MONTEVIDEO.
_March 30th._—While in Buenos Ayres, we were indebted for repeated
hospitality, at dinners and other entertainments, to the American
Minister and other fellow-citizens from the United States, including
my kind friends of the Methodist parsonage, where I was a constant
guest.
We left on the 25th ult. The Montevideans exult greatly in the
overthrow of Rosas; and, on our return, we found the citizens in the
midst of public rejoicing, and various festivities. The 12th inst.
was a grand gala for the reception of the troops of the Republic,
which had been engaged in the battle of Monte Caseros. Among the
most gallant of these was the negro regiment. A few days afterwards,
I witnessed a religious ceremony of thanksgiving, at the cathedral,
characteristic of the services of the church here, in which this
composed the audience. Marching into the public square in two
detachments, each led by a band, they formed in line, in front of
the church, and entering it in military procession, filled its
spacious nave. The bands took a stand on either side near the
chancel. The soldiers, at the word of command, knelt with their arms
reversed; the priest approaching the altar, opened the books and
commenced the service, not by reading, at least not so as to be
heard, but in pantomime. One of the bands, at the same time, began
the performance of an opera, in which it was relieved at intervals
by the other; while the bell of the priest gave signal, from time to
time, to the soldiers, for the requisite smitings on the breast,
crossings of the forehead, lips and chest, and bowings of the head.
The music of the opera was continued without intermission for half
an hour, till the performance at the altar was brought to a close;
and then changed to a lively quick-step, to the gay movements of
which, the troops again marched to their quarters.
The French Admiral, Lepredour, and the Brazilian Admiral, Grenfell,
both received official intelligence from their respective
governments by the last mail-packet, of their advancement from the
rank of rear to that of vice-admiral, in acknowledgment of the
importance of their services here. The 21st inst. was made a
festival in the squadrons of both, as the day on which their new
flags were first hoisted, when they received a salute from the
vessels of their respective squadrons, from those of other nations
here, and from the batteries on shore.
Admiral Grenfell, an Englishman by birth, and originally an officer
in the Royal Navy, is greatly distinguished for his gallantry, and
for many brilliant acts in the naval history of the South American
States: first, under Lord Cochrane,—the present admiral, Earl
Dundonald—in the Chilian Navy; and afterwards under the same officer
in that of Brazil on the Atlantic coast. For twenty years past he
has rendered most important service in the Imperial Navy; has had
chief command on occasions of distinction and honor; and, still in
the confidence of the Emperor, was called from the civil appointment
of consul-general in England, to take command of the squadron sent
to facilitate the operations of the allied forces of Entre-Rios and
Brazil, against Rosas. This he successfully did, rendering abortive
the defences which Rosas planned to prevent Urquiza and Caxias from
crossing the Parana—thus removing the only obstacle in their march
to Buenos Ayres. For this service, to the order of the Southern
Cross, previously conferred on him, that of the Grand Cross of the
Imperial Order of the Rose is added, and he promoted to the highest
rank in the Brazilian Navy. He has been a regular attendant on the
Sabbath in the chapel, in which I officiate on shore; and apparently
is one of the most devout of the worshippers there, and one of the
most attentive of my hearers.
Shortly after my return from Buenos Ayres, it was intimated to me
that some appropriate notice of the important political events which
had occurred, not only in the relief of Montevideo from siege, but
in the overthrow of its most powerful enemy, would give satisfaction
to the church and congregation. On the succeeding Sabbath,
therefore, my discourse, in addition to such allusions as I thought
proper to make—in regard to the affairs of the Republic of which
this place is the capital—embraced the duty of Protestant
Christians, resident in it, though not themselves citizens, towards
the people and their rulers. The general tenor of my subject may be
inferred from the text, “I exhort, therefore, first of all, that
supplication, and prayers, intercessions and giving of thanks be
made for all men: for kings, and for all that are in authority; that
we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and
honesty.” The practical application which I attempted to enforce
will be most readily condensed by a quotation from a familiar hymn:
“So let our lips and lives express
The holy Gospel, we profess,
So let our works and virtues shine,
To prove the doctrine all divine.
Thus shall we best proclaim abroad
The honors of our Saviour God;
When His salvation reigns within,
And grace subdues the power of sin.”
Admiral Grenfell was present. I was in doubt as to the light in
which he, a monarchist by birth and an imperialist by commission,
might view the subject as illustrated, in some portions, by the
history and experience in faith and prayer, of the fathers of our
own Republic; and was gratified to hear that he had expressed
himself in terms of unqualified satisfaction with the entire
discourse.
_April 20th._—Since my last date, we have made a cruise of three
weeks off the Plata. In addition to the various exercises, nautical
and military, for which chiefly we put to sea, several interesting
experiments were made under the direction of Mr. Parker, the
flag-lieutenant of our ship, in deep sea soundings. The first result
of much interest was obtained on the 3d inst., in S. Lat. 35° 25′ W.
Long. 45° 10′. It was during a dead calm; the surface of the ocean
being every where glassy as a newly-frozen lake. Not a ripple at any
point met the eye. At 9 o’clock in the morning, a reel, on which had
been arranged ten thousand fathoms of line, furnished by the
Hydrographical Bureau and brought to the Congress by the sloop St.
Mary, was fitted to one of the quarter-boats, in which Lieut. Parker
and Mr. Glover left the ship to try the depth of the sea. They had
expected to be absent a few hours only, and took no refreshments,
not even a breaker of water with them: but the calm continued, and
interested in the duty in which they were engaged, they remained
with the boat’s crew the whole day in voluntary fast. The sinker was
a thirty-two pound shot. Eight thousand five hundred fathoms were
expended, and at sunset the line was still slowly running off the
reel. The true depth gained was believed to be only about three
thousand five hundred fathoms; the remainder being stray line
carried away by a strong submarine current. The existence of this
was conclusively ascertained: its rate being nearly two miles the
hour, in a direction opposite to the surface current, which had a
force of about one mile per hour. The determination of this fact was
an abundant reward for the labor of a wearisome day in the glaring
sun. Nine miles of the line were lost. Upon attempting to haul it
in, the tension became so great that five men could obtain a few
fathoms only per minute; and greater force being applied, it parted
a few hundred yards from the boat. Different soundings were
afterwards satisfactorily secured, at the various depths of 950,
1500, 1780, 2000, 2100, and 2200 fathoms, the particulars of which
are prepared for transmission to Lieutenant Maury. Fifteen thousand
fathoms of line were furnished by this Congress when in Rio, to the
commander of H. B. M. Frigate Herald, whom we met there; and it is
reported that soundings were obtained by him on his way to the
Pacific, at a depth of more than seven thousand fathoms.
The calm which enabled us to make our first deep sounding continued
for three days, with a temperature like the finest autumnal weather
at home. The sky during the time, was clear and brilliant, both by
day and night: for a full moon, in a state of the atmosphere
peculiarly translucent, afforded us a splendor of light that enabled
the crew to occupy themselves in reading. During this time, I saw
men at their stations reading books, even of small print, in the
mid-watch. Immediately afterwards, however, we experienced the
heaviest gale, with the wildest and most tumultuous sea we have
known since leaving the United States. In a small vessel it would
have been fearful; but the Congress is so large, and so perfect a
sea-bird in her motions, that she rides and sports among the billows
with an ease and triumph that call forth admiration only. She dashes
from her bows and lofty bulwarks, in seeming playfulness, seas which
would sweep the decks of a small craft, or bury them beneath an
avalanche of water. Though the gale was heavy, the sky was bright;
and in the afternoon, especially when the rays of the sun fell
obliquely upon
“The restless, seething, stormy sea!”
the scene was magnificent. As sea after sea rose high against the
sun, it would change in hue from the blue of indigo to emerald
green. Then cresting into snowy whiteness, would scatter itself far
and wide, in beds of sparkling diamonds. The tumultuous rushing and
roaring of mighty waters in endless forms around us; the deep roll
of the frigate to the leeward; and then, the rapid plunge
headforemost down a mountain, as it were, into a yawning gulf below,
made the afternoon to me one of admiration and delight.
Below decks, it is true, every thing was uncomfortable enough. The
ward-room was dark and dreary; and the gun-deck all afloat. Still,
as is generally the case with the sailor in such rough weather, all
hands were in high spirits, and the deeper the roll of the
ship—though by it, one half the crew should be pitched across the
ship; and the heavier the plunge downward, though followed by rivers
of water taken in at the hawser-holes and bridle-ports—especially,
if those on deck were at the same time drenched by the breaking on
board of a sea, or by being thrown into the floods rushing along the
water-ways, the louder was the laughter and the greater the glee.
The poop-deck, from its elevation and the command it gives of every
thing far and near, is a favorite resort of the officers. It is
also, in ordinary circumstances, a place of etiquette. To sit while
there, is not allowable, at least in the day-time, except to the
Commodore and Captain, or such as they may invite beside them; much
less is it etiquette to lie there. But now, the wind was too strong
and withal too cold to stand, or even to sit; and going up after
dinner, and finding it abandoned except by a sailor at the
main-halliards, wrapping myself in a pea-jacket, I stretched myself
in a corner to the windward, flat upon the deck, with my face
partially protected by the hammock-nettings, turned to the sea. The
position gave me an unobstructed view of the raging and roaring
deep; and for an hour and more, I exulted in the contortions of the
storm and the ever varying beauty and sublimity of the scene.
Towards evening, the appearance of the Commodore and Captain brought
me to my feet; and we together enjoyed the spectacle till the
setting sun and gathering night dropped a curtain of darkness over
it.
DESTERRO.
_May 22d._—The Congress is again at the island of St. Catherine. We
came to anchor at Santa Cruz, on Saturday the 15th inst.; and on the
following Monday morning, I came to this place in company with our
Master S—— and Secretary G——. When here last, the principal hotel
was admirably kept by an American. He has since died, and his place
is well supplied by a Mahonese, named Salvador. After having engaged
rooms for the night and ordered our dinner, we sallied forth for a
walk in the suburbs of the town. It is so long since we have been
within reach of any thing like rural beauty, that, surrounded by it
here, we were like school-boys turned loose for play; and in the
brilliancy of the morning and elasticity of a bracing air, felt, as
one of us expressed it, ready to fly. The south wind blew freshly
over the hills and through the trees, and, at one point in our walk,
with novel and charming effect upon the widespread branches of a
couple of Australian pines. Under its breathings these became
perfect Eolian harps, sending forth as we stood beneath them, the
most touching strains of melody; swelling at times into the fulness
of the organ, and then dying away in cadences, so soft, as to make
the
“Listener hold his breath to hear;”
while the nerves thrilled under the expiring tones. I never heard “a
voice of nature” more charming.
We were again struck with the great civility of every one we met,
from the well-dressed gentleman to the humblest slave. As we stood
near the enclosure of a poor cabin, admiring the peculiar beauty of
a rose in the perfection of its bloom, a negro came to the door, and
with pleasant salutations, begged us to pull it, though it was the
only one in flower; at the same time cutting a cluster of buds from
the bush himself, and adding sprigs of geranium for a bouquet.
After an excellent dinner served by Salvador, we towards evening
took a walk along the beach and the eastern shore of the bay, to one
of the finest points of view. The picture presented in the glowing
light of the setting sun was very fine. Our walk led us past the
general hospital. It is finely situated on a commanding terrace, and
has recently been enlarged and refitted, through the liberality of
the Emperor and Empress, by donations made by them in their visit to
St. Catherine’s in 1845: the one having given ten thousand dollars
for this purpose, and the other two. It is a foundling hospital, as
well as an infirmary. The window containing the roda or turning-box
for the reception of the infants left, was open, though shaded by a
screen of green cloth, embroidered in the centre with the Imperial
arms, and with the motto in Portuguese—“Meus pais me desemparao a
Divina Providencia me protege.” “My parent deserts me, but Divine
Providence protects me.”
I rose early the next morning and took a stroll through the market.
It is a new and neatly kept structure, immediately adjoining the
beach. I say beach, for there are no wharves. This was now filled
with canoes run up on the sand, and laden with vegetables, fruit,
wood, and various articles of traffic, in which a brisk barter was
going on. On the grass of the open square in front, groups of mules
were clustered with pack-saddles and panniers burdened with similar
articles, brought for a like purpose from the interior; and near by,
negro women in all kinds of costume and of every color, were seated
frying fish, and boiling black beans into a kind of soup, and
preparing other edibles for the breakfast of the muleteers and
passers by. Here, too, were collected, according to daily custom,
two or three dozen boys, from eight to twelve years of age, each
having a bamboo stick across the shoulder, from one end of which was
suspended a tin can capable of containing three or four quarts, with
a small tin cup attached as a measure. These are the milkmen of the
place, belonging to the small farms in the adjoining valleys, to a
distance of seven or eight miles.
Our breakfast at the hotel was a l’Americain: such an one as
Salvador boastingly said “a Brazilian would not know how to get up.”
Immediately after despatching it G——, S—— and I set off in a boat
for the village of San José on the mainland, nine miles across the
straits in a south-easterly direction from Desterro. This was in
prosecution of a purpose we had formed of visiting the German colony
of San Pedro d’Alcantara in the mountains, some twenty-five or
thirty miles inland from San José; partly to observe the progress
made by the immigrants after a settlement of twenty-five years; and
partly for the effect upon our health and spirits of a ride for a
couple of days on horseback. There was no wind, and we were rowed
over by a Brazilian, the owner of the boat, and a young negro, his
slave. The views from the water in every direction are beautifully
lakelike. The points and bluff headlands projecting into the water,
are in many instances peculiarly striking in their terminations:
consisting of columnar shafts, piked splinters, and immense boulders
of granite, so arranged as to have the appearance of the ruins of
Cyclopean fortresses, even to the remains of seeming embrasures. In
other instances they might pass for fragments of a Giant’s causeway.
We were an hour and a half in making the distance. We had been
directed for information and aid in accomplishing our purpose to a
German named Adams, residing at a beach called the Praya Compreda,
in the immediate vicinity of San José. He is a kind of chieftain
among his countrymen of the colony, and could be of more service to
us than any other person. We landed near his house, a substantial
and comfortable edifice of stone, appropriated in its lower
apartments to the varied business of a commission merchant, grocer,
and tavernkeeper. It was here we were to procure horses and a guide
for the excursion. At first the prospect of success was rather
unpromising. Though kindly received by Adams, he said it was
impossible for him to furnish horses—that all his were entirely used
up by a hard ride from which they had just returned, and he knew of
no others that could be obtained: nor was there any one in the place
who could act as a guide. However, upon setting forth our entire
dependence upon him, at the recommendation of his friend; the
anxiety we felt to make the trip; our nationality, and the ship at
Santa Cruz to which we were attached, he so far relented in his
first decision as to say he would see what could be done; and at the
end of a few minutes it was determined, that after a good feed, his
two horses, with the addition of a couple of mules, should be at our
service, and that Adams himself should become our companion and
guide.
Matters being thus satisfactorily arranged, we employed the time for
the requisite preparations, in looking around us, and in learning a
little of the character and history of our host. He is a stout,
thickset, square, iron-framed man of forty-five, with a
good-natured, but most determined and inflexible face. He has been
twenty-four years in the country, having been one of the pioneer
colonists of Alcantara, and resident in the mountains till within a
few years past. He is now well to do in the world, and has a wife
and family of six children. A daughter of eighteen soon became an
object of unfeigned admiration to some of our party. She is very
pretty in face, fresh and blooming in complexion, with a refined and
intelligent expression, and perfect in the proportion and symmetry
of her figure. There was a fitting of the head and neck to the bust,
and an air and bearing in her walk, that would have become a
princess. It is so long since we have seen in common life one who
would be called at home a truly pretty girl, that we were quite
charmed with the neat and modest air of this Christianlike and
civilized beauty. A brother, too, some two years older, tall, stout,
and well modelled, moved about with the straightness and the elastic
step of an Indian.
As we were strolling through the little hamlet, a straggling suburb
of the village of San José, we were told by a passer-by that an
American was living close at hand—pointing out to us his residence.
We found this to be a cobbler’s shop, and our compatriot in it a
cobbler: a scapegrace, as we soon learned, from no less noted a
place of apprenticeship than the “Mammoth” boot-store in Chatham
Square, New York. He is about twenty-eight years of age, has been
eleven years at St. Catharine’s, and is married here; but
notwithstanding, is confessedly still much of a “Bowery boy,” and no
great honor to his country. A Bible in English, lying on the
counter, was the only evidence of good we discovered during our
interview, in which he did a small job in his line for one of us.
His boast of Protestantism, and of his defences of the truth amid
the superstition and idolatry, as he termed it, in which he lives,
did not pass for much in our estimation, interlarded as his
conversation was, with oaths and other proofs of moral degradation.
At two o’clock we were mounted for San Pedro d’Alcantara; Adams and
S—— on horses, G—— and I on mules. Adams, wearing a low-crowned,
broad-brimmed, black felt hat, seemed to be literally stuffed into
the drab cotton shooting-jacket, which he had added to the shirt in
which we first met him. The other most conspicuous article of his
dress was a pair of tan-colored boots, reaching to his knees, with
saddle-bag tops, put to the use here of a portmanteau. G—— and S——
each wore over their coats a gaily striped Buenos Ayres poncho;
whilst I was provided with a boat-cloak, as a defence against sun,
wind, and rain. We set off with fine weather and in high spirits. We
had long become so weary of the monotony of life on board ship at
Montevideo, and the confinement of our passage hither, that the
change was most welcome; and we ambled off through a sandy lane
leading directly inland from the water, as cheerily as if just
escaping from prison.
On gaining the height of the first ridge, we had an extensive view
over a wide valley covered with wood. It surprised me to see so
wide an extent of level and seemingly rich land, immediately on
the coast, unredeemed; but we learned that beneath the wood it is
a mere swamp. The rising grounds skirting it, present abundant
evidence of the productiveness of the soil: plantations of coffee,
sugar-cane, mandioca, cotton, Indian corn, and the castor oil
plant, were spread widely around, while the orange groves were so
laden with fruit, as to appear in the sun like masses of gold. The
road for many miles was broad and smooth, lined with hedges of
mimosa and wild orange, and ornamented here and there by clusters
of roses and jessamine. By degrees, however, as we advanced in the
mountains, especially in the ascent and descent of spurs of hills,
it became narrow and rough, and little more than a bridle-path.
The country became proportionally new and uncultivated; still in
many places it was homelike, from the meadows and rich bottom
lands which here and there bordered the mountain stream, which we
began now closely to follow towards its sources. A thousand
beautiful pictures in outline and foliage were presented during
the ride of the afternoon, enlivened and varied by the windings of
the small river beside us—flowing at times through lawnlike banks
as smoothly as the waters of a lake, and then again rushing, and
leaping, and foaming amidst gigantic boulders of granite, down
rapids and over cascades, with the tumult and uproar of a
cataract.
We had constant evidence along the road, in the new dwellings and
outbuildings of the inhabitants, of their improving circumstances
and advancing civilization. This was conspicuous in more than one
instance in three successive specimens of architecture in a single
habitation, by the additions made at different times. First, there
was the little cabin, composed of small sapling-like timbers,
wattled and filled in with mud and coarsely and rudely thatched, now
rickety and ready to tumble down, the original shanty of a settler
in the wilderness; next, and joined to it some years later, another
more spacious in its area, and of more substantial frame, more
smoothly plastered and more elaborately thatched—more neat in the
finish of its door and window frames, and entire workmanship; and
lastly, the recently constructed cottage of stone, stuccoed and
whitewashed, and roofed with tile—bearing testimony of the
prosperity and the improved domestic accommodations of its owner.
This is descriptive of the Brazilian section of the country, before
we came in the neighborhood of the German colony; though the same
fact was observable in a more marked degree among the European
immigrants.
Night overtook us when yet a league from our destination. Most of
this distance was made in such darkness that we could not
distinguish an object around us; not even the road we were
travelling. We could only follow the lead of our guide, trusting to
the eyesight and sagacity of our beasts, for security in mounting
sharp hills and in making steep descents beside the roaring waters
and shelving precipices. The way thus began to be tedious and we to
feel weary. A bright light from a large and cheerful dwelling near
the road side, before which our guide halted, led to the hope that
we had reached the end of our day’s journey. This Adams was desirous
of making it; but, after an animated parlance in German, in which
the whole of a large family, men, women and children, who had
crowded to the door, joined, while we, wayworn riders, looked
wistfully at the brightness and seeming comfort within, he was told
that we could not be accommodated, and must push our way through the
darkness and chill mists of the mountains, a mile further. Slight
showers of rain now began to fall from the heavy clouds overhead.
When at last we did come to a halt, and were invited to dismount,
the only object discernible was the dim light of a lamp amidst the
bottles of a little grog-shop and grocery, six feet by ten. We
found, however, that it opened on one side into a room of somewhat
greater dimensions; and this again in the rear into a kennel-like
hole, filled with children of all ages, from one to eight and ten
years, most of them very primitively clad, and some so much so as to
be entirely naked.
It was at once very evident that this barnlike room, open overhead
to the rafters, and furnished only with a coarse heavy table and two
or three rude wooden benches, was to be both our supper room and
dormitory: the grog-shop on one corner and the kennel behind,
constituting the rest of the dwelling. Hungry and weary we gladly
made ourselves at home in it. The civility of the landlord, and his
manifest desire to do honor to guests under the protection of so
distinguished a patron as Mynheer Adams, but especially the early
appearance of a trim and active little German girl of eighteen, with
neatly arranged hair and blooming complexion, moving about with the
self-possession and dignity of an heiress, though without stockings,
and for shoes the clumsy sabots or wooden slippers of the country,
began to raise our hopes as to fare and accommodations.
Soon the savory fumes and musical hissing of ham and eggs, in a
frying-pan in the adjoining penthouse, and the aroma of coffee, gave
further encouragement to our empty stomachs. A snowwhite cloth was
at the same time spread over one end of the bar-room table; and it
was not long before we were seated at a very palatable meal, which
the personal cleanliness of the little cook and waiting-maid
encouraged us to dispatch without any very close inspection of the
plates on which it was served, or the particular condition of the
black knives and five-pronged German silver forks with which it was
eaten. In the mean time we had become somewhat enlightened as to the
domestic condition of the household. The lady of the mansion had
given birth the day before to a sixth son, and was lying in a little
dark recess on one side of the rear shanty: mother and son doing
well. The maid-of-all-work was a sister in charge of the household
during the confinement.
Shortly after our arrival a new character was introduced, in the
person of a German doctor, in attendance on the mother and child: a
man of talent and education, we were told, but now, from habits of
drunkenness, a poor degraded wretch, shabby in dress, and filthy in
person. He soon rendered himself utterly disgusting to us, by the
profaneness and vulgarity of the broken English by which he
attempted to commend himself to us, as travellers. He came from the
fatherland somewhat more than a year ago, with the German legion
furnished by Brazil, in the allied armies of the Plata, for the
overthrow of Rosas. In this, he was a surgeon, but forfeited his
commission through intemperance. He was disposed at first to be very
friendly, and to address us as “hail fellow well met.” The advances
were received so very coldly, however, especially on the point of
most interest to him, the participation of a glass of grog, that
after a word to the sick, he took his departure in the darkness and
rain for another grog-shop, as we were told, to meet more congenial
companions.
The cravings of hunger relieved, we began to cast a look around as
to the promise of rest for the night, after the weariness of a rough
and rapid ride of twenty-five miles. The bare and dirty floors, and
narrow and hard benches along the walls, seemed to furnish the only
choice of couches. We had made up our minds to this alternative;
and, so far as my companions were concerned, with a half shiver as
to the degree of comfort held out. The mountain air was not only
damp, but positively cold. In addition to my saddle for a pillow, I
had a thick cloak in which to wrap myself, but G—— and S——, with
nothing to cover them but their light ponchos, had the prospect of
half freezing. A shrug of the shoulders, however, chiefly indicated
the nature of their thoughts on the subject. To our relief, a large
rush mat was early spread in one corner of the room, and immediately
afterwards, with triumphant looks of gratulation to one another, we
beheld our host with his little sister-in-law lugging in from the
adjoining apartment an immense straw bed, of dimensions sufficient
for the accommodation of half a dozen persons. Spread out to its
largest extent, and furnished with bolsters, clean sheets and
blankets, it looked so tempting, that, arranging the cloak and
ponchos for additional covering, and laying aside our coats, boots,
and cravats, we were soon in the indulgence of the rest to which it
invited us. We were constrained by Christian civility to offer to
our guide a fourth part of the couch. In anticipation of his
acceptance, I had chosen for myself an outside berth, where I
supposed I should be the farthest removed from him. He declined the
place offered, however, and spreading a sheepskin saddlecloth and
other gear on the floor, took up his quarters beside me. Thus my
selfish manœuvre was in vain, and the big German was my next
bedfellow. It was well for my repose that I was right weary; for he
soon began puffing and snorting in his sleep with the labor and
noise of a high-pressure steam-engine, which otherwise would have
effectually kept me awake. We were four in a row; but there was no
lack, as I soon discovered, of numerous other bedfellows. Flattering
myself that they were nothing worse than fleas in clean and polished
armor, I did not allow myself to be disturbed by them; but leaving
them to skip, hop, and jump as they pleased without hindrance, I
slept soundly till morning, and rose without a vestige of fatigue.
I was all impatience to know what kind of a place, under the
disclosures of daylight, San Pedro d’Alcantara would prove to be. On
hastening to the door, for the windows without sash or glass were
closed by board shutters, the first object that met my eyes was the
little rustic chapel of the settlement, perched on the top of a
beautifully wooded and round-topped hill. It is picturesque and
rural, and the most conspicuous and ornamental object in the
landscape. The place itself is a hamlet of a dozen dwellings, most
of them mere huts. Half the number are plastered and whitewashed,
and in place of thatch have roofs of red tile. The mountain stream,
whose course we had followed from the bay at San José, here a small
rivulet, flows through its centre. The little valley in which the
hamlet is embosomed, is encircled by hills of more or less
steepness, most of them still covered with trees and underwood, and
presents all the features of a new and frontier settlement at home.
After breakfast, accompanied by Adams and our host, who adds to his
occupation of publican the office of sexton to the church, we
ascended the hill to the chapel. It is most rude in its architecture
both within and without, and is furnished with several frightful
daubs, of what are intended for saints and angels. A cemetery
surrounds the chapel. It contains a few graves, and is encircled by
a broad path for the convenience of religious processions. There is
no parish priest; but an itinerant ecclesiastic makes a quarterly
visit for confession and absolution, and the celebration of mass. In
answer to my inquiries on the subject, our host said, “We come up to
the chapel every Sunday morning and every saint’s day, and make a
procession, and do what we can, and then go down and drink, dance,
and sing, and enjoy ourselves the rest of the day!”
It had rained heavily in showers during the night, and the weather
was still drizzling and unsettled. Still we felt disposed before
returning, to push our observations a little further in the
interior. To this Adams offered no objection, and we again mounted.
Shortly after leaving the hamlet westward, we came to a very steep
and long hill—quite a mountain. The soil is an adhesive oily clay,
and the ascent was difficult and amusing. It was almost impossible
for our animals to obtain a sure foothold; and they constantly
slipped and floundered, and slid backwards in a manner that at first
was startling. The view from the top, of the little valley and
hamlet, the stream meandering through it, and of the rude chapel and
its surmounting cross, was picturesque and quite Alpine.
The descent on the opposite side was as steep, and more hazardous
than the ascent had been: our beasts, with their fore-legs stiffly
outstretched, often made involuntary slides of eight, ten, and
fifteen feet, till “brought up all standing,” as the phrase is, by a
cross gully or a large stone. As the whole ride was but the constant
ascent and descent of a succession of spurs of hills, running down
into the little valley through which the mountain stream flowed, it
proved a regular morning’s sport of “coursing down hill” after a new
fashion. At first it was a little startling; for when the slide
began, whether backwards, in a precipitous ascent, or headforemost
down a breakneck descent, there was no calculating where one would
fetch up; a little experience, however, begot such confidence in the
self-management of the animals—especially the mules, to one of which
I still adhered—that I soon began to enjoy it, and rather to look
out for and encourage a good long slide upon the well-braced limbs
of my beast. This was particularly the case on our return, in the
descent of the long hill immediately overhanging San Pedro. This is
quite precipitous, and for nearly half a mile we slipped, slipped,
and slipped, one after another, first in one direction in the road,
and then in another, zigzagging here and zigzagging there, but
bringing up at every successive point safely, till we were
constrained to laugh outright, as we looked from one animal and his
rider to another, and felt that each of us presented the same
comical figure.
The general features of the scenery were much the same as those
passed over the preceding evening. Steep hills, well-wooded, rose
abruptly on either side from the little valley. In this lay rich
bottomlands, some in long peninsulas, and others in horse-shoe form,
according to the varied windings of the stream flowing through them.
Many beautiful pictures, some of nature in her wildness, and others
with intermingled cultivation and improvement met the eye, with
evidences in the dwellings and farms of the settlers of increasing
comfort and progressive civilization. At the end of three miles, our
guide proposed that instead of following the public mule-track
further, we should turn aside by a gateway upon the more level
valley. This we did, and soon entered upon a section more like
farming-land at home than any thing before met. After passing two or
three comfortable-looking dwellings, we came in view of an extensive
plantation of comparatively level and well improved ground, with a
cluster of buildings a half mile in the distance, superior to any we
had yet seen. It proved to be the residence of a cousin of our
guide, at which he wished to give us an introduction. Widespread,
meadow-like fields lay before us, and on one side upon an open lawn
stood a neatly-finished little ‘chapelet,’ if I may coin a word.
This looked pretty in the landscape, from its whiteness in contrast
with the green of an encircling hedge. It was not more than twelve
feet square, open in front, and probably intended to be scarcely
more than a canopy over a shrine of the Virgin or some favorite
saint.
From the time of entering the German colony the day previous,
salutations of good will and pleasure were addressed to our guide
from the habitations we passed far and near—often at distances as
great as the voice could well carry them; now, as soon as he was
recognized among the party approaching, the demonstration was most
cordial and prolonged; while before we would alight, father, mother,
daughters, and sons gathered around the cavalcade with the most
cheerful welcome. Every thing indicated that we had arrived at the
mansion of a magnate in the colony, if it were not that of the lord
of the manor himself. It must not be inferred from this, however,
that we met any very impressive display of aristocratic life, either
in costume, manners, or dwelling. The proprietor was unshaven and
unshorn. His dress, though clean, was very thoroughly patched, and
included neither coat, stockings, hat, nor cravat. The costume of
the lady consisted principally of a single essential garment, made
and arranged so inartistically as to give to her figure very much
the outline of a bean-pole. The forms of two strapping daughters of
sixteen and eighteen were much more after the German model; but
their toilette was little more elaborate than that of the mother,
and the skirt of the single robe worn by them, scarcely the length
of that of a Bloomer without the pantalets. The sinew and muscle
thus displayed in bare arms and bare ankles and feet, would have
justified the belief that they had spent their lives in
tree-chopping or log-rolling, and led one of our party in his
astonishment to exclaim, with the favorite expletive of ‘by George,’
“either of them would thrash any one of us in a minute!”
It was beginning to rain quite smartly as we dismounted, and whilst
the sons took charge of our horses, we were hastily ushered into a
good-sized room, which, though exhibiting a combination of hall and
parlor, bedroom and kitchen, took us quite by surprise in its style
and finish. It presented a neatly panelled wainscot, of the handsome
cedar of the country, extending from the floor to the cornice; the
ceiling also being panelled with the same material. A long table and
benches beside it, a sofa of mahogany with cane seat, and half a
dozen chairs to match, an old eight-day clock in a straight black
case, and a high dresser with drawers of the same color and
material—both manifestly brought from the ‘faderland’—constituted,
with the accustomed display of delf and china, the principal
furniture of the room.
In the early morning, at San Pedro, the first indoor object that
arrested my attention, was the thickset and burly figure of our
guide, beside the counter of the little grog-shop and grocery,
stirring with a spoon the contents of a shallow earthen pan, on the
surface of which played the blue flames of burning spirits. The
interest with which he watched the operation was not limited, it was
very evident, to the beauty of the flashing and leaping flame, as he
stirred and stirred the liquid. Half suspicious of the reply that
would be given, I asked him, “what he was making?” And received for
answer, with a smack of his lips, “Oh, something very good for the
stomach in these damp mornings in the mountains—very necessary
against the fogs! it is cachasa,”—the common rum of the country—“and
sugar,” of which, at the end of fifteen minutes’ preparation, he
would fain have persuaded us to partake, with the assurance “that
all the bad of it was burned up.” And now, at the farm-house, we had
scarcely become seated, before our host made his appearance with a
tumbler of the same, with a regret that he could not in its place
offer us wine. On declining this, bowls of milk were presented. And
such milk! The like of it I have not seen since leaving the banks of
the Hudson. An excellent loaf of bread, a mixture of wheat and
Indian meal, was added, with the sweetest of butter and equally good
cheese. A plate of the farina of mandioca being also placed upon the
table, I made my lunch chiefly on a bowl of milk thickened with it;
and found the diet a capital substitute for the hasty pudding of New
England and the Dutch _suppawn_ of the Middle States.
In the mean time, a feat of agility performed by the younger of the
two daughters mentioned, came near proving too much for the gravity
of some of our number. She had not entered the room when we did,
having received an order at the time, of some kind, from her mother.
This obeyed, she was unwilling, probably, to lose the interest of so
unusual a visit; and perceiving at the door that but one seat in the
room was vacant—the farther end of the sofa, ten or twelve feet
off—and suspicious of the undue exposure before strangers of her
nether limbs, in a deliberate movement over the intervening space,
she measured well the distance, and with a gathered momentum, by a
single lofty hop, skip, and jump, came down _à la Turque_ upon it,
with feet and ankles entirely concealed beneath her scanty skirt,
but with a snapping of the bamboo that threatened to be fatal to the
bottom of the sofa.
After luncheon, we sallied forth for the inspection of a mandioca
and a sugar mill in an adjoining building, and a view of the piggery
and gardens—the entire household forming our suite. We had already
discovered the wife to be very decidedly the head of the family. Her
will and word, doubtless, were law in the domain, outdoors as well
as within. The husband seemed a meek, good-natured but inefficient
person, while his better half was full of energy and enterprise;
and, probably, besides the exercise of better judgment, had
accomplished more hard work, in the field as well as in the kitchen,
than any other person on the place. She at once took the lead in
showing off the premises, and in giving all the information desired
in regard to them. Her husband and herself were so poor at the time
of their immigration, twenty-four years ago, as to be necessarily
indebted to their cousin, Adams, for their passage-money. Their
plantation was a gratuity from the government, as an encouragement
to colonists. It is a mile in length, by half a mile in width, and
was then in a state of nature, and of little value. It is now
reclaimed and well cultivated; and could not be purchased, as we
were informed, for less than ten thousand milreis or five thousand
dollars. In addition to this fine property and comfortable home,
with good buildings and a stock of all necessary animals, Mr. S——
the proprietor, is a capitalist, and has money at interest. Mrs. S——
has been handsome, and still has a finely chiselled face and good
expression. The daughters, too, are pretty: at least they appeared
so to us. It is so long since we have seen the fair skin and the
fair complexion of the Northern woman, or met the energy, activity,
and elastic movement of the fair Yankee, that we are scarcely
competent to the exercise of unprejudiced judgment in the case.
At the end of an hour we took our leave, pleased with the visit,
which evidently had also been a pleasure to our hosts. The wetness
of the morning had increased, and before we had accomplished a mile
on our return, the rain began to pour in torrents. We sought the
shelter of an orange-grove till the shower should pass; but finding
it inadequate to the emergency, Adams, exclaiming, “This will not
do!” pushed ahead a short distance, and dashed, all mounted, into a
mandioca mill at one end of a dwelling near by. We of course
followed, and found ourselves with our beasts snug and dry in the
kitchen as well as mill of the proprietor. Here, during the delay of
half an hour, we had an opportunity of witnessing again the whole
process of converting the root of the mandioca into farina; while
Adams, having, through an open door, spied the family of the house
at their noonday meal, alighted, and notwithstanding his previous
hearty luncheon an hour before, of bread, butter, cheese and milk,
sat down and made a full dinner: and this, only as was afterwards
proved, by way of stimulating his appetite for the repast we had
ordered to be in readiness on our return, at San Pedro, and to which
he did as ample justice as if he had not broken his fast before for
a day.
While waiting for this meal to be served, a very pretty and
modest-looking German girl of fifteen rode up to the door of the
little inn. She wore a neatly fitting dress of pink calico, a
pocket-handkerchief tied under the chin as a covering for the head,
and French gaiter boots, and sat her horse à la caballero. She was
on her way to San José under the escort of a friend, without whose
protection, the Germans told us, she could not possibly make the
trip with safety, such was the villainy and licentiousness of the
Brazilians of the country. In the state in which the roads are, her
attitude as a rider was unquestionably the most secure.
When ready to set off ourselves, rain had again began to pour; and
for a time the prospect of being able to start was unpromising. The
drunken doctor, once more in attendance, persisted in assuring us
that it would rain thus all the afternoon; and said it would be
madness to think of leaving. His urgency for our stay was an
additional motive for us to be off; and as soon as there was a
slight improvement in the weather we mounted, and after making up a
purse, much to the delight of our host, as a gratuity to the
sixth-born son, bade adieu to San Pedro d’Alcantara. It was now four
o’clock, and Adams said we could not reach San José at the earliest
before nine. We started notwithstanding, with the will and purpose
of making the shortest possible work of the intervening distance;
and certain of our road, left our guide to gossip by the way as he
chose, with the many friends hailing him from the heights above or
the valleys below, as far as the voice could be carried, while we
rode pell-mell, up hill and down dale, often slipping and sliding
for long distances, at the seeming hazard of both limbs and neck. In
this way, we accomplished half the distance before nightfall, and
reached a lower region of country, where there had been little or no
rain.
During the ride, we met several troupes of mules, and their
muleteers, returning with empty pack-saddles from the bay. Among
others, one belonging to our host of San Pedro, which we had seen
setting off in the early morning with articles for the market of
Desterro. Occasionally, too, we overtook, and, after riding for a
time side by side, passed horsemen and mule riders going the same
way with ourselves. Just as darkness was beginning to fall rapidly
around, we thus fell in with a well-mounted, fine-looking Brazilian,
having the appearance of a respectable planter. Adams was far
behind, and S—— had the lead of our party, his horse being a
tolerably good traveller. My mule, a sure-footed beast, came next,
and then G——’s. The Brazilian, after riding side by side with each
of us in turn, by degrees got in advance of all three. As he was
evidently well acquainted with the road, S—— and I made up our minds
to follow him closely, as the pioneer in the darkness for any unsafe
spot ahead. As both man and horse appeared fresh, however, this
required pretty brisk riding. With the thickening of the night, our
new friend accelerated his speed; and the faster he led, the faster
we followed. Presently it was impossible to discern a trace of the
road, or to discover whether it were smooth or rough, tending up
hill or down. The white Guayaquil hat of the Brazilian, was all that
was left visible to S—— of horse, or rider, and a line of deeper
darkness hastening from me ahead, was all that I, with the most
fixed gaze, could perceive of S——. I lashed my mule to keep up in
the chase, S—— kept snapping his riding whip in the fashion of a
French postilion, while the Brazilian seemed to be spurring on his
steed at full tilt. Away we thus went, S—— managing to keep before
him the vision of a white hat, which threatened each moment to be
lost in the darkness, and I at an equal remove from him, with all
the powers of sight intently fixed, to follow a moving speck of
concentrated blackness. To make sure of the identity of the phantom
of my own chase, I occasionally called out, “S——, do you still see
him?” to which the reply would come, “Yes! but I tell you he is
going it: but I’ll take good care not to lose him,—there can be but
one road, and I’ll make sure of so good a lead.”
It was amusing, though it might have proved no joke, to be thus
trotting at full speed in impenetrable night, and that on a
hard-motioned animal at the end of a thirty-miles’ ride. We had kept
the gait for an hour perhaps, without venturing to slacken its pace
for a moment, or to take our eyes from the respective points, white
and black, before us, when all at once, that on which mine were
fixed was gone: urging my mule forward, in the attempt to regain it,
I perceived him begin to stumble, and found that he was off the
path. Reining him up, I called out for S——. He, I discovered, was at
a stand also at no great distance, and in answer to the question,
“Have you lost your guide?” answered, “He has just vanished like a
veritable ghost—he disappeared in a moment in a mass of blackness,
and but for the creaking of a gate, I should have been headforemost
into a hedge after him.” The darkness was so great that it was
impossible to move with safety without some indication of the
direction in which we ought to go, and we had patiently to wait the
approach of G—— and Adams to relieve us from our dilemma. Soon the
whip of the former, urging on his little mule, and the jingling of
the stirrups and heavy iron spurs of the latter were heard at no
great distance; and giving place in the lead to Adams, at the end of
a half hour we alighted safely at the point from which we started. I
was too much fagged to care for any refreshment but that of sleep;
and, while S—— and G—— sat down to a supper of “pain perdu” and
green tea, made my way to a clean and comfortable cot beneath the
tiled roof of the garret, and was soon lost in a repose—
“above
The luxury of common sleep.”
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