Brazil Is A Country Very Imperfectly Known In Europe.
The Portugueze,
from political motives, have been sparing in their accounts of it.
Whence our descriptions of it, in the geographical publications in England,
are drawn, I know not:
That they are miserably erroneous and defective,
is certain.
The city of St. Sebastian stands on the west side of the harbour,
in a low unhealthy situation, surrounded on all sides by hills, which stop
the free circulation of air, and subject its inhabitants to intermittents
and putrid diseases. It is of considerable extent: Mr. Cook makes it as large
as Liverpool; but Liverpool, in 1767, when Mr. Cook wrote, was not two-thirds
of its present size. Perhaps it equals Chester, or Exeter, in the share
of ground it occupies, and is infinitely more populous than either of them.
The streets intersect each other at right angles, are tolerably well built,
and excellently paved, abounding with shops of every kind, in which the wants
of a stranger, if money is not one of them, can hardly remain unsatisfied.
About the centre of the city, and at a little distance from the beach,
the Palace of the Viceroy stands, a long, low building, no wise remarkable
in its exterior appearance; though within are some spacious and handsome
apartments. The churches and convents are numerous, and richly decorated;
hardly a night passes without some of the latter being illuminated in honour
of their patron saints, which has a very brilliant effect when viewed
from the water, and was at first mistaken by us for public rejoicings.
At the corner of almost every street stands a little image of the Virgin,
stuck round with lights in an evening, before which passengers frequently stop
to pray and sing very loudly. Indeed, the height to which religious zeal
is carried in this place, cannot fail of creating astonishment in a stranger.
The greatest part of the inhabitants seem to have no other occupation,
than that of paying visits and going to church, at which times you see them
sally forth richly dressed, en chapeau bras, with the appendages of a bag
for the hair, and a small sword: even boys of six years old are seen
parading about, furnished with these indispensable requisites. Except when
at their devotions, it is not easy to get a sight of the women,
and when obtained, the comparisons drawn by a traveller, lately arrived
from England, are little flattering to Portugueze beauty. In justice,
however, to the ladies of St. Sebastian, I must observe, that the custom
of throwing nosegays at strangers, for the purpose of bringing on
an assignation, which Doctor Solander, and another gentleman
of Mr. Cook's ship, met with when here, was never seen by any of us
in a single instance. We were so deplorably unfortunate as to walk
every evening before their windows and balconies, without being honoured with
a single bouquet, though nymphs and flowers were in equal and great abundance.
Among other public buildings, I had almost forgot to mention an observatory,
which stands near the middle of the town, and is tolerably well furnished
with astronomical instruments.
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