The Stupendous
Height, Which Before Was Lost On The Traveller, Now Strikes Him With Awe
And Admiration, The Whole Island Appearing One Vast Mountain With
A Pyramidal Top.
As we proceeded with light winds, at an easy rate, we saw it
distinctly for three days after our
Departure, and should have continued
to see it longer, had not the haziness of the atmosphere interrupted our view.
The good people of Santa Cruz tell some stories of the wonderful extent
of space to be seen from the summit of it, that would not disgrace the memoirs
of the ever-memorable Baron Munchausen.
On the 18th of June we saw the most northerly of the Cape de Verd Islands,
at which time the Commodore gave the fleet to understand, by signal,
that his intention was to touch at some of them. The following day we made
St. Jago, and stood in to gain an anchorage in Port Praya Bay.
But the baffling winds and lee current rendering it a matter of doubt
whether or not the ships would be able to fetch, the signal for anchoring
was hauled down, and the fleet bore up before the wind. In passing along them
we were enabled to ascertain the south end of the Isle of Sal
to be in 16 deg 40 min north latitude, and 23 deg 5 min west longitude.
The south end of Bonavista to be in 15 deg 57 min north, 23 deg 8 min west.
The south end of the Isle of May in 15 deg 11 min north, 23 deg 26 min west;
and the longitude of the fort, in the town of Port Praya,
to be 23 deg 36 1/2 min west of Greenwich.
By this time the weather, from the sun being so far advanced in the
northern tropic, was become intolerably hot, which, joined to the heavy rains
that soon after came on, made us very apprehensive for the health of the fleet.
Contrary, however, to expectation, the number of sick in the ship
I was embarked on was surprisingly small, and the rest of the fleet were
nearly as healthy. Frequent explosions of gunpowder, lighting fires
between decks, and a liberal use of that admirable antiseptic, oil of tar,
were the preventives we made use of against impure air; and above all
things we were careful to keep the men's bedding and wearing apparel dry.
As we advanced towards the Line, the weather grew gradually better
and more pleasant. On the 14th of July we passed the Equator,
at which time the atmosphere was as serene, and the temperature of the air
not hotter than in a bright summer day in England. From this period,
until our arrival on the American coast, the heats, the calms, and the rains
by which we had been so much incommoded, were succeeded by a series of weather
as delightful as it was unlooked for. At three o'clock in the afternoon
of the 2nd of August, the 'Supply', which had been previously sent a-head
on purpose, made the signal for seeing the land, which was visible
to the whole fleet before sunset, and proved to be Cape Frio, in latitude
23 deg 5 min south, longitude 41 deg 40 1/4 min west.
Owing to light airs we did not get a-breast of the city of St. Sebastian,
in the harbour of Rio de Janeiro, until the 7th of the month, when we anchored
about three quarters of a mile from the shore.
CHAPTER V.
From the Arrival of the Fleet at Rio de Janeiro, till its Departure
for the Cape of Good Hope; with some Remarks on the Brazils.
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.
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