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Chapter II.
Cape de Verdes—Rio Janeiro.

On the 25th of September we sailed from Madeira, and stood to the southward, intending to pass over the localities where shoals were supposed to exist.

After passing the Canary Islands, we experienced a current setting north-east by east, of about one-fourth of a mile an hour, until we reached the latitude of Bonavista, one of the Gape de Verde Islands.

On the 29th of September we passed into discoloured water, as green in appearance as that of fifty fathoms' depth. On entering it, the thermometer fell one and a half to two degrees. The distance run in it was about four hundred and fifty miles. Repeated casts of the deep-sea lead were had in from two to three hundred fathoms, but no bottom found. The water was particularly examined for animalculæ, but none were detected. On leaving it, a rise of temperature took place of two degrees; and much phosphorescence was seen when we had passed out of it.

On the morning of the 7th, we anchored in Porto Praya bay. The island of St. Jago presents a very difference appearance from Madeira, particularly the south-eastern portion of it, though its formation is known to be similar. There are many high peaks and mountains in its centre, which afford a fine background for the barren and uninteresting coast scenery.

The time of our arrival was just after the rainy season; the island, consequently, presented a more verdant appearance than it does at other seasons of the year.

Our consul, F. Gardiner, Esq., made us welcome to all the island afforded. An officer was dispatched to call upon his excellency, the governor, to report our arrival, who proved to be a black man.

The town of Porto Praya is prettily situated on an elevated piece of table-land, and looked well from the anchorage.

The bay is an open one, but is not exposed to the prevailing winds. There is generally a swell setting in, which makes the landing unpleasant and difficult. The only landing-place is a small rock, some distance from the town, and under a high bank, on which there is, or rather was, a fortification, for it is now entirely page 12gone to decay. It commands the bay, and is situated about two hundred feet above the sea. The horizontal stratification of the red and yellow-coloured sandstone shows most conspicuously in this cliff, and forms one of the most remarkable objects on this part of the island. It is of tertiary formation, and contains many fossils.

On landing, a stranger is immediately surrounded by numbers of the inhabitants, with fruit, vegetables, chickens, turkeys, and monkeys, all pressing him with bargains, and willing to take anything, for the purpose of obliging their customers. Many of them continue to follow until they meet with some new customer.

The soil, rocks, and everything around on the surface, show unequivocal marks of volcanic origin. The rock above the tertiary formation is a thick bed of cellular lava, with fragments of the same strewn in every direction over it. A thin and poor soil gives but little sustenance to a light herbage. Goats and asses are found in great numbers grazing upon it.

The walk from the landing to the town is exceedingly fatiguing, and the road deep with sand. The first view of the town on entering it is anything but striking, and all the ideas formed in its favour are soon dispelled. The houses are whitewashed, and in general appearance resemble those inhabited by the lower orders in Madeira, but they are much inferior even to them. The north-east part of the town is composed of rough stone houses, covered with palm leaves. The streets are wide, and in the centre is a large public square, the middle of which is occupied by a small wooden monument, said to be emblematical of royalty! A chapel, jail, and barracks constitute the principal public buildings. The fort, which flanks the town, is almost entirely in decay. This is the case with almost everything we saw here; the place is, indeed, little better than an African town. The houses are of stone, one story high, partly thatched, and others tiled. Their interior presents only a few articles of absolute necessity. Of comfort and cleanliness, in our sense of the words, they have no idea. The houses and streets are filthy in the extreme; and in both of them, pigs, fowls, and monkeys appear to claim, and really possess, equal rights with the occupants and owner.

The population is made up of an intermixture of descendants from the Portuguese, natives, and negroes from the adjacent coast. The negro race seems to predominate, woolly hair, fiat noses, and thick lips, being most frequently met with. The number of inhabitants in St. Jago is about thirty thousand. Porto Praya contains two thousand three hundred, of which number one hundred are native Portuguese.

The language spoken is a jargon formed by a mixture of the Portuguese and Negro dialects. Most of the blacks speak their native tongue. Mr. Hale, our philologist, obtained here a vocabulary of the Mandingo language, and found it to agree with that given by Mungo Park.

The officers of this garrison were, like the governor, all black.page 13The latter made a brilliant appearance, dressed in a military frock coat, red sash, two large silver epaulettes, and a military cross on his breast. He was good-looking, although extremely corpulent, and speaks both French and Spanish well. He was very civil and attentive. Fruit, bread, cheese, and wines, were handed about. Some of the wine was made on the island of Fogo, and resembled the light Italian wines. The cheese also was made here from goats' milk, and resembled the Spanish cheese. After doing ample justice to his excellency's good fare, we proceeded to view the lions of the place.

The first and greatest of these is the fountain, or common watering-place of the town, above half a mile distant by the path, in a valley to the west of the town, and almost immediately under it. The fountain is surrounded by a variety of tropical trees, consisting of dates, cocoa-nuts, bananas, papayas, sugar-cane, and tamarinds, with grapes, oranges, limes, &c. &c., and when brought into comparison with the surrounding lands, may be termed an enchanting spot; but what adds peculiarly to its effect on a stranger, is the novelty of the objects that are brought together. Over the spring is a thatched roof, and round about it a group of the most remarkable objects in human shape that can well be conceived. On one side blind beggars, dirty soldiers, and naked children; on another, lepers, boys with monkeys, others with fowls, half-dressed women, asses not bigger than sheep, and hogs of a mammoth breed; to say nothing of those with cutaneous disorders, that Were undergoing ablution. All conspired to form a scene peculiar, I should think, to this semi-African population. Here sailors watering and washing, chatting, talking, and laughing; there a group of far niente natives of all sizes, shapes, and colours, halfclothed, with turbaned heads and handkerchiefs of many and gay colours, tied on after a different fashion from what we had been accustomed to, the shawls being reversed, their ends hanging down behind instead of before, completely covering the breast, and onefourth of the face. This well barely supplies the wants of the inhabitants and shipping, and they are now about building a reservoir. The whole of the stone for it was prepared in Portugal, and made ready for putting up. It is to be of marble, and the water for its supply is brought two miles in iron pipes.

A market is held daily in the morning when any vessels are in port. The square in which it is held is quite a large one, with a cross in its centre. The market is not of much extent, but a great variety of tropical fruits, of the kinds before enumerated, are exposed for sale in small quantities, as well as vegetables. These consist of cabbage-leaves, beans, pumpkins, squashes, corn, potatoes, yams, mandioca, &e. All these were spread out on the large leaves of the cocoa-nut tree. No kind of meat was for sale. The only articles of this description were chickens four or five days old, tied up in bunches, and some eggs. In order to obtain beef, it is necessary to buy the cattle at the cattle-yard, where, on previous notice being given, you may choose those that suit for slaughter. They are in general of small size, and dark coloured. Those we page 14saw were from the interior of the island, where they are said to thrive well.

The morning drill of the recruits, which was witnessed, was amusing. They were cleanly dressed, but the rattan was freely used by the sergeant; and what seemed characteristic or in keeping with appearances around, the sergeant, during the drill, ordered one of his men from the ranks to bring him some fire to light his cigar.

No trades were observed, and but one small carpenter's shop. A few shops were supplied with cotton, hardware, &c. There were likewise a number of little wine shops, where they also sold fruit, which they usually have in great plenty; but all their crops depend much upon the rains, and the inhabitants have also become indifferent or careless about raising more than for their own supply, from the heavy exactions of government made upon everything that is cultivated. The demand for shipping has of late years very much decreased. The improvement in the supplies and com-forts on board of vessels on long voyages, now make it unnecessary to touch in port, as was formerly deemed unavoidable.

Porto Praya is yet visited by whale-ships for supplies, Although the soil is poor, and the crops very uncertain, yet the tropical fruits and some vegetables can always be obtained here. They are usually, if time is allowed, brought from the interior. The inhabitants have at times suffered almost the extremes of famine, in consequence of the droughts that prevail for successive years, and especially during the one that took place in 1832.

The exports from these islands are salt, some ordinary wine, hides, goats' skins, and orchilla. The latter is a government monopoly. Ninety thousand milrees were paid by the company for the yearly crop, and it is said at that price to yield a handsome profit.

The climate of these islands is said to be healthy, though exceedingly warm. It is subject to fevers, which generally take place during the rainy months of July and August.

Slaves are imported from the coast of Africa, and settlers or heads of families are not allowed to bring with them more than ten slaves. There was one at the consul's, recently imported from the Foolah district in Africa, who was purchased by him for one hundred and fifty dollars.

The costumes here are so various, that it scarcely can be said that any one of them is peculiar to the island. The men generally wear a white shirt and trowsers, with a dark vest, principally the cast-off clothing of the whites. Others go quite naked, excepting a straw hat; others again are in loose shirts. The women have a shawl fastened around them, with occasionally another thrown over them, covering the mouth and bust, and crossing behind. The children, for the most part, go naked.

On the afternoon of the 23rd of November, we took a light wind from the southeast, and with all sail set, stood in for the magnificent harbour of Rio Janeiro. Our attention was drawn first to the high, fantastic, and abrupt peaks of Gavia, the Sugar Loaf, and Corcovado, on our left; whilst on our right we had the bold point of Santa page 15Cruz; then before us the city of San. Salvador, and the towns of San Domingo, with Praya Grande opposite, and the islands and fleet that lay between them decking this beautiful expanse of water. These objects, with the pinnacles of the Organ Mountains for a background, form such a scene that it would be difficult to point out in what manner it could be improved. The life and stir created by the number of vessels, boats, and steamers of various forms and of all sizes passing to and fro, give great animation to the whole.

The mountains present a very peculiar appearance. Their tops and sides have a rounded or worn surface, destitute of verdure, with the exception of here and there a yellowish patch, produced by the Tillandsias, which in places covers the rocks. The abruptness of the Sugar Loaf mountain, and those immediately behind Santa Cruz, strikes the spectator very forcibly.

The shipping do not form, as in other places, a dense forest of masts. There being no. wharves, they are obliged to lie at anchor, exhibiting their proportions and symmetry to great advantage. They are usually seen grouped together, with their different flags flying, forming a picture that a painter would delight in.

There is a feeling of security on entering the harbour of Rio, that I have seldom experienced elsewhere, not even in our own waters. The mountains seem, as it were, to afford complete protection from the winds and ocean. "We anchored near Enxados or Hospital Island, and found the Peacock had arrived here three days before us, and that she was proceeding with her repairs rapidly. The vessels being altogether unfit for the southern cruise, it became necessary to effect the requisite repairs as speedily as possible.

The instruments and stores were allowed to be landed free of inspection, and every assistance we could desire was afforded us by the government and its officers. How different a policy and treatment from that pursued towards Captain Cook, some seventy years before, under an ignorant and jealous colonial government!