the rest, is the reason that induced the Government to

separate the medical and juridical classes, so that each of the four chief

cities of the Empire benefits by the presence of a certain portion of the

students. Thus the medical schools are in Rio Janeiro and Bahia, while

those of jurisprudence are held in St. Paul and Pernambuco. The entire

number of students attending these establishments amounted of late years,

on an average, to upwards of a thousand. Great prominence has been

assigned by Government, especially of late, to the extension of public

instruction. In March, 1857, there were throughout Brazil, 2452 schools,

(765 private, and 1687 public,) in which instruction was given to 82,243

children of both sexes.[39] A school of industry, having for its object the

instruction of able-bodied persons, was opened in 1856, and classes for

teaching natural philosophy and political administrative science, are in

process of being introduced. Amongst the scientific establishments of the

country, the Historico-Geographical Institute occupies the first place,

the meetings of which are generally attended by the Emperor as honorary

president. This institution, which occupies in Brazil about the same

position as the Academy of Sciences in Vienna, directs its special

attention to the publication of old documents and manuscripts relating to

the history of Brazil and the aboriginal population; but investigations

relating to natural history are also included in its domain of enquiry.

The sittings are held every alternate Friday. The naturalists of the

_Novara_ attended one of these meetings, which took place in one of the

wings of the palace. At half-past 6 P.M., the Emperor entered the hall, in

plain clothes, attended by two chamberlains. All the gentlemen present

approached one after the other and respectfully kissed the hand of their

sovereign. On this occasion we remarked that even ladies, when presented

to the head of the State, were accustomed to kiss his hand. The Imperial

Honorary President, whose simple apparel was relieved only by the star of

some order worn on the breast, took his seat at the upper end of a long,

wide table, covered with green cloth. The associates, with the exception

of the Vice-President and Secretaries, seemed to have no fixed seats, but

sat in the order of their arrival. During the sitting there was the most

marked absence of ceremony, and the business was transacted in the freest

and easiest manner.

[Footnote 39: Among the higher class of educational institutions, the

College of Pedro Segundo ranks foremost, and is at present attended by

about 900 students.]

The proceedings were uninteresting, the greatest portion of the time being

occupied in reading over the minutes of the last sitting, and replying to

certain strictures upon the incapacity of land-surveyors in Brazil. Sir

Robert Schomburgk had, in one of his works published in 1843, upon the

subject of New Guinea, made some disparaging observations as to the method

of admeasurement pursued in Brazil, and one member of the society, Dr.

Schüch de Capanema, seemed to consider it his duty in his double capacity

as a Brazilian and an engineer, to protest--somewhat tardily it must be

owned!--against these, according to his opinion, unjust remarks. After the

discussion was over, a manuscript was next brought forward concerning some

of the native tribes; His Majesty expressed a wish to have this treatise

read. The secretary accordingly made the attempt, but the writing was so

illegible, that he was obliged to abandon the task. At the conclusion of

the meeting, which lasted upwards of three hours, His Majesty conversed

very affably with the Austrian gentlemen, and presented each with a copy

of a national poem, "Conferaçao dos Tamoyos," by a native poet, Gonçalves

de Magalhaes, and recently printed at His Majesty's expense, which relates

the wars of the Tamoyos with the Portuguese residents of San Vincente--

the last struggle of that heroic Indian race, the founding of Rio, and the

subjugation of the entire force, under Nictheroy, by the Portuguese.

The _Palæstra Scientifica_ is a branch of this institution, the members

being chiefly naturalists. The gentlemen of the _Novara_ Expedition were

invited to one of the meetings, which was inaugurated by the secretary

reading aloud an ancient manuscript upon the natural resources of various

provinces in Brazil, according to explorations, which had been undertaken

in 1798, by the directions and at the cost of the then Portuguese

Government. There was also read a memoir upon the culture of linseed,

formerly carried on in the province of St. Catharina, which, however, is

now entirely discontinued. Dr. Schüch presented to the Society

vocabularies of the Croado and Puris languages, compiled by M. R. F. de

Senestes, a retired Belgian ship captain, now resident at Minas, who had

long traded with these two Indian races. Dr. Schüch also exhibited a

pigment, or dye-stuff, extracted from the wood of the Ipé-tree, a species

of bignonia, extensively used in the manufacture of axles. State

Councillor and Senator Candido Baptista de Oliveira, [formerly Minister

and Ambassador at St. Petersburg, and at that time publisher and editor of

the _Rivista Brasileira_ (Brazilian Review)], brought forward some

meteorological tables, and explained his new method for measuring

altitudes. The proceedings are usually conducted in the Portuguese

language; but out of courtesy to the foreigners, French was principally

spoken, and the President kindly proposed that Dr. Schüch de Capanema, who

is thoroughly versed in German, should translate into that idiom the

proceedings as carried on in Portuguese. At the close of the sitting, the

commander of our Expedition and the various members of the scientific

commission were named associates of the _Palæstra Scientifica_.

This society had projected an expedition to explore the western provinces

of the empire, and some of their members were appointed to draw up the

plan for carrying it out. The arrangements for the enterprise were on the

grandest scale. The requisite books and scientific apparatus were ordered

from London, Paris, Vienna, and Berlin. Every branch of science had its

representative,--an astronomer, botanist, zoologist, ethnologist, &c.,

were to accompany the Expedition; each section had a number of assistants,

the astronomical as many even as nine. When we arrived in Rio, the printed

instructions for the use of the members were just being distributed; and

it was asserted that nothing but the non-arrival of the instruments from

Europe prevented the departure of the Expedition. In short, the

preparations which were made in the year 1857, justified the hope that a

most brilliant success would be the result of an undertaking got up on so

expensive a scale. The only pity is, that up till now--more than three

years later--the Expedition has had but little result, and, according to

the latest intelligence from Rio, some of the members in the north-east of

the province of Cearà cannot proceed any further for want of money (_por

falta de dinhero_), and expect new funds in order to continue their

explorations and their efforts in search of the wild tribes (_em busca das

tribus selvaticas!_) in the interior of Maranhao.

There is, generally speaking, in Brazil, as in all other South-American

States peopled by the Roman race, much of good-will, and still more

vanity, to follow in the wake of northern European civilization in

everything pertaining to progress and investigation; but there is wanting

that energy, that perseverance so characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon race,

which are essential conditions in successfully carrying out any

undertaking, however zealously entered upon. This probably is the reason

why in Brazil so many things in science and social life are begun and

never brought to a conclusion; there is nowhere more talk about _what is

to be done_, than at Rio de Janeiro. Thus, for example, the Museum of

Natural History at the Campo Santa Anna, is an elegant building, with

magnificent apartments, and large elegantly fitted cases--which, however,

contain as yet but few objects of natural history, even those being most

unsystematically arranged.

Another educational institution--the Military Academy--founded under John

VI., in 1810, for the instruction of the engineers and officers of the

various scientific corps, has, since then, undergone nine reforms, and was

just about to undergo another one! In this establishment the highly

objectionable practice still exists, of making every pupil acquainted with

the chapter and verse of the subjects of examination twenty-four hours

before it takes place.

The Public Library, though little more than begun at the period of our

visit, already comprised 86,000 volumes, and is annually increased by an

addition of five or six hundred. This institution was, in 1856, visited by

3407 readers, who perused 7717 volumes, mostly in Portuguese and French,

consisting of 238 on theology, 1046 on political economy, 2879 on natural

science, 153 on the fine arts, 1083 on history, and 2318 on

belles-lettres, which furnishes a very fair criterion for estimating the

education of those availing themselves of these advantages.

Another institution, which is an evidence of the efforts now making by the

Brazilians to gratify their national vanity, is the _Conservatorio da

Musica_, a newly-established institution for the promotion of the _opera

lyrica nacional_, the number of pupils attending which averages 100. A

custom has lately prevailed of sending one or two of the most gifted of

these annually to Europe to complete their musical studies. During a four

years' residence there, each pupil has a stipend from the Imperial

exchequer of 3000 francs per annum; and in the event of obtaining a prize

abroad, he receives a gratuity of 1000 francs; his compositions, however,

in that case become the property of the parent institution. By this means

the Brazilians hope to render themselves entirely independent of foreign

musical talent. "Why should we annually pay hundreds of thousands of

francs to foreign singers and concert-givers?" said a Brazilian to us one

day in all earnestness. "We shall soon have our own artists--Brazilian

Thalbergs, Grisis, and Lablaches!" Confessedly the inhabitants of the

United States have been vain enough in all conscience; but when we

consider the wonderful advances made by that active, energetic people, and

contemplate their surpassing qualities, such a national foible is readily

overlooked. In Brazil, on the contrary, the contempt affected for

everything foreign, the fretful impatience to become emancipated from the

smallest resemblance to European customs, is exceedingly childish and even

ludicrous in a country which can hardly yet be said to be able to stand

alone, since the pressure of circumstances is daily making them more and

more dependent on other countries, and where it is necessary to import

from abroad not merely the evidences of high culture, but the very first

necessaries of life, even to obtaining supplies of foreign labour. This

overweening self-esteem has rather increased, since it has become the

fashion of young Brazilians, of the better classes, to visit Europe for

the completion of their studies, as will, perhaps, be best illustrated by

the following laughable anecdote:--A young Brazilian, the son of a German

father and a native lady, who had but recently returned from Europe,

overheard one of his friends asking another if he could tell of what

country he thought the fresh arrival to be, at the same time indicating

the youth, who just came from the academy of Freiberg. "There can be no

doubt on that point," was the reply; "the blue eyes, light hair, and fair

complexion, distinctly indicate that the gentleman is a German." "God

forbid!" (_Deu m'en guarda!_) exclaimed the young gentleman, who seemed as

it were ashamed of his foreign descent, and to feel even more indignation

than a full-blood Brazilian at such a mortifying imputation.

Among the various institutions recently established in Rio, the

introduction of which is intended to be made available in promoting the

physical well-being of the people, the foremost place must indisputably be

assigned to the Board of Health (_Junta Central de Hygiena Publica_). It

owes its origin to the appearance of the yellow fever and the cholera,

which had never been known before in the country. The former broke out on

the 29th December, 1850, having been introduced by vessels that had

cleared from Bahia, at which port it had been raging for some weeks. The

ravages of this pestilence were fearful in Rio; out of a population of

250,000 souls, as many as 120,000 were attacked, and upwards of 5000 fell

a sacrifice to the disease.

The first case of cholera occurred a few years later, on the 15th of July,

1855; and during the months in which it prevailed, nearly the same number

(to be more precise, 4826) of the inhabitants of the capital were carried

off. The fatal cases throughout the empire from this epidemic during the

eighteen months between May, 1855, and December, 1856, are said to have

amounted to the enormous number of 107,093! Dr. Francisco de Paulo

Candido, one of the most eminent physicians of Rio, and the principal

member of the Board of Health, states, in a report to the Government,

relative to the statistics of the cholera throughout the empire, that he

had observed, during the prevalence of the epidemic, three phenomena,

which seemed to stand in a certain relation to its appearance, increase,

and decrease, viz., the almost entire disappearance of the ozon in July

and following months, when the disease was on the _increase_; the gradual

increase of that atmospheric agent, in proportion to the decrease of the

disorder; and lastly, the influence exercised by humidity and sudden

changes in temperature on the intensity of the disease. Dr. Candido has

added to his highly instructive report some meteorological tables and a

graphical representation of the presence and absence of ozon in the

atmosphere, which will be published, in its proper place, in the medical

section of the present work.

The consequence of the ravages of these two scourges was, that a variety

of other measures for securing the public health were inaugurated by the

newly-established Board of Health. Among others, a hospital was set on

foot in a charming part of the Cove of Jurujuba,[40] at the eastern

extremity of the Bay of Rio, expressly for the reception of patients

afflicted with yellow fever or cholera. Every morning since that attack,

(and during the unhealthy season several times a day), a small Government

steamer, fitted up for the purpose, plies round the bay, to take up any

cases that may happen to occur on board the ships arriving, and convey

them hither free of charge. Two medical men on board the steamer commence

the treatment, by applying the necessary remedies, during the passage

from the ship to the hospital. Any vessel at anchor in the bay with an

epidemic on board, has, according to arrangement, simply to hoist a flag

on the mainmast, whereupon the Government steamer immediately embarks the

sick persons. In order more effectually to keep from all contact with the

population of the town, such shipboard patients as are labouring under

infectious complaints, another hospital has been established on the Island

of Marica, situated beyond the bar.

[Footnote 40: Pronounced Shooru-shooba.]

In consequence of these recent epidemic attacks, much greater attention

than formerly has of late been paid to the cleanliness of the capital of

the Brazilian empire, though a great deal has yet to be done in this

respect. Rio used to be, without exception, the dirtiest city in the

world. As there were neither gutters nor sewers, all impurities

accumulated during the twenty-four hours used, towards evening, to be

carried by negroes on their heads, in pails and casks, to the bay, and,

singularly enough, emptied in the immediate vicinity of the Imperial

palace, whereby several quarters of the city, particularly in the hot

season, were rendered entirely uninhabitable. The execution of proper

drainage and sewerage works in a city such as Rio, which lies on a flat

and is densely built near the water, must be at all times attended with a

very large expenditure of money. But who would boggle at any amount for an

object which concerns the bodily health, not merely of the present, but of

all succeeding generations? At the period of our visit, the Government had

entered into a contract with Messrs. Joaquim Pereira de Lima and J. F.

Russell, by which, in consideration of a lease for ninety years of

certain taxes specially levied, the two contractors have undertaken to

introduce into the capital of Brazil a system of harbour and street

purification, similar to that which has long been in general use

throughout England. There had also been lately started a _Companhia

Reformadora_, having for object the widening and beautifying of certain

streets, and the improvement of the paving. One must have lived in Rio,

where each street and open square is a hotbed of fever and sickness, to be

able aright to estimate the importance of the two last-named associations.

A war steamer was, by the command of H.M. the Emperor of Brazil, placed at

our disposal, to afford us an opportunity of viewing more closely the most

beautiful points in the magnificent bay of Rio. There were on board with

us the Captain of the Port, Dom Francisco de Perura Pinto, the captains of

the Brazilian men-of-war lying in the harbour, as also several members of

the Historico-Geographical Institute. A military band enlivened the party

by playing national airs during the day. We first visited the south-east

part of the bay at the villages of San Domingo and Ponta da Armacao,

opposite to Ponta da Aréa, whence steamers, for navigating the bay and

adjoining coast, are run by an English company, which employs 667 hands,

(of whom 298 are foreigners, 207 natives, and 162 negro slaves). Except a

part of the funds advanced by native capitalists, the whole undertaking is

carried out by foreigners. England furnishes the engineers and machinery,

whilst the requisite timber is brought from Norway and North America. The

value of the labour employed during 1856 amounted to nearly £90,000.--We

proceeded hence past the islands of Salinas and Honorio, and between the

island of Baretto and the eastern shore of the bay, as far as the

luxuriant island of Paquetá, on the lovely shores of which we landed. It

has a circumference of five miles, and is inhabited by 16,000 persons, who

convert shells into chalk; nearly all the houses on shore are chalk-kilns.

During the dry season this island is the favourite Sunday resort of the

_fluminenses_, as the Rio de Janeirians delight to call themselves. From

this sweet spot the steamer carried us to the north side of the bay. In

the back-ground, the Organos mountains now appeared in all the majesty of

their imposing outline, whilst on one of the projecting ridges, the church

San Francisco de Croara forms an extremely picturesque object.

[Illustration: ISLAND OF PAQUITÀ, BAY OF RIO.]

The more the northern portion of the bay is approached, the more romantic

becomes the panorama of the mountains: from this point stand out in their

full grandeur the Serra da Estrella, the Serra da Tinguá (which is

currently believed to be the highest mountain, not merely on the bay, but

in Brazil), then the deep valley of Santa Cruz, next to which the

mountain-chains of Suaratyba, and the Serra de Iguassoú, rise

majestically, melting away into the charming Tejuca chain, the Gavia, and

the world-renowned Corcovado, whilst the Sugar Loaf, that gigantic

guardian at the entrance of the harbour, splendidly terminates this

magnificent amphitheatre.

We passed the largest of the islands in the bay, the Ilha do Governador,

which has a circumference of upwards of seven miles, and is inhabited by

about a hundred persons chiefly employed in the chalk-kilns, sail-cloth

and soap manufactories; and touched at some wild spots that promised a

harvest for our naturalists. Here and there, from the deep blue waters,

sprang up islands of the most luxuriant vegetation, like tropical idylls

of rock and forest, such as the eye marvels to rest upon, but the pen

refuses to describe. Indelibly impressed on our minds remains in this

respect the lovely islet of Catalán, with its beautiful flowers and palms.

On approaching the capital, towards the east of the bay, passing the

island Bom Jesus, with a magnificent Franciscan monastery, and the Ponta

do Cajù, with charming country seats, a forest of masts, strikes the eye

in bold contrast with the Sugar Loaf in the east, and the Morro de Viracao

and the fort Pico in the west, which covers the position of Santa Cruz.

Unfortunately we went down, just at this point, to a splendid banquet,

etiquette requiring that we should exchange the quarter-deck for the

state-room; for in Brazil also, upon such occasions, meals and

speechifying play an important part, and greatly prejudice the special

object of travel--the enjoyment of nature.

We were not yet done, however, with our excursion. Again we turned towards

the beautiful Cove of Jurujuba, where on the shore lay pretty little

cottages embowered in the richest foliage, while, through a deep

depression, appeared the masts of ships which were still on the bosom of

the ocean outside, on the point of entering the harbour. As the vessel

steamed in, the scenery changed character at every moment, like a fairy

landscape, full of the loveliest, most enchanting glimpses of the

surrounding country. At Jurujuba, we landed to visit the _Hospital

Maritimo de S. Isabel_, erected in 1853, for the reception of sailors in

ill-health of all nations and creeds. It proved of immense utility during

the prevalence of epidemics. In the five years of its existence at the

period of our visit, there had been admitted nearly 6000 cases of yellow

fever.[41] For the excellent management of this fine hospital the utmost

credit is due to the physicians in charge, Dr. Bento Maria da Costa, and

Dr. José Teixeira da Souza.

[Footnote 41: In the year 1856, 2452 patients were received into the

hospital at Jurujuba Cove, of whom 175 died, 2195 were dismissed cured,

and 82 remained under treatment. By comparison with former years, the

number of sick seemed to have fallen off 13 per cent., while the expenses

of management had increased 9 per cent.]

The ground immediately surrounding the hospital has been reclaimed by the

hand of man, and transformed into a garden, in which flourish, in

solitary majesty, the shady _Aleurites triloba_ and the _Anda Gomesii_,

growing in avenues or other regular groups, after all wild vegetation had

been cut down. But at the first step beyond, the foot of the wanderer

through these solitudes strikes into paths leading through the richest,

densest forest scenery Casuarinas (_Anacardium occidentale_), with its

luscious pear-shaped fruits, the Indian mango-tree, the various species of

Eugenia, so rich in ethereal oil, the Figuera Branca (_ficus doliaria_),

the canoe-tree, a gigantic species of _Bombax_, protected by sharp spines,

and other lofty forest-children, reach to the very buildings; while, amid

the dense underwood that grows unchecked, and a few paces distant only

from the dwellings of man, lurk dangerously poisonous snakes, who find

here a secure haunt. Within our own experience, as one of the botanists of

the Expedition was placing a ladder against a primæval forest tree, the

progenitor of numberless scions, he stumbled upon a poisonous Jacaraca,

ready to defend from intrusion his accustomed resting-place.

At the north-west entrance of Jurujuba Cove, rises a lofty island, with

the appropriate name of Bom Viajem ("a happy voyage"), with its church of

the Virgin of the same name, situate on the extreme summit, 400 feet in

height. As, during our visit to the hospital, the twilight had crept

stealthily on, we returned without further stoppage to Rio; when the

company, landing at the usual landing-place of the arsenal, separated,

full of the most pleasing impressions, arising from the beautiful scenery

enjoyed during the day, and a deep sense of gratitude for the noble

hospitality shown us by our amiable hosts.

Another favour was conferred by Drs. de Lagos and Schüch, who formed a

fishing-party on a grand scale, which was greatly enjoyed by all, though

the gun proved more profitable to our naturalists than rod, line, or net.

As the number of days at our disposal in Rio Janeiro began to diminish, we

applied ourselves to seeing the utmost possible with the smallest

sacrifice of time. The morning after our excursion on board the Santa

Cruz, we attended a sitting of the Chamber of Deputies. The hall, oval in

shape, is plainly, but comfortably fitted up. The members sit on benches

in a semicircle. Opposite the president stand tables for the ministers of

state; at the upper and lower end of the hall are galleries for the

public, and one is specially assigned to the diplomatic body. Each member

speaks from his place. Their language is very free and their behaviour

still more so,--they sometimes carry this so far as not to allow a speaker

to proceed; and in screaming, brawling, and violence, they excel even

certain members of the late French Chamber of Deputies. There are said to

be some very able speakers amongst the Brazilians. The subject of debate

was a petition presented to the House for an inquiry into the conduct of a

late minister of justice, who was accused of having tyrannically dismissed

a government officer in the province of Maranhao. The subject had created

great interest in the public mind, and the galleries were crowded to

suffocation; we did not remain till the conclusion of the debate, but the

minister is said to have justified the proceeding by proving that the

officer had allowed himself to be bribed.

On the same day we made an excursion to the Serra da Estrella and

Petropolis, a place which has of late excited so much attention in the

public journals, since the question of German emigration to Brazil, with

its accompaniments of agitations by the Brazilian recruiting agents, began

to assume its present remarkable proportions. Though the distance from Rio

to Petropolis may be accomplished in four hours, yet three different

vehicles are required:--in the first place, a steamer from Rio to the

railway-station on the opposite side of the bay, then the railway to

Fragosa, and lastly, a carriage to the final destination over an excellent

road which runs through the mountains to Petropolis.

This fine work, which was opened in 1848, is unfortunately the only one of

its kind in the whole empire,[42] as are likewise the five miles of

railway between Mauá and Fragosa; and yet how highly important would

railway communication prove from the metropolis to the northern provinces,

by means of which the excessive cost of carriage by mules might be so

considerably reduced, benefiting alike the landowner and the merchant! As

an illustration, the fact may be mentioned, that the cost of transit for

an arroba (32 lbs.) of coffee from the coffee district of Vassouras to

Rio, a distance of about 50 miles, amounts to from 700 to 800 reis (about

1_s._ 8_d._). The trouble and expense connected with this miserable mode

of conveyance, so much enhance the price of some kinds of natural produce,

that it does not pay to transport them to the harbour of the capital.

Several companies have latterly been projected, and money subscribed for

constructing railways in the various provinces of the empire, and a few of

these are already under weigh, as, for example, that of Dom Pedro Segundo,

which will put the richest provinces in direct communication with Rio, and

for which the amount of money required has been entirely subscribed. But

in this, as in all other Brazilian enterprises, energy is wanting to make

these good intentions bear fruit; and so long as there is not a greater

admixture of foreign go-a-head-ativeness in the country, much must remain

confined to the mere expression of patriotic wishes. And in this

connection, foreign immigration, of which we shall treat further on, will

prove of immense importance.

[Footnote 42: This road is to be continued from Petropolis as far as

Parahyba; and in various other directions also the building of roads for

commercial traffic is being fostered by Government. The Brazilian

Government are at the same time turning their attention to improving the

existing means of transport by importing dromedaries for use. As it

withstands variation of temperature, and thrives on almost any kind of

nourishment, the dromedary is certain to do well, especially in the

northern provinces, and will prove exceedingly serviceable in the

transport of the products of that section of the country. The great heat

and drought which prevail in Maranhao, Piauhy, Matto Grosso, and that

direction generally, is eminently suitable to the dromedary, which does

not thrive in hot _damp_ weather. It is calculated that a dromedary, which

can carry an average weight of 700 pounds, (being six times what a horse,

and four times what a mule will carry on his back), costs, in his own

country, from £12 to £16; and after paying cost of transport to Brazil,

will be worth £48. With the introduction of the "ship of the desert," that

of the date-palm must go hand in hand, as that fruit constitutes the chief

food of the dromedary, and will probably simultaneously effect a great

change in the articles of consumption by the lower orders.]

The journey by carriage through the Sierra from Fragosa to Petropolis is

extremely beautiful. He who is not fortunate enough to enter deeper into

the interior, at least obtains here an idea of what constitutes a primæval

Brazilian forest. The wonders of tropical vegetation, as manifested not

only by vastness of form but also by gorgeous and rank luxuriance, strike

the eye at first-sight almost the same way as an overpowering chorus

affects the ear. It requires time to collect the thoughts, so as to be

able to appreciate and enjoy thoroughly the extraordinary beauties that

impress the wondering mind.

If the eye of the astonished traveller has been but in the most cursory

manner directed to the vegetable phenomena that surround him, it must have

rested on a climbing plant, which constitutes one of the chief marvels of

the native woods. This singular creeper is the _Cipo matador_, a climbing

plant of a very peculiar aspect, at once the most powerful and most

destructive of all the Cipo tribe. It twines round the stems of lofty

trees, which its flattened coils gradually constrict with almost life-like

cruelty! Its aërial roots run out from all parts and embrace the tree like

artificial clamps, forming in some places complete rings, and in others

growing into the very bark. The tree, in consequence of this parasitic

embrace, dies away by degrees, whilst its destroyer continues to grow

gaily on the corpse of its victim, and spreads its leafy crown until it

falls and perishes simultaneously with the support that had hitherto

upheld it. To what profound reflections does the contemplation of this

spectacle give rise! Involuntarily our thoughts fly from the wild

Brazilian forest to the plains of civilization,--to the modern society

where, likewise, many a noble human nature is slowly undermined by a

treacherous Cipo matador of flesh and blood, till too surely he falls

prone on the ground!

Petropolis is, on account of its more temperate and healthy climate, a

favourite residence of the wealthy Rio de Janeirians, and during the hot

season, when the sultriness of the air, if not something worse, renders

life almost unendurable, Petropolis is said to have the appearance of a

European spa. It is at the same time the summer residence of the Emperor,

and the only place in Brazil where an electric telegraph--uniting it with

Rio de Janeiro--has been established. The town contains about 7000

inhabitants; the streets, when completed, will be broad and handsome,--but

only one has as yet been finished, the others being merely marked out,

while even among the clean and neat houses already erected, there are

frequent and wide gaps.

The German colony, planned by a German engineer, Julius Friedr. Köhler, is

at a little distance from Petropolis. The first colonists who arrived on

the 30th of July, 1845, came mostly from Baden and the Rhenish provinces.

The Government granted to each family a cottage, with a slice of forest

near it, a cow, a dozen of chickens, and about £5 in money. Such at least

was the information given us at Petropolis. Köhler soon afterwards met

with a sad end at a newly-formed shooting ground. Many an emigrant family

perished in misery; others, however, overcame the difficulties that beset

them at the commencement; more emigrants arrived, and now one may walk,

within a few hours, through the Rhine and Mosel valleys, Nassau,

Darmstadt, Ingelheim, Bingen, the Palatinate and Switzerland, as the

emigrants, in fond commemoration of their native homes, call their small

settlements, which run some distance through the mountain valleys. The

German origin of these settlements displays itself distinctly in the

cleanliness and neatness of their log cabins, the affability of the

people, the heartiness of their greeting, the fair hair, curly heads, and

beautiful blue eyes of the children, as well as the language and music

which is now and then heard.

Petropolis is, however, not an agricultural colony in the real sense of

the word, the majority of the 2500 Germans settled there obtaining a

livelihood as artizans and labourers. The Government has done much to

promote the growth of the colony, by making roads, and establishing

schools. Still the people never become agriculturists, on account of the

sterility of the soil; but as the road to the province of Minas Geraes

runs through the place, the settlement will always retain some importance.

For the cargoes of coffee which are conveyed by mules from the interior to

the harbour, Petropolis is the last station, and will remain so for a long

time yet, for the large outlay required renders it unlikely that the

projected railway will soon be completed.

Several attempts have been made to establish similar German colonies in

various provinces of the empire, but, unfortunately, with as yet even less

success than in the Serra da Estrella. However, the activity of the

Brazilian emigration agents has much increased in different German ports;

for the remarkable words of the Emperor, with which he opened the

Chambers in May, 1854, at Rio,--"The necessity of a settled industrious

population becomes more and more urgent,"--have become since then even

more significant; in fact, the result of the endeavours on the part of the

Government to increase the amount of labour by immigration, is now a

question of life or death for the empire. Every disinterested person feels

that, without an increase of labour, productive activity is impossible;

nay, some even apprehend a considerable decrease in the producing

capabilities of the country, in consequence of the effect to be

anticipated in Brazil from the abolition of the slave-trade by the

interference of England. Up to the year 1851, the importation of negro

slaves continued undiminished, notwithstanding the treaty with England of

1826, in which the abolition of the slave-trade forms one of the

conditions on which the recognition of the Brazilian crown by the

Government of Her Britannic Majesty was made specially contingent.

According to a statement of the Foreign Office, there were from 1842 to

1851 (despite the treaty) 325,615 negroes sold as slaves in Brazil, so

that the amount of the slave population is now upwards of 2,000,000 souls.

The condition of the black population in this country is materially

different from that of the United States and the West Indies. The colour

of the skin, which renders the life of even free and prosperous negroes

almost intolerable in the northern states of America, where they are

subject to so many humiliations, makes in Brazil no difference whatever.

The question here is not whether white or black, but whether free or a

slave. Free negroes may here occupy the highest places in the State, and

even exercise a certain influence on the destiny of the white inhabitants.

Slaves also are treated here with more humanity and less prejudice than in

any other country visited by me, on which the curse of slavery yet rests;

yet it must be confessed, without hesitation, that slavery, as beheld in

Brazil, seems even a greater misfortune to the white population than to

the black; for neither agriculture nor industry can thrive in a country

where labour is not considered, as in free States, an honourable

occupation--but rather as a disgrace--in consequence of its being

performed by slaves. Not merely the blacks, who have no interest in being

industrious, but their masters also are lazy, and approaching ruin becomes

more and more certain. Free labour alone, by obtaining the upper hand in

the country, can remedy these things. Slave labour cannot long compete

with it. The intelligence, activity, and perseverance of 100,000 free

white labourers will promote the prosperity and the happiness of Brazil,

much more than the compulsory labour of two millions of negroes in

bondage.

In consequence of repeated and energetic remonstrances on the part of the

British Government, the slave-trade has now ceased in Brazil, and "one of

the grandest monuments of our century," as the celebrated declaration by

the Congress of Vienna termed the entire suppression of the

slave-trade,[43] may be considered by this circumstance approaching its

termination.

[Footnote 43: Déclaration des puissances sur l'abolition de la traite des

nègres, du 8 Février, 1815. L. Neumann, Recueil des traités et conventions

conclus par l'Autriche (Leipzig, 1856. Vol. II., p. 502).]

As the Government became convinced that there was not the least hope of

reaping any advantage from civilizing the aboriginal tribes, it had

recourse to free immigration, and promoted it in every way.[44] It

endeavoured, particularly in the warmer northern provinces, to replace the

deficiency of negroes by Chinese Coolies, who were imported from different

parts of China; but they could not stand the climate, and were not found

capable of advantageously replacing the negro in his various and often

very heavy labour. This partially arose from the indiscriminate selection

of the immigrants, as the agents, when they could not obtain able-bodied

men, did not scruple to make up their cargo with whatever came to hand.

[Footnote 44: It may be useful, however, on many accounts to observe, that

the Brazilian Government take considerable pains to adapt this doomed race

for a civilized mode of existence. A law of 19th September, 1855, assigned

an annual sum of £6000 for the proper execution of this humane project. In

order to remedy the very marked deficiency of suitable missionaries, the

Government, through its representative in Paris, invited a number of

Catholic priests from France--men, whose rearing and zeal for their faith

had effected such marvels among the Indians of Canada. But the aborigines

of Brazil seem hopelessly degraded, and are destined, after having filled

their appointed place in the history of nations, to make room for a more

energetically endowed race.]

The Government pays, therefore, the utmost attention to European

immigration; it has agents in Portugal, France, Italy, Belgium, and

especially in Germany; and endeavours to organize associations that have

for their object the settlement of industrious labourers in the country,

and to support colonies already in existence, till they are in a position

to maintain themselves. In Brazil, the conviction is pretty general, that

only an emigration _en masse_ of white labour can save this splendid

country from ruin, though there are individuals who entertain a different

opinion, and think--perhaps not altogether without reason--that the energy

and industry of European settlers might eventually--considering the

indolent and careless disposition of their countrymen--prove destructive

to the national element!

The most striking proof of how thoroughly in earnest the leading members

of the Brazilian Government are in their efforts to procure an immigration

of foreign labour, may be found in the report of the Commission upon the

new tariff, in which the following passage occurs, illustrative of the

advantages which may be expected to be reaped from European emigration on

a large scale:--"'These foreign labourers arrive here poor, and depart

from the country laden with our gold and silver, and, like blood-suckers,

absorb our natural riches!' is the remark of those who are ignorant of the

true interests of Brazil. For to whom are we indebted for our capital, for

the industry and commerce which we have? To whom belong those

manufactories which the people want to protect, and in whose favour so

much is said? Why, to foreigners! Foreign hands and foreign capital

cultivate our soil, expand our trade and commerce, and promote the arts.

The _results_ of their labour remain, though they may themselves quit the

country! Foreigners man our ships, build our manufactories, and supply

them with hands; foreigners buy our produce and carry it to distant

markets; foreigners render our forests and rivers productive; they work

our mines, uncover the metallic wealth of our country, and educate our

children! Capital, practical science, instruments, and machines, with

which we perform our labours, belong mostly to foreigners; and,

consequently, these blood-suckers are just the very men who render our

land productive, preserving, instead of, as some erroneously imagine,

depriving us of our vitality. The money which they take back to their

homes is amply replaced by the treasures they leave behind in the product

of their labour, and in the branches of industry which they have

introduced or improved."[45]

[Footnote 45: Of the sixty-four manufactories and workshops, twenty-eight

belong to foreigners; and there is not a single industrial establishment

in which foreigners are not employed, either as managers, engineers, or

labourers.]

More explicitly and discerningly it was hardly possible for Government to

speak, and to enumerate the glorious results which the country may expect

from the introduction of foreign industry and foreign activity, although

such an official avowal could not fail to wound the national pride of the

Brazilians.

Notwithstanding this strong language of the Government, and all the

enticements and zealous activity of the Brazilian agents in the various

ports of Europe, the emigration to that country, in 1856, amounted to

only 13,800 souls.[46] Among this number there were but 628 agriculturists,

all the others coming merely with the view of obtaining a livelihood in

the capital as artizans and labourers. There are probably in all the

Brazilian agricultural colonies, at this moment, not more than 40,000

emigrants settled, that is to say, about as many as emigrate in the course

of three months to the United States!

[Footnote 46: Namely: 9159 Portuguese, 1822 Germans, and 2819 of other

nations.]

The number of Germans emigrating to Brazil is strikingly small, when

compared with the total annual emigration from that country. Of 61,413

individuals, who, in 1856, embarked from Hamburg and Bremen, only 1822

went to Brazil. The cause of this may be that, simultaneously with the

large promises held out by the agents, warning voices were heard depicting

in the most gloomy colours the terrible trials that await the unfortunate

immigrant on his touching Brazilian soil.[47] Of late such excellent works

have been published concerning Brazil, that we may advise all who take a

special interest in the condition of that empire to study these works, the

more so as the views therein expressed exactly coincide with our own

impressions.[48]

[Footnote 47: Among these, the opposition of the late Consul-General for

Brazil at Dresden, Mr. John Sturz, deserves special mention, as, despite

the threats of losing his appointment, that gentleman was incessantly

occupied in exposing the iniquities of the Parceria system (see _post_),

and recommending the immigrant, so long as such a slavish system

continued, to refrain from turning his steps towards Brazil. Mr. Sturz had

recently the enviable misfortune of being sacrificed to his own strong

sense of justice, and dismissed from all employment by the Brazilian

administration, though not without carrying with him the respect and

admiration of every friend of humanity. An excellent and circumstantial

description of the present condition of the German colonies in southern

Brazil will be found in Dr. Avé Lallemant's attractive "Travels through

Southern Brazil in 1858." (Leipzig, 1859.)]

[Footnote 48: H. Handelmann's "History of Brazil" (Berlin, 1860), a

remarkably profound and instructive work, devotes a special section (p.

933) to the subject of German emigration, and gives a very copious and

complete insight into the various missions and works since 1819 to the

present day, which treat of German emigration and colonization.]

So long as the unoccupied lands are not surveyed, laid out in lots, and

sold at a small rate to the settler, as, for instance, in the United

States; so long as the immigrant is unable to improve for himself his own

plot of ground, but must remain a mere field-labourer, working for some

foreign master, according to the iniquitous _Parceria_, or half-profits

system;[49] so long as the expense of transport of the emigrant is to be

worked off by future payments out of his labour, so long must every friend

of humanity strongly dissuade the emigrant from proceeding to the great

South American Empire.

[Footnote 49: The modern Brazilian system of _Parceria_ may be shortly

stated as that by which a planter engages in Europe such of the poorer

classes as are desirous of emigrating, and has them transported at his own

cost to Brazil, where they are engaged as farmers, with half profits, upon

the coffee and sugar plantations, and contracting to reimburse him, by

their personal services and labour, for the outlay he has been at for

their transport, maintenance, instruction, &c. Until all these have been

repaid by the improvement in the rent or productive powers of the land,

they must remain, as working out their emancipation from the lord of the

soil, veritable "_adscripti glebæ_." After that has been attained they are

free people, and may leave if they please, or may sink into the rank of

"unattached labourers," which implies their assigning half of the net

produce of the land to the ground landlord, the remaining half being their

remuneration for labour. Proprietorship in the soil is never attainable by

these farmers on half profits, inasmuch as the Parceria system can only

exist where the soil is already exclusively vested in a planting

aristocracy. (See Handelmann, etc., p. 568).]

For Brazil, beautiful, fertile, and abounding in undeveloped natural

wealth, two alternatives are alone open at present--either ruin to the

producing power of the population through deficiency of industrial power,

or the throwing open the land to foreign emigration by means of the most

extensive concessions. The longer this is deferred, the more oppressively

will the want of manual labour manifest itself; and the more advantages

will foreign emigration secure.

Once, however, these important stipulations are conceded, the German

emigrants may forthwith bend their steps to the coasts of Brazil, where

the glorious dawn of a magnificent future is surely breaking for them.

While, in the United States, the problem to be solved by the German

emigrants seems to be, to mingle German industry, German capacity, and

German knowledge, with the keen spirit of enterprise and restless energy

of the Anglo-Saxon race, and gradually to assimilate with it,--on the

other hand, in the South American continent, it appears as though the

German element were about gradually to gain the upperhand of the Latin

stock, and permanently to conquer for German industry and German commerce,

one of the fairest countries on the globe with the weapons of peace--the

spade and plough.

Brazil is, however, of great interest to Germany not merely on account of

the prospects she holds out for its overflowing population. A market,

teeming with the most important colonial products, with an area[50] of

3,956,800 English square miles, and an annual consumption of nearly

£10,000,000, must in the highest degree attract the attention and excite

the most favourable anticipations of a country such as Germany, the

majority of whose inhabitants are engaged in manufactures.

[Footnote 50: According to the computation of the Historico-Geographical

Institute of Brazil.]

The chief article of Brazilian trade at present is coffee, the production

of which, in consequence of the great profit of late years derived from

it, has increased so much, that it has superseded the cultivation of all

other produce; thus, notwithstanding the fertility and capability of the

ground, even the commonest necessaries of life, as, for instance,

potatoes, must be imported from abroad, the majority of the rural

population being engaged in labour for the foreign market, and only very

few for home consumption. This is the principal cause of the enormous

prices which, even the most indispensable necessaries have reached in Rio

de Janeiro.

Brazil grows annually, in the provinces of Rio, Bahia, and Santa

Catharina, 5,190,000 quintals of coffee, consequently more than

three-fifths of the entire amount produced on the whole earth, and of this

the province of Rio de Janeiro alone yields two-thirds.

The most important objects of export, besides coffee, are sugar, rice,

cotton, hides, and dried meat, together with dye and cabinet woods. The

progressive decrease of late years in these articles may probably be

ascribed to the want of sufficient labour, as well as to the great extent

to which the culture of coffee has been carried.

Although the trade carried on between Brazil and Europe, and its great

importance, will form the object of a special work, we cannot help

noticing in this place as a very interesting fact, that among the

importations, that of wheat-flour holds a very conspicuous place, above

300,000 barrels of 200 lbs. each being annually consumed, of which

seventeen twentieths are supplied by the United States, two twentieths

from Trieste and Fiume, and the remaining one twentieth from Lisbon and

Valparaiso. The flour from Trieste, by reason of its whiteness and

superior quality, commands a high price, so as to necessitate its being

mixed in baking with that from Baltimore. We were told it occasionally

happens, that the best quality of the much-appreciated Trieste or Fontana

flour reaches the price, altogether unapproachable by the finest American

flour, of 64 to 66 shillings the barrel.

As in the interior of the country the flour chiefly used is that called

Mandioca, prepared from the root of _Jatropha Manihot_, it follows that

the chief consumer of wheaten flour is Rio itself, the monthly consumption

amounting to upwards of 16,500 barrels. The reason for the small sale of

the Austrian manufactures in Brazil must be sought for, not so much in the

deficient supplies of the articles required, as in the circumstance that

the Austrian manufacturers have not hitherto found it much their interest

to study the Brazilian market, so as to make the requisite alterations in

the method of producing their fabrics, and thus render them suitable for

that purpose. What little of our Austrian manufactures is at present

exported for Brazilian consumption, seems at present to follow the, to all

appearance, much less natural route northwards, and instead of proceeding

from Trieste direct, is exported from Bremen or Hamburg as fabrics of

Northern Germany.

During our stay at Rio, Commodore Wüllerstorf, accompanied by Captain

Pöck, and one of the members of the scientific commission, had the honour

of being presented to the Emperor and Empress of Brazil, at a private

audience. The reception took place at the winter residence of St.

Christoph. It is an old unsightly building, and still unfinished, the

central part especially having been for some years in a ruinous condition.

The Emperor seems not to be partial to display, and a very characteristic

anecdote in this respect, which does him great credit, is very generally

reported. On the occasion of a visit to the splendid lunatic asylum of

Botafogo, one of the ministers remarked to His Majesty that the inmates of

the establishment were better and more elegantly lodged than himself. "It

will always afford me great pleasure," was the reply, "to know that these

unfortunate people are better provided for than I am."

At the entrance of the palace at St. Christoph, the gentlemen of the

Expedition were received by an ecclesiastic, who led them into an

exceedingly plain ante-chamber, the furniture of which seemed to belong to

bygone centuries. Several of the ministers of state, whose servants

carried large portfolios, exchanged compliments with the Austrian

minister, and entered the contiguous apartments. Chamberlains and

domestics of the court looked stealthily at the strangers, and disappeared

as rapidly as they had come. It seemed as though these presentations were

of infrequent occurrence. At last, about half-past 6 P.M. the door opened,

when His Majesty and the ministers walked through the room into the hall

of audience, into which the gentlemen of the Expedition were soon

afterwards conducted by a chamberlain. The Austrian minister presented

each separately to His Majesty Dom Pedro II., who is the son of an

Austrian Archduchess, and received the gentlemen in the uniform of an

admiral, surrounded by all his ministers. He is a fine-looking man, of

some 30 years of age, of stately appearance, but with a voice somewhat too

thin for so robust a person. The portrait on the Brazilian coinage is

remarkably like. The conversation was carried on in French; it is said,

however, that the Emperor speaks German fluently. He conversed very

affably and graciously with every one, and had something agreeable to say

to each, expressing much interest in the _Novara_ Expedition. After

several questions, the Emperor wished us success on our future voyage, and

retired, upon which the audience was at an end.

After the members of the Expedition had remained a short space in a corner

of the audience chamber, they were conducted through a narrow boarded

passage to the apartments of the Empress. In the ante-chamber we again

encountered the Emperor, who had exchanged his admiral's uniform for plain

clothes, and now stood before us in the undress black frock he usually

wears.

We were now ushered into the small and very plainly furnished

reception-room of the Empress, in which there was nothing to attract

attention except a couple of highly-finished portraits. Her Majesty, a

sister of the late King Ferdinand II. of Naples, and of Queen Maria

Christina of Spain, was in mourning owing to a death in the family. She

was only attended by one lady in waiting, and received us with infinite

grace. She is rather short in stature, and although still young, looks

aged; in conversation she becomes however very animated, and thereby gains

in gracefulness; her favourite theme was Italy, on which she dwelt with

childlike fondness. Speaking of Naples, its charming bay, of the Vesuvius,

and the lovely walk of Santa Lucia, near the sea, the tone of her voice

became involuntarily more lively. Notwithstanding the tropical splendour,

and an Imperial throne, the Princess seems to have a great longing for her

native land. Alas! even an imperial crown is no protection against the

yearning for home!

During our stay here, the anniversary came round of the birth of our

gracious Emperor, which was celebrated in the most festive manner. From

early dawn the frigate appeared decked out in her gayest flags, which was

similarly responded to by the English and French ships of war in the

harbour. At 8 A.M., with the customary salutes of the ensign, a salute of

twenty-one guns was fired, as also at mid-day and sunset. At 11 A.M., the

crew were paraded and divine service was performed, to which our resident

envoy and his family were invited, together with the acting

Consul-General, the captain of an Austrian vessel, and a few Austrians who

happened to be at that time in Rio. After service, the foreign guests and

several officers of the staff were entertained by the commodore at

breakfast. In the evening there was a banquet at the hotel of the envoy,

at which were present several notabilities of the empire of Brazil, among

others, Viscount Maranguapè, minister of foreign affairs, and the Senator

Viscount de Uruguay. In the garden of the club the frigate's band of music

played chiefly German and Austrian pieces, which awoke in the bosoms of

many the most tender recollections.

The frequent arrival of men of war in the bay of Rio gives rise to an

almost continual firing; each vessel entering fires a royal salute, which

is answered by the fortress and the other ships of war in the harbour.

During our stay we discharged not less than 432 salvos, while all the men

of war together fired at least 1500 salvos, thus making, within three

weeks, about 5250 rounds of gunpowder, used merely in salutes.

The 31st of August had been fixed as the date of our departure. During the

latter days of our stay, there had been frequent collations on board to

make some return to those who had shown us attention. Several of the sick,

one midshipman and two sailors, had to be left behind in hospital, where

they received the most careful treatment, while Dr. Avé Robert Lallemant,

who, by the kind recommendation of Humboldt, had been permitted by the

Archduke to accompany the Expedition with the rank of surgeon of corvette,

for the purpose of prosecuting his studies of yellow fever, was, at his

own request, put ashore at Rio, whence he afterwards undertook the journey

through Southern Brazil already alluded to.

The night previous, three sailors had deserted from a boat sent on shore

to bring back some officers. The system of kidnapping, as is well known,

flourishes in Rio, and many a ship is said to have lost, in this way, from

thirty to forty men. The crimps, who make their living by this traffic in

man, entice young and robust sailors to desert by means of all imaginable

allurements and promises, making advances in money, and leading them into

a dissolute life, in order that, when afterwards they find themselves in a

desperate state, and without resources, they may be sold by the scoundrels

to the captains of vessels, as sailors, or, what is worse, as white

slaves, to the planters in the interior. This abominable trade is said to

be carried on, on a great scale, by an Italian, in Catumbý Grande, and

though the Brazilian police is perfectly cognizant of the haunts of the

fellow, yet it seems not to be powerful enough to put a stop to the

nuisance.

These incidents did not, however, interfere with our departure at the

specified hour, when we were towed out by the tug steamer _Perseverancia_,

which we had hired for _£25_. Almost every large ship on leaving Rio is

towed clear of the bay, so as to avoid having to tack between the islands,

or perhaps have to anchor, so that the tug, which belongs to a private

individual, and accompanied us eastward as far as the island of Razza,

must be a source of considerable profit.

On 31st August, at six A.M., we bade farewell to the splendid harbour of

Rio. We had fortunately reached Rio after the visit of the yellow fever,

but the almost continual rainy weather had spoiled many an excursion, and

deprived us of the opportunity of more closely examining the environs of

the city. Nor were we more successful in making ourselves at home here,

notwithstanding the kind reception with which we were favoured by the

Government and some private individuals. There is, in short, a great want

of sociability, and we may add, almost utter indifference to scientific

pursuits, which indeed appeal in vain to the great majority of the

Brazilian population. Of course there are numerous and agreeable

exceptions; but slavery, the mixture of races, the egotism and indolence

of the wealthier classes, are all reasons why a European, just arrived,

cannot feel himself comfortable. The white Brazilians bear, in some

respects, a strong resemblance to the Italians, but they are deficient in

their pleasing, insinuating demeanour, in their cheerful humour, quickness

of perception, and lively imagination. They occupy a lower scale in social

culture, without depth of thought or feeling, and seem almost incapable of

persevering activity. This perceptible deficiency of hearty, energetic

temperament, in addition to the confused intermingling of other foreign

nations, which seem to regard the country as booty, to be abandoned so

soon as success has crowned their labours, imparts to each new arrival a

feeling of depression, which, so far from being weakened, is yet more

keenly felt by those who have lived some time in the country, so that not

merely among foreigners recently arrived, but with those also who have

spent years at Rio, the desire to leave these shores becomes rather

increased than diminished by a longer acquaintance.

[Illustration: PLATE III.--FROM RIO DI JANEIRO TO THE CAPE

OF GOOD HOPE.]

At nine A.M., we cast off from the tug, not far from the little island of

Razza, with its lighthouse, and spread our sails to the breeze, which

gradually freshened, but blew from the N.E., which was foul for our

course. However, we could still derive some advantage from even this as it

was our intention to steer southerly from Rio, so as to be able to make

almost exclusively a great circle course to the Cape of Good Hope, after

we should have got further south than the Antarctic limit of the S.E.

trades.

The near termination of the winter quarter in this southern hemisphere,

the approximation of the sun towards the south pole, and the consequent

tendency of the zones of wind and currents of air to pursue the same

direction, gave us reason to hope, that when approaching the limits of the

trades, we should find a change of wind, which should shorten the voyage,

or at all events keep us clear of storms.

In the open ocean, where there are no hills or extraordinary conformations

of land to break the uniformity of the earth's surface, and where the

expanse of water is unbroken by any extensive group of islands, the

disturbances in the atmospheric belt must necessarily be much less

strongly marked than where continents are interposed, or in the narrow

seas. The winds themselves, under such circumstances, display even in

their shifts a certain amount of regularity, which is usually dependent

upon the universal laws of nature.

Once any one is so fortunate as to comprehend the latter in all their

extent, so as to be cognisant of their results, it becomes a mere

question of the study of local conditions in order to be able to declare

how these universal laws operate, and to elucidate by the most simple

explanations many of the phenomena of nature that have till now baffled

science. Thus, when a wind hitherto steady shifts its direction, there

must necessarily be, certain active causes for its doing so; if these

causes perpetually recur in well-marked periodical intervals, the change

of the wind must follow a definite law. Under certain circumstances the

direction of the wind is well-defined; as, for instance, at certain

seasons in the open ocean it remains always the same, or changes with a

certain regularity, whence it becomes apparent that the causes must remain

unchanging, and the recurrence of the phenomenon must accordingly admit of

explanation.

We know, for example, that in the case of hurricanes--those most terrific

exemplifications of the tendency of the atmosphere to move in circles--the

wind does not blow in straight lines, but rather in curves described round

a central point, which again is not immovable, but has a regular

progression along a definite curve. In that curved plane, however, which

has been termed a _cyclone_, the wind always blows in one and the same

direction, and in the Northern Hemisphere runs counter to the motion of a

watch-hand, while in the Southern Hemisphere it, on the contrary, follows

that motion.

These facts once granted as accounting for such phenomena, it follows as a

natural consequence of the general principles laid down, that they hold

good in minor cases, and must remain of the same efficacy, whether it be a

hurricane or a dust-whirl which may be under consideration.

So, too, in conformity with those laws, light winds may be found subject

to a variation in direction of a similar nature, such as may not perhaps

be fully exemplified in every case, but simply serve to indicate the

tendency of the wind to follow the same general direction as the

hurricanes themselves.

The importance of ascertaining such curvilinearity in the direction of the

winds will be especially manifest at the limits within which the regular

winds prevail, and when they must necessarily become intermingled with

other regular currents of the atmosphere.

Accordingly, as we neared the limit of the S.E. Trades, which always

extend somewhat further south, as the sun's southern declination

increases, we had to traverse regions where necessarily we encountered

variable winds, owing to the increased area of the Trades. There are also

found occasional spots at which a more rarefied atmosphere seems to fill

the surrounding space, when there is seen a similar process to that in the

case of hurricanes, first visible perhaps in the higher strata, but

afterwards extending to those which are lower.

The winds, then, shifted with much regularity, and with them the

atmospheric pressure, just as in the case of cyclones, except that neither

the wind nor the sea ever presented the characteristics of a tempest. The

wind, which began to blow from the North-East, drew gradually to North,

thence West and South, and returned to S.E., after short intervals of

calm. We could thus perceive, on referring to the ship's log, that the

entire cycle was completed in five or six days; so that it became quite

possible, by examining the central direction of the daily variation, to

foretell the wind which must be blowing twelve hours later, when, upon

taking into consideration the path described by such central direction

from day to day, it appeared that the wind described very nearly a

parabolic curve.

Even the aspect of the heavens, and the state of the weather, were only

one degree less regular in their alternations than the hurricanes. With

the S.E. wind, the sky was bright, but as soon as it began to veer round,

towards afternoon, a few white belts of cirrhous clouds began to appear in

the western heavens, constituting a well-marked division of the vault of

the sky from one side quite to the other. As it drew still further round,

and neared the line of centres, the weather grew foul, a driving scud

covered the heavens, and a succession of splendid rainbows were seen, till

the ship had reached the nearest spot to the storm-centre when there were

sharp squalls of wind, accompanied by heavy showers of rain. The lower

strata of clouds, mere vapour, drove before the wind, while those above

moved in a directly contrary direction, generally that of the forthcoming

wind. The atmospheric pressure, which at first would be considerable,

gradually decreased as we approached the central line; as we drew away

from that centre the barometer rose again, the weather improved, and the

sky under the influence of southerly winds once more cleared.

Unfortunately it is not practicable with a single ship to ascertain

whether the veering of the wind follows an exact curve, as we can only say

what is the direction at the spot where the observation has been made, and

it is impossible to determine what it may be at other points. But it is at

all events certain that the shifts of wind are amenable to the same

general laws as hurricanes. A number of ships sent out for the special

purpose of this branch of investigation, could render immense services to

science and navigation, and achieve most interesting results.

We availed ourselves of these general laws to traverse the ocean as

speedily as possible, in order to reach early our next anchorage, and in

so doing we experienced altogether three well-marked cycles of wind at

short intervals. We cannot afford space to prosecute all the interesting

consequences that result from these phenomena of nature, such

investigations being more properly reserved for the meteorological section

of the scientific portion of this work. Here, however, the facilities for

observation of a sea-faring life have been directed towards an object of

inquiry, which must prove of immense utility in navigation and commerce.

And, perhaps, even landsmen may not find it uninteresting, that even that

proverbially fickle element, air, obeys certain fixed laws, a more

accurate acquaintance with which must be of the utmost importance to the

denizen of _terra firma_, as well as those "that go down to the sea in

ships, that do business in great waters."

On this passage from the American to the African coasts, we were

continually accompanied by our winged friends, the sea-birds, which,

notwithstanding the unkind treatment they received at the hands of the

zoological sportsmen, followed us with the utmost pertinacity, probably

attracted by the numerous fragments of provisions thrown overboard.

The Cape pigeons (_Procellaria sp._), those prettily-marked sea-birds,

about the size of doves, the albatrosses, (_Diomedea sp._) the largest of

the ocean feathered tribe, with their quiet majestic flight, stormy

petrels of all sorts and sizes, from the smallest swallow to the largest

of its kind; all these winged inhabitants of the sea's surface followed

the frigate in motley groups, and seemed never to weary in their active

search for food.

Sometimes they alighted, rested on the surface of the water, and were left

far behind; but they collected again with great rapidity as soon as

anything eatable appeared, and overtook the frigate in a swift flight from

the remotest point of the horizon. This singular attachment to ships very

probably arises from their being accustomed to follow whalers, from which

such a large quantity of garbage is thrown overboard, very much affected

by these aërial parasites, whence they learn to expect from all vessels

their favourite food.

They possess a remarkable capacity for remembering the exact time when

they are likely to receive a large quantity of eatables from on board.

Every day, about noon, the vicinity of the ship became animated, and

towards one o'clock, after the crew had finished dinner, these lively

creatures were close behind, and even fought for the pieces of tow with

which the coppers had been cleansed. The boldest amongst them was the Cape

pigeon, which pounced, with the utmost avidity, upon the dainty morsels

thrown overboard, raising a loud scream, swimming round its prey, diving

for sinking fragments, or snatching from each other those they had

secured. Then came the black and brown-spotted and white albatrosses. As

soon as one of these colossal birds appeared on the scene of strife, the

uproar of the screaming pigeons at once became still; they kept themselves

at a respectful distance from the voracious albatross, which quietly

consumed its lion's share. In a few moments, yet greater numbers of these

assembled, of which the black ones (_Ph[oe]betria fuliginosa_), like the

large petrels, are extremely shy, and rarely approach the ship within

gun-shot. The other large-sized petrels acted similarly, the brown

spectacled-petrel, so named from two singular-looking black rings round

the eyes, being the most numerous. Along with these were several small

Mother Carey's Chickens, and flights of other winged creatures swarming

over the sea. The darker the sky, the more agitated the sea, the more

actively do the Cape pigeons tumble and toss behind the ship; it appears

that in rough stormy weather they see less distinctly and find food with

difficulty, in consequence of which they are in a famished state. Only

under these circumstances, and when the ship is moving slowly, can they

be caught with a line. To angle for birds may appear rather odd to the

reader, and yet it is common enough in the Southern Ocean, amusing the

sailor, and providing the zoologist with means of obtaining these birds

alive. For this purpose, however, circumstances must be comparatively

favourable; that is to say, the weather must be rough, the sea agitated,

and the ship making but little headway. When the sky is serene, and the

sea calm, even the Cape pigeons do not think it worth their while to throw

a glance at the bait; and if the ship is moving fast, they have not speed

enough to catch it, because they only swim, and the ship outspeeds them.

The line, moreover, must be of tolerable length, so as, in the event of

any bird evincing a desire to snap, to allow as much to be paid out as is

necessary to leave the bait precisely in the same spot, without towing it

through the water. It sometimes also occurs, particularly after sunset,

that these birds, continually following in the wake of the ship, do not

see the line, strike against it, and entangle themselves so that they may

be easily drawn on board. The scream of the storm-pigeon when caught,

makes it betray its fate even before those on board have an idea that it

has been captured.

For the albatross, it is of course necessary to use a stronger hook, which

it is best to attach to a copper wire, because this being thinner than

line, is not so readily perceived. In order that the whole apparatus may

swim on the surface of the water, a few cork floats are also made fast.

When an albatross has hooked itself, the full strength of a man is

requisite to draw it on board, for the bird, in its despair, dives and

keeps its wings spread under water, so that the resistance is very

considerable, and frequently even the strongest lines are broken. This

cannot be wondered at when their size is considered, as they measure from

10 to 14 feet across the extended wings, while their weight amounts to

from 10 to 18 lbs.

Arrived on deck, none of these sea-birds are able to fly away; they move

very clumsily on their webbed feet, and can only rise after a slanting

spring, which, however, they cannot accomplish on firm ground; if in the

water these birds want to rise into the air whilst swimming, they flutter

their outspread wings for a little, and use their webbed feet in a kind of

rowing motion, in order to acquire the requisite impetus. The albatross

defends itself with its bill, which is often four to five inches long, and

care must be taken to avoid being wounded in catching them. We also

remarked that the Cape pigeons, in their rage at being captured, vomited

up a slimy greasy substance.

The latter bird was of course new to us, and afforded us much amusement.

Many were knocked over with the fowling-piece, especially when, in their

inquisitiveness, they came too near the boats, which, as often as our rate

of progress admitted, were launched with the view of adding to our

collection of objects of natural history.

In shooting an albatross large shot must be used, as, at a distance of 15

or 20 feet, small shot do not penetrate the feathers and the down of the

bird. What is most remarkable as regards these birds is the numerous

parasites that live upon their bodies. It is most extraordinary how

certain of these birds (as for instance, the _Puffins_ and _Procellariæ_)

are infested by insects, their plumage sometimes swarming with small

specimens of _Crustaceæ_.

On the 26th of September, the famous Table Mountain of the Cape was

visible, after we had, the evening previous, at a distance of fourteen

miles, sighted the lighthouse of Table Bay.

The twenty-six days of our voyage hither had flown quickly past, and we

were still able vividly to recall the impressions made by Brazil, and the

scenes we had gone through in mid-ocean, as the southernmost point of

Africa came in sight with its characteristic hills, and our eyes and our

thoughts were directed to another quarter of the globe. On the one hand,

excited with the prospect of new scenery, and on the other, anxious to

complete our elaborate observations upon Brazil, so as to be able to send

them home from the Cape, we found ourselves in a frame of mind which kept

us alternately hard at the desk, or drove us on deck to admire the

remarkable outline of Cape Colony. We did not, at the present season,

think it advisable to run right into the bay, so as to anchor near Cape

Town, but resolved to double the Cape, and proceed to Simon's Bay, the

usual anchorage for ships-of-war. We were, however, sadly disappointed in

the hope of soon reaching it, as the south-east wind freshened so much

that on the 27th it had become a gale, which forced us out to sea again.

The world-known swell off the Cape began under the ever-increasing wind to

run high, and we were soon involved in one of those famous Cape storms

which justified the Portuguese in calling the promontory of South Africa,

"Cabo Tormentoso," or the Cape of Storm.[51]

[Footnote 51:

"Through such mad seas the daring Gama fought,

Incessant toiling round the stormy Cape."

(_Lord Strangford's Camoens._)

]

The wind and spray roared and lashed through the rigging: higher and

higher rose the huge mountains of water, with their white crests, that

tossed the ship like a plaything from side to side. The waves foamed in

through the port-holes on the gun-deck, while masts, cordage, timbers,

every part of the ship groaned and creaked, a perfect medley of sights and

sounds, including woful destruction of crockery, and the heavy rolling of

erratic cannon-shot that had broken loose from the rack, and were rushing

about the deck--above all which was heard the shrill whistle of the pipe

of the boatswain's mate. The scene fairly baffled all powers of

description, and must have been eminently impressive for those who for the

first time experienced what is meant by "a gale at sea," especially at

night, when the moon, struggling through the flying vapours, lit up the

appalling scene with a livid supernatural tint.

On the afternoon of the 28th the gale reached its highest point, and raged

fearfully for some hours. The frigate proved herself, in this turbulence

of the waters, to be thoroughly seaworthy. At the same time the sun shone

brilliantly, the sky was clear and beautiful, and only here and there some

feathery clouds were to be seen. There was a curious sense of dualism in

this serenity of the sky, in contrast with the fury and agitation of the

waves. Gradually the wind chopped round towards the east, which gave some

hope that the gale would abate, but, nevertheless, the ship was tossed

about worse than ever.

The waves, like gigantic ridges, mounted, according to measurement, to the

height of from 30 to 35 feet above the mean level of the sea, and

occasioned that terrible rolling of the ship, and those fearful lurches,

which, once experienced, are not readily forgotten.