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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/36963-8.txt b/36963-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9fc1cc7 --- /dev/null +++ b/36963-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9704 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Equatorial America, by Maturin M. Ballou + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Equatorial America + Descriptive of a Visit to St. Thomas, Martinique, Barbadoes, + and the Principal Capitals of South America + +Author: Maturin M. Ballou + +Release Date: August 3, 2011 [EBook #36963] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EQUATORIAL AMERICA *** + + + + +Produced by Julia Miller, Carol Ann Brown, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + EQUATORIAL AMERICA + + _DESCRIPTIVE OF A VISIT TO ST. THOMAS + MARTINIQUE, BARBADOES, AND + THE PRINCIPAL CAPITALS + OF SOUTH AMERICA_ + + BY + + MATURIN M. BALLOU + + [Illustration: Printer's logo] + + BOSTON AND NEW YORK + HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY + The Riverside Press, Cambridge + 1892 + + + + + Copyright, 1892, + BY MATURIN M. BALLOU. + + _All rights reserved._ + + _The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A._ + Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton & Company. + + + + + DEDICATED + TO + CAPTAIN E. C. BAKER + OF THE + _STEAMSHIP VIGILANCIA_ + WITH WARM APPRECIATION OF HIS QUALITIES + AS A GENTLEMAN + AND AN ACCOMPLISHED SEAMAN + + [Illustration: decoration] + + + + +PREFACE. + + +"I am a part of all that I have seen," says Tennyson, a sentiment which +every one of large experience will heartily indorse. With the +extraordinary facilities for travel available in modern times, it is a +serious mistake in those who possess the means, not to become familiar +with the various sections of the globe. Vivid descriptions and excellent +photographs give us a certain knowledge of the great monuments of the +world, both natural and artificial, but the traveler always finds the +reality a new revelation, whether it be the marvels of a Yellowstone +Park, a vast oriental temple, Alaskan glaciers, or the Pyramids of +Ghiza. The latter, for instance, do not differ from the statistics which +we have so often seen recorded, their great, dominating outlines are the +same as pictorially delineated, but when we actually stand before them, +they are touched by the wand of enchantment, and spring into visible +life. Heretofore they have been shadows, henceforth they are tangible +and real. The best descriptions fail to inspire us, experience alone can +do that. What words can adequately depict the confused grandeur of the +Falls of Schaffhausen; the magnificence of the Himalayan +range,--roof-tree of the world; the thrilling beauty of the Yosemite +Valley; the architectural loveliness of the Taj Mahal, of India; the +starry splendor of equatorial nights; the maritime charms of the Bay of +Naples; or the marvel of the Midnight Sun at the North Cape? It is +personal observation alone which truly satisfies, educating the eye and +enriching the understanding. If we can succeed in imparting, a portion +of our enjoyment to others, we enhance our own pleasure, and therefore +these notes of travel are given to the public. + + M. M. B. + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + CHAPTER I. + + PAGE + + Commencement of a Long Journey.--The Gulf + Stream.--Hayti.--Sighting St. Thomas.--Ship + Rock.--Expert Divers.--Fidgety Old Lady.--An + Important Island.--The Old + Slaver.--Aborigines.--St. Thomas + Cigars.--Population.--Tri-Mountain.--The + Negro Paradise.--Hurricanes.--Variety of + Fish.--Coaling Ship.--The Firefly Dance.--A + Weird Scene.--An Antique Anchor 1 + + + CHAPTER II. + + Curious Seaweed.--Professor Agassiz.--Myth of + a Lost Continent.--Island of Martinique.--An + Attractive Place.--Statue of the Empress + Josephine.--Birthplace of Madame de + Maintenon.--City of St. Pierre.--Mont + Pelée.--High Flavored Specialty.--Grisettes + of Maritinque.--A Botanical + Garden.--Defective Drainage.--A Fatal + Enemy.--A Cannibal Snake.--The Climate 33 + + + CHAPTER III. + + English Island of Barbadoes.--Bridgetown the + Capital.--The Manufacture of Rum.--A + Geographical Expert.--Very English.--A Pest + of Ants.--Exports.--The Ice House.--A Dense + Population.--Educational.--Marine + Hotel.--Habits of + Gambling.--Hurricanes.--Curious + Antiquities.--The Barbadoes Leg.--Wakeful + Dreams.--Absence of Twilight.--Departure from + the Island 51 + + + CHAPTER IV. + + Curious Ocean Experiences.--The Delicate + Nautilus.--Flying-Fish.--The Southern + Cross.--Speaking a Ship at Sea.--Scientific + Navigation.--South America as a Whole.--Fauna + and Flora.--Natural Resources of a Wonderful + Land.--Rivers, Plains, and Mountain + Ranges.--Aboriginal + Tribes.--Population.--Political + Divisions.--Civil Wars.--Weakness of South + American States 68 + + + CHAPTER V. + + City of Pará.--The Equatorial Line.--Spanish + History.--The King of Waters.--Private + Gardens.--Domestic Life in Northern + Brazil.--Delicious Pineapples.--Family + Pets.--Opera House.--Mendicants.--A Grand + Avenue.--Botanical Garden.--India-Rubber + Tree.--Gathering the Raw + Material.--Monkeys.--The Royal + Palm.--Splendor of Equatorial Nights 94 + + + CHAPTER VI. + + Island of Marajo.--Rare and Beautiful + Birds.--Original Mode of Securing + Humming-Birds.--Maranhão.--Educational.-- + Value of Native + Forests.--Pernambuco.--Difficulty of + Landing.--An Ill-Chosen Name.--Local + Scenes.--Uncleanly Habits of the + People.--Great Sugar Mart.--Native Houses.--A + Quaint Hostelry.--Catamarans.--A Natural + Breakwater.--Sailing down the Coast 115 + + + CHAPTER VII. + + Port of Bahia.--A Quaint Old City.--Former + Capital of Brazil.--Whaling + Interests.--Beautiful + Panorama.--Tramways.--No Color Line + Here.--The Sedan Chair.--Feather Flowers.--A + Great Orange Mart.--Passion Flower + Fruit.--Coffee, Sugar, and Tobacco.--A Coffee + Plantation.--Something about + Diamonds.--Health of the City.--Curious + Tropical Street Scenes 138 + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + Cape Frio.--Rio Janeiro.--A Splendid + Harbor.--Various Mountains.--Botafogo + Bay.--The Hunchback.--Farewell to the + Vigilancia.--Tijuca.--Italian + Emigrants.--City Institutions.--Public + Amusements.--Street + Musicians.--Churches.--Narrow + Thoroughfares.--Merchants' Clerks.--Railroads + in Brazil.--Natural Advantages of the + City.--The Public Plazas.--Exports 155 + + + CHAPTER IX. + + Outdoor Scenes in Rio Janeiro.--The Little + Marmoset.--The Fish Market.--Secluded + Women.--The Romish Church.--Botanical + Garden.--Various Species of Trees.--Grand + Avenue of Royal Palms.--About + Humming-Birds.--Climate of Rio.--Surrounded + by Yellow Fever.--The Country + Inland.--Begging on the + Streets.--Flowers.--"Portuguese Joe."--Social + Distinctions 180 + + + CHAPTER X. + + Petropolis.--Summer Residence of the Citizens + of Rio.--Brief Sketch of the late Royal + Family.--Dom Pedro's Palace.--A Delightful + Mountain Sanitarium.--A Successful but + Bloodless Revolution.--Floral + Delights.--Mountain Scenery.--Heavy + Gambling.--A German + Settlement.--Cascatinha.--Remarkable + Orchids.--Local Types.--A Brazilian + Forest.--Compensation 201 + + + CHAPTER XI. + + Port of Santos.--Yellow Fever Scourge.--Down + the Coast to Montevideo.--The + Cathedral.--Pamperos.--Domestic + Architecture.--A Grand Thoroughfare.--City + Institutions.--Commercial Advantages.--The + Opera House.--The Bull-Fight.--Beggars on + Horseback.--City Shops.--A Typical + Character.--Intoxication.--The Campo + Santo.--Exports.--Rivers and Railways 217 + + + CHAPTER XII. + + Buenos Ayres.--Extent of the Argentine + Republic.--Population.--Narrow + Streets.--Large Public + Squares.--Basques.--Poor Harbor.--Railway + System.--River Navigation.--Tramways.--The + Cathedral.--Normal + Schools.--Newspapers.--Public + Buildings.--Calle Florida.--A Busy + City.--Mode of furnishing + Milk.--Environs.--Commercial and Political + Growth.--The New Capital 244 + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + City of Rosario.--Its Population.--A + Pretentious Church.--Ocean + Experiences.--Morbid Fancies.--Strait of + Magellan.--A Great Discoverer.--Local + Characteristics.--Patagonians and + Fuegians.--Giant Kelp.--Unique Mail + Box.--Punta Arenas.--An Ex-Penal Colony.--The + Albatross.--Natives.--A Naked + People.--Whales.--Sea-Birds.--Glaciers.-- + Mount Sarmiento.--A Singular Story 271 + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + The Land of Fire.--Cape Horn.--In the Open + Pacific.--Fellow Passengers.--Large + Sea-Bird.--An Interesting Invalid.--A Weary + Captive.--A Broken-Hearted Mother.--Study of + the Heavens.--The Moon.--Chilian Civil + War.--Concepcion.--A Growing + City.--Commercial Importance.--Cultivating + City Gardens on a New Plan.--Important Coal + Mines.--Delicious Fruits 297 + + + CHAPTER XV. + + Valparaiso.--Principal South American Port of + the Pacific.--A Good Harbor.--Tallest + Mountain on this Continent.--The Newspaper + Press.--Warlike Aspect.--Girls as Car + Conductors.--Chilian Exports.--Foreign + Merchants.--Effects of Civil War.--Gambling + in Private Houses.--Immigration.--Culture of + the Grape.--Agriculture.--Island of Juan + Fernandez 315 + + + CHAPTER XVI. + + The Port of Callao.--A Submerged + City.--Peruvian Exports.--A Dirty and + Unwholesome Town.--Cinchona Bark.--The + Andes.--The Llama.--A National Dance.--City + of Lima.--An Old and Interesting + Capital.--Want of Rain.--Pizarro and His + Crimes.--A Grand Cathedral.--Chilian + Soldiers.--Costly Churches of Peru.--Roman + Catholic Influence.--Desecration of the + Sabbath 334 + + + CHAPTER XVII. + + A Grand Plaza.--Retribution.--The University + of Lima.--Significance of Ancient + Pottery.--Architecture.--Picturesque + Dwelling.--Domestic Scene.--Destructive + Earthquakes.--Spanish Sway.--Women of + Lima.--Street Costumes.--Ancient Bridge of + Lima.--Newspapers.--Pawnbrokers' + Shops.--Exports.--An Ancient Mecca.--Home by + Way of Europe. 355 + + + + + EQUATORIAL AMERICA. + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + Commencement of a Long Journey.--The Gulf + Stream.--Hayti.--Sighting St. Thomas.--Ship Rock.--Expert + Divers.--Fidgety Old Lady.--An Important Island.--The Old + Slaver.--Aborigines.--St. Thomas + Cigars.--Population.--Tri-Mountain.--Negro + Paradise.--Hurricanes.--Variety of Fish.--Coaling Ship.--The + Firefly Dane.--A Weird Scene.--An Antique Anchor. + + +In starting upon foreign travel, one drops into the familiar routine on +shipboard much after the same fashion wherever bound, whether crossing +the Atlantic eastward, or steaming to the south through the waters of +the Caribbean Sea; whether in a Peninsular and Oriental ship in the +Indian Ocean, or on a White Star liner in the Pacific bound for Japan. +The steward brings a cup of hot coffee and a slice of dry toast to one's +cabin soon after the sun rises, as a sort of eye-opener; and having +swallowed that excellent stimulant, one feels better fortified for the +struggle to dress on the uneven floor of a rolling and pitching ship. +Then comes the brief promenade on deck before breakfast, a liberal +inhalation of fresh air insuring a good appetite. There is no hurry at +this meal. There is so little to do at sea, and so much time to do it +in, that passengers are apt to linger at table as a pastime, and even +multiply their meals in number. As a rule, we make up our mind to follow +some instructive course of reading while at sea, but, alas! we never +fulfill the good resolution. An entire change of habits and associations +for the time being is not favorable to such a purpose. The tonic of the +sea braces one up to an unwonted degree, evinced by great activity of +body and mind. Favored by the unavoidable companionship of individuals +in the circumscribed space of a ship, acquaintances are formed which +often ripen into lasting friendship. Inexperienced voyagers are apt to +become effusive and over-confiding, abrupt intimacies and unreasonable +dislikes are of frequent occurrence, and before the day of separation, +the student of human nature has seen many phases exhibited for his +analysis. + +Our vessel, the Vigilancia, is a large, commodious, and well-appointed +ship, embracing all the modern appliances for comfort and safety at sea. +She is lighted by electricity, having a donkey engine which sets in +motion a dynamo machine, converting mechanical energy into electric +energy. Perhaps the reader, though familiar with the effect of this mode +of lighting, has never paused to analyze the very simple manner in which +it is produced. The current is led from the dynamos to the various +points where light is desired by means of insulated wires. The lamps +consist of a fine thread of carbon inclosed in a glass bulb from which +air has been entirely excluded. This offers such resistance to the +current passing through it that the energy is expended in raising the +carbon to a white heat, thus forming the light. The permanence of the +carbon is insured by the absence of oxygen. If the glass bulb is broken +and atmospheric air comes in contact with the carbon, it is at once +destroyed by combustion, and all light from this source ceases. These +lamps are so arranged that each one can be turned off or on at will +without affecting others. The absence of offensive smell or smoke, the +steadiness of the light, unaffected by the motion of the ship, and its +superior brilliancy, all join to make this mode of lighting a vessel a +positive luxury. + +Some pleasant hours were passed on board the Vigilancia, between New +York and the West Indies, in the study of the Gulf Stream, through which +we were sailing,--that river in the ocean with its banks and bottom of +cold water, while its current is always warm. Who can explain the +mystery of its motive power? What keeps its tepid water, in a course of +thousands of miles, from mingling with the rest of the sea? Whence does +it really come? The accepted theories are familiar enough, but we place +little reliance upon them, the statements of scientists are so easily +formulated, but often so difficult to prove. As Professor Maury tells +us, there is in the world no other flow of water so majestic as this; it +has a course more rapid than either the Mississippi or the Amazon, and a +volume more than a thousand times greater. The color of this remarkable +stream, whose fountain is supposed to be the Gulf of Mexico and the +Caribbean Sea, is so deep a blue off our southern shore that the line of +demarcation from its surroundings is quite obvious, the Gulf water +having apparently a decided reluctance to mingling with the rest of the +ocean, a peculiarity which has been long and vainly discussed without a +satisfactory solution having been reached. The same phenomenon has been +observed in the Pacific, where the Japanese current comes up from the +equator, along the shore of that country, crossing Behring's Sea to the +continent of North America, and, turning southward along the coast of +California, finally disappears. Throughout all this ocean passage, like +the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic, it retains its individuality, and is +quite separate from the rest of the ocean. The fact that the water is +saltier than that of the Atlantic is by some supposed to account for the +indigo blue of the Gulf Stream. + +The temperature of this water is carefully taken on board all well +regulated ships, and is recorded in the log. On this voyage it was found +to vary from 75° to 80° Fahrenheit. + +Our ship had touched at Newport News, Va., after leaving New York, to +take the U. S. mail on board; thence the course was south-southeast, +giving the American continent a wide berth, and heading for the Danish +island of St. Thomas, which lies in the latitude of Hayti, but a long +way to the eastward of that uninteresting island. We say uninteresting +with due consideration, though its history is vivid enough to satisfy +the most sensational taste. It has produced its share of native heroes, +as well as native traitors, while the frequent upheavals of its mingled +races have been no less erratic than destructive. The ignorance and +confusion which reign among the masses on the island are deplorable. +Minister Douglass utterly failed to make anything out of Hayti. The +lower classes of the people living inland come next to the inhabitants +of Terra del Fuego in the scale of humanity, and are much inferior to +the Maoris of New Zealand, or the savage tribes of Australia. It is +satisfactorily proven that cannibalism still exists among them in its +most repulsive form, so revolting, indeed, that we hesitate to detail +the experience of a creditable eye-witness relating to this matter, as +personally described to us. + +Upon looking at the map it would seem, to one unaccustomed to the ocean, +that a ship could not lay her course direct, in these island dotted +waters, without running down one or more of them; but the distances +which are so circumscribed upon the chart are extended for many a league +at sea, and a good navigator may sail his ship from New York to +Barbadoes, if he so desires, without sighting the land. Not a sailing +vessel or steamship was seen, on the brief voyage from the American +continent to the West Indies, these latitudes being far less frequented +by passenger and freighting ships than the transatlantic route further +north. + +It is quite natural that the heart should throb with increased +animation, the spirits become more elate, and the eyes more than usually +appreciative, when the land of one's destination heaves in sight after +long days and nights passed at sea. This is especially the case if the +change from home scenes is so radical in all particulars as when coming +from our bleak Northern States in the early days of spring, before the +trees have donned their leaves, to the soft temperature and exuberant +verdure of the low latitudes. Commencing the voyage herein described, +the author left the Brooklyn shore of New York harbor about the first of +May, during a sharp snow-squall, though, as Governor's Island was passed +on the one hand, and the Statue of Liberty on the other, the sun burst +forth from its cloudy environment, as if to smile a cheerful farewell. +Thus we passed out upon the broad Atlantic, bound southward, soon +feeling its half suppressed force in the regular sway and roll of the +vessel. She was heavily laden, and measured considerably over four +thousand tons, drawing twenty-two feet of water, yet she was like an +eggshell upon the heaving breast of the ocean. As these mammoth ships +lie in port beside the wharf, it seems as though their size and enormous +weight would place them beyond the influence of the wind and waves: but +the power of the latter is so great as to be beyond computation, and +makes a mere toy of the largest hull that floats. No one can realize the +great strength of the waves who has not watched the sea in all of its +varying moods. + +"Land O!" shouts the lookout on the forecastle. + +A wave of the hand signifies that the occupant of the bridge has already +made out the mote far away upon the glassy surface of the sea, which now +rapidly grows into definite form. + +When the mountain which rises near the centre of St. Thomas was fairly +in view from the deck of the Vigilancia, it seemed as if beckoning us to +its hospitable shore. The light breeze which fanned the sea came from +off the land flavored with an odor of tropical vegetation, a suggestion +of fragrant blossoms, and a promise of luscious fruits. On our starboard +bow there soon came into view the well known Ship Rock, which appears, +when seen from a short distance, almost precisely like a full-rigged +ship under canvas. If the sky is clouded and the atmosphere hazy, the +delusion is remarkable. + +This story is told of a French corvette which was cruising in these +latitudes at the time when the buccaneers were creating such havoc with +legitimate commerce in the West Indies. It seems that the coast was +partially hidden by a fog, when the corvette made out the rock through +the haze, and, supposing it to be what it so much resembles, a ship +under sail, fired a gun to leeward for her to heave to. Of course there +was no response to the shot, so the Frenchman brought his ship closer, +at the same time clearing for action. Being satisfied that he had to do +with a powerful adversary, he resolved to obtain the advantage by +promptly crippling the enemy, and so discharged the whole of his +starboard broadside into the supposed ship, looming through the mist. +The fog quietly dispersed as the corvette went about and prepared to +deliver her port guns in a similar manner. As the deceptive rock stood +in precisely the same place when the guns came once more to bear upon +it, the true character of the object was discovered. It is doubtful +whether the Frenchman's surprise or mortification predominated. + +An hour of steady progress served to raise the veil of distance, and to +reveal the spacious bay of Charlotte Amalie, with its strong background +of abrupt hills and dense greenery of tropical foliage. How wonderfully +blue was the water round about the island,--an emerald set in a sea of +molten sapphire! It seemed as if the sky had been melted and poured all +over the ebbing tide. About the Bahamas, especially off the shore at +Nassau, the water is green,--a delicate bright green; here it exhibits +only the true azure blue,--Mediterranean blue. It is seen at its best +and in marvelous glow during the brief moments of twilight, when a +glance of golden sunset tinges its mottled surface with iris hues, like +the opaline flashes from a humming-bird's throat. + +The steamer gradually lost headway, the vibrating hull ceased to throb +with the action of its motive power, as though pausing to take breath +after long days and nights of sustained effort, and presently the anchor +was let go in the excellent harbor of St. Thomas, latitude 18° 20' +north, longitude 64° 48' west. Our forecastle gun, fired to announce +arrival, awakened the echoes in the hills, so that all seemed to join in +clapping their hands to welcome us. Thus amid the Norwegian fiords the +report of the steamer's single gun becomes a whole broadside, as it is +reverberated from the grim and rocky elevations which line that +iron-bound coast. + +There was soon gathered about the ship a bevy of naked colored boys, a +score or more, jabbering like a lot of monkeys, some in canoes of home +construction, it would seem, consisting of a sugar box sawed in two +parts, or a few small planks nailed together, forming more of a tub than +a boat, and leaking at every joint. These frail floats were propelled +with a couple of flat boards used as paddles. The young fellows came out +from the shore to dive for sixpences and shillings, cast into the sea by +passengers. The moment a piece of silver was thrown, every canoe was +instantly emptied of its occupant, all diving pell-mell for the money. +Presently one of the crowd was sure to come to the surface with the +silver exhibited above his head between his fingers, after which, +monkey-like, it was securely deposited inside of his cheek. Similar +scenes often occur in tropical regions. The last which the author can +recall, and at which he assisted, was at Aden, where the Indian Ocean +and the Red Sea meet. Another experience of the sort is also well +remembered as witnessed in the South Pacific off the Samoan islands. On +this occasion the most expert of the natives, among the naked divers, +was a young Samoan girl, whose agility in the water was such that she +easily secured more than half the bright coins which were thrown +overboard, though a dozen male competitors were her rivals in the +pursuit. Nothing but an otter could have excelled this bronzed, unclad, +exquisitely formed girl of Tutuila as a diver and swimmer. + +But let us not stray to the far South Pacific, forgetting that we are +all this time in the snug harbor of St. Thomas, in the West Indies. + +A fidgety old lady passenger, half hidden in an avalanche of wraps, +while the thermometer indicated 80° Fahr., one who had gone into partial +hysterics several times during the past few days, upon the slightest +provocation, declared that this was the worst region for hurricanes in +the known world, adding that there were dark, ominous clouds forming to +windward which she was sure portended a cyclone. One might have told her +truthfully that May was not a hurricane month in these latitudes, but we +were just then too earnestly engaged in preparing for a stroll on shore, +too full of charming anticipations, to discuss possible hurricanes, and +so, without giving the matter any special thought, admitted that it did +look a little threatening in the northwest. This was quite enough to +frighten the old lady half out of her senses, and to call the stewardess +into prompt requisition, while the deck was soon permeated with the odor +of camphor, sal volatile, and valerian. We did not wait to see how she +survived the attack, but hastened into a shore boat and soon landed at +what is known as King's wharf, when the temperature seemed instantly to +rise about twenty degrees. Near the landing was a small plaza, shaded by +tall ferns and cabbage palms, with here and there an umbrageous mango. +Ladies and servant girls were seen promenading with merry children, +whites and blacks mingling indiscriminately, while the Danish military +band were producing most shocking strains with their brass instruments. +One could hardly conceive of a more futile attempt at harmony. + +There is always something exciting in first setting foot upon a foreign +soil, in mingling with utter strangers, in listening to the voluble +utterances and jargon of unfamiliar tongues, while noting the manners, +dress, and faces of a new people. The current language of the mass of +St. Thomas is a curious compound of negro grammar, Yankee accent, and +English drawl. Though somewhat familiar with the West Indies, the author +had never before landed upon this island. Everything strikes one as +curious, each turn affords increased novelty, and every moment is full +of interest. Black, yellow, and white men are seen in groups, the former +with very little covering on their bodies, the latter in diaphanous +costumes. Negresses sporting high colors in their scanty clothing, set +off by rainbow kerchiefs bound round their heads, turban fashion; little +naked blacks with impossible paunches; here and there a shuffling negro +bearing baskets of fish balanced on either end of a long pole resting +across his shoulders; peddlers of shells and corals; old women carrying +trays upon their heads containing cakes sprinkled with granulated sugar, +and displayed upon neat linen towels, seeking for customers among the +newly arrived passengers,--all together form a unique picture of local +life. The constantly shifting scene moves before the observer like a +panorama unrolled for exhibition, seeming quite as theatrical and +artificial. + +St. Thomas is one of the Danish West Indian Islands, of which there are +three belonging to Denmark, namely, St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John. +For the possession of the first named Mr. Seward, when Secretary of +State, in 1866, offered the King of Denmark five million dollars in +gold, which proposition was finally accepted, and it would have been a +cheap purchase for us at that price; but after all detail had been duly +agreed upon, the United States Congress refused to vote the necessary +funds wherewith to pay for the title deed. So when Mr. Seward +consummated the purchase of Alaska, for a little over seven million +dollars, there were nearly enough of the small-fry politicians in +Congress to defeat the bargain with Russia in the same manner. The +income from the lease of two islands alone belonging to Alaska--St. +George and St. Paul--has paid four and one half per cent. per annum upon +the purchase money ever since the territory came into our possession. +There is one gold mine on Douglas Island, Alaska, not to mention its +other rich and inexhaustible products, for which a French syndicate has +offered fourteen million dollars. We doubt if St. Thomas could be +purchased from the Danes to-day for ten million dollars, while the +estimated value of Alaska would be at least a hundred million or more, +with its vast mineral wealth, its invaluable salmon fisheries, its +inexhaustible forests of giant timber, and its abundance of seal, otter, +and other rich furs. A penny-wise and pound-foolish Congress made a huge +mistake in opposing Mr. Seward's purpose as regarded the purchase of St. +Thomas. The strategic position of the island is quite sufficient to +justify our government in wishing to possess it, for it is +geographically the keystone of the West Indies. The principal object +which Mr. Seward had in view was to secure a coaling and refitting +station for our national ships in time of war, for which St. Thomas +would actually be worth more than the island of Cuba. Opposite to it is +the continent of Africa; equidistant are the eastern shores of North and +South America; on one side is western Europe, on the other the route to +India and the Pacific Ocean; in the rear are Central America, the West +Indies, and Mexico, together with those great inland bodies of salt +water, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. It requires no argument +to show how important the possession of such an outpost might prove to +this country. + +Since these notes were written, it is currently reported that our +government has once more awakened to the necessity of obtaining +possession of this island, and fresh negotiations have been entered +into. One thing is very certain, if we do not seize the opportunity to +purchase St. Thomas at the present time, England, or some other +important power, will promptly do so, to our serious detriment and just +mortification. + +St. Thomas has an area of nearly fifty square miles, and supports a +population of about fourteen thousand. In many respects the capital is +unique, and being our first landing-place after leaving home, was of +more than ordinary interest to the writer. The highest point on the +island, which comes first into view from the deck of a southern bound +steamer, is West Mountain, rising sixteen hundred feet above the level +of the surrounding waters. Geologists would describe St. Thomas as being +the top of a small chain of submerged mountains, which would be quite +correct, since the topography of the bottom of the sea is but a +counterpart of that upon the more familiar surface of the earth we +occupy. When ocean electric cables for connecting islands and continents +are laid, engineers find that there are the same sort of plains, +mountains, valleys, and gorges beneath as above the waters of the ocean. +The skeletons of whales, and natural beds of deep-sea shells, found in +valleys and hills many hundred feet above the present level of tide +waters, tell us plainly enough that in the long ages which have passed, +the diversified surface of the earth which we now behold has changed +places with these submerged regions, which probably once formed the dry +land. The history of the far past is full of instances showing the slow +but continuous retreat of the water from the land in certain regions and +its encroachment in others, the drying up of lakes and rivers, as well +as the upheaval of single islands and groups from the bed of the ocean. + +A range of dome-shaped hills runs through the entire length of this +island of St. Thomas, fifteen miles from west to east, being +considerably highest at the west end. As we passed between the two +headlands which mark the entrance to the harbor, the town was seen +spread over three hills of nearly uniform height, also occupying the +gentle valleys between. Two stone structures, on separate hills, form a +prominent feature; these are known respectively as Blue Beard and Black +Beard tower, but their origin is a myth, though there are plenty of +legends extant about them. Both are now utilized as residences, having +mostly lost their original crudeness and picturesque appearance. The +town, as a whole, forms a pleasing and effective background to the +land-locked bay, which is large enough to afford safe anchorage for two +hundred ships at the same time, except when a hurricane prevails; then +the safest place for shipping is as far away from the land as possible. +It is a busy port, considering the small number of inhabitants, steamers +arriving and departing constantly, besides many small coasting vessels +which ply between this and the neighboring islands. St. Thomas is +certainly the most available commercially of the Virgin group of +islands. Columbus named them "Las Vergines," in reference to the +familiar Romish legend of the eleven thousand virgins, about as +inappropriate a title as the fable it refers to is ridiculous. + +Close in shore, at the time of our visit, there lay a schooner-rigged +craft of more than ordinary interest, her jaunty set upon the water, her +graceful lines, tall, raking masts, and long bowsprit suggesting the +model of the famous old Baltimore clippers. There is a fascinating +individuality about sailing vessels which does not attach to steamships. +Seamen form romantic attachments for the former. The officers and crew +of the Vigilancia were observed to cast admiring eyes upon this handsome +schooner, anchored under our lee. A sort of mysterious quiet hung about +her; every rope was hauled taut, made fast, and the slack neatly coiled. +Her anchor was atrip, that is, the cable was hove short, showing that +she was ready to sail at a moment's notice. The only person visible on +board was a bareheaded, white-haired old seaman, who sat on the transom +near the wheel, quietly smoking his pipe. On inquiry it was found that +the schooner had a notable history and bore the name of the Vigilant, +having been first launched a hundred and thirty years ago. It appeared +that she was a successful slaver in former days, running between the +coast of Africa and these islands. She was twice captured by English +cruisers, but somehow found her way back again to the old and nefarious +business. Of course, she had been overhauled, repaired, and re-rigged +many times, but it is still the same old frame and hull that so often +made the middle passage, as it was called. To-day she serves as a mail +boat running between Santa Cruz and St. Thomas, and, it is said, can +make forty leagues, with a fair wind, as quick as any steamer on the +coast. The same evening the Vigilant spread her broad white wings and +glided silently out of the harbor, gathering rapid way as she passed its +entrance, until feeling the spur of the wind and the open sea, she +quickly vanished from sight. It was easy to imagine her bound upon her +old piratical business, screened by the shadows of the night. + +Though it no longer produces a single article of export on its own soil, +St. Thomas was, in the days of negro slavery, one of the most prolific +sugar yielding islands of this region. It will be remembered that the +emancipation of the blacks took place here in 1848. It was never before +impressed upon us, if we were aware of the fact, that the sugar-cane is +not indigenous to the West Indies. It seems that the plant came +originally from Asia, and was introduced into these islands by Columbus +and his followers. As is often the case with other representatives of +the vegetable kingdom, it appears to have flourished better here than in +the land of its nativity, new climatic combinations, together with the +soil, developing in the saccharine plant better qualities and increased +productiveness, for a long series of years enriching many enterprising +planters. + +When Columbus discovered St. Thomas, in 1493, it was inhabited by two +tribes of Indians, the Caribs and the Arrowauks, both of which soon +disappeared under the oppression and hardships imposed by the Spaniards. +It is also stated that from this island, as well as from Cuba and Hayti, +many natives were transported to Spain and there sold into slavery, in +the days following close upon its discovery. Thus Spain, from the +earliest date, characterized her operations in the New World by a +heartlessness and injustice which ever attended upon her conquests, both +among the islands and upon the continent of America. The Caribs were of +the red Indian race, and appear to have been addicted to cannibalism. +Indeed, the very word, by which the surrounding sea is also known, is +supposed to be a corruption of the name of this tribe. "These Caribs did +not eat their own babies," says an old writer apologetically, "like some +sorts of wild beasts, but only roasted and ate their prisoners of war." + +The island was originally covered with a dense forest growth, but is now +comparatively denuded of trees, leaving the land open to the full force +of the sun, and causing it to suffer at times from serious droughts. +There is said to be but one natural spring of water on the island. This +shows itself at the surface, and is of very limited capacity; the scanty +rains which occur here are almost entirely depended upon to supply water +for domestic use. + +St. Thomas being so convenient a port of call for steamers from Europe +and America, and having so excellent a harbor, is improved as a depot +for merchandise by several of the neighboring islands, thus enjoying a +considerable commerce, though it is only in _transitu_. It is also the +regular coaling station of several steamship lines. Judging from +appearances, however, it would seem that the town is not growing in +population or business relations, but is rather retrograding. The value +of the imports in 1880 was less than half the aggregate amount of 1870. +We were told that green groceries nearly all come from the United +States, and that even eggs and poultry are imported from the neighboring +islands, showing an improvidence on the part of the people difficult to +account for, since these sources of food supply can be profitably +produced at almost any spot upon the earth where vegetation will grow. +Cigars are brought hither from Havana in considerable quantities, and +having no duty to pay, can be sold very cheap by the dealers at St. +Thomas, and still afford a reasonable profit. Quite a trade is thus +carried on with the passengers of the several steamers which call here +regularly, and travelers avail themselves of the opportunity to lay in +an ample supply. Cuban cigars of the quality which would cost nine or +ten dollars a hundred in Boston are sold at St. Thomas for five or six +dollars, and lower grades even cheaper in proportion. There is said to +be considerable smuggling successfully carried on between this island +and the Florida shore, in the article of cigars as well as in tobacco in +the unmanufactured state. The high duty on these has always incited to +smuggling, thus defeating the very object for which it is imposed. +Probably a moderate duty would yield more to the government in the +aggregate, by rendering it so much less of an object to smuggle. + +Though the island is Danish in nationality, there are few surroundings +calculated to recall the fact, save that the flag of that country floats +over the old fort and the one or two official buildings, just as it has +done for the last two centuries. The prominent officials are Danes, as +well as the officers of the small body of soldiers maintained on the +island. English is almost exclusively spoken, though there are French, +Spanish, and Italian residents here. English is also the language taught +in the public schools. People have come here to make what money they +can, but with the fixed purpose of spending it and enjoying it +elsewhere. As a rule, all Europeans who come to the West Indies and +embark in business do so with exactly this purpose. In Cuba the +Spaniards from the continent, among whom are many Jews, have a proverb +the significance of which is: "Ten years of starvation, and a fortune," +and most of them live up to this axiom. They leave all principles of +honor, all sense of moral responsibility, all sacred domestic ties, +behind them, forgetting, or at least ignoring, the significant query, +namely, "What shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and +lose his own soul?" + +About one third of the population is Roman Catholic. The Jews have a +synagogue, and a membership of six hundred. They have a record on the +island dating as far back as the year 1757, and add much to the activity +and thrift of St. Thomas. No matter where we find the Jews, in Mexico, +Warsaw, California, or the West Indies, they are all alike intent upon +money making, and are nearly always successful. Their irrepressible +energy wins for them the goal for which they so earnestly strive. That +soldier of fortune, Santa Anna, formerly ruler of Mexico, when banished +as a traitor from his native country, made his home on this island, and +the house which he built and occupied is still pointed out to visitors +as one of the local curiosities. The social life of St. Thomas is +naturally very circumscribed, but is good so far as it goes. A few +cultured people, who have made it their home for some years, have become +sincerely attached to the place, and enjoy the climate. There are a +small public library, a hospital, several charitable institutions, and a +theatre, which is occupied semi-occasionally. The island is connected +with the continent by cable, and has a large floating dock and marine +railway, which causes vessels in distress to visit the port for needed +repairs. The town is situated on the north side of the bay which indents +the middle of the south side of the island. The harbor has a depth of +water varying from eighteen to thirty-six feet, and has the advantage of +being a free port, a fact, perhaps, of not much account to a place which +has neither exports nor imports of its own. St. Thomas is the only town +of any importance on the island, and is known locally as Charlotte +Amalie, a fact which sometimes leads to a confusion of ideas. + +The reader need not encounter the intense heat, which so nearly wilted +us, in an effort to obtain a good lookout from some elevated spot; but +the result will perhaps interest him, as it fully repaid the writer for +all the consequent discomfort. + +From the brow of a moderate elevation just behind the town, a delightful +and far-reaching view is afforded, embracing St. Thomas in the +foreground, the well-sheltered bay, dotted with vessels bearing the +flags of various nations, an archipelago of islets scattered over the +near waters, and numerous small bays indenting the coast. At a distance +of some forty miles across the sea looms the island of Santa Cruz; and +farther away, on the horizon's most distant limit, are seen the tall +hills and mountains of Porto Rico; while the sky is fringed by a long +trailing plume of smoke, indicating the course of some passing +steamship. The three hills upon which the town stands are spurs of West +Mountain, and the place is quite as well entitled to the name of +Tremont--"tri-mountain"--as was the capital of Massachusetts, before its +hills were laid low to accommodate business demands. On the seaward side +of these elevations the red tiled roofs of the white houses rise in +regular terraces from the street which borders the harbor, forming a +very picturesque group as seen from the bay. + +Though it has not often been visited by epidemics, Mr. Anthony Trollope +pronounces the island, in his usual irresponsible way, to be "one of the +hottest and one of the most unhealthy spots among all these hot and +unhealthy regions," and adds that he would perhaps be justified in +saying "that of all such spots it is the hottest and most unhealthy." +This is calculated to give an incorrect idea of St. Thomas. True, it is +liable to periods of unhealthiness, when a species of low fever +prevails, proving more or less fatal. This is thought to originate from +the surface drainage, and the miasma arising from the bay. All the +drains of the town flow into the waters of the harbor, which has not +sufficient flow of tide to carry seaward the foul matter thus +accumulated. The hot sun pouring its heat down upon this tainted water +causes a dangerous exhalation. Still, sharks do not seem to be sensitive +as to this matter, for they much abound. It is yet to be discovered why +these tigers of the sea do not attack the negroes, who fearlessly leap +overboard; a white man could not do this with impunity. The Asiatics of +the Malacca Straits do not enjoy any such immunity from danger, though +they have skins as dark as the divers of St. Thomas. Sharks appear in +the West Indies in small schools, or at least there are nearly always +two or three together, but in Oriental waters they are only seen singly. +Thus a Malay of Singapore, for a compensation, say an English sovereign, +will place a long, sharp knife between his teeth and leap naked into the +sea to attack a shark. He adroitly dives beneath the creature, and as it +turns its body to bring its awkward mouth into use, with his knife the +Malay slashes a deep, long opening in its exposed belly, at the same +time forcing himself out of the creature's reach. The knife is sure and +fatal. After a few moments the huge body of the fish is seen to rise and +float lifeless upon the surface of the water. + +A large majority of the people are colored, exhibiting some peculiarly +interesting types, intermarriage with whites of various nationalities +having produced among the descendants of Africans many changes of color +and of features. One feels sure that there is also a trace of Carib or +Indian blood mingled with the rest,--a trace of the aborigines whom +Columbus found here. The outcome is not entirely a race with flat noses +and protruding lips; straight Grecian profiles are not uncommon, +accompanied by thin nostrils and Anglo-Saxon lips. Faultless teeth, soft +blue eyes, and hair nearly straight are sometimes met with among the +creoles. As to the style of walking and of carrying the head and body, +the common class of women of St. Thomas have arrived at perfection. Some +of them are notable examples of unconscious dignity and grace combined. +This has been brought about by carrying burdens upon their heads from +childhood, without the supporting aid of the hands. Modesty, or rather +conventionality, does not require boys or girls under eight years of age +to encumber themselves with clothing. The costume of the market women +and the lower classes generally is picturesque, composed of a Madras +kerchief carefully twisted into a turban of many colors, yellow +predominating, a cotton chemise which leaves the neck and shoulders +exposed, reaching just below the knees, the legs and feet being bare. +The men wear cotton drawers reaching nearly to the knee, the rest of the +body being uncovered, except the head, which is usually sheltered under +a broad brimmed straw hat, the sides of which are perforated by many +ventilating holes. The whites generally, and also the better class of +natives, dress very much after the fashion which prevails in North +America. + +This is the negroes' paradise, but it is a climate in which the white +race gradually wanes. The heat of the tropics is modified by the +constant and grateful trade winds, a most merciful dispensation, without +which the West Indies would be uninhabitable by man. On the hillsides of +St. Thomas these winds insure cool nights at least, and a comparatively +temperate state of the atmosphere during the day. Vegetation is +abundant, the fruit trees are perennial, bearing leaf, blossom, and +fruit in profusion, month after month, year after year. Little, if any, +cultivation is required. The few sugar plantations which are still +carried on yield from three to four successive years without replanting. +It is a notable fact that where vegetation is at its best, where the +soil is most rank and prolific, where fruits and flowers grow in wild +exuberance, elevated humanity thrives the least. The lower the grade of +man, the nearer he approximates to the animals, the less civilized he is +in mind and body, the better he appears to be adapted to such +localities. The birds and the butterflies are in exact harmony with the +loveliness of tropical nature, however prolific she may be; the flowers +are glorious and beautiful: it is man alone who seems out of place. A +great variety of fruits are indigenous here, such as the orange, lime, +alligator pear, moss-apple, and mango, but none of them are cultivated +to any extent; the people seem to lack the energy requisite to improve +the grand possibilities of their fertile soil and prolific climate. + +We were reminded by a resident of the town, before we left the harbor of +St. Thomas, that the nervous old lady referred to was not entirely +without reason for her anxiety. Some of our readers will remember, +perhaps, that in October, 1867, a most disastrous hurricane swept over +these Virgin Islands, leaving widespread desolation in its track. The +shipping which happened to be in the bay of St. Thomas was nearly all +destroyed, together with hundreds of lives, while on the land scores of +houses and many lives were also sacrificed to the terrible cyclone of +that date. Even the thoroughly built iron and stone lighthouse was +completely obliterated. There is a theory that such visitations come in +this region about once in every twelve or fifteen years, and upon +looking up the matter we find them to have occurred, with more or less +destructive force, in the years 1793, 1819, 1837, 1867, 1871, and so +late as August, 1891. Other hurricanes have passed over these islands +during the period covered by these dates, but of a mitigated character. +August, September, and October are the months in which the hurricanes +are most likely to occur, and all vessels navigating the West Indian +seas during these months take extra precautions to secure themselves +against accidents from this source. When such visitations happen, the +event is sure to develop heroic deeds. In the hurricane of 1867, the +captain of a Spanish man-of-war, who was a practical sailor, brought up +from boyhood upon the ocean, seeing the oncoming cyclone, and knowing by +experience what to expect, ordered the masts of his vessel to be cut +away at once, and every portion of exposed top hamper to be cast into +the sea. When thus stripped he exposed little but the bare hull of his +steamer to the fury of the storm. After the cyclone had passed, it was +found that he had not lost a man, and that the steamer's hull, though +severely battered, was substantially unharmed. Keeping up all steam +during the awful scene, this captain devoted himself and his ship to the +saving of human life, promptly taking his vessel wherever he could be of +the most service. Hundreds of seamen were saved from death by the +coolness and intrepidity of this heroic sailor. + +Since these notes were written among the islands, a terrible cyclone has +visited them. This was on August 18, last past, and proved more +destructive to human life, to marine and other property, than any +occurrence of the kind during the last century. At Martinique a sharp +shock of earthquake added to the horror of the occasion, the town of +Fort de France being very nearly leveled with the ground. Many tall and +noble palms, the growth of half a hundred years, were utterly demolished +in the twinkling of an eye, and other trees were uprooted by the score. + +The waters of this neighborhood teem with strange forms of animal and +vegetable life. Here we saw specimens of red and blue snappers, the +angel-fish, king-fish, gurnets, cow-fish, whip-ray, peacock-fish, +zebra-fish, and so on, all, or nearly all, unfamiliar to us, each +species individualized either in shape, color, or both. The whip-ray, +with a body like a flounder, has a tail six or seven feet long, tapering +from an inch and over to less than a quarter of an inch at the small +end. When dried, it still retains a degree of elasticity, and is used by +the natives as a whip with which to drive horses and donkeys. In some +places, so singularly clear is the water that the bottom is distinctly +visible five or six fathoms below the surface, where fishes of various +sorts are seen in ceaseless motion. White shells, corals, star-fish, and +sea-urchins mingle their various forms and colors, objects and hues +seeming to be intensified by the strong reflected light from the +surface, so that one could easily fancy them to be flowers blooming in +the fairy gardens of the mermaids. The early morning, just after the sun +begins to gild the surface of the sea, is the favorite time for the +flying-fishes to display their aerial proclivities. They are always +attracted by a strong light, and are thus lured to their destruction by +the torches of the fishermen, who often go out for the purpose at night +and take them in nets. In the early morning, as seen from the ship's +deck, they scoot above the rippling waves in schools of a hundred and +more, so compact as to cast fleeting shadows over the blue enameled +surface of the waters. At St. Thomas, Martinique, and Barbadoes, as well +as among the other islands bordering the Caribbean Sea, they form no +inconsiderable source of food for the humble natives, who fry them in +batter mixed with onions, making a savory and nutritious dish. + +St. Thomas is, as we have said, a coaling station for steamships, and +when the business is in progress a most unique picture is presented. The +ship is moored alongside of the dock for this purpose, two side ports +being thrown open, one for ingress, the other for egress. A hundred +women and girls, wearing one scanty garment reaching to the knees, are +in line, and commence at once to trot on board in single file, each one +bearing a bushel basket of coal upon her head, weighing, say sixty +pounds. Another gang fill empty baskets where the coal is stored, so +that there is a continuous line of negresses trotting into the ship at +one port and, after dumping their loads into the coal bunkers, out at +the other, hastening back to the source of supply for more. Their step +is quick, their pose straight as an arrow, while their feet keep time to +a wild chant in which all join, the purport of which it is not possible +to clearly understand. Now and again their voices rise in softly mingled +harmony, floating very sweetly over the still waters of the bay. The +scene we describe occurred at night, but the moon had not yet risen. +Along the wharf, to the coal deposits, iron frames were erected +containing burning bituminous coal, and the blaze, fanned by the open +air, formed the light by which the women worked. It was a weird picture. +Everything seemed quite in harmony: the hour, the darkness of night +relieved by the flaming brackets of coal, the strange, dark figures +hastening into the glare of light and quickly vanishing, the harmony of +high-pitched voices occasionally broken in upon by the sharp, stern +voice of their leader,--all was highly dramatic and effective. + +Not unfrequently three or four steamers are coaling at the same time +from different wharves. Hundreds of women and girls of St. Thomas make +this labor their special occupation, and gain a respectable living by +it, doubtless supporting any number of lazy, worthless husbands, +fathers, and brothers. + +After our ship was supplied with coal, these women, having put three +hundred tons on board in a surprisingly short period of time, formed a +group upon the wharf and held what they called a firefly dance, +indescribably quaint and grotesque, performed by the flickering light of +the flaming coal. Their voices were joined in a wild, quick chant, as +they twisted and turned, clapping their hands at intervals to emphasize +the chorus. Now and again a couple of the girls would separate from the +rest for a moment, then dance toward and from each other, throwing their +arms wildly about their heads, and finally, gathering their scanty +drapery in one hand and extending the other, perform a movement similar +to the French cancan. Once more springing back among their companions, +all joined hands, and a roundabout romp closed the firefly dance. Could +such a scene be produced in a city theatre _au naturel_, with proper +accessories and by these actual performers, it would surely prove an +attraction good for one hundred nights. Of course this would be +impossible. Conventionality would object to such diaphanous costumes, +and bare limbs, though they were of a bronzed hue, would shock Puritanic +eyes. + +Upon first entering the harbor, the Vigilancia anchored at a short +distance from the shore; but when it became necessary to haul alongside +the wharf, the attempt was made to get up the anchor, when it was found +to require far more than the usual expenditure of power to do so. +Finally, however, the anchor was secured, but attached to its flukes +there came also, from the bottom of the bay, a second anchor, of antique +shape, covered with rust and barnacles. It was such a one as was carried +by the galleons of the fifteenth century, and had doubtless lain for +over four hundred years just where the anchor of our ship had got +entangled with it. What a remarkable link this corroded piece of iron +formed, uniting the present with the far past, and how it stimulated the +mind in forming romantic possibilities! It may have been the holding +iron of Columbus's own caravel, or have been the anchor of one of +Cortez's fleet, which touched here on its way into the Gulf of Mexico, +or, indeed, it may have belonged to some Caribbean buccaneer, who was +obliged to let slip his cable and hasten away to escape capture. + +It was deemed a fortunate circumstance to have secured this ancient +relic, and a sure sign of future good luck to the ship, so it was duly +stored away in the lower hold of the Vigilancia. + +That same night on which the coal bunkers were filled, our good ship was +got under way, while the rising moon made the harbor and its +surroundings as clearly visible as though it were midday. The light from +the burning coal brackets had waned, only a few sparks bursting forth +now and again, disturbed by a passing breeze which fanned them into life +for a moment. When we passed through the narrow entrance by the +lighthouse, and stood out once more upon the open sea, it was mottled, +far and near, with argent ripples, that waltzed merrily in the soft, +clear moonlight, rivaling the firefly dance on shore. Even to the very +horizon the water presented a white, silvery, tremulous sheen of liquid +light. One gazed in silent enjoyment until the eyes were weary with the +lavish beauty of the scene, and the brain became giddy with its +splendor. Is it idle and commonplace to be enthusiastic? Perhaps so; but +we hope never to outlive such inspiration. + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + Curious Seaweed.--Professor Agassiz.--Myth of a Lost + Continent.--Island of Martinique.--An Attractive + Place.--Statue of the Empress Josephine.--Birthplace of + Madame de Maintenon.--City of St. Pierre.--Mont Pelée.--High + Flavored Specialty.--Grisettes of Martinique.--A Botanical + Garden.--Defective Drainage.--A Fatal Enemy.--A Cannibal + Snake.--The Climate. + + +Between St. Thomas and the island of Martinique, we fell in with some +floating seaweed, so peculiar in appearance that an obliging +quartermaster picked up a spray for closer examination. It is a strange, +sponge-like plant, which propagates itself on the ocean, unharmed by the +fiercest agitation of the waves, or the wildest raging of the winds, at +the same time giving shelter to zoöphytes and mollusks of a species, +like itself, found nowhere else. Sailors call it Gulf weed, but it has +nothing to do with the Gulf Stream, though sometimes clusters get astray +and are carried far away on the bosom of that grand ocean current. The +author has seen small bodies of it, after a fierce storm in the +Caribbean Sea, a thousand miles to the eastward of Barbadoes. Its +special home is a broad space of ocean surface between the Gulf Stream +and the equatorial current, known as the Sargasso Sea. Its limits, +however, change somewhat with the seasons. It was first noticed by +Columbus in 1492, and in this region it has remained for centuries, even +to the present day. Sometimes this peculiar weed is so abundant as to +present the appearance of a submerged meadow, through which the ship +ploughs its way as though sailing upon the land. We are told that +Professor Agassiz, while at sea, having got possession of a small branch +of this marine growth, kept himself busily absorbed with it and its +products for twelve hours, forgetting all the intervening meals. Science +was more than food and drink to this grand savant. His years from +boyhood were devoted to the study of nature in her various forms. "Life +is so short," said he, "one can hardly find space to become familiar +with a single science, much less to acquire knowledge of many." When he +was applied to by a lyceum committee to come to a certain town and +lecture, he replied that he was too busy. "But we will pay you double +price, Mr. Agassiz, if you will come," said the applicant. "I cannot +waste time to make money," was the noble reply. + +The myth of a lost continent is doubtless familiar to the reader,--a +continent supposed to have existed in these waters thousands of years +ago, but which, by some evolution of nature, became submerged, sinking +from sight forever. It was the Atlantis which is mentioned by Plato; the +land in which the Elysian Fields were placed, and the Garden of +Hesperides, from which the early civilization of Greece, Egypt, and Asia +Minor were derived, and whose kings and heroes were the Olympian deities +of a later time. The poetical idea prevails that this plant, which once +grew in those gardens, having lost its original home, has become a +floating waif on the sapphire sea of the tropics. The color of the +Sargasso weed is a faint orange shade; the leaves are pointed, delicate, +and exquisitely formed, like those of the weeping willow in their +youthful freshness, having a tiny, round, light green berry near the +base of each leaf. Mother Cary's chickens are said to be fond of these +berries, and that bird abounds in these waters. + +Probably the main portion of the West Indian islands was once a part of +the continent of America, many, many ages ago. There are trees of the +locust family growing among the group to-day, similar to those found on +our southern coast, which are declared to be four thousand years old. +This statement is partially corroborated by known characteristics of the +growth of the locust, and there are arborists who fully credit this +great longevity. It is interesting to look upon an object which had a +vital existence two thousand years and more before Christ was upon +earth, and which is still animate. + + * * * * * + +Each new island which one visits in the West Indies seems more lovely +than its predecessor, always leaving Hayti out of the question; but +Martinique, at this moment of writing, appears to rival all those with +which the author is familiar. It might be a choice bit out of Cuba, +Singapore, or far-away Hawaii. Its liability to destructive hurricanes +is its only visible drawback. Having been discovered on St. Martin's +day, Columbus gave it the name it now bears. + +St. Pierre is the commercial capital of Martinique, one of the French +West Indies, and the largest of the group belonging to that nation. Fort +de France is the political capital, situated about thirty miles from St. +Pierre. It was nearly ruined by the cyclone of last August, a few weeks +after the author's visit. St. Pierre is the best built town in the +Lesser Antilles, and has a population of about twenty-five thousand. The +streets are well paved, and the principal avenues are beautified by +ornamental trees uniformly planted. The grateful shade thus obtained, +and the long lines of charming arboreal perspective which are formed, +are desirable accessories to any locality, but doubly so in tropical +regions. The houses are very attractive, while there is a prevailing +aspect of order, cleanliness, and thrift everywhere apparent. It was not +our experience to meet one beggar in the streets of St. Pierre. More or +less of poverty must exist everywhere, but it does not stalk abroad +here, as it does in many rich and pretentious capitals of the great +world. The island is situated midway between Dominica and St. Lucia, and +is admitted by all visitors to be one of the most picturesque of the +West Indian groups. Irregular in shape, it is also high and rocky, thus +forming one of the most prominent of the large volcanic family which +sprang up so many ages ago in these seas. Its apex, Mont Pelée, an only +partially extinct volcano, rises between four and five thousand feet +above the level of the ocean, and is the first point visible on +approaching the island from the north. It would be interesting to dilate +upon the past history of Martinique, for it has known not a little of +the checkered vicissitudes of these Antilles, having been twice captured +by the English, and twice restored to France. But this would not be in +accordance with the design of these pages. + +St. Pierre is situated on the lee side of the island, something less +than two thousand miles, by the course we have steered, from New York, +and three hundred miles from St. Thomas. It comes down to the very +water's edge, with its parti-colored houses and red-tiled roofs, which +mingle here and there with tall, overhanging cocoa-palms. This is the +most lavishly beautiful tree in the world, and one which never fails to +impart special interest to its surroundings. + +A marble statue in the Place de la Savane, at Fort de France, on the +same side of the island as St. Pierre, recalls the fact that this was +the birthplace of the Empress Josephine, born in 1763. Her memorable +history is too familiar for us to repeat any portion of it here, but the +brain becomes very active at the mere mention of her name, in recalling +the romantic and tragic episodes of her life, so closely interwoven with +the career of the first Napoleon. One instinctively recalls the small +boudoir in the palace of Trianon, where her husband signed the divorce +from Josephine. That he loved her with his whole power for loving is +plain enough, as is also his well known reason for the separation, +namely, the desire for offspring to transmit his name to posterity. +There is one legend which is always rehearsed to strangers, relating to +Josephine's youth upon the island. We refer to that of the old negress +fortune-teller who prognosticated the grandeur of her future career, +together with its melancholy termination, a story so tinctured with +local color that, if it be not absolutely true, it surely ought to be. +The statue, unless we are misinformed, was the gift of that colossal +fraud, Napoleon III., though it purports to have been raised to the +memory of Josephine by the people of Martinique, who certainly feel +great pride in the fact of her having been born here, and who truly +venerate her memory. The statue represents the empress dressed in the +fashion of the First Empire, with bare arms and shoulders, one hand +resting on a medallion bearing a profile of the emperor to whom she was +devoted. The whole is partially shaded by a half dozen grand old palms. +The group teems with historic suggestiveness, recalling one of the most +tragic chapters of modern European history. It seemed to us that the +artist had succeeded in imparting to the figure an expression indicating +something of the sad story of the original. + +This beautiful island, it will be remembered, also gave to France +another remarkable historic character, Françoise d'Aubigné, afterwards +Madame Scarron, but better known to the world at large as Madame de +Maintenon. She, too, was the wife of a king, though the marriage was a +left-handed one, but as the power behind the throne, she is well known +to have shaped for years the political destinies of France. + +St. Pierre has several schools, a very good hotel, a theatre, a public +library, together with some other modern and progressive institutions; +yet somehow everything looked quaint and olden, a sixteenth century +atmosphere seeming to pervade the town. The windows of the ordinary +dwellings have no glass, which is very naturally considered to be a +superfluity in this climate; but these windows have iron bars and wooden +shutters behind them, relics of the days of slavery, when every white +man's house was his castle, and great precautions were taken to guard +against the possible uprising of the blacks, who outnumbered their +masters twenty to one. + +Though so large a portion of the population are of negro descent, yet +they are very French-like in character. The native women especially seem +to be frivolous and coquettish, not to say rather lax in morals. They +appear to be very fond of dress. The young negresses have learned from +their white mistresses how to put on their diaphanous clothing in a +jaunty and telling fashion, leaving one bronzed arm and shoulder bare, +which strikes the eye in strong contrast with the snow white of their +cotton chemises. They are Parisian grisettes in ebony, and with their +large, roguish eyes, well-rounded figures, straight pose, and dainty +ways, the half-breeds are certainly very attractive, and only too ready +for a lark with a stranger. They strongly remind one of the pretty +quadroons of Louisiana, in their manners, complexion, and general +appearance; and like those handsome offspring of mingled blood, so often +seen in our Southern States, we suspect that these of Martinique enjoy +but a brief space of existence. The average life of a quadroon is less +than thirty years. + +Martinique is eight times as large as St. Thomas, containing a +population of about one hundred and seventy-five thousand. Within its +borders there are at least five extinct volcanoes, one of which has an +enormous crater, exceeded by only three or four others in the known +world. The island rises from the sea in three groups of rugged peaks, +and contains some very fertile valleys. So late as 1851, Mont Pelée +burst forth furiously with flames and smoke, which naturally threw the +people into a serious panic, many persons taking refuge temporarily on +board the shipping in the harbor. The eruption on this occasion did not +amount to anything very serious, only covering some hundreds of acres +with sulphurous débris, yet serving to show that the volcano was not +dead, but sleeping. Once or twice since that date ominous mutterings +have been heard from Mont Pelée, which it is confidently predicted will +one day deluge St. Pierre with ashes and lava, repeating the story of +Pompeii. + +Sugar, rum, coffee, and cotton are the staple products here, +supplemented by tobacco, manioc flour, bread-fruit, and bananas. Rum is +very extensively manufactured, and has a good mercantile reputation for +its excellence, commanding as high prices as the more famous article of +the same nature produced at Jamaica. The purpose of the author is mainly +to record personal impressions, but a certain sprinkling of statistics +and detail is inevitable, if we would inform, as well as amuse, the +average reader. + +The flora of Martinique is the marvel and delight of all who have +enjoyed its extraordinary beauty, while the great abundance and variety +of its fruits are believed to be unsurpassed even in the prolific +tropics. Of that favorite, the mango, the island produces some forty +varieties, and probably in no other region has the muscatel grape +reached to such perfection in size and flavor. The whole island looks +like a maze of greenery, as it is approached from the sea, vividly +recalling Tutuila of the Samoan group in the South Pacific. Like most of +the West Indian islands, Martinique was once densely covered with trees, +and a remnant of these ancient woods creeps down to the neighborhood of +St. Pierre to-day. + +The principal landing is crowded at all times with hogsheads of sugar +and molasses, and other casks containing the highly scented island rum, +the two sweets, together with the spirits, causing a nauseous odor under +the powerful heat of a vertical sun. We must not forget to mention, +however, that St. Pierre has a specific for bad odors in her somewhat +peculiar specialty, namely, eau-de-cologne, which is manufactured on +this island, and is equal to the European article of the same name, +distilled at the famous city on the Rhine. No one visits the port, if it +be for but a single day, without bringing away a sample bottle of this +delicate perfumery, a small portion of which, added to the morning bath, +is delightfully refreshing, especially when one uses salt water at sea, +it so effectively removes the saline stickiness which is apt to remain +upon the limbs and body after a cold bath. + +The town is blessed with an inexhaustible supply of good, fresh, +mountain water, which, besides furnishing the necessary quantity for +several large drinking fountains, feeds some ornamental ones, and +purifies the streets by a flow through the gutters, after the fashion of +Salt Lake City, Utah. This is in fact the only system of drainage at St. +Pierre. A bronze fountain in the Place Bertin is fed from this source, +and is an object of great pleasure in a climate where cold water in +abundance is an inestimable boon. This elaborate fountain was the gift +of a colored man, named Alfred Agnew, who was at one time mayor of the +city. Many of the gardens attached to the dwelling-houses are ornamented +with ever-flowing fountains, which impart a refreshing coolness to the +tropical atmosphere. + +The Rue Victor Hugo is the main thoroughfare, traversing the whole +length of the town parallel with the shore, up hill and down, crossing a +small bridge, and finally losing itself in the environs. It is nicely +kept, well paved, and, though it is rather narrow, it is the Broadway of +St. Pierre. Some of the streets are so abrupt in grade as to recall +similar avenues in the English portion of Hong Kong, too steep for the +passage of vehicles, or even for donkeys, being ascended by means of +much worn stone steps. Fine, broad roadways surround the town and form +pleasant drives. + +The cathedral has a sweet chime of bells, whose soft, liquid notes came +to us across the water of the bay with touching cadence at the Angelus +hour. It must be a sadly calloused heart which fails to respond to these +twilight sounds in an isle of the Caribbean Sea. Millet's impressive +picture was vividly recalled as we sat upon the deck and listened to +those bells, whose notes floated softly upon the air as if bidding +farewell to the lingering daylight. At the moment, all else being so +still, it seemed as though one's heartbeat could be heard, while the +senses were bathed in a tranquil gladness incited by the surrounding +scenery and the suggestiveness of the hour. + +Three fourths of the population are half-breeds, born of whites, blacks, +or mulattoes, with a possible strain of Carib blood in their veins, the +result of which is sometimes a very handsome type of bronzed hue, but of +Circassian features. Some of the young women of the better class are +very attractive, with complexions of a gypsy color, like the artists' +models who frequent the "Spanish Stairs" leading to the Trinità di +Monti, at Rome. These girls possess deep, dark eyes, pearly teeth, with +good figures, upright and supple as the palms. In dress they affect all +the colors of the rainbow, presenting oftentimes a charming audacity of +contrasts, and somehow it seems to be quite the thing for them to do so; +it accords perfectly with their complexions, with the climate, with +everything tropical. The many-colored Madras kerchief is universally +worn by the common class of women, twisted into a jaunty turban, with +one well-starched end ingeniously arranged so as to stand upright like a +soldier's plume. The love of ornament is displayed by the wearing of +hoop earrings of enormous size, together with triple strings of gold +beads, and bracelets of the same material. If any one imagines he has +seen larger sized hoop earrings this side of Africa, he is mistaken. +They are more like bangles than earrings, hanging down so as to rest +upon the neck and shoulders. Those who cannot afford the genuine article +satisfy their vanity with gaudy imitations. They form a very curious and +interesting study, these black, brown, and yellow people, both men and +women. In the market-place at the north end of the town, the women +preside over their bananas, oranges, and other fruits, in groups, +squatting like Asiatics on their heels. In the Havana fish market, one +compares the variety of colors exhibited by the fishes exposed for sale +to those of the kaleidoscope, but here the Cuban display is equaled if +not surpassed. + +St. Pierre has a botanical garden, situated about a mile from the centre +of the town, so located as to admit of utilizing a portion of the native +forest yet left standing, with here and there an impenetrable growth of +the feathery bamboo, king of the grasses, interspersed with the royal +palm and lighter green tree-ferns. The bamboo is a marvel, single stems +of it often attaining a height in tropical regions of a hundred and +seventy feet, and a diameter of a foot. So rapid is its growth that it +is sometimes known to attain the height of a hundred feet in sixty days. +Art has done something to improve the advantages afforded by nature in +this botanical garden, arranging some pretty lakes, fountains, and +cascades. Vistas have been cut through the dense undergrowth, and +driveways have been made, thus improving the rather neglected grounds. +One pretty lake of considerable size contains three or four small +islands, covered with flowering plants, while on the shore are pretty +summer houses and inviting arbors. The frangipanni, tall and almost +leafless, but with thick, fleshy shoots and a broad-spread, single leaf, +was recognized here among other interesting plants. This is the fragrant +flower mentioned by the early discoverers. There was also the +parti-colored passion-flower, and groups of odd-shaped cacti, whose +thick, green leaves were daintily rimmed with an odorless yellow bloom. +Here, also, is an interesting example of the ceba-tree, in whose shade a +hundred persons might banquet together. The author has seen specimens of +the ceba superbly developed in Cuba and the Bahamas, with its massive +and curiously buttressed trunk, having the large roots half above +ground. It is a solitary tree, growing to a large size and enjoying +great longevity. Mangoes abound here, the finest known as the _mango +d'or_. There is a certain air about the public garden of St. Pierre, +indicating that nature is permitted in a large degree to have her own +sweet will. Evidences enough remain to show the visitor that these +grounds must once have been in a much more presentable condition. There +is a musical cascade, which is well worth a long walk to see and enjoy. +Just inside of the entrance, one spot was all ablaze with a tiny yellow +flower, best known to us as English broom, _Cytisus genista_. Its +profuse but delicate bloom was dazzling beneath the bright sun's rays. +Could it possibly be indigenous? No one could tell us. Probably some +resident brought it hither from his home across the ocean, and it has +kindly adapted itself to the new soil and climate. + +We were cautioned to look out for and to avoid a certain poisonous +snake, a malignant reptile, with fatal fangs, which is the dread of the +inhabitants, some of whom are said to die every year from the venom of +the creature. It will be remembered that one of these snakes, known here +as the _fer-de-lance_, bit Josephine, the future empress, when she was +very young, and that her faithful negro nurse saved the child's life by +instantly drawing the poison from the wound with her own lips. It is +singular that this island, and that of St. Lucia, directly south of it, +should be cursed by the presence of these poisonous creatures, which do +not exist in any other of the West Indian islands, and, indeed, so far +as we know, are not to be found anywhere else. The fer-de-lance has one +fatal enemy. This is a large snake, harmless so far as poisonous fangs +are concerned, called the _cribo_. This reptile fearlessly attacks the +fer-de-lance, and kills and eats him in spite of his venom, a perfectly +justifiable if not gratifying instance of cannibalism, where a creature +eats and relishes the body of one of its own species. The domestic cat +is said also to be more than a match for the dreaded snake, and +instinctively adopts a style of attack which, while protecting itself, +finally closes the contest by the death of the fer-de-lance, which it +seizes just back of the head at the spine, and does not let go until it +has severed the head from the body; and even then instinct teaches the +cat to avoid the head, for though it be severed from the body, like the +mouth of a turtle under similar circumstances, it can still inflict a +serious wound. + +The fer-de-lance is a great destroyer of rats, this rodent forming its +principal source of food. Now as rats are almost as much of a pest upon +the island, and especially on the sugar plantations, as rabbits are in +New Zealand, it will be seen that even the existence of this poisonous +snake is not an unmitigated evil. + +Crosses and wayside shrines of a very humble character are to be seen in +all directions on the roadsides leading from St. Pierre, recalling +similar structures which line the inland roads of Japan, where the local +religion finds like public expression, only varying in the character of +the emblems. At Martinique it is a Christ or a Madonna; in Japan it is a +crude idol of some sort, the more hideous, the more appropriate. The +same idea is to be seen carried out in the streets of Canton and +Shanghai, only Chinese idols are a degree more unlike anything upon or +below the earth than they are elsewhere. + +It was observed that while there were plenty of masculine loafers and +careless idlers of various colors, whose whole occupation seemed to be +sucking at some form of burning tobacco in the shape of cigarette, +cigar, or pipe, the women, of whatever complexion, seen in public, were +all usefully employed. They are industrious by instinct; one almost +never sees them in repose. In the transportation of all articles of +domestic use, women bear them upon their heads, whether the article +weighs one pound or fifty, balancing their load without making use of +the hands except to place the article in position. The women not +infrequently have also a baby upon their backs at the same time. +Negresses and donkeys perform nine tenths of the transportation of +merchandise. Wheeled vehicles are very little used in the West Indian +islands. As we have seen, even in coaling ship, it is the women who do +the work. + +The Hotel des Bains, at St. Pierre, is an excellent hostelry, as such +places go in this part of the world. The stranger will find here most of +the requisites for domestic comfort, and at reasonable prices. As a +health resort the place has its advantages, and a northern invalid, +wishing to escape the rigor of a New England winter, would doubtless +find much to occupy and recuperate him here. St. Pierre, however, has +times of serious epidemic sickness, though this does not often happen in +the winter season. Three or four years ago the island was visited by a +sweeping epidemic of small-pox, but it raged almost entirely among the +lowest classes, principally among the negroes, who seem to have a great +prejudice and superstitious fear relating to vaccination, and its +employment as a preventive against contracting the disease. In the +yellow fever season the city suffers more or less, but the health of St. +Pierre will average as good as that of our extreme Southern States; and +yet, after all, with the earthquakes, hurricanes, tarantulas, scorpions, +and deadly fer-de-lance, as Artemus Ward would say, Martinique presents +many characteristics to recommend protracted absence. A brief visit is +like a poem to be remembered, but one soon gets a surfeit of the +circumscribed island. + +Our next objective point was Barbadoes, to reach which we sailed one +hundred and fifty miles to the eastward, this most important of the +Lesser Antilles being situated further to windward, that is, nearer the +continent of Europe. Our ponderous anchor came up at early morning, just +as the sun rose out of the long, level reach of waters. It looked like a +mammoth ball of fire, which had been immersed during the hours of the +night countless fathoms below the sea. Presently everything was aglow +with light and warmth, while the atmosphere seemed full of infinitesimal +particles of glittering gold. At first one could watch the face of the +rising sun, as it came peering above the sea, a sort of fascination +impelling the observer to do so, but after a few moments, no human eye +could bear its dazzling splendor. + +Said an honest old Marshfield farmer, in 1776, who met the clergyman of +the village very early in the opening day: "Ah, good mornin', Parson, +another fine day," nodding significantly towards the sun just appearing +above the cloudless horizon of Massachusetts Bay. "They do say the airth +moves, and the sun stands still; but you and I, Parson, we git up airly +and we _see_ it rise!" + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + English Island of Barbadoes.--Bridgetown the Capital.--The + Manufacture of Rum.--A Geographical Expert.--Very + English.--A Pest of Ants.--Exports.--The Ice House.--A Dense + Population.--Educational.--Marine Hotel.--Habits of + Gambling.--Hurricanes.--Curious Antiquities.--The Barbadoes + Leg.--Wakeful Dreams.--Absence of Twilight.--Departure from + the Island. + + +Bridgetown is the capital of Barbadoes, an English island which, unlike +St. Thomas, is a highly cultivated sugar plantation from shore to shore. +In natural beauty, however, it will not compare with Martinique. It is +by no means picturesquely beautiful, like most of the West Indian +islands, being quite devoid of their thick tropical verdure. Nature is +here absolutely beaten out of the field by excessive cultivation. Thirty +thousand acres of sugar-cane are cut annually, yielding, according to +late statistics, about seventy thousand hogsheads of sugar. We are sorry +to add that there are twenty-three rum distilleries on the island, which +do pecuniarily a thriving business. "The poorest molasses makes the best +rum," said an experienced manager to us. He might well have added that +it is also the poorest use to which it could be put. This spirit, like +all produced in the West Indies, is called Jamaica rum, and though a +certain amount of it is still shipped to the coast of Africa, the return +cargoes no longer consist of kidnapped negroes. The article known as New +England rum, still manufactured in the neighborhood of Boston, has +always disputed the African market, so to speak, with the product of +these islands. Rum is the bane of Africa, just as opium is of China, the +former thrust upon the native races by Americans, the latter upon the +Chinese by English merchants, backed by the British government. Events +follow each other so swiftly in modern times as to become half forgotten +by contemporary people, but there are those among us who remember when +China as a nation tried to stop the importation of the deadly drug +yielded by the poppy fields of India, whereupon England forced the +article upon her at the point of the bayonet. + +Bridgetown is situated at the west end of the island on the open +roadstead of Carlisle Bay, and has a population of over twenty-five +thousand. Barbadoes lies about eighty miles to the windward of St. +Vincent, its nearest neighbor, and is separated from Europe by four +thousand miles of the Atlantic Ocean. It is comparatively removed from +the chain formed by the Windward Isles, its situation being so isolated +that it remained almost unnoticed until a century had passed after +Columbus's first discovery in these waters. The area of the British +possessions in the West Indies is about one seventh of the islands. It +is often stated that Barbadoes is nearly as large as the Isle of Wight, +but the fact is, it exceeds that island in superficial area, being a +little over fifty-five miles in circumference. The reader will perhaps +remember that it was here Addison laid the scene of his touching story +of "Inkle and Yarico," published so many years ago in the "Spectator." + +Though it is not particularly well laid out, Bridgetown makes a very +pleasing picture, as a whole, when seen from the harbor. Here and there +a busy windmill is mixed with tall and verdant tropical trees, backed by +far-reaching fields of yellow sugar-cane, together with low, sloping +hills. The buildings are mostly of stone, or coral rock, and the town +follows the graceful curve of the bay. The streets are macadamized and +lighted with gas, but are far too narrow for business purposes. The +island is about twenty-one miles long and between fourteen and fifteen +broad, the shores being nearly inclosed in a cordon of coral reefs, some +of which extend for two or three miles seaward, demanding of navigators +the greatest care on seeking a landing, though the course into the roads +to a suitable anchorage is carefully buoyed. + +Barbadoes was originally settled by the Portuguese, who here found the +branches of a certain forest tree covered with hair-like hanging moss, +from whence its somewhat peculiar name, Barbadoes, or the "bearded +place," is supposed to have been derived. Probably this was the Indian +fig-tree, still found here, and which lives for many centuries, growing +to enormous proportions. In India, Ceylon, and elsewhere in Asia, it is +held sacred. The author has seen one of these trees at Kandy, in the +island of Ceylon, under which sacred rites have taken place constantly +for a thousand years or more, and whose widespread branches could +shelter five hundred people from the heat of the sun. It stands close by +the famous old Buddhist temple wherein is preserved the tooth of the +prophet, and before which devout Indians prostrate themselves daily, +coming from long distances to do so. Indeed, Kandy is the Mecca of +Ceylon. + +A good share of even the reading public of England would be puzzled to +tell an inquirer exactly where Barbadoes is situated, while most of +those who have any idea about it have gained such knowledge as they +possess from Captain Marryat's clever novel of "Peter Simple," where the +account is, to be sure, meagre enough. Still later, those who have read +Anthony Trollope's "West Indies and the Spanish Main" have got from the +flippant pages of that book some idea of the island, though it is a very +disagreeable example of Trollope's pedantic style. + +"Barbadoes? Barbadoes?" said a society man to the writer of these pages, +in all seriousness, just as he was about to sail from New York, "that's +on the coast of Africa, is it not?" + +"Oh, no," was the reply, "it is one of the islands of the Lesser +Antilles." + +"Where are the Antilles, pray?" + +"You must surely know." + +"But I do not, nevertheless; haven't the remotest idea. Fact is, +geography never was one of my strong points." + +With which remark we silently agreed, and yet our friend is reckoned to +be a fairly educated, cultured person, as these expressions are commonly +used. Probably he represents the average geographical knowledge of one +half the people to be met with in miscellaneous society. + +This is the first English possession where the sugarcane was planted, +and is one of the most ancient colonies of Great Britain. It bears no +resemblance to the other islands in these waters, that is, +topographically, nor, indeed, in the character of its population, being +entirely English. The place might be a bit taken out of any shire town +of the British home island, were it only a little more cleanly and less +unsavory; still it is more English than West Indian. The manners and +customs are all similar to those of the people of that nationality; the +negroes, and their descendants of mixed blood, speak the same tongue as +the denizens of St. Giles, London. The island has often been called +"Little England." There is no reliable history of Barbadoes before the +period when Great Britain took possession of it, some two hundred and +sixty years ago. Government House is a rather plain but pretentious +dwelling, where the governor has his official and domestic residence. In +its rear there is a garden, often spoken of by visitors, which is +beautified by some of the choicest trees and shrubs of this latitude. It +is really surprising how much a refined taste and skillful gardening can +accomplish in so circumscribed a space. + +Barbadoes is somewhat remarkable as producing a variety of minerals; +among which are coal, manganese, iron, kaolin, and yellow ochre. There +are also one or two localities on the island where a flow of petroleum +is found, of which some use is made. It is called Barbadoes tar, and +were the supply sufficient to warrant the use of refining machinery, it +would undoubtedly produce a good burning fluid. There is a "burning +well," situated in what is known as the Scotland District, where the +water emerging from the earth forms a pool, which is kept in a state of +ebullition from the inflammable air or gas which passes through it. This +gas, when lighted by a match, burns freely until extinguished by +artificial means, not rising in large enough quantities to make a great +flame, but still sufficient to create the effect of burning water, and +forming quite a curiosity. + +There are no mountains on the island, but the land is undulating, and +broken into hills and dales; one elevation, known as Mount Hillaby, +reaches a thousand feet and more above the level of tide waters. + +One of the most serious pests ever known at Barbadoes was the +introduction of ants, by slave-ships from Africa. No expedient of human +ingenuity served to rid the place of their destructive presence, and it +was at one time seriously proposed to abandon the island on this +account. After a certain period nature came to the rescue. She does all +things royally, and the hurricane of 1780 completely annihilated the +vermin. Verily, it was appropriate to call Barbadoes in those days the +Antilles! It appears that there is no affliction quite unmixed with +good, and that we must put a certain degree of faith in the law of +compensation, however great the seeming evil under which we suffer. To +our limited power of comprehension, a destructive hurricane does seem an +extreme resort by which to crush out an insect pest. The query might +even arise, with some minds, whether the cure was not worse than the +disorder. + +The exports from the island consist almost wholly of molasses, sugar, +and rum, products of the cane, which grows all over the place, in every +nook and corner, from hilltop to water's edge. The annual export, as +already intimated, is considerably over sixty thousand hogsheads. Sugar +cannot, however, be called king of any one section, since half of the +amount manufactured in the whole world is the product of the beet root, +the growth of which is liberally subsidized by more than one European +government, in order to foster local industry. Like St. Thomas, this +island has been almost denuded of its forest growth, and is occasionally +liable, as we have seen, to destructive hurricanes. + +Bridgetown is a place of considerable progress, having several +benevolent and educational institutions; it also possesses railway, +telephone, and telegraphic service. Its export trade aggregates over +seven million dollars per annum, to accommodate which amount of commerce +causes a busy scene nearly all the time in the harbor. The steam railway +referred to connects the capital with the Parish of St. Andrews, +twenty-one miles away on the other side of the island, its terminus +being at the thrifty little town of Bathsheba, a popular resort, which +is noted for its fine beach and excellent sea bathing. + +The cathedral is consecrated to the established religion of the Church +of England, and is a picturesque, time-worn building, surrounded, after +the style of rural England, by a quaint old graveyard, the monuments and +slabs of which are gray and moss-grown, some of them bearing dates of +the earlier portion of the sixteenth century. This spot forms a very +lovely, peaceful picture, where the graves are shaded by tree-ferns and +stately palms. Somehow one cannot but miss the tall, slim cypress, which +to the European and American eye seems so especially appropriate to such +a spot. There were clusters of low-growing mignonette, which gave out a +faint perfume exactly suited to the solemn shades which prevailed, and +here and there bits of ground enameled with blue-eyed violets. The walls +of the inside of the church are covered with memorial tablets, and there +is an organ of great power and sweetness of tone. + +The "Ice House," so called, at Bridgetown is a popular resort, which +everybody visits who comes to Barbadoes. Here one can find files of all +the latest American and European papers, an excellent café, with drinks +and refreshments of every conceivable character, and can purchase almost +any desired article from a toothpick to a set of parlor furniture. It is +a public library, an exchange, a "Bon Marché," and an artificial ice +manufactory, all combined. Strangers naturally make it a place of +rendezvous. It seemed to command rather more of the average citizen's +attention than did legitimate business, and one is forced to admit that +although the drinks which were so generously dispensed were cool and +appetizing, they were also very potent. It was observed that some +individuals, who came into the hospitable doors rather sober and +dejected in expression of features, were apt to go out just a little +jolly. + +The Ice House is an institution of these islands, to be found at St. +Thomas, Demerara, and Trinidad, as well as at Barbadoes. Havana has a +similar retreat, but calls it a café, situated on the Paseo, near the +Tacon Theatre. + +The population of the island amounts to about one hundred and +seventy-two thousand,--the census of 1881 showed it to be a trifle less +than this,--giving the remarkable density of one thousand and more +persons to the square mile, thus forming an immense human beehive. It is +the only one of the West Indian islands from which a certain amount of +emigration is necessary annually. The large negro population makes labor +almost incredibly cheap, field-hands on the plantations being paid only +one shilling per day; and yet, so ardent is their love of home--and the +island is home to them--that only a few can be induced to leave it in +search of better wages. When it is remembered that the State of +Massachusetts, which is considered to be one of the most thickly +populated sections of the United States, contains but two hundred and +twenty persons to the square mile, the fact that this West Indian island +supports over one thousand inhabitants in the same average space will be +more fully appreciated. Notwithstanding this crowded state of the +population, we were intelligently informed that while petty offenses are +common, there is a marked absence of serious crimes. + +One sees few if any signs of poverty here. It is a land of sugar-cane, +yams, and sweet potatoes, very prolific, and very easily tilled. Some of +the most prosperous men on the island are colored planters, who own +their large establishments, though born slaves, perhaps on the very +ground they now own. They have by strict economy and industry saved +money enough to make a fair beginning, and in the course of years have +gradually acquired wealth. One plantation, owned by a colored man, born +of slave parents, was pointed out to us, with the information that it +was worth twenty thousand pounds sterling, and that its last year's crop +yielded over three hundred hogsheads of sugar, besides a considerable +quantity of molasses. + +England maintains at heavy expense a military depot here, from which to +draw under certain circumstances. There is no local necessity for +supporting such a force. Georgetown is a busy place. Being the most +seaward of the West Indies, it has become the chief port of call for +ships navigating these seas. The Caribbees are divided by geographers +into the Windward and Leeward islands, in accordance with the direction +in which they lie with regard to the prevailing winds. They are in very +deep water, the neighboring sea having a mean depth of fifteen hundred +fathoms. Being so far eastward, Barbadoes enjoys an exceptionally +equable climate, and it is claimed for it that it has a lower +thermometer than any other West Indian island. Its latitude is 13° 4' +north, longitude 59° 37' west, within eight hundred miles of the +equator. The prevailing wind blows from the northeast, over the broad, +unobstructed Atlantic, rendering the evenings almost always delightfully +cool, tempered by this grateful tonic breath of the ocean. + +Trafalgar Square, Bridgetown, contains a handsome fountain, and a bronze +statue of Nelson which, as a work of art, is simply atrocious. From this +broad, open square the tramway cars start, and it also forms a general +business centre. + +The home government supports, besides its other troops, a regiment of +negroes uniformed as Zouaves and officered by white men. The police of +Bridgetown are also colored men. Slavery was abolished here in 1833. +Everything is so thoroughly English, that only the temperature, together +with the vegetation, tells the story of latitude and longitude. The soil +has been so closely cultivated as to have become partially exhausted, +and this is the only West Indian island, if we are correctly informed, +where artificial enrichment is considered necessary to stimulate the +native soil, or where it has ever been freely used. "I question," said +an intelligent planter to us, "whether we should not be better off +to-day, if we had not so overstimulated, in fact, burned out, our land +with guano and phosphates." These are to the ground like intoxicants to +human beings,--if over-indulged in they are fatal, and even the partial +use is of questionable advantage. The Chinese and Japanese apply only +domestic refuse in their fields as a manure, and no people obtain such +grand results as they do in agriculture. They know nothing of patent +preparations employed for such purposes, and yet will render a spot of +ground profitable which a European would look upon as absolutely not +worth cultivating. + +In any direction from Bridgetown going inland, miles upon miles of +plantations are seen bearing the bright green sugar-cane, turning to +yellow as it ripens, and giving splendid promise for the harvest. Here +and there are grouped a low cluster of cabins, which form the quarters +of the negroes attached to the plantation, while close at hand the tall +chimney of the sugar mill looms over the surrounding foliage. A little +one side, shaded by some palms, is the planter's neat and attractive +residence, painted snow white, in contrast to the deep greenery +surrounding it, and having a few flower beds in its front. + +The Marine Hotel, which is admirably situated on a rocky point at +Hastings, three hundred feet above the beach, is about a league from the +city, and forms a favorite resort for the townspeople. The house is +capable of accommodating three hundred guests at a time. Its spacious +piazzas fronting the ocean are constantly fanned by the northeast trades +from October to March. Some New York families regard the place as a +choice winter resort, the thermometer rarely indicating over 80° Fahr., +or falling below 70°. This suburb of Hastings is the location of the +army barracks, where a broad plain affords admirable space for drill and +military manoeuvres. There is a monument at Hastings, raised to the +memory of the victims of the hurricane of 1831, which seems to be rather +unpleasantly suggestive of future possibilities. Near at hand is a +well-arranged mile racecourse, a spot very dear to the army officers, +where during the racing season any amount of money is lost and won. +There seems to be something in this tropical climate which incites to +all sorts of gambling, and the habit among the people is so common as to +be looked upon with great leniency. Just so, at some of the summer +resorts of the south of France, Italy, and Germany, ladies or gentlemen +will frankly say, "I am going to the Casino for a little gambling, but +will be back again by and by." + +The roads in the vicinity of Bridgetown are admirably kept, all being +macadamized, but the dust which rises from the pulverized coral rock is +nearly blinding, and together with the reflection caused by the sun on +the snow white roads proves very trying to the eyesight. The dust and +glare are serious drawbacks to the enjoyment of these environs. + +As we have said, hurricanes have proved very fatal at Barbadoes. In +1780, four thousand persons were swept out of existence in a few hours +by the irresistible fury of a tornado. So late as 1831, the loss of life +by a similar visitation was over two thousand, while the loss of +property aggregated some two million pounds sterling. The experience has +not, however, been so severe here as at several of the other islands. At +the time of the hurricane just referred to, Barbadoes was covered with a +coat of sulphurous ashes nearly an inch thick, which was afterwards +found to have come from the island of St. Vincent, where what is called +Brimstone Mountain burst forth in flames and laid that island also in +ashes. It is interesting to note that there should have been such +intimate relationship shown between a great atmospheric disturbance like +a hurricane and an underground agitation as evinced by the eruption of a +volcano. + +It should be mentioned that these hurricanes have never been known to +pass a certain limit north or south, their ravages having always been +confined between the eleventh and twenty-first degrees of north +latitude. + +It appears that some curious Carib implements were found not long since +just below the surface of the earth on the south shore of the bay, which +are to be forwarded to the British Museum, London. These were of hard +stone, and were thought by the finders to have been used by the +aborigines to fell trees. Some were thick shells, doubtless employed by +the Indians in the rude cultivation of maize, grown here four or five +hundred years ago. It was said that these stone implements resembled +those which have been found from time to time in Norway and Sweden. If +this is correct, it is an important fact for antiquarians to base a +theory upon. Some scientists believe that there was, in prehistoric +times, an intimate relationship between Scandinavia and the continent of +America. + +Though there are several public schools in Bridgetown, both primary and +advanced, we were somehow impressed with the idea that education for the +common people was not fostered in a manner worthy of a British colony of +so long standing; but this is the impression of a casual observer only. +There is a college situated ten or twelve miles from the city, founded +by Sir Christopher Codrington, which has achieved a high reputation as +an educational institution in its chosen field of operation. It is a +large structure of white stone, well-arranged, and is, as we were told, +consistent with the spirit of the times. It has the dignity of ripened +experience, having been opened in 1744. The professors are from Europe. +A delicious fresh water spring rises to the surface of the land just +below the cliff, at Codrington College, a blessing which people who live +in the tropics know how to appreciate. There is also at Bridgetown what +is known as Harrison's College, which, however, is simply a high school +devoted exclusively to girls. + +The island is not exempt from occasional prevalence of tropical fevers, +but may be considered a healthy resort upon the whole. Leprosy is not +unknown among the lower classes, and elephantiasis is frequently to be +met with. This disease is known in the West Indies as the "Barbadoes +Leg." Sometimes a native may be seen on the streets with one of his legs +swollen to the size of his body. There is no known cure for this disease +except the surgeon's knife, and the removal of the victim from the +region where it first developed itself. The author has seen terrible +cases of elephantiasis among the natives of the Samoan group of islands, +where this strange and unaccountable disease is thought to have reached +its most extreme and repulsive development. Foreigners are seldom if +ever afflicted with it, either in the West Indies or the South Pacific. + +We are to sail to-night. A few passengers and a quantity of freight have +been landed, while some heavy merchandise has been received on board, +designed for continental ports to the southward. The afternoon shadows +lengthen upon the shore, and the sunset hour, so brief in this latitude, +approaches. The traveler who has learned to love the lingering twilight +of the north misses these most charming hours when in equatorial +regions, but as the goddess of night wraps her sombre mantle about her, +it is so superbly decked with diamond stars that the departed daylight +is hardly regretted. It is like the prompter's ringing up of the curtain +upon a complete theatrical scene; the glory of the tropical sky bursts +at once upon the vision in all its completeness, its burning +constellations, its solitaire brilliants, its depth of azure, and its +mysterious Milky Way. + +While sitting under the awning upon deck, watching the gentle swaying +palms and tall fern-trees, listening to the low drone of busy life in +the town, and breathing the sweet exhalations of tropical fruits and +flowers, a trance-like sensation suffuses the brain. Is this the _dolce +far niente_ of the Italians, the sweet do-nothing of the tropics? To us, +however defined, it was a waking dream of sensuous delight, of entire +content. How far away sounds the noise of the steam-winch, the sharp +chafing of the iron pulleys, the prompt orders of the officer of the +deck, the swinging of the ponderous yards, the rattling of the anchor +chain as it comes in through the hawse hole, while the ship gradually +loses her hold upon the land. With half closed eyes we scarcely heard +these many significant sounds, but floated peacefully on in an Eden of +fancy, quietly leaving Carlisle Bay far behind. + +Our course was to the southward, while everything, high and low, was +bathed in a flood of shimmering moonlight, the magic alchemy of the sky, +whose influence etherealizes all upon which it rests. + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + Curious Ocean Experiences.--The Delicate + Nautilus.--Flying-Fish.--The Southern Cross.--Speaking a + Ship at Sea.--Scientific Navigation.--South America as a + Whole.--Fauna and Flora.--Natural Resources of a Wonderful + Land.--Rivers, Plains, and Mountain Ranges.--Aboriginal + Tribes.--Population.--Political Divisions.--Civil + Wars.--Weakness of South American States. + + +The sudden appearance of a school of flying-fish gliding swiftly through +the air for six or eight rods just above the rippling waves, and then +sinking from sight; the sportive escort of half a hundred slate-colored +porpoises, leaping high out of the water on either bow of the ship only +to plunge back again, describing graceful curves; the constant presence +of that sullen tiger of the ocean, the voracious, man-eating shark, +betrayed by its dorsal fin showing above the surface of the sea; the +sporting of mammoth whales, sending columns of water high in air from +their blowholes, and lashing the waves playfully with their broad-spread +tails, are events at sea too commonplace to comment upon in detail, +though they tend to while away the inevitable monotony of a long voyage. + +Speaking of flying-fish, there is more in the flying capacity of this +little creature than is generally admitted, else why has it wings on the +forward part of its body, each measuring seven inches in length? If +designed only for fins, they are altogether out of proportion to the +rest of its body. They are manifestly intended for just the use to which +the creature puts them. One was brought to us by a seaman; how it got on +board we know not, but it measured eleven inches from the nose to the +tip of the tail fin, and was in shape and size very much like a small +mackerel. After leaving Barbadoes, we got into what sailors call the +flying-fish latitudes, where they appear constantly in their low, rapid +flight, sometimes singly, but oftener in small schools of a score or +more, creating flashes of silvery-blue lustre. The most careful +observation could detect no vibration of the long, extended fins; the +tiny fish sailed, as it were, upon the wind, the flight of the giant +albatross in miniature. + +One afternoon, when the sea was scarcely dimpled by the soft trade wind, +we came suddenly upon myriads of that little fairy of the ocean, the +gossamer nautilus, with its Greek galleon shape, and as frail, +apparently, as a spider's web. What a gondola it would make for Queen +Mab! How delicate and transparent it is, while radiating prismatic +colors! A touch might dismember it, yet what a daring navigator, +floating confidently upon the sea where the depth is a thousand fathoms, +liable at any moment to be changed into raging billows by an angry +storm! How minute the vitality of this graceful atom, a creature whose +existence is perhaps for only a single day; yet how grand and limitless +the system of life and creation of which it is so humble a +representative! Sailors call these frail marine creatures Portuguese +men-of-war. Possessing some singular facility for doing so, if they are +disturbed, they quickly furl their sails and sink below the surface of +the buoyant waves into deep water, the home of the octopus, the squid, +and the voracious shark. Did they, one is led to query, navigate these +seas after this fashion before the Northmen came across the ocean, and +before Columbus landed at San Salvador? At night the glory of the +southern hemisphere, as revealed in new constellations and brighter +stars brought into view, was observed with keenest +interest,--"Everlasting Night, with her star diadems, with her silence, +and her verities." The phosphorescence of the sea, with its +scintillations of brilliant light, its ripples of liquid fire, the crest +of each wave a flaming cascade, was a charming phenomenon one never +tired of watching. If it be the combination of millions and billions of +animalculæ which thus illumines the waters, then these infinitesimal +creatures are the fireflies of the ocean, as the cucuios, that fairy +torch-bearer, is of the land. Gliding on the magic mirror of the South +Atlantic, in which the combined glory of the sky was reflected with +singular clearness, it seemed as though we were sailing over a starry +world below. + +While observing the moon in its beautiful series of changes, lighting +our way by its chaste effulgence night after night, it was difficult to +realize that it shines entirely by the light which it borrows from the +sun; but it was easy to believe the simpler fact, that of all the +countless hosts of the celestial bodies, she is our nearest neighbor. +"An eighteen-foot telescope reveals to the human eye over forty million +stars," said Captain Baker, as we stood together gazing at the luminous +heavens. "And if we entertain the generally accepted idea," he +continued, "we must believe that each one of that enormous aggregate of +stars is the centre of a solar system similar to our own." The known +facts relating to the stars, like stellar distances, are almost +incomprehensible. + +One cannot but realize that there is always a certain amount of +sentiment wasted on the constellation known as the Southern Cross by +passengers bound to the lands and seas over which it hangs. Orion or the +Pleiades, either of them, is infinitely superior in point of brilliancy, +symmetry, and individuality. A lively imagination is necessary to endow +this irregular cluster of stars with any real resemblance to the +Christian emblem for which it is named. It serves the navigator in the +southern hemisphere, in part, the same purpose which the north star does +in our portion of the globe, and there our own respect for it as a +constellation ends. Much poetic talent has been expended for ages to +idealize the Southern Cross, which is, alas! no cross at all. We have +seen a person unfamiliar with the locality of this constellation strive +long and patiently, but in vain, to find it. It should be remembered +that two prominent stars in Centaurus point directly to it. The one +furthest from the so called cross is held to be the fixed star nearest +to the earth, but its distance from us is twenty thousand times farther +than that of the sun. + +We have never yet met a person, looking upon this cluster of the heavens +for the first time, who did not frankly express his disappointment. +Anticipation and fruition are oftenest at antipodes. + +The graceful marine birds which follow the ship, day after day, darting +hither and thither with arrowy swiftness, lured by the occasional refuse +thrown from on board, would be seriously missed were they to leave us. +Watching their aerial movements and untiring power of wing, while +listening to their sharp complaining cries, is a source of constant +amusement. Even rough weather and a raging sea, if not accompanied by +too serious a storm, is sometimes welcome, serving to awaken the ship +from its dull propriety, and to put officers, crew, and passengers upon +their mettle. To speak a strange vessel at sea is always interesting. If +it is a steamer, a long, black wake of smoke hanging among the clouds at +the horizon betrays her proximity long before the hull is sighted. All +eyes are on the watch until she comes clearly within the line of vision, +gradually increasing in size and distinctness of outline, until +presently the spars and rigging are minutely delineated. Then +speculation is rife as to whence she comes and where she is going. By +and by the two ships approach so near that signal flags can be read, and +the captains talk with each other, exchanging names, whither bound, and +so on. Then each commander dips his flag in compliment to the other, and +the ships rapidly separate. All of this is commonplace enough, but +serves to while away an hour, and insures a report of our progress and +safety at the date of meeting, when the stranger reaches his port of +destination. + +We have spoken of the pleasure experienced at sea in watching +intelligently the various phases of the moon. The subject is a prolific +one; a whole chapter might be written upon it. + +It is perhaps hardly realized by the average landsman, and indeed by few +who constantly cross the ocean, with their thoughts and interests +absorbed by the many attractive novelties of the ocean, how important a +part this great luminary plays in the navigation of a ship. It is to the +intelligent and observant mariner the never-failing watch of the sky, +the stars performing the part of hands to designate the proper figure +upon the dial. If there is occasion to doubt the correctness of his +chronometer, the captain of the ship can verify its figures or correct +them by this planet. Every minute that the chronometer is wrong, +assuming that it be so, may put him fifteen miles out of his reckoning, +which, under some circumstances, might prove to be a fatal error, even +leading to the loss of his ship and all on board. To find his precise +location upon the ocean, the navigator requires both Greenwich time and +local meridian time, the latter obtained by the sun on shipboard, +exactly at midday. To get Greenwich time by lunar observation, the +captain, for example, finds that the moon is three degrees from the star +Regulus. By referring to his nautical almanac he sees recorded there the +Greenwich time at which the moon was three degrees from that particular +star. He then compares his chronometer with these figures, and either +confirms or corrects its indication. It is interesting to the traveler +to observe and understand these important resources, which science has +brought to bear in perfecting his safety on the ocean, promoting the +interests of commerce, and in aid of correct navigation. The experienced +captain of a ship now lays his course as surely by compass, after +satisfying himself by these various means of his exact position, as +though the point of his destination was straight before him all the +while, and visible from the pilot house. + +How indescribable is the grandeur of these serene nights on the ocean, +fanned by the somnolent trade winds; a little lonely, perhaps, but so +blessed with the hallowed benediction of the moonlight, so gorgeously +decorated by the glittering images of the studded heavens, so sweet and +pure and fragrant is the breath of the sleeping wind! If one listens +intently, there seems to come to the senses a whispering of the waves, +as though the sea in confidence would tell its secrets to a willing ear. + +The ship heads almost due south after leaving Barbadoes, when her +destination is, as in our case, Pará, twelve hundred miles away. On this +course we encounter the equatorial current, which runs northward at a +rate of two miles in an hour, and at some points reaches a much higher +rate of speed. + +As eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, so eternal scrubbing is +the price of cleanliness on shipboard. The deck hands are at it from +five o'clock in the morning until sunset. Our good ship looks as if she +had just come out of dock. Last night's gale, which in its angry turmoil +tossed us about so recklessly, covered her with a saline, sticky +deposit; but with the rising of the sun all this disappears as if by +magic. The many brass mountings shine with dazzling lustre, and the +white paint contrasts with the well-tarred cordage which forms the +standing rigging. + +While the ship pursues her course through the far-reaching ocean, let us +sketch in outline the general characteristics of South America, whither +we are bound. + +It is a country containing twice the area, though not quite one half the +amount of population, of the United States, a land which, though now +presenting nearly all phases of civilization, was four centuries ago +mostly inhabited by nomadic tribes of savages, who knew nothing of the +horse, the ox, or the sheep, which to-day form so great and important a +source of its wealth, and where wheat, its prevailing staple, was also +unknown. It is a land overflowing with native riches, which possesses an +unlimited capacity of production, and whose large and increasing +population requires just such domestic supplies as we of the north can +profitably furnish. The important treaty of reciprocity, so lately +arranged between the giant province of Brazil--or rather we should say +the Republic of Brazil--and our own country, is already developing new +and increasing channels of trade for our shippers and producers of the +great staples, as well as throwing open to us a new nation of consumers +for our special articles of manufacture. Facts speak louder than words. +On the voyage in which the author sailed in the Vigilancia, she took +over twenty thousand barrels of flour to Brazil from the United States, +and would have taken more had her capacity admitted. Every foot of space +on board was engaged for the return voyage, twelve thousand bags of +coffee being shipped from Rio Janeiro alone, besides nearly as large a +consignment of coffee from Santos, in the same republic. The great +mutual benefit which must accrue from this friendly compact with an +enterprising foreign country can hardly be overestimated. These +considerations lead to a community of interests, which will grow by +every reasonable means of familiarizing the people of the two countries +with each other. Hence the possible and practical value of such a work +as the one in hand. + +By briefly consulting one of the many cheap and excellent maps of the +western hemisphere, the patient reader will be enabled to follow the +route taken by the author with increased interest and a clearer +understanding. + +It is surprising, in conversing with otherwise intelligent and +well-informed people, to find how few there are, comparatively speaking, +who have any fixed and clear idea relative to so large a portion of the +habitable globe as South America. The average individual seems to know +less of the gigantic river Amazon than he does of the mysterious Nile, +and is less familiar with that grand, far-reaching water-way, the Plate, +than he is with the sacred Ganges; yet one can ride from Buenos Ayres in +the Argentine Republic, across the wild pampas, to the base of the Andes +in a Pullman palace car. There is no part of the globe concerning which +so little is written, and no other portion which is not more sought by +travelers; in short, it is less known to the average North American than +New Zealand or Australia. + +The vast peninsula which we call South America is connected with our own +part of the continent by the Isthmus of Panama and the territory +designated as Central America. Its configuration is triangular, and +exhibits in many respects a strong similarity to the continents of +Africa and Australia, if the latter gigantic island may be called a +continent. It extends north and south nearly five thousand miles, or +from latitude 12° 30' north to Cape Horn in latitude 55° 59' south. Its +greatest width from east to west is a little over three thousand miles, +and its area, according to the best authorities, is nearly seven million +square miles. Three fourths of this country lie in the torrid zone, +though as a whole it has every variety of climate, from equatorial heat +to the biting frosts of alpine peaks. Its widespread surface consists +principally of three immense plains, watered respectively by the Amazon, +Plate, and Orinoco rivers. This spacious country has a coast line of +over sixteen thousand miles on the two great oceans, with comparatively +few indentures, headlands, or bays, though at the extreme south it +consists of a maze of countless small islands, capes, and promontories, +of which Cape Horn forms the outermost point. + +The Cordillera of the Andes extends through the whole length of this +giant peninsula, from the Strait of Magellan to the Isthmus of Panama, a +distance of forty-five hundred miles, forming one of the most remarkable +physical features of the globe, and presenting the highest mountains on +its surface, except those of the snowy Himalayas which separate India +from Thibet. The principal range of the Andes runs nearly parallel with +the Pacific coast, at an average distance of about one hundred miles +from it, and contains several active volcanoes. If we were to believe a +late school geography, published in London, Cotopaxi, one famous peak of +this Andean range, throws up flames three thousand feet above the brink +of its crater, which is eighteen thousand feet above tide water; but to +be on the safe side, let us reduce these extraordinary figures at least +one half, as regards the eruptive power of Cotopaxi. This mountain +chain, near the border between Chili and Peru, divides into two +branches, the principal one still called the Cordillera of the Andes, +and the other, nearer to the ocean, the Cordillera de la Costa. Between +these ranges, about three thousand feet above the sea, is a vast +table-land with an area larger than that of France. + +It will be observed that we are dealing with a country which, like our +own, is one of magnificent distances. It is difficult for the nations of +the old world, where the population is hived together in such +circumscribed space, to realize the geographical extent of the American +continent. When informed that it required six days and nights, at +express speed upon well-equipped railroads, to cross the United States +from ocean to ocean, a certain editor in London doubted the statement. +Outside of Her Majesty's dominions, the average Englishman has only +superficial ideas of geography. The frequent blunders of some British +newspapers in these matters are simply ridiculous. + +It should be understood that South America is a land of plains as well +as of lofty mountains, having the _llanos_ of the Orinoco region, the +_selvas_ of the Amazon, and the _pampas_ of the Argentine Republic. The +llanos are composed of a region about as large as the New England +States, so level that the motion of the rivers can hardly be discerned. +The selvas are for the most part vast unbroken forests, in which giant +trees, thick undergrowth, and entwining creepers combine to form a +nearly impenetrable region. The pampas lie between the Andes and the +Atlantic Ocean, stretching southward from northern Brazil to southern +Patagonia, affording grass sufficient to feed innumerable herds of wild +cattle, but at the extreme south the country sinks into half overflowed +marshes and lagoons, resembling the glades and savannahs of Florida. + +The largest river in the world, namely, the Amazon, rises in the +Peruvian Andes, within sixty miles of the Pacific Ocean, and flows +thousands of miles in a general east-northeast direction, finally +emptying into the Atlantic Ocean. This unequaled river course is +navigable for over two thousand miles from its mouth, which is situated +on the equatorial line, where its outflow is partially impeded by the +island of Marajo, a nearly round formation, one hundred and fifty miles +or thereabouts in diameter. This remarkable island divides the river's +outlet into two passages, the largest of which is a hundred and fifty +miles in width, forming an estuary of extraordinary dimensions. The +Amazon has twelve tributaries, each one of which is a thousand miles in +length, not to count its hundreds of smaller ones, while the main stream +affords water communication from the Atlantic Ocean to near the +foothills of the Andes. + +We are simply stating a series of condensed geographical facts, from +which the intelligent reader can form his own deductions as regards the +undeveloped possibilities of this great southland. + +Our own mammoth river, the Mississippi, is a comparatively shallow +stream, with a shifting channel and dangerous sandbanks, which impede +navigation throughout the most of its course; while the Amazon shows an +average depth of over one hundred feet for the first thousand miles of +its flow from the Atlantic, forming inland seas in many places, so +spacious that the opposite banks are not within sight of each other. It +is computed by good authority that this river, with its numerous +affluents, forms a system of navigable water twenty-four thousand miles +in length! There are comparatively few towns or settlements of any +importance on the banks of the Amazon, which flows mostly through a +dense, unpeopled evergreen forest, not absolutely without human beings, +but for very long distances nearly so. Wild animals, anacondas and other +reptiles, together with many varieties of birds and numerous tribes of +monkeys, make up the animal life. Now and again a settlement of European +colonists is found, or a rude Indian village is seen near the banks, but +they are few and far between. There are occasional regions of low, +marshy ground, which are malarious at certain seasons, but the average +country is salubrious, and capable of supporting a population of +millions. + +This is only one of the large rivers of South America; there are many +others of grand proportions. The Plate comes next to it in magnitude, +having a length of two thousand miles, and being navigable for one half +the distance from its mouth at all seasons. It is over sixty miles wide +at Montevideo, and is therefore the widest known river. Like the great +stream already described, it traverses a country remarkable for the +fertility of its soil, but very thinly settled. The Plate carries to the +ocean four fifths as much, in volume of water, as does the mighty +Amazon, the watershed drained by it exceeding a million and a half +square miles. One can only conceive of the true magnitude of such +figures when applied to the land by comparing the number of square miles +contained in any one European nation, or any dozen of our own States. + +Juan Diaz de Solis discovered the estuary of the Plate in 1508, and +believed it at that time to be a gulf, but on a second voyage from +Europe, in 1516, he ascended the river a considerable distance, and +called it Mar Dulce, on account of the character of the waters. +Unfortunately, this intelligent discoverer was killed by Indian arrows +on attempting to land at a certain point. For a considerable period the +river was called after him, and we think should have continued to be so, +but its name was changed to the Plate on account of the conspicuous +silver ornaments worn in great profusion by the natives, which they +freely exchanged for European gewgaws. + +Though nearly four hundred years have passed since its discovery, a +large portion of the country still remains comparatively unexplored, +much of it being a wilderness sparsely inhabited by Indians, many of +whom are without a vestige of civilization. We know as little of +portions of the continent as we do of Central Africa, yet there is no +section of the globe which suggests a greater degree of physical +interest, or which would respond more readily and profitably to +intelligent effort at development. When the Spaniards first came to +South America, it was only in Peru, the land of the Incas, that they +found natives who had made any substantial progress in civilization. The +earliest history extant relating to this region of the globe is that of +the Incas, a warlike race of sun-worshipers, who possessed enormous +treasures of gold and silver, and who erected magnificent temples +enriched with the precious metals. It was the almost fabulous wealth of +the Incas that led to their destruction, tempting the cupidity of the +avaricious Spaniards, and causing them to institute a system of cruelty, +oppression, robbery, and bloodshed which finally obliterated an entire +people from the face of the globe. The empire of the Incas extended from +Quito, in Ecuador (on the equator), to the river Monté in Chili, and +eastward to the Andes. The romantic career of Pizarro and Cortez is +familiar to us all. There are few palliating circumstances connected +with the advent of the Spaniards, either here, in the West Indies, or in +Mexico. The actual motive which prompted their invasion of this foreign +soil was to search for mineral treasures, though policy led them to +cover their bloodthirsty deeds with a pretense of religious zeal. Their +first acts were reckless, cruel, and sanguinary, followed by a +systematic oppression of the native races which was an outrage upon +humanity. The world at large profited little by the extortion and golden +harvest reaped by Spain, to realize which she adopted a policy of +extermination, both in Peru and in Mexico; but let it be remembered that +her own national ruin was brought about with poetical justice by the +very excess of her ill-gotten, blood-stained treasures. The Spanish +historians tell us, as an evidence of the persistent bravery of their +ancestors, that it took them eight hundred years of constant warfare to +wrest Spain from her Moorish conquerors. It is for us to remind them how +brief has been the continuance of their glory, how rapid their decline +from splendid continental and colonial possessions to their present +condition, that of the weakest and most insignificant power in Europe. + +There are localities which have been visited by adventurous explorers, +especially in Chili and Peru, where ruins have been found, and various +monuments of antiquity examined, of vast interest to archæologists, but +of which scarcely more than their mere existence is recorded. Some of +these ruins are believed to antedate by centuries the period of the +Incas, and are supposed to be the remains of tribes which, judging from +their pottery and other domestic utensils, were possibly of Asiatic +origin. Comparatively few travelers have visited Lake Titicaca, in the +Peruvian Andes, with its sacred islands and mysterious ruins, from +whence the Incas dated their mythical origin. The substantial remains of +some grand temples are still to be seen on the islands near the borders +of the lake, the decaying masonry decked here and there with a wild +growth of hardy cactus. This remarkable body of water, Lake Titicaca, in +the mountain range of Peru, lies more than twelve thousand feet above +the level of the Pacific; yet it never freezes, and its average depth is +given as six hundred feet, representing an immense body of water. It +covers an area of four thousand square miles, which is about four fifths +as large as our own Lake Ontario, the average depth being about the +same. Titicaca is the largest lake in the world occupying so elevated a +site. + +The population of South America is mostly to be found on the coast, and +is thought to be about thirty-five millions, though, all things +considered, we are disposed to believe this an overestimate. There are +tribes far inland who are not brought in contact with civilization at +all, and whose numbers are not known. The magnitude and density of the +forests are remarkable; they cover, it is intelligently stated, nearly +two thirds of the country. The vegetation, in its various forms, is rich +beyond comparison. Professor Agassiz, who explored the valley of the +Amazon under the most favorable auspices, tells us that he found within +an area of half a mile square over one hundred species of trees, among +which were nearly all of the choicest cabinet and dye woods known to the +tropics, besides others suitable for shipbuilding. Some of these trees +are remarkable for their gigantic size, others for their beauty of form, +and still others are valuable for their gums and resins. Of the latter, +the india-rubber tree is the most prolific and important known to +commerce. From Brazil comes four fifths of the world's supply of the raw +material of rubber. + +The great fertility of the soil generally would seem to militate against +the true progress of the people of South America, absolutely +discouraging, rather than stimulating national industry. One cannot but +contrast the state of affairs in this respect with that of North +America, where the soil is so much less productive, and where the +climate is so universally rigorous. The deduction is inevitable that, to +find man at his best, we must observe him where his skill, energy, and +perseverance are all required to achieve a livelihood, and not where +exuberant nature is over-indulgent, over-productive. The coast, the +valleys, and indeed the main portion of South America are tropical, but +a considerable section of the country is so elevated that its climate is +that of perpetual spring, resembling the great Mexican plateau, both +physically and as regards temperature. The population is largely of +Spanish descent, and that language is almost universally spoken, though +Portuguese is the current tongue in Brazil. These languages are so +similar, in fact, that the people of the two nations can easily +understand each other. It is said to be true that, in the wild regions +of the country, there are tribes of Indians found to-day living close to +each other, separated by no physical barriers, who differ materially in +language, physiognomy, manners, and customs, having absolutely nothing +in common but their brown or copper colored skins. Furthermore, these +tribes live most frequently in deadly feuds with each other. That +cannibalism is still practiced among these interior tribes is positively +believed, especially among some of the tribes of the extreme south, that +is, among the Patagonians and the wild, nomadic race of Terra del Fuego. +These two tribes, on opposite sides of the Strait of Magellan, are quite +different from each other in nearly every respect, especially in size, +nor will they attempt to hold friendly intercourse of any sort with each +other. + +There are certain domestic animals which are believed to be improved by +crossing them with others of a different type, but this does not seem to +apply, very often, advantageously to different races of human beings. It +is plain enough in South America that the amalgamation of foreigners and +natives rapidly effaces the original better qualities of each, the +result being a mongrel, nondescript type, hard to analyze and hard to +improve. That keen observer, Professor Agassiz, especially noticed this +during his year of scientific research in Brazil. This has also been the +author's experience, as illustrated in many lands, where strictly +different races, the one highly civilized, the other barbarian, have +unitedly produced children. It is a sort of amalgamation which nature +does not favor, recording her objections in an unmistakable manner. It +is the flow of European emigration towards these southern republics +which will infuse new life and progress among them. The aboriginal race +is slowly receding, and fading out, as was the case in Australia, in New +Zealand, and in the instance of our western Indians. A new people will +eventually possess the land, composed of the several European +nationalities, who are already the virtual masters of South America so +far as regards numbers, intelligence, and possession. + +Since these notes were written, the Argentine government has sold to +Baron Hirsch three thousand square leagues of land in the province of +Chaco, for the formation of a Jewish colony. Agents are already at work, +aided by competent engineers and practical individuals, in preparing for +the early reception of the new occupants of the country. The first +contingent, of about one thousand Jews, have already arrived and are +becoming domesticated. Argentina wants men perhaps more than money; +indeed, one will make the other. A part of Baron Hirsch's scheme is to +lend these people money, to be repaid in small installments extending +over a considerable period. For this extensive territory the Baron paid +one million three hundred thousand dollars in gold, thus making himself +the owner of the largest connected area of land in the world possessed +by a single individual. It exceeds that of the kingdom of Montenegro. + +As to the zoölogy of this part of the continent, it is different from +that of Europe, Africa, Asia, and North America. The number of dangerous +beasts of prey is quite limited. There is nothing here to answer to the +African lion, the Asiatic tiger, the elephant of Ceylon, or the grisly +bear of Alaska. The jaguar is perhaps the most formidable animal, and +resembles the leopard. There are also the cougar, tiger-cat, black bear, +hyena, wolf, and ocelot. The llama, alpaca, and vicuña are peculiar to +this country. The monkey tribe exceeds all others in variety and number. +There are said to be nearly two hundred species of them in South +America, each distinctly marked, and varying from each other, in size, +from twelve pounds to less than two. The smallest of the little +marmosets weigh less than a pound and a half each, and are the most +intelligent animal of their size known to man. There are also the deer, +tapir, armadillo, anteater, and a few other minor animals. The pampas +swarm with wild cattle and horses, descended from animals originally +brought from Europe. In the low, marshy grounds the boa-constrictor and +other reptiles abound. Eagles, vultures, and parrots are found in a wild +state all over the country, while the rivers and the waters near the +coast are well filled with fish, crocodiles, and turtles. Scientists +have found over two thousand species of fish in the Amazon River alone. + +The pure aboriginal race are copper colored, resembling the Mexicans in +character and appearance. Like most natives of equatorial regions, they +are indolent, ignorant, superstitious, sensuous, and by no means +warlike. Forced into the ranks and drilled by Europeans, they make +fairly good soldiers, and when well led will obey orders and fight. +There can be no _esprit de corps_ in soldiers thus organized; the men +neither know nor care what they fight for, their incentive in action +being first a natural instinct for brutality, and second the promise of +booty. In some parts of the country the half-breeds show themselves +skillful workmen in certain simple lines of manufacture, but the native +pure and simple will not work except to keep from starving. + +The Spaniards conquered nearly all parts of South America except Brazil, +which was subject to Portugal until 1823, when it achieved its +independence. The Spanish colonies also revolted, one by one, until they +all became independent of the mother country. The history of these +republics, as in the instance of Mexico, has been both stormy and +sanguinary. Foreign and civil wars have reigned among them incessantly +for half a century and more. + +The present political divisions are: Brazil, British Guiana, Dutch +Guiana, French Guiana, Ecuador, United States of Colombia, Venezuela, +Bolivia, Chili, Peru, Argentine Republic, Uruguay, and Paraguay. Brazil +is the most extensive of these states, and is thought to enjoy the +largest share of natural advantages, including in its area nearly one +half as many square miles as all the rest combined. Its seaboard at +Parahiba, and for hundreds of miles north and south of it, projects into +the Atlantic a thousand miles to the east of the direct line between its +northern and southern extremities. Besides her diamond and gold mines, +she possesses what is much more desirable, namely, valuable deposits of +iron, copper, silver, and other metals. We have before us statistics +which give the result of diamond mining in Brazil from 1740 to 1823, +when national independence was won, which show the aggregate for that +entire period to have been less than ten million dollars in value; while +that of the coffee alone, exported from Rio Janeiro in one year, +exceeded twenty million dollars, showing that, however dazzling the +precious stones may appear in the abstract, they are not even of +secondary consideration when compared with the agricultural products of +the country. The export of coffee has increased very much since the year +1851, which happens to be that from which we have quoted. It must also +be admitted that probably twice the amount of diamonds recorded were +actually found and enriched somebody, all which were duly reported, +having to pay a government royalty according to the pecuniary exigency +of those in authority. + +The population of Brazil is between fourteen and fifteen million, and it +is thought to be more advanced in civilization than other parts of South +America, though in the light of our own experience we should place the +Argentine Republic first in this respect. Indeed, so far as a transient +observer may speak, we are inclined to place Argentina far and away in +advance of Brazil as regards everything calculated to invite the +would-be emigrant who is in search of a new home in a foreign land. Were +it not that intestine wars are of such frequent occurrence among these +states, and national bankruptcy so common, voluntary emigration would +tend towards South America in far larger numbers than it does now. The +revolutions are solely to promote personal aggrandizement; it is +individual interest, not principle, for which these people fight so +often. Unfortunately, every fresh outbreak throws the country back a +full decade as regards national progress. The late civil wars in Chili +and the Argentine Republic are illustrations in point. The first-named +section of South America has suddenly sunk from a condition of +remarkable pecuniary prosperity to one of actual poverty. Thousands of +valuable lives have been sacrificed, an immense amount of property has +been destroyed, her commerce crippled, and for the time being paralyzed. +Ten years of peace and reasonable prosperity could hardly restore Chili +to the position she was in twelve months ago. The country is to-day in a +terrible condition, while many of the best families mourn the death of a +father, a son, or both, whose lives have been sacrificed to the mad +ambition of a usurper. Numerous families, once rich, have now become +impoverished by the confiscation of their entire property. The Chilians +do not carry on warfare in European style, by organized armies; there is +a semblance only of such bodies. The fighting is mostly after the +fashion of free lances, guerrilla bands, and highwaymen. There seems to +be no sense of honor or chivalry among the common people, while the only +idea of the soldiery is to plunder and destroy. + +The Peruvians whose cities were despoiled by Chili must have regarded +the recent cutting of each other's throats by the Chilian soldiery with +something like grim satisfaction. + +The obvious weakness of the South American states lies in their bitter +rivalry towards each other, a condition which might be at once obviated +by their joining together to form one united nation. The instability +which characterizes their several governments in their present isolated +interests has passed into a byword. Divided into nine unimportant +states,--leaving out the three Guianas, which are dependent upon +European powers,--any one of them could be erased from the map and +absorbed by its stronger neighbor, or by a covetous foreign power. On +the contrary, by forming one grand republic, it would stand eighth in +the rank of nations as regards wealth, importance, and power, amply able +to take care of itself, and to maintain the integrity of its territory. +A community of interest would also be established between our government +and that of these South American provinces, which would be of immense +commercial and political importance to both nations. + +To those who have visited the country, and who have carefully observed +the conditions, it is clear that this division of the continent will +never thrive and fully reap the benefit of its great natural advantages +until the independent republics assume the position of sovereign states, +subservient to a central power, a purpose which has already been so +successfully accomplished in Mexico. + +While we have been considering the great southern continent as a whole, +our good ship, having crossed the equator, has been rapidly approaching +its northern shore. After entering the broad mouth of the Amazon and +ascending its course for many miles, we are now in sight of the thriving +metropolis of Pará. + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + City of Pará.--The Equatorial Line.--Spanish History.--The + King of Waters.--Private Gardens.--Domestic Life in Northern + Brazil.--Delicious Pineapples.--Family Pets.--Opera + House.--Mendicants.--A Grand Avenue.--Botanical + Garden.--India-Rubber Tree.--Gathering the Raw + Material.--Monkeys.--The Royal Palm.--Splendor of Equatorial + Nights. + + +Pará is the most northerly city of Brazil. It also bears the name of +Belem on some maps, and is the capital of a province of the first +designation. The full official title of the place is, in the usual style +of Portuguese and Spanish hyperbole, Santa Maria do Belem do Grão Pará, +which has fortunately and naturally simplified itself to Pará. It was +founded in 1615, and the province of which it is the capital was the +last in Brazil to declare its independence of the mother country, and to +acknowledge the authority of the first emperor, Dom Pedro. It is the +largest political division of the republic, and in some respects the +most thriving. The city is situated about ninety miles south of the +equator, and eighty miles from the Atlantic Ocean on the Pará River, so +called, but which is really one of the mouths of the Amazon. It is thus +the principal city at the mouth of the largest river in the world, a +fact quite sufficient to indicate its present, and to insure its +continued commercial importance. + +As we entered the muddy estuary of the river, whose wide expanse was +lashed into short, angry waves by a strong wind, large tree trunks were +seen floating seaward, rising and sinking on the undulating surface of +the water. Some were quite entire, with all of their branches still +attached to the main trunk. They came, perhaps, from two thousand miles +inland, borne upon the swift current from where it had undermined the +roots in their forest home. Among the rest was a cocoa-palm with its +full tufted head, some large brown nuts still hanging tenaciously to the +parent stem. It had fallen bodily, while in its prime and full bearing, +suddenly unearthed by some swift deviation of the river, which brooks no +trifling impediment to its triumphal march seaward. How long, one would +be glad to know, has this vast stream, fed by the melted snow of the +Andes, poured its accumulated waters into the bosom of the ocean? A +thousand years is but as a day, in reckoning the age of a mountain range +or of a mammoth river. + +As we approached the city, the channel became gradually narrowed by +several prominent islands, crowded with rich green vegetation, forest +trees of various sorts, mangoes, bananas, and regal palms. Though it is +thus broken by islands, the river is here over twenty miles in width. + +Pará is yielded precedence over the other cities on the east coast of +South America in many respects, and is appreciatively called "Queen of +the Amazon," her water communication reaching into the very heart of +some of the most fertile valleys on the continent. One incorporated +company has established a score of well-appointed steamers, averaging +five hundred tons each, which navigate the river for a distance of two +thousand miles from its mouth. Pará has an excellent harbor, of large +capacity, accommodating an extensive commerce, a considerable portion of +which is with the United States of North America. It has a mixed +population of about fifty thousand, composed of an amalgamation of +Portuguese, Italians, Indians, and negroes, and is the only town of any +importance, except Quito, situated so near to the equatorial line, +where the interested observer has the privilege of beholding the starry +constellations of both hemispheres. Ships of five thousand tons +measurement can lie within a hundred yards of the wharves of Pará, where +the accumulation of coffee, dyewoods, drugs, tobacco, cotton, cocoa, +rice, sugar, and raw india-rubber, indicates the character of the +principal exports. Of all these staples, the last named is the most +important, in a commercial point of view, occupying the third place on +the list of national exports. As we have shown, the import and export +trade of the Amazon valley naturally centres here, and Pará need fear no +commercial rival. + +For a considerable period this unequaled water-way, forming the spacious +port, and conveying the drainage of nearly half of South America into +the Atlantic, bore the name of its discoverer, Orellana, one of +Pizarro's captains; but the fabulous story of a priest called Friar +Gaspar, self-constituted chronicler of the expedition, gave to it the +designation which it now bears. All the Spanish records of the history +and conquests in the New World, relating to the doings of Columbus, +Cortez, Pizarro, and others, without an exception, were written in the +same spirit of exaggeration and untruthfulness, leading that pious +witness and contemporary writer, Las Casas, to pronounce them, with +honest indignation, to be a tissue of falsehoods. Even our own popular +historian, Prescott, who drew so largely upon these sources for his +poetical productions, was forced to admit their manifest incongruities, +contradictions, and general irresponsibility. This Munchausen of a +priest, Friar Gaspar, recorded that a tribe of Amazons, or fighting +women, was encountered far inland, on the banks of the mighty river, who +were tall in stature, symmetrical in form, and had a profusion of long +hair, which hung in braids down their backs. They were represented to be +as warlike as they were beautiful, and as carrying shields and spears, +the latter of which they could use with great skill and effect. It was +this foolish story of the Amazons, hatched in the prolific brain of +Friar Gaspar, which gave the river its lasting name. + +The Indian designation of the mammoth watercourse was significant and +appropriate, as their names always are. They called it _Parana-tinga_, +meaning "King of Waters," and it seems to us a great pity that the name +could not have been retained. + +Pará has the advantage of being much nearer to the United States and to +Europe than Rio Janeiro, the capital of Brazil. Though the commerce of +Rio is constantly increasing, in spite of its miserable sanitary +condition, it is confidently believed by intelligent persons engaged in +the South American trade, that Pará will equal it erelong in the +aggregate of its shipments. All freight is now landed by means of +lighters, a process which is an awkward drawback upon commerce, and what +makes it still more aggravating is that it seems to be an entirely +needless one. Certainly a good, substantial, capacious pier might be +easily built, which would obviate this objection, accommodating a dozen +large vessels at the same time. The Brazilians are slow to adopt any +modern improvement. Portuguese and Spaniards are very much alike in this +respect. Wharves will be built at Pará by and by, after a few more +millions have been wasted upon the inconvenient process now in vogue, +which involves not only needless expense, but causes most awkward and +unreasonable delay, both in landing merchandise and in shipping freight +for export. This serious objection applies to all the ports along the +east coast of South America. There is always some private interest which +exerts itself to prevent any progressive movement, and it is this which +retards improved facilities for unloading and shipping of cargoes at +Pará. In this instance the owners of the steam tugs which tow the +flat-bottomed lighters from ship to shore, and vice versa, oppose the +building of piers, because, if they were in existence, these individuals +would find their profitable occupation gone. If proper wharf facilities +were to be furnished, commerce generally would be much benefited, though +a few persons would suffer some pecuniary loss. As we have said, the +wharves will come by and by, when the people realize that private +interest must be subservient to the public good. + +The city of Pará is situated upon slightly elevated ground, and makes a +fine appearance from the river, with its lofty cathedral, numerous +churches, convents, custom house, and arsenal standing forth in bold +relief against an intensely blue sky, while fronting the harbor, like a +line of sentinels, is a row of tall, majestic palms, harmonizing +admirably with the local surroundings, though in the very midst of a +busy commercial centre. The buildings are painted yellow, blue, or pink, +the façades contrasting strongly with the dark red of the heavily tiled +roofs, which, having no chimneys, present an odd appearance to a +northern eye. Here and there a mass of greenery indicates some domestic +garden, or a plaza presided over by tall groups of trees, among which +the thick, umbrageous mangoes prevail. The Rua da Imperatriz is the +principal wholesale street of the city, where the large warehouses are +to be found, but the Rua dos Mercadores is the fashionable shopping +street, through which the tramway also passes. The shops are rather +small, but have a fair stock of goods offered at reasonable rates, +though strangers are apt to be victimized by considerably higher prices +than a native would pay. + +This, however, is not unusual in all foreign countries, so far as our +experience goes. North Americans are looked upon as possessing unlimited +pecuniary means, and as lavish in their expenditures, prices being +gauged accordingly. This is a universal practice in Europe, and +especially so in Germany. + +The climate is very moist, and it has been facetiously remarked that it +rains here eight days in the week. One cannot speak approvingly of the +sanitary condition of a place where turkey buzzards are depended upon to +remove the garbage which accumulates in the thoroughfares. It is +unaccountable that the citizens should submit to such filthy +surroundings, especially in a locality where malarial fever is +acknowledged to prevail in the summer season. Though at this writing it +is the latter part of May, yellow fever is still rife here, and we hear +of many particularly sad cases, ending fatally, all about us. This +destroyer is especially apt to carry off people who have newly arrived +in the country. The present year has been unusually fatal among the +residents of Pará, as regards yellow fever, which seems to linger longer +and longer each year of its visitation. Our own conviction is that the +people have themselves to thank for this lingering of the pest into the +winter months, since the sanitary conditions of the place are +inexcusably defective. + +Gardens in and about the city quickly catch and delight the +eye,--gardens where flowers and fruits grow in great luxuriance. Among +the latter are oranges, mangoes, guavas, figs, and bananas. The glossy +green fronds of the bananas throw other verdure altogether into the +shade, while in dignity and beauty the cocoanut palms excel all other +trees. The tall, straight stem of the palm rises from the roots without +leaf or branch until the plumed head is reached, which bends slightly +under its wealth of pinnated leaves and fruit combined. If you happen to +pass these gardens after nightfall, especially those in the immediate +environs of the city, mark the phosphorescent clouds of dancing lights +which fill the still atmosphere round about the vegetation. This +peculiar effect is produced by the busy cucuios, or tropical fireflies, +each vigorously flashing its individual torch. Do they shine thus in the +daytime, we are led to wonder, like the constellations in the heavens, +though hidden by the greater light of the sun? They are always +demonstrative in the night, be it never so cloudy, foggy, or damp in the +low latitudes. They keep their sparkling revels, their torchlight +dances, all heedless of the grim and deadly fever which lurks in the +surrounding atmosphere, claiming human victims right and left, among +high and low, from the ranks of age and of youth. Insect life is +redundant here. It is the very paradise of butterflies, whose size, wide +spread of wing, variety, and striking beauty of colors, we have only +seen equaled at Penang and Singapore, in the Malacca Straits. Some of +the avenues leading to the environs are lined with handsome trees, which +add greatly to their attractiveness and comfort. The silk cotton tree +and the almond are favorites here as ornamental shade trees. The cape +jessamine is universally cultivated at Pará, and grows to a large size, +filling the air with its agreeable fragrance. Here the oleander, covered +with clusters of bloom, grows to the height of twenty feet and more. The +lime, with its fine acid fruit, which is in great request in making +cooling drinks, also abounds. + +The glimpses of domestic life which one gets in passing the better class +of dwellings reveal rooms with tiled or polished wooden floors, +cane-finished chairs, sofas, and rockers to match, a small foot rug here +and there, a group of flowering plants in one corner, while hammocks +seem to take the place of bedsteads. The temperature is high at Pará in +summer, and woolen carpets, or even mattresses, are too warm for use in +this climate. Bignonias, oleanders, and other blooming plants abound in +the flower-plots about the city, besides many flowering vines which are +strangers to us, half orchids, half creepers. One is apt to jump at +conclusions. These people dearly love flowers, so we conclude they +cannot be very wicked. + +The families live, as it were, in the open patios, which form the +centres of their dwellings, are shaded by broad verandas, and upon which +the domestic apartments all open. The accessories are few, and not +entirely convenient, according to a northerner's ideas of comfort; but +this is compensated for by the fragrance of flowers, the picturesqueness +of the surroundings, and the free and easy out-of-door atmosphere which +ignores conventionalities. These attractive interiors suggest a sort of +picnic mode of life which has conformed itself to climatic influences. +Everything is very quiet, there is no hurry, and the stillness is +occasionally interrupted by the musical laughter of children, which +rings out clear and pleasantly, entirely in harmony with the +surroundings. And such children! Artists' models, every one of them. It +all seems to a stranger to be the very poetry of living, yet we venture +to say that each household has its skeleton in the closet, and some a +whole anatomical museum! + +At Bahia, further south, a revelation awaits the traveler in the +delicious richness, size, and delicacy of the oranges which grow there +in lavish abundance, and which are famous, all along the coast. Here at +Pará, the same may be said of the pineapple, the raising of which is a +local specialty. These are not picked until fully ripe, and often weigh +ten pounds each. When cut open, the inside can be eaten with a spoon, if +one fancies that mode. They require no sugar; nature has supplied the +saccharine principle in abundance. They are absolutely perfect in +themselves alone. People sailing northward lay in a great store of this +admirable fruit, which is as cheap as it is delicious and appetizing. In +New England, the pines of which we partake have been picked in a green +condition in Bermuda, the Bahamas, or Florida, to enable them to bear +transportation. They ripen only partially off the stem, and after a very +poor style, decay setting in at the same time; consequently the pulp is +not suitable to swallow, and is always more or less indigestible. The +Pará pines are seedless, and are propagated by replanting the suckers. +The crown, we were told, would also thrive and reproduce the fruit if +properly planted, but the first named process is that generally +employed, and is probably the best. + +In the neighborhood of Pará are many large and profitable cocoa +plantations, the industry connected with which is a growing one, +representing a considerable amount of capital. But above all others, the +gathering and preparing of raw india-rubber for exportation is the +prevailing industry of this Brazilian capital. + +The common people seem to be an uncertain mixture of races, confounding +all attempts properly to analyze their antecedents. They have touches of +refinement and underlying tenderness of instinct, as exhibited in their +home associations, but also evince a coarseness which is not inviting, +to say the least. They are universal lovers of pet birds and small +animals. No household seems to be complete without some representatives +of the sort. Among these are cranes, ibises, herons, turtle-doves, +parrots, macaws, and paroquets. Monkeys of various tribes, the little +marmoset being the favorite, are seen domesticated in almost every +private garden, full of fun and mischief, and affording infinite +amusement to the youthful members of the household. Young anacondas, +sometimes ten feet long, are kept in and about the dwellings, to catch +and drive away the rats! The reader smiles half incredulously at this, +and we do not wonder. If one of these rodents be caught in a trap and +killed, it is useless to offer it to an anaconda as food. That +fastidious reptile will eat only such creatures as it kills itself. This +is also characteristic of the African lion and the tiger of India, when +in the wild state; neither will molest a dead body, of man or beast, +which they have not themselves deprived of life, though hyenas, wolves, +and some other animals will even rob the graves of human bodies for +food. We had never heard of anacondas employed as ratters before we came +to Pará, but we were assured by those who should know that they are +especially effective in warfare against this domestic pest. + +Broad verandas give a grateful shade to most of the dwelling-houses, +which are seldom over one story in height, each one, however, extending +over considerable ground space. In the business part of the town, +fronting the harbor, the houses are generally two or even three stories +in height, it being necessary in such localities to economize the square +feet of ground occupied. The same sort of external ornamentation is seen +here as upon the house fronts in Mexico, namely, the profuse decoration +of the walls with glazed earthen tiles, often of fancy colors, which +gives a checkerboard appearance to a dwelling-house not calculated to +please a critical eye. + +The Opera House of Pará is a large and imposing structure, one of the +finest edifices in the town, and the largest theatre, we believe, in +South America, quite uncalled for, it would seem, by any local demand. +It is built of brick, finished in stucco, the front being decorated with +marble columns having handsome and elaborate Corinthian capitals. The +house lights up brilliantly at night, being finished in red, white, and +gold. It has four narrow galleries supported upon brackets, thus +obviating the necessity for the objectionable upright posts which so +provokingly interfere with the line of sight. The cathedral is a +substantial and handsome structure, with a couple of tall towers, after +the usual Spanish style, each containing a dozen bells. The interior has +all the florid and tawdry ornamentation always to be found in Roman +Catholic churches, together with the usual complement of bleeding +figures, arrow-pierced saints, high-colored paper rosettes, utterly +meaningless, together with any amount of glittering tinsel, calculated +to catch the eye and captivate the imagination of the grossly ignorant +native population. + +There are many minor churches in the city, and judging by the number +seen in the streets, there must be at least a thousand priests, whose +sole occupation, when they are not gambling or cock-fighting, is to +cajole and impoverish the common people. It was a church festival when +we visited the cathedral. There are over two hundred such days, out of +every three hundred and sixty-five, in Roman Catholic countries,--not +days of humiliation and prayer, but days of gross latitude, of +bull-fights, occasions when the decent amenities of life are ignored, +days when the broadest license prevails, and all excesses are condoned. +There were a large number of women present in the cathedral on this day, +but scarcely half a dozen men. The better class were dressed gayly, and +wore some rich jewelry. The love of finery prevails, and pervades all +classes. Some of the ladies were clad in costly silks and laces, set off +by brilliants and pearls. Diamonds and precious stones are very common +in this country, and a certain class seem to carry a large share of +their worldly possessions showily displayed upon their persons. What the +humbler class lacked in richness of material, they made up in gaudy +colors, blazing scarfs, and imitation gold and silver jewelry. Nature +sets the example of bright colors in these latitudes, in gaudy plumed +birds and high-tinted flowers and fruits. The natives only follow her. +The few men who were present came to ogle the women, and having +satisfied their low-bred curiosity, soon retired to the neighboring +bar-rooms and gambling saloons. On special festal days temporary booths +are erected in the squares, in which intoxicants are sold, together with +toys, cakes, cigars, and charms, the latter said to have been blessed by +the priests, and therefore sure to prevent any injury from the evil eye! + +As in most of the South American cities, there are several elaborate +buildings here, formerly used as convents, which are now devoted to more +creditable purposes. The present custom house occupies one of these +edifices, which is crowned with two lofty towers. + +There are plenty of mendicants in the streets of Pará, who are very +ready with their importunities, especially in appealing to strangers. +The average citizens seemed to be liberal in dealing with these beggars. +Saturday is called "poor day" in Pará, as it is also in Havana, +Matanzas, Cienfuegos, etc., when every housekeeper who is able to give +something does so, if it be only a small roll of bread, to each visiting +beggar. At most houses these small rolls are baked regularly for this +purpose, and the applicant is nearly sure to get one upon calling, and +if he represents a large family he may receive two. Money is rarely, if +ever, given by residents, nor is it expected; but strangers are +surrounded as by an army with banners, and vigorously importuned for +centavos. The Spaniards and Portuguese are natural beggars. + +Here let us digress for a moment. The system of beggary prevailing in +Spanish countries is very trying to all sensitive travelers. In Italy, +Spain, and the south of France, especially at the watering-places, it is +a terrible pest. Naples has become almost unendurable on this account. +At every rod one is constantly importuned and followed by beggars of all +sizes, ages, and of both sexes,--individuals who should be placed in +asylums and cared for by the state. No reasonable person would object to +paying a certain sum on entering these resorts, to be honestly devoted +to charitable purposes, provided it would insure him against the +disgusting importunities of which strangers are now the victims. +Visitors hasten away from the localities where these things are not only +permitted but are encouraged. It is thought to be quite the thing to +fleece foreigners of every possible penny, and by every possible means. +The contrast in this respect between the cities of the United States and +those of Europe and South America is eminently creditable to the former. +In the beautiful little watering-place known as Luchon, in the south of +France, at the foot of the Pyrenees, with scarcely four thousand +inhabitants, there are over one hundred professional beggars, who +constantly beset and drive away visitors. Some of these, as usual in +such cases, are known to be well off pecuniarily, but are marked by some +physical deformity upon which they trade. If the stranger gives, he is +oftenest encouraging a swindle, rarely performing a true charity. This +is one of the increasing disgraces of Paris. Beggars know too much to +importune citizens, but strangers are beset at every corner of the +boulevards and public gardens, particularly by children, girls and boys, +trained for the purpose. + +Of all the races seen in Brazil, the half-breed Indian girls are the +most attractive, and until they are past the age of twenty-five or +thirty years they are almost universally handsome, no matter to what +class they belong. Those who have the advantage of domestic comforts, +good food, and delicate associations develop accordingly, and are +especially beautiful. They would make charming artists' models. The +remarkably straight figure of the native women is noticeable, caused by +the practice referred to of carrying burdens on the head. As already +mentioned, if a negro or Indian woman has an article to transport, even +if it be but a quart bottle, or an umbrella, it is placed at once upon +the head. The article may weigh five pounds or fifty, it is all the +same; everything but the babies is thus transported. These little naked +creatures, always suggestive of monkeys, are supported on the mother's +back, held there by a shawl or rebozo tied securely across the chest. +When the children are six or eight years old, they are promoted to the +dignity of wearing one small garment, an abbreviated shirt or chemise. + +The principal food of the common people of northern Brazil is farina and +dried fish, with fried plantains and ripe bananas. Crabs and oysters of +a poor description abound along the coast, and are eaten by the people, +both in a raw and cooked condition. But the white people avoid the coast +oysters, which sometimes poison those not accustomed to them. + +The finest avenue in Pará is the Estrada de São José, bordered by grand +old palms, which form a beautiful perspective and a welcome shade, the +feathery tops nearly embracing each other overhead. The tramway takes +one through the environs by the Rua de Nazareth, for five miles to Marco +da Legua, where the public wells of the city are situated. The way +thither is lined with neat and handsome dwellings, shaded by noble +trees. The botanical garden is well worth a visit by all lovers of +horticulture. The forest creeps up towards the environs of the town, +wherein many of the trees are rendered beautiful by clinging orchids of +gorgeous blue; others are of blood red, and some of orange yellow, +presenting also a great diversity of form. One has not far to go to see +specimens of the india-rubber tree, growing from ninety to a hundred +feet in height, while measuring from four to five feet in diameter. This +tree begins to produce gum at the age of fifteen years. The trunk is +smooth and perfectly round, the bark of a buff color. It bears a curious +fruit, of which some animals are said to be fond. The author has seen +the india-rubber tree growing in the island of Ceylon, where it seemed +to reach a greater height and dimensions than it does in the district of +Pará. A considerable portion of the roots lie above ground, stretching +away from the base of the tree like huge anacondas, and finally +disappearing in the earth half a rod or more from the parent trunk. The +reader can hardly fail to be familiar with the simple wild plant, which +grows so abundantly by our New England roadsides, known as the +milk-weed, which, when the stem is cut or broken, emits a creamy, +pungent smelling liquid. In the latitude of Pará, this little weed, of +the same family, assumes the form of a colossal tree, and is known as +the india-rubber tree. The United States takes of Brazilian rubber, in +the crude state, over twenty-five thousand tons annually. As to coffee, +Brazil supplies one half of all which is consumed in the civilized +world; but we should frankly tell the reader, if he does not already +realize the fact, that it is most frequently marked and sold for "Old +Government Java." + +The india-rubber tree is tapped annually very much after the same style +in which we treat the sugar-maple in Vermont, and elsewhere, to procure +its sap. A yellow, creamy liquid flows forth from the rubber tree into +small cups placed beneath an incision made in the trunk. When the cup +becomes full, its contents is emptied into a large common receptacle, +where it is allowed to partially harden, and in which form it is called +caoutchouc. The tapping of the trees and attending to the gathering of +the sap furnish employment to hundreds of the natives, who, however, +make but small wages, being employed by contractors, who either lease +the trees of certain districts, or own large tracts of forest land. +These Brazilian forests are very grand, abounding in valuable aromatic +plants, precious woods, gaudy birds, and various wild animals. The +number of monkeys is absolutely marvelous, including many curious +varieties. A native will not kill a monkey; indeed, it must be difficult +for a European to make up his mind to shoot a creature so nearly human +in its actions, and whose pleading cries when wounded are said to be so +pitiable. + +One of the peculiar street sights in Pará is that of native women with a +dozen young monkeys of different species for sale. Marmosets can be +bought for a quarter of a dollar each. So tame are the little creatures +that they cling about the woman's person, fastening upon her hair, arms, +and neck, not in the least inclined to escape from her. It is remarkable +and interesting to see how very fond they become of their owner, if he +is kind to them. Like the dog and the cat, they seem to have a strong +desire for human companionship. When seen running wild in the woods, +leaping from tree to tree, and from branch to branch, they do not try to +get far away from the presence of man, but only to keep, in their +untamed state, just out of reach of his hands. Ships sailing hence +generally take away a few of these animals, but as they are delicate, +and very sensitive to climatic changes, many of them die before reaching +Europe or North America. + +The great beauty of Pará is its abundance of palm trees. The palm is +always an interesting object, as well as a most valuable one; +interesting because of its historical and legendary associations, and +valuable, since it would be almost impossible to enumerate the number of +important uses to which it and its products are put. To the people of +the tropics it is the prolific source of food, shelter, clothing, fuel, +fibre for several uses, sugar, oil, wax, and wine. It has been aptly +termed the "princess of the vegetable world." One indigenous species, +the Piassaba, is a palm which yields a most valuable fibre, extensively +manufactured into cordage and ships' cables, for which purpose it is +much in use on the coast of South America. It is found to be stronger +and more elastic than hemp when thus employed, besides which it is far +more durable. The product of this species of palm is also exported in +large quantities to North America and to England, for the purpose of +making brushes, brooms, and various sorts of domestic matting. + +The nights are especially beautiful in this region. We were interested +in observing the remarkable brilliancy of the sky; the stars do not seem +to sparkle, as with us at the north, but shed a soft, steady light, +making all things luminous. This is the natural result of the clearness +of the atmosphere. One is surprised at first to find the moon apparently +so much increased in size and effulgency. The Southern Cross is ever +present, though it is dominated by the Centaur. Orion is seen in his +glory, and the Scorpion is clearly defined. In the author's estimation, +there is no exhibition of the heavens in these regions which surpasses +the magnificence of the far-reaching Milky Way. + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + Island of Marajo.--Rare and Beautiful Birds.--Original Mode + of Securing Humming-Birds.--Maranhão.--Educational.--Value + of Native Forests.--Pernambuco.--Difficulty of Landing.--An + Ill-chosen Name.--Local Scenes.--Uncleanly Habits of the + People.--Great Sugar Mart.--Native Houses.--A Quaint + Hostelry.--Catamarans.--A Natural Breakwater.--Sailing down + the Coast. + + +The island of Marajo, situated at the mouth of the Amazon, opposite +Pará, and belonging to the province or state of that name, is a hundred +and eighty miles in length and about one hundred and sixty in width, +nearly identical in size with the island of Sicily, and almost oval in +form. One of the principal shore settlements is Breves, on the +southeastern corner of the island, which lies somewhat low, and consists +of remarkably fertile soil, so abounding in wild and beautiful +vegetation and exquisite floral varieties, that it is called in this +region "the Island of Flowers." We can easily believe the name to be +appropriately chosen, since, as we skirt its verdant shores hour after +hour, they seem to emit the drowsy, caressing sweetness of fragrant +flowers so sensibly as to almost produce a narcotic effect. The easterly +or most seaward part of Marajo is open, marshy, sandy land, but back +from the shore the soil is of a rich, black alluvium, supporting in very +large tracts a dense forest growth, similar to all the low-lying +tropical lands of South America. The population is recorded as numbering +about twenty thousand, divided into several settlements, mostly on the +coast, and consists largely of the aboriginal race found by the first +comers upon this island, who, on account of their somewhat isolated +condition, have amalgamated less with Europeans and the imported colored +race than any other tribe on the east coast of the continent. + +The extensive meadows of Marajo are the grazing fields of numerous herds +of wild horses and horned cattle, the former of a superior breed, highly +prized on the mainland; and yet so rapidly do they increase in this +climate, in the wild state, that every few years they are killed in +large numbers for their hides alone. The exports from the island consist +of rice, cattle, horses, and hides. There are some large plantations +devoted to the cultivation of rice, the soil and water supply of certain +districts being especially favorable to this crop. As intimated, a +considerable portion of Marajo is covered with a forest growth so dense +as to be compared to the jungles of Africa and India, and which, so far +as is known, has never been penetrated by the foot of man. Travelers who +have visited the borders of this leafy wilderness expatiate upon the +strange, inexplicable sounds which are heard at times, amid the +prevailing stillness and sombre aspect of these primeval woods. +Sometimes there comes, it is said, from out the forest depth a wild cry, +like that of a human being in distress, but which, however long one may +listen, is not repeated. Again, there is heard an awful crash, like the +falling of some ponderous forest giant, then stillness once more settles +over the mysterious, tangled woods. Every time the silence is broken it +seems to be by some new and inexplicable sound, not to be satisfactorily +accounted for. + +The lagoons near the centre of Marajo are said to abound in alligators, +which are sometimes sought for by the natives for their hides, for which +a fair price is realized, since fashion has rendered this article +popular in a hundred different forms. The number and variety of birds +and lesser animals to be found upon the island are marvelous. Certain +species of birds seem to have retreated to this spot from the mainland, +before the tide of European immigration; indeed, it has for a long time +been considered the paradise of the naturalist. Over thirty species of +that peculiar bird, the toucan, have been secured here. + +When Professor Agassiz was engaged in his scientific exploration of the +Amazon, he dispatched a small but competent party especially to obtain +specimens from this island, the result being both a surprise and a +source of great gratification to the king of naturalists. Many of the +objects secured by these explorers were rare and beautiful birds, not a +few of which are unique, and of which no previous record existed. There +were also many curious insects and other specimens particularly valuable +to naturalists, most of which are preserved to-day in the Agassiz Museum +at Cambridge, Massachusetts. The toucan, just spoken of, is most +remarkable for its beauty and variety of colors, as well as for the very +peculiar form and size of its elephantine bill, which makes it look +singularly ill-balanced. This ludicrous appendage is nine inches long +and three in circumference; the color is vermilion and yellow delicately +mingled. The toucan is much coveted for special collections by all +naturalists, and is becoming very scarce, except in this one equatorial +locality. Scarlet ibises and roseate spoonbills are also found at +Marajo, both remarkably fine examples of semi-aquatic fowl, and when +these are secured in good condition for preservation, the natives +realize good prices for them. In order to procure desirable specimens of +the humming-bird species, which are also abundant on this island, the +native hunters resort to an ingenious device, so as not to injure the +skin or the extremely delicate plumage of this butterfly-bird. For this +purpose they use a peculiar syringe made from reeds, and charged with a +solution of adhesive gum, which, when directed by an experienced hand, +clogs the bird's wings at once, stopping its flight and causing it to +fall to the ground. Some are caught by means of nets set on the end of +long bamboo poles, such as are used to secure butterflies, but this +method is poorly adapted to catch so quick moving a creature as a +humming-bird. The author has seen, in southern India, butterflies of +gaudiest texture with bodies as large as small humming-birds, which were +quite as brilliant as they in lovely colors. The variety and beauty of +this insect, as found anywhere from Tuticorin to Darjeeling, is notable. +Wherever British troops are permanently settled, the wives of the common +soldiers become very expert in catching and arranging these attractive +objects, preserving them in frames under glass. These find ready +purchasers for museums and private collections all over Europe, and are +sold at moderate prices, but serve to add a welcome trifle to the +extremely poor pay of a common soldier having perhaps a wife and one or +two children to support. + +The island of Marajo was not formed at the Amazon's mouth of soil +brought down from the interior by the river's current, as is often the +case with islands thus situated, but is a natural, rocky formation which +serves to divide the channel and give the river a double outlet into the +Atlantic. Agassiz studied its character, and gives us an interesting +statement as the result. He declared, after careful geological +examination, that it is an island which was once situated far inland, +away from the river's mouth, but which is now brought near to it by the +gradual encroachment of the Atlantic Ocean, whose waves and restless +currents have slowly worn away the northeastern part of the continent. +This abrasion must have been going on for many thousand years, to have +produced such a decided topographical change. For the word years, upon +second thought, read ages, which will undoubtedly express the true idea +much more correctly. + +There are over twenty species of palms indigenous to Marajo, which, as +one skirts the water front, are seen growing along the far-reaching +shore, fostered by the humidity of the atmosphere arising from the +ever-flowing waters of the great river. Among these the peach-palm is +quite conspicuous, with its spiny stems and mealy, nutritious fruit. +There are also the cocoa-palm and the assai-palm, the latter gayly +decorated with its delicate green plumes and long spear pointing +heavenward, an emblem borne by no other tree in existence. The great +variety of forms of plant life and giant grasses is extremely curious +and beautiful on this interesting island. We heard, while at Pará, of a +proposal made by some European party to thoroughly explore Marajo, which +has never yet been done, so far as is known to our time, and it is +believed that some very interesting and valuable discoveries may be the +result of such an expedition, composed of engineers, scientists, and +naturalists. + +A day's sail to the eastward, bearing a little to the south along the +coast, brings us to the port of Maranhão, which is the capital of a +province of Brazil known by the same name, situated a little over three +hundred miles from Pará. The place is picturesquely nestled, as it were, +in the very lap of the mountains, which come boldly down to the coast at +this point. It was founded nearly three hundred years ago, is regularly +built, and contains between thirty and forty thousand inhabitants. +Nearly all of the houses, which are generally of two stories, are +ornamented with attractive balconies, and have handsome gardens attached +to them, where the luxurious verdure is with difficulty kept within +proper bounds. Vegetation runs riot in equatorial regions. It is the one +pleasing outlet of nature, whose overcharged vitality, spurred on by the +climate, must find vent either in teeming vegetation or in raging +volcanoes, tidal waves, and unwelcome earthquakes, though sometimes, to +be sure, we find them all combined in the tropics. + +The harbor of Maranhão is excellent and sheltered, the depth of water +permitting the entrance of ships drawing full twenty feet, an advantage +which some of the ports to the southward would give millions of dollars +to possess. According to published statistics, the exports during 1890 +were as follows: thirty-six hundred tons of cotton, six hundred tons of +sugar, seven hundred tons of hides, a large amount of rice, and some +other minor articles. The imports for the same period were estimated at +something less than three million dollars in value. This is the entrepôt +of several populous districts, besides that of which it is the capital. +The province itself contains a number of navigable rivers, with some +thrifty towns on their banks. The bay gives ample evidence of commercial +activity, containing at all times a number of foreign steamships, with a +goodly show of coasting vessels. The place is slowly but steadily +growing in its business relations, and in the number of its permanent +population. + +It cannot make any pretension to architectural excellence, though the +Bishop's palace and the cathedral are handsome structures. There are two +or three other prominent edifices, quaint and Moorish, which were once +nunneries or monasteries; also a foundling institution, a special +necessity in all Roman Catholic countries. We found here a public +library, and a botanical garden. Not far inland there are some extensive +rice plantations, the province in some portions being specially adapted +to producing this valuable staple. We were informed by those whose +opinion was worthy of respect, that educational advantages are rather +remarkable here, the Lyceum having in the past few years graduated some +of the most prominent statesmen and professionals in Brazil. One thing +is very certain, the authorities cannot multiply educational facilities +any too rapidly in this country, nor give the subject any too much +attention, especially as regards the rising generation of both sexes. So +far as we could learn by inquiry, or judge by careful observation, the +ignorance of the mass of the people is simply deplorable. + +Maranhão is situated about fourteen hundred miles north of Rio Janeiro, +with which port it carries on an extensive coasting trade. The exports, +besides the staples already spoken of, are various, including annotto, +sarsaparilla, balsam copaiba, and other medicinal extracts, together +with rum and crude india-rubber. The climate is torrid, the city being +one hundred and fifty miles south of the equator; and though, like most +of the towns on the eastern coast of the continent, it is rather an +unhealthy locality, it is much less so than Pará, and is a far more +cleanly place than that city, its situation giving it the advantage of a +system of natural drainage. The country near Maranhão abounds in native +forests of exuberant richness, producing a valuable quality of timber, +and affording some of the finest cabinet woods known to commerce, as +well as a practically inexhaustible supply of various dyewoods, a +considerable business being done in the export of the latter article. It +was observed that the assai-palm, from which the palm wine is made, was +also a prominent feature here. The trunk is quite smooth, the fruit +growing in heavy bunches like grapes, dark brown in color, and about the +size of cranberries, hanging in heavy clusters just below the bunch of +long leaves which forms the top of the tree. The native drink which is +made from these palm grapes is a favorite beverage in northern Brazil, +and when properly fermented it contains about the same percentage of +alcohol as English pale ale. + +To the author, the town of Maranhão was quite unknown; even its place +upon the maps had never attracted his attention until after it was seen +lying peacefully in an amphitheatre of tall hills, which come down close +to the rock-ribbed shore of the Atlantic Ocean. This acknowledgment is +between ourselves, for such a confession would sound very ridiculous to +the good people of Maranhão. + +After leaving its harbor, our next objective point was Pernambuco, which +is situated about four days' sail from Pará by steamship, and about +three from Maranhão. + +This well known port, with its one hundred and fifty thousand +inhabitants, is reckoned as the third city of Brazil in point of size +and commercial importance. It lacks elevation to produce a good effect, +and recalls the low-lying city of Havana in general appearance, as one +approaches it from the sea. The harbor is not what could be desired for +a commercial city, having hardly sufficient depth of water for vessels +of heavy tonnage, and being also too narrow for a modern long steamship +to safely turn in. The American line of steamships come to a mooring +inside the harbor, but the European lines, or at least the Pacific Mail, +in which we made the home passage, anchor in the open roadstead, three +quarters of a mile from the shore. The harbor is formed by a long +natural reef, which makes a breakwater between it and the open sea, a +portion of the reef having been built up with solid masonry to render it +more effective. This remarkable coral formation, which is more or less +clearly defined, extends along the coast for a considerable +distance,--it is said for four hundred miles. Opposite Pernambuco it +rises six feet above the water, that is, above high-water mark, and runs +parallel to the front street of the city at the distance from it of +about a third of a mile or less. A wide opening in the reef at the +northern end of the town makes the entrance to the harbor. Off the +northeast coast of Australia, there is a very similar reef-formation, +fully as long as this on the South American coast, but situated much +further from the shore. + +It is a serious drawback that passengers by large ocean steamers cannot +enter the harbor of Pernambuco except by lighters or open boats; all +freight brought by these steamers must also be transhipped. Landing here +is often accomplished at considerable personal risk, and a thorough +ducking with salt water is not at all uncommon in the attempt to reach +the shore. To pull a boat from the open roadstead into the harbor, or +vice versa, requires six stout oarsmen and an experienced man at the +helm, so that landing from the Pacific Mail steamers is both a serious +and an expensive affair. If a very heavy sea is running, the thing +cannot be done, and no one will attempt it. The powerful wind which so +often prevails on the coast occasionally creates quite a commotion even +inside the harbor, among the shipping moored there, causing the largest +cables to part and vessels to drag their anchors. Of course a vessel +lying in the open roadstead, outside of the reef, has no protection +whatever, and is in a critical situation if the wind blows towards the +land. If it comes on to blow suddenly, she buoys and slips her anchor at +once; she dares not waste the time to hoist it, but gets away as quickly +as possible to where there is plenty of sea room and no lee shore to +fear. Fortunately, though so fierce for the time being, and of a +cyclonic character, the storms upon the coast are generally of brief +duration, and like the furious pamperos, which are so dreaded by +mariners further south, they blow themselves out in a few hours. + +The geographical situation of Pernambuco is such, in the track of +commerce, that vessels bound north or south, from Europe or from North +America, naturally make it a port of call to obtain late advices and +provisions. The name has been singularly chosen, no one can say how or +by whom, but it signifies "the mouth of hell," a cognomen which we do +not think the place at all deserves. It is a narrow, crowded, +picturesque old seaport. + +The town is situated at the mouth of the Biberibe River, just five +hundred miles south of the equator, and is divided in rather a peculiar +manner into three distinct parts: Recife, on a narrow peninsula; Boa +Vista, on the river shore; and San Antonio, on an island in the river; +all being connected, however, by six or eight substantial iron bridges. +The first named division is the business portion of the capital, about +whose water front the commercial life of Pernambuco centres, but the +streets of Recife are very narrow and often confusingly crooked. Boa +Vista is beautified by pleasant domestic residences, delightful gardens, +and attractive promenades, far beyond anything which a stranger +anticipates meeting in this part of the world. Though the business +portion of the city is so low, the other sections are of better and more +recent construction. + +The view of the town and harbor to be had from some portions of Olinda +is very fine and comprehensive, taking in a wide reach of land and +ocean. When a brief storm is raging, spending its force against the +reef, the view from this point is indeed grand. The sea, angered at +meeting a substantial impediment, seethes and foams in wild excitement, +dashing fifty feet into the air, and, falling over the reef, lashes the +inner waters of the harbor into waves which mount the landing piers, and +set everything afloat in the broad plaza which lines the shore. The big +ships rock and sway incessantly, straining at their anchors, or chafing +dangerously at their moorings. Precautions are taken to avert damage, +but man's strength and skill count for little when opposed by the +enraged elements. + +This plaza, or quay, is shaded by aged magnolias of great height, and is +the resort of unemployed seamen, fruit dealers, and idlers of all +degrees. The house fronts in the various sections of the town are +brilliantly colored, yellow, blue, white, and pink, also sometimes being +covered halfway up the first story with glittering tiles of various +hues. At nearly every turn one comes upon the moss-grown, crumbling +façade of some old church, about the corners of which there is often a +grossly filthy receptacle, the vile odor from which permeates the +surrounding atmosphere. This was found to be almost insupportable with +the thermometer standing at 90° Fahr. in the shade, forming so obvious a +means for propagating malarial fever and sickness generally as to be +absolutely exasperating. Notwithstanding all appearances, the American +consul assured us that Pernambuco is one of the healthiest cities on the +east coast of South America. The yellow fever, however, does not by any +means forget to visit the place annually. Experience showed us that the +residents along the coast were accustomed to give their own city +precedence in the matter of hygienic conditions, and to admit, with +serious faces, that the other capitals, north and south, were sadly +afflicted by epidemics at nearly all seasons. + +Pernambuco has several quite small but well-arranged public squares, +decorated with fountains, trees, and flowers of many species. Two of +these plazas have handsome pagodas, from which outdoor concerts are +often given by military bands. The city is a thriving and progressive +place, has extensive gas works, an admirable system of water supply, +tramways, good public schools, and one college or high school. We must +not forget to add to this list a very _flourishing_ foundling asylum, +where any number of poor little waifs are constantly being received, and +no questions asked. A revolving box or cradle is placed in a wall of the +hospital, next to the street, in which any person can deposit an infant, +ring the bell, and the cradle will revolve, leaving the child on the +inside of the establishment, where the little deserted object will be +duly cared for. Connected with the hospital are several outlying +buildings, where children are placed at various stages of growth. We +were told that about forty per cent. of such children live to grow up to +maturity, and leave the care of the government fairly well fitted to +take their place in the world, and to fight the battle of life so very +inauspiciously begun. It has been strongly argued that such an +establishment offers a premium upon illegitimacy and immorality; but one +thing is to be considered, it prevents the terrible crime of +infanticide, which is said to have prevailed here to an alarming extent +before this hospital was founded. + +There is a passably good system of drainage, which was certainly very +much needed, and since its completion the general health of the place is +said to have considerably improved. This is not all that is required, +however. There should be a decided reform in the habits of the people as +regards cleanliness. At present they are positively revolting. The +inhabitants are the very reverse of neat in their domestic associations, +and home arrangements for natural conveniences are inexcusably +objectionable; such, indeed, as would in a North American city, or even +small town, call for the prompt interference of the local board of +health. These remarks do not apply to isolated cases; the trouble is +universal. Families living otherwise in comparative affluence utterly +disregard neatness and decency in the matter to which we allude. + +The districts neighboring to Pernambuco form extensive plains, well +adapted to the raising of sugar, coffee, and cotton, as well as all +sorts of tropical fruits and vegetables. There are many flourishing +plantations representing these several interests, more especially that +of sugar. The storehouses on the wharves and in the business sections of +the city, the oxcarts passing through the streets, drawn each by a +single animal, and even the very atmosphere, seem to be full of sugar. +It is, in fact, the great sugar mart of South America. The annual amount +of the article which is exported averages some twelve hundred thousand +tons. Sugar is certainly king at Pernambuco. People not only drink, but +they talk sugar. It is the one great interest about which all other +business revolves. The article is mostly of the lower grade, and +requires to be refined before it is suitable for the market. The +refining process is being generally adopted at the plantations. American +machinery is introduced for the purpose with entire success. The export +of the crude article will, it is believed, be much less every year for +the future, until it ceases altogether. It was a singular sight to +observe the naked negroes carrying canvas bags of crude sugar upon their +heads through the streets, each bag weighing a hundred pounds or more. +The intense heat caused the canvas to exude quantities of syrup or +molasses, which covered their dark, glossy bodies with small streams of +fluid. They trotted along in single file, and at a quick pace, towards +their destination, unheeding the sticky condition of their woolly heads +and naked bodies. + +Not far inland there are extensive meadows, where large herds of horned +cattle are raised, together with a breed of half-wild horses, the +breaking and domesticating of which, as here practiced, is a most cruel +process. A certain set of men devote themselves to this business; rough +riders, we should call them, very rough. Good horses are to be had at +extraordinarily low prices. In the back country there are some grand and +extensive forests, which produce fine cabinet woods and superior dye +woods. + +By consulting a map of the western hemisphere, it will be seen that +Pernambuco is situated on the great eastern shoulder of South America, +where it pushes farthest into the Atlantic Ocean, fifteen hundred miles +south of Pará, and about five hundred north of Bahia. On the long coral +reef which separates the harbor from the open sea is a picturesque +lighthouse, also a quaint old watch tower which dates from the time of +the Dutch dominion here. It is proposed to build additional layers of +heavy granite blocks upon the reef, so as to raise it about six or eight +feet higher and make it of a uniform elevation along the entire city +front, and thus afford almost complete protection for the inner +anchorage. It will be only possible to make any real improvement of the +harbor by adopting a thorough system of dredging and deepening. There +was evidence of such a purpose being already in progress on our second +visit, two large steam dredging machines being anchored at the southerly +end of the harbor. + +The people of this hot region know the great value of shade trees, +consequently they abound, half hiding from view the numerous handsome +villas which form the attractive suburbs of the city. Everywhere one +sees tall cocoanut palms, clusters of feathery bamboos, widespread +mangoes, prolific bananas, guavas, and plantains growing among other +graceful tropical trees, rich in the green texture of their foliage, and +thrice rich in their luscious and abundant fruits. Among the vine +products we must not forget to mention a rich, high flavored grape, +which is native here, and which all people praise after once tasting. +The water, which is brought into the city by a system of double iron +pipes, comes from a neighboring lake, and is a pure and wholesome drink, +a most incomparable blessing in equatorial regions, which no person who +has not suffered for the want of it can duly appreciate. + +The International Hotel is the favorite resort of strangers, and is +situated a couple of miles from the harbor. It is surrounded by +beautiful trees and flowers, the golden oranges weighing down the +branches nearly to the ground by their size and abundance, while the +young blossoms fill the air with their delicate perfume,--fruit and +blossoms on the tree at the same time. The garden is thronged by +household pets, and contains a spacious aviary. The monkey tribe is +fully represented; gaudy winged parrots dazzle the eye with impossible +colors. One partakes here, in the open air, of the refreshing viands +amid the songs of birds, the occasional scream of the cockatoo, the +cooing of turtle-doves, and the fragrance of a profusion of tropical +flowers. The native servants are well-trained, and there is a French +chef. We were told that this attractive place had once belonged to a +very wealthy Brazilian, a planter, who had come to grief financially, +and as the house was offered for sale, it had been purchased for one +fifth of its original cost and adapted to hotel purposes. While enjoying +our fruit at dessert, a somewhat similar experience was recalled as +having taken place at Christiania, in Norway, where visitors enjoy the +meals in a sort of outdoor museum and garden, surrounded by curious +preserved birds mingled with living ones, the latter so tame as to +alight fearlessly upon the table and await any choice bit guests may +offer them. + +We shall not soon forget the very appetizing dinner of which we partook, +amid such attractive surroundings, in the gardens of the International +Hotel at Pernambuco. One fruit which was served to us is known by the +name of the loquat. It is round, dark yellow, and about the size of a +Tangerine orange,--a great favorite with the natives, though it is +mostly stone and skin, and tastes like turpentine. + +This city is often called the Venice of Brazil, but why, it is difficult +for one to understand. It is only poetical license, for there is not the +first actual resemblance between the two cities. True, there are several +watercourses, and half a dozen bridges, intersecting this Brazilian +capital. One would be equally justified in calling the frail catamarans +which are used by the fishermen in these waters, gondolas. This singular +craft, by the way, consists of four or five logs of the cork-palm tree, +confined together by a series of strong lashings, no nails being used, +thus securing a necessary degree of elasticity. One end of the logs is +hewn down to a smaller size or width than the other, thus forming stem +and stern, while a single thick plank serves as a keel. There are no +bulwarks to this crazy craft,--for it can hardly be called anything +else,--the whole being freely washed by the sea; but yet, with a rude +mast carrying a triangular sail, and with a couple of oars, two or three +fishermen venture far away from the shore; indeed, we encountered them +out of sight of land. A couple of upright stakes are driven into the +logs, to hold on by when occasion requires. It is really wonderful to +see how weatherly such a frail affair can be, and how literally safe in +a rough seaway. The boatmen who navigate these catamarans (they are +called here _janguardas_) manage to keep the market of Pernambuco +abundantly supplied with the strange, fantastic fish which so prevail +along the Atlantic coast in equatorial regions. + +We have seen a craft very similar to these catamarans in use off the +Coromandel coast, between Madras and the mouth of the Hoogly River, +which leads up to Calcutta. Here the natives manage them in a sea so +rough that an ordinary ship's boat, if exposed, would surely be swamped. +The Madras catamaran consists of three pieces of timber, mere logs +twelve or fourteen feet long, securely bound together with ropes made +from the fibre of the cocoanut palm. Nails are no more available here +than in the former crafts we have named. No nails could withstand the +wrenching which this raft is subjected to. The middle log is a little +longer than the two outside ones, and is given a slight upward turn at +the end which forms the prow. No sail is used, but two fishermen +generally go out with each of these rafts, propelling them with +broad-bladed paddles, used alternately on either side. Of course the +natives who navigate these crafts are naked, with the exception of a +breech-cloth at the loins. They are very frequently thrown off by the +sea, but regain their places with remarkable agility. They manage also, +somehow, to secure their fishing gear, and generally to bring in a +remunerative fare from their excursions. Strange as the catamaran is, it +must yet be described as breezy, watery, and safe--for amphibious +creatures. There is one enemy these fishermen have to look out for, +namely the shark, both on the coast of Madras and South America. It is +more common to say when one is lost that the sharks got him, than it is +to say he was drowned. + +The reef so often referred to, forming the breakwater opposite +Pernambuco, is about forty feet in width at the surface, and is the +marvelous architecture of that tiny coral builder which works beneath +these southern seas. When it has reared a pyramid reaching from the far +bottom of the ocean to the surface, its mission is performed and it +dies. It lives and works only beneath the surface of the sea; +atmospheric air is fatal to it. The pyramids of Egypt cannot compare +with these submerged structures for height, solidity, or magnitude. One +is the product of a creature of such seeming unimportance as to require +microscopic aid to detect its existence; the other are monuments erected +by ancient kings commanding infinite resources; the former being the +process of nature in carrying out her great and mysterious plan; the +latter, the ambitious work of men whose very identity is now +questionable. If we were to enter into a calculation based upon known +scientific facts, as to how many thousands of years were required for +this minute animal to rear this massive structure, the result would +astonish the average reader. + +On approaching Pernambuco from the sea, the first object to attract the +eye is the long line of snow white breakers, caused by the incessant +swell of the sea striking against the firmly planted reef with a +deafening surge, breaking into foam and spray which are thrown forty +feet and more into the air. As we drew near for the first time, the +extended line of breakers was illumined by the early morning sun, making +fancy rainbows and misty pictures in the mingled air and water. We were +escorted by myriads of sea-birds, whose sharp cries came close upon the +ear, as they flew in and about the rigging. Behind the reef lay the +comparatively smooth waters of the harbor, dotted here and there by tiny +white sails, curious-shaped coasting craft, rowboats, and steam tugs, +while the background was formed by a leafless forest of tall ships' +masts which lined the wharves, and partially screened the low-lying +capital from view. + +We have remained quite long enough at this city of the reef, and now +turn southward towards the more attractive port of Bahia. + +In running down the coast, the Brazilian shore is so near as to be +distinctly visible, with its surf-fringed beach of golden sands +extending mile after mile, beyond which, far inland, rise ranges of +forest-clad hills, and beyond these, sky-reaching alps. It is often +necessary to give the land a wide berth, as at certain points dangerous +sandbars make out from it far to seaward; but whenever near enough to +the coast to make out the character of the vegetation, it was of deepest +green and exuberantly tropical. With the exception of one or two small +towns, and an occasional fisherman's hamlet, the shore presented no +signs of habitation, being mostly a sandy waste adjoining the sea, where +heavy rollers spent their force upon the smooth, water-worn, yellow +beach. + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + Port of Bahia.--A Quaint Old City.--Former Capital of + Brazil.--Whaling Interests.--Beautiful + Panorama.--Tramways.--No Color Line Here.--The Sedan + Chair.--Feather Flowers.--Great Orange Mart.--Passion Flower + Fruit.--Coffee, Sugar, and Tobacco.--A Coffee + Plantation.--Something about Diamonds.--Health of the + City.--Curious Tropical Street Scenes. + + +Bahia,--pronounced Bah-ee´ah,--situated three hundred and fifty miles +south of Pernambuco, is the capital of a province of the same name in +Brazil, and contains nearly two hundred thousand inhabitants. It is +admirably situated on elevated ground at the entrance of All Saints +Bay,--_Todos os Santos_,--just within Cape San Antonio, eight hundred +miles or thereabouts north of Rio Janeiro. The entrance of the bay is +seven miles broad. For its size, there are few harbors in the world +which present a more attractive picture as one first beholds it on +entering from the open Atlantic. The elevated site of the city, with its +close array of neat, white three and four story houses, breaks the +sky-line in front of the anchorage, while the town forms a half moon in +shape, extending for a couple of miles each way, right and left. Near +the water's edge, on the lower line of the city, are many substantial +warehouses, official establishments, the custom house, and the like. +Between the lower and the upper town is a long reach of green terraced +embankment, intense in its bright verdure. Probably no other city on the +globe, certainly not so far as our experience extends, is so peculiarly +divided. + +A sad episode marked our first experience here. We came to anchor in the +harbor, according to custom, at what is known as the Quarantine. About a +cable's length from us lay a large European steamship, flying the yellow +flag at the fore. She came into port from Rio Janeiro on the previous +evening; five of her passengers who had died of yellow fever on the +passage were buried at sea, while two more were down with it, and were +being taken to the lazaretto on shore, as we dropped our anchor. +Probably they went there to die. This was naturally depressing, more so, +perhaps, as we were bound direct for Rio Janeiro; but as we now came +from a northern port with a clean bill of health, we were finally +released from quarantine and permitted to land. It is late in the +season--last of May--for this pest of the coast to prevail, but the year +1891 has been one of unusual fatality in the South American ports, and +none of them have been entirely exempt from the scourge, some showing a +fearful list of mortality among both citizens and strangers. We were +conversant with many instances of a particularly trying and sad nature, +if any distinction can be made where death intervenes with such a rude +hand. Victims who were in apparent good health in the morning were not +infrequently buried on the evening of the same day! But we will spare +the reader harrowing details. + +Americus Vespucius discovered Bahia in 1503, while sailing under the +patronage of Portugal, and as it was settled in 1511, it is the oldest +city in the country, being also the second in size, though not in +commercial importance. The excellent harbor is so spacious as to form a +small inland sea, the far-reaching shores of which are beautified by +mingled green foliage and pretty villas stretching along the bay, while +the business portion gives evidence of a growing and important foreign +trade. This deduction is also corroborated by the presence of numerous +European steamships, and full-rigged sailing vessels devoted to the +transportation of merchandise. The buildings are generally of a +substantial appearance, whether designed as residences or for business +purposes, but are mostly of an antique pattern, old and dingy. Though +the city is divided into the lower and the upper town, the latter two or +three hundred feet above the former, it is made easily accessible by +mechanical means. A large elevator, run by hydraulic power, is employed +for the purpose, which was built by an energetic Yankee, and has been in +successful operation several years, taking the citizens from the lower +to the upper town, as we pass from basement to attic in our tall North +American buildings. Between the two portions of Bahia there are streets +for the transportation of merchandise, which wind zigzag fashion along +the ravine to avoid the abruptness of the ascent. Besides these means, +there are narrow stone steps leading upwards to the first level, among +the tropical verdure, the deep green branches and leaves nodding to one +from out of narrow lanes and quiet nooks. There is still another way of +reaching the upper town, namely, a cable road, of very steep grade, one +car ascending while another descends, thus forming a sort of +counterbalance. By all these facilities united, the population manage +very comfortably to overcome the topographical difficulties of the +situation. + +Though there are few buildings of any special note in Bahia, the general +architecture being quaint and nondescript, still the combined view of +the city, as we have endeavored to show, is of no inconsiderable beauty. +We approached it from the north, doubling Light House Point in the early +morning, just as the rising sun lighted up the bay. Seen from the +harbor, the large dome of the cathedral overlooks the whole town very +much like the gilded dome which forms so conspicuous an object on +approaching the city of Boston. The dark, low-lying, grim-looking fort, +which presides over the quarantine anchorage, is built upon a natural +ledge of rock, half a mile from the shore of the town, and looks like a +huge cheese-box. + +In the upper portion of Bahia the streets are narrow, and the houses so +tall as to nearly exclude the sun when it is not in the zenith. They are +built of a native stone, and differ from the majority of South American +dwellings, which are rarely over two stories in height, and generally of +one only. We have heard it argued that it is advantageous to build +tropical cities with narrow streets, so as to exclude the heat of the +sun's rays and thus keep the houses cooler. This is not logical. Wide +avenues and broad streets give ventilation which cannot be obtained in +any other way in populous centres. Narrow lanes invite epidemics, +fevers, and malarial diseases; broad thoroughfares give less opportunity +for their lodgment. A beehive of human beings, crowded together in a +narrow space, exhausts the life-giving principle of the surrounding +atmosphere, but this is impossible where plenty of room is given for the +circulation of fresh air. + +These tall houses of Bahia have overhanging ornamental balconies, which +towards evening are filled with the female portion of the families, +laughing, chatting, singing, and smoking, for the ladies of these +latitudes smoke in their domestic circles. Narrow as the streets of +Bahia are, room is found for a well patronized tramway to run through +them. No one thinks of walking, if it be for only a couple of hundred +rods, on the line of the street cars. All of the civilized world seems +to have grown lazy since the introduction of this modern facility for +cheap transportation. + +Bahia was the capital of Brazil until 1763, during which year the +headquarters of the government were removed to Rio Janeiro. + +This is a sort of New Bedford, so to speak, having been for more than a +century extensively engaged in the whaling business, an occupation which +is still pursued to a limited extent. Whales frequent the bay of Bahia, +where they are sometimes captured by small boats from the shore. It is +supposed that the favorite food of this big game is found in these +waters. There was a time when the close pursuit by fishing fleets fitted +out in nearly all parts of the world rendered the whales wary and +scarce. The catching and killing of so many seemed to have thinned out +their number in most of the seas of the globe. Then came the great +discovery of rock oil, which rapidly superseded the whale oil of +commerce in general use. Thereupon the pursuit of the gigantic animal +ceased to be of any great moment, while there was oil enough +spontaneously pouring out of the wells of Pennsylvania, and elsewhere, +to fully satisfy the demand of the world at large. Being no longer +hunted, the whales gradually became tame and increased in numbers, so +that to-day there are probably as many in the usual haunts of these +leviathans in either hemisphere as there ever were. The briefest sea +voyage can hardly be made without sighting one or more of them, and +sometimes in large schools. + +There is a portion of the elevated section of Bahia which is called +Victoria, a really beautiful locality, having delightful gardens, +attractive walks, and myriads of noble shade trees. From here the +visitor overlooks the bay, with its islands and curving shore decked +with graceful palms, bamboos, and mango groves; upon the water are +numerous tiny boats, while white winged sailing ships and dark, begrimed +steamers unite in forming a picture of active life and maritime beauty. +In the distance lies the ever green island of Itaparica, named after the +first governor's Indian bride, while still farther away is seen range +after range of tall, purple hills, multiplied until lost in the +distance. + +A few grim looking convents and monasteries, which have gradually come +into the possession of the government, are now used as free schools, +libraries, and hospitals. There is a medical college here which has a +national reputation for general excellence, and many students come from +Rio Janeiro, eight hundred miles away, to avail themselves of its +advantages, receiving a diploma after attending upon its three years' +course of studies. From subsequent inquiry, however, not only here but +in Rio and elsewhere, we are satisfied that the science of medicine and +surgery stands at a very low ebb throughout this great southland. +Foreign doctors are looked upon with great distrust and jealousy; +indeed, it is very difficult for them to obtain a suitable license to +practice in Brazil. This does not apply to dentistry, of which +profession there are many American experts in the country, who have +realized decided pecuniary and professional success. There were six or +eight on board the Vigilancia, who had been on a visit to their North +American homes during the summer season, at which time the fever is most +to be dreaded here. + +The city contains over sixty churches, some of which are fine edifices, +built of stone brought from Europe. This could easily be done without +much extra expense, as the vessels visiting the port in those early days +required ballast with which to cross the ocean. They brought no other +cargo of any account, but were sure at certain seasons of the year to +obtain a suitable return freight, which paid a good profit on the round +voyage. Several of these churches are in a very dilapidated condition, +and probably will not be repaired. The cathedral is one of the largest +structures of the sort in Brazil, and is thought by many to be one of +the finest. The cathedral at Rio, however, is a much more elaborate +structure, and far more costly. It takes enormous sums, wrung from the +poorest class of people, to maintain these gorgeous temples and support +the horde of fat, licentious, useless priests attached to them, while +the mass of humanity find life a daily struggle with abject want and +poverty. Does any thoughtful person believe for one moment that such +hollow service can be grateful to a just and merciful Supreme Being? + +Bahia was a flourishing port before Rio Janeiro was known commercially, +and was the first place of settlement by English traders on this coast. +The present population is of a very mixed character, composed of nearly +all nationalities, white and black, European and natives. There is no +prejudice evinced as regards color. Mulatto or negro may once have been +a slave, but he is a freeman now, both socially and in the eyes of the +law. He is eligible for any position of trust, public or private, if he +develops the requisite degree of intelligence. Men who have been slaves +in their youth are now filling political offices here, with credit to +themselves and satisfaction to the public. The actual reform from being +a degraded land of slavery to one of human freedom is much more radical +and thorough in Brazil than it is in our own Southern States, where the +pretended equality of the colored race is simply a burlesque upon +constitutional liberty. + +The occasional use of that quaint mode of conveyance, the sedan chair, +was observable, taking one back to the days of Queen Anne. Only a few +years ago it was the one mode of transportation from the lower to the +upper part of the town; but modern facilities, already referred to, have +thrown the sedan chair nearly out of use. A few antique representatives +of this style of vehicle, some quite expensive and elaborately +ornamented, are still seen obstructing the entrances to the houses. The +local name they bear is _cadeira_. When these chairs are used, they are +borne upon the shoulders of two or four stalwart blacks, and are hung +upon long poles, like a palanquin, after the fashion so often seen in +old pictures and ancient tapestry. + +We have spoken of the narrowness of the streets through which the +tramways pass. In many places, pedestrians are compelled to step into +the doorways of dwellings to permit the cars to pass them. This is not +only the case at Bahia, but also in half the busy portion of South +American cities. These mule propelled cars are now adopted all over this +country and Mexico; even fourth class cities have tramways, and many +towns which have not yet risen to the dignity of having a city +organization are thus supplied with transportation. The Bahia tramway, +on its route to the suburbs, passes through fertile districts of great +rural beauty, among groves of tropical fruits, orange orchards, tall +overshadowing mangoes, and cultivated flowers. There is an attempt at a +public garden, though it is an idea only half carried out; but there is +a terrace in connection here called "The Bluff," from whence one gets a +magnificent view, more especially of the near and the distant sea. These +delightful and comprehensive natural pictures are photographed upon the +memory, forming a charming cabinet of scenic views appertaining to each +special locality, choice, original, and never to be effaced. + +We must not omit to mention a specialty of this city, an article +produced in one or two of the charitable institutions, as well as in +many humble family circles, namely, artificial flowers made from the +choicest feathers of the most brilliant colored birds. None of these +articles are poor, while some of them are exquisite in design and +execution, produced entirely from the plumage of native birds. A +considerable aggregate sum of money is realized by a certain portion of +the community, in the regular manufacture of these delicate ornaments. +Girls begin to learn the art at a very early age, and in a few years +arrive at a marvelous degree of perfection, producing realistic pictures +which rival the brush and pencil of a more pretentious department of +art. Nearly all visitors carry away with them dainty examples of this +exquisite and artistic work, which has a reputation beyond the seas. +Thousands of beautiful birds are annually sacrificed to furnish the +necessary material. Thus the delicate family of the humming-bird, whose +variety is infinite in Brazil, has been almost exterminated in some +parts of the country. There is one other specialty here, namely, the +manufacture of lace, which gives constant employment to many women of +Bahia, their product being much esteemed all over South America for the +beauty of the designs and the perfection of the manufacture. + +The special fruit of this province, as already intimated, is oranges, +and it is safe to say that none produced elsewhere can excel them. They +are not picked until they are thoroughly ripe, and are therefore too +delicate, in their prime condition, to sustain transportation to any +considerable distance. Those sold in our northern cities are picked in a +green condition and ripened off the trees, a process which does not +injure some fruits, but which detracts very materially from the orange +and the pineapple. The oranges of Bahia average from five to six inches +in diameter, have a rather thin skin, are full of juice, and contain no +pips; in short, they are perfectly delicious, being delicately sweet, +with a slight subacid flavor. The first enjoyment of this special fruit +in Bahia is a gastronomic revelation. The maracajus is also a favorite +fruit here, but hardly to be named beside the orange. It is the product +of the vine which bears the passion flower, but this we could not +relish. It is a common fruit in Australia and New Zealand, where the +author found it equally unpalatable, yet people who have once acquired +the taste become very fond of it. The vine with its flower is common +enough in the United States, but we have never seen it in a +fruit-bearing condition in our country. + +The province of Bahia has an area of two hundred thousand square miles, +and is represented as containing some of the most fertile land in +Brazil, capable of producing immense crops of several important staples. +It is especially fertile near the coast, where there are some large and +thriving tobacco, sugar, and coffee plantations. The first mentioned +article, owing to some favorable peculiarity of the soil in this +vicinity, is held to be nearly equal to the average Cuban product, and +it is being more and more extensively cultivated each year. Bahia cigars +are not only very cheap, but they are remarkably fine in flavor. It was +observed that old travelers on this coast made haste to lay in a goodly +supply of them for personal use. + +A coffee plantation situated not far from this city was visited, +affording a small party of strangers to the place much pleasure and +information. The coffee plant is an evergreen, and thus the foliage is +always fresh in appearance, yielding two harvests annually. Boa Vista, +the plantation referred to, covers about one hundred acres, much of +which is also devoted to the raising of fodder, fruit, corn, and beans, +with some special vegetables, forming the principal sustenance of the +people and animals employed upon the estate. At first, in laying out +such a plantation, the coffee sprouts are started in a nursery, and when +they have had a year's growth are transplanted to the open field, where +they are placed with strict uniformity in long rows at equal distances +apart. After the second year these young plants begin to bear, and +continue to do so for twenty-five or thirty years, at which period both +the trees and the soil become in a measure exhausted, and a new tract of +land is again selected for a plantation. By proper management the new +plantation can be made to begin bearing at the same time that the old +one ceases to be sufficiently productive and remunerative to cultivate +for the same purpose. The coffee-tree is thought to be in its prime at +from five to ten years of age. Fruit trees, such as bananas, oranges, +mandioca, guavas, and so on, are planted among the coffee-trees to +afford them a partial shelter, which, to a certain degree, is requisite +to their best success, especially when they are young and throwing out +thin roots. The coffee bushes are kept trimmed down to about the height +of one's head, which facilitates the harvesting of the crop, and also +throws the sap into the formation and growth of berries. The +coffee-tree, when permitted to grow to its natural height, reaches +between twenty and thirty feet, and, with its deep green foliage, is a +handsome ornamental garden tree, much used for this purpose in Brazil. +The coffee pods, when ripe, are scarlet in color, and resemble cherries, +though they are much smaller. Each berry contains two seeds, which, when +detached from the pod and properly dried, form the familiar article of +such universal domestic use. A coffee plantation well managed, in +Brazil, is an almost certain source of ample fortune. The crop is sure; +that is to say, it has scarcely any drawbacks, and is always in demand. +Of course there are inconveniences of climate, and other things needless +to enumerate, as regards entering into the business, but the growth and +ripening of a coffee crop very seldom fail. + +As has been intimated, this port is famous for the production of oranges +and tobacco; so Rio is famous for coffee, Pernambuco for sugar, and Pará +for crude india-rubber. + +We must not forget to mention one other, and by no means insignificant +product of Brazil which is exported from Bahia, namely, diamonds of the +very first quality, which for purity of color far exceed those of Africa +and elsewhere. It appears that a syndicate in London control the world's +supply of this peculiar gem from all the mines on the globe, permitting +only a certain quantity of diamonds to go on to the market annually, and +thus keeping up the selling price and the market value. No one is +permitted to know the real product of the mines but the managers of this +syndicate. The quantity of the sparkling gems which are held back by the +dealers in London, Paris, and Vienna is really enormous; were they to be +placed in the retail dealers' hands as fast as they are produced from +the various sources of supply, they would be erelong as cheap and plenty +as moonstones. This sounds like an extravagant assertion, but still +there is far more truth in it than is generally realized. One of the +public journals of London lately spoke of a proposed corporation, to be +known as the "Diamond Trust," which is certainly a significant evidence +that the market requires to be carefully controlled as to the quantity +which is annually put upon it. In old times a diamond was simply valued +as a diamond; its cutting and polishing were of the simplest character. +A series of irregular plane surfaces were thought to sufficiently bring +out its reflective qualities, but the stone is now treated with far more +care and intelligence. A large portion of the value of a diamond has +come to consist in the artistic, and we may say scientific, manner in +which it is cut. By this means its latent qualities of reflection of +light are brought to perfection, developing its real brilliancy. +Accomplished workmen realize fabulous wages in this employment. A stone +of comparatively little value, by being cut in the best manner, can be +made to outshine a much finer stone which is cut after the old style. +Amsterdam used to control the business of diamond cutting, but it is now +as well done in Boston and New York as in any part of the world. + +The largest diamond yet discovered came from Brazil, and is known as the +Braganza. The first European expert in precious stones has valued this +extraordinary gem, which is still in the rough, at three hundred million +sterling! Its actual weight is something over one pound troy. In the +light of such a statement, we pause to ask ourselves, What is a diamond? +Simply carbon crystallized, that is, in its greatest purity, and carbon +is the combustible principle of charcoal. The author was told, both here +and in Rio Janeiro, that there is a considerable and profitable mining +industry carried on in this country, of which the general public hear +nothing. The results are only known to prominent and interested +Brazilians, the whole matter being kept as secret as possible for +commercial reasons. No one reads anything about the products of the +diamond mines in the local papers. + +We cannot say that the city of Bahia is a very healthy locality, though +it certainly seems that it ought to be, it is so admirably situated. +Yellow fever and other epidemics prevail more or less every year. The +lower part of the town, on the water front, is so shamefully filthy as +to induce fever. Upon first landing, the stranger finds himself almost +nauseated by the vile smells which greet him. This section of the town +is also very hot, the cliff, or upper town, shutting off almost entirely +the circulation of air. It is here that sailors, particularly, indulge +in all sorts of excesses, especially in drinking the vile, raw liquor +sold by negresses, besides eating unripe and overripe fruit, thus +inviting disease. One favorite drink produced here, very cheap and very +potent, is a poisonous but seductive white rum. + +The trade and people in this part of the town form a strange +conglomerate,--monkeys, parrots, caged birds, tame jaguars, mongrel +puppies, pineapples, oranges, mangoes, and bananas, these being flanked +by vegetables and flowers. The throng is made up of half-naked boatmen, +indolent natives from the country, with negresses, both as venders and +purchasers. As we look at the scene, in addition to what we have +depicted there is a jovial group of sailors from a man-of-war in the +harbor enjoying their shore leave, while not far away a small party of +yachtsmen from an English craft are amusing themselves with petty +bargains, close followed by half a dozen Americans, who came hither in +the last mail steamer. A polyglot scene of mixed tongues and gay colors. + +In passing into and out of the harbor of Bahia, one can count a dozen +forts and batteries, all constructed after the old style, and armed in +the most ineffective manner. These would count as nothing in a contest +with modern ships of war having plated hulls and arms of precision. Land +fortifications, designed to protect commercial ports from foreign +enemies, have not kept pace with the progress in naval armament. + +Bahia is connected by submarine telegraph with Pernambuco, Pará, and Rio +Janeiro, and through them with all parts of the civilized world. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + Cape Frio.--Rio Janeiro.--A Splendid Harbor.--Various + Mountains.--Botafogo Bay.--The Hunchback.--Farewell to the + Vigilancia.--Tijuca.--Italian Emigrants.--City + Institutions.--Public Amusements.--Street + Musicians.--Churches.--Narrow Thoroughfares.--Merchants' + Clerks.--Railroads in Brazil.--Natural Advantages of the + City.--The Public Plazas.--Exports. + + +After a three days' voyage down the coast, between Bahia and Rio +Janeiro, the tall lighthouse of Cape Frio--"Cool Cape"--was sighted. +This promontory is a large oval mass of granite, sixteen hundred feet in +height, quite isolated from other highlands, protruding boldly into the +Atlantic Ocean. It forms the southeastern extremity of the coast of +Brazil, and in clear weather can be seen, it is said, forty miles or +more away. Here the long swell of the open sea is unobstructed and finds +full sway, asserting its giant power at all seasons of the year. +Experienced travelers who rarely suffer from seasickness are apt to +succumb to this trying illness off Cape Frio. It is situated in latitude +22° 59' south, longitude 41° 57' west, which is particularly specified +because the line of no magnetic variation touches on this cape,--that +line which Columbus was so amazed at discovering one hundred leagues +west of Flores, in the Azores, nearly four hundred years ago. We had +been running almost due south for the last eight hundred miles, but in +doubling Cape Frio, and making for Rio harbor, the ship was headed to +the westward, while the mountains on the coast assumed the most +grotesque and singular shapes, the range extending from west to east +until it ends at Cape Frio. The continent of South America here forms a +sharp angle, but we were too full of expectancy as to the king of +harbors towards which we were heading, to speculate much about Cape Frio +and its ocean-swept surroundings. + +Rio Janeiro, the capital of Brazil, is also the largest, if not the most +important city in South America, situated about twelve hundred miles +north of Montevideo and Buenos Ayres, just within the borders of the +southern torrid zone. The distance of Rio from New York direct is five +thousand miles, but most voyagers, on the way through the West Indies, +stop at three or four of these islands, and also at some of the northern +ports of the continent of South America, the same as in our own case, so +that about five hundred miles may be fairly added to the distance we +have just named. Though the vessel was a month in making the voyage to +this port, had we sailed direct it might have been done in two thirds of +the time. + +After doubling the cape and sailing some sixty or eighty miles, we +steered boldly towards the mouth of the harbor of Rio. For a few moments +the ship's prow pointed towards Raza Island, on which stands the +lighthouse, but a slight turn of the wheel soon changed its relative +position, and we entered the passage leading into the bay. After passing +the "Sugar Loaf," a rock twelve hundred feet in height, the city lay off +our port bow. All is so well defined, the water is so deep and free from +obstructions of any sort, that no pilot is required and none is taken, +and thus we crept slowly up towards our moorings. As the reader may well +suppose, to eyes weary of the monotony of the sea, the panorama which +opened before us was one of intense interest. Everything seemed matured +and olden. There was no sign of newness; indeed, we recalled the fact +that Rio was an established commercial port half a century before New +York had a local habitation or a name. The town lies on the west side of +the port, between a mountain range and the bay, running back less than +two miles in depth, but extending along the shore for a distance of some +eight miles, fronting one of the finest and most spacious harbors in the +world, famous for its manifold scenic beauties, which, from the moment +of passing within the narrow entrance, are ever changing and ever +lovely. The most prominent features are the verdure-clad hills of +Gloria, Theresa, and Castello, behind which extend ranges of steep, +everlasting mountains, one line beyond another, until lost among the +clouds. Few natural spectacles can equal the grand contour of this +famous bay. People who have visited it always speak in superlative +language of Rio harbor, but we hardly think it could be overpraised. It +is the grand entrance to a tropical paradise, so far as nature is +concerned, amid clustering mountains, abrupt headlands, inviting inlets, +and beautiful islands, covered with palms, tree-ferns, bananas, acacias, +and other delights of tropical vegetation, which, when seen depicted in +books, impress one as an exaggeration, but seen here thrill us with +vivid reality. It is only in the torrid zone that one sees these lavish +developments of verdure, these labyrinths of charming arboreous effect. + +Though so well known and so often written about, the harbor of Rio is +less famous than beautiful. The bay is said to contain about one hundred +islands, its area extending inland some seventeen or eighteen miles. The +largest of these is Governor's Island, nearly fronting the city, being +six miles long. Some idea of the extent of the bay may be had from the +fact that there are fifty square miles of good anchorage for ships +within its compass. Into the bay flows the water of two inconsiderable +rivers, the Macacu and the Iguaçu, the first named coming in at the +northeast and the latter at the northwest corner of the harbor. + +The Organ Mountains,--Serra dos Orgãos,--capped with soft, fleecy +clouds, formed the lofty background of the picture towards the north, as +we entered upon the scene, the immediate surroundings being dominated by +the sky-reaching Sugar Loaf Rock,--Pão d'Assucar,--which is also the +navigator's guiding mark while yet far away at sea. This bold, irregular +rock of red sandstone rises abruptly from the water, like a giant +standing waist-high in the sea, and forms the western boundary of the +entrance to the harbor, opposite to which, crowning a small but bold +promontory, is the fort of Santa Cruz, the two highlands forming an +appropriate portal to the grandeur which is to greet one within. The +distance between these bounds is about a mile, inside of which the water +widens at once to lake-like proportions. Clouds of frigate birds, gulls, +and gannets fly gracefully about each incoming ship, as if to welcome +them to the harbor where anchorage might be had for the combined +shipping of the whole world. We have lately seen the harbor of Rio +compared to that of Queenstown, on the Irish coast, twenty times +magnified; but the infinite superiority of the former in every respect +makes the allusion quite pointless. + +The Organ Mountains, to which we have referred, and which form so +conspicuous a portion of the scene in and about Rio, are so called +because of their fancied resemblance in shape to the pipes of an organ; +but though blessed with the usual share of imagination, we were quite +unable to trace any such resemblance. However, one must not be +hypercritical. The gigantic recumbent form of a human being, so often +spoken of as discernible along this mountain range, is no poetical +fancy, but is certainly clear enough to any eye, recalling the likeness +to a crouching lion outlined by the promontory of Gibraltar as one first +sees the rock, either on entering the strait or coming from Malta. + +One of the most beautiful indentures of the shore, earliest to catch the +eye after passing into the harbor of Rio from the sea, is called the Bay +of Botafogo. The word means "thrown into the fire," and alludes to the +inhuman _autos-da-fé_ which occurred here when the natives, on refusing +to subscribe to the Roman Catholic faith, were committed by the priests +to the flames! This is the way in which the Romish creed was introduced +into Mexico and South America, and the means by which it was sustained. + +The principal charm of this lovely bay within a bay--Botafogo--is its +flowers and exposition of soaring royal palms. The attractiveness of the +handsome residences is quite secondary to that of nature, here revealed +with a lavish profusion. This part of Rio is overshadowed by the tall +peak of the Corcovado, "the Hunchback," one of the mass of hills which +occupy a large area west of the city, and the nearest mountain to it. +From its never-failing springs comes a large share of the water supply +of the capital. The aqueduct is some ten miles long, crossing a valley +at one point seven hundred feet in width, at a height of ninety feet, +upon double arches. Another large aqueduct is in contemplation, besides +which some other sources are now in actual operation, as Rio has long +since outgrown the capacity of the original supply derived from the +Corcovado. The drainage of the town suffers seriously for want of +sufficient water wherewith to flush the conduits, which at this writing, +with the deadly fever claiming victims on all hands, are permitted to +remain in a stagnant condition! And yet there are hundreds of hills +round about, within long cannon range, which would readily yield the +required element in almost limitless quantity. + +We left the Vigilancia, and our good friend Captain Baker, with regret. +The noble ship had borne us in safety thousands of miles during the past +month, through storms and calms, amid intense tropical heat, and such +floods of rain as are only encountered in southern seas. Watching from +her deck, there had been revealed to us the glories of the changing +latitudes, and particularly the grandeur of the radiant heavens in +equatorial regions. A sense of all-absorbing curiosity prevailed as we +landed at the stone steps, overlooked by the yellow ochre walls of the +arsenal, in the picturesque, though pestilential city. The nauseous +odors which greet one as he steps on shore are very discordant elements +in connection with the intense interest created by the novel sights that +engage the eye of a stranger. + +With a population, including the immediate suburbs, of over half a +million,--estimated at six hundred and fifty thousand,--Rio has most of +the belongings of a North American city of the first class, though we +cannot refrain from mentioning one remarkable exception, namely, the +entire absence of good hotels. There is not a really good and +comfortable public house in all Brazil. Those which do exist in Rio +charge exorbitantly for the most indifferent service, and strangers are +often puzzled to find a sleeping-room for a single night on first +arriving here. Tijuca, situated in the hills a few miles from the city, +is perhaps the most desirable place of temporary sojourn for the newly +arrived traveler, who will find at least one large and comfortable +public house there, favorably known to travelers as Whyte's Hotel. It is +some little distance from the city, but is easily reached by tramway, +which takes one to the foot of the hills of the Tijuca range, whose +tallest peak is thirty-four hundred feet above tide-water. This place +abounds in attractive villas, tropical vegetation, and beautiful +flowers, both wild and cultivated. From here also one gets a most +charming view of the distant city, the famous bay, and the broad +Atlantic; indeed, the view alone will repay one for making this brief +excursion. The loftiest village in these hills is called Boa Vista. +There are mountains, however, on either side, which are five or six +hundred feet higher than the village containing the hotel. American +enterprise is engaged at this writing in constructing a narrow gauge +electric tramway to the summit of Tijuca. The driving road from the base +to the top is an admirable piece of engineering, and is kept in the very +best condition possible. + +The objectionable character of the Italian emigrants, who come hither as +well as to our own States, was demonstrated by a party of them robbing +and nearly murdering a resident of Tijuca who happened to be a short +distance from his own house, the evening previous to the day which we +spent at this resort. These Italians are mostly employed as workmen upon +the railroad, though some are gardeners on the neighboring estates. In +town they act as porters and day laborers on the wharves, as boatmen, +and so on, but, as we were assured, are a lawless, vagabond element of +the community, giving the police force a great deal of trouble. + +Rio has many large and commodious public buildings and some elegant +private residences, the latter generally of a half Moorish type of +architecture. Some of the edifices date back a couple of centuries. The +early Portuguese built of stone and cement, hence the somewhat +remarkable durability of these houses. The large edifice devoted to the +department of agriculture and public works is one of the most noticeable +in the city. The Bank of Brazil occupies a building which is classic in +its fine architecture, being elaborately constructed of hammered +granite. There is no more superb example of masonry in the country. The +National Mint, on the Square of the Republic, is also a fine granite +building; so is that devoted to the Bourse, where enormous values change +hands daily. Educational institutions are numerous, well organized, and +generally availed of by the rising generation. The National College is +of notable influence in the dissemination of general intelligence, and +the same may be said of the Polytechnic College, an excellent and +practical institution. It should be observed that any well organized +educational establishment is called a college in this country. + +The public library of Rio contains some two hundred thousand volumes, +besides many valuable Spanish and Portuguese documents in manuscript. It +is liberally conducted; black and white people alike, as well as all +respectable strangers, have free access and liberal accommodations +within the walls. This institution is an honor to Brazil. + +Rio has a new and well organized navy yard, a large arsenal, cotton +mills, and several extensive manufacturing establishments. Among the +latter is the largest flour mill we have ever seen. This is an English +enterprise; but so far as we could learn, it had been found impossible +to compete profitably with the American flour, as now landed at Rio. A +foundling hospital on the Rua Everesta de Veiga is worthy of mention. +Here, as already described in relation to another Brazilian city, +infants are freely received and cared for, without any inquiry being +made of those who deposit them. These little ones at the outset become +children of the state, and are registered and numbered as such. +Oftentimes the mother pins to the little deserted one's clothes the name +she desires should be given to it, and the wish is usually regarded by +the officials of the institution. The authorities put each child out to +nurse for a year, but receive it back again at the expiration of that +time, and at a proper period send it to school, and endeavor to rear it +to some useful employment or trade. While the child is thus disposed of, +the payment for its board and care is very moderate in amount, and is +also contingent upon its good health and physical condition. Thus the +deserted one is likely to have good attention, if not for humanity's +sake, then from mercenary motives. This plan is copied from that which +is pursued by the great foundling hospitals of St. Petersburg and +Moscow, which are certainly the best organized and largest institutions +of the sort in the world. Where so large a percentage of the children +born are illegitimate, such a hospital becomes a real necessity. There +has been no year since this establishment was opened, in 1738, as we +were told, in which less than four hundred infants were received. +Sometimes parents, whose worldly conditions have greatly improved, come +forward after the lapse of years and claim their children. This right on +their part is duly respected by their properly proving the relationship +beyond all possible doubt, and paying a sum of money equal to that which +has been actually expended by the state in the child's behalf. + +In the line of public amusements there is a large and well-appointed +opera house besides eight other fairly good theatres, together with an +excellent museum. The performances at the theatres are given in French, +Spanish, and Portuguese. Italian opera is presented three times a week +during the season. This year the performances were summarily stopped by +the principal tenor dying of yellow fever. The theatre bearing the name +of the late emperor is a sort of mammoth cave in size, and is capable of +seating six thousand people, not one half of whom can hear what is said +or sung upon the stage by the performers. Street bands of German +musicians perform here as they do in Boston and New York; the mass of +the people, being music loving, patronize these itinerants liberally. +One band posted themselves daily before the popular Globe Restaurant, at +the hour of the midday meal (breakfast), and performed admirably, +reaping a generous response from the habitués. Most of the patrons of +this excellent establishment were observed to be American, English, and +French merchants, who attended to business in Rio during the day, but +who went home to the elevated environs to dine and to sleep. "I have +been here in business nine years," said one of these gentlemen to us, +"and have been down with the fever once; but I would not sleep in Rio +overnight for any amount of money, at this season of the year." This was +early in June. He added: "The fever should have disappeared before this +time, which is our winter, but it seems to linger later and later each +succeeding year." This was a conclusion which we heard expressed by +other observant individuals, but all joined in ascribing its persistency +in no small degree to the imperfect drainage, and the vile personal +habits of the mass of the common people, who make no effort to be +cleanly, or to regard the decencies of life in this respect. + +As to churches, Rio has between sixty and seventy, none of which are +very remarkable, all being dim, dirty, and offensive to the olfactories. +The cause of the foul air being so noticeable in all of these Romish +churches is the fact that no provision whatever is made for proper +ventilation, and this, too, in places of all others where it is most +imperatively necessary. The offense is created by exhalations from the +bodies of the least cleanly class of the population. It is such who +mostly fill these churches all over the continent of Europe, Mexico, +South America, and the United States. Precisely the same disgusting odor +greets the senses of the visitor to these edifices, be it in one +hemisphere or another, but especially in Italy and Spain. + +The cathedral of Rio is a large, showy edifice, surrounded by narrow +streets, and thus hidden by other buildings, so that no general and +satisfactory outside effect can be had. The front and sides are of solid +granite, and the whole is known to have cost a mint of money, yet the +safety of the foundation is more than questionable. Like the grand +church of St. Isaacs, in the Russian capital of St. Petersburg, great +expense will doubtless have to be incurred to renew and strengthen it in +this respect. It is believed that the site upon which Rio stands was +once under the sea, and, geologically speaking, at no very remote +period, which accounts for considerable trouble being experienced in +obtaining secure and solid foundations for any heavy superstructure. At +this writing, the cathedral is undergoing extensive repairs, inside and +out, but in spite of the noise of workmen, the disagreeable lime dust, +and the interference of a network of interior staging, it is still very +striking in its architectural effect. + +In the old part of the town, two prominent cupolas dominate the +surroundings. These belong respectively to the churches of Candelaria +and San Luigi. The most popular church in Rio is undoubtedly that which +crowns the Gloria Hill, called the Igreja da Gloria do Onterio, which +overlooks the bay. Its commanding situation is very remarkable. In shape +it is octagonal, and seems to be very solidly built. In front of the +church there is a broad terrace, from whence a fine view may be enjoyed. +On a moonlight night the picture presented from the Gloria Hill is +something worth going miles on foot to behold. This church was the +favorite resort of the late royal family when they were in the city, +though much of their home life and all of their summers were passed in +the hills of the Organ Mountains at the emperor's favorite +resort,--Petropolis. + +The shops of Rio, notwithstanding they are generally small and situated +upon streets so narrow that they would be called only lanes in North +America,--close, confined, half-strangled thoroughfares,--will compare +favorably in many respects with those of continental Europe. The larger +number of the merchants here are French, together with a considerable +sprinkling of German Jews. Indeed, can any one tell us where we shall +not find this peculiar race represented in the trade centres of the wide +world? In many of the fancy-goods stores the famous Brazilian feather +flowers are exhibited for sale, but the best place to purchase these is +at Bahia, where they are a specialty, and where their manufacture is +said to have originated. The narrow streets, traversed by tramways, are +at times almost impassable for pedestrians, and are often blocked by +heavy mule teams for fifteen minutes at a time. By and by some lazy +policeman makes his appearance and quietly begins to unravel the snarl, +which he at length succeeds in doing, and the ordinary traffic of the +thoroughfare is once more resumed. An unsightly gutter runs through the +middle of some of these thoroughfares, which adds to the annoyances +incident to ordinary travel. All are regularly laid out, chess-board +fashion, very ill smelling, and harbor an infinite number of beggars and +mangy dogs. + +It is customary for local merchants who employ European clerks--and +there are many English, French, and Brazilians in Rio who do so,--to +give them a fixed salary, quite moderate in amount, and to furnish them +with lodgings also. The latter are of a very rude and undesirable +character, in the business establishment itself, either over the store, +or in the back part of it. The bedding which is furnished is of a +makeshift character, rarely changed, and never properly aired. +Exceedingly uncleanly domestic arrangements, or the entire absence of +them, are also a serious matter in this connection, from a sanitary +point of view. The clerks get their food at some neighboring restaurant, +and contract irregular habits, all of which is both mentally and +physically demoralizing. It is among this class of foreigners that the +yellow fever finds the most ready victims. To sleep in these crowded +business centres, in ill-ventilated apartments, with far from cleanly +surroundings, is simply to provoke fatal illness, and during an epidemic +of fever these places furnish fuel for the flames. Neatness and +cleanliness among domestic associations in this city are entirely lost +sight of and are totally disregarded by men and women. + +The Rua Direita is the State Street or Wall Street of Rio; a new name, +which escapes us at this moment, has been given to it, but the old one +is still the favorite and in common use. Here brokers, bankers, and +commission merchants meet and bargain, and fiercely speculate in coffee. +The principal shopping street is the Rua de Ouvidor, where the best +stores and choicest retail goods are to be found. In the Rua dos +Ourives,--"Goldsmith's Street,"--the display of fine jewelry, diamonds, +and other precious stones recalls the Rue de la Paix of Paris. Diamonds +are held at quite as high prices as in London or New York, and those of +the best quality can be bought better at retail out of this country than +in it. A poor quality of stone, off color, is imported and offered here +as being of native production, and careless purchasers are not +infrequently deceived by cunning dealers in these matters. + +Two vehicles cannot pass each other in this avenue without driving upon +the narrow sidewalk. At times a deafening uproar prevails along these +circumscribed lanes. The rough grinding of wheels, noisy bootblacks, +whooping orange-sellers, screaming newspaper boys, howling dogs, the +rattle of the street peddler, lottery ticket venders, fighting street +gamins, all join to swell the mingled chorus. And yet these crowded +thoroughfares would lose half of their picturesqueness were these +elements to be banished from them. They each and all add a certain crude +element of interest to this every-day picture of Vanity Fair. + +In their ambition to copy European and North American fashions, the +gentlemen of Rio utterly disregard the eternal fitness of things, +wearing broadcloth suits of black, with tall, stove-pipe hats, neither +of which articles should be adopted for a moment in their torrid +climate. Nothing could be more inappropriate. Linen clothing and light +straw hats are the true costume for the tropics, naturally suggesting +themselves in hot climates to the exclusion of woolen, heat-brewing +costumes, which are necessary articles of wear in the north. Fashion, +however, ignores climate and is omnipotent everywhere; comfort is +subsidiary. Wear woolen clothing by all means, gentlemen of Rio, even +when the thermometer hangs persistently at 95° Fahr. in the shade, and +the human body perspires like a mountain stream. + +The tramway system of Rio is excellent in a crude way. Statistics show +that fifty million passengers are annually transported by this popular +means from one part of the city to another, and into the suburbs. The +street railway was first introduced here by North American enterprise, +the pioneer route being that between the city proper and the botanical +garden. The prices of passage vary according to distances, as is the +case with the London omnibuses. The cars are all open ones, of cheap, +coarse construction, and far from inviting in appearance, being entirely +unupholstered, and affording only hard board seats for passengers to sit +upon. They are usually drawn by one small donkey, whose strength is +quite overtasked, but the ground in the city is so nearly level that the +cars move very easily and rapidly. + +There is one delightful excursion from Rio which nearly all strangers +are sure to enjoy. We refer to the ascent of Corcovado, the mountain +which looms over Botafogo Bay to the height of twenty-two hundred feet, +and to the summit of which a railway has been constructed. The grades +are extremely steep, and the road is what is called a centre line, +worked upon the cog-wheel system, the ascent being very slow and +winding. The principle is the same as that of the railway by which Mount +Washington is ascended, in New Hampshire, or the Righi, in Switzerland. +This road was built by the national government, but as a pecuniary +speculation it does not pay, though it is of considerable indirect +benefit to the city. We will not dilate upon the grand outlook to be had +from the summit of the Hunchback, which takes in a bird's-eye view of +the harbor and its surroundings, but will add that no one should come +hither without ascending Corcovado. The top consists of two rounded +masses of bare rock, and is walled in to prevent accident, there being +on one side a perpendicular descent of a thousand feet. It gives one at +first a dizzy sensation to look down upon the vast city spread out over +the plain, from whence a hum of mingled sounds comes up with singular +distinctness. Even the bells upon the mules which are attached to the +tram-cars can be distinguished, and other sounds still more delicate and +minute. Just so balloonists tell us that at two or three thousand feet +in mid-air they can distinguish the voices of individuals upon the earth +below them. The experienced traveler learns to be astonished at nothing, +but there are degrees of pleasure induced by beautiful and majestic +views which mount to the apex of our capacity for admiration. One can +safely promise such a realizing sense to him who ascends the Corcovado. + +A tramway which starts from the centre of the city will take the +traveler to the base of the hill, through roads lined by palms of great +age and beauty, finally leaving him near the point from whence the steam +road begins the upward journey. + +Nictheroy, just across the harbor of Rio, on the east side of the bay, +is a sort of faubourg of the capital, with which it is connected by a +line of steam ferry-boats, as Chelsea is with Boston, or Brooklyn with +the city of New York. It is the capital of the province of Rio Janeiro, +and has broader streets, is more reasonably laid out, and is kept more +cleanly than Rio itself. Space is found for a profusion of attractive +gardens, and the senses are greeted by sweet odors in the place of +needlessly offensive smells, which attack one on all sides in the +metropolis so near at hand. It is quite a relief to get on to one of the +ferry-boats and cross over to Nictheroy occasionally, for a breath of +pure air. This is the native Indian name of the place, and signifies +"hidden water," particularly applicable when these land-locked bays were +shrouded in dense tropical woods. + +Unlike Pará, Montevideo, and Buenos Ayres, this city has no special +river communication with the interior, but her commerce is large and +increasing. Railroads are more reliable feeders for business than either +rivers or canals. It is a fact which is not generally realized, that +Brazil has over six thousand miles of well-constructed railways in +operation, besides having a telegraph system covering seven thousand +miles of land service. In the construction of the railroads, the cost, +so far as the ground work and grading was concerned, was reduced to the +minimum, owing to the level nature of the country. As was the case in +New Zealand, many of these railways were constructed at great expense, +in anticipation of the wants of a future population, who it was hoped +would settle rapidly upon the route which they followed. That is to say, +many of these roads did not open communication between populous +districts already in existence. This would have been perfectly +legitimate. They run to no particular objective point, and seem to stop +finally nowhere. The natural sequence followed. After being built and +equipped with borrowed money, they were anything but self-supporting, +and pecuniary aid from the government was freely given to enable them to +be kept in operation. + +There must always come a day of reckoning for all such forced schemes, +and the Brazilian railways were no exception to the rule. This is +largely the primary cause of the present monetary troubles in this +country, as well as in the Argentine Republic. The capital for the +construction of these roads came mostly from England, and that country +has been accordingly a heavy pecuniary sufferer. The rates charged for +transportation upon most of the lines are also exorbitant, if we were +rightly informed; so much so, in fact, as to prove nearly prohibitory. +Scarcely any species of merchandise brought from a considerable distance +inland will bear such freight charges and leave a margin for profit to +the producer and shipper. Would-be planters of coffee and sugar-cane +dare not enter upon raising these staples for the market, unless +situated very near the shipping point, or near some available river's +course, the latter means being naturally much cheaper than any form of +railway transportation. + +Situated on the border of two zones, Rio Janeiro has the products of +both within her reach, and thus possesses peculiar advantages for +extensive trade and general commerce. It is in this latter direction +that her progressive and enterprising merchants are endeavoring to +extend the facilities of the port. The passenger landings--not +wharves--which border the water front of the city here and there are of +solid granite, from which at suitable intervals broad stone steps lead +down to the water's edge, as on the borders of the Neva at St. +Petersburg. We have few, if any, such substantial landing-places in our +North American ports. We know of no harbor on the globe which enjoys a +more eligible situation as regards the commerce of foreign countries, +both of the New and the Old World. The one convenience so imperatively +demanded is proper wharves for the landing and shipping of cargoes, thus +obviating the necessity of the expensive and tedious lighter system. It +is her many natural and extraordinary advantages which has led to so +steady a growth of the city, notwithstanding the very serious drawback +of an unwholesome climate, aggravated by the indolence and incapacity of +the local authorities in sanitary matters. Both consumption and yellow +fever have proved more fatal here than at any other port in South +America, so far as we could draw comparisons. + +The well-equipped marine arsenal of Rio is of considerable interest and +importance, as there is no other port on the Atlantic coast, between the +Gulf of Mexico and Cape Horn, where a large modern vessel can go into +dry dock for needed repairs. This receptacle is ample in size, and is +substantially built of granite. Such an establishment as a national +shipyard is a prime necessity to a commercial country like Brazil, which +has eleven hundred leagues of seacoast. + +In the Plaza Constitution, which is a very grand and spacious park in +the heart of the city, there is an elaborate and costly statue of the +father of the late emperor, of heroic size. The pedestal is surrounded +by four bronze groups, representing typical scenes of early Indian life +in this country. The Paseo Publico is also a garden-like spot, extending +three or four hundred feet along the bay. This is a cool and favorite +resort of the populace. On the corners of the principal streets and +squares there are little octagonal structures called kiosks, gayly +painted, where hot coffee, lottery tickets, and bonbons are sold, as +well as newspapers and flowers. Here, as in Havana, the city of Mexico, +Naples, and many European cities, the lottery proves to be a terrible +curse to the common people, draining their pockets and diverting them +from all ideas of steady-going business. It is customary also for the +regularly organized business establishments to patronize the lottery +with never-failing regularity, charging a certain monthly sum to expense +account, but the money is nevertheless paid out for lottery tickets. The +bad moral effect of this upon clerks and all concerned is very obvious. +When by chance any prize, be it never so small, is awarded, a great +flurry is made of the fact, and advertisements emphasize it, thus to +incite fresh investments in this organized public swindle. Tickets are +sold by boys and girls, men and women, and half the talk of the +thoughtless multitude is about the lottery, how to hit upon lucky +numbers, and so on. + +It is a mistaken though popular idea that our New England consumptives +have only to seek some tropical locality to alleviate their special +trouble. Rio seems to be particularly fatal to persons suffering from +pulmonary troubles. The same may be said of many other tropical regions. +When consumption is developed in the Bahamas, Cuba, or the Sandwich +Islands, for instance, it runs its fatal course with a speed never +realized in the Northern States of America. Physicians do not send +patients to foreign localities so indiscriminately as they used to. +Almost every sort of climate is to be found within the borders of the +United States, where also civilized comforts are more universally to be +obtained than abroad. Besides which, an invalid does not have to brave +seasickness and other ocean hardships, if sent to some eligible locality +within our own borders. + +Though Brazil has long been, and is still, famous for its production of +diamonds, precious stones, and gold, yet these are as nothing when +compared with her exports of sugar, coffee, and hides, not taking into +account her product of rice, cocoa, tobacco, dyewoods, and other +important staples. A large portion of the abnormal growth of her forests +is valuable for its timber, resins, fibre, and fruits. It is naturally a +very rich country, with a world of wealth in its soil, but miserable +financial mismanagement has caused the national treasury to become +utterly bankrupt, and at this writing mercantile credit is an unknown +quantity, so to speak. The natural resources of the country are +unlimited; therefore it must be only a question of time when a healthy +reaction shall set in, and a period of sound prosperity follow. + +It should be remembered in this connection that the immediate country of +which we are speaking, that is, Brazil as a whole, is as large as the +United States, leaving out the territory of Alaska. + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + Outdoor Scenes in Rio Janeiro.--The Little Marmoset.--The + Fish Market.--Secluded Women.--The Romish Church.--Botanical + Garden.--Various Species of Trees.--Grand Avenue of Royal + Palms.--About Humming-Birds.--Climate of Rio.--Surrounded by + Yellow Fever.--The Country Inland.--Begging on the + Streets.--Flowers.--"Portuguese Joe."--Social Distinctions. + + +It would require many pages to properly describe Rio Janeiro with its +curious phases of street life, its manners and customs, its local +peculiarities, and moving panorama of events, all combining to make up a +unique personality. These out-of-door scenes go far to tell the true +story of any special locality. The fruit and vegetable market, near +Palace Square, is a highly attractive place to visit at early morning. +The negro women venders, always stout and portly creatures, with heads +turbaned in many-colored bandannas, are eloquent in recommending their +articles for sale, and are also very shrewd at a bargain. It is not +uncommon for these middle-aged negresses to stand six feet high, without +shoes or stockings, and to turn the scales at double the average weight +of men of the same color and class. These women were all slaves in their +girlhood. As regards prices charged for provisions, fruits, and +vegetables, in the markets of Rio, they seemed to the author rather +exorbitant, but doubtless permanent residents do not pay such sums as +are charged to strangers for the same articles. We were heartily laughed +at by a housekeeper on stating the cost of a small basket of choice +fruit which we had purchased, being told that we had paid four times its +market value. However, it was well worth the price to us, who had just +arrived from an ocean voyage of five thousand miles and more. On +shipboard fruit is necessarily a scarce article, and it was certainly +worth something extra to be introduced for the first time to the +luscious products of this region. + +The abundance and variety of flowers, as well as their cheapness and +fragrance, make them a desirable morning purchase, with all their dewy +freshness upon them. Oranges, limes, pineapples, lemons, +alligator-pears, cocoanuts, grapes, mangoes, with an infinite variety of +other fruits, make up the stock in trade, together with squealing pigs, +live turkeys, and noisy guinea-fowls. Here also are various gaudy +feathered songsters, in cheap, home-made cages, besides monkeys, +marmosets, and other household pets. The macaws, chained by the leg, and +the screaming parrots vie with each other and with the monkeys in the +amount of noise they make. Wicker baskets filled with live ducks, geese, +and fowls are borne on the heads of native women, who have brought them +many a long weary mile from far inland, hoping to make a few pennies by +their sale. The chatter of the women, the cries of men and animals, an +occasional quarrel between two noisy Italians, ending in furious +vociferations and gesticulations, all add to the Babel of sound. One +little marmoset put his hand into that of the author, looking so +appealingly into his face that, imagining the little fellow might be +hungry, some nice edibles, calculated to rejoice the monkey heart, were +promptly purchased and gratefully received by the marmoset, which, in +his eager haste to consume the same, stuffed the sides of either jaw to +alarming proportions. The little creature was wonderfully human, and +having found a kindly disposed stranger, insisted upon keeping one of +his tiny hands in our own, while he rapidly filled his mouth with the +other. + +It is interesting to observe the artistic manner in which the native +women, Indians and blacks, mingle and arrange the various fruits and +vegetables, showing a natural instinct for the harmonious blending of +colors and forms. A pile of yellow oranges, green limes, and mangoes had +a base of buff-colored bananas picturesquely arranged with all the +pointed ends of the finger-like fruit outward, while a luscious ripe +pineapple formed the apex of the pile, set off jauntily by its +cactus-like, prickly leaves. On the borders of the market and along the +iron railing of Palace Square, black-haired, bareheaded Italian women +displayed cheap jewelry, imitation shell, gilded combs, and other fancy +trinkets for sale, embracing priestly knick-knacks, ivory crosses, +crucifixion scenes, coral beads, high-colored ribbons, and gaudy +kerchiefs. The bronzed faces of these black-eyed, gypsy-like women were +very cadaverous, as though the land of their adoption did not +particularly agree with them. It seems hardly possible that these +peddlers could gain a livelihood trading in these tawdry and utterly +useless articles among such a humble, impecunious class of customers as +frequent the market, and yet their numerous wide-open, shallow tin boxes +showed a considerable stock of goods. + +The fish market is a curious sight in the variety of colors and shapes +afforded by the inhabitants of the neighboring bay, where most of them +are caught. What an array of finny monsters!--rock-fish, large as +halibut, ray, skates, craw-fish, cuttle-fish, and prawns half as large +as lobsters, together with devil-fish and oysters. Funny idea, but these +oysters, many of them, are grown on trees! How is this possible? Let us +tell you. The mangrove trees line the water's edge; many of the branches +overhang the sea, and are submerged therein. To these young oysters +affix themselves, and there they live and thrive. The same phenomenon +was observed by the author some years ago in Cuba. These oysters are +found in small corrugated shells scarcely larger than a good-sized +English walnut, which they somewhat resemble. + +In the fish market one sees some very original characters among the +negro women who preside over the finny tribe. They are large, +good-natured creatures, quick at a trade, and quite intelligent. We +recall one, who was a prominent figure among her companions. She was +tall, portly, and strong as a horse. Her head was decked with a bandanna +kerchief of many colors, her flat nose and protruding lips indicating +close African relationship. Secured behind one of her ears was a +cigarette, while a friction match protruded from the other, ready for +use. Her coarse calico dress, of deep red, was covered in front by a +brown linen apron extending nearly to her bare feet. Her uncovered arms +were about as large as a man's legs. This negress dressed the several +kinds of fish with the facility of an expert, making change for her +patrons with commendable promptness, and dismissing them with a +good-natured smile, adding some remark which was pretty sure to elicit +hearty laughter. + +As we stood viewing these things, a noisy fellow made himself very +obnoxious to every person whom he met. He had evidently been too often +to the neighboring spirit-shops. A police officer arrested the man by +touching him lightly on the shoulder and saying a few words to him; +then, pointing ahead, made the fellow precede him to the lock-up. Though +this disturber of the peace was half drunk, he knew too much to resist +an officer, which is considered to be a heinous offense and is severely +punished in Rio. It was natural to contrast this scene with the violent +resistance offered by offenders with whom the police of New York and +Boston have often to deal. + +The streets of Rio, at all times of the day, present a motley crowd of +half-naked negroes, overladen donkeys, lazy Portuguese, Italian, and +Spanish loafers, smoking cheap cigars, with here and there a Jew hawking +articles of personal wear, women with various heavy articles upon their +heads, water carriers, vociferous sellers of confectionery, all moving +hither and thither, each one intent upon his or her individual interest +and oblivious of all others. The background to this kaleidoscopic +picture is the low, stucco-finished houses, painted in lively red, +yellow, or blue, interspersed here and there by bas-reliefs, the whole +reflecting the rays of a torrid sun. Though it is all quite different, +yet somehow it recalls the narrow, crowded streets and bazaars of Cairo +and Alexandria. It is very natural, in passing, to regard with interest +those screened balconies, and to imagine what the lives may be of the +half orientally excluded women within them, while occasionally catching +luminous glances from curious eyes. The notes of a guitar, or those of +the piano, often reach the ear of the passer-by, sometimes accompanied +by the ringing notes of a song, for the ladies of Brazil are extremely +fond of music; indeed, it seems to be almost their only distraction. Of +books they know very little, and any literary reference is to them like +speaking in an unknown tongue. Even the one poet of Portugal, Camoens, +appears to be a stranger on this side of the Atlantic. The isolation and +want of intellectual resort among the average women of this country are +a sad reality, and are in a degree their excuse for some unfortunate +indulgences and immoralities, domestic unfaithfulness being as common +here as in Paris or Vienna. + +The majority of the Brazilian women marry at or before the age of +sixteen, and become old, as we use the term, at thirty. The climate and +the cares of maternity together age them prematurely. In early youth, +and until they have reached twenty three or four years, they are almost +universally very handsome, but this beauty is not retained, as is often +the case among the sex in colder climes. Of their charms, it must be +honestly admitted that they are almost purely physical (animal); the +beauty which high culture imparts to the features, by informing the mind +and developing the intellect, is not found as a rule among Brazilian +women. Of course there are some delightful and notable exceptions to +this conclusion, but we speak of the women, generally, of what is termed +the better class. Now and then one meets with ladies who have been +educated in the United States, or in Europe, upon whom early and refined +associations have left an unmistakable impress. The superiority of such +is at once manifest, both in general ease of manner, and the +inexplicable charm which high breeding imparts. + +One searches in vain for a full-faced, well-developed, hearty looking +man, among the natives in the streets of this capital. The average +people, both high and low, are sallow, undersized, and cadaverous. +Sunken cheeks and thin figures are the rule among the men, a passing +North American or Englishman only serving to furnish a strong and +suggestive contrast. These people have brilliantly expressive eyes, with +handsome teeth and mouths, though half shriveled up and undeveloped in +body. If one pauses to analyze the matter, he comes to the conclusion +that vice and short commons, unwholesome morals and an unwholesome +climate, have much to do with this prevailing appearance, which must be +in part hereditary, to be so universal, commencing some way back and +increasing with the generations. As in Mexico, gentlemen meeting on the +streets of Rio hug each other with both arms, at the same time +inflicting two or three quick, earnest slaps with the flat of the hand +upon the back. This is perhaps after an absence of a few days; but if +they meet ten times a day, off come their hats, and they shake hands +with the most earnest demonstrations, both at meeting and at parting. +Kissing on both cheeks is common enough in many parts of Europe among +society people, but this hugging business between men meeting upon the +public streets strikes one as a waste of the raw material. + +It goes without saying that the popular religion of Rio Janeiro and the +country at large is that of the Romish Church, though all denominations +are tolerated by the laws of the republic. In some districts it is the +same here as in Mexico and continental Spain, the Protestants being +persecuted in every possible manner. Nevertheless, the power of the +priesthood, we were creditably informed, is on the wane. They owe the +loss of it in a great measure to the gross abuse of their positions and +their shamefully immoral lives. No one conversant with the true state of +the case, be he Protestant or Romanist, can deny this statement. The +author thought that the Roman Catholic priests of Mexico were about as +wicked a set of men as he had ever met with, taken as a whole, but +further experience in South America has convinced him that the Mexican +priesthood have their equals in immorality in Brazil, and elsewhere +south of Panama. The popular religion of the country is one of the +saddest features of its national existence, forming the great +drag-weight upon its moral, and indirectly upon its physical progress. + +The Botanical Garden of Rio is a justly famous resort, situated about +six miles from the city, behind the Corcovada, between that mountain and +the sea, but it is easily reached by tramway, or better still by a +delightful drive along the shore of Botafogo Bay, over a road shaded by +imperial palms, together with occasional clusters of the ever beautiful +bamboo, the sight of which recalled the luxuriant specimens seen in +Japan and Sumatra. The nearest approach to this admirable public garden +is to be found at Kandy, in the island of Ceylon, which, as we remember +it, is considerably more extensive, and presents a larger variety of +tropical vegetation. The examples of the india-rubber tree, especially, +are finer in the Asiatic garden than we find them at Rio. A tall, +slim-stemmed sloth-tree, straight as an arrow, and bare of branches or +leaves except at the top, was pointed out to us here. It is so called +because it is the favorite resort of that animal. This creature is very +easily captured, and the natives are fond of its meat, which may be +nutritious, but it can hardly be called palatable. As it is almost +entirely a vegetable-feeding animal, we know not why there should be any +objection to the meat it produces. The sloth climbs up into the tall +branches of the tree described, though it does so with considerable +difficulty, and there remains until it has consumed every leaf and +tender shoot which it bears; then the voracious creature wanders off to +find and denude another. + +The bread-fruit tree is interesting, with its handsome feathery leaves, +and its large, melon-shaped product. It grows to fifty feet in height, +and bears fruit constantly for three quarters of the year, then takes a +three months' rest. It is only equaled in the profuseness of its product +by the banana, forming one of the staple sources of food supply to the +lazy, indolent denizens of tropical regions. The candelabra-tree, with +its silver-tinted foliage, is one of the beauties of this charming +Brazilian garden. Among other notable trees are fine specimens of the +camphor-tree, the tamarind, the broad-spreading mango, opulent in +fruitfulness, the flowering magnolia, also the soap-tree, with its +saponaceous berries. The cochineal cactus was thriving after its kind, +near by what is called the cow-tree, which interests one quite as much +as any of its companions, rising over a hundred feet in height, with a +red bark and fig-like leaves. The milk which it yields is of cream-like +consistency, very similar to that from a cow, and it may be used for any +ordinary purpose to which we put that article. The tree is tapped, as we +treat the sugar-maple, in order to obtain its very remarkable and useful +product. It is nutritious, that is freely admitted; but most probably it +has some medicinal properties of a latent character, though of this we +could learn nothing. + +The world-famed avenue of royal palms in the Botanical Garden of Rio is +unique, being undoubtedly the finest tropical arboretum in the world +arranged by the hand of man. We saw here a delicate little member of the +palm family, a sort of baby tree, known as the small-stemmed palm of +Pará. Many trees from Asia have become domesticated side by side with +the maple, the pine, and the elm from New England. Some of the large +trees were decked with orchids and hanging lichens, the dainty and +fantastic ornamentation of nature herself, not promoted by artificial +means. The humidity of the atmosphere especially facilitates the growth +of this beautiful family of plants, which are as erratic in shape as +they are variegated in prismatic colors. + +It would require a whole chapter to do even partial justice to this +remarkable garden behind the Corcovado mountain. + +One sees here myriads of delicate humming-birds, wonderful animated gems +of color, remarkable in Brazil for their metallic hues. Such brilliancy +of lustre, glancing in the warm sunlight, is fascinating to behold. The +Spaniards call these delicate little creatures "winged flowers," and the +Portuguese, "flower-kissers." A lady resident of Rio told the author of +the vain attempt of a patient German scientist to domesticate a few +specimens of these birds. He commenced by taking them from the nest soon +after they were hatched, at various periods of their growth, and even +after they had learned to fly, but although infinite care was taken to +supply their usual food, and also not to confine them too closely, the +naturalist was fain to acknowledge the impossibility of accomplishing +his object, though the experiment extended over a period of two years. +The ceaseless activity of this frail little bird renders any +circumscribing of its liberty fatal to existence. + +Delicate, innocent, and apparently harmless as butterflies, these +diminutive creatures are often very pugnacious, and when two males +engage in a contest with each other, which is not seldom the case, one +or the other often loses his life. If disturbed during the period of +incubation, they will attack large birds and even human beings, +directing their long, needle-like bills at the offender's eyes. Our +informant told us the particulars of a man who, under such +circumstances, came very near losing both of these organs. Scientists +have succeeded in preserving over two hundred different specimens of +this little feathered beauty, representing that number of species +indigenous to Brazil. Some of these are only five or six times as large +as a humble-bee. The artificial flowers already referred to as being for +sale in the shops of Rio depend almost entirely upon the humming-bird +for their delicate beauty; no other feathered creature affords such +marvelous colors and exquisitely fine material for the purpose. The best +specimens of this work are necessarily expensive, requiring, besides a +truly artistic taste and eye, skill of execution, infinite patience, and +much time, to produce them. We saw a choice design of this sort, +measuring about fifteen by twenty inches, framed under a glass, the +design being a bouquet of natural flowers, for which the asking price +was five hundred dollars; four hundred and fifty had been refused. The +feathers were almost entirely from the throat and breast of +humming-birds, arranged by a woman who had made this work the occupation +of her life from girlhood. We learned that such a piece of artistic +effect represented nearly a year's labor! + +One also finds in the Rio shops flower-pieces ingeniously formed from +the scales of high-colored fishes, as well as from the wings and bodies +of native insects characterized by brilliant colors, but these of course +will not compare in delicacy and beauty with the products of the +feathers. The Brazilian beetle is prepared in a myriad of ornamental +forms and in many combinations, sometimes mingled with feathers. In the +Rua dos Ourives there are two or three shops where a great variety of +such objects is offered for sale. These stores have also many choice +native stones of great beauty, including the true Brazilian topaz, for +which there is a growing and appreciative demand. + +The idea prevails that the climate of Rio is like some parts of Africa, +suffocatingly hot all the time, but this is not correct. The American +consul told the author that he had suffered more from the cold than from +the heat in the environs of the city, where his residence is in a rather +elevated district. He declared that the temperature, even in town, was +rarely so extreme as is often found in the cities of the United States. +He believes that the yellow fever might be effectually banished from Rio +by the adoption of strict quarantine and effective sanitary measures in +the city proper. As we have already intimated, consumption prevails here +to an alarming extent. This is doubtless owing to the peculiar dampness +of the atmosphere. We found that statistics show one half as many deaths +from consumption as from yellow fever, taking the aggregate of five +years. "The one disease comes annually in the heat of summer only, as a +rule," said our informant, "while the other prevails more or less all +the year round, year in and year out." During the two weeks which the +author stopped at Rio, forty and fifty fatal cases of yellow fever a day +were recorded, and doubtless more than that number actually fell victims +to its ravages, as only those who died in the several hospitals were +enumerated. We were in the city in June, one of the winter months in +this latitude. Heretofore the fever has nearly always disappeared, as an +epidemic, by the first or middle of May, even in years when it has been +most prevalent and fatal. Notwithstanding the charm of novelty which so +absorbs the stranger, we are free to confess there was a lurking dread +of the subtle enemy which proved so swift and fatal all about us. Fifty +deaths daily by yellow fever in a population exceeding half a million +only served to show that it still lingered in a sporadic form where the +seeds are perhaps never entirely exterminated. It most readily attacks +strangers and the unacclimated, but no class is exempt. The indigent, +careless, drunken portion of the population are no more liable, we were +informed, to contract the disease than others of better habits. This +outrages all preconceived notions of diseases of this character, but we +were assured by good authority that it was really so. The day we left +Rio, the English Bishop, a most estimable man, who was universally +respected and beloved, died of the fell disease. + +The summer season begins in October and lasts until April, and is better +known here as the wet season, the rain falling with great regularity +nearly every afternoon, and at about the same time. Usually an hour of +liberal downpour is experienced, then it promptly clears up and becomes +bright and pleasant. The warmest month is February. The winter months +are May, June, July, and August; this is the dry season, during which +very little rain falls. The climate appears to be particularly injurious +to persons who are troubled with a torpid liver. Elephantiasis is +indigenous, but it is not very common; the few cases seen were upon the +streets, and were those of negroes who exposed their diseased limbs to +excite public pity, making the affliction an excuse for systematic +begging. A score of such unfortunates were seen daily in and about +Palace Square, and one or two regularly posted themselves before the +Globe Restaurant, which is the Maison Dorée of Rio Janeiro. + +The well-to-do merchants do not think of living in town, but select some +pleasant spot in the environs, where they erect picturesque homes, often +extremely attractive to the eye architecturally, and surrounded by +lovely gardens, containing both native and exotic plants and trees. The +contrast between commercial and rural Rio is something very striking. +One presents all the grossness and belittling aspect of money-getting, +the other the graces, liberality, and ennobling appearance of culture +and refinement. Of all the trees in these attractive environs, the palm, +in its great variety, challenges one's admiration most. We mention it +frequently, for it was our constant delight. At every turn one comes +upon it, in its several species,--the cocoa-palm, the palmetto, the +cabbage, the assai-palm, the fanshaped-palm, and scores of other +varieties. The hand and taste of woman are seen in these gardens of the +environs. Flowers are selected and arranged as only feminine taste could +suggest, while the broad piazzas are simply floral bowers and gardens of +placid delights. + +The province round about Rio is beautified and rendered profitable by +the many large coffee plantations, particularly attractive when the +well-trimmed bushes are seen in full bearing, bending under the weight +of red berries. Orange orchards abound, the branches of the trees heavy +with the rich golden fruit; yet as an orange-producing section, Florida, +in our own country, is fully its equal. The fruit of the southern part +of the United States is much better and more intelligently cultivated, +and is larger and fairer, than the fruit of this region. We except +Bahia, however, in this remark; that is the very paradise of oranges. +Besides the abundance of fruits, Flora reigns in Brazil, and near to Rio +bignonias, passifloras, variegated honeysuckles, morning-glories, +magnolias, and orchids mingle with the dark green mango trees and the +delicate light green mimosas which meet the eye everywhere. It appears +that the several species of flowers have their special season for +blooming, when they are at their best, so that a large variety is always +seen in bloom at all times in the year. We must confess to having felt +half lost without the "Queen of Flowers," our grand favorite; but as to +roses, it was found that the ever present ants maintained a fixed +hostility to them, rendering it particularly difficult to rear them in +this country. In all of the many lands we have visited, the author has +never seen such superbly developed roses as are produced in and about +the city of Boston. There is some quality in the climate of New England, +added to the genius of her famous florists, especially adapted to their +perfection. + +The broad leafed umbrella-tree--_chapeo do sul_--is often seen in this +neighborhood cultivated as a shade tree, both in town and country, while +the thick clustering bamboo, so often referred to, adds its unique +beauty to the environs in all directions. The banana and plantain, both +cultivated and wild, thrive hereabouts, and form an important adjunct to +the food supply of all classes. The banana is cultivated by offsets, and +is of rapid growth, coming to maturity and bearing fruit a few months +after it is planted. Brazil seems to be well called the home of fruits +and flowers. + +Has the reader ever chanced to hear of "Portuguese Joe," of Rio Janeiro? +He is a man as well known in the capital of Brazil as the late emperor. +Ostensibly he is only a successful shipchandler, wholesale grocer, +purveyor--by appointment--to the American and British naval ships which +put into Rio, or which are stationed here; but over and above his +extensive commercial relations, we found him to be a Good Samaritan. He +is quite ready for legitimate business, and has realized a handsome +fortune by fair and honorable dealing. He charges a reasonable profit +upon the various supplies which he furnishes, but his goods are exactly +what he represents them to be, and he has the confidence of all who deal +with him. His establishment grew up from a small beginning, he having +come from Portugal to engage in business when only thirteen years of +age. To-day he is in the prime of life, and his store on the Paraça de +Dom Pedro II. is a city institution. The highest official, the +wealthiest bankers, and the most influential merchants are glad to shake +him cordially by the hand. Signor J. C. V. Mendes--the other title being +a trade _nom de plume_ of long standing--is a gentleman by nature, and a +true friend to all strangers who seek his counsels on arriving at Rio. +We fortunately became acquainted with Signor Mendes on the first day of +our landing, and are glad to speak of his ready courtesy and desire to +make all Americans at home who arrive in the capital of Brazil. It is no +particular recommendation, but it is a pleasure to say that, with his +calm, self-possessed manner, his brilliant black eyes and genial smile +lighting up his bronzed features, he is unquestionably the handsomest +man whom we chanced to meet in Rio Janeiro. Manly beauty is not an +imperative adjunct to excellence, but is still a very agreeable +accessory. + +One naturally anticipates but will not find any social distinction as to +race in this city. Color opposes no obstacle to progress in educational +or official position. Pupils of the public schools meet on the same +footing and mingle promiscuously. There is nothing to prevent the +intelligent negro from becoming a judge or minister of state, or from +filling any high civil office, if he develops proper ability. Many +bureaus in the public offices are held by colored men, observably in the +custom house, and the race generally is regarded with far more respect +than with us in the United States. + +Providence has liberally endowed the larger portion of Brazil with a +fertile soil, an unrivaled flora, and a delightful climate. For a +tropical country, it is remarkably temperate and salubrious. It has +mountain scenery excelling that of Switzerland, with fertile valleys +surpassing those of Italy, and myriads of rivers affording ample means +of transportation with natural and abundant irrigation. Unlike many of +her sister states, including those on the west coast of the continent, +she is exempt from earthquakes and the destruction caused by devouring +tidal waves. While so much of Mexico and thousands of miles of the +Pacific coast are scorched by drought, there are no districts of Brazil +exempt from regular and refreshing rains, the importance of which cannot +be overestimated. To crown all else, the splendid harbor of her capital +by its size, safety, and beauty invites the commerce of the world. It +would certainly seem, when we realize all of these special advantages, +that nature had intended so large and favored a portion of the globe to +ultimately be the home of a great, powerful, and prosperous nation. + +That the material growth of Brazil is mainly in the right direction is +manifest to the most casual observer. The many lines of railways +penetrating the country in every province will by and by prove to be +effective means of development. Wherever the facilities are liberally +afforded, not only individuals, but ideas, are sure to travel, and +social and material improvement must follow. Civilization keeps pace +with the iron horse. When the street rails penetrated the cañons of +Utah, polygamy was doomed. Material facts are stronger than arguments of +well-meaning moralists. The establishment of so many railroads through +the wilds of South America may not be a paying matter, it is not so at +this writing, but a great moral purpose, and that of true progress, will +be subserved by them. They will be the agents of enlightenment and +civilization to many wild tribes of Indians, at the same time opening +broad and favorable tracts of territory for settlement by emigrants from +the crowded and overstocked states of Europe. + +On the homeward passage, when we visited Rio Janeiro for the second +time, it was found to be rife with politics; but like Joseph's coat, of +so many colors as to be confusing to a foreigner. It may reasonably be +doubted if the natives themselves clearly understood what they wanted. +The revolutionary element seemed very strong, and was led by men who had +nothing to lose by agitation, but everything to gain by a lawless +uprising. The most intelligent citizens predicted a popular revolution +of some sort in the near future, and their anticipation proved to be +correct. Revolution is chronic in South America. + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + Petropolis.--Summer Residence of the Citizens of Rio.--Brief + Sketch of the late Royal Family.--Dom Pedro's Palace.--A + Delightful Mountain Sanitarium.--A Successful but Bloodless + Revolution.--Floral Delights.--Mountain Scenery.--Heavy + Gambling.--A German Settlement.--Cascatinha.--Remarkable + Orchids.--Local Types.--A Brazilian Forest.--Compensation. + + +Petropolis,--or the city of Peter,--the fashionable summer resort of the +citizens of Rio Janeiro, is a modern town, dating only from 1844, and +contains at that season of the year a population of some eight thousand. +The intense heat of the crowded city in the summer months, not to +mention its usually unhealthy condition, makes even the acclimated +inhabitants seek a refuge in the hills. So long as the fever continues +to rage, merchants leave their families here, and come up nightly to +sleep and breathe the fresh, pure air. It is only on the coast and in +crowded communities that epidemics prevail. We were told by residents +that a case of yellow fever never originated at Petropolis; that it was +too elevated for the citizens to fear anything of the sort. It is so +generally throughout the country; the yellow fever prevails only in the +ports and at sea level, a peculiarity also observable in Cuba and the +several West Indian islands. When the fever prevails, as it does +annually at Havana and Matanzas, the wealthy citizens, and all +unacclimated people who are able to do so, retire inland to elevated +localities, where they are comparatively safe from the scourge. The same +rule applies to the coast cities of South America,--Pará, Pernambuco, +Bahia, etc. It is a very important matter to the merchants of Rio that +they have, within two or three hours' reach of their overheated city +offices, a resort where they can sit in a dry skin and sleep in quiet +and comfort. Had they not this resort, they would be obliged to succumb +to disease, or to leave Rio for half of the year annually. + +Petropolis is situated in the Organ Mountain range, about thirty miles +from the metropolis, and is something less than three thousand feet +above tide-water. The town is built in a slight depression among the +well wooded hills, forming a vale of alpine beauty, easily reached from +Rio by boat and rail. The latter portion of the trip, comprising a sharp +mountain ascent, is made by a system of railroad like that by which the +summit of Corcovado is reached. The popular route is to cross the harbor +at Rio by a large and commodious steamboat, a distance of twelve miles, +and then to take the steam-cars. There is also another railroad route, +all the way by land. The late emperor's summer palace is the prominent +feature of Petropolis, together with its elaborate gardens, covering +some fifteen or twenty acres of land. Hither come the diplomatic +representatives of foreign nations to enjoy the salubrious mountain air +and the hospitable society of the best people of Rio Janeiro, and to lay +aside many of the constraints of city life. A great contrast is apparent +here to the crowded streets and narrow lanes of the uncleanly capital, +while the air is undoubtedly remarkable for its healthful and +invigorating qualities. The summer palace is surrounded by elegantly +arranged grounds, planted with rare flowers and choice trees from every +clime. In general effect it resembles an old English country house, +except for the tropical vegetation, the fine verdant lawns of grass, the +only ones of any extent in the country, being particularly noticeable. +This mountain resort has been called the Versailles of Brazil. + +It seems appropriate to recall, in brief, the family history of the late +emperor, Dom Pedro II., of whose favorite abiding-place we are speaking. +He enjoyed a distinguished reputation among modern rulers, was liberal, +scholarly, and possessed of great experience of men and the world at +large. Having been an observant and studious traveler in many parts of +the globe, his endeavor was to adopt the best well-tried systems of +other governments in educational and other matters relating to political +economy. His system was mild, progressive, and designed for the general +good of the people over whom he presided; in fact, it was too mild for +the turbulent, unlettered masses of the provinces of Brazil. They were +not intellectually prepared for such leniency. + +The royal family of Portugal fled hither in 1808, at the time of +Napoleon's invasion of that country, but returned to Europe in 1821. A +national congress assembled at Rio Janeiro the next year, and chose Dom +Pedro, eldest son of King Joâo VI. of Portugal, "Perpetual Defender of +Brazil." He proclaimed the independence of the country, and was chosen +"Constitutional Emperor." In 1831 he abdicated in favor of his only son, +Dom Pedro II., who reigned as emperor until November 15, 1889, when he +was dethroned by a bloodless revolution, and, together with his family, +was exiled, Brazil declaring herself a republic under the title she now +bears of the United States of Brazil. The feeling was nearly universal +among the Brazilians that they desired to live under a republican form +of government, but Dom Pedro II. was a man of such estimable character, +so just, intelligent, and popular a ruler, that the revolution, which +finally dethroned him, was deferred long after it was determined upon. +The peaceful manner in which it was finally achieved is perhaps without +precedent, and shows how thoroughly the mind of the active spirits of +the nation was made up to this end. It was a political _coup d'état_, +accomplished without the burning of an ounce of gunpowder. The emperor +himself seemed to accept the position as a foregone conclusion. We +learned from persons who had been quite intimate with him that he had +already anticipated the whole condition of affairs, foreseeing that it +was inevitable. If this is so, he was wise as well as diplomatic and +humane, for he had enough devoted adherents about him to have made a +serious though doubtless futile conflict for possession. There are +always myriads of the unthinking rabble ready to join and even fight for +authority which is already established, especially when seconded, as was +the case with Dom Pedro, by a strong personal popularity. + +The palace at Petropolis is, with its extensive grounds, now offered for +sale, the country having no further use for palaces. It is understood +that a local syndicate propose to purchase the whole and cut up the land +into building lots, which are very much in demand just at this writing. +It would not be surprising if Petropolis were to double its population +during the next four or five years. Speculators are already at work +"booming" the place, and a summer home here is just what the Rio +merchant requires. + +Some queer stories are told about the every-day life of Dom Pedro by his +neighbors. It seems, according to these reports,--for the truth of which +we cannot vouch,--that he often chose as his associates and advisers +uneducated persons of very humble origin, who had accumulated wealth by +shrewdness and industry, besides which he latterly exhibited many very +peculiar traits of character; but, as we say, it is difficult to decide +whether these stories are to be relied upon. It is more than hinted that +he had grown very weak minded, or, as the Scotch say, had a bee in his +bonnet. At all events, it now appears that he did not possess the +necessary energy and executive ability requisite to control a naturally +turbulent and restless people, and that his summary dethronement, so +peaceably accomplished, must have come sooner or later. + +It is very natural to speculate upon the present state of affairs in +this country, since the change has taken place. To render a republic +possible and successful requires a liberal degree of intelligence among +the common people, that is, the masses at large. Unfortunately Brazil +cannot boast of such a condition among her population. The educated, +cultured portion of the community is quite limited, consequently the +country is hardly fit for self-government. Ignorant masses are only +amenable to the strong arm, and cannot, while untaught, be controlled +through the influence of reason and argument. Past experience shows us +that while a republic in the United States, France, or Switzerland means +freedom and order, in these half barbaric southern states it signifies +an alternation of revolution and of military despotism. Subject to the +rule of Dom Pedro, Brazil was alike free from despotism and from +disorder, so that it may be questioned whether his liberal reign was +not, under the circumstances, the truest republic for which Brazil was +fitted. Indeed, while these lines are being written, the question of a +return to the former style of government is openly discussed at Rio +Janeiro, where a state of political imbroglio exists very similar to the +conditions which caused the late disastrous civil war in Chili, on the +other side of the Andes. Such a shocking outcome, however, need never be +feared in Brazil as has been developed by the sister republic on the +Pacific coast, since both intelligence and civilization are far more +advanced in Brazil than in Chili. + +The town of Petropolis and its neighborhood possesses good roads for +driving purposes, this location having been for several years the pride +and pleasure of the late emperor, who made the place what it now is by +his liberal expenditures and the constant improvements which he +instituted, paying for them out of his own private purse. The first +selection of this healthful spot was also his idea, and he felt a +personal pride in doing everything possible towards making it popular. +The roads referred to lead one through delightful scenery and highly +cultivated neighborhoods, beautified by art, until finally they lose +themselves among the hills and amidst impenetrable forests. There are +several fairly good hotels here, where the charges are moderate and the +domestic conveniences execrable! The great variety of trees to be found +in and about the town is marvelous, the palm and pine prevailing, +interspersed with the beautiful feathery Brazilian cedar. The tree-ferns +which grow here to a height of twelve feet are great favorites, with +their bright green fronds, six feet in length, almost reaching the +ground as the stalk bends gracefully with their weight. The scarlet +passion flower is trained as an ornamental creeper in nearly every +garden-plot, and tall fuchsias in various colors and pearl white +camellias also abound. We have rarely seen the camellia in such variety +of colors, or such profusion of flowers. It is often found blooming +beside tall coffee-trees, themselves full of deep green clustering +berries, the tree, where grown for ornamental purposes, being permitted +to reach full proportions. Here one sees also a profusion of the rich +green bamboo in prolific groves by the roadside, or surrounding humble +cottages, thus forming a welcome shade. In midsummer, so rapid is the +growth of the bamboo that every twenty-four hours adds two feet to its +height, or in other words, it grows an inch each hour throughout the day +and the night. Jack's fabulous beanstalk hardly surpasses the bamboo, +though the former is an amusing myth, while the latter is simply a +literal fact. Some very lovely gladioli and white roses were noted as +adding their beauty to these charming hill gardens in the Organ +Mountains. So abundant were the flowers of various kinds in the grounds +which surrounded our hotel, that any one was welcome to pluck and +appropriate them to the extent of his fancy. The public tables were +supplied with fresh ones every day, forming great living pyramids of +beautiful colors, emitting inimitable fragrance. + +Our hotel was situated on gently rising ground, commanding a +considerable view of the plateau on which the town stands, with Dom +Pedro's palace in the middle foreground, shaded by groups of palms. It +was a delight to sit out-of-doors and watch the cloud effects as they +hung over the tree-covered hills and peaks, closing their ranks now and +again, and sweeping over the valley like a dashing charge of cavalry; or +cautiously advancing in single scuds like infantry deployed as +skirmishers; or, again, mottling the sky in white and peaceful masses. +At the brief twilight hour, it was like a living poem to note the +varying sunset hues creeping along the valley and gleaming through the +branches of the grand old trees which broke the sky-line of the +mountains, and the soft lilac blush of the sky, like a profile in +silhouette, with sharp curves and infinite detail. A deep, broad gulch, +opening towards the west, afforded a lingering view of the golden, +crimson, and pink horizon, long after the day had closed, and until the +stars gleamed forth through the transparent atmosphere and glorified the +advent of night. + +This is nature in her happy moods. A little later, to these exquisite +delights of the moment, an ugly obverse presents itself. "Only man is +vile." + +From opposite the open window where we sit penning these lines,--it is a +Sabbath evening,--there comes the sharp rattle of diceboxes and billiard +balls, together with the loud, angry talk of persons engaged at gambling +games of cards, interrupted by the repeated cries of the presiding +genius of the roulette table: "Make your game, signors, make your game," +as he coolly rakes in the winnings of the bank. Italian, French, +English, and Spanish adventurers mingle their jargon with Portuguese in +the noisy throng who crowd the gambling "hell." It was said that +seventeen thousand dollars were won by a Portuguese gentleman, last +evening, in this "casino" just across the street, so losers to a like +amount, on the same occasion, must have been rendered half desperate. +The wretchedly demoralizing effect of gambling is apparent throughout +all the cities of this republic, the common lotteries tempting the mass +of the people, and various games of chance others who have money to +risk. + +Petropolis is extremely attractive in many respects, the scenery round +about it very much resembling that of Switzerland. The broad streets are +lined with such pretty villas and attractive gardens that one falls to +making romantic pictures of possible delightful things which might +naturally happen in them, and is led to peer into nooks and corners with +a prying earnestness amounting almost to impertinence. These avenues +contain in their centres deep canals, thirty or forty feet wide, having +granite linings and the upper portion of the banks neatly sodded with +grass. Through these canals the water from the surrounding hills flows +in a pure, rapid stream, carrying away the drainage of the town, which +is emptied into them by underground conduits. These water-ways are +crossed by numerous small but substantial bridges, painted scarlet, +while the rushing river imparts a delightful coolness. + +The largest portion of the permanent inhabitants of Petropolis is +composed of Germans, whose native tongue is heard on all sides, while +the familiar clatter of wooden shoes speaks of Berlin, Dresden, and +other German continental centres. The rosy-cheeked, flaxen-haired, +blue-eyed children are also prima facie evidence of the prevailing +nationality, though there are a large number of Italians who reside +here. The latter keep small shops and are peddlers of fruit, or marble +cutters and stucco workers, while many others find employment as +gardeners. + +The highway to a certain mining district passes through the town, and +many donkeys laden with inland products are constantly to be seen in the +streets en route for Rio, giving the place a business aspect hardly +warranted by the local trade. From the neighboring hills charcoal +burners drive their donkeys every morning, laden with that article for +domestic use in the town, forming picturesque groups on the public +square, where they await purchasers. Others bring small-cut wood from +the hill for fuel, packed in little, narrow, toy carts, each drawn by a +single donkey. Scores of donkeys bearing tall, widespread loads of green +fodder are so hidden by the mass of greenery which they struggle under, +that none of the animal is seen at all, leading one to imagine that +Birnam wood has literally come to Dunsinane. These animals are almost +always attended by women, who sell the fodder in the market and return +home at night with such domestic necessities as are required. Women are +the laborers here, as at home in Germany, where they perform the hard +work, while their husbands guzzle beer and smoke endless tobacco. + +Petropolis is, as we have said, steadily growing, but the banishment of +the emperor will retard its progress, as it takes from the town its +strongest element of assured success. We counted about a score of fine, +large residences in course of construction. The climate here is like +that of June in New England, and the verdure of the trees is perennial. + +There is a charming excursion which strangers rarely fail to enjoy, +namely, to a place familiarly known as the Cascades. The village +adjoining these falls is called Cascatinha, and is situated in the lap +of the Organ Mountains, about five miles from Petropolis. The road +thither leads along the side of a small but boisterous stream, which +gladdens the ear with its merry, gurgling notes, past lowly, thatched +cottages, orange orchards, bamboo and banana groves, and green breadths +of well-cultivated, undulating land, finally ending in the midst of a +panorama of bold mountain peaks, lovely with varied gradations of tint, +and subtlest effects of light and shade. Here the abundant water +furnished by the river, which is artificially adapted to the purpose, +forms a series of cascades and falls, at the same time furnishing the +motive power for operating extensive cotton and woolen mills, which give +employment to several hundred men and women. A very humble type of life +mingles hereabouts with that of a much more refined character. Naked or +half-clad children are seen here and there playing with those who are +comparatively well dressed. Nice cottage homes adjoin those of the +poorest class. Children of both sexes are observed, only partially +covered with rags, who are endowed with a loveliness of eyes and +features, together with handsome figures, causing one to reflect upon +the unfulfilled possibilities of such childish beauty. + +Men and women often bring into Petropolis and offer for sale beautiful +orchids, which they find in the woods not far away. These they pack in +green leaves, retaining a piece of the original bark or wood upon which +they have grown. These pretty flowerings of exuberant nature are sold +for a trifling price. Some are very remarkable in form and color, such +as we have never before chanced to see, and for really rare ones the +finders ask and receive good prices. We saw among them a specimen of the +Flor del Espiritu Santo,--"Flower of the Holy Spirit,"--to find which is +thought to bring to the fortunate discoverer good luck, as well as a +handsome price for the orchid. These women may have passed whole days in +their search of the forest, patiently breaking their way through nearly +impassable jungles, before nature reveals to them one of her most dainty +gems. As a rule, the forests are so dense that it is useless to try to +penetrate them, except by following some beaten route,--a charcoal +burner's road or a straggling way formed by a watercourse. + +We well remember, but can only partially describe, the glory and beauty +of the Brazilian primeval forest. The general tone of the color is +brownish rather than light green, influenced by the absence of strong +light, for though the sun is glowing in the open country, here it is +twilight. Not one direct beam penetrates the density of the foliage, the +sombre drapery of the woods. At first one is awed by the vast extent of +the forest, by the dark, mournful shadows, by the gigantic trees +reaching so far heavenward, forming here and there gothic arcades of +matchless grandeur, and by the bewildering variety of the undergrowth. +Scarcely a tree trunk is seen without its parasite, green with foliage +not its own, "beyond the power of botanists to number up their tribe." +These dense jungles might be in India, or a bit out of "Darkest Africa;" +one is barred by an impenetrable wall of vegetation. Where palms occur, +it is almost always in groups; being a social tree, it loves the company +of its species. So with the bamboo, which is found in the more swampy +regions, but always in groups of its own family. These damp woods are +the home of the orchids; it is here that they revel in moisture, +clinging to the trunks of tall, columnar trees, fattening on decayed +portions of the bark, but forming bits of lovely color, while about the +stems of other forest monarchs wind creeping vines of rope-like texture, +binding huge trunks in a fatal embrace. Their final strangulation is +slow, but it is sure,--only a question of time. Lofty trees bear +charming flowers, as lowly shrubs do in our northern clime. Arborescent +ferns vie with the palms in poetic beauty, with their elastic, tufted +tops. Bunches of lilac and blossoms of snowy whiteness hang in the air. +Drooping mosses depend like human hair from widespread branches, and +soft, velvety moss carpets the way, with here and there dwarf mimosas +trailing beneath the ferns. Long vines of woody climbers, in deep +olive-green, twine and intertwine among the ranks of stout, aged trees, +breaking out at short distances with pink, blue, and scarlet buds, +rivaling the color of the birds which flash hither and thither like rays +of sunlight breaking through the leafy screen. Now and again the shrill +or plaintive notes of unfamiliar songsters fall upon the ear, mingling +with the cooing of the wood-doves and the low drone of the dragon-fly. +The magnificent arboreal growth of these forests develops itself into +thousands of strange and beautiful forms, stimulated by the constant +humidity of the high temperature. + +The atheist must feel himself stifled for breath in the tropical forest, +and his fallacious creed challenged by every surrounding object, while a +new light illumines his unwilling soul with irrefutable evidences. The +Supreme Being writes his gospel not in the Bible alone, but upon the +grand old trees, the lowly flowers, the fleeting clouds, and upon the +eternal stars. Those who seek nature for religious inspiration never +fail to obtain it, untrammeled by the vulgar tenets of sectarianism or +outraged by the tinsel of church forms and ceremonies. + +The observant traveler from the north is fain to seek some consolation, +some evidence of the glorious law of compensation, while comparing the +features of these poetical latitudes with his own well-beloved but more +prosaic home. He remembers that if these gaudy birds do flout in vivid +colors that dazzle and charm the eye, they have not the exquisite power +of song which inspires our more soberly clad New England favorites. +Brilliancy of feathers and sweetness of song rarely go together, a +natural fact which suggests a whole moral essay in itself. The torrid +zone clothes its feathered tribes in glowing plumage, but the colder +north endows hers with heart-touching melody. If the flowers of the +tropics exhaust the hues of the prism, attracting us by the oddity of +their forms, while blooming in exuberant abundance, the sweet and lowly +children of Flora in higher latitudes greet the senses with a fragrance +unknown in equatorial regions. Joy is nowhere all of a piece. Blessings, +we are forced to believe, whether in the form of beauty of color, +fragrance, or melody, are very equally divided all over the world, and +those portions which have not one, as a rule, are almost sure to have +the other. When we become eloquent and appreciative in the lively +enjoyment of scenes in a new country, it is not always because they are +more desirable or more beautiful than our own; it is the newness and the +contrast which for the moment so captivate us. That to which we are +accustomed, however grand, becomes commonplace; we covet and require +novelty to quicken the observation. Were the sun to rise but once a +year, in place of three hundred and sixty-five times every twelve +months, we would willingly travel thousands of miles, if it were +necessary, to witness the glorious phenomenon. The most charming natural +objects please us in proportion to their rarity or our unfamiliarity +with them. + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + Port of Santos.--Yellow Fever Scourge.--Down the Coast to + Montevideo.--The Cathedral.--Pamperos.--Domestic + Architecture.--A Grand Thoroughfare.--City + Institutions.--Commercial Advantages.--The Opera House.--The + Bull-Fight.--Beggars on Horseback.--City Shops.--A Typical + Character.--Intoxication.--The Campo + Santo.--Exports.--Rivers and Railways. + + +Santos is the name of a commercially important harbor situated on the +east coast of South America about three hundred miles southwest of Rio +Janeiro, after which city it is the greatest export harbor for coffee in +Brazil. Otherwise it is about as uninteresting a spot as can be found on +the continent. It became a city so late as 1839, and contains some +twenty thousand inhabitants. Its annual export of coffee will reach an +aggregate of two hundred and twenty-five thousand sacks. The bay is +surrounded by a succession of hills, and is well sheltered, except on +the southwest. The town is situated on the west side of the harbor, and +hugs the shore, many of the houses being built upon piles. Behind the +town to the westward rises a succession of mountain ranges. The +immediately surrounding country is low and malarial, causing fevers to +prevail all the year round. During the present season Santos has +suffered more seriously from yellow fever than any other place on the +coast in proportion to the number of its inhabitants. As a commercial +port it has no rival in southern Brazil. Santa Catharina, Porto Alegre, +and Rio Grande, the three harbors south of Santos, are rendered +inaccessible for any but small craft, owing to sandbars at their +entrances. + +This is the present terminus of the United States and Brazil Mail +steamship route from New York, and notwithstanding its many drawbacks in +point of sanitary conditions, is yet growing rapidly in commercial +importance. Its wretchedly unhealthy condition causes one to hasten away +to the more elevated country, where St. Paul is situated, and where the +traveler runs little or no risk of contracting yellow fever or malarial +affections of any sort. + +Santos is the port for St. Paul, with which it is connected by rail, and +from which it is separated by about forty miles. + +This capital of the state of São Paulo, St. Paul, contains some ninety +thousand inhabitants. The province is credited with a million and a +half. The city lies just under the tropic of Capricorn, southwest of +Rio, about two thousand feet above the level of the sea, upon a high +ridge, covering an elevated plateau of undulating hills. It enjoys the +sunshine of the tropics, modified by the freshness of the temperate +zone. It is venerable in years, having been founded in 1554, but it +seems to have taken a fresh start of late, as its population has doubled +in the last decade. As intimated, it is entirely free from yellow fever, +which is so fatal at Santos, and has excellent drinking water, together +with good drainage and well paved streets. The city contains some fine +public buildings, and has many handsome adornments, being largely +peopled by North Americans and English; the former prevail in numbers +and influence, indeed, it has been called the American city of Brazil. +There is also a large Italian colony settled here. St. Paul has a good +system of tramways, several Protestant churches, and a number of +educational and charitable public institutions, together with many of +the attractions of a much larger capital. Among the popular amusements, +the theatre of San José is justly esteemed, and is a well-appointed +establishment in all of its belongings. There are two spacious public +gardens, embellished with grottoes, fountains, choice trees, and +flowers, while the private gardens attached to the dwellings are +numerous and tasteful. + +In the district round about the city venomous serpents are frequently +met with, whose bite is as dangerous as that of the rattlesnakes of our +northern climate. As the land is cleared and cultivated, they naturally +and rapidly disappear. These reptiles fear man, and avoid his vicinity +quite as earnestly as human beings avoid them. It is only when they are +molested, trodden upon, or cornered, as it were, that they attack any +one. + +The city is connected with Rio Janeiro by a railway, and two other +railroads run from it far inland. The Rio and St. Paul railway is fairly +equipped, but the roadbed is not properly ballasted, and consequently +one rides over the route in a cloud of dust, while suffering from the +oscillations and jolting of the cars. This railway, however, is one of +the most successful and profitable in the republic. It is some three +hundred miles in length, and passes through a dozen or more tunnels, one +of which is a mile and a half in length. This tunnel required seven +years' labor before it was passable. There is just now a great "boom" of +land values in and about St. Paul. It is towards this state that the +tide of Italian emigration is largely directed, for some reason which we +do not comprehend, but it is probably stimulated by a combined effort to +this effect. + +The passage southward from Rio Janeiro or Santos to Montevideo occupies +about five days, but a large amount of rough ocean experience is +generally crowded into that brief period, added to which the coasting +steamers are far from affording the ordinary comforts so desirable at +sea. Of the food supplied to passengers one does not feel inclined to +complain, because a person embarking upon these lines does so knowing +what to expect; but as regards the domestic conveniences and cleanliness +generally, there is no excuse for their defective character. We are +sorry to say that the class of Portuguese and Spaniards one encounters +on these coasting vessels is far from decently cleanly in daily habits, +carelessly adding to the unsanitary conditions. + +The wind in these latitudes is not only inclined to be fierce, but it +usually goes entirely round the compass at least once or twice during +the voyage, and is more than liable to wind up, off the mouth of the +river Plate, with a regular and furious pampero. This is a hurricane +wind, which is born in the gorges of the Andes, and thence pursuing its +course over nearly a thousand miles of level pampas, gains speed and +power with every league of progress. The season in which these +hurricanes--for in their fury they deserve to be thus +designated--prevail, is from March to September, but they are liable to +come at any time. The wind is considered by the people of Montevideo to +be wholesome and invigorating, as far as the land is concerned, but +seamen dread it on shipboard, and call it a Plate River hurricane. We +know of no more disagreeable roadstead than that of Montevideo, when a +pampero is blowing. We have seen ships under these circumstances, with +two anchors down, obliged to resort to the use of oil on the sea, to +prevent themselves from being swamped. Though the inhabitants represent +a pampero to be comparatively harmless on the land, yet it does +sometimes commit fearful havoc there also, especially among the +unprotected herds of wild cattle on the plains, and upon all trees or +plantations which lie in its devastating course. It is true that it +brings with it a bracing and life-giving atmosphere from the snow-capped +Andes far away, and if it could only do so with less forceful +demonstration, it would be a welcome visitor in the heated days of these +regions. + +The most direct way to illustrate what these South American pampas are +is to compare them to the vast prairies of our Western and Southwestern +States. Any one familiar with those far-reaching, horizon-bounded plains +knows what the pampas of the Argentine Republic are like. Beginning near +the foothills of the Cordilleras, in their very shadow, as it were, +these smoothed out, level lands extend hundreds of miles eastward to the +great estuary of the Plate River, on the borders of the Atlantic Ocean. +Though apparently sterile, the soil of the pampas, like the dry, baked +land of Australia, only requires irrigation and cultivation to rival the +most attractive valleys of Southern Europe. It is believed by scientists +that these plains were once covered by a broad inland sea, connected +directly with the Atlantic. In their present condition these pampas can +hardly be called barren, since they give excellent grazing for extensive +herds of wild cattle, which thrive and fatten upon the abundance of +coarse, natural grass, similar to what is known as bunch grass in Texas +and New Mexico. This product ripens and makes itself into standing hay, +retaining its natural vitality and nutritious qualities throughout +months of atmospheric exposure. After being close-cropped by the roving +herds of cattle, the bunch grass renews itself, reproducing in great +abundance. + +Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, is situated on the remarkable +estuary of the Plate River,--Rio de la Plata, or "Silver River,"--whose +spacious mouth is marked by two capes, Santa Maria and San Antonio, more +than one hundred miles apart. Only a nautical observation will show just +where the line of ocean ceases and that of the estuary begins. The +unobservant passenger believes himself still sailing upon the broad +ocean until he finally sights the land on which the city stands. The +flag of Uruguay flying from various crafts--blue and white, in alternate +stripes, with a glowing sun in the upper corner near the +staff--indicates the near approach to the land it represents. + +On the island of Flores, fifteen miles from Montevideo, there are a +lighthouse and quarantine station. The island is formed by a rocky +upheaval, not over twenty feet above sea level, measuring about a mile +in length and two or three hundred yards in width. The fierce pamperos +render the navigation of this estuary oftentimes precarious. When +approaching the broad river's mouth from the north, sailors know that it +is near at hand, long before land is seen, by the color of the water, +which comes forth in such immense volume as to impart a distinct yellow +hue to the ocean for a long distance from the coast. This effect is said +to be discernible one hundred miles off the shore, but thirty or forty +miles will perhaps be nearer the truth, and is at the same time a +statement answering all legitimate purposes. The tide about the estuary +is mostly governed by the wind, and so up the river, showing no +regularity in its rise and fall. The current of the Plate opposite +Montevideo runs at the rate of about three miles an hour. In extent, +this ranks as the third great river of the world, draining, with its +affluents, eight hundred thousand square miles of territory; a mammoth +basin, which is only exceeded by those of the Amazon and the +Mississippi. + +The commercial activity of the port is shown by the arrival and +departure daily of many large steamships, foreign and coastwise. Sixty +European steamers are recorded as arriving here monthly, besides a +number from the United States. The maritime business of the port is +mostly in the hands of Englishmen, Americans, and Frenchmen. The +native-born citizen evinces no genius in commercial matters. The +department of the capital is the smallest in the republic, having an +area of only twenty-five square miles, but it is fertile, well wooded +and watered, its agricultural interests predominating, which is a most +important fact in estimating the stability and pecuniary responsibility +of any state. + +The city is exceptionably well situated on a small rocky promontory, or +rather we should designate it as a peninsula, jutting out into the +estuary, three of its sides fronting the sea, and as its streets are +nearly always swept by ocean breezes, it is cool and pleasant even in +midsummer. The land rises gradually as it recedes from the shore, and +then declines to the bed of a small stream which empties into the bay, +thus affording a natural surface drainage. Uruguay is a little more than +twelve times as large territorially as the State of Massachusetts, and +is divided into thirteen departments. There are over half a million +acres of land under good cultivation in the republic, the principal +staples being wheat and corn. Extreme heat and extreme cold are alike +unknown, the country being within the temperate zone. The mean summer +temperature is 71° Fahr., that of autumn 62°, and of spring 60°. There +are, therefore, but few things which the climate is too hot or too cold +to produce, while for the raising of cattle on a large scale it is said +to be the best section of South America, and this forms, we believe, its +largest industry. + +In approaching Montevideo from the sea, it is observed that the +surrounding country is quite level, with scarcely a single object to +break the distant view. Immediately upon landing one realizes that the +city is clean and well built, though it is mostly made up of low +structures one story in height. There are plenty of dwellings of two and +three stories, however, in the more modern part of the town. Dominating +the whole stand the lofty dome and towers of the cathedral, which faces +the Plaza Constitution. The turrets are of striking proportions, each +rising to the height of one hundred and thirty-three feet. The +widespread dome would be grand in effect, were it not covered with +glazed tiles of various colors, blue, green, yellow, and so on, the +combined effect of which is anything but pleasing to a critical eye. +Still, it is no more tawdry than much of the inside finish and +meaningless ornamentation. There is an elaborate marble fountain in the +centre of the plaza, besides some ornamental shrubbery and flowers. The +very fine marble façade of the building occupied by the Uruguay Club +adds to the beauty of the plaza. Near the fountain is a fanciful music +stand, in which a military band is occasionally stationed to perform for +the public pleasure. These South Americans would as soon give up the +bull-fights as the popular outdoor evening concerts, the excellent moral +effect of which no one can possibly doubt. + +An abrupt hill at the head of the harbor, four or five hundred feet in +height, known as the "Monte," gives the city its name, Montevideo. This +hill is crowned by a small fort and lighthouse, the latter containing a +revolving light which can be seen a long distance at sea. A couple of +miles inland rises another hill called the Cerrito, or "little hill." +Several times during revolutionary struggles, these two hills have been +fortified by opposing parties, who have desired to control the city, but +restless revolutionists are now at a discount, fortunately, in this +republic of Uruguay, a class of uneasy spirits who have reigned quite +long enough on the southern continent. + +The town is built in the form of an amphitheatre, and has comparatively +few edifices of importance. Its regular, straight streets and open +squares are intensely Spanish. The Paseo del Molino is the fashionable +part of the town, where the wealthy merchants reside in curious chalets, +or _quintas_ as they are called here. There is rather an extraordinary +taste displayed in the matter of buildings on this Paseo. Swiss +cottages, Italian villas, Chinese dwellings, and Gothic structures are +mingled with Spanish and Moorish styles. This architectural incongruity +is not picturesque, but, on the contrary, strikes one as very crude and +ill-chosen. The charm of domestic residences in any part of the globe is +a certain adaptability to the natural surroundings, and is, when well +conceived, a graceful part of the whole. Inappropriate structures are to +the eye like false notes in music to the ear, an outrage upon harmony. A +Swiss chalet in Hindostan, or a Japanese bamboo house in England, is +simply discordancy in scenic consistency. Nature should always be a +silent partner in the creation and adaptation of architectural designs. +In olden times the Jesuits built a large mill near this spot, and hence +the name of the place. + +The climate must be very equable and fine to admit of such fruit culture +as exists here. The strawberries grown in the neighborhood are famous +for their size and sweetness, the vines producing this favorite fruit +all the year round. They are perhaps a little over-developed, and would +doubtless be of finer flavor if they were smaller. + +The Plaza de la Independencia is highly attractive, and so is the broad, +tree-lined avenue known as the Calle del Dieziochavo de Julio, named +after the anniversary of the Uruguayan declaration of independence. +This, indeed, is thought to be the most effective boulevard in all South +America. On festal occasions it is decorated in an original and +brilliant manner, having colored draperies hanging from the windows and +balconies, bright colored cambrics stretched from point to point, with +the gay flag of the republic festooned here and there. Chinese lanterns +are hung from the trees, and arches spanning the roadway and bearing +national designs are all ablaze with ingeniously arranged gas jets. Down +one side of this long avenue and up the other, it being over a hundred +feet broad, a civic and military procession marches on the annual +recurrence of the date which its name indicates, the several divisions +headed by bands of music, with flags flying and drums beating. On such +occasions the windows and balconies are filled with groups of handsome +women, in gala dresses, together with pretty children in holiday +costumes, who add charm and completeness to the scene. This avenue is +the Champs Elysées of the southern continent, a thoroughfare of which +the residents are justly very proud. + +The streets and sidewalks generally are of better width in Montevideo +than in most of the South American cities. Some few of the private +residences display fine architectural taste, the dwellings being well +adapted to the climate and the surroundings. Many of the city houses +have little towers erected on their roofs, called _miradores_, from +whence one gets an excellent view of the entire city and of the sea. The +town is spread over a large territory, and stretches away into thinly +populated suburbs, but all parts are rendered accessible by the +well-perfected system of tramways which extend over fifty miles within +the city and the immediate environs. In the absence of official figures, +we should judge that Montevideo had a population of at least two hundred +thousand. Every other nationality seems to be represented in its streets +and warehouses, except that of Uruguay herself. Those "native and to the +manner born" are conspicuous by their absence. Speaking of this rather +curious characteristic to a friend who lives here, he replied: "There +are probably fifty thousand European and North American residents doing +business in this city, forming by far the most active element of the +place. They are seen everywhere, to the apparent exclusion of the +natives. Indigenous blood and energy could not have made this capital +what it is at the present time. It is reaping the advantage of North +American enterprise, English and American capital, and German +shrewdness. These, combined with the natural advantages of the location +and climate, will eventually make Montevideo the Liverpool of South +America." Though all this goes without saying, our friend put it so +aptly that his words were deemed worthy of recording. We do not hesitate +to predict that the next decade will nearly double the number of the +population here, as well as the aggregate of its imports and exports. No +other city on the southern continent has greater advantages in its +geographical position, or as regards salubrity of climate and +adaptability to commerce. Were it not for the occasional visits of the +howling pamperos, the climate would be nearly perfect, and even these +exhibitions of a local nature are, as we have said, accepted with great +equanimity by the people on land. There are few stoves, and no +fireplaces or chimneys, in Montevideo. Cooking is done with charcoal on +braziers out-of-doors, as is the custom in most tropical countries. + +The capital of Uruguay contains the usual educational and religious, +charitable and scientific, public organizations, with appropriate +edifices for the same. It should certainly be considered a reading +community, having more daily newspapers than London, and double as many +as the city of New York; also supporting a large number of weekly +newspapers and monthly magazines. As to books, so far as a casual +observer may speak, they are few and far between in family circles. The +men read the newspapers, and the women fill up their leisure time with +music and gossip. There is a national university in Montevideo, where +over six hundred pupils are regularly taught at the present time, and +there are forty-eight professors attached to this admirably organized +institution. We heard it highly spoken of by those who should be good +judges in educational matters. The custom house, with which the stranger +always makes an early acquaintance after arriving in port, is a large +and costly structure, three stories in height. The opera house is worthy +of particular mention, being a spacious building of the Doric order, +capable of seating three thousand persons, and when it is filled at +night, the interior presents a grand array of elegant costumes and +female beauty, the ladies of this city being noted for their personal +charms. This is a circumstance not mentioned casually as a mere +compliment, but simply as a fact. The opera house covers an entire +square, and has two large wings attached to the main building, one of +which is devoted to business purposes, and the other contains the +National Museum. There is here the nucleus of a most valuable +collection, to which constant additions are being made, both by the +state and through personal liberality and interest. We are sorry to say +in this connection that the bull-fight, as a public exhibition, above +all other styles of amusement, is the favorite one with the rank and +file of the populace, which is quite sufficiently Spanish to control the +matter and insure its permanency. The bull-ring, wherein these brutal +and terribly demoralizing exhibitions take place on each Sabbath +afternoon during the season, is situated about a league from the city +proper. + +It must be a country or district under Roman Catholic influence, and +with more or less of a Spanish element permeating it, to admit of this +style of desecrating the Sabbath, or, indeed, of indulging on any day of +the week in an exhibition which is so thoroughly brutal, cowardly, and +repulsive. It is a sad reflection upon the community, high and low, to +state that the bull-fight is one of its popular entertainments. We have +said that this is a cowardly game. The fact is, the bull is doomed from +the moment he enters the arena. He has only his horns and his courage to +help him in the unequal contest. The professional fighters opposed to +him are all fully armed, and protected by sheltering guards, behind +which they can retire at will. It is twelve experts pitted against one +poor beast. Ingenious, heathenish modes of torture are devised and +adopted to wound, to weaken, and to craze the victim. If it was one +armed man against the bull, whether mounted or otherwise, it would be a +more equal and gallant struggle,--but twelve to one! bah, it is only a +cowardly game in which gallant horses and brave bulls are sacrificed by +a dozen armed men. Even the matadore, who gives the final and fatal +thrust with his sword, and who is looked upon as a sort of hero by the +spectators, does not enter the ring to attempt the act until the bull is +comparatively harmless, having been worried and wounded until he is +exhausted by the struggle and the copious loss of blood, so that he is +scarcely able to stand. Though reeling like a drunken man, he staggers +bravely towards his fresh and well-armed enemy, showing fight to the +last gasp. + +Realize the moral effect of such cut-throat exhibitions upon youth! The +older, cruel and hardened spectators are only rendered more so, but the +young and impressionable are then and there inoculated with a love of +brutality and bloodshed, fostered by every fresh exhibition which they +witness. + +The Exchange is a grand and spacious structure, admirably adapted to its +purpose, being one of the finest business edifices in South America, to +our mind infinitely superior in all respects to that of Rio, upon which +so much money has been expended in meretricious designs. The author +counted the names of some forty charitable institutions and associations +in a Montevideo directory, eight or ten of which are maintained mostly +by public endowment, such as hospitals, asylums for the poor, +orphanages, industrial schools, lunatic asylums, and so on. Near the +Plaza Ramirez there is a school of arts and trades, which at this +writing accommodates a large body of pupils, taught by competent +professors and experts. We were told that this institution was of great +practical service in the cause of education, its general aim being +similar to that of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. One was +hardly prepared to credit Montevideo with so many and well-sustained +educational purposes as she was found to be justly entitled to. The +reader will observe that we speak qualifiedly of these matters; it is +only the outward and most obvious characteristics of a city, so briefly +visited, of which one can speak correctly. It would have been gratifying +to have remained longer in this capital, to understand more clearly the +educational advantages which are offered here. In this department of +progress, Montevideo seems in advance of many larger cities. + +Squads of soldiers are seen lounging about the town, dressed in a +uniform of the Zouave pattern, not very jaunty looking fellows, it must +be confessed, but perhaps "as good food for powder as a better." The +entire army of Uruguay consists of only five thousand men, of all +branches. The president has also a battalion of body-guards, consisting +of three or four hundred men, forming a very efficient as well as +ornamental organization. This organization consists of men loyal to the +administration, and beyond a doubt personally devoted to the president. +The rank and file of the army embraces all shades of color, both as to +mind and body, and is liable to become disaffected at the outbreak of +any popular upheaval, or through the influence of designing men. This +body-guard, however, being always on duty, is ready and able to turn the +scale by prompt and consistent action, in favor of the established +authorities, and thus nip rebellion in the bud. It is only after getting +thoroughly under way that revolutionary attempts become formidable. At +the inception, the strong arm promptly applied stamps out the life and +courage of the mob, and renders sedition futile. "No parleying; fire +promptly, and fire to kill; that ends the matter," said Napoleon. Blank +cartridges and vacillation stimulate a half-formed purpose into action. + +One is forced to admit that beggars are rather numerous in +Montevideo,--beggars on horseback and wearing spurs. They coolly stop +their small, wiry, half-fed ponies, and with magnificent effrontery beg +of any stranger they chance to meet for a centavo, a copper coin worth +about two cents of our American money. The incongruity of beggars +mounted, while the stranger of whom they solicit alms is a pedestrian, +is somewhat obvious. It must be remembered, however, that horses are +very cheap in this country, and that nearly every one rides or drives. A +good serviceable animal can be bought in any of the South American +cities at what we should consider a mere trifle to pay for one. A +well-broken young saddle-horse will bring from twenty to twenty-five +dollars, but the owner, if one of the dudes about town, will expend five +hundred dollars upon a silver-decked saddle, bridle, and trimmings, a +Spanish peculiarity which is also observed in the city of Mexico. A pair +of well-matched carriage-horses, in good condition, can be had for +seventy-five or eighty dollars. Mares are not worked in this country, +being solely used for breeding purposes, and have no fixed price; +indeed, they are not met with in the cities. It will be seen that for a +beggar to set up business here requires some capital, but not much. De +Quincey would describe Spanish beggary as having become elevated to one +of the fine arts. + +There is a class of men in Uruguay called gauchos who devote themselves +to breaking the wild horses of the pampas for domestic use. They are +more Indian than Spanish, and pass their lives mostly as herdsmen of the +vast numbers of animals which live in a semi-wild state upon the plains +of South America. These men can hardly be said to train their horses. +They only conquer them by a process of cruel discipline which thoroughly +subdues the animal. After this the poor creatures are ever on the alert +to obey their rider's will, prompted by a pressure of the powerful bit, +and a merciless thrust of the long, sharp rowels. The gaucho reminds one +of the cowboys of our Western States. He forms a very picturesque figure +when seen upon his wiry little mustang, galloping along with his yellow +poncho streaming behind him, his head covered by a broad-brimmed soft +felt hat, his long, dark hair floating upon the breeze, and his broad, +loose trousers fluttering in the wind. A lasso of braided or twisted +leather sometimes swings from one hand, while the rider skillfully +manages his horse with the other. Altogether the gaucho forms a picture +of strong vitality and vivid color. He spends a small fortune upon his +equipments, and his heavy spurs are of solid silver. He is not a hard +drinker, an occasional glass of country wine satisfies him; but he will +gamble all night long until he has lost his last penny to professional +sportsmen, who somehow know the way to win by fair means or foul. + +Few strangers who visit Montevideo for the first time will be at all +prepared to see such a quantity and variety of rich jewelry in the +shops. Imported dress goods of the finest quality are also offered for +sale in these shops. The Parisian boulevards have no display windows +which contain larger or finer diamonds, sapphires, and emeralds; indeed, +this country seems to be the home of precious stones and real gems. The +silversmiths exhibit goods equally artistic and elegant. The best +products of Vienna, Paris, and London, in the fancy-goods line, are +fully represented here. Readers who have visited Genoa will recall the +fine silver filigree-work which is a specialty of that city, but some of +the manufactures of this character made here are quite equal, if they do +not excel, that of the Italian capital. + +It seemed to be rather a singular and significant fact, that when a +couple of pennies will purchase a tumblerful of the national tipple +called caña, a raw liquor made from sugar-cane, and quite as strong as +brandy, still comparatively few persons are seen under its influence +upon the public streets. It is true that on all church festal occasions +the common people have a regular carousal, and get very much +intoxicated, whereupon they lose one day in repenting and two in +recuperation. It is the same all over the world. The lower, uneducated +classes, having no intellectual resort, seem imbued with the idea that +to get thoroughly tipsy is the acme of pleasure. The inevitable +punishment does not enter into the calculation at all, nor does it deter +the victim from repeated excesses. It is curious to observe the peculiar +effect which intoxicants produce upon people of different nationalities: +the Russian gets boozy on vodka, and only becomes more loving to his +species; the Mexican drinks pulque by the pint measure, and craves only +to be permitted to sleep; the French guzzle brandy and wine until they +become equally full of song and gayety; the American Indian is made +utterly crazy and reckless by drink; the Irishman finds a fight in every +glass of whiskey; and the Englishman who indulges overmuch becomes +eloquent on politics and patriotism. In South America the common people +who drink to excess are rendered pugnacious and revolutionary. The +police arrangements of Montevideo are excellent, and the streets are +safe for man or woman at any hour of the day or night, which one is +forced to admit is more than can be truthfully said of the majority of +large cities in either Europe or North America. There is no sickly +sentimentality about crime and criminals here. If a man outrages the +law, he has to suffer for it, and there is no pardoning him until he has +worked out his entire penalty. It is the certainty of punishment which +intimidates professional rascals. Official leniency and pardoning of +criminals are a premium on crime. + +Between two and three miles from the city there is a public park, which +is laid out with excellent taste and skill, forming a popular pleasure +resort. There are here many fine native and exotic trees, as well as +flowering shrubs and blooming flowers. This spacious park, intersected +by a willow-lined stream, is called the Paseo, and is ornamented with +statues, fountains, and rockeries. The grounds are also occupied by +several small places devoted to amusements, shooting-galleries, billiard +saloons, and gambling tables, very similar to the Deer Garden in the +environs of Copenhagen. Citizens of Montevideo of the humbler class come +hither with their families, bringing food and drink to be disposed of in +picnic fashion. Bordering the sweep of the bay, which forms the harbor, +are many cottages, the homes of the rich merchants. These villas are +surrounded by flower gardens and graceful shrubbery, the endless spring +climate making the bloom perennial. The flat roofs of many of the town +houses are partially inclosed, so as to form a pleasant resort in the +closing hours of the day, where family parties are often seen gathered +together. Social life among the residents of the environs is very gay, +and so indeed is that of the town residents, whose hospitality is also +proverbial. The Hotel Oriental is the favorite hostelry of Montevideo, +built of marble and well furnished, though it is hardly equal to the +Hotel Victoria, its rival, architecturally speaking. + +The drinking water, and all that is used for domestic purposes in the +city, is brought by a well-engineered system from the river Santa Lucia, +which is tapped for this purpose at a distance of thirty or forty miles +from Montevideo. + +The Campo Santo of the capital is admirably arranged and particularly +well kept, being in several respects like those of Pisa, Genoa, and +other Italian cities. It is the most elaborate cemetery in South +America, surrounded by high walls so built as to contain five tiers of +niches which form the receptacles for the dead. The grounds are nearly +as crowded with elaborate tombs and stone monuments as Père la Chaise, +at Paris, the funereal cypress rising here and there in stately +mournfulness above the marble slabs. The abundance of metallic wreaths +and artificial flowers afforded another resemblance to the famous French +cemetery. The freshness of many of the floral offerings showed that the +memory of the departed was kept green in the hearts of those left +behind. The traveler sees many such touching evidences of tenderness all +over the world. Much of the marble work seen in these grounds was +imported from Milan, and some from both Florence and Rome. The +monumental entrance to the grounds, and the elaborate chapel within +them, are both in good taste. + +Beef, hides, wool, hair, and grain seem to be the principal articles of +export. Uruguay contains over half a million of people, and has an area +of seventy-one thousand square miles, intersected by several railways, +bringing the interior within easy reach of the capital. It is said to be +growing more rapidly in proportion to its size and the present number of +inhabitants than any other part of South America. The republic is best +known to the world by its Indian name, Uruguay, but on many maps it is +still designated as the Banda Oriental, that is, the "Eastern Border." +It will be remembered that this now independent state was originally a +part of the Argentine Republic, which was formerly known by that +designation. Though Uruguay is one of the smallest of the independent +divisions of the continent, it is yet one of the most important, a fact +owing largely to its admirable commercial location. Nearly all of its +territory can be reached by navigable rivers, while its Atlantic shore +has a dozen good harbors. Sixteen large rivers intersect the republic in +various directions, all of which have their several tributaries. Cheap +internal transportation is assured by over three hundred miles of +railways; also by these rivers. As already intimated, its agricultural +interests are largely on the increase, the strongest element of +permanency. Originally the pastoral interest prevailed over all other, +but agriculture, both here and in the Argentine Republic, has taken +precedence. The model farms near Montevideo are unsurpassed for extent, +completeness, and the liberal manner in which they are conducted. Some +large estates might be named which will compare favorably with anything +of the sort which the author has ever seen in any country, where +agriculture is followed on intelligent principles. Here the cultivation +of the soil is carried on not solely to obtain all which can be wrung +from it, in the way of pecuniary profit, but _con amore_, and with a due +regard to system. As may be supposed, the return is fully commensurate +with the intelligence and liberality exercised in the business. Such +farming may be and is called fancy farming, but it is a sort which pays +most liberally, and which affords those engaged in it the most +satisfaction. + +To be an honest chronicler, one must not hesitate to look at all phases +of progress, successful or otherwise, on the part of each people and +country visited and written about. There are always deep-lying +influences acting for good or evil, which scarcely present themselves to +the thoughtless observer. + +One reason for the rapid growth of this republic of Uruguay is because +of its gradually casting off the slough of Roman Catholic influence, a +species of dry rot quite sufficient to bring about the destruction of +any government. The same incubus which was of so long standing in +Mexico, where its effect kept the people in ignorance and ferment for +centuries, has at last been abolished, and modern progress naturally +follows. In Uruguay the Romish Church has lost its prestige, having +hastened its own downfall by blindly striving to enforce fifteenth +century ideas upon people of the nineteenth. Monks and nuns have been +expelled, and parish schools have been closed. Free schools now prevail, +and general knowledge is becoming broadcast, which simply means +destruction to all popish control. Intelligence is the antidote for +bigotry, which explains the bitter opposition of the Roman Catholic +priesthood to free schools wherever their faith prevails. + +In all of these South American provinces it has been found difficult to +throw off the evil inheritance of sloth and anarchy which the Spaniards +imposed upon their colonial possessions. The schoolhouse is the true +temple of liberty for this people. In the department of Montevideo alone +there are to-day over sixty free schools, and in the whole republic +nearly four hundred, something for her authorities to point at with a +spirit of just pride. This enumeration does not include the private +schools, of which there are also a large number in the capital. + +We find by published statistics that Uruguay exports of wool, about +seven million dollars' worth per annum; of beef, over six million +dollars' worth; of hides, four million dollars' worth; and of wheat +about the same amount in value as that of the last article named. These +staples, however, are only representative articles, to which many more +might be added, to show her growing commercial importance and assured +prosperity. + +Our next stopping-place is the important city of Buenos Ayres, on the +opposite bank of the river, about one hundred and fifty miles southwest +of Montevideo. + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + Buenos Ayres.--Extent of the Argentine + Republic.--Population.--Narrow Streets.--Large Public + Squares.--Basques.--Poor Harbor.--Railway System.--River + Navigation.--Tramways.--The Cathedral.--Normal + Schools.--Newspapers.--Public Buildings.--Calle Florida.--A + Busy City.--Mode of furnishing Milk.--Environs.--Commercial + and Political Growth.--The New Capital. + + +The city of Buenos Ayres--"Good Air"--is well named so far as its +natural situation is concerned, but this condition of a pure atmosphere +has been seriously affected by unsanitary conditions, naturally arising +from the large influx of a very promiscuous population. A considerable +percentage are Italians, and so far as personal cleanliness and decency +go, they seem to be among the lost arts with them. + +This thriving city is the capital of the Argentine Republic, which, next +to Brazil, is the largest independent state in South America, containing +fourteen provinces, each of which has its own local government, modeled +after those of the United States. The average reader will doubtless be +surprised, as the author certainly was, to realize that this southern +republic exceeds in extent of territory the united kingdoms of Great +Britain, together with France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Italy, Spain, +Portugal, Belgium, Holland, and Greece combined, the actual area being +something over twelve hundred thousand square miles. The province of +Buenos Ayres is just about the size of the State of New York, and +contains in round numbers a population of one million. Two hundred years +ago, the city of Buenos Ayres had a population of five hundred. Having +the statistics at hand, it is perhaps worth while to state that, of the +aggregate population of the province, a majority, or fully six hundred +thousand, are foreigners, classed as follows: three hundred thousand +Italians, one hundred and fifty thousand French, one hundred thousand +Spaniards, forty thousand English, and twenty thousand Germans. The +number of North American residents is very small, though they control a +fair percentage of the exports and imports. Authentic statistics show +that they number less than six hundred. Paris is not more crowded with +refugees from various countries than is this Argentine capital. Why such +a spot was selected on which to establish a commercial city is an +unsolved riddle, as it embraces about all the natural inconveniences +that could possibly be encountered on the banks of a large river. The +perversity of such a selection is the more obvious, because those who +made it must have passed by a score of admirable points eminently +superior in all respects to the one now occupied. + +The first view of Buenos Ayres on approaching it by water is peculiar, +the line of sight being only broken by the church towers and a few +prominent public buildings; the horizon alone forms the background of +the picture. Unlike nearly all of the South American cities, there is no +forest or mountain range behind or surrounding the capital. From its +environs a continuous plain stretches away for nearly eight hundred +miles to the foothills of the Andes. Situated between the 34° and 35° of +south latitude, it enjoys a climate similar to that of the south of +France, and almost identical with that of New Orleans. The site upon +which the city stands is considerably above the level of the river, and +though the streets are far too narrow for business purposes in the older +portions of the town, they widen to a better size in the newer parts. +The roadways are poorly paved, so that it is very uncomfortable to walk +or drive over them. Boulevards are laid out to cut the older parts of +the city diagonally, as was done in Paris and Genoa, and is now being +done in Florence, so as to relieve the present insufficient capacity for +the transportation of merchandise. One is apt, however, when remarking +upon these particularly narrow and irregular streets in a foreign +country, to forget that there are, in the older portions of the capital +of Massachusetts, some quite as circumscribed and corkscrew fashioned. +If we do not find all the excellences of civilization predominating, and +admirable people in the majority here, we should do well to remember +that we have also left them in the minority at home. + +The huge custom house of Buenos Ayres, with its circular form and high +walls facing the river, recalls in general appearance Castle Garden in +New York harbor, or the fort on Governor's Island. In its importance as +a commercial emporium, this city disputes the first place with only +three others in the southern hemisphere, namely, Rio Janeiro, Sydney, +and Melbourne, the latter of which has lately added greatly to its +harbor facilities by deepening and widening the Yarra-Yarra River. + +The dwelling-houses of Buenos Ayres are mostly built of brick, and are +of a far more substantial character than those upon the west coast of +the continent. They have much more the appearance of North American +dwellings than Spanish, except that the windows are strongly guarded +with iron bars, and the cool, shady patios present domestic scenes, +mingled with flowers and fragrance, strongly local in color. The city is +regularly laid out in squares of a hundred and fifty yards each, so when +one is told that such or such a place is so many squares away, he knows +exactly the distance which is indicated. The Plaza de la Victoria is +surrounded by handsome edifices, including the opera house and the +cathedral, the façade of the latter very much resembling that of the +Madeleine at Paris. This square has a fine equestrian statue of some +patriot, and a small column commemorating a national event. The city has +a population equaling that of Boston in number, and we do not hesitate +to say that it is more noted for its enterprise and general progress +than any other of the South American cities. It has been appropriately +called the Chicago of the southern continent. The republic, of which it +is the principal city, has seven thousand miles of telegraphic wire +within its area, a tangible evidence of enterprise which requires no +comment. One remarkable line connects this city with that of Valparaiso, +on the Pacific side of the continent, and is constructed with iron poles +nearly the whole distance, crossing the Andes by means of forty miles of +cable laid beneath the perpetual snows! + +It may well be supposed that the inhabitants of Buenos Ayres are of a +cosmopolitan character, when it is known that the daily newspapers are +issued in five different languages. As shown by the statistics already +given, a considerable share of the people are Italians, who form much +the larger portion of the emigrants now coming hither from Europe, or +who have arrived here during the last decade. As additions to the +population, they form a more desirable class, in many respects, than +those who seek homes further north. After the Italians, the Basques are +among the most numerous of the new-comers. There are over fifty thousand +of this people settled in the province of Buenos Ayres alone, readily +adapting themselves to the country. They are a strongly individualized +race, whom no one is liable to mistake for any other. They maintain in a +great measure the picturesque style of dress which prevails in their +native land, no matter what their vocation may be here. As a rule, the +Basques come with their families, bringing some moderate amount of +pecuniary means with them, and at once devote themselves to agricultural +pursuits. They take especially to the department of the dairy, making +butter and cheese of excellent quality, for which they find a ready city +market. They have a natural inclination towards cattle tending, and are +looked upon by the authorities as among the very best of European +emigrants. To promote this immigration to Argentina, a per capita +premium has been paid heretofore by the government, who, indeed, are +still ready to furnish a free passage for responsible emigrants, both of +this and other nationalities. This generous offer has been so shamefully +abused by the beggars, lazzaroni, and criminal classes of Naples and +Sicily, that a check has necessarily been put upon it, particularly as +regards the generally objectionable people of Sicily. + +As a shipping port, Montevideo has a decided advantage over this +Argentine metropolis. Large steamers are obliged to anchor eight or ten +miles, or even more, below the city, on account of the shallowness of +the river at this point. A channel has been opened to facilitate the +approach of vessels of moderate tonnage, but much yet remains to be done +before the experiment will be of any practical advantage. Tugboats land +passengers on the quay, who arrive by the large mail steamers. Vessels +of not over twenty-five hundred tons can lie at the shore and land their +cargoes by means of the limited conveniences of the new dock. One would +think that this want of harbor facilities was an insuperable objection +and impediment in the growth of a great commercial capital, but Buenos +Ayres goes straight onward, progressing in wealth and business, +apparently regardless of such disadvantages. The present aggregate of +its imports, in round numbers, is one hundred million dollars per annum. + +Even to-day, while resting under so serious a financial cloud, with her +credit at the lowest ebb, and so many of her lately wealthy merchants in +bankruptcy, the city has a certain steady, normal growth, which it would +appear that nothing can seriously impair. As we have intimated, the tide +of immigration has been checked, though not entirely stopped, by the +depressed financial and business condition of the country; still, in one +closing month of the last year, October, 1891, over two thousand +passengers arrived by steamship in Argentina, seeking new and permanent +homes. + +When a pampero is blowing, it sometimes forces nearly all of the water +out of the harbor, leaving it high and dry, so to speak, though the +river is thirty miles in width opposite Buenos Ayres. Passengers, +baggage, and freight have in the past often been landed by means of +horse carts, hung on high wheels, and driven out into the water to such +a depth as would float small boats and lighters. Indeed, this was for +many years the common mode of landing freight and passengers at Buenos +Ayres. Two long and narrow piers which have been built partially obviate +the necessity of employing carts, unless the water becomes very low. It +has been said in all seriousness, and we believe it to be true, that the +cost of landing a cargo of merchandise at Buenos Ayres has often been as +great as the freight by vessel from New York, Liverpool, or Boston. + +To construct a suitable harbor here for commercial purposes is a project +attended by almost insurmountable difficulties, but the attempt is +gradually being made. The water in front of the city is not only +shallow, but the bottom is extremely hard, while the increase of depth +down the river is so little that it would involve the dredging of soil +for a distance of ten miles, together with an indefinite width. It is +very doubtful if a channel in such a situation, liable to constant +changes, could be effectually established and maintained at any cost. +The city does not depend upon its foreign commerce alone for business, +having a boundless and productive territory in its rear, of which it +will always be the commercial capital. It is already a great railway +centre, the republic having over seven thousand miles of iron and steel +rails within its borders. Five railways radiate from Buenos Ayres at +this writing, and a sixth is projected. One route has been surveyed with +the idea of connecting this city direct with Valparaiso, the distance +between the two capitals being about nine hundred miles. It is designed +to take advantage of the road already completed to Mendoza, from whence +the addition would cross the Cordilleras at a height of ten thousand +feet, and pass through several tunnels, one of which would be two miles +long. + +It should also be remembered, while on this subject of transportation +facilities, that the Paraná River is navigable for light draught +steamers two thousand miles inland from Buenos Ayres, into and through +one of the most productive valleys in the world. From Montevideo to +Point Piedras, the river is uniformly sixty miles wide, and at Buenos +Ayres it has only narrowed to about half this distance. The two main +rivers which form the Plate are the Uruguay and the Paraná, which in +turn unite to form the grand estuary called Rio de la Plata. + +The city of Buenos Ayres has about as many miles of tramway as there are +in Boston. The various routes are well managed, and afford an infinite +amount of popular accommodation. This service is carried on by six +different companies. It is not in the hands of one big monopoly, as with +us in Boston. Competition in undoubtedly best for the public good, but +the business can be more advantageously conducted by a single company. +Experience has shown, however, that such a franchise is liable to great +abuse in the hands of a corporation having no rivalry to fear. + +The citizens suffered long and patiently for want of good water for +drinking and domestic purposes. This trouble has been partially obviated +for a considerable time by the establishment of extensive water-works, +but they are not adequate to the demand. The means for obtaining a new +and additional supply are now under consideration. A system of drainage +has also been constructed, which was fully as much of a necessity as the +supply of water, but which, as usual, proves to be insufficient in +capacity to perform the necessary work,--at least it but partially meets +the requirements for which it was designed. People grow hardened by +association with danger, but the importance of good and sufficient +drainage for a capital in which malarial fevers prevail hardly requires +argument. + +Unlike nearly all of the South American cities, Buenos Ayres has no +Plaza Mayor, or public square, as a grand business and pleasure resort, +a central point, par excellence, designed also for the recreation of the +general public. There are, however, several spacious squares, quite +large enough to represent such an idea,--nine or ten of them in fact, +all of which are surrounded by fine buildings. The Plaza Victoria, for +instance, already referred to, is some eight acres in extent, made +brilliant at night by electric lights, which supplement the old style of +gas-burners. The government house, the Palace of Justice, the cathedral, +and other effective buildings front upon the Plaza Victoria. Eight or +ten of the principal streets converge here, and this point is also the +place of departure for several lines of tram-cars. The cathedral is in +the Grecian style, the portico supported by twelve Corinthian columns, +composed of brick, mortar, and stucco, but the general effect is the +same as though each pillar was a monolith. The edifice is capable of +containing eight or ten thousand people at a time, being equal in size +and architectural effect to any ecclesiastical establishment on the +continent. As this cathedral is a very remarkable one in many respects, +we devote more than usual space to its description. It was rebuilt by +the Jesuits in the seventeenth century, but was originally founded in +1580, and is not much inferior to St. Paul's, London, as the following +dimensions will show. It is two hundred and seventy feet long by one +hundred and fifty in width, having an area of forty-five hundred square +rods, and stands next in size to Notre Dame, Paris. The interior of this +immense building, with its twelve side chapels, is dark, dingy, and +dirty, while the want of ventilation renders the air within foul and +offensive. It is only on some rare festal occasions that an audience at +all adequate to occupy its great capacity is seen within its walls. A +hundred persons do not seem like more than a dozen in such a place. Less +than a thousand only serve to emphasize its loneliness. One sees a few +women, but scarcely any men, present on ordinary occasions. The latter +are content to stand about the outer doors and watch the former when +they come from morning mass, or the ordinary Sabbath services. Here, as +in Havana, Seville, and Madrid, the Spanish ladies, who lead a secluded +home life, under a half oriental restraint imposed by custom inherited +from the ancient Moorish rule in continental Spain, do not resent being +stared at when in the streets. Probably this is the main attraction +which draws most of the señors and señoritas to the church services, +though undoubtedly many of them are devout and sincere in the outward +services which they perform. At least, let us give them the benefit of +such a conclusion. + +The national religion of Argentina is that of the Roman Catholic Church, +but the power of the priesthood is strictly confined to ecclesiastical +affairs, as in Uruguay. Absolute religious freedom may be said to exist +here. No religious processions or church parades are permitted in the +public streets. This used to be very different in times past, almost +every other day in the Romish calendar being some saint's day, and it +was the custom to make the most of these occasions by elaborate parades +and gorgeous display. Besides some twenty-four Roman Catholic churches +and chapels, there are a score presided over by Protestants of various +denominations,--Episcopal, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist, and so on. +There is, as we were informed, a large and growing Protestant +constituency in the city. + +It should be mentioned very much to her credit that Buenos Ayres has +supported, since 1872, a series of normal schools, in which regular +courses of three years' training are given to persons desiring to fit +themselves to become school-teachers. To assist those wishing to avail +themselves of these advantages, the government appropriates a certain +sum of money, and those persons who receive this public aid bind +themselves, in consideration of the same, to teach on specific terms in +the free schools for a period of three years. There are quite a number +of North American ladies employed in these schools, throughout the +several districts of Argentina, receiving a liberal compensation +therefor, and commanding a high degree of respect. The University of +Buenos Ayres, with about fifty professors and some eight hundred +students, stands at the head of the national system of education. It was +founded in 1821, having classical, law, medical, and physical +departments. There are also four military schools, two for the army and +two for the navy. + +Buenos Ayres has more daily papers published within its precincts than +either Boston or New York. It has several elegant marble structures +devoted to the banking business, generally holding large capitals, +though the financial condition of several of them at this writing is +simply that of bankruptcy. This applies mainly to the state banks. There +are here an orphanage, a deaf and dumb asylum, four public hospitals, +and two libraries: the National Library containing some seventy thousand +volumes, the Popular Library having fifty thousand. There is also a free +art school, together with public and private schools of all grades. Last +to be named, but by no means least in importance, the city has a number +of fairly good hotels and restaurants, the latter much superior to the +former. Hotels are not only a strong indication of the social refinement +of a people, or of the want of it, but they are of great importance as +regards the commercial prosperity of a large community. Travelers who +are made comfortable in these temporary homes remain longer in a city +than they would otherwise, spend more money there, and are apt to come +again. If, on the contrary, the hotel accommodations are poor, travelers +complain of them, and strangers avoid a city where they are liable to be +rendered needlessly uncomfortable in this respect. Rio Janeiro is a +notable instance in hand, a city whose hotels we conscientiously advise +the traveler to avoid. + +We well remember, at the great caravansary in Calcutta, the only hotel +there of any size or pretension, that a party of five Englishmen and +five Americans, who had come from Madras with the purpose of passing a +fortnight in the former city, shortened their stay one half, simply +because the hotel was so wretchedly kept, the accommodations were so +abominably poor, and the discomforts so numerous. Let us put this idea +in mercenary form. Ten guests, expending at least eight dollars each per +day, curtailed their visit seven days. It is safe to say that they would +have left six hundred dollars more in Calcutta had they been comfortably +lodged, than they did under the circumstances. + +We should not omit to mention the Commercial Exchange, in speaking of +the public buildings of Buenos Ayres. It is a fine, large, modern +structure, admirably adapted to the purpose for which it is designed. +Until within a year, the edifice in Boston applied to the same purpose +would not compare with that of this South American capital. + +There is no dullness or torpor in this city. All is stir and bustle. +Life and business are rampant, and yet, strange to say, no one seems to +be in any special hurry. Everything is done in a leisurely manner. The +number of handsome stores and the elegance of the goods displayed in +them are remarkable, while the annual amount of sales in these +establishments rivals that of some of our most popular New York and +Boston concerns in similar lines of business. One may count forty +first-class jewelry establishments in a short walk about town. There is +hardly a more attractive display in this line either in Paris or London. +Diamonds and precious stones of all descriptions dazzle the eye and +captivate the fancy. The Calle Florida is one of the most fashionable +thoroughfares, and presents in the afterpart of the day a very gay and +striking picture of local life, a large element being composed of +handsome women, attended by gayly dressed nurses, in charge of lovely +children wearing fancy costumes. The young boys affect naval styles, and +their little sisters wear marvelously broad Roman scarfs, and have their +feet encased in dainty buff slippers. What pleasing domestic pictures +they suggest to the eye of a restless wanderer! + +On account of the narrowness of the streets, there is but one line of +rails laid for the tramway service, so that a person goes out of town, +say to Palermo, by one system of streets and returns by another. These +cars move rapidly. A considerable distance is covered in a brief time, +the motive power being small horses. An almost continuous line of cars, +with scarcely a break, is passing any given point from early morning +until night, and the citizens are liberal patrons of them. We saw some +statistics relating to the number of persons carried by the tramways of +this city annually, which were simply amazing, and which would make the +management of the West End Railway of Boston "grow green with jealousy, +or pallid with despair." Of course all this has been temporarily +affected by the present financial crisis. As we have tried to show, +Buenos Ayres is a wonderfully busy city, in which respect it resembles +our own country much more than it does the average capitals of the +south. There is none of the visible languor and spirit of delay which +usually strikes one in tropical centres. People get up in the morning +wide awake, and go promptly to business. There is no closing of the +shops at midday here, as there is in Havana, Santiago, the capital of +Chili, or some of the Mexican cities, so that clerks may absent +themselves for dinner or to enjoy a siesta. A much more convenient +course for both clerks and patrons is adopted, which does not block the +wheels of trade. The idea of closing stores at midday to steal a couple +of hours for eating and sleeping is a bit of Rip Van Winkleism entirely +unworthy of the go-ahead spirit of the nineteenth century. + +The Plaza Retiro is as large as the Plaza Victoria, and occupies the +spot where in old Spanish days the hateful exhibitions of the +bull-fights were given. Indeed, this square was formerly known as the +Plaza de Toros. Many historical interests hang about the locality, +around which the rich merchants of the city have erected some palatial +residences, faced to a certain height with marble on the outside. These +domestic retreats have courtyards constructed one beyond another, +covering a considerable depth, and forming a series of patios, each +appropriated to some special domestic use,--the dining court, the +reception court, and the nursery. In this square, and also in the Plaza +Victoria, there are always plenty of hackney coaches to be found +awaiting hire, and it should be remarked that charges are very +reasonable for this service in Buenos Ayres. + +There are thirteen theatres in the city, and an admirable museum. The +latter, rich in antiquities, is noted for its prehistoric remains of +animals which once lived in the southern part of this continent, but +whose species have long been extinct. This particular museum is +advantageously known to scientists all over the world. The Colon Theatre +is a large, well-equipped, and imposing place of entertainment, as much +so as the Théâtre Française, Paris, and takes a high position in +representations of the legitimate drama and the production of the better +spectacular plays. This house adopts what is called here the _cazuela_ +in the division of its auditorium, an excellent system, very general in +South American theatres, and we believe, nowhere else. It consists in +giving up the entire second tier of boxes or seats to the exclusive use +of unattended ladies, an arrangement which seemed to us strongly to +recommend itself. To this division of the auditorium there is a separate +entrance from the street, and no gentlemen are admitted under any +pretext whatever. So those who desire to come to the entertainments +quite unattended can do so with perfect propriety, and are safe from all +intrusion in this isolated position. The ladies of this city, when they +appear in public, dress very elegantly, following closely North American +and European styles, while displaying the choicest imported materials +well made up. Perhaps comparisons are invidious, but we feel inclined to +accord precedence in the matter of personal beauty to those of +Montevideo. In dress, however, the ladies of Buenos Ayres certainly +excel them. Each city has its local "Worth," but many dresses are made +in Paris and imported, regardless of expense. + +There may be somewhere a noisier city than Buenos Ayres, as regards +street life in the business section, but London or New York cannot rival +it in this respect. Undoubtedly this is owing in a measure to the fact +that the traffic of so large and busy a metropolis is crowded into such +narrow thoroughfares, barely thirty feet in width, and often less than +that, a portion of which space is taken up by the tramway tracks. The +noisy vehicles which run on these rails make their full share of the +racket and hubbub. Here, as in the cities of Mexico and Puebla, the +drivers of the cars are supplied each with a tin horn, hung about his +neck, or suspended from the car front, upon which he exercises his +lungs, producing ear-piercing and discordant notes. Wheels and hoofs +upon the uneven pavements increase the din, supplemented by shouts and +language more forcible than proper, uttered by enraged teamsters because +of the frequent blocking of the roadway. Add to these dulcet sounds the +cries of itinerant fruit venders, fancy-goods sellers, and the shouts of +persistent newsboys, and one has some idea of the irritating uproar +which rages all day long in the older streets of Buenos Ayres. + +Cows and mares are driven singly or in groups through the streets of +this city, and milked at the customers' doors, so that one is nearly +certain of getting the genuine article in this line, though we were +assured that some roguish dealers carry an india-rubber tube and flat +bag under their clothing from which they slyly extract a portion of +water to "extend" the lacteal fluid. "Is there no honesty extant?" +Adulteration seems to have become an instinct of trade. Asses are still +driven through the streets of Paris, in the early mornings, and the milk +obtained from them is distributed in the same manner, whether with a +slight adulteration of water or not, we are unable to say. It is not +uncommon at Buenos Ayres to see a person served on the street with fresh +milk just drawn from the animal, which he drinks on the spot. A very +refreshing, modest, and nutritious morning tipple. Mares, as before +mentioned, are not used for working or riding in this country, but are +kept solely for breeding purposes and to furnish milk. This article is +considered to be more nourishing for invalids and children than cow's +milk, and is often prescribed as a regular diet by the physicians. + +The grand driving park of the capital, known by the name of Third of +February, is situated at Palermo, some distance from the city proper, +and covers between eight and nine hundred acres. On certain days, +especially on Sundays, a military band gives a public outdoor concert +here, when all the beauty and fashion of the city turn out in gay +equipages to see and to be seen, forming also a grand and spirited +cavalcade of fine horses and carriages. The races take place at Palermo, +and, as in all Roman Catholic countries, on Sundays. + +The neighborhood of Buenos Ayres is generally under good cultivation, +the soil and climate uniting to produce splendid agricultural results. +The suburbs of Flores and Belgrano each present a very pretty group of +quintas and gardens, wherein great skill and refinement of taste is +evinced. The alfalfa, a species of clover used here in a green condition +as fodder for cattle, and which is as rich as the red clover of New +England, to which family of grasses it belongs, grows so rapidly and +ripens so promptly that three crops are often realized from the same +field in a single season. The immediate environs of the city are +occupied by private residences, many of which are very elaborate and +imposing, surrounded by charming gardens and pleasure grounds. Grottoes, +statuary, and fountains abound, while orchards of various fruits are +common, interspersed here and there with picturesque graperies. Some of +the highways are guarded by hedges of cactus,--_agave_,--much more +impenetrable than any artificial fencing. Trees of the eucalyptus family +have heretofore been favorites here, originally imported from Australia, +but they have ceased to be desirable, since it appears that nothing will +grow in their shadow. They seem to exercise a blighting power on other +species of vegetation. Figs, peaches, and oranges grow side by side, +surrounded by other fruits, while the low-lying fields and open meadows +nearest to the river are divided into large squares of three or four +acres each, enameled with the deep green of the thick growing alfalfa, +and other crops varying in color after their kind. Richest of all are +the intensely yellow fields of ripening wheat still farther inland, +whose softly undulating surface, gently yielding to the passing breeze, +produces long, widespread floating ripples of golden light. + +The love of flowers is a passion among all classes of the people, and +their cultivation as a business by experienced individuals gives +profitable employment to many florists, whose grounds are pictures of +accumulated beauty, fragrance, and variety of hues. There is as true +harmony to the eye in such blendings as there is to the ear in perfect +music. The reader may be sure that where the children of Flora so much +abound, bright tinted humming-birds do much more abound, dainty little +living feathered gems, rivaling rubies, sapphires, and emeralds. + +To insure the good health of her large and increasing population, the +system of drainage in Buenos Ayres requires prompt and effectual +treatment. The natural fall of the ground towards the river is hardly +sufficient to second any engineering effort to this end. That typhoid +fever should prevail here to the extent which it does, at nearly all +seasons of the year, is a terrible reflection upon those in authority. +This is a fatal disease which is quite preventable, and in this instance +clearly traceable to obvious causes. Rio Janeiro, with its yellow fever +scourge, is hardly more seriously afflicted than Buenos Ayres with its +typhoid malaria. Indeed, it is contended by some persons living on the +coast that the number of deaths per annum in the two cities arising from +these causes is very nearly equal, taking into account the results of +year after year. Sometimes, unaccountably, Rio escapes the fever for a +twelvemonth, that is to say, some seasons it does not rage as an +epidemic; but we fear, if the truth were fairly expressed, it would be +found that the seeds are there all the while, and that the city of Rio +Janeiro, like that of Vera Cruz on the Gulf of Mexico, is never +absolutely exempt from occasional cases. + +The Argentine Republic contains more than a million square miles, as +already stated; indeed, immensity may be said to be one of its most +manifest characteristics. The plains, the woods, the rivers, are +colossal. To be sure, all of her territory is not, strictly speaking, +available land, suitable for agricultural purposes, any more than is the +case in our own wide-spread country. No other nation equals this +republic in the value of cattle, compared with the number of the +population, not forgetting Australia with its immense sheep and cattle +ranches. It is believed, nevertheless, that the agricultural interest +here, as in Uruguay, is gradually increasing in such ratio that it will +erelong rival the pastoral. The average soil is very similar to that of +our Mississippi valley, yielding a satisfactory succession of crops +without the aid of any artificial enrichment. The pampas have a mellow, +dry soil, the common grass growing in tussocks to the height of three or +four feet, and possessing a perennial vigor which mostly crowds out +other vegetation. A few wild flowers are occasionally seen, and in the +marshy places lilies of several species are to be met with; but taken +all together the flora of the pampas is the poorest of any fertile +district with which we are acquainted. A few half-developed herbs and +trefoils occasionally meet the eye, together with small patches of wild +verbenas of various colors. At long distances from each other one comes +upon areas of tall pampas grass as it is called, so stocky as to be +almost like the bamboo, eight or ten feet high, decked with fleecy, +white plumes. Birds are scarce on the pampas. There is a peculiar +species of hare, besides some animals of the rodent family, resembling +prairie-dogs--_biscachos_--or overgrown rats, together with an +occasional jaguar and puma, found on these plains, as well as that +meanest of all animals, the pestiferous skunk. Animal life, other than +the herds of wild cattle, can hardly be said to abound on the pampas. + +Until a few years since, Buenos Ayres enjoyed the distinction of being +the capital of the province of the same name, as also of the Argentine +Republic; but the present capital of the province of Buenos Ayres, +called La Plata, is situated about forty miles south-east of Buenos +Ayres, with which it is connected by railway. The site of the new +capital was an uninhabited wilderness ten years ago, the foundation +stone of this city having been laid in 1882. To-day La Plata has a +population of about fifty thousand, although over seventy are claimed +for it, a comprehensive system of tramways, broad, well paved streets, +two theatres, thirty public schools, a national college, and six large +hotels. There are many monuments and fountains ornamenting the +thoroughfares, and what is now wanting is a population commensurate with +the grand scale on which the capital is designed. An immense cathedral +is being built, but has only reached a little way above its foundation, +as work upon it has for a while been suspended. If the original plan is +fully carried out, it may be half a century or more in course of +construction. La Plata is suffering from the pecuniary crisis perhaps +more seriously than any other part of the country. The city is lighted +by both electricity and gas, issues five daily newspapers, has a very +complete astronomical observatory, a public library, five railroad +stations, and some very elegant public buildings. Its large +possibilities are by no means improved, however. Of the buildings, the +edifice of the provincial legislature, that of the minister of finance, +and the legislative palace are all worthy of mention. The government +house is a long, low structure, the front view of which is rendered +effective by an added story in the centre, which projects from the line +of the building, and is supported by high columns. The "Palace," as it +is called, forming the residence of the governor of the province, is an +elaborate and pretentious building, three stories in height, with two +flanking domes and a dominating one in the centre. Of course La Plata +has gained its start and rapid growth from the prestige of being the +provincial capital, but it is now slowly developing a legitimate growth +on a sound business basis, and though it can hardly be expected to ever +equal Buenos Ayres in population and commercial importance, it +nevertheless promises to be a prosperous city in the distant future; its +citizens already call it the "Washington" of South America. A close +observer could not but notice that many houses were unoccupied, and the +streets seemed half deserted. + +While the most of our maps and geographies remain pretty much as they +were a score of years ago, and a majority of the kingdoms of the Old +World have changed scarcely at all, the Argentine Republic has been +steadily growing in population, progressing rapidly in intelligence, +constantly extending its commercial relations, and marching all the +while towards the front rank of modern civilization. A detailed +statement of its extraordinary development during the last twenty years, +in commerce, railway connections, schools, agriculture, and general +wealth, would surprise the most intelligent reader. It is believed by +experienced and conservative people, particularly those conversant with +the South American republics, that Buenos Ayres will be the first city +south of the equator in commercial rank and population, within a quarter +of a century. The increase of this republic in population during the +last two decades has been over one hundred and fifty per cent., a +rapidity of growth almost without precedent. The increase of population +in our own country, during the same period, was less than eighty per +cent. Twenty-four lines of magnificent steamships connect the Argentine +Republic with Europe, and twice that number of vessels sail back and +forth each month of the year, while its railway system embraces over six +thousand miles of road in operation, besides one or two yet incomplete +routes, though the opening of its first line was so late as thirty-four +years ago. Add to this her system of inland river navigation, covering +thousands of miles, which has been so systematized as to fully +supplement the remarkable railway facilities. + +That Argentina rests at the present moment, as we have constantly +intimated, under a financial cloud is only too well known to every one. +It is a crisis brought about by an overhaste in the development of the +country, especially in railroad enterprises. _Festina lente_ is a good +sound maxim, which the people of this republic have quite disregarded, +and for which they and their creditors are suffering accordingly. It is +seldom that any newly developed country escapes the maladies attendant +upon too rapid growth, but this is a sort of illness pretty sure to +remedy itself in due time, and rarely impedes the proper development of +maturer years. If this republic has been unduly extravagant, and +borrowed too much money in advancing her material interests, she has at +least something to show for it. The funds have not been foolishly +expended in sustaining worse than useless hordes of armed men, nor in +the profitless support of royal puppets. + +Nations no less than individuals are liable to financial failure, but +with her grand and inexhaustible native resources, backed by the energy +of her adopted citizens, this republic is as sure as anything mortal can +be to soon recover from her present business depression, and to astonish +the world at large by the rapidity of her financial recuperation. Her +present annual crop of wool exceeds all former record in amount, and is +authoritatively estimated at over thirty million dollars in value. To +this large industrial product is to be added her prolific harvest of +maize and wheat, together with an almost fabulous amount of valuable +hides. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + City of Rosario.--Its Population.--A Pretentious + Church.--Ocean Experiences.--Morbid Fancies.--Strait of + Magellan.--A Great Discoverer.--Local + Characteristics.--Patagonians and Fuegians.--Giant + Kelp.--Unique Mail Box.--Punta Arenas.--An Ex-Penal + Colony.--The Albatross.--Natives.--A Naked + People.--Whales.--Sea-Birds.--Glaciers.--Mount Sarmiento.--A + Singular Story. + + +The route to Rosario is rather monotonous by railway, taking the +traveler through a very flat but fertile region, over prairies which are +virtually treeless, not unlike long reaches of country through which the +Canadian Pacific Railroad passes between Banff, in the Rocky Mountains, +and Port Arthur, on Lake Superior. The monotonous scenery is varied only +by a sight of occasional herds of cattle, feeding upon the rich grass, +with here and there a mounted herdsman, and the numberless telegraph +poles which line the track. It is at least a seven hours' journey from +Buenos Ayres to Rosario. Occasionally a marshy reach of soil is +encountered where large aquatic birds are seen, such as flamingoes, +storks, cranes, herons, and the like. + +Rosario, in the province of Santa Fé, is the second city in point of +population and importance in the Argentine Republic. It is a young and +promising capital, hardly yet fairly launched upon its voyage of +prosperity, but so far it has been singularly favored by various +circumstances. The place is arranged in the usual crisscross manner as +regards the streets of this country, which, unfortunately, are too +narrow for even its present limited business. In place of twenty-four +feet they should have been laid out at least double that width, in the +light of all experience has developed in these South American cities. +This new town is situated a little less than three hundred miles by +water from Buenos Ayres, and about two hundred by land, railroad and +steamboat connection being regularly maintained between them. The site +is admirably chosen on the banks of the Paraná River, fifty or sixty +feet above its level, and it is destined to become, eventually, a great +commercial centre. In 1854 it was only a large village, containing some +four thousand people. It is the natural seaport, not only of the rich +province of Cordova, but also of the more inland districts, Mendoza, San +Luis, Tucuman, Salta, and Jujuy, the first named having a population of +half a million. Owing to the height of the river's banks, merchandise is +loaded by "shutes," being thus conducted at once from the warehouses to +the hatches of the vessels. Already a number of foreign steamships may +be seen almost any day lying at anchor opposite the town, while the +railway communications in various directions have all of their +transportation capacity fully employed. One of these lines reaches +almost across the continent to Mendoza, at the eastern slope of the +Andes, west from Rosario. Other roads run both north and south from +here. The foreign and domestic trade of the place is second only to that +of Buenos Ayres. Vessels drawing fifteen feet of water ascend the river +to this point. As a shipping port, Rosario has to a certain extent +special advantages even over the larger city, being two or three hundred +miles nearer the merchandise producing points. + +There is already a population of some seventy-five thousand here, and, +as we have intimated, the city is growing rapidly. Wharves, docks, and +warehouses are in course of construction, and can hardly be finished +fast enough to meet the demand for their use. There are a few +substantial and handsome dwellings being erected, and many of a more +ordinary class, in the finishing of which many a cargo of New England +lumber is consumed. Some of the public buildings are imposing in size +and architectural design, wisely constructed in anticipation of the +future size of the city, whose rapid growth is only equaled by St. Paul +in Brazil. The tramway, gas, and telephone have been successfully +introduced. There is certainly no lack of enterprise evinced in all +legitimate business directions, while attention is being very properly +and promptly turned towards perfecting a carefully devised educational +system of free schools, primary and progressive. When the founders of a +new city begin in this intelligent fashion, we may be very sure that +they are moving in the right direction, and that permanency, together +with abundant present success, is sure to be the sequence. + +On one side of the Plaza Mayor of Rosario stands a very pretentious +church, not yet quite completed, but as the towers and dome are finished +it makes a prominent feature from a long way off, as one approaches the +town. In the centre of this square is a marble shaft surmounted by a +figure representing Victory, and at the base are four statues of +Argentine historic characters. This square is adorned with a double row +of handsome acacias. As regards amusements, so far as is visible, +theatricals seem to take the lead, the place having two theatres, both +of which appear to be enjoying a thriving business. + +When a new city is started in South America upon a site so well +selected, and after so thoroughly substantial a plan, the result is no +problem. The influx of European immigrants promptly supplies the +necessary laborers and artisans, quite as fast, indeed, as they are +required, while the ordinary growth and development of inland resources +tax the local business capacity, enterprise, and capital to their +utmost. Rosario needs to perfect a careful and thorough system of +drainage. Fevers are at present alarmingly prevalent, arising from +causes which judicious attention and sanitary means would easily +obviate. + +We will not weary the reader by protracted delay at this point, having +still a long voyage before us. + +Embarking at Montevideo, our way is southward over a broad and lonely +track of ocean. If we can summon a degree of philosophy to our aid, it +is fortunate. Without genial companions, surrounded by strangers, and +thrown entirely upon ourselves, mental resort often fails us, life +appears sombre, the wide, wide ocean almost appalling. One of the +inevitable trials of a long sea voyage is the wakeful hours which will +occasionally visit the most experienced traveler,--midnight hours, when +the weary brain becomes preternaturally active, the imagination +oversensitive and weird in its erratic conceptions, while forebodings of +evil which never happens are apt to fill the mind with morbid anxieties. +The very silence of the surroundings is impressive, interrupted only by +the regular throbbing of the great, tireless engine, and the dashing +waters chafing along the iron hull close beside the wakeful dreamer. +Separated by thousands of miles from home, all communication cut off +with friends and the world at large, while watching the dreary ocean, +day after day, week after week, we imagine endless misfortunes that may +have come to dear ones on shore. However limited may be the world of +reality, that of the imagination is boundless, and sometimes one +realizes years of wretched anxiety in the space of a few overwrought +hours. It is such moments of passive misery which beget wrinkles and +white hairs. Action is the only relief, and one hastens to the deck for +a change of scene and thoughts. After experiencing such a night, how +glad and glorious seems the sun rising out of the wide waste of waters, +how bright and glowing the smile he casts upon the long lazy swell of +the South Atlantic, as if pointedly to rebuke the overwrought fancy, and +reassure the aching heart! + +Be we never so dreary, the great ship speeds on its course, heeding us +not; its busy motor, like heart-beats, throbs with undisturbed +uniformity, forcing the vessel onward despite the joy or sorrow of those +it carries within its capacious hull. + +The Strait of Magellan, which divides South America from the mysterious +island group which is known as Terra del Fuego, and connects the +Atlantic with the Pacific Ocean by a most intricate water-way, is +considerably less than four hundred miles in length, and of various +widths. De Lesseps, with his successful Suez Canal and his deplorable +Panama failure, is quite distanced by the hand of Nature in this line of +business. It would require about ten thousand Suez Canals to make a +Magellan Strait, and then it would be but a very sorry imitation. It +will be remembered that the Portuguese navigator who discovered this +remarkable passage, and for whom it is justly named, first passed +through it in November, 1520, finally emerging into the waters of the +new sea, upon which he was the first to sail, and which he named Mar +Pacifico. Doubtless it seemed "pacific" to him after his rude experience +in the South Atlantic, but the author has known as rough weather in this +misnamed ocean as he has ever encountered in any part of the globe. + +One can well conceive of the elation and surprise of Magellan, upon +emerging from the intricate passage through which he had been struggling +to make his way for so many weary days. What a sensation of satisfaction +and triumph must the courageous and persevering navigator have +experienced at the discovery he had made! What mattered all his weary +hours of watching, of self-abnegation, of cold and hunger, of incessant +battling with the raging sea? Henceforth to him royal censure or royal +largess mattered little. His name would descend to all future +generations as the great discoverer of this almost limitless ocean. + +The passage leading to the strait on the Atlantic or eastern end is +about twenty miles across, Cape Vergens being on the starboard side, and +Cape Espiritu Santo--or Cape Holy Ghost--on the port. The entrance on +the western or Pacific end is marked by Cape Pillar, Desolation Land, +where the scenery is far more rugged and mountainous, the cape +terminating in two cliffs, shaped so much like artificial towers as to +be quite deceptive at a short distance. The narrowest part of the strait +is about one mile in width, known to mariners as Crooked Reach. A +passage through this great natural canal is an experience similar, in +some respects, to that of sailing in the inland sea of Alaska, between +Victoria and Glacier Bay, bringing into view dense forests, immense +glaciers, abrupt mountain peaks, and snow-covered summits, the whole +shrouded in the same solitude and silence, varied by the occasional +flight of sea-birds or the appearance of seals and porpoises from below +the deep waters. So irregular in its course is this passage between the +two great oceans, so changeable are its currents, so impeded by +dangerous rocks and hidden shoals, so beset with squalls and sudden +storms, that sailing vessels are forced to double the ever-dreaded Cape +Horn rather than take the Magellan route. A United States man-of-war, a +sailing ship, was once over two months in making the passage through the +strait, and Magellan tells us that he was thirty-seven days in passing +from ocean to ocean, though using all ordinary dispatch. Within a +fortnight of the writing of these notes, a European mail steamship was +lost here by striking upon a sunken rock. Fortunately, owing to the +proximity of the shore and moderate weather prevailing, the crew and +passengers were all saved. + +Winter lingers, and the days are short in this latitude. A sailing ship +would be compelled to find anchorage nightly, and some days would +perhaps be driven back in a few hours a distance which it had required a +week to make in her proper direction. Steamships usually accomplish the +run in from thirty to forty hours, there being many reaches where it is +necessary to run only at half speed. If heavy fogs and bad weather +prevail, they often lay by during the night, and also in snow-storms, +which occur not infrequently. The sky is seldom clear for many hours +together, and the sun's warmth is rarely felt, the rain falling almost +daily. Even in the summer of this high southern latitude the nights are +cold and gloomy, ice nearly always forming. It must be admitted that +this region, of itself, is not calculated to attract the most inveterate +wanderer. One is not surprised when reading the rather startling +narrations of the old navigators who made the passage of the strait, +encountering the constantly varying winds, and having canvas only to +depend upon. The marvel is that, with their primitive means, they should +have accomplished so much. There are no lighthouses in this passage from +ocean to ocean, though it has been pretty well surveyed and buoyed in +late years, thanks to the liberality of the English naval service, by +whom this was done. There is, in fact, a dearth of lighthouses on the +entire coast of South America, especially on the west side of the +continent. We can recall but three between Montevideo and Valparaiso, a +distance, by way of the strait, of fully two thousand miles. The +lighthouses we refer to are at Punta Arenas, Punta Galesa, near +Valdivia, and that which marks the port of Concepcion, at Talcahuano. +The Strait of Magellan is only fit as an abiding-place for seals, +waterfowl, and otters; humanity can hardly find congenial foothold here. + +The natives of Patagonia, who live on the northern side of the strait, +are called horse Indians, because they make such constant use of the +wild horses; they do not move in any direction without them. Those on +the Fuegian side are called canoe Indians, as the canoe forms their +universal and indeed only mode of transportation. The former are a +rather large, tall race of people, the men averaging about six feet in +height; the latter are smaller in physical development, and are less +civilized than the Indians of Patagonia, which, to be sure, is saying +very little for the latter, who are really a low type of nomads. The +Fuegians are believed to still practice cannibalism. One writer tells us +that criminals and prisoners of war are thus disposed of, and that the +last crew of shipwrecked seamen who fell into their hands were roasted +and eaten by them. Their hostile purposes are well understood, for +whenever they dare to exercise such a spirit they are sure to do so. +They cautiously send out a boat or two to passing vessels, with whom a +little trading is attempted, the main body of natives keeping well out +of sight; but in case of any mishap to a ship, or if a small party land +and are unable to defend themselves, they will appear in swarms from +various hiding-places, swooping down upon their victims like vultures in +the desert. The officers of the yacht Sunbeam, as recounted by Lady +Brassey, found it necessary to turn her steam-pipes full force upon the +swarming natives, who were doubtless preparing to make an effort to +capture the yacht and her crew, hoping to overcome them by mere force of +numbers. They were, however, so frightened and utterly astonished by the +means of defense adopted by Lord Brassey that they threw themselves, one +and all, into the sea, and sought the shore pell-mell. Humboldt, in his +day, ranked these Fuegians among the lowest specimens of humanity he had +ever met, and they certainly do not seem to have improved much in the +mean time. One is at a loss to understand why the Patagonians should +have impressed the early navigators with the idea that they were a +people of gigantic size. There is no evidence to-day of their being, or +ever having been, taller or larger than the average New Englander. +Half-naked savages, standing six feet high, naturally impress one as +being taller than Europeans clad in the conventional style of civilized +people. + +The waters of Magellan are very dark, deep, and sullen in aspect, with +insufficient room in many places to manage a ship properly under canvas +alone. In their depth and darkness these waters also resemble those of +Alaska's inland sea. The shores are quite bold, and the rocks below the +surface are mostly indicated by giant kelp--_Fucus giganteus_--growing +over them, a kind provision of nature in behalf of safe navigation. It +will not answer, however, to depend solely upon this indication; the +many rocks in the strait are by no means all so designated, nor are they +all buoyed. Sea-kelp is very plentiful in this region, and serves many +useful purposes. It forms a nourishing food for the Fuegians under +certain circumstances, when their usual supply is scarce. They dry it +and prepare it in a rude way suited to their unsophisticated palates. It +also forms a portion of the support of the seals and sea-otters; these +creatures feed freely upon its more delicate and tender shoots. It is +wonderful how it can exist and thrive among such breakers as it +constantly encounters in these restless waters, which are churned into +mounds of foam in squally weather; but it does grow in great luxuriance, +rising oftentimes two hundred feet and more from the bottom of the sea. +It is curious to watch its abundant growth and its peculiar habits. If +the wind and tide are in the same direction, the plant lies smooth upon +the water; but if the wind is against the tide, the leaves curl up, +causing a ripple on the surface, like a school of small fish. A specimen +of giant kelp was secured from alongside of the ship, broken off at +arm's length below the surface of the water. It was heavy and full of +parasites. Upon shaking it, myriads of marine insects, shells, tiny +crabs, sea-eggs, and star-fish fell upon the deck. All of these were of +the smallest species, some almost invisible to the naked eye, but how +wonderful they appeared under the microscope, which developed hundreds +of forms of life infinitesimal in size! + +At a prominent point of the main channel is a strong box made fast by a +chain, which always used to be opened by the masters of passing ships, +either to deposit or to take away letters, as the case might be, each +shipmaster undertaking the free delivery of all letters whose address +was within the line of his subsequent course. In the whaleship service, +especially during times now long past, this arrangement has been of +great service, and there is no instance on record where the purpose of +this self-sustaining post-office was disregarded. In these days of fast +and regular post-office service, the "Magellan mail," as it was called, +is of no practical account. + +There are several fairly good harbors in the strait, but the only white +settlement was originally a penal colony founded by the Chilian +government, though it no longer serves for that purpose, the convicts +having risen some years since, and overpowered the garrison. A large +portion of the Patagonian shore is well wooded, besides which an +available coal deposit has been found and worked to fair advantage. +Steamships, which were formerly obliged to go to the Falkland Islands, +in the Atlantic, five hundred miles from the mouth of the strait, when +running short of fuel, can now get their supply in an exigency at Punta +Arenas--"Sandy Point." It is situated in the eastern section of the +strait, about a hundred and twenty-five miles from the entrance. We do +not mean to convey the idea that this is a regular coaling station, +though it may some time become so. The town consists of straggling, +low-built log-houses, and a few framed ones, reminding one of Port Said +at the Mediterranean end of the Suez Canal, with its heterogeneous +population. That of Sandy Point is made up of all nationalities, +strongly tinctured with ex-convicts, and deserters from the Chilian army +and navy. English is the language most commonly spoken, though the place +is Chilian territory. It contains some twelve or fifteen hundred +inhabitants, and is the most southerly town on the globe, as well as the +most undesirable one in which to live, if one may express an opinion +upon such brief acquaintance. + +We made no attempt to go on shore at Punta Arenas. A rain-storm was at +its height while the ship lay off the town, and when it rains in these +latitudes, it attends exclusively to the business in hand. The water +comes down like Niagara, until finally, when the clouds have entirely +emptied themselves, it stops. Jupiter Pluvius is master of the +situation, when he asserts himself, and there is no one who can dispute +his authority. Umbrellas and waterproofs are of no more use as a +protection during the downpour, than they would be to a person who had +fallen overboard in water forty fathoms deep. One of our passengers came +on deck with a life preserver about his body, solemnly declaring that if +this sort of thing continued much longer, the article would be +absolutely necessary in order to keep afloat. + +During the season the Patagonians bring into Punta Arenas the result of +their hunting in the shape of seal and otter skins, together with +guanaco, and silver-fox skins, which are gathered by local traders and +shipped to Europe. Occasionally a few sea-otter skins of rare value are +obtained from here, fully equal, we were told, to anything taken in +Alaskan waters. We have said that Punta Arenas is the most southerly +town on the globe. The next nearest town to the Antarctic circle is the +Bluff, so called,--also known as Campbelltown,--in the extreme south of +New Zealand, where the author has eaten of the famous oysters indigenous +there. + +Two sorts of supplies are to be obtained by navigators of the strait, +namely, fuel and good drinking water. Sometimes a valuable skin robe may +be purchased of the Patagonian Indians. It is called a guanaco-skin +cloak, and made from the skin of the young deer. To obtain these skins +of a uniform fineness of texture, the fawns are killed when but eight or +ten days old; the available product got from each one is so small as +hardly to exceed twice the size of one's hand. These are sewn together +with infinite care and neatness by the Indian women, who use the fine +sinews taken from ostriches' legs for thread. One of these guanaco-skin +cloaks represents a vast amount of labor, and a hundred fawns must die +to supply the raw material. Only chiefs of tribes can afford to wear +them. Strangers who are willing to pay a price commensurate with their +real cost and value may occasionally buy such an article as we describe, +but these cloaks are rare. One was brought on board ship and shown to +us, the price of which was twelve hundred dollars, nor do we think it +was an excessive valuation. It was worth the amount as a rare curiosity +for some art museum. + +That monarch bird of Antarctic regions, the albatross, frequents both +ends of the strait, and sometimes accompanies steamships during the +passage, together with cape-pigeons, gulls, and other marine birds, +though as a rule the albatross is little seen except on the broad +expanse of the ocean. A bird called the steamer-duck, also nicknamed by +sailors the paddle-wheel duck, was pointed out to us by our captain. It +is so called from its mode of propelling itself through the water, +scooting over the surface of the strait while using both wings and legs, +and creating considerable disturbance of the water, like a side-wheeler. +The wings are too small to give it power of flight through the air. The +steamer-duck is a large bird, nearly the size of the domestic goose; +after its fashion, it moves with astonishing velocity, considerably +faster than the average speed of a steamship. But we were speaking a +moment since of the albatross, which is a feathered cannibal, and shows +some truly wolfish traits. When one of its own species, a member of the +same flock even, is wounded and drops helpless to the surface of the +sea, its comrades swoop down upon it, and tearing the body to pieces +with their powerful bills, devour the flesh ravenously. This was +witnessed near the Arctic circle, between Hobart, in Tasmania, and the +Bluff, in New Zealand, a few years ago, when some English sportsmen +succeeded in wounding one of these mammoth birds from the deck of the +steamship Zealandia. The only other known bird of our day which measures +from eleven to twelve feet between the tips of the extended wings is the +South American condor. + +The sea hereabouts abounds in fish, which constitute the largest portion +of the food supply of the few Indians who live near the coast of either +shore. The Fuegians dwell in the rudest shelters possible, nothing +approaching the form of a house. The frailest shelter, covered with +sea-lion's skins, suffices to keep them from the inclemencies of the +weather. With the exception of an animal skin of some sort, having the +fur on, secured over one shoulder on the side exposed to the wind, the +canoe Indians wear no clothing. We were told that several of these +natives, while quite young, were taken to England by advice of the +missionaries and taught to read and write, being also kindly instructed +in civilized manners and customs, which they gladly adopted for the time +being; but upon returning to their native land, in every instance they +rapidly lapsed into a condition of semi-savagery. It had been hoped they +would act as a civilizing medium with their former friends, after +returning among them, but this proved fallacious, and was a great +disappointment to the well-meaning philanthropists. This same +experience, as is well known, has been the result of similar experiments +with natives of Africa and the South Sea Islands. The author is +conversant with a striking illustration of this character in connection +with an Australian Indian youth, which occurred in Queensland, and which +was both interesting and very romantic in its development. It simply +went to prove that hereditary instincts cannot be easily eradicated, and +that not one, but many generations are necessary to banish savage +proclivities which are inherited from a long line of ancestors. + +Gold is found to some extent in the beds of the streams in +Patagonia,--free gold, washed from the disintegrated rocks. Natives +sometimes bring small quantities of the gold dust into Punta Arenas, +with which to purchase tobacco and other articles. Many heedless and +unprincipled individuals sell them intoxicants, to obtain which these +Indians will part with anything they possess, after they have once +become familiar with the taste and effect of the captivating poison. + +Not far from Cape Forward, near the middle of the strait, which is the +most southerly portion of the American continent, three native boats +were seen during our passage. The steamer was slowed for a few moments +to give us a brief opportunity to see the savage occupants. These three +frail, ill-built canoes were tossed high and low by the swell of the +Pacific, which set to the eastward through the strait. Each boat +contained a man, a couple of women, and one or two children, the latter +entirely naked, the others nearly so. They were Fuegians, raising their +hands and voices to attract our attention, asking for food and tobacco, +to which appeal a generous response was made. Their broad faces, high +cheek-bones, low foreheads, and flat noses, their faces and necks +screened by coarse black hair, did not challenge our admiration, however +much we were exercised by pity for human beings in so desolate a +condition. They certainly possessed two redeeming features,--brilliant +eyes and teeth of dazzling whiteness. The fruit thrown to them seemed +best to suit the ideas and palates of the children, who devoured +oranges, skin and all; but the gift of clothing which was made to the +parents was laid aside for future consideration, though there are +probably no "ole clo'" merchants in Terra del Fuego. The men ate hard +sea biscuit and slices of cold corned beef ravenously. The plump, +well-rounded shoulders and limbs of the women showed them to be in far +better physical condition than the men, whose bodies consisted of little +besides skin and bones. They were copper colored, and the skin of the +women shone in the bright sunlight which prevailed for the moment, as +though they had been varnished. If their faces had been as well formed +as their bodies, they would have been models of natural beauty. How +these people could remain so nearly naked with apparent comfort, while +we found overcoats quite necessary, was a problem difficult to solve +satisfactorily. + +"They were born so," said our first officer. "As you go through life +with your face and hands exposed, so they go with their entire bodies. +It is a mere matter of habit,--habit from babyhood to maturity." + +All of which is perfectly reasonable. It was observed that on the bottom +of their boats was a layer of flat stones, and on these, just amidship, +was spread a low, smouldering fire of dried vines and small twigs, +designed to temper the atmosphere about them. So frail were the boats +that one of the occupants was kept constantly baling out water. + +It is impossible to form any intelligent estimate as to how many of +these aborigines there are in and about the strait. They find food, like +the canvas-back ducks, in the wild celery, adding shell-fish and dried +berberries, and are a strictly nomadic people. After exhausting the +products of one vicinity, for the time being, they move on, but return +to the locality at a proper time, when nature has recuperated herself +and furnished a fresh supply of vegetable growth and edible shell-fish. +A stranded whale is a godsend to these savages, upon the putrid flesh of +which they live and fatten until all has disappeared. In their primitive +way they hunt this leviathan, but want of proper facilities renders them +rarely successful. Occasionally they manage to plant a spear in some +vital spot, deep enough to be effectual, so that the whale, after diving +to the depths of the sea, finally comes to the surface, near the place +where he was wounded, to thrash about and to die. Even then, unless it +is at a favorable point, the large body is liable to be swept away by +the strong tide setting through the strait, so that the natives seldom +secure a carcass by these means. + +Not long since one of the European mail steamers, on approaching the +Atlantic end of the strait, sighted an object which was at first thought +to be a sunken rock. If this was its character, it was all important to +obtain the exact location. A boat was lowered and pulled to the object, +when it was found to be the carcass of a dead whale, in which was a +stout wooden spear which had fatally wounded the creature. Securely +attached to the spear, by means of a rope made of animal sinews, there +were a couple of inflated bladders. The spear was evidently a Fuegian +weapon, and though it had finally cost the whale his life, the dead body +had been carried by the current far beyond the reach of those who had +caused the fatal wound. The discovery showed the crude manner in which +these savages seek to possess themselves of a whale occasionally and +thus to appease their barbaric appetites. They could not pursue one in +their frail boats, but the creature is sometimes found sleeping on the +surface of the sea, which is the Fuegian opportunity for approaching it +noiselessly, and for planting a spear in some vital part of the huge +body. Whales, when thus attacked, do not show fight, but their instinct +leads them to dive at once. + +A few whales were observed within the strait during our passage, some so +near as to show that they had no fear of the ship. It was curious to +watch them. There was a baby whale among the rest, five or six feet in +length, which kept very close to its dam; it suddenly disappeared once +while we were watching the school, though only to rise again to the +surface of the sea and emit a tiny fountain of spray from its diminutive +blow-hole. In passing a small inlet which formed a calm, sheltered piece +of water, still as an inland lake, there were seen upon its tranquil +bosom a few white geese, quietly floating, while close at hand upon some +rocks, a half score of awkward penguins were also observed, with their +ludicrous dummy wings, and their bodies supported in a half standing, +half sitting position. + +Ducks seem to be very abundant in the strait, but geese are scarce. An +occasional cormorant is caught sight of, with its distended pouch +bearing witness to its proverbial voracity. All the birds one sees in +these far away regions have each some peculiar adaptability to the +climate, the locality, or to both. The penguin never makes the mistake +of seeking our northern shores, nor is the albatross often seen north of +the fortieth degree of south latitude. True, were the former to +emigrate, he would have to swim the whole distance, but the latter is so +marvelously strong of wing that it has been said of him, he might +breakfast, if he chose, at the Cape of Good Hope, and dine on the coast +of Newfoundland. + +Terra del Fuego,--"Land of Fire,"--which makes the southern side of the +strait, opposite Patagonia, is composed of a very large group of islands +washed by the Atlantic on the east side and the Pacific on the west, +trending towards the southeast for about two hundred miles from the +strait, and terminating at Cape Horn. The largest of these islands is +East Terra del Fuego, which measures from east to west between three and +four hundred miles. One can only speak vaguely of detail, as this is +still a _terra incognita_. These islands do indeed form "a land of +desolation," as Captain Cook appropriately named them, sparsely +inhabited to be sure, but hardly fit for human beings. They are deeply +indented and cut up by arms of the sea, and composed mostly of sterile +mountains, whose tops are covered with perpetual snow. When the +mountains are not too much exposed to the ocean storms on the west +coast, they are scantily covered with a species of hardy, wind-distorted +trees from the water's edge upward to the snow line, which is here about +two thousand feet above the sea. In sheltered areas this growth is dense +and forest-like, especially nearest to the sea; in others it is +interspersed by bald and blanched patches of barren rocks. In some open +places, where they have worn themselves a broad path, the glaciers come +down to the water, discharging sections of ice constantly into the deep +sea, crowded forward and downward by the immense but slow-moving mass +behind,--a frozen river,--thus illustrating the habit of the +iceberg-producing glaciers of the far north. + +One never approaches this subject without recalling the lamented Agassiz +and his absorbing theories relating to it. + +The author has seen huge glaciers in Scandinavia and in Switzerland, +forming natural exhibitions of great interest; each country has +peculiarities in this respect. In the last-named country, for instance, +there is no example where a glacier descends lower than thirty-five +hundred feet above the sea level, while in Norway the only one of which +he can speak from personal observation has before it a large terminal +moraine, thus losing the capacity for that most striking performance, +the discharge of icebergs. The best example of this interesting +operation of nature which we have ever witnessed, and probably the most +effective in the world, is that of the Muir glacier in Alaska, where an +immense frozen river comes boldly down from the Arctic regions to the +sea level, with a sheer height at its terminus of over two hundred feet. +From this unique façade, nearly two miles in width, the constant +tumbling of icebergs into the sea is accompanied by a noise like a salvo +of cannon. This glacier, it should be remembered, also extends to the +bottom of the bay, where it enters it two hundred feet below the surface +of the water, thus giving it a height, or perhaps we should say a depth +and height combined, of fully four hundred feet. Icebergs are discharged +from the submerged portion continually, and float to the surface, thus +repeating the process below the water which is all the while going on +above it, and visible upon the perpendicular surface. Nothing which we +have seen in the Canadian Selkirks, in Switzerland, Norway, or +elsewhere, equals in size, grandeur, or clearly defined glacial action, +the famous Muir glacier of Alaska. + +The most remarkable peak to be seen in passing through the Strait of +Magellan is Mount Sarmiento, which is inexpressibly grand in its +proportions, dominating the borders of Cockburn's Channel near the +Pacific end of the great water-way. It is about seven thousand feet in +height, a spotless cone of snow, being in form extremely abrupt and +pointed. This frosty monarch sends down from its upper regions a score +or more of narrow, sky-blue glaciers to the sea through openings in the +dusky forest. Darwin was especially impressed by the sight of these when +he explored this region, and speaks of them as looking like so many +Niagaras, but they are only miniature glaciers after all. One sees in +the Pyrenees and the St. Gothard Pass similar cascades flowing down from +the mountains towards the valleys, except that in the one instance the +crystal waters are liquid, in the other they are quite congealed. The +group or range of which Sarmiento is the apex is very generally shrouded +in mist, and is visited by frequent rain, snow, and hail storms. We were +fortunate to see it under a momentary glow of warm sunshine, when the +sky was deepest blue, and the ermine cloak of the mountain was spangled +with frost gems. + +It would seem that such exposure to the elements in a frigid climate, +and such deprivations as must be constantly endured by the barbarous +natives who inhabit these bleak regions, must surely shorten their +lives, and perhaps it does so, though "the survival of the fittest," who +grow up to maturity, is in such numbers that one is a little puzzled in +considering the matter. A singular instance touching upon this point +came indirectly to the writer's knowledge. + +It appears that four Fuegian women, one of whom was about forty years of +age, and the others respectively about twenty, twenty-five, and thirty, +were picked up adrift in the strait a few years ago. It was believed +that they had escaped from some threatened tribal cruelty, but upon this +subject they would reveal nothing. These fugitives were kindly taken in +hand by philanthropic people at Sandy Point, and entertained with true +Christian hospitality. When first discovered they were, as usual, quite +naked, but were promptly clothed and properly housed. No more work was +required of them than they chose voluntarily to perform; in short, they +were most kindly treated, and though the best of care was taken of them +in a hygienic sense, they all gradually faded, and died of consumption +in less than two years. They seemed to be contented, were grateful and +cheerful, but clothing and a warm house to live in, odd as it may seem, +killed them! They were born to a free, open air and exposed daily life, +and their apparently sturdy constitutions required such a mode of +living. Civilized habits, strange to say, proved fatal to these wild +children of the rough Fuegian coast. + + + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + The Land of Fire.--Cape Horn.--In the Open Pacific.--Fellow + Passengers.--Large Sea-Bird.--An Interesting Invalid.--A + Weary Captive.--A Broken-Hearted Mother.--Study of the + Heavens.--The Moon.--Chilian Civil War.--Concepcion.--A + Growing City.--Commercial Importance.--Cultivating City + Gardens on a New Plan.--Important Coal Mines.--Delicious + Fruits. + + +Magellan named this extreme southern land, of which we have been +speaking, "the Land of Fire," because of the numerous fires which he, +from his ships, saw on the shore at night, and which were then supposed +by the discoverers to be of a volcanic character. The fact probably was +that the Indians did not fail to recognize the need of artificial heat, +especially at night, though they had not sufficient genius to teach them +to construct garments suitable to protect them from the inclemency of +the weather. These fires were kindled in the open air, but the natives +camped close about them, sleeping within their influence. + +Cape Horn, the extreme point of South America, on the outermost island +of the Fuegian group, is a lofty, steep black rock, with a pointed +summit, which has stood there for ages, like a watchful sentinel at his +post. Two thirds of Patagonia and Terra del Fuego--the western +part--belong to Chili, and the balance of both--the eastern +part--belongs to the Argentine Republic. A recently consummated treaty +between these two nationalities has fixed upon this final division of +territory, and thus settled a question which has long been a source of +dispute and ill feeling between them. This division makes Cape Horn +belong to Chili, not a specially desirable possession, to be sure, but +it is an indelible landmark. + +The sail along the coast northward after leaving the Pacific mouth of +the strait affords very little variety of scenery; the dull hue of the +barren shore is without change of color for hundreds of miles, until the +eye becomes weary of watching it, as we speed onward through the long, +indolent ocean swell. Arid hills and small indentures form the coast +line, but as we get further northward, this dreary sameness is varied by +the appearance of an occasional small settlement, forming a group of +dwellings of a rude character, possibly a mining region or a fishing +hamlet, connected with some business locality further inland. Sometimes +a green valley is descried, which makes a verdant gulch opening quite +down to the sea. + +This dense monotony becomes more and more tedious, until one longs to +get somewhere, anywhere, away from it. + +In the dearth of scenic interest, we fall to studying the various +passengers traveling between the Pacific ports, a great variety of +nationalities being represented. Among those of the second-class was a +handsome Italian boy, with marvelous eyes of jet and a profusion of long +black hair. He had a small organ hung about his neck, and carried an +intelligent monkey with him. The boy and his monkey joined in the +performance of certain simple, amusing tricks to elicit money from the +lookers-on. Both boy and monkey were happy in the result achieved, the +former in liberal cash receipts, the latter in being fed liberally with +cakes and bonbons. The capacity of monkeys for the rapid consumption of +palatable dainties is one of the unsolved mysteries of nature. + +Schools of porpoises played about the hull of the ship, and clouds of +sea-birds at times wheeled about the topmasts, or followed in the ship's +wake watching for refuse from the cook's department. Occasionally the +head of a large, deep-water turtle would appear for a moment above the +surface, twisting its awkward neck to watch the course of the steamer, +while shoreward the mottled surface of the gently undulating waves +betrayed the presence of myriads of small fish, over which hovered +predatory birds of the gull tribe. Now and again one would swoop swiftly +downward to secure a victim to its appetite. Few albatrosses were seen +after leaving the Pacific mouth of the strait. They are lovers of the +stormy Antarctic region, with the tempestuous atmosphere of which their +great power of wing enables them to cope successfully. The author has +seen one of these birds off the southern coast of New Zealand which +spread eleven feet from tip to tip of its extended wings. It was caught +with a floating bait by one of the seamen and drawn on board ship, where +it was measured, but not until a long contest of strength had taken +place between men and bird. The albatross was slightly wounded in the +mouth and throat by the process of catching him with a baited hook. But +they are hardy creatures, and unless injured in some vital part pay +little heed to a small wound. After this bird had been examined, it was +liberated, and resumed its graceful flight about the ship as though +nothing unusual had happened. + +An invalid girl of Spanish birth, who was perhaps sixteen years of age, +very tenderly cared for by her mother, was propped up daily in a +reclining seat upon deck, where she might find amusement in watching the +sea and distant shore, while inhaling the saline tonic of the +atmosphere. Poor child, how her large, dark eyes, pallid lips, and +painful respiration appealed to one's sympathy! It required no +professional knowledge to divine her approaching fate. She was really in +the last stages of consumption, and was on her way to a popular +sanitarium near the coast, hoping against reason that the change might +prove restorative and of radical benefit. It was pleasant to observe how +promptly every one on board strove to add to her comfort by simple +attentions and services, and how the choicest bits from the table were +secured to tempt her capricious appetite. The grateful mother's eyes +were often suffused with tears, carefully hidden from the gentle +invalid. Her maternal heart was too full for the utterance even of +thanks. + +"Ah," said she to us in a low tone of voice, "she is the last of my +three children, two boys and this girl. The two boys faded away just +like this. Do you think there is any hope for her, señor?" + +"Why not, señora? We should never cease to hope. The land breeze and the +springs where you are going may do wonders." + +Heaven forgive us. The child's fate was only too plainly to be read in +her attenuated form, and the dull action of her almost congested lungs. + +One day a small, weary sea-bird, newly out of its nest, flew on board +our ship quite exhausted, and being easily secured, was given to the +young girl to pet. It soon became quite at home in her lap, eating small +bread crumbs and little bits of meat from her fingers. Confidence being +thus established between them, the little half-fledged creature would +not willingly leave its new-found benefactress. It seemed to be a +providential occurrence, affording considerable diversion to the sick +one. For a while, at least, she was aroused from the listlessness which +is so very significant in consumption, and her whole heart went out to +the confiding little waif. It was a pretty sight to see the bird nestle +contentedly close to her bosom, the pale-faced girl scarcely less +fragile than the little feathered stranger she had adopted. No one +thought that Death was hovering so very near, yet the third night after +the bird flew on board the young girl lay in her shroud, with an ivory +crucifix, typical of the Romish faith, in one hand, and the other +resting upon the inanimate bird she had befriended, which had also +breathed its last. + +Attempted consolation to a freshly bleeding heart is almost always +premature, and there are few, very few, human beings competent to offer +it effectually under the best circumstances. The sad-eyed mother +listened to a few well-meant words of this character, but slowly shook +her head and made no reply. Time only could assuage the keenness of her +sorrow. By and by she spoke, with her eyes still resting upon that pale, +dead face, where nothing but a wonderful peace and serenity were now +expressed. + +"Have birds souls, do you think?" she asked, in a low, trembling voice. + +"Possibly," was the reply; "but why do you ask?" + +"Because," she continued, speaking very slowly, "that tiny creature and +my darling died almost at the same moment, and if so, her spirit would +have company on its way to the good God." + +The unconscious poetry of the thought, so quietly expressed by the +sorrowing mother, as she sat beside the corpse with folded hands and +burning eyes, which could not find the relief of tears, was very +touching. + +The motor of the big ship throbbed on, the routine of duty continued +unchanged, passengers ate, drank, and were merry, the sea-birds wheeled +about us uttering their sharp contentious cries, and we pressed forward +through the opposing wind and tide, as though nothing had happened. Only +a mother's loving heart was broken. Only a soul gone to its God. Surely +such sweet innocence must be welcome in heaven. But ah! the great +mystery of it all! + +Most intelligent people will agree with us that no study known to +science can compare with astronomy for absorbing interest. At sea one +finds ample time, convenience, and incentive to study the sky, populous +with countless hosts of constellations. Especially is it interesting to +watch the numerous phases of the moon, beginning with her advent as a +delicate crescent of pale light in the eastern sky, after the sun has +set, and continuing to the period when she becomes full. Each succeeding +night it is found that she has moved farther and farther westward, +until, arriving at the full, she rises nearly at the same time that the +sun sets. From the period of full moon, the disc of light diminishes +nightly until the last quarter is reached, and the moon is then seen +high over the ship's topmast head, before day breaks in the east. Thus +she goes on waning, all the while drawing closer to the sun, until +finally she becomes absorbed in his light. The interesting process +completed, she again comes into view at twilight in the west, in her +exquisite crescent form, once more to pass through a similar series of +changes. + +The superstition of sailors touching the moonlight is curious. No +foremast hand will sleep where it shines directly upon him. They are +voluble in relating many instances of comrades rendered melancholy-mad +by so doing. "They talk about the moon making the ebb and flow of the +tide," said an able seaman to the author. "There's lots of queer things +about the moon, but _that's_ d--d nonsense, saving your honor's +presence." Thus Jack eagerly absorbs superstitious ideas, and ignores +natural phenomena. No humble class of men are so intelligent in a +general way, and yet at the same time so universally superstitious, as +those who go down to the sea in ships. + +In coming on to the west coast it is natural, perhaps, for the reader to +expect us to refer briefly to the late civil war in Chili, but we have +not attempted in these notes to depict the local political condition of +any of the states of South America. In the past they have most of them +shown themselves as changeable as the wind, and remarks which would +depict the status of to-day might be quite unsuited to that of +to-morrow. The average reader is sufficiently familiar with the struggle +so lately ended in Chili. One party was led by the late President +Balmaceda, in opposition to the other, known as the Congressional party. +That which brought about this open warfare was the refusal of Congress +any longer to recognize the president on account of his high-handed, +illegal, and venal official conduct. A line will illustrate the cause of +the outbreak. It was the Constitution of the country as against a +Dictatorship. The President of the Chilian Republic, like the President +of the United States, has a personal authority such as nowadays is +wielded by few constitutional monarchs. Balmaceda proved to be a tyrant +of the first water, abusing the power of his position to condemn to +death those who opposed him, without even the semblance of a trial. He +succeeded in attaching most of the regular army to his cause by profuse +promises and the free use of money, while the navy went almost bodily +over to the side of Congress. The contest assumed revolutionary +proportions, and many battles were fought. As a casual observer, the +author heartily coincided with the Congressional party, and rejoices at +their wholesale triumph. + +The suicidal act which ended Balmaceda's life was no heroic resort, but +the deed of a coward fearing to face the consequences of his murderous +career. It is not the man who has been actuated by high and noble +sentiments who cuts his throat or blows out his brains. Such is the act +of the cunning fraud who realizes that he has not only totally failed in +his object, but that his true character is known to the world. Suicide +has been declared to be the final display of egoism, and it certainly +leaves the world with one less thoroughly selfish character. The +disappearance of such an individual may produce a momentary ripple on +the surface of time, but it fails to leave any permanent mark. + +Nearly three hundred miles south of Santiago, capital of Chili, on the +Pacific coast, is situated the city of Concepcion. It stands on the +right bank of the river Biobio, six or seven miles from its mouth, and +contains about twenty-five thousand inhabitants. The people seem to be +exceptionally active and enterprising, though at this writing suffering +from the effects of the late civil war. It is the third city in point of +size and importance in the republic, and dates from over three hundred +years ago. It will be remembered also that it once held the place now +occupied by Santiago as capital of the country. The city is built in the +valley of Mocha, under the coast range of hills, and is justly famed, +like Puebla in Mexico, for its pretty women and beautiful flowers. It is +a clean and thrifty town, with handsome shops, a charming plaza, and an +attractive alameda. This latter deserves special mention. It is a mile +long, and beautified with several rows of tall Lombardy poplars, the +sight of which carried us to another hemisphere, where those lovely +Italian plains stretch away from the environs of Milan towards the +foothills of the neighboring Alps and the more distant Apennines. Great +things are prognosticated for Concepcion in the near future by its +friends, and it is already the principal town of southern Chili. The +streets are well paved, and lined by handsome business blocks, together +with pleasant dwelling-houses, built low, to avoid the effect of +earthquakes, the universal material being sun-dried bricks, finished +externally in stucco. The façades are painted in harlequin variety of +colors, yellow, blue, and peach-blossom prevailing. The town has really +more the appearance of a northern than a southern city, and has long +been connected with Valparaiso by railway. + +Some of the most extensive coal mines on this part of the continent have +been discovered in this vicinity, and are being worked on a large scale. +In fact, Coronal, not far away, is the great coaling station on the +Chilian coast for steamships bound to Europe or Panama. One would +suppose that this coal mining must be quite profitable, as we were told +that twenty-five and even thirty dollars per ton was realized for it +delivered at the nearest tide-water. The port of Concepcion is some +seven miles from the city, where the river Biobio flows into the ocean +at Talcahuano,--pronounced Tal-ca-wha'no,--a small town on Concepcion +Bay possessing an excellent harbor. There are here a large marine dock, +an arsenal, and a seaman's hospital. Close by the shore is a spacious +and convenient railway station. The bay is some six miles wide by seven +in length. There is a resident population of nearly four thousand, who +form an extremely active community. The majority of the houses are of a +very humble character and, like those of Concepcion, are built of adobe. + +Spanish capitals in the West Indies and South America were originally +placed, like Concepcion, some distance from the coast, to render them +more secure against the attack of pirates and lawless sea-rovers, who +might land from their vessels, burn a town on the seashore, after +robbing it of all valuables, and easily make good their escape; whereas +to march inland and attack a town far from their base, or to proceed up +a shallow river in boats for such a purpose, was a far more difficult, +if not indeed an impossible thing to do. Thus Callao is the harbor of +Lima; Valparaiso, of Santiago; and Talcahuano, of Concepcion. The +situation of the last named capital is admirable, at the head of the +bay, which affords one of the best harbors on the west coast of the +continent. When the transcontinental railway from Buenos Ayres, on the +Atlantic side, is finished, surmounting the passes of the +Andes,--already "a foregone conclusion,"--it will have its termination +here at Talcahuano, which must then become a great shipping point for +New Zealand and Australia. Half a dozen lines of European mail steamers +already touch here regularly. The river is too shallow to admit of +vessels drawing more than a few feet of water ascending it so far as +Concepcion, but Talcahuano is all sufficient as a port. + +Few places have been so frequently devastated by fire, flood, and +earthquakes, or so often ravaged by war, as has this interesting city. +In the early days the Araucanian Indians put the settlers to the sword +again and again. This was the bravest of all the native Indian tribes of +South America, and is still an unconquered people. The city was laid in +ruins so late as 1835 by an earthquake, though no special signs of this +destructive visitor are to be seen here to-day. Still, one cannot but +feel that with such possibilities hanging over the locality, there must +be few people willing to expend freely of their means for substantial +building purposes, or to make Concepcion a permanent place of abode. +Human nature adapts itself to all exigencies, however, and the place +grows rapidly, notwithstanding the discouraging circumstances which we +have named. It is not the native but the foreign element of the +population which is doing so much for this region. Were the mingled +native race to be left to themselves, there would be few signs of +progress evinced; they would rapidly lapse into a condition of +semi-barbarism. The Chilian proper is a very poor creature as regards +morals, intelligence, or true manhood; his instincts are brutal and his +aims predaceous. + +Like all South American cities, Concepcion is laid out by rule and +compass, the fairly broad streets crossing each other at right angles. +There is a large and costly cathedral, but a wholesome fear of +earthquakes has caused it to be left without the usual twin towers, +which gives it an unfinished appearance. The place also contains other +churches, a well-appointed theatre, two hospitals, and several edifices +devoted to charitable purposes. Opposite the cathedral stands the +Intendencia, a large and handsome government house. Telephones and +electric lights have long been adopted, and the telegraph poles do much +abound. In these foreign places, so far away from home, to see the +streets lined, as they are with us, by big, tall poles, holding aloft a +maze of wires, is very suggestive; but where can one go that they are +not? It is curious to realize that we can step into an office close at +hand and promptly communicate with any part of the world. We may have +sailed over the ocean many thousands of miles, and have consumed months +to reach the spot where we stand, but electricity, like thought, +annihilates space, and will take our message instantly to its +destination, though it be at the farthest end of the globe. These +marvelous facilities are no longer confined to populous centres. +Electricity not only bears our messages to the uttermost parts of the +world, but it propels the tramway cars in Rome, Boston, and Munich, +while it also lights the streets of New York, Auckland in New Zealand, +as well as of London and Honolulu. + +The importance of Concepcion is manifest from the fact that several new +railway connections terminating here have lately been accomplished; but +the important event already referred to, of the transcontinental +railway, will finally insure her commercial greatness. The town is +surrounded by a widespread, fertile country, abounding in both mineral +and agricultural wealth, equal to, if not surpassing, any other province +in Chili. The city was financially strong before the late civil war, and +has still some very wealthy residents. The principal bank of Concepcion, +with a capital of one million dollars, paid a dividend to its +stockholders in 1890 of sixteen per cent. on the previous year's +business. The cathedral and government house, already spoken of, front +on the plaza, a large open square ornamented with statuary, trees, and +flowers, the latter kept in most exquisite order and constant bloom by +means of a singular and original device. It seems that each separate +plot of these grounds is owned or cared for by a different family of the +citizens, and that a spirit of emulation is thus excited by the effort +of the several parties to make their special plot excel in its beauty +and fragrance. This keeps the whole plaza in a lovely condition, and +makes it the pride of the city. + +Society and business circles are mostly composed of foreigners, the +German element largely predominating. The native, or humbler classes, as +we have already intimated, are a wretchedly low people. They "wake" +their dead before burial, much after the style which prevails in +Ireland, except that the process is more exaggerated in manner. Drinking +and debauchery characterize these occasions, which are continued often +for three days at a time, or so long as the means for indulgence in +excess last. In case of youthful deaths, the child's cheeks are painted +red, and the head is crowned in a fantastic manner, the body being +dressed and placed in a sitting position, thus forming a strange and +hideous sight. Such treatment of a corpse could only be tolerated by a +barbarous people. In the environs of the town, Lazarus jostles Dives. +There are here many hovels, as well as a better class of residences. +Some of them are wretchedly poor, built of mud and bamboo, the +inhabitants half-naked and wholly starved, if one may judge by their +appearance. On Saturday, which in Spanish towns and cities is called +"poor day," the streets of Concepcion are full of either assumed or real +mendicants. The Spanish race is one of chronic beggars,--they seem born +so. Scarcely less of a nuisance than the beggars are the army of +half-starved, mongrel, neglected dogs, that throng in the streets of the +city, rivaling Constantinople. + +It should be mentioned that Concepcion has a good system of tramway +service, and that the cars have attached to them a class of neat, +pretty, and modest girls for conductors, who wear natty straw hats, snow +white aprons, and are supplied with a leather cash bag hung by a strap +about the neck. It seems rather incongruous that while so many evidences +of real progress abound in this city, water, the prime necessity of +life, should be peddled about the streets by the bucketful. Now is the +time to perfect a system of drainage, and to introduce an adequate +supply of good water, from easily available sources. + +The inexhaustible coal fields already mentioned, which are situated but +a few miles away, must prove to be a lasting source of prosperity to +Concepcion. They are far more important and valuable, all things +considered, than a gold or silver mine near at hand would be. Indeed, it +is found in the long run that the latter kind of mineral discoveries do +not always tend to the material benefit of the community in which they +are found. The earth produces far more profitable crops than gold and +precious stones, even when considered in the most mercenary light. The +business prospects of Concepcion, as we have pointed out in detail, are +exceedingly promising. That the city is destined eventually to rival +Valparaiso seems more than probable, and yet there is another side to +this favorable aspect thus presented, which it is not wise to ignore. +True, the climate is equable and healthy, but that great drawback, the +liability to earthquakes and tidal waves, still remains, like a dark, +portending shadow. In spite of this startling possibility there is +something of a "boom" already instituted, at this writing, as to the +prices of land in and about both the port and city of Concepcion. It is +a fact that people will soon become calloused and heedless of almost any +familiar danger. Jack turns in and quickly falls to sleep, when the +watch below is called and relieves him from the deck, though the ship is +in the midst of cyclone latitudes, and while a half-gale is blowing. The +people of Torre del Grecco, at the base of the volcano, do not sleep any +less soundly to-day because Pompeii was utterly destroyed by Vesuvius +eighteen or nineteen centuries ago. The earthquake of 1835 first shook +Talcahuano nearly to pieces, and then completed its destruction by a +tidal wave which swept what remained of it into the sea. + +It goes without saying that most of the fruits and staple products of +the tropics are to be found both at Concepcion and at the port of +Talcahuano. Each place we visit seems to have some specialty in this +line. Here, it is the watermelon. Favored by the soil and the climate, +this fruit is developed to its maximum in weight, richness of flavor, +and general perfection. They are sold cheap enough everywhere. A centavo +will buy a large ripe one. Street carts and donkeys are laden with them, +and so are the decks of all outgoing vessels. It is both food and drink +to the poor peons, who consume the fruit in quantities strongly +suggestive of cholera, dropsy, or some other dreadful illness. Any one +accustomed to travel in our Southern States, in the right season of the +year, will have observed how voraciously the negro population, young and +old, eat of the cheap, ripe crop of watermelons; but these South +American peons have a capacity for storage and digestion of this really +wholesome article, beyond all comparison. A child not more than ten +years of age will devour the ripe portion of a large melon in a few +minutes, and no ill effects seem to follow. An adult eats two at a meal +which would weigh, we are afraid to say how much, but they are +considerably larger than the average melons which are brought to New +England from the South. After all, the watermelon is healthful food, +though it is more filling than nourishing. It will be remembered that +the famous fasting individual, Dr. Tanner, after eating nothing for +forty days and forty nights, took for his first article of nourishment, +at the close of this time of fasting, half a watermelon, and that he +retained and digested it successfully. + + + + + CHAPTER XV. + + Valparaiso.--Principal South American Port of the + Pacific.--A Good Harbor.--Tallest Mountain on this + Continent.--The Newspaper Press.--Warlike Aspect.--Girls as + Car Conductors.--Chilian Exports.--Foreign + Merchants.--Effects of Civil War.--Gambling in Private + Houses.--Immigration.--Culture of the + Grape.--Agriculture.--Island of Juan Fernandez. + + +Valparaiso--"Vale of Paradise"--was thus fancifully named because of its +assumed loveliness. True, it is beautifully situated, and is a fine city +of its class, located in an admirable semicircular bay, not upon one, +but upon many hills, backed by a crescent-shaped mountain range. But +when one compares its harbor to that of Naples, or Sydney in Australia, +for picturesqueness of scenery, as is often done, it only provokes +invidious remarks. The matchless harbor of Rio Janeiro, on the eastern +coast of the continent, already fully described in these pages, is far +more charming in general effect and in all of its surroundings, not to +mention that it is more than twenty times as large. Valparaiso is the +principal seaport of Chili, and indeed, for the present, it is the main +port of the entire west coast of South America. By consulting the map it +will be readily seen that Chili must ever be a maritime nation, +depending more upon an effective navy than an army. The possession of +the national ships of war by the Congressional party in the revolution +so lately terminated gave them virtual control of the cities along the +coast, at the outbreak of the émeute, and this means they employed +against the Presidential party with the most ruthless effect. They did +not hesitate to savagely cannonade and shell a city, though two thirds +of the occupants were their own friends and supporters, provided it was +held ostensibly, and for the time being only, by the supporters of +Balmaceda. The outrageous bombardment of Iquique is an instance in +illustration of this charge. The Chilian delights to be cruel; it is his +instinct to destroy and to plunder. He is by nature boastful, +passionate, and headstrong. This disposition seems to be born in the +race, is in fact a matter of heredity, fostered by bull-fights and +kindred entertainments. But the country must now pay for the enormous +destruction of property of which the directors of the civil war have +been guilty. The European powers have already begun to send in their +demands for damages done to their non-combatant merchants. England comes +first with a bill calling for payment of sixty million dollars. Spain, +Italy, and Germany will follow. It is estimated that a hundred million +dollars will be required to settle these foreign demands. Chili must +pay. There is no avoiding it. Reckless destruction will be found to be +rather an expensive amusement in future for these South Americans. Their +outrageous and murderous treatment of citizens of the United States who +land upon their shore is also like to cost them a heavy sum in way of +penalty. The present is a good opportunity to teach them a salutary +lesson. The Chilians will not be in a hurry to repeat crimes which they +find entail sure and swift punishment. + +A majority of the population of Chili lives, as a rule, within a few +miles of the sea, and her coast line extends from Cape Horn northward +over two thousand miles to the borders of Bolivia and Peru. With this +extraordinary length, she has an average width of hardly more than a +hundred miles, bordered on the east by the western slope of the Andes, +whose eastern side belongs to the Argentine Republic, and on the west by +the Pacific Ocean. The present estimated area of the republic is about +two hundred and twenty thousand square miles, containing a population of +considerably less than three millions, though its capacious territory +could be so divided as to make twenty-five states as large as +Massachusetts. Sixteen hundred miles of steam railroads render the +principal sections of Chili accessible to one another. The coast line +has from time to time been undergoing decided changes through volcanic +action. In 1822, after a visible commotion, the shore was permanently +raised three feet at Valparaiso, and four feet at Quintere. This change +extended over an area of a hundred thousand miles. Another but lesser +elevation took place in the same region in 1835. + +There seems to be no accounting for the vagaries of a land subject to +volcanic influences. + +The harbor of Valparaiso is well protected on the east, south, and west, +but it is open to the north, from which direction come very heavy winds +and seas during a couple of months in the winter season, often causing +serious casualties among the shipping which may chance to be anchored in +the harbor. A "norther" is as much dreaded here as it is at Vera Cruz +and along the Gulf of Mexico generally. + +The entrance to the harbor is on its north side, and is a mile in width, +more or less. The flags of nearly all nations are seen here, though the +Stars and Stripes are less frequently to be met with than others. The +city lies at the base of the closely surrounding hills, up whose sides +and in the ravines the dwelling-houses have been constructed, tier above +tier. Over all, further inland, looms the frosted head of grand old +Aconcagua, twenty-two thousand feet and more in height, believed to be +the tallest mountain in the western hemisphere. This mighty member of +the Andean Cordillera is said to be ninety miles away, but it is so +lofty and dominant, as seen through the clear atmosphere, that it +appears almost within cannon range. At this writing the harbor presents +quite a warlike aspect. English, American, French, German, and Chilian +men-of-war are anchored here, looking after their several national +interests, as affected by the civil war. The bugle calls of the several +ships, the morning and evening guns, the display of naval bunting, +together with the flitting hither and thither of well-manned boats, all +unite to form a gay and suggestive scene. The Chilian cruisers in the +hands of the revolutionists would not hesitate to batter down any +government buildings on the coast, destroying incidentally the domestic +residences and merchandise of non-combatants, were they not restrained +by the presence of foreign flags and guns. When Balmaceda undertook by a +proclamation to shut up the ports of Chili, and declared them blockaded, +he was told by the several naval commanders on the coast that he could +not establish a paper blockade, and that if the merchant ships of their +several countries were in any way interfered with, he would have to +fight somebody else besides the revolutionists. The ports were therefore +kept as open to legitimate commerce as they ever were. + +The author was disappointed at not being able to reach Santiago, the +capital of Chili, which is situated at the foot of the western slope of +the Andes, nearly two thousand feet above tide-water. It is connected +with Valparaiso by railway, and under ordinary circumstances can be +reached in eight hours. The difficulties caused by the civil war, and +the suspicion with which all foreigners were regarded, proved impossible +to surmount without a protracted effort, and submitting to any amount of +red tape. Santiago was founded by one of Pizarro's captains, in 1541, +and now contains about two hundred thousand inhabitants. There are some +Americans and many English resident in Santiago, together with Germans +and Frenchmen, the foreigners being mostly merchants. We were told of +two familiar statues which are to be seen in a public square of the +city, in front of the post-office. One represents George Washington, the +other Abraham Lincoln, both of which were stolen from Lima during the +late conflict between Chili and Peru. + +But this is a digression. Let us once more return to the commercial port +of Valparaiso. + +A considerable portion of this city has been reclaimed from the sea, and +still more land suitable for the erection of business warehouses near +the shore is being added to this part of the town. Local enterprise, +however, is pretty much suspended for the time being, owing to the +disturbed condition of political affairs. The mountains near at hand +supply ample stone and soil for the purpose of extending the area of +this business portion of the town. Sixty or seventy years ago, the city +contained only a single street, on the edge of the harbor; to-day it has +all the appearance and belongings of a great commercial capital, and a +population of a hundred and thirty thousand. Except Rio Janeiro and +Buenos Ayres, we saw nowhere thoroughfares more full of energetic life +and business activity. The main avenue is the Calle Victoria, which runs +round the entire water front, occupied by the banks, hotels, insurance +offices, and the best shops in the town. + +There are four large daily newspapers published in Valparaiso, whose +united circulation exceeds thirty thousand copies. "El Mercurio" has the +eminent respectability of age, having been published regularly for a +period of half a century. The facility for news-gathering is very good, +as this city is connected with the world at large by submarine cable, +but no such detailed and complete summary of intelligence is attempted +as our North American journals exhibit daily. While on this subject, we +may add that there are no newspapers in Europe, or elsewhere, which will +compare with those of the United States in the average ability and +journalistic merit which characterizes them. We do not say this in a +boastful spirit, but simply make the statement as an incontrovertible +fact. + +Some of the business structures along the harbor front of Valparaiso are +fine edifices architecturally, and many of the retail stores will +compare favorably with the average of ours in Washington Street, Boston. +The elegant class of goods displayed in some of these establishments +shows that the population is an habitually extravagant and free-living +one. We were told, by way of illustration, that millionaires were as +plenty as blackberries before the late civil war, while many wealthy +men, foreseeing the catastrophe which was about to occur, shrewdly +prepared for it, and by careful management saved their property intact. +Many of the private houses on Victoria Street are spacious, elegant, and +costly, the occupants living in regal style, to support which must cost +a very heavy annual outlay. It appears that President Balmaceda +discovered, during the late struggle, where and how to lay his hands +upon the resources of a few of these citizens, and that such he +completely impoverished, under one pretext and another, using their +property to support his armed minions, and to swell the aggregate of +funds which he sent for deposit in his own name to Europe. One or two +cases of this sort were related to us in which the citizens were not +only made to give up the whole of their private property, but were +finally imprisoned and sentenced to death upon a charge of treason, +without even the semblance of a trial! + +It is no marvel, to those who know the facts of his career, that a man +who was guilty of such crimes, when at last brought to bay, finding +himself betrayed and deserted by his pretended friends, should have +blown out his own brains. The posthumous papers which he left, and +wherein he tries to pose as a martyr, are simply a ludicrous failure. +José Manuel Balmaceda was in the fifty-second year of his age when he +committed suicide, and was at the time hiding for fear of the infuriated +citizens of Santiago, who would certainly have hanged the would-be +dictator without the least hesitation or formality, if they could have +got possession of his person. + +The tramway-cars of Valparaiso are of the two-story pattern, like those +of Copenhagen and New Orleans, also found in many of the European +cities. They have as conductors, like Concepcion, very pretty half-breed +girls, who appear to thoroughly understand their business, and to +fulfill its requirements to universal satisfaction. If an intoxicated or +unruly person appears on the cars, the conductress does not attempt +personally to eject him. She has only to hold up her hand, and the +nearest policeman, of whom there are always a goodly number about, jumps +on to the car and settles the matter in short order. Girls were thus +first employed in order that the men who ordinarily fill these places +might be drafted into the army, during the late war between Chili and +Peru, and as the system proved to be a complete success, it has been +continued ever since. The fare charged on these tram-cars is five cents +for each inside passenger, and half that sum for the outside; and, as in +Paris, when the seats are all full, a little sign is shown upon the car, +signifying that no more persons will be admitted, none being allowed to +stand. The same rule is enforced in London, and the thought suggested +itself as to whether our West End Railway Company of Boston might not +take an important hint therefrom. + +The ladies and gentlemen of the city are a well dressed class, the +former adopting Parisian costumes, and the gentlemen wearing a full +dress of dark broadcloth, with tall stove-pipe hats. The women of the +more common class wear the national "manta," and the men the "poncha." +The former is a dark, soft shawl which covers in part the head and face +of the wearer. The latter is a long, striped shawl, with a slit cut in +the centre, through which the head of the wearer is thrust. Nothing +could be more simple in construction than both of these garments, and +yet they are somehow very picturesque. + +As we have already intimated, it is soon learned, upon landing at any +port of the commercial world, what the staple products of the +neighborhood are, by simply noting the visible merchandise made ready +for shipment. Here we have sugar, wool, and cotton prevailing over all +other articles. Guano and nitrate, which also form specialties here, are +represented, though the supply of the former is pretty much exhausted. +The nitrate trade is controlled by an Englishman of large fortune, +Colonel North, known here as the "Nitrate King." This valuable +fertilizer is the deposit of the nitrate of soda in the beds of lakes +long since dried up, the waters of which originally contained in +solution large quantities of this material. These lakes in olden times +received the flow of a great water-shed, and having no outlet, save by +evaporation, accumulated and precipitated at the bottom the chemical +elements flowing into them from the surrounding country. The article is +now dug up and put through a certain process, then shipped to foreign +countries as a fertilizer, believed to put new heart into exhausted +soil. England consumes an immense quantity of it annually, and many +ships are regularly employed in its transportation. + +The custom house, situated near the landing at Valparaiso, is a somewhat +remarkable structure, having a long, low façade surmounted by tall, +handsome towers. This is eminently the business part of the town, and is +called "El Puerto." The larger share of the residences of the merchants +and well-to-do citizens is situated on the hillsides, to reach which it +is necessary to ascend long flights of steps. At certain points +elevators are also supplied by which access is gained to the upper +portions of the town, after the fashion already described at Bahia, on +the east coast. + +The majority of people doing business in Valparaiso are English, and +English is the almost universal language. Even the names upon the city +signs are suggestive in this direction. Among the public houses are the +"Queen's Arms," the "Royal Oak," the "Red Lion," and so on. Besides an +English school, there are three churches belonging to that nationality. +There are numerous free schools, both of a primary and advanced +character, an elaborately organized college, two or three theatres, and +the usual charitable establishments, including a public library. The +principal part of the city is lighted by electricity, and the telephone +is in general use. A special effort has lately been made to promote the +education of the rising generation in Chili, and we know of no field +where the endeavor would be more opportune. Such an effort is never out +of place, but here it is imperatively called for. The almost universal +ignorance of the common people of Chili is deplorable, and little +improvement can be hoped for as regards their moral or physical +condition, except through the means of educating the youth of the +country. A commissioner-general of education was appointed some time +ago, who has already visited Europe and North America to study the best +modern methods adopted in the public schools. This is a tangible +evidence of improvement which speaks for itself, and is a great stride +of this people in the right direction. Of course the late political +crisis will greatly retard the hoped-for results, just as it will put +Chili back some years in her national progress, whatever may be the +final outcome in other respects. + +Gambling is a prevailing national trait in this country, by no means +confined to any one class of the community. The street gamin plays for +copper centavos, while the pretentious caballero does the same for gold +coins. It is quite common in family circles, held to be very +aristocratic, to see the gaming table laid out every evening, as +regularly as the table upon which the meals are served. Money in large +sums is lost and won with assumed indifference in these private circles, +whole fortunes being sometimes sacrificed at a single sitting. Gambling +seems to be held exempt from the censure of either church or state, +since both officials and priests indulge in all sorts of games of +chance. There are the usual public lotteries always going on to tempt +the poorer classes of the people, and to capture their hard-earned +wages. + +One virtue must be freely accorded to the business centre of this city, +namely, that of cleanliness, in which respect it is far in advance of +most of the capitals on the east coast of South America. Being the first +seaport of any importance in the South Pacific, it is naturally a place +of call for European bound steamers coming from New Zealand and +Australia, as well as those sailing from Panama and San Francisco. In +view of the fact that six hundred and fifty thousand people emigrate +from Europe annually, seeking new homes in foreign lands, the Chilian +government, in common with some others of the South American states, has +for several years past held forth the liberal inducement of substantial +aid to all bona fide settlers from foreign countries. Each newcomer who +is the head of a family is given two hundred acres of available land, +together with lumber and other materials for building a comfortable +dwelling-house, also a cart, a plough, and a reasonable amount of seed +for planting. Besides these favors which we have enumerated, some other +important considerations are offered. Only a small number, comparatively +speaking, of emigrants have availed themselves of such liberal terms, +and these have been mostly Germans. If such an offer were properly +promulgated and laid before the poor peasantry of Ireland and Spain and +Italy, it would seem as though many of those people would hasten to +accept it in the hope of bettering their condition in life. Whether such +a result would follow emigration would of course depend upon many other +things besides the liberality of the offer of the Chilian government. +The Germans form a good class of emigrants, perhaps the best, often +bringing with them considerable pecuniary means, together with habits of +industry. The late civil war has put a stop to emigration for a period +at least, and will interfere with its success for some time to come, if +indeed Chili ever assumes quite so favorable a condition as she has +sacrificed. + +There are some districts, including Limache and Pauquehue, where grape +culture has been brought to great perfection, and where it is conducted +on a very large scale. Wine-making is thus taking its place as one of +the prosperous industries of the country. The amount of the native +product consumed at home is very large, and a regular system of exports +to other South American ports has been established. All of the most +important modes of culture, such as have been proven most successful in +France and California, have been carefully adopted here. Tramways are +laid to intersect the various parts of these extensive vineyards, to aid +in the gathering and transportation of the ripe fruit, while the +appliances for expressing the juice of the grape are equally well +systematized. One vineyard, belonging to the Consiño family, near +Santiago, covers some two hundred acres, closely planted with selected +vines from France, Switzerland, and California, the purpose being to +retain permanently such grades as are found best adapted to the soil and +the climate of Chili. The white wines are the most popular here, but red +Burgundy brands are produced with good success. The vines are trained on +triple lines of wires, stretched between iron posts, presenting an +appearance of great uniformity, the long rows being planted about three +or four feet apart. Every arrangement for artificial irrigation is +provided, it being an absolute necessity in this district of Chili. +Trenches are cut along the rows of vines, through which the water, from +ample reservoirs, is permitted to flow at certain intervals; +particularly when the grape begins to swell and ripen. The fruit is not +trodden here, as it is in Italy, but is thoroughly expressed by means of +proper machinery. + +Geographically, Chili is, as we have intimated, a long, narrow country, +lying south of Peru and Bolivia, ribbon-like in form, and divided into +nineteen provinces. It has been considerably enlarged by conquest from +both of the nationalities just named; including the important territory +of Terapaca. The name "Chili" signifies snow, with which the tops of +most of the mountain ranges upon the eastern border are always covered. +Still, extending as she does, from latitude 24° south to Cape Horn, she +embraces every sort of climate, from burning heat to glacial frosts, +while nearly everything that grows can be produced upon her soil. Though +she has less than three million inhabitants, still her territory exceeds +that of any European nationality except Russia. The manifest difference +between the aggregate of her population and that of her square miles +does not speak very favorably for the healthful character of the +climate. There is no use in attempting to disguise the fact that Chili +has rather a hard time of it, with sweeping epidemics, frequent +earthquakes, and devouring tidal waves. The country contains thirty +volcanoes, none of which are permanently active, but all of which have +their periods of eruption, and most of which exhibit their dangerous +nature by emitting sulphurous smoke and ashes. The unhygienic condition +of life among her native races accounts for the large death-rate +prevailing at all times, and especially among the peon children, thus +preventing a natural increase in the population. Unless a liberal +immigration can be induced, Chili must annually decrease in population. +As regards the foreign whites and the educated natives who indulge in no +extravagant excesses, living with a reasonable regard for hygiene, +doubtless Chili is as healthy as most countries, but there is still to +be remembered the erratic exhibitions of nature, a possibility always +hanging like the sword of Damocles over this region. A whole town may, +without the least warning, vanish from the face of the earth in the +space of five minutes, or be left a mass of ruins. + +It is in the districts of the north that the rich mines and the nitrate +fields are found, but the central portion of the country, and +particularly towards the south, is the section where the greatest +agricultural results are realized, and which will continue to yield in +abundance after the mineral wealth shall have become quite exhausted. +The southern portion of the country embraces Patagonia, which has lately +been divided between Chili and the Argentine Republic. In short, Chili +is no exception to the rule that agriculture, and not mining products, +is the true and permanent reliance of any country. + +A little less than four hundred miles off the shore of Valparaiso, on +the same line of latitude, is the memorable island of Juan Fernandez. It +is politically an unimportant dependence of Chili, though of late years +it has indirectly been made the means of producing some income for the +national treasury. There was a period in which Chili maintained a penal +colony here, but the convicts mutinied, and massacred the officers who +had charge of them. These convicts succeeded in getting away from the +island on passing ships. No attempt has been made since that time to +reëstablish a penal colony on this island. To-day the place is occupied +by thriving vegetable gardeners, and raisers of stock. Every intelligent +youth will remember the island as the spot where De Foe laid the scene +of his popular and fascinating story of "Robinson Crusoe." The island is +about twenty miles long by ten broad, and is covered with dense tropical +verdure, gentle hills, sheltered valleys, and thrifty woods. Juan +Fernandez resembles the Azores in the North Atlantic. Though generally +spoken of in the singular, there are actually three islands here, +forming a small, compact group, known as Inward Island, Outward Island, +and Great Island. Many intelligent people think that the story of +Robinson Crusoe is a pure fabrication, but this is not so. De Foe +availed himself of an actual occurrence, and put it into readable form, +adding a few romantic episodes to season the story for the taste of the +million. It was in a measure truth, which he stamped with the image of +his own genius. Occasionally some enthusiastic admirer of De Foe comes +thousands of miles out of the beaten track of travel to visit this group +of islands, by the way of Valparaiso. Grapes, figs, and other tropical +fruits abound at Juan Fernandez. It is said that several thousand people +might be easily supported by the natural resources of these islands, and +the abundance of fish which fill the neighboring waters. An English +naval commander stopped here in 1741, to recruit his ships' crews, and +to repair some damages. While here he caused various seeds to be planted +for the advantage of any mariners who might follow. The benefit of this +Christian act has been realized by many seamen since that date. Fruits, +grain, and vegetables are now produced by spontaneous fertility +annually, which were not before to be found here. The English commander +also left goats and swine to run wild, and to multiply, and these +animals are numerous there to-day. + +Juan Fernandez has one tall peak, nearly three thousand feet high, which +the pilots point out long before the rest of the island is seen. It was +from this lofty lookout that Alexander Selkirk was wont to watch daily +in the hope of sighting some passing ship, by which he might be released +from his imprisonment. There are about one hundred residents upon the +group to-day, it having been leased by the Chilian government as a stock +ranch for the breeding of goats and cattle, as well as for the raising +of vegetables for the market of Valparaiso. There are said to be thirty +thousand horned cattle, and many sheep, upon these islands. Occasional +excursion parties are made up at Valparaiso to visit the group by +steamboat, for the purpose of shooting seals and mountain goats. Stories +are told of Juan Fernandez having been formerly made the headquarters of +pirates who came from thence to ravage the towns on the coast of the +continent, and it is believed by the credulous that much of the +ill-gotten wealth of the buccaneers still remains hidden there. In +search of this supposititious treasure, expeditions have been fitted out +in past years at Valparaiso, and many an acre of ground has been vainly +dug over in seeking for piratical gold, supposed to be buried there. +Some of the shrewd stock raisers of Juan Fernandez are ready, for a +consideration, to point out to seekers the most probable places where +such treasures might have been buried. + + + + + CHAPTER XVI. + + The Port of Callao.--A Submerged City.--Peruvian Exports.--A + Dirty and Unwholesome Town.--Cinchona Bark.--The Andes.--The + Llama.--A National Dance.--City of Lima.--An Old and + Interesting Capital.--Want of Rain.--Pizarro and His + Crimes.--A Grand Cathedral.--Chilian Soldiers.--Costly + Churches of Peru.--Roman Catholic Influence.--Desecration of + the Sabbath. + + +The passage northward from Valparaiso to Callao occupies about four days +by the steamers which do not stop at intermediate ports. We entered the +harbor in the early morning while a soft veil of mist enshrouded the +bay, but as the sun fairly shone upon the view, this aerial screen +rapidly disappeared, revealing Callao just in front of us, making the +foreground of a pleasing and vivid picture, the middle distance filled +by the ancient city of Lima, and the far background by alpine ranges. +Callao is an ill-built though important town, with a population of about +thirty thousand, and serves as the port for Lima, the capital of Peru. +It has a good harbor, well protected by the island of San Lorenzo, +which, with the small island of El Fronton, and the Palminos reef, forms +a protection against the constant swell of the ocean. There are nearly +always one or two ships of war belonging to foreign nations in the +harbor, and large steamships from the north or the south. The sailing +distance from Panama is fifteen hundred miles. The Callao of to-day is +comparatively modern. Old Callao formerly stood on a tongue of land +opposite San Lorenzo, but in 1746 an earthquake submerged it and drowned +some five thousand of the inhabitants, foundered a score of ships, and +stranded a Spanish man-of-war. In calm weather one can row a boat over +the spot where the old city stood, and see the ruins far down in the +deep waters. The present city has twice been near to sharing the same +fate: once in 1825, and again in 1868. It is, therefore, not assuming +too much to say that Callao may at any time disappear in the most +summary fashion. The sunken ruins in the harbor are a melancholy and +suggestive sight, the duplicate of which we do not believe can be found +elsewhere on the globe. Though seismic disturbances are of such frequent +occurrence, and are so destructive on the west coast of South America, +they are hardly known on the Atlantic or eastern side of the continent. +That they are frequently coincident with volcanic disturbances indicates +that there is an intimate connection between them, but yet earthquakes +often occur in regions where volcanoes do not exist. This was the case, +not long since, as most of our readers will remember, in South Carolina. +It has been noticed by careful observers that animals become uneasy on +the eve of such an event, which would seem to show that earthquakes +sometimes owe their origin to extraordinary atmospheric conditions. + +San Lorenzo is about six miles from Callao, and is four miles long by +one in width. It is utterly barren, presenting a mass of brownish gray +color, eleven hundred feet high, at whose base there is ever a broad, +snow white ruffle, caused by the never-ceasing ocean swell breaking into +foam. An English smelting company has established extensive works near +the shore of the island, for the reduction of silver and copper ores. +The approach to Callao from the sea affords a fine view of the +undulating shore, backed by the snowy Cordilleras, the shabby buildings +of the town, with the dismantled castle of San Felipe forming the +foreground. In landing one must be cautious: there is always +considerable swell in the harbor. + +The staple products of this region are represented by packages of +merchandise prepared for shipment, and which are the first to attract +one's attention upon landing, such as cinchona bark from the native +forests, piles of wheat in bulk, hides, quantities of crude salt, sugar +packed in dried banana leaves, bales of alpaca wool, and, most +suggestive of all, some heavy bags of silver ore. Little is being done +in mining at present, though the field for this industry is large. The +difficulty of transportation is one of the great drawbacks, yet Peru has +over a thousand miles of railways in her rather limited area. Gold, +platinum, silver, and copper are all found in paying quantities. Coal +and petroleum also exist here, in various inland districts. The guano +deposits, which have yielded so much wealth to Peru in the past, are +practically exhausted, while the nitrate-producing province of Tarapaca +has been stolen by Chili, to which it now belongs. It is thought that +the nitrate deposits can be profitably worked for fifty years to come. + +A crowd of the lazy, ragged population were loafing about the landing, +watching the strangers as they came on shore at the wet and slippery +stone steps. + +It is very plain that the great importance of Callao has departed, +though there is still an appearance of business activity. Not long ago, +a hundred vessels at a time might be seen at anchor inside of San +Lorenzo; now, a score of good-sized ships are all one can count. This is +owing to various causes: an unreasonable high tariff is one of them, +exorbitant port charges is another, and the general depression of +business on the west coast is felt quite as strongly here as at any of +the ports. Like Santos, on the other side of the continent, Callao is +ever an unhealthy resort, where a great mortality prevails in the fever +season. The absence of good drainage and inattention to hygienic rules +will in part account for the bad repute that the port has among the +shipping masters who frequent the coast. The streets are particularly +malodorous about the water front. The dirty vultures seem to be depended +upon to remove offensive garbage. + +A certain remarkable occurrence sometimes takes place in this harbor, +which, so far as the writer knows, is without precedent elsewhere. A +ship may come in from sea and anchor at about sunset, in good order and +condition, everything being white and clean on board, but when her +captain comes on deck the next morning, he may find that his ship has +been painted, inside and out, a dark chocolate color during the night, +the atmosphere at the same time being impregnated with a peculiar odor, +arising from this "paint," or whatever it may be, which clings +tenaciously to every object, wood or iron. While it is damp and freshly +deposited, it can be removed like fresh paint, but if it is permitted to +dry, it is as difficult to remove as ordinary dried paint would be. No +one can tell the origin of this nuisance, but most seamen whose business +brings them to Callao have been through this experience. Of course it +must be an atmospheric deposit, but from whence? It has never been known +to occur upon the neighboring land, but only in the harbor. Scientists +have given the matter their attention, and have concluded that it may be +caused by sulphurous gases produced in the earth below the water, which +rise to the surface and disseminate themselves in the surrounding +atmosphere. + +From any elevated point in the city one may enjoy a delightful view, the +main features of which are the Andes on the land side, and seaward, the +broad heaving bosom of the Pacific. The corrugated peaks of the former, +clad in white, seem like restless phantoms marching through the sky. +Over the latter, long lines of inky blackness trail behind northern or +southern bound steamers, while here and there a tall, full-rigged ship +recalls the older modes of navigation. + +The smoother water inside of San Lorenzo is alive with small boats, some +under sails, some propelled by oars, shooting in and out among the +shipping which lie at anchor before the town. A pair of large whales +assisted at this scene for our special benefit, just inside the harbor's +mouth. It must have been only play on their part,--leviathans at +play,--but they threw up the sea in such clouds of spray with their +broad tails, as to make it appear like a battle-royal seen from a mile +away. + +We mentioned the fact of seeing cinchona bark in bales ready for +shipping. Of all the products of South America, gold, silver, and +precious stones included, the most valuable is the drug which is called +quinine, made from the bark of the cinchona tree. There is no other one +article known to the materia medica which has been used in such large +quantities or with such unvarying success by suffering humanity. It was +first introduced into Europe from Peru, and was then known as Peruvian +bark. It was supposed at that time to be found only in this section of +the continent; but subsequently it was discovered to abound in all the +forests along the course of the Andes, and especially on their western +slope. So large has been its export that it was found the source of +supply was rapidly becoming exhausted, until local governments awoke to +the importance of the matter, and protected by law the trees which +produce it. These are no longer ruthlessly cut down to die, when +yielding their valuable harvest, but only a certain quantity of the +desirable bark is taken from each tree annually, so that nature replaces +the portion which had been removed, by covering the trunk with a fresh +growth. The cinchona tree, having been transplanted from South America, +is now successfully cultivated in the islands of the Malacca Straits, +Ceylon, India, and other tropical regions. + +The tree which produces this valuable febrifuge belongs to the same +family as the coffee plant. In appearance it is very like our native +beech tree, having remarkably white wood. + +The llama is found nearly all over South America, and is often seen as a +beast of burden at Callao, taking the place here which the donkey or +burro fills in Mexico. It has been described as having the head and neck +of a camel, the body of a deer, the wool of a sheep, and the neigh of a +horse. We do not agree with those who pronounce the llama an awkward +creature. True, the body is a little ungainly, but the head, the +graceful pose, the pointed, delicate ears, and the large, lustrous eyes +are absolutely handsome. It can carry a burden weighing one hundred +pounds over hard mountain roads, day after day, while living upon very +scanty food. It is slow in its movements, patient when well treated, and +particularly sure-footed. It is of a very gentle disposition, but when +it finds the weight placed upon its back too heavy, like the Egyptian +camel, it immediately lies down and will not rise until the load is +lightened. The llama, or "mountain camel," as it has been aptly called, +is the only domesticated native animal. The horse, ox, hog, and sheep +are all importations which were entirely unknown here four centuries +ago. The llama has two notable peculiarities: when angry it will +expectorate at its enemy, and when hurt will shed tears. The +expectoration is of an acrid, semi-poisonous nature, and if it strikes +the eyes will, it is said, blind them. The llama, guanaco, alpaca, and +vicuña were the four sheep of the Incas, the wool of the first clothing +the common people; the second, the nobles; the third, the royal +governors; and the fourth the Incas. The first two are domesticated, +guanacos and vicuñas are wild, though they all belong to the same +family. + +The manners and customs of any people new to the traveler are always an +interesting study, but in nothing are they more strongly individualized +than in the pursuit of amusements. A favorite dance, known here as the +_zama cueca_, is often witnessed out-of-doors in retired corners of the +plaza or the alameda, as well as elsewhere. It requires two performers, +and is generally danced by a male and female, being not unlike the +Parisian cancan, both in the movement and the purpose of the expression. +The two dancers stand opposite each other, each having a pocket +handkerchief in the right hand, while the music begins at first a dull, +monotonous air, which rapidly rises and falls in cadence. The dancers +approach each other, swaying their bodies gracefully, and using their +limbs nimbly; now they pass each other, turning in the act to +coquettishly wave the handkerchief about their heads, and also to snap +it towards each other's faces. Thus they advance and retreat several +times, whipping at each other's faces, while throwing their bodies into +peculiar attitudes. Again they resume the first movement of advance and +retreat, one assuming coyness, the other ardor, and thus continue, +until, as a sort of climax, they fall into each other's arms with a peal +of hearty laughter. A guitar is the usual accompanying instrument, the +player uttering the while a shrill impromptu chant. When a male dancer +joins in this street performance, as is sometimes the case, it is apt to +be a little coarse and vulgar. + +There is very little in Callao to detain us, and one is quite ready to +hasten on to Lima, the capital of Peru, hoping to escape the stench and +universal dirtiness of the port. + +The city of Lima has at this writing about one hundred and sixty +thousand inhabitants, and is situated six miles from Callao, its +shipping port, with which it is connected by two rival railways. These +roads are constructed upon an up-grade the whole distance, but the rise +is so gradual as to be almost imperceptible, though Lima is over five +hundred feet higher than Callao. The capital, which is clearly visible +from the water as we enter the harbor, presents from that distance, and +even from a much nearer point of view, a most pleasing picture, being +favorably situated on elevated ground, with its many spires and domes +standing forth in bold relief. It has, when seen from such a distance, a +certain oriental appearance, charming to the eye of a stranger. But it +is deceptive; it is indeed distance which lends enchantment in this +case, for upon arriving within its precincts one is rudely undeceived. +The apparently grand array of architecture on near inspection proves to +be flimsy and poor in detail: everything is bamboo frame and plaster; no +edifice is solid above the basement. Still, one can easily imagine how +attractive the place must have been in those viceregal days, the period +of its false glory and prosperity. The capital stands almost at the very +foot of the Cordillera which forms the coast range, and is built upon +both sides of the Rimac, over which stretches a substantial stone bridge +of six arches, very old and very homely, but all the more interesting +because it is so venerable. The width of the river at this point is over +five hundred feet. In the winter season it is a very moderate stream, +but when the summer sun asserts itself, the snow upon the neighboring +mountains yields to its warmth, and the Rio Rimac then becomes an alpine +torrent. It is like the Arno at Florence, which at certain seasons has +the form of a river without the circulation. The anecdote is told here +of a Yankee visitor to Lima who was being shown over the city by a +patriotic citizen, and who on coming to this spot remarked to his +chaperon: "You ought either to buy a river or sell this bridge." + +At the entrance of this ancient structure stands a lofty and very +effective archway, with two tall towers, and a clock in a central +elevation. Prominent over the arched entrance to the roadway is the +motto _Dios y La Patria_,--"God and Country." Nothing in Lima is of +more interest than this hoary, unique, moss-grown bridge. + +One pauses before the crumbling yet still substantial old structure to +recall the vivid scenes which must have been enacted in the long, long +past upon its roadway. Here madly contending parties have spilled each +other's blood, hundreds of gaudy church processions have crossed these +arches, bitter civil and foreign wars have raged about the bridge, dark +conspiracies have been whispered and ripened here, solitary murders +committed in the darkness of night, and lifeless bodies thrown from its +parapet; but the dumb witness still remains intact, having endured more +than three hundred years of use and abuse. + +It is not necessary to unpack one's waterproof or umbrella in Lima. It +never rains here, any more than it does in the region of Aden, at the +mouth of the Red Sea. All vegetable growth is more or less dependent +upon artificial irrigation, and in the environs where this is +judiciously applied the orange and lemon trees are heavy with golden +fruit, forming a rich contrast with the deep green of the luxuriant +plantain, the thick, lance-like agave, and the prolific banana. The city +and its environs would be as poorly off without the water of the Rimac +as would the Egyptians if deprived of the annual overflow of the +fertilizing Nile. Though the river is so inconsiderable at certain +seasons, still it does supply a certain quantity of water always, which +is improved to the utmost. Dews some times prevail at night, so heavy as +to be of partial benefit, giving to vegetation a breath of moisture, and +taking away the dead dryness of the atmosphere. This, however favorable +for vegetation, is considered unwholesome for humanity. The flowers and +shrubbery of the plaza droop for want of water, and are only preserved +by great care on the part of those in charge of them. In some of the +private gardens the pashinba palm-tree is seen, very peculiar in its +growth, being mounted as it were upon stilts, formed by the exposed +straight roots which radiate, like a series of props, to support the +tall trunk. At its apex is a singular, spear-like stem, pointing +straight skyward, without leaf or branch, just beneath which are the +graceful, long, curved palm leaves, exquisite in proportions, bending +like ostrich feathers. At first sight this tree looks like an artificial +production, in which nature has taken no part. Lying only twelve degrees +south of the equator, Lima has a tropical climate, but being also close +to the foothills of the Andes, she is near to a temperate district, so +that her market yields the fruits and vegetables of two zones. + +Pizarro, the ambitious and intrepid conqueror of Peru, here established +his capital in 1535, and here ended his days in 1541, dying at the hands +of the assassin, the natural and retributive end of a life of gross +bigotry, sensuality, recklessness, and almost unparalleled cruelty. In a +narrow street,--the Callejon de Petateron,--leading out of the Plaza +Mayor, a house is pointed out as being the one in which Pizarro was +assassinated. Both Pizarro in Peru and Cortez in Mexico owed their +phenomenal success to exceptional circumstances, namely, to the civil +wars which prevailed among the native tribes of the countries they +invaded. By shrewdly directing these intestine troubles so as to aid +their own purposes, each commander in his special field achieved +complete victory over races which, thus disunited and pitted against +each other, fell an easy prey to the cunning invaders. Neither of these +adventurers had sufficient strength to contend against a united and +determined people. Such an enemy on his own ground would have swept the +handful of Spaniards led by Pizarro from the face of the earth by mere +force of numbers. + +Soon after its foundation, Lima became the most luxurious and profligate +of the viceregal courts of Spain, and so continued until its declaration +of independence, and final separation from the mother country. The most +worthless and restless spirits about the throne of Spain were favored in +a desire to join Pizarro in the New World. The home government, while +purging itself of so undesirable an element, added to the recklessness +and utter immorality which reigned in the atmosphere of Lima. +Forty-three successive viceroys ruled Peru during the Spanish occupancy. +The nefarious Inquisition, steeped in the blood of helpless and innocent +natives, was active here long after its decadence in Madrid, while the +local churches, convents, and monasteries accumulated untold wealth by a +system of arbitrary taxation, and iniquitous extortion exercised towards +the native race. What better could have been expected from Pizarro than +to inaugurate and foster such a state of affairs? Under the influence of +designing priests and lascivious monks, he was as clay in the potter's +hands, being originally only an illiterate swineherd, one who could +neither read nor write. The state documents put forth during his +viceregency, still preserved and to be seen in the archives of Lima, +show that he could only affix his mark, not even attempting to write his +own name. Though Charles V. finally indorsed and ennobled him with the +title of Marques de la Conquista, and appointed him viceroy of the +conquered country, he was still and ever the illegitimate, low-bred hind +of Truxillo in continental Spain. The palace of this man, who, with the +exception of Cortez, was the greatest human butcher of the age in which +he lived, is still used for government offices, while the senate +occupies the council chamber of the old Inquisition building, infamous +for the bloody work done within its walls. H. Willis Baxley, M. D., the +admirable author, writes on the spot as follows: "When the apologists of +Pizarro attempt to shield his crimes, and excuse his acts of cruelty by +his religious zeal and holy purpose of extending the dominion of the +cross, they may well be answered that the religion was unworthy of +adoption which required for its extension that the wife of the Inca +Manco, then a prisoner in Pizarro's power, should be 'stripped naked, +bound to a tree, and in presence of the camp be scourged with rods, and +then shot to death with arrows!' This cold-blooded brutality, and to a +woman, should brand his name with eternal infamy." + +As we have intimated, Lima, like Constantinople, looks at its best from +a distance, viewed so that the full and combined effect of its many +domes and spires can be taken in as a whole; but whether near to it or +far from it, few places in South America possess more poetical and +historical interest. Its past story reads like an Arabian Nights' tale. +Though the city is by no means what it has been, and wears an +unmistakable air of decayed greatness, and though foreign invaders and +civil wars have done their worst, Lima is still an extremely attractive +metropolis. Even the vandalism of the late Chilian invaders, who +outraged all the laws of civilized warfare (if there is any such thing +as civilized warfare), regardless of the rights of non-combatants, could +not obliterate her natural attractions and historical associations. The +Chilian soldiers destroyed solely for the sake of destroying, mutilated +statuary and works of art generally, besides burning historical +treasures and libraries; and yet these Chilians claim to be the highest +type of modern civilization on the southern continent. They strove to +ruin whatever they could not steal and carry away with them from Peru, +and, almost incredible to record, they wantonly killed the elephant in +the zoölogical garden of Lima, and purloined the small animals. Noble, +chivalrous Chilians! The rank and file of these people are the very +embodiment of ignorance and brutality. The Chilian soldier carries, as a +regular weapon, a curved knife called a _curvos_, with which he cuts the +throats of his enemies. At close quarters, instead of fighting +man-fashion, as nearly all other nations do, he springs like a fierce +bull-dog at his opponent's throat, and with his curvos cuts it from ear +to ear. After a battle, bands of these fiends in human shape go over the +field, seeking out the wounded who are still alive, deliberately cutting +their throats, and robbing their bodies of all valuables. It is Chilian +tactics to take no prisoners, give no quarter. These brave soldiers +would have burned Lima to the ground after gaining possession, had it +not been for the interference of the foreign ministers, who had national +men-of-war at Callao with which to back their arguments. These +guerrillas--for that is just about what the Chilian soldiers are--knew +full well that if even a small European battalion of disciplined men +were landed and brought against them, they would simply be swept from +the face of the earth. + +Lima is laid out with the streets in rectangular form, the central point +being the Plaza Mayor, in the shape of a quadrangle, each side of which +is five hundred feet in length. On the north side of this admirably +arranged square stand the buildings occupied as government offices, +together with the bishop's palace, and the cathedral overshadowed by its +two lofty towers. The corner-stone of this edifice was laid by Pizarro +with great ceremony. The spires, although presenting such an effective +appearance, are constructed of the most frail material, such as bricks, +stucco, and bamboo frames, but still, as a whole, they are undeniably +imposing. In this dry climate they are, perhaps, enduring also. Like the +façade of the church of St. Roche, in Paris, this of the Lima cathedral +is marked by bullet-holes commemorating the Chilian invasion. The church +is raised six or eight feet above the level of the plaza, as is usual in +South America, standing upon a marble platform, reached by broad steps, +well calculated to enhance the really graceful proportions, and add to +the effect of its broad, high towers. The interior is quite commonplace, +with the usual tinsel, poor carvings, and wretched oil paintings, +including several grotesque Virgin Marys. These were too poor even for +the Chilians to steal. Beneath the grand altar rest the ashes of +Pizarro, the cruel, ambitious, reckless tool of the Romish Church. The +cathedral was built in 1540, but has undergone complete repairs and +renovations from time to time, being still considered to be one of the +most imposing ecclesiastical edifices in America. Its original cost is +said to have been nine million dollars, to obtain which Pizarro robbed +the Inca temples of all their elaborate gold and silver ornaments. +According to Prescott, the Spaniards took twenty-four thousand, eight +hundred pounds of gold, and eighty-two thousand ounces of silver from a +single Inca temple! Prescott is careful in his statements to warn us of +the unreliability of the Spanish writers, nearly all of whom were Romish +priests. Where figures are concerned they cannot be depended upon for a +moment. They also took special care to cover up the fiendish atrocities +of the Inquisition, and the extortions of the church as exercised +towards the poor, down-trodden native race. + +One's spirits partook of the sombre and austere atmosphere which reigns +at all times in this ancient edifice. It was very lonely. Not a soul was +to be seen during our brief visit to the cathedral at noonday, except a +couple of decrepit old beggars at the entrance, the faint, dull glare of +the burning candles about the altar only serving to deepen the shadows +and emphasize the darkness. + +The area of the Plaza Mayor embraces eight or nine acres of land, and +has often been the theatre of most sanguinary scenes, where hand-to-hand +fights have frequently taken place between insurgent citizens and +soldiers of the ruling power of the day, while many unpopular officials +have been hanged in the towers of the cathedral, from each of which +projects a gibbet! The middle of the plaza is beautified by a bronze +fountain with arboreal and floral surroundings. There was formerly some +statuary here, which the brave Chilians stole and carried away with +them, even purloining the iron benches, which they transported to +Valparaiso and Santiago. The streets running from this square, with the +exception of the Calle de los Mercaderes, have an atmosphere of +antiquity, which contrasts with the people one meets in them. Even the +turkey buzzards, acting as street scavengers, are of an antique species, +looking quite gray and dilapidated, as though they were a hundred years +old. In Vera Cruz the same species of bird, kept for a similar purpose, +have a brightness of feather, and jauntiness withal, quite unlike these +feathered street-cleaners of Lima. The "Street of the Merchants," just +referred to, is the fashionable shopping thoroughfare of Lima, where in +the afternoons the ladies and gentlemen are seen in goodly numbers +promenading in full dress. + +There is here the usual multiplicity of churches, convents, and +nunneries, such as are to be found in all Spanish cities, though the +latter establishments have been partially suppressed. Some of the +churches of Lima are fabulously expensive structures; indeed, the amount +of money squandered on churches and church property in this city is +marvelous. During the late war many articles of gold and silver, +belonging to them, were melted into coin, but some were hidden, and have +once more been restored to their original position in the churches. The +convent and church of San Francisco form one of the most costly groups +of buildings of the sort in America. The ornamental tiles of the +flooring are calculated, not by the square yard, but by the acre. There +are over a hundred Roman Catholic churches in Lima, few of which have +any architectural beauty, but all of which are crowded with vulgar wax +figures, wooden images, and bleeding saints. These churches in several +instances have very striking façades: that of La Merced, for instance; +but they are mere shams, as we have already said,--stucco and plaster; +they would not endure the wear of any other climate for a single decade. + +With all this outside religious show in Lima, there is no corresponding +observance of the sacred character of the Sabbath. It is held rather as +a period of gross license and indulgence, and devoted to bull-fights, +cock-fighting, and drunkenness. The lottery-ticket vender reaps the +greatest harvest on this occasion, and the gambling saloons are all +open. Children pursue their every-day sports with increased ardor, and +the town puts on a gala day aspect. At night the streets are ablaze, the +theatres are crowded, and dissipation of every conceivable sort waxes +fast and furious until long past midnight. The ignorant mass generally +has drifted into observing the rituals of the Romish Church, but there +are many of the native Indians in Peru who cherish a belief of a +millennium in the near future; a time when the true prophet of the sun +will return and restore the grand old Inca dynasty. Just so the Moors of +Tangier hold to the belief that the time will yet come when they will be +restored to the glory of their fathers, and to their beloved Granada; +that the halls of the Alhambra will once more resound to the Moorish +lute, and the grand cathedral of Cordova shall again become a mosque of +the true faith. + +The fact that the bull-ring of Lima will accommodate sixteen thousand +people, and that it is always well filled on Sundays, speaks for itself. +At these sanguinary performances a certain class of women appear in +large numbers and in full dress, entering heartily into the spirit of +the occasion, and waving their handkerchiefs furiously to applaud the +actors in the tragedy, while the exhibitions are characterized by even +more cruelty than at Madrid or Havana. + + + + + CHAPTER XVII. + + A Grand Plaza.--Retribution.--The University of + Lima.--Significance of Ancient + Pottery.--Architecture.--Picturesque Dwelling.--Domestic + Scene.--Destructive Earthquakes.--Spanish Sway.--Women of + Lima.--Street Costumes.--Ancient Bridge of + Lima.--Newspapers.--Pawnbrokers' Shops.--Exports.--An + Ancient Mecca.--Home by Way of Europe. + + +The large square in Lima, known as Plazuela de la Independencia, is +grand in its proportions. One prominent feature is the bronze statue of +Bolivar, the famous South American patriot. It also contains the old +palace of the Inquisition, which looks to-day more like a stable than a +palace. This detestable institution attained to greater scope and power +here than it did even in Mexico. According to its own records, during +its existence in the capital of Peru, fifty-nine persons were publicly +burned alive as heretics, because they would not acknowledge the Roman +Catholic faith, thousands were tortured until in their agony they agreed +to anything, while thousands were publicly scourged to the same end. +Could the truth be fully known as regards the bigoted reign of the +priesthood at the time referred to in Peru, it would form one of the +most startling chapters of modern history. But they were their own +chroniclers, and suppressed everything which might possibly reflect upon +themselves or upon their church. Retribution was slow, but it has come +finally. The former convent of Guadeloupe is now occupied for a worthy +object as a high school; the main portion of the cloisters of San +Francisco have made way for the college of San Marco; that of San Carlos +has supplanted the Jesuits; San Juan de Dios is now occupied as a +railway station; while the once famous and infamous convent of Santa +Catalina serves to-day as the public market. + +The University of Lima was the first seat of education established in +the New World, or, to fix the period more clearly in the average +reader's mind, it dates from about seventy years before the historic +Mayflower reached the shore of New England. The National Library +contains some forty thousand volumes, also a collection of Peruvian +antiquities, besides many objects of natural history, mostly of such +examples as are indigenous to this section. There is one large oil +painting in this building by a native artist named Monteros, the canvas +measuring thirty by twenty feet. The title is "Obsequies of Atahualpa." +This was carried away by the thieving Chilians, but was finally restored +to Peru. It should be mentioned, to their lasting shame, that the books +which they stole at the same time have not been returned. + +The ancient pottery one sees in the collection of Peruvian antiquities +is wonderfully like that to be found in the Boulak Museum at Cairo, in +Egypt, Etruscan and Egyptian patterns prevailing over all other forms, +which strongly suggests a common origin. Besides those which we have +named, there are several other educational and art institutions in the +city, together with three hospitals, two lunatic asylums, a college of +arts, and the National Mint. One hospital, bearing the name of the +Second of May Hospital, is a very large and thoroughly equipped +establishment, occupying a whole square, and having accommodations for +seven hundred patients. There are four theatres, one of which is +conducted by the Chinese after their own peculiar fashion. The outsides +of the dwelling-houses are painted in various brilliant colors, a +practice which is found to prevail all over the southern continent, and +which exhibits an inherent love among the people for warm, bright hues. +The roofs of most houses serve as a depository for hens and chickens, +noisy gamecocks especially asserting themselves before daybreak, +forbidding all ideas of morning naps, unless one is accustomed to the +din. Many of the dwellings are picturesque and attractive, with +overhanging balconies and bay windows, the latter oftentimes finished +very elaborately with handsome wood carvings and open-work lattices. As +to the prevailing style of architecture, it is Spanish and Moorish +combined, each building being constructed about a central patio, which +is often rendered lovely with flowers and statuary, together with small +orange and lemon trees in large painted tubs. + +The abundance of cracks in the walls of the dwellings, both inside and +out, is a significant hint that we are in an earthquake country. A +slight shake is hardly spoken of at all; they come so often as to be +comparatively unheeded. + +In the environs of Lima the houses are built of adobe, rarely over one +story in height, with very thick walls, this style having been found the +best to resist the earthquakes, which must be very serious indeed to +affect a low adobe house with walls two feet and a half thick. About +these residences, which, not to put too fine a point upon the matter, +are really nothing but mud cabins, there is often seen an attractive and +refining feature, namely, small, but exceedingly pretty plots of +cultivated flowers. It is astonishing how perfectly they serve to throw +a flavor of refinement over all things else. The variety and fragrance +of the Lima roses are something long to be remembered, and the people +here seem to have a special love for this most popular of flowers. We +had missed them nearly everywhere else in South America; therefore they +were thrice welcome when they greeted us at Lima. + +There is a dwelling-house in this city belonging to an old and rich +family, which is worth a pilgrimage to see. It is built of stone, +artistically carved, with a square balcony and bay window on each side +of the tall, spacious, and elaborately ornamented doorway. It is clearly +Moorish in type, and must be nearly or quite three hundred years old. +Photographs are found of its façade in the art stores of Lima, and most +visitors bring one away with them as a memento of the place. The house +stands even with the thoroughfare, and is only two stories in height, +but is a beautiful relic of the past. It would be quite in accordance +with the surroundings, were it to be transported to Cairo or Bagdad. + +On the way from the Plaza Mayor to this attractive bit of Morisco +architecture, one gets frequent glimpses of pretty, cool, flower-decked +patios, about which the low picturesque dwellings are erected, and where +domestic life is seen in partial seclusion. An infant is playing on the +marble paved court, watched by a dark Indian nurse. An ermine-colored +cockatoo with a gorgeous yellow plume is gravely eying the child from +its perch. Creeping vines twine about the slim columns which support a +low arcade above the entrance floor. Farther in, a bit of statuary peeps +out from among the greenery, which is growing in high-colored wooden +tubs. The vine, which clings tenaciously to the small columns, is the +passion plant, its flowers seeming almost artificial in their +regularity, brightness, and abundance. A fair señora in diaphanous robes +reclines at ease in a low, pillowed seat, and the señor, cigarette in +mouth, swings leisurely in a hammock. + +It was a pretty, characteristic family picture, of which we should be +glad to possess a photograph. + +Few cities have a more agreeable climate. The range of the thermometer +throughout the year being for the winter season from 68° to 75°, and in +the summer from 80° to 88°. The Humboldt current, as it is called, +sweeps along the coast from the Antarctic circle, causing a much lower +temperature here than exists in the same latitude on the other side of +the continent. Lima, it will be remembered, is situated about twelve +degrees from the equatorial line. The climate is of exquisite softness, +beneath a sky serenely blue; every breath is a pleasure, tranquillizing +to both mind and body. Rain is of very rare occurrence, as we have +intimated, but earthquakes are frequent. The most destructive visit of +this sort in modern times was in 1745, which at the same time destroyed +the port of Callao. Though Lima is blessed with such a seemingly equable +climate, for some unexplained reason it is very far from being a healthy +place. The great mortality which prevails here is entirely out of +proportion to the number of inhabitants. There must be some local reason +for this. Even in the days of the Incas, the present site of the city +was deemed to be a spot only fit for criminals; that is to say, a penal +colony was located here, where the earlier Peruvians placed condemned +people, and where a high rate of mortality was not regarded as being +entirely objectionable. The Campo Santo of Lima, in the immediate +environs of the city, is built with tall thick walls containing niches +four ranges high, and recalls those of the city of Mexico. It is not +customary to bury in the ground. Some of the monuments are quite +elaborate, but the place generally has a neglected appearance, and no +attempt seems made to give it a pleasing aspect. It has neither flowers +nor trees. + +The Spaniards, during a sway which lasted over three hundred years, were +terrible taskmasters in Peru, enslaving, crushing, and massacring the +natives, just as they did in Cuba and Mexico. The Indians were looked +upon as little more than beasts of burden, and their lives or well-being +were of no sort of account, except so far as they served the purposes of +the invading hordes of Spaniards. The race which has been produced by +intermarriage and promiscuous intercourse is a very heterogeneous one, +born of aborigines, negroes, mulattoes, Spaniards, and Portuguese. In +religion, as well as in daily life, the habits of the people are +Castilian, whether red, yellow, or black. There is also a considerable +Chinese population, which, however, as a rule, maintains isolation from +other nationalities so far as intermarriage or close intimacy is +concerned. Many of the Chinese keep cheap eating-houses, and always seem +to be industrious and thrifty. They are the outcome of the coolie trade, +by which the Peruvian plantations were for years supplied with +laborers,--slave labor, for that is exactly what it was to all intents +and purposes, call it what we may. But this cruel and unjust system has +long been suppressed. Most of the small shops are kept by Italians, and +the best hotels by Frenchmen. The banking-houses are usually conducted +by Germans, while Americans and Englishmen divide the engineering work, +the construction of railways, with such other progressive enterprises as +require a large share of brains, energy, and capital. + +The women are generally handsome and of the Spanish type, yet they +differ therefrom in some important and very obvious particulars. Their +gypsy complexions, jet black hair and eyes, white, regular teeth, with +full red lips, form a combination very pleasing to the eye. It must be +acknowledged, however, that their complexions are aided by cosmetics. +The features are small and regular, the ears being set particularly +close to the head, which is always a noticeable peculiarity when it +prevails. They are vivacious and mirthful, yet not forward or immodest. +As regards the youthful portion, conventionality prevents all exhibition +of the latter trait. In dress they follow the styles of Boston, New +York, and Paris. As their brothers have been mostly educated in the +cities named, they very generally speak French and English. Many of the +ladies have themselves enjoyed the advantages of English, French, or +North American schools in their girlhood. A certain etiquette as regards +the society of men is very strictly observed here. No gentleman can +associate with a young lady unless she is chaperoned by her mother or a +married sister. From what we know of Spanish and Italian character, we +are not at all surprised at the punctiliousness adhered to in both +countries in this regard. There are very good reasons why such rules are +imperative, not only in South America, but in continental Europe. Like +most of the Spanish women, these of Lima, after the age of twenty-five, +though they are rather short, and of small frames, nearly always develop +into a decided fullness of figure. + +There is a semi-oriental seclusion observed at all times as regards the +sex in this country. They are rarely seen upon the streets, except when +driving, or going and coming from church; but one need not watch very +closely to see many inquisitive eyes peeping from behind the curtained +balconies which overhang the thoroughfares, and to catch occasionally +stolen glances from pretty, coquettish owners, who would be very +hospitable to strangers if they dared. + +Human nature is much the same in Lima as elsewhere. When seen on the +streets, the ladies generally wear the black "manta" drawn close about +the head and shoulders and partially covering the face. The manta is a +shawl and bonnet combined, or rather it takes the place of a bonnet, and +suggests the lace veil so universally worn at Havana, Seville, and +Madrid, also recalling the yashmak worn by the women of the East. The +Lima ladies cover half the face, including one eye; those of Egypt only +cover the lower part of the face, leaving both eyes exposed. + +We are speaking of the better class of the metropolis. Among the more +common people, instances of great personal beauty are frequent. One sees +daily youthful girls on the streets who would be pronounced beautiful +under nearly any circumstances, an inheritance only too often proving a +fatal legacy to the owner, forming a source of temptation in a community +where morals are held of such slight account, except among the more +refined classes, of whom we have been speaking. + +One peculiarity is especially noticeable here among the native race: it +is that the Peruvians seem to be mere lookers-on as regards the business +of life in their country. All of the important trade is, as we have +said, in the hands of foreigners. The English control the shipping +interests, almost entirely, while the skilled machinists are nearly all +Americans, with a few Scotchmen. We repeat this fact as showing the +do-nothing nature of the natives, and also as signifying that for true +progress, indeed, for the growth of civilization in any desirable +direction, emigration from Europe and North America must be depended +upon. + +The heavy alcoves of the old stone bridge at Lima are appropriated by +the fruit women, whose tempting display forms glowing bits of color. The +thoroughfares are crowded by itinerant peddlers of all sorts of +merchandise. Milk-women come from the country, mounted astride of small +horses or donkeys; water carriers trot about on jackasses, sitting +behind their water jars and uttering piercing cries; Chinese food +venders, with articles made from mysterious sources, balance their +baskets at either end of long poles placed across their shoulders; the +lottery-ticket vender, loud voiced and urgent, is ever present; +newspaper boys, after our own fashion, shout "El Pais," or "El +Nacional;" chicken dealers, with baskets full of live birds on their +head and half a dozen hanging from each hand, solicit your patronage; +beggars of both sexes, but mostly lazy, worthless men, feign pitiful +lameness, while importuning every stranger for a centavo; bright, +careless girls and boys rush hither and thither, full of life and +spirit,--black, yellow, brown, and white, all mingling together on an +equal footing. The absence of wheeled vehicles is noticeable, the +tramway-cars gliding rapidly past the pedestrians, while pack-horses and +donkeys transport mostly such merchandise as is not carried on the heads +of men and women. Of the better class of citizens who help to make up +this polyglot community of the metropolis, one very easily distinguishes +the American, French, German, and English; each nationality is somehow +distinctively marked. + +The stock of goods offered for sale in the pawnbrokers' shops, as a +rule, is very significant in foreign cities; here the shelves of these +dealers are full of valuable domestic articles, which the fallen +fortunes of the once rich Lima families have compelled them to part with +from time to time in a struggle to keep the wolf from the door. The +Chilians took all they could readily find of both public and private +property, and though they ruined financially some of the best families, +they did not succeed in getting everything which was portable and +valuable. Heirlooms are offered in these shops for comparatively +trifling sums, such as rich old lace; diamonds; superbly wrought +bracelets in gold, rubies, topazes, and other precious stones, set and +unset; gold and silver spoons and forks of curious designs, and of which +only one set were ever manufactured, intended to fill a special order +and suit the fancy of some rich family. Drinking-cups bearing royal +crests, and others with the arms of noble Castilian families engraved +upon them, are numerous. There are also swords with jeweled hilts, gold +and silver table ornaments, together with antique china, which might +rival the Satsuma of Japan. Curio hunters have secured many, nay, nearly +all, of the very choicest of these domestic relics, which they have +mostly taken to London, where they obtained fabulous prices for them. + +We were told of an enterprising Yankee who invested one thousand dollars +in these articles, took them to England, and promptly realized some +eleven thousand dollars above all his expenses upon the venture. +Returning to Rio Janeiro, on the east coast, he purchased precious +stones with his increased capital, and, strange to say, although he was +by no means an expert, among his gems he secured an old mine diamond of +great value at a low figure, which, having been crudely cut, did not +exhibit its real excellence. Taking the whole of his second purchase to +Paris, he disposed of his gems at a large advance, and finally returned +to New York with a net capital exceeding forty thousand dollars. This +enterprising and successful individual bore the euphonious name of +Smyth,--Smyth with a _y_,--Alfred Smyth. + +The three watering-places, or country villages of Miraflores, Baranco, +and Chorillos, are connected with Lima by railway, and in these resorts +many city merchants have their summer homes, occupying picturesque +ranches. The Chilians sacked and burned these places during the war, but +they have been mostly rebuilt, and are once more in a thriving +condition. + +Peru was celebrated for centuries as the most prolific gold and silver +producing country in the world; her very name has long been the synonym +for riches. Although the product of the precious metals is still +considerable, yet it is quite insignificant compared with the revenue +which she has realized from the export of guano and phosphates. The +former article, as we have already said, has become virtually exhausted, +and the latter source of supply, still immensely prolific and valuable, +has been stolen from her bodily by the Chilians, so that Peru has now to +fall back upon industry and the remaining natural resources of the soil. + +The most remarkable peculiarity in the physical formation of Peru is the +double Cordillera of the Andes, which traverse it from southeast to +northwest, separating the country into three distinct regions, which +differ materially from each other in climate, soil, and vegetation. To +the proximity of the range nearest to the coast is undoubtedly to be +attributed the frequent earthquakes which disturb the shore, whether the +volcanoes are apparently extinct or not. It may be reasonably doubted if +any of the volcanoes are absolutely extinct, in the full sense of the +term. They may be inoperative, so far as can be seen, for an entire +century, and at its close break out in full vigor. In consulting the +authorities upon this subject we find that, since 1570, there have been +sixty-nine destructive earthquakes recorded as having taken place on the +west coast of South America. The most terrible of them was that already +referred to, which destroyed Callao in 1745. It is stated that the +shocks at that time continued with more or less violence for three +consecutive months, and the records of the event further state that +there were two hundred and twenty distinct shocks within the twenty-four +hours following the enormous tidal wave which overwhelmed Callao. At +present, hardly a week passes without decided indications of volcanic +disturbance occurring, but these are of so slight a nature, +comparatively speaking, that but little attention is paid to them by the +native population, though it is true that sensitive strangers often turn +pale at such an event and tremble with fearful anticipations. + +About twenty miles south of Lima, on elevated ground which overlooks the +Pacific, is the prehistoric spot known as Pachacamac, in the valley of +the Lurin River. The name signifies the "Creator of the World," to whom +the city and its temples were originally dedicated. Here, upon the edge +of the desert, once stood the sacred city of a people who preceded the +Incas, and who have left in these interesting, mouldering ruins tokens +of their advanced civilization, as clearly defined as are those of +Thebes, in far away Egypt. Another fact should not be lost sight of in +this connection, that many ancient remains to be found in this +neighborhood evince a higher degree of intelligence, in their +constructive belongings, than do any evidences left to us respecting the +days of the Incas, with whom we are in a measure familiar. The +archæologists, whose profession it is to carefully weigh even the +slightest tangible evidence which time has spared, long since came to +this conclusion. + +Pachacamac was the Mecca of South America, or at least of the most +civilized portion of it, if we may judge by present appearances, and by +the testimony of history as far back as it reaches. + +The ruins at Pachacamac consist of walls formed of adobe and sun-dried +bricks, some of which can be traced, notwithstanding the many +earthquakes which have shaken the neighborhood. The site of the ruins is +a hilly spot, and the sands have drifted so as to cover them in many +places, just as the Sphinx and the base of the pyramids have been +covered, near Cairo. Specific ruins are designated as having once been +the grand temple of the sun, and others as the house of the sacred +virgins of the sun. It is very obvious that the Incas destroyed a grand +and spacious temple here, which legend tells us was heavily adorned with +silver and gold, to make way for one of their own dedicated to the +worship of the sun. Who this race were and whence they came, with so +considerable a system of civilization, is a theme which has long +absorbed the speculative antiquarian. It is easy enough to construct +theories which may meet the case, but it is difficult to support them +when they are subjected to the cold arguments of reason and the test of +known history. Actual knowledge is a great iconoclast, and smashes the +poetical images of the unreliable historian with a ruthless hand. The +Spanish records relating to the period of early discovery here, as also +of Pizarro's career and the doing of the agents of the Romish Church, +have long since been proven to be absolutely unworthy of belief. + +About the ruins of Pachacamac was once a sacred burial place, where +well-preserved mummies are still to be found, but the great, silent, +ruined city itself does not contain one living inhabitant. The +graveyard--the Campo Santo--remains, as it were, intact, but the proud +city, with its grand temples dedicated to unknown gods, has crumbled to +dust. + +Curiously carved gold and silver vases and ornaments, exhibiting the +exercise of a high degree of artistic skill, have been exhumed in the +vast graveyard surrounding these ruins, whose extent, if judged by the +number of interments which have taken place here, must have been ten +times larger than the present site of Lima, and it must have contained a +population many times larger than that of the present capital of Peru. +In the mouths of the well-preserved mummies found buried here, we are +told that gold coins were found, presumably placed there to pay for +ferriage across the river of death. Here we have a fact also worthy of +note. It thus appears that this people must have had a circulating +medium in the shape of gold coin. As the placing of coin in the mouth of +the deceased was a custom of the ancient Greeks, may it not be that +these people came originally from Greece or from some contiguous +country? + +There are numerous other ancient remains in the neighborhood of Lima, of +which even tradition fails to give any account. Antiquarians find many +clues to special knowledge of the past in the remains which can be +exhumed in places on the coast of Chili and Peru, in the ancient graves +where the nitrous soil has preserved not only the bodies of a former +people, but also their tools, weapons, and domestic utensils. + + * * * * * + +To reach the United States from Callao, the most direct course is to +sail northward fifteen hundred miles to Panama, and cross the isthmus, +again taking ship from the Atlantic side; but the author's family +awaited him in Europe, and as the Pacific mail service exactly met his +requirements, he sailed southward, touching at several of the ports +already visited, crossing the Atlantic by way of the Canary and Cape de +Verde Islands to Lisbon, thence to Southampton and to London. Joining +his family, he crossed the Atlantic from Liverpool to Boston, after an +absence of seven months, traveling in all of this equatorial journey +some thirty thousand miles without any serious mishap, and having +acquired a largely augmented fund of pleasurable memories. + + + + + By Maturin M. Ballou. + + + EQUATORIAL AMERICA. Descriptive of a Visit to St. Thomas, + Martinique, Barbadoes, and the Principal Capitals of + South America. A New Book. Crown 8vo, $1.50. + + AZTEC LAND. Crown 8vo, $1.50. + + THE NEW ELDORADO. A Summer Journey to Alaska. Crown 8vo, + $1.50. + + ALASKA. The New Eldorado. A Summer Journey to Alaska. + _Tourist's Edition_, with 4 maps. 16mo, $1.00. + + DUE WEST; or, ROUND THE WORLD IN TEN MONTHS. Crown 8vo, + $1.50. + + DUE SOUTH; or, CUBA PAST AND PRESENT. Crown 8vo, $1.50. + + UNDER THE SOUTHERN CROSS; or, TRAVELS IN AUSTRALASIA. Crown + 8vo, $1.50. + + DUE NORTH; or, GLIMPSES OF SCANDINAVIA AND RUSSIA. Crown + 8vo, $1.50. + + GENIUS IN SUNSHINE AND SHADOW. Crown 8vo, $1.50. + + EDGE-TOOLS OF SPEECH. Selected and edited by Mr. BALLOU. + 8vo, $3.50. + + A TREASURY OF THOUGHT. An Encyclopedia of Quotations. 8vo, + full gilt, $3.50. + + PEARLS OF THOUGHT. 16mo, full gilt, $1.25. + + NOTABLE THOUGHTS ABOUT WOMEN. Crown 8vo, $1.50. + + + HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & COMPANY, + BOSTON AND NEW YORK. + + + + + Transcriber's Notes: + + List of books by Maturin M. Ballou was moved from the first page + to the end of the book. + + Obsolete and alternate spellings of words were not changed. + + Alterations to the text: + changed 'Hurricances' to 'Hurricanes' in Chapter I summary. + changed 'salter' to 'saltier' ... water is saltier than ... + removed hyphen from Ant-illes ... in those days the Antilles!... + changed 'adode' to 'adobe' ... adobe and sun-dried bricks ... + + Changes made for consistency with remaining text: + added period after 'Private Gardens' in Chapter V summary. + added hyphen to 'well appointed' + ... commodious, and well-appointed ship,... + ... large and well-appointed opera house ... + removed hyphen from 'mail-boat' + ... as a mail boat running between ... + removed hyphen from 'sailing-vessel' + ... individuality about sailing vessels which ... + removed hyphen from 'fruit-tree' + ... the fruit trees are perennial,... + removed hyphen from 'light-green' + ... round, light green berry ... + removed hyphen from 'well-known' + ... his well known reason ... + ... This well known port ... + removed hyphen from 'summer-houses' + ... pretty summer houses and ... + added hyphen to 'mossgrown' + ... which are gray and moss-grown,... + ... the moss-grown, crumbling ... + removed hyphen from 'bee-hive' + ... formed an immense human beehive ... + added hyphen to 'well arranged' + ... white stone, well-arranged, and is ... + removed hyphen from 'tail-fin' + ... tip of the tail fin,... + removed hyphen from 'so called' + ... from the so called cross ... + added hyphen to 'well equipped' + ... upon well-equipped railroads ... + removed hyphen from 'copper-colored' + ... but their brown or copper colored skins ... + added hyphen to 'waterway' + ... this unequaled water-way,... + added hyphen to 'low lying' + ... all the low-lying tropical lands ... + removed hyphen from 'house-fronts' + ... The house fronts in the various sections ... + added hyphen to 'sea birds' + ... myriads of sea-birds, whose sharp cries ... + added hyphen to 'curious shaped' + ... curious-shaped coasting craft ... + added hyphen to 'sky line' + ... breaks the sky-line in front of ... + added hyphen to 'far reaching' + ... the far-reaching shores ... + removed hyphen from 'deep-green' + ... with its deep green foliage ... + removed hyphen from 'yellow-ochre' + ... by the yellow ochre walls ... + removed hyphen from 'tide-wate' + ... feet above tide water.... + ... the nearest tide water ... + removed hyphen from 'well-organized' + ... any well organized education establishment ... + added hyphen to 'fancy goods' + ... many of the fancy-goods stores ... + added hyphen to 'stovepipe' + ... with tall, stove-pipe hats ... + added hyphen to 'never failing' + ... the lottery with never-failing regularity ... + removed hyphen from 'well-wooded' + ... among the well wooded hills ... + removed hyphen from 'well-paved' + ... drainage and well paved streets ... + ... broad, well paved streets,... + added hyphen to 'half naked' + ... the inhabitants half-naked and wholly starved... + deleted hyphen in 'snow-white' + ... natty straw hats, snow white aprons,... + ... a broad snow white ruffle ... + removed hyphen from 'well-dressed' + ... are a well dressed class ... + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Equatorial America, by Maturin M. 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BALLOU. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 12%; + margin-right: 12%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} +.p4 {margin-top: 4em;} + + table {margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + text-align: justify; + border-collapse: collapse; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 2em;} + + td.center {vertical-align: top; + text-align: center; + padding-left: 6px; + padding-right: 6px; + padding-bottom: 6px; + padding-top: 3px;} + + td.right {vertical-align: bottom; + text-align: right; + padding-left: 20px; + padding-right: 5px; + padding-bottom: 6px; + padding-top: 3px;} + +.blockquote { + margin-left: 5%; + text-indent: -1em; + margin-right: 5%; + text-align: left; + font-size: 95%; +} + +.quotesig { + margin-left: 35%; + margin-top: 0em; + margin-bottom: 4em; +} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.indent {text-indent: -1em;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.larger {font-size: 110%;} + +.smaller {font-size: 90%;} + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; + margin-bottom: 4em; +} + +/* Transcriber notes */ +ins {text-decoration:none; + border-bottom: thin dotted gray;} + +.tnote {border: dashed 1px; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + padding-bottom: .5em; + padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em;} + +.box {border: solid 1px; /* for ad at end */ + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + padding-bottom: .5em; + padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: 3em; + padding-right: 2em;} + + </style> + </head> + +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Equatorial America, by Maturin M. Ballou + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Equatorial America + Descriptive of a Visit to St. Thomas, Martinique, Barbadoes, + and the Principal Capitals of South America + +Author: Maturin M. Ballou + +Release Date: August 3, 2011 [EBook #36963] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EQUATORIAL AMERICA *** + + + + +Produced by Julia Miller, Carol Ann Brown, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<p class="p4"></p> +<h1>EQUATORIAL AMERICA</h1> + +<p class="p2 center"><i>DESCRIPTIVE OF A VISIT TO ST. THOMAS</i><br /> +<i>MARTINIQUE, BARBADOES, AND</i><br /> +<i>THE PRINCIPAL CAPITALS</i><br /> +<i>OF SOUTH AMERICA</i></p> + +<p class="p4"></p> + +<h4>BY</h4> + +<h2>MATURIN M. BALLOU</h2> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/colophon.png" + width="97" height="86" + alt="Illustration: Printer's Logo" + title="Printer's Logo" /> +</div> + +<p class="p4 center">BOSTON AND NEW YORK<br /> +HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY<br /> +The Riverside Press, Cambridge<br /> +1892</p> + +<p class="p4 center">Copyright, 1892,<br /> +<span class="smcap">By</span> MATURIN M. BALLOU.</p> + +<p class="center"><i>All rights reserved.</i></p> + +<p class="p4 center"><i>The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. +A.</i><br /> +Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton & Company.</p> + +<p class="p4 center">DEDICATED<br /> +TO<br /> +CAPTAIN E. C. BAKER<br /> +OF THE<br /> +<i>STEAMSHIP VIGILANCIA</i><br /> +<span class="smaller">WITH WARM APPRECIATION OF HIS QUALITIES<br /> +AS A GENTLEMAN<br /> +AND AN ACCOMPLISHED SEAMAN</span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i004.png" + width="31" height="32" + alt="Illustration: Design" + title="Design" /> +</div> + +<p class="p4 center">PREFACE.</p> + +<p class="p2">"I am a part of all that I have seen," says Tennyson, a +sentiment which every one of large experience will heartily indorse. +With the extraordinary facilities for travel available in modern times, +it is a serious mistake in those who possess the means, not to become +familiar with the various sections of the globe. Vivid descriptions and +excellent photographs give us a certain knowledge of the great monuments +of the world, both natural and artificial, but the traveler always finds +the reality a new revelation, whether it be the marvels of a Yellowstone +Park, a vast oriental temple, Alaskan glaciers, or the Pyramids of +Ghiza. The latter, for instance, do not differ from the statistics which +we have so often seen recorded, their great, dominating outlines are the +same as pictorially delineated, but when we actually stand before them, +they are touched by the wand of enchantment, and spring into visible +life. Heretofore they have been shadows, henceforth they are tangible +and real. The best descriptions fail to inspire us, experience alone can +do that. What words can adequately depict the confused grandeur of the +Falls of Schaffhausen; the magnificence of the Himalayan +range,—roof-tree of the world; the thrilling beauty of the +Yosemite Valley; the architectural loveliness of the Taj Mahal, of +India; the starry splendor of equatorial nights; the maritime charms of +the Bay of Naples; or the marvel of the Midnight Sun at the North Cape? +It is personal observation alone which truly satisfies, educating the +eye and enriching the understanding. If we can succeed in imparting, a +portion of our enjoyment to others, we enhance our own pleasure, and +therefore these notes of travel are given to the public.</p> + +<p class="quotesig">M. M. B.</p> + +<table summary="Table of Contents"> + +<tr><td class="center larger">CONTENTS.</td></tr> + +<tr><td></td><td class="right"><span class="smcap">page</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td><p class="center"><a href="#Ch_1">CHAPTER I.</a></p></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Commencement of a Long Journey.—The Gulf +Stream.—Hayti.—Sighting St. Thomas.—Ship +Rock.—Expert Divers.—Fidgety Old Lady.—An Important +Island.—The Old Slaver.—Aborigines.—St. Thomas +Cigars.—Population.—Tri-Mountain.—The Negro +Paradise.—Hurricanes.—Variety of Fish.—Coaling +Ship.—The Firefly Dance.—A Weird Scene.—An Antique +Anchor</td> + +<td class="right">1</td></tr> + +<tr><td><p class="p2 center"><a href="#Ch_2">CHAPTER II.</a></p></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Curious Seaweed.—Professor Agassiz.—Myth of a Lost +Continent.—Island of Martinique.—An Attractive +Place.—Statue of the Empress Josephine.—Birthplace of Madame +de Maintenon.—City of St. Pierre.—Mont Pelée.—High +Flavored Specialty.—Grisettes of Maritinque.—A Botanical +Garden.—Defective Drainage.—A Fatal Enemy.—A Cannibal +Snake.—The Climate</td> + +<td class="right">33</td></tr> + +<tr><td><p class="p2 center"><a href="#Ch_3">CHAPTER +III.</a></p></td></tr> + +<tr><td>English Island of Barbadoes.—Bridgetown the +Capital.—The Manufacture of Rum.—A Geographical +Expert.—Very English.—A Pest of +Ants.—Exports.—The Ice House.—A Dense +Population.—Educational.—Marine Hotel.—Habits of +Gambling.—Hurricanes.—Curious Antiquities.—The +Barbadoes Leg.—Wakeful Dreams.—Absence of +Twilight.—Departure from the Island</td> + +<td class="right">51</td></tr> + +<tr><td><p class="p2 center"><a href="#Ch_4">CHAPTER IV.</a></p></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Curious Ocean Experiences.—The Delicate +Nautilus.—Flying-Fish.—The Southern Cross.—Speaking a +Ship at Sea.—Scientific Navigation.—South America as a +Whole.—Fauna and Flora.—Natural Resources of a Wonderful +Land.—Rivers, Plains, and Mountain Ranges.—Aboriginal +Tribes.—Population.—Political Divisions.—Civil +Wars.—Weakness of South American States</td> + +<td class="right">68</td></tr> + +<tr><td><p class="p2 center"><a href="#Ch_5">CHAPTER V.</a></p></td></tr> + +<tr><td>City of Pará.—The Equatorial Line.—Spanish +History.—The King of Waters.—Private Gardens.—Domestic +Life in Northern Brazil.—Delicious Pineapples.—Family +Pets.—Opera House.—Mendicants.—A Grand +Avenue.—Botanical Garden.—India-Rubber Tree.—Gathering +the Raw Material.—Monkeys.—The Royal Palm.—Splendor of +Equatorial Nights</td> + +<td class="right">94</td></tr> + +<tr><td><p class="p2 center"><a href="#Ch_6">CHAPTER VI.</a></p></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Island of Marajo.—Rare and Beautiful Birds.—Original +Mode of Securing +Humming-Birds.—Maranhão.—Educational.—Value of Native +Forests.—Pernambuco.—Difficulty of Landing.—An +Ill-Chosen Name.—Local Scenes.—Uncleanly Habits of the +People.—Great Sugar Mart.—Native Houses.—A Quaint +Hostelry.—Catamarans.—A Natural Breakwater.—Sailing +down the Coast</td> + +<td class="right">115</td></tr> + +<tr><td><p class="p2 center"><a href="#Ch_7">CHAPTER +VII.</a></p></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Port of Bahia.—A Quaint Old City.—Former Capital of +Brazil.—Whaling Interests.—Beautiful +Panorama.—Tramways.—No Color Line Here.—The Sedan +Chair.—Feather Flowers.—A Great Orange Mart.—Passion +Flower Fruit.—Coffee, Sugar, and Tobacco.—A Coffee +Plantation.—Something about Diamonds.—Health of the +City.—Curious Tropical Street Scenes</td> + +<td class="right">138</td></tr> + +<tr><td><p class="p2 center"><a href="#Ch_8">CHAPTER +VIII.</a></p></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Cape Frio.—Rio Janeiro.—A Splendid +Harbor.—Various Mountains.—Botafogo Bay.—The +Hunchback.—Farewell to the Vigilancia.—Tijuca.—Italian +Emigrants.—City Institutions.—Public +Amusements.—Street Musicians.—Churches.—Narrow +Thoroughfares.—Merchants' Clerks.—Railroads in +Brazil.—Natural Advantages of the City.—The Public +Plazas.—Exports</td> + +<td class="right">155</td></tr> + +<tr><td><p class="p2 center"><a href="#Ch_9">CHAPTER IX.</a></p></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Outdoor Scenes in Rio Janeiro.—The Little +Marmoset.—The Fish Market.—Secluded Women.—The Romish +Church.—Botanical Garden.—Various Species of +Trees.—Grand Avenue of Royal Palms.—About +Humming-Birds.—Climate of Rio.—Surrounded by Yellow +Fever.—The Country Inland.—Begging on the +Streets.—Flowers.—"Portuguese Joe."—Social +Distinctions</td> + +<td class="right">180</td></tr> + +<tr><td><p class="p2 center"><a href="#Ch_10">CHAPTER X.</a></p></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Petropolis.—Summer Residence of the Citizens of +Rio.—Brief Sketch of the late Royal Family.—Dom Pedro's +Palace.—A Delightful Mountain Sanitarium.—A Successful but +Bloodless Revolution.—Floral Delights.—Mountain +Scenery.—Heavy Gambling.—A German +Settlement.—Cascatinha.—Remarkable Orchids.—Local +Types.—A Brazilian Forest.—Compensation</td> + +<td class="right">201</td></tr> + +<tr><td><p class="p2 center"><a href="#Ch_11">CHAPTER +XI.</a></p></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Port of Santos.—Yellow Fever Scourge.—Down the Coast +to Montevideo.—The Cathedral.—Pamperos.—Domestic +Architecture.—A Grand Thoroughfare.—City +Institutions.—Commercial Advantages.—The Opera +House.—The Bull-Fight.—Beggars on Horseback.—City +Shops.—A Typical Character.—Intoxication.—The Campo +Santo.—Exports.—Rivers and Railways</td> + +<td class="right">217</td></tr> + +<tr><td><p class="p2 center"><a href="#Ch_12">CHAPTER +XII.</a></p></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Buenos Ayres.—Extent of the Argentine +Republic.—Population.—Narrow Streets.—Large Public +Squares.—Basques.—Poor Harbor.—Railway +System.—River Navigation.—Tramways.—The +Cathedral.—Normal Schools.—Newspapers.—Public +Buildings.—Calle Florida.—A Busy City.—Mode of +furnishing Milk.—Environs.—Commercial and Political +Growth.—The New Capital</td> + +<td class="right">244</td></tr> + +<tr><td><p class="p2 center"><a href="#Ch_13">CHAPTER +XIII.</a></p></td></tr> + +<tr><td>City of Rosario.—Its Population.—A Pretentious +Church.—Ocean Experiences.—Morbid Fancies.—Strait of +Magellan.—A Great Discoverer.—Local +Characteristics.—Patagonians and Fuegians.—Giant +Kelp.—Unique Mail Box.—Punta Arenas.—An Ex-Penal +Colony.—The Albatross.—Natives.—A Naked +People.—Whales.—Sea-Birds.—Glaciers.—Mount +Sarmiento.—A Singular Story</td> + +<td class="right">271</td></tr> + +<tr><td><p class="p2 center"><a href="#Ch_14">CHAPTER +XIV.</a></p></td></tr> + +<tr><td>The Land of Fire.—Cape Horn.—In the Open +Pacific.—Fellow Passengers.—Large Sea-Bird.—An +Interesting Invalid.—A Weary Captive.—A Broken-Hearted +Mother.—Study of the Heavens.—The Moon.—Chilian Civil +War.—Concepcion.—A Growing City.—Commercial +Importance.—Cultivating City Gardens on a New +Plan.—Important Coal Mines.—Delicious Fruits</td> + +<td class="right">297</td></tr> + +<tr><td><p class="p2 center"><a href="#Ch_15">CHAPTER +XV.</a></p></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Valparaiso.—Principal South American Port of the +Pacific.—A Good Harbor.—Tallest Mountain on this +Continent.—The Newspaper Press.—Warlike Aspect.—Girls +as Car Conductors.—Chilian Exports.—Foreign +Merchants.—Effects of Civil War.—Gambling in Private +Houses.—Immigration.—Culture of the +Grape.—Agriculture.—Island of Juan Fernandez</td> + +<td class="right">315</td></tr> + +<tr><td><p class="p2 center"><a href="#Ch_16">CHAPTER +XVI.</a></p></td></tr> + +<tr><td>The Port of Callao.—A Submerged City.—Peruvian +Exports.—A Dirty and Unwholesome Town.—Cinchona +Bark.—The Andes.—The Llama.—A National +Dance.—City of Lima.—An Old and Interesting +Capital.—Want of Rain.—Pizarro and His Crimes.—A Grand +Cathedral.—Chilian Soldiers.—Costly Churches of +Peru.—Roman Catholic Influence.—Desecration of the +Sabbath</td> + +<td class="right">334</td></tr> + +<tr><td><p class="p2 center"><a href="#Ch_17">CHAPTER +XVII.</a></p></td></tr> + +<tr><td>A Grand Plaza.—Retribution.—The University of +Lima.—Significance of Ancient +Pottery.—Architecture.—Picturesque Dwelling.—Domestic +Scene.—Destructive Earthquakes.—Spanish Sway.—Women of +Lima.—Street Costumes.—Ancient Bridge of +Lima.—Newspapers.—Pawnbrokers' +Shops.—Exports.—An Ancient Mecca.—Home by Way of +Europe.</td> + +<td class="right">355</td></tr> + +</table> + +<p class="p4"></p> + +<h1>EQUATORIAL AMERICA.</h1> + +<p class="p4"><a name="Ch_1"></a></p> +<h3>CHAPTER I.</h3> + +<p class="blockquote">Commencement of a Long Journey.—The Gulf +Stream.—Hayti.—Sighting St. Thomas.—Ship +Rock.—Expert Divers.—Fidgety Old Lady.—An Important +Island.—The Old Slaver.—Aborigines.—St. Thomas +Cigars.—Population.—Tri-Mountain.—Negro +Paradise.—<ins title="'Hurricances' in the +original">Hurricanes</ins>.—Variety of Fish.—Coaling +Ship.—The Firefly Dane.—A Weird Scene.—An Antique +Anchor.</p> + +<p class="p2">In starting upon foreign travel, one drops into the +familiar routine on shipboard much after the same fashion wherever +bound, whether crossing the Atlantic eastward, or steaming to the south +through the waters of the Caribbean Sea; whether in a Peninsular and +Oriental ship in the Indian Ocean, or on a White Star liner in the +Pacific bound for Japan. The steward brings a cup of hot coffee and a +slice of dry toast to one's cabin soon after the sun rises, as a sort of +eye-opener; and having swallowed that excellent stimulant, one feels +better fortified for the struggle to dress on the uneven floor of a +rolling and pitching ship. Then comes the brief promenade on deck before +breakfast, a liberal inhalation of fresh air insuring a good appetite. +There is no hurry at this meal. There is so little to do at sea, and so +much time to do it in, that passengers are apt to linger at table as a +pastime, and even multiply their meals in number. As a rule, we make up +our mind to follow some instructive course of reading while at sea, but, +alas! we never fulfill the good resolution. An entire change of habits +and associations for the time being is not favorable to such a purpose. +The tonic of the sea braces one up to an unwonted degree, evinced by +great activity of body and mind. Favored by the unavoidable +companionship of individuals in the circumscribed space of a ship, +acquaintances are formed which often ripen into lasting friendship. +Inexperienced voyagers are apt to become effusive and over-confiding, +abrupt intimacies and unreasonable dislikes are of frequent occurrence, +and before the day of separation, the student of human nature has seen +many phases exhibited for his analysis.</p> + +<p>Our vessel, the Vigilancia, is a large, commodious, and +well-appointed ship, embracing all the modern appliances for comfort and +safety at sea. She is lighted by electricity, having a donkey engine +which sets in motion a dynamo machine, converting mechanical energy into +electric energy. Perhaps the reader, though familiar with the effect of +this mode of lighting, has never paused to analyze the very simple +manner in which it is produced. The current is led from the dynamos to +the various points where light is desired by means of insulated wires. +The lamps consist of a fine thread of carbon inclosed in a glass bulb +from which air has been entirely excluded. This offers such resistance +to the current passing through it that the energy is expended in raising +the carbon to a white heat, thus forming the light. The permanence of +the carbon is insured by the absence of oxygen. If the glass bulb is +broken and atmospheric air comes in contact with the carbon, it is at +once destroyed by combustion, and all light from this source ceases. +These lamps are so arranged that each one can be turned off or on at +will without affecting others. The absence of offensive smell or smoke, +the steadiness of the light, unaffected by the motion of the ship, and +its superior brilliancy, all join to make this mode of lighting a vessel +a positive luxury.</p> + +<p>Some pleasant hours were passed on board the Vigilancia, between New +York and the West Indies, in the study of the Gulf Stream, through which +we were sailing,—that river in the ocean with its banks and bottom +of cold water, while its current is always warm. Who can explain the +mystery of its motive power? What keeps its tepid water, in a course of +thousands of miles, from mingling with the rest of the sea? Whence does +it really come? The accepted theories are familiar enough, but we place +little reliance upon them, the statements of scientists are so easily +formulated, but often so difficult to prove. As Professor Maury tells +us, there is in the world no other flow of water so majestic as this; it +has a course more rapid than either the Mississippi or the Amazon, and a +volume more than a thousand times greater. The color of this remarkable +stream, whose fountain is supposed to be the Gulf of Mexico and the +Caribbean Sea, is so deep a blue off our southern shore that the line of +demarcation from its surroundings is quite obvious, the Gulf water +having apparently a decided reluctance to mingling with the rest of the +ocean, a peculiarity which has been long and vainly discussed without a +satisfactory solution having been reached. The same phenomenon has been +observed in the Pacific, where the Japanese current comes up from the +equator, along the shore of that country, crossing Behring's Sea to the +continent of North America, and, turning southward along the coast of +California, finally disappears. Throughout all this ocean passage, like +the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic, it retains its individuality, and is +quite separate from the rest of the ocean. The fact that the water is +<ins title="'salter' in the original">saltier</ins> than that of the +Atlantic is by some supposed to account for the indigo blue of the Gulf +Stream.</p> + +<p>The temperature of this water is carefully taken on board all well +regulated ships, and is recorded in the log. On this voyage it was found +to vary from 75° to 80° Fahrenheit.</p> + +<p>Our ship had touched at Newport News, Va., after leaving New York, to +take the U. S. mail on board; thence the course was south-southeast, +giving the American continent a wide berth, and heading for the Danish +island of St. Thomas, which lies in the latitude of Hayti, but a long +way to the eastward of that uninteresting island. We say uninteresting +with due consideration, though its history is vivid enough to satisfy +the most sensational taste. It has produced its share of native heroes, +as well as native traitors, while the frequent upheavals of its mingled +races have been no less erratic than destructive. The ignorance and +confusion which reign among the masses on the island are deplorable. +Minister Douglass utterly failed to make anything out of Hayti. The +lower classes of the people living inland come next to the inhabitants +of Terra del Fuego in the scale of humanity, and are much inferior to +the Maoris of New Zealand, or the savage tribes of Australia. It is +satisfactorily proven that cannibalism still exists among them in its +most repulsive form, so revolting, indeed, that we hesitate to detail +the experience of a creditable eye-witness relating to this matter, as +personally described to us.</p> + +<p>Upon looking at the map it would seem, to one unaccustomed to the +ocean, that a ship could not lay her course direct, in these island +dotted waters, without running down one or more of them; but the +distances which are so circumscribed upon the chart are extended for +many a league at sea, and a good navigator may sail his ship from New +York to Barbadoes, if he so desires, without sighting the land. Not a +sailing vessel or steamship was seen, on the brief voyage from the +American continent to the West Indies, these latitudes being far less +frequented by passenger and freighting ships than the transatlantic +route further north.</p> + +<p>It is quite natural that the heart should throb with increased +animation, the spirits become more elate, and the eyes more than usually +appreciative, when the land of one's destination heaves in sight after +long days and nights passed at sea. This is especially the case if the +change from home scenes is so radical in all particulars as when coming +from our bleak Northern States in the early days of spring, before the +trees have donned their leaves, to the soft temperature and exuberant +verdure of the low latitudes. Commencing the voyage herein described, +the author left the Brooklyn shore of New York harbor about the first of +May, during a sharp snow-squall, though, as Governor's Island was passed +on the one hand, and the Statue of Liberty on the other, the sun burst +forth from its cloudy environment, as if to smile a cheerful farewell. +Thus we passed out upon the broad Atlantic, bound southward, soon +feeling its half suppressed force in the regular sway and roll of the +vessel. She was heavily laden, and measured considerably over four +thousand tons, drawing twenty-two feet of water, yet she was like an +eggshell upon the heaving breast of the ocean. As these mammoth ships +lie in port beside the wharf, it seems as though their size and enormous +weight would place them beyond the influence of the wind and waves: but +the power of the latter is so great as to be beyond computation, and +makes a mere toy of the largest hull that floats. No one can realize the +great strength of the waves who has not watched the sea in all of its +varying moods.</p> + +<p>"Land O!" shouts the lookout on the forecastle.</p> + +<p>A wave of the hand signifies that the occupant of the bridge has +already made out the mote far away upon the glassy surface of the sea, +which now rapidly grows into definite form.</p> + +<p>When the mountain which rises near the centre of St. Thomas was +fairly in view from the deck of the Vigilancia, it seemed as if +beckoning us to its hospitable shore. The light breeze which fanned the +sea came from off the land flavored with an odor of tropical vegetation, +a suggestion of fragrant blossoms, and a promise of luscious fruits. On +our starboard bow there soon came into view the well known Ship Rock, +which appears, when seen from a short distance, almost precisely like a +full-rigged ship under canvas. If the sky is clouded and the atmosphere +hazy, the delusion is remarkable.</p> + +<p>This story is told of a French corvette which was cruising in these +latitudes at the time when the buccaneers were creating such havoc with +legitimate commerce in the West Indies. It seems that the coast was +partially hidden by a fog, when the corvette made out the rock through +the haze, and, supposing it to be what it so much resembles, a ship +under sail, fired a gun to leeward for her to heave to. Of course there +was no response to the shot, so the Frenchman brought his ship closer, +at the same time clearing for action. Being satisfied that he had to do +with a powerful adversary, he resolved to obtain the advantage by +promptly crippling the enemy, and so discharged the whole of his +starboard broadside into the supposed ship, looming through the mist. +The fog quietly dispersed as the corvette went about and prepared to +deliver her port guns in a similar manner. As the deceptive rock stood +in precisely the same place when the guns came once more to bear upon +it, the true character of the object was discovered. It is doubtful +whether the Frenchman's surprise or mortification predominated.</p> + +<p>An hour of steady progress served to raise the veil of distance, and +to reveal the spacious bay of Charlotte Amalie, with its strong +background of abrupt hills and dense greenery of tropical foliage. How +wonderfully blue was the water round about the island,—an emerald +set in a sea of molten sapphire! It seemed as if the sky had been melted +and poured all over the ebbing tide. About the Bahamas, especially off +the shore at Nassau, the water is green,—a delicate bright green; +here it exhibits only the true azure blue,—Mediterranean blue. It +is seen at its best and in marvelous glow during the brief moments of +twilight, when a glance of golden sunset tinges its mottled surface with +iris hues, like the opaline flashes from a humming-bird's throat.</p> + +<p>The steamer gradually lost headway, the vibrating hull ceased to +throb with the action of its motive power, as though pausing to take +breath after long days and nights of sustained effort, and presently the +anchor was let go in the excellent harbor of St. Thomas, latitude 18° +20' north, longitude 64° 48' west. Our forecastle gun, fired to announce +arrival, awakened the echoes in the hills, so that all seemed to join in +clapping their hands to welcome us. Thus amid the Norwegian fiords the +report of the steamer's single gun becomes a whole broadside, as it is +reverberated from the grim and rocky elevations which line that +iron-bound coast.</p> + +<p>There was soon gathered about the ship a bevy of naked colored boys, +a score or more, jabbering like a lot of monkeys, some in canoes of home +construction, it would seem, consisting of a sugar box sawed in two +parts, or a few small planks nailed together, forming more of a tub than +a boat, and leaking at every joint. These frail floats were propelled +with a couple of flat boards used as paddles. The young fellows came out +from the shore to dive for sixpences and shillings, cast into the sea by +passengers. The moment a piece of silver was thrown, every canoe was +instantly emptied of its occupant, all diving pell-mell for the money. +Presently one of the crowd was sure to come to the surface with the +silver exhibited above his head between his fingers, after which, +monkey-like, it was securely deposited inside of his cheek. Similar +scenes often occur in tropical regions. The last which the author can +recall, and at which he assisted, was at Aden, where the Indian Ocean +and the Red Sea meet. Another experience of the sort is also well +remembered as witnessed in the South Pacific off the Samoan islands. On +this occasion the most expert of the natives, among the naked divers, +was a young Samoan girl, whose agility in the water was such that she +easily secured more than half the bright coins which were thrown +overboard, though a dozen male competitors were her rivals in the +pursuit. Nothing but an otter could have excelled this bronzed, unclad, +exquisitely formed girl of Tutuila as a diver and swimmer.</p> + +<p>But let us not stray to the far South Pacific, forgetting that we are +all this time in the snug harbor of St. Thomas, in the West Indies.</p> + +<p>A fidgety old lady passenger, half hidden in an avalanche of wraps, +while the thermometer indicated 80° Fahr., one who had gone into partial +hysterics several times during the past few days, upon the slightest +provocation, declared that this was the worst region for hurricanes in +the known world, adding that there were dark, ominous clouds forming to +windward which she was sure portended a cyclone. One might have told her +truthfully that May was not a hurricane month in these latitudes, but we +were just then too earnestly engaged in preparing for a stroll on shore, +too full of charming anticipations, to discuss possible hurricanes, and +so, without giving the matter any special thought, admitted that it did +look a little threatening in the northwest. This was quite enough to +frighten the old lady half out of her senses, and to call the stewardess +into prompt requisition, while the deck was soon permeated with the odor +of camphor, sal volatile, and valerian. We did not wait to see how she +survived the attack, but hastened into a shore boat and soon landed at +what is known as King's wharf, when the temperature seemed instantly to +rise about twenty degrees. Near the landing was a small plaza, shaded by +tall ferns and cabbage palms, with here and there an umbrageous mango. +Ladies and servant girls were seen promenading with merry children, +whites and blacks mingling indiscriminately, while the Danish military +band were producing most shocking strains with their brass instruments. +One could hardly conceive of a more futile attempt at harmony.</p> + +<p>There is always something exciting in first setting foot upon a +foreign soil, in mingling with utter strangers, in listening to the +voluble utterances and jargon of unfamiliar tongues, while noting the +manners, dress, and faces of a new people. The current language of the +mass of St. Thomas is a curious compound of negro grammar, Yankee +accent, and English drawl. Though somewhat familiar with the West +Indies, the author had never before landed upon this island. Everything +strikes one as curious, each turn affords increased novelty, and every +moment is full of interest. Black, yellow, and white men are seen in +groups, the former with very little covering on their bodies, the latter +in diaphanous costumes. Negresses sporting high colors in their scanty +clothing, set off by rainbow kerchiefs bound round their heads, turban +fashion; little naked blacks with impossible paunches; here and there a +shuffling negro bearing baskets of fish balanced on either end of a long +pole resting across his shoulders; peddlers of shells and corals; old +women carrying trays upon their heads containing cakes sprinkled with +granulated sugar, and displayed upon neat linen towels, seeking for +customers among the newly arrived passengers,—all together form a +unique picture of local life. The constantly shifting scene moves before +the observer like a panorama unrolled for exhibition, seeming quite as +theatrical and artificial.</p> + +<p>St. Thomas is one of the Danish West Indian Islands, of which there +are three belonging to Denmark, namely, St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. +John. For the possession of the first named Mr. Seward, when Secretary +of State, in 1866, offered the King of Denmark five million dollars in +gold, which proposition was finally accepted, and it would have been a +cheap purchase for us at that price; but after all detail had been duly +agreed upon, the United States Congress refused to vote the necessary +funds wherewith to pay for the title deed. So when Mr. Seward +consummated the purchase of Alaska, for a little over seven million +dollars, there were nearly enough of the small-fry politicians in +Congress to defeat the bargain with Russia in the same manner. The +income from the lease of two islands alone belonging to Alaska—St. +George and St. Paul—has paid four and one half per cent. per annum +upon the purchase money ever since the territory came into our +possession. There is one gold mine on Douglas Island, Alaska, not to +mention its other rich and inexhaustible products, for which a French +syndicate has offered fourteen million dollars. We doubt if St. Thomas +could be purchased from the Danes to-day for ten million dollars, while +the estimated value of Alaska would be at least a hundred million or +more, with its vast mineral wealth, its invaluable salmon fisheries, its +inexhaustible forests of giant timber, and its abundance of seal, otter, +and other rich furs. A penny-wise and pound-foolish Congress made a huge +mistake in opposing Mr. Seward's purpose as regarded the purchase of St. +Thomas. The strategic position of the island is quite sufficient to +justify our government in wishing to possess it, for it is +geographically the keystone of the West Indies. The principal object +which Mr. Seward had in view was to secure a coaling and refitting +station for our national ships in time of war, for which St. Thomas +would actually be worth more than the island of Cuba. Opposite to it is +the continent of Africa; equidistant are the eastern shores of North and +South America; on one side is western Europe, on the other the route to +India and the Pacific Ocean; in the rear are Central America, the West +Indies, and Mexico, together with those great inland bodies of salt +water, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. It requires no argument +to show how important the possession of such an outpost might prove to +this country.</p> + +<p>Since these notes were written, it is currently reported that our +government has once more awakened to the necessity of obtaining +possession of this island, and fresh negotiations have been entered +into. One thing is very certain, if we do not seize the opportunity to +purchase St. Thomas at the present time, England, or some other +important power, will promptly do so, to our serious detriment and just +mortification.</p> + +<p>St. Thomas has an area of nearly fifty square miles, and supports a +population of about fourteen thousand. In many respects the capital is +unique, and being our first landing-place after leaving home, was of +more than ordinary interest to the writer. The highest point on the +island, which comes first into view from the deck of a southern bound +steamer, is West Mountain, rising sixteen hundred feet above the level +of the surrounding waters. Geologists would describe St. Thomas as being +the top of a small chain of submerged mountains, which would be quite +correct, since the topography of the bottom of the sea is but a +counterpart of that upon the more familiar surface of the earth we +occupy. When ocean electric cables for connecting islands and continents +are laid, engineers find that there are the same sort of plains, +mountains, valleys, and gorges beneath as above the waters of the ocean. +The skeletons of whales, and natural beds of deep-sea shells, found in +valleys and hills many hundred feet above the present level of tide +waters, tell us plainly enough that in the long ages which have passed, +the diversified surface of the earth which we now behold has changed +places with these submerged regions, which probably once formed the dry +land. The history of the far past is full of instances showing the slow +but continuous retreat of the water from the land in certain regions and +its encroachment in others, the drying up of lakes and rivers, as well +as the upheaval of single islands and groups from the bed of the +ocean.</p> + +<p>A range of dome-shaped hills runs through the entire length of this +island of St. Thomas, fifteen miles from west to east, being +considerably highest at the west end. As we passed between the two +headlands which mark the entrance to the harbor, the town was seen +spread over three hills of nearly uniform height, also occupying the +gentle valleys between. Two stone structures, on separate hills, form a +prominent feature; these are known respectively as Blue Beard and Black +Beard tower, but their origin is a myth, though there are plenty of +legends extant about them. Both are now utilized as residences, having +mostly lost their original crudeness and picturesque appearance. The +town, as a whole, forms a pleasing and effective background to the +land-locked bay, which is large enough to afford safe anchorage for two +hundred ships at the same time, except when a hurricane prevails; then +the safest place for shipping is as far away from the land as possible. +It is a busy port, considering the small number of inhabitants, steamers +arriving and departing constantly, besides many small coasting vessels +which ply between this and the neighboring islands. St. Thomas is +certainly the most available commercially of the Virgin group of +islands. Columbus named them "Las Vergines," in reference to the +familiar Romish legend of the eleven thousand virgins, about as +inappropriate a title as the fable it refers to is ridiculous.</p> + +<p>Close in shore, at the time of our visit, there lay a schooner-rigged +craft of more than ordinary interest, her jaunty set upon the water, her +graceful lines, tall, raking masts, and long bowsprit suggesting the +model of the famous old Baltimore clippers. There is a fascinating +individuality about sailing vessels which does not attach to steamships. +Seamen form romantic attachments for the former. The officers and crew +of the Vigilancia were observed to cast admiring eyes upon this handsome +schooner, anchored under our lee. A sort of mysterious quiet hung about +her; every rope was hauled taut, made fast, and the slack neatly coiled. +Her anchor was atrip, that is, the cable was hove short, showing that +she was ready to sail at a moment's notice. The only person visible on +board was a bareheaded, white-haired old seaman, who sat on the transom +near the wheel, quietly smoking his pipe. On inquiry it was found that +the schooner had a notable history and bore the name of the Vigilant, +having been first launched a hundred and thirty years ago. It appeared +that she was a successful slaver in former days, running between the +coast of Africa and these islands. She was twice captured by English +cruisers, but somehow found her way back again to the old and nefarious +business. Of course, she had been overhauled, repaired, and re-rigged +many times, but it is still the same old frame and hull that so often +made the middle passage, as it was called. To-day she serves as a mail +boat running between Santa Cruz and St. Thomas, and, it is said, can +make forty leagues, with a fair wind, as quick as any steamer on the +coast. The same evening the Vigilant spread her broad white wings and +glided silently out of the harbor, gathering rapid way as she passed its +entrance, until feeling the spur of the wind and the open sea, she +quickly vanished from sight. It was easy to imagine her bound upon her +old piratical business, screened by the shadows of the night.</p> + +<p>Though it no longer produces a single article of export on its own +soil, St. Thomas was, in the days of negro slavery, one of the most +prolific sugar yielding islands of this region. It will be remembered +that the emancipation of the blacks took place here in 1848. It was +never before impressed upon us, if we were aware of the fact, that the +sugar-cane is not indigenous to the West Indies. It seems that the plant +came originally from Asia, and was introduced into these islands by +Columbus and his followers. As is often the case with other +representatives of the vegetable kingdom, it appears to have flourished +better here than in the land of its nativity, new climatic combinations, +together with the soil, developing in the saccharine plant better +qualities and increased productiveness, for a long series of years +enriching many enterprising planters.</p> + +<p>When Columbus discovered St. Thomas, in 1493, it was inhabited by two +tribes of Indians, the Caribs and the Arrowauks, both of which soon +disappeared under the oppression and hardships imposed by the Spaniards. +It is also stated that from this island, as well as from Cuba and Hayti, +many natives were transported to Spain and there sold into slavery, in +the days following close upon its discovery. Thus Spain, from the +earliest date, characterized her operations in the New World by a +heartlessness and injustice which ever attended upon her conquests, both +among the islands and upon the continent of America. The Caribs were of +the red Indian race, and appear to have been addicted to cannibalism. +Indeed, the very word, by which the surrounding sea is also known, is +supposed to be a corruption of the name of this tribe. "These Caribs did +not eat their own babies," says an old writer apologetically, "like some +sorts of wild beasts, but only roasted and ate their prisoners of +war."</p> + +<p>The island was originally covered with a dense forest growth, but is +now comparatively denuded of trees, leaving the land open to the full +force of the sun, and causing it to suffer at times from serious +droughts. There is said to be but one natural spring of water on the +island. This shows itself at the surface, and is of very limited +capacity; the scanty rains which occur here are almost entirely depended +upon to supply water for domestic use.</p> + +<p>St. Thomas being so convenient a port of call for steamers from +Europe and America, and having so excellent a harbor, is improved as a +depot for merchandise by several of the neighboring islands, thus +enjoying a considerable commerce, though it is only in <i>transitu</i>. +It is also the regular coaling station of several steamship lines. +Judging from appearances, however, it would seem that the town is not +growing in population or business relations, but is rather retrograding. +The value of the imports in 1880 was less than half the aggregate amount +of 1870. We were told that green groceries nearly all come from the +United States, and that even eggs and poultry are imported from the +neighboring islands, showing an improvidence on the part of the people +difficult to account for, since these sources of food supply can be +profitably produced at almost any spot upon the earth where vegetation +will grow. Cigars are brought hither from Havana in considerable +quantities, and having no duty to pay, can be sold very cheap by the +dealers at St. Thomas, and still afford a reasonable profit. Quite a +trade is thus carried on with the passengers of the several steamers +which call here regularly, and travelers avail themselves of the +opportunity to lay in an ample supply. Cuban cigars of the quality which +would cost nine or ten dollars a hundred in Boston are sold at St. +Thomas for five or six dollars, and lower grades even cheaper in +proportion. There is said to be considerable smuggling successfully +carried on between this island and the Florida shore, in the article of +cigars as well as in tobacco in the unmanufactured state. The high duty +on these has always incited to smuggling, thus defeating the very object +for which it is imposed. Probably a moderate duty would yield more to +the government in the aggregate, by rendering it so much less of an +object to smuggle.</p> + +<p>Though the island is Danish in nationality, there are few +surroundings calculated to recall the fact, save that the flag of that +country floats over the old fort and the one or two official buildings, +just as it has done for the last two centuries. The prominent officials +are Danes, as well as the officers of the small body of soldiers +maintained on the island. English is almost exclusively spoken, though +there are French, Spanish, and Italian residents here. English is also +the language taught in the public schools. People have come here to make +what money they can, but with the fixed purpose of spending it and +enjoying it elsewhere. As a rule, all Europeans who come to the West +Indies and embark in business do so with exactly this purpose. In Cuba +the Spaniards from the continent, among whom are many Jews, have a +proverb the significance of which is: "Ten years of starvation, and a +fortune," and most of them live up to this axiom. They leave all +principles of honor, all sense of moral responsibility, all sacred +domestic ties, behind them, forgetting, or at least ignoring, the +significant query, namely, "What shall it profit a man, if he gain the +whole world, and lose his own soul?"</p> + +<p>About one third of the population is Roman Catholic. The Jews have a +synagogue, and a membership of six hundred. They have a record on the +island dating as far back as the year 1757, and add much to the activity +and thrift of St. Thomas. No matter where we find the Jews, in Mexico, +Warsaw, California, or the West Indies, they are all alike intent upon +money making, and are nearly always successful. Their irrepressible +energy wins for them the goal for which they so earnestly strive. That +soldier of fortune, Santa Anna, formerly ruler of Mexico, when banished +as a traitor from his native country, made his home on this island, and +the house which he built and occupied is still pointed out to visitors +as one of the local curiosities. The social life of St. Thomas is +naturally very circumscribed, but is good so far as it goes. A few +cultured people, who have made it their home for some years, have become +sincerely attached to the place, and enjoy the climate. There are a +small public library, a hospital, several charitable institutions, and a +theatre, which is occupied semi-occasionally. The island is connected +with the continent by cable, and has a large floating dock and marine +railway, which causes vessels in distress to visit the port for needed +repairs. The town is situated on the north side of the bay which indents +the middle of the south side of the island. The harbor has a depth of +water varying from eighteen to thirty-six feet, and has the advantage of +being a free port, a fact, perhaps, of not much account to a place which +has neither exports nor imports of its own. St. Thomas is the only town +of any importance on the island, and is known locally as Charlotte +Amalie, a fact which sometimes leads to a confusion of ideas.</p> + +<p>The reader need not encounter the intense heat, which so nearly +wilted us, in an effort to obtain a good lookout from some elevated +spot; but the result will perhaps interest him, as it fully repaid the +writer for all the consequent discomfort.</p> + +<p>From the brow of a moderate elevation just behind the town, a +delightful and far-reaching view is afforded, embracing St. Thomas in +the foreground, the well-sheltered bay, dotted with vessels bearing the +flags of various nations, an archipelago of islets scattered over the +near waters, and numerous small bays indenting the coast. At a distance +of some forty miles across the sea looms the island of Santa Cruz; and +farther away, on the horizon's most distant limit, are seen the tall +hills and mountains of Porto Rico; while the sky is fringed by a long +trailing plume of smoke, indicating the course of some passing +steamship. The three hills upon which the town stands are spurs of West +Mountain, and the place is quite as well entitled to the name of +Tremont—"tri-mountain"—as was the capital of Massachusetts, +before its hills were laid low to accommodate business demands. On the +seaward side of these elevations the red tiled roofs of the white houses +rise in regular terraces from the street which borders the harbor, +forming a very picturesque group as seen from the bay.</p> + +<p>Though it has not often been visited by epidemics, Mr. Anthony +Trollope pronounces the island, in his usual irresponsible way, to be +"one of the hottest and one of the most unhealthy spots among all these +hot and unhealthy regions," and adds that he would perhaps be justified +in saying "that of all such spots it is the hottest and most unhealthy." +This is calculated to give an incorrect idea of St. Thomas. True, it is +liable to periods of unhealthiness, when a species of low fever +prevails, proving more or less fatal. This is thought to originate from +the surface drainage, and the miasma arising from the bay. All the +drains of the town flow into the waters of the harbor, which has not +sufficient flow of tide to carry seaward the foul matter thus +accumulated. The hot sun pouring its heat down upon this tainted water +causes a dangerous exhalation. Still, sharks do not seem to be sensitive +as to this matter, for they much abound. It is yet to be discovered why +these tigers of the sea do not attack the negroes, who fearlessly leap +overboard; a white man could not do this with impunity. The Asiatics of +the Malacca Straits do not enjoy any such immunity from danger, though +they have skins as dark as the divers of St. Thomas. Sharks appear in +the West Indies in small schools, or at least there are nearly always +two or three together, but in Oriental waters they are only seen singly. +Thus a Malay of Singapore, for a compensation, say an English sovereign, +will place a long, sharp knife between his teeth and leap naked into the +sea to attack a shark. He adroitly dives beneath the creature, and as it +turns its body to bring its awkward mouth into use, with his knife the +Malay slashes a deep, long opening in its exposed belly, at the same +time forcing himself out of the creature's reach. The knife is sure and +fatal. After a few moments the huge body of the fish is seen to rise and +float lifeless upon the surface of the water.</p> + +<p>A large majority of the people are colored, exhibiting some +peculiarly interesting types, intermarriage with whites of various +nationalities having produced among the descendants of Africans many +changes of color and of features. One feels sure that there is also a +trace of Carib or Indian blood mingled with the rest,—a trace of +the aborigines whom Columbus found here. The outcome is not entirely a +race with flat noses and protruding lips; straight Grecian profiles are +not uncommon, accompanied by thin nostrils and Anglo-Saxon lips. +Faultless teeth, soft blue eyes, and hair nearly straight are sometimes +met with among the creoles. As to the style of walking and of carrying +the head and body, the common class of women of St. Thomas have arrived +at perfection. Some of them are notable examples of unconscious dignity +and grace combined. This has been brought about by carrying burdens upon +their heads from childhood, without the supporting aid of the hands. +Modesty, or rather conventionality, does not require boys or girls under +eight years of age to encumber themselves with clothing. The costume of +the market women and the lower classes generally is picturesque, +composed of a Madras kerchief carefully twisted into a turban of many +colors, yellow predominating, a cotton chemise which leaves the neck and +shoulders exposed, reaching just below the knees, the legs and feet +being bare. The men wear cotton drawers reaching nearly to the knee, the +rest of the body being uncovered, except the head, which is usually +sheltered under a broad brimmed straw hat, the sides of which are +perforated by many ventilating holes. The whites generally, and also the +better class of natives, dress very much after the fashion which +prevails in North America.</p> + +<p>This is the negroes' paradise, but it is a climate in which the white +race gradually wanes. The heat of the tropics is modified by the +constant and grateful trade winds, a most merciful dispensation, without +which the West Indies would be uninhabitable by man. On the hillsides of +St. Thomas these winds insure cool nights at least, and a comparatively +temperate state of the atmosphere during the day. Vegetation is +abundant, the fruit trees are perennial, bearing leaf, blossom, and +fruit in profusion, month after month, year after year. Little, if any, +cultivation is required. The few sugar plantations which are still +carried on yield from three to four successive years without replanting. +It is a notable fact that where vegetation is at its best, where the +soil is most rank and prolific, where fruits and flowers grow in wild +exuberance, elevated humanity thrives the least. The lower the grade of +man, the nearer he approximates to the animals, the less civilized he is +in mind and body, the better he appears to be adapted to such +localities. The birds and the butterflies are in exact harmony with the +loveliness of tropical nature, however prolific she may be; the flowers +are glorious and beautiful: it is man alone who seems out of place. A +great variety of fruits are indigenous here, such as the orange, lime, +alligator pear, moss-apple, and mango, but none of them are cultivated +to any extent; the people seem to lack the energy requisite to improve +the grand possibilities of their fertile soil and prolific climate.</p> + +<p>We were reminded by a resident of the town, before we left the harbor +of St. Thomas, that the nervous old lady referred to was not entirely +without reason for her anxiety. Some of our readers will remember, +perhaps, that in October, 1867, a most disastrous hurricane swept over +these Virgin Islands, leaving widespread desolation in its track. The +shipping which happened to be in the bay of St. Thomas was nearly all +destroyed, together with hundreds of lives, while on the land scores of +houses and many lives were also sacrificed to the terrible cyclone of +that date. Even the thoroughly built iron and stone lighthouse was +completely obliterated. There is a theory that such visitations come in +this region about once in every twelve or fifteen years, and upon +looking up the matter we find them to have occurred, with more or less +destructive force, in the years 1793, 1819, 1837, 1867, 1871, and so +late as August, 1891. Other hurricanes have passed over these islands +during the period covered by these dates, but of a mitigated character. +August, September, and October are the months in which the hurricanes +are most likely to occur, and all vessels navigating the West Indian +seas during these months take extra precautions to secure themselves +against accidents from this source. When such visitations happen, the +event is sure to develop heroic deeds. In the hurricane of 1867, the +captain of a Spanish man-of-war, who was a practical sailor, brought up +from boyhood upon the ocean, seeing the oncoming cyclone, and knowing by +experience what to expect, ordered the masts of his vessel to be cut +away at once, and every portion of exposed top hamper to be cast into +the sea. When thus stripped he exposed little but the bare hull of his +steamer to the fury of the storm. After the cyclone had passed, it was +found that he had not lost a man, and that the steamer's hull, though +severely battered, was substantially unharmed. Keeping up all steam +during the awful scene, this captain devoted himself and his ship to the +saving of human life, promptly taking his vessel wherever he could be of +the most service. Hundreds of seamen were saved from death by the +coolness and intrepidity of this heroic sailor.</p> + +<p>Since these notes were written among the islands, a terrible cyclone +has visited them. This was on August 18, last past, and proved more +destructive to human life, to marine and other property, than any +occurrence of the kind during the last century. At Martinique a sharp +shock of earthquake added to the horror of the occasion, the town of +Fort de France being very nearly leveled with the ground. Many tall and +noble palms, the growth of half a hundred years, were utterly demolished +in the twinkling of an eye, and other trees were uprooted by the +score.</p> + +<p>The waters of this neighborhood teem with strange forms of animal and +vegetable life. Here we saw specimens of red and blue snappers, the +angel-fish, king-fish, gurnets, cow-fish, whip-ray, peacock-fish, +zebra-fish, and so on, all, or nearly all, unfamiliar to us, each +species individualized either in shape, color, or both. The whip-ray, +with a body like a flounder, has a tail six or seven feet long, tapering +from an inch and over to less than a quarter of an inch at the small +end. When dried, it still retains a degree of elasticity, and is used by +the natives as a whip with which to drive horses and donkeys. In some +places, so singularly clear is the water that the bottom is distinctly +visible five or six fathoms below the surface, where fishes of various +sorts are seen in ceaseless motion. White shells, corals, star-fish, and +sea-urchins mingle their various forms and colors, objects and hues +seeming to be intensified by the strong reflected light from the +surface, so that one could easily fancy them to be flowers blooming in +the fairy gardens of the mermaids. The early morning, just after the sun +begins to gild the surface of the sea, is the favorite time for the +flying-fishes to display their aerial proclivities. They are always +attracted by a strong light, and are thus lured to their destruction by +the torches of the fishermen, who often go out for the purpose at night +and take them in nets. In the early morning, as seen from the ship's +deck, they scoot above the rippling waves in schools of a hundred and +more, so compact as to cast fleeting shadows over the blue enameled +surface of the waters. At St. Thomas, Martinique, and Barbadoes, as well +as among the other islands bordering the Caribbean Sea, they form no +inconsiderable source of food for the humble natives, who fry them in +batter mixed with onions, making a savory and nutritious dish.</p> + +<p>St. Thomas is, as we have said, a coaling station for steamships, and +when the business is in progress a most unique picture is presented. The +ship is moored alongside of the dock for this purpose, two side ports +being thrown open, one for ingress, the other for egress. A hundred +women and girls, wearing one scanty garment reaching to the knees, are +in line, and commence at once to trot on board in single file, each one +bearing a bushel basket of coal upon her head, weighing, say sixty +pounds. Another gang fill empty baskets where the coal is stored, so +that there is a continuous line of negresses trotting into the ship at +one port and, after dumping their loads into the coal bunkers, out at +the other, hastening back to the source of supply for more. Their step +is quick, their pose straight as an arrow, while their feet keep time to +a wild chant in which all join, the purport of which it is not possible +to clearly understand. Now and again their voices rise in softly mingled +harmony, floating very sweetly over the still waters of the bay. The +scene we describe occurred at night, but the moon had not yet risen. +Along the wharf, to the coal deposits, iron frames were erected +containing burning bituminous coal, and the blaze, fanned by the open +air, formed the light by which the women worked. It was a weird picture. +Everything seemed quite in harmony: the hour, the darkness of night +relieved by the flaming brackets of coal, the strange, dark figures +hastening into the glare of light and quickly vanishing, the harmony of +high-pitched voices occasionally broken in upon by the sharp, stern +voice of their leader,—all was highly dramatic and effective.</p> + +<p>Not unfrequently three or four steamers are coaling at the same time +from different wharves. Hundreds of women and girls of St. Thomas make +this labor their special occupation, and gain a respectable living by +it, doubtless supporting any number of lazy, worthless husbands, +fathers, and brothers.</p> + +<p>After our ship was supplied with coal, these women, having put three +hundred tons on board in a surprisingly short period of time, formed a +group upon the wharf and held what they called a firefly dance, +indescribably quaint and grotesque, performed by the flickering light of +the flaming coal. Their voices were joined in a wild, quick chant, as +they twisted and turned, clapping their hands at intervals to emphasize +the chorus. Now and again a couple of the girls would separate from the +rest for a moment, then dance toward and from each other, throwing their +arms wildly about their heads, and finally, gathering their scanty +drapery in one hand and extending the other, perform a movement similar +to the French cancan. Once more springing back among their companions, +all joined hands, and a roundabout romp closed the firefly dance. Could +such a scene be produced in a city theatre <i>au naturel</i>, with +proper accessories and by these actual performers, it would surely prove +an attraction good for one hundred nights. Of course this would be +impossible. Conventionality would object to such diaphanous costumes, +and bare limbs, though they were of a bronzed hue, would shock Puritanic +eyes.</p> + +<p>Upon first entering the harbor, the Vigilancia anchored at a short +distance from the shore; but when it became necessary to haul alongside +the wharf, the attempt was made to get up the anchor, when it was found +to require far more than the usual expenditure of power to do so. +Finally, however, the anchor was secured, but attached to its flukes +there came also, from the bottom of the bay, a second anchor, of antique +shape, covered with rust and barnacles. It was such a one as was carried +by the galleons of the fifteenth century, and had doubtless lain for +over four hundred years just where the anchor of our ship had got +entangled with it. What a remarkable link this corroded piece of iron +formed, uniting the present with the far past, and how it stimulated the +mind in forming romantic possibilities! It may have been the holding +iron of Columbus's own caravel, or have been the anchor of one of +Cortez's fleet, which touched here on its way into the Gulf of Mexico, +or, indeed, it may have belonged to some Caribbean buccaneer, who was +obliged to let slip his cable and hasten away to escape capture.</p> + +<p>It was deemed a fortunate circumstance to have secured this ancient +relic, and a sure sign of future good luck to the ship, so it was duly +stored away in the lower hold of the Vigilancia.</p> + +<p>That same night on which the coal bunkers were filled, our good ship +was got under way, while the rising moon made the harbor and its +surroundings as clearly visible as though it were midday. The light from +the burning coal brackets had waned, only a few sparks bursting forth +now and again, disturbed by a passing breeze which fanned them into life +for a moment. When we passed through the narrow entrance by the +lighthouse, and stood out once more upon the open sea, it was mottled, +far and near, with argent ripples, that waltzed merrily in the soft, +clear moonlight, rivaling the firefly dance on shore. Even to the very +horizon the water presented a white, silvery, tremulous sheen of liquid +light. One gazed in silent enjoyment until the eyes were weary with the +lavish beauty of the scene, and the brain became giddy with its +splendor. Is it idle and commonplace to be enthusiastic? Perhaps so; but +we hope never to outlive such inspiration.</p> + +<p class="p4"><a name="Ch_2"></a></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER II.</h3> + +<p class="blockquote">Curious Seaweed.—Professor +Agassiz.—Myth of a Lost Continent.—Island of +Martinique.—An Attractive Place.—Statue of the Empress +Josephine.—Birthplace of Madame de Maintenon.—City of St. +Pierre.—Mont Pelée.—High Flavored Specialty.—Grisettes +of Martinique.—A Botanical Garden.—Defective +Drainage.—A Fatal Enemy.—A Cannibal Snake.—The +Climate.</p> + +<p class="p2">Between St. Thomas and the island of Martinique, we fell +in with some floating seaweed, so peculiar in appearance that an +obliging quartermaster picked up a spray for closer examination. It is a +strange, sponge-like plant, which propagates itself on the ocean, +unharmed by the fiercest agitation of the waves, or the wildest raging +of the winds, at the same time giving shelter to zoöphytes and mollusks +of a species, like itself, found nowhere else. Sailors call it Gulf +weed, but it has nothing to do with the Gulf Stream, though sometimes +clusters get astray and are carried far away on the bosom of that grand +ocean current. The author has seen small bodies of it, after a fierce +storm in the Caribbean Sea, a thousand miles to the eastward of +Barbadoes. Its special home is a broad space of ocean surface between +the Gulf Stream and the equatorial current, known as the Sargasso Sea. +Its limits, however, change somewhat with the seasons. It was first +noticed by Columbus in 1492, and in this region it has remained for +centuries, even to the present day. Sometimes this peculiar weed is so +abundant as to present the appearance of a submerged meadow, through +which the ship ploughs its way as though sailing upon the land. We are +told that Professor Agassiz, while at sea, having got possession of a +small branch of this marine growth, kept himself busily absorbed with it +and its products for twelve hours, forgetting all the intervening meals. +Science was more than food and drink to this grand savant. His years +from boyhood were devoted to the study of nature in her various forms. +"Life is so short," said he, "one can hardly find space to become +familiar with a single science, much less to acquire knowledge of many." +When he was applied to by a lyceum committee to come to a certain town +and lecture, he replied that he was too busy. "But we will pay you +double price, Mr. Agassiz, if you will come," said the applicant. "I +cannot waste time to make money," was the noble reply.</p> + +<p>The myth of a lost continent is doubtless familiar to the +reader,—a continent supposed to have existed in these waters +thousands of years ago, but which, by some evolution of nature, became +submerged, sinking from sight forever. It was the Atlantis which is +mentioned by Plato; the land in which the Elysian Fields were placed, +and the Garden of Hesperides, from which the early civilization of +Greece, Egypt, and Asia Minor were derived, and whose kings and heroes +were the Olympian deities of a later time. The poetical idea prevails +that this plant, which once grew in those gardens, having lost its +original home, has become a floating waif on the sapphire sea of the +tropics. The color of the Sargasso weed is a faint orange shade; the +leaves are pointed, delicate, and exquisitely formed, like those of the +weeping willow in their youthful freshness, having a tiny, round, light +green berry near the base of each leaf. Mother Cary's chickens are said +to be fond of these berries, and that bird abounds in these waters.</p> + +<p>Probably the main portion of the West Indian islands was once a part +of the continent of America, many, many ages ago. There are trees of the +locust family growing among the group to-day, similar to those found on +our southern coast, which are declared to be four thousand years old. +This statement is partially corroborated by known characteristics of the +growth of the locust, and there are arborists who fully credit this +great longevity. It is interesting to look upon an object which had a +vital existence two thousand years and more before Christ was upon +earth, and which is still animate.</p> + +<p class="center">* * * * *</p> + +<p>Each new island which one visits in the West Indies seems more lovely +than its predecessor, always leaving Hayti out of the question; but +Martinique, at this moment of writing, appears to rival all those with +which the author is familiar. It might be a choice bit out of Cuba, +Singapore, or far-away Hawaii. Its liability to destructive hurricanes +is its only visible drawback. Having been discovered on St. Martin's +day, Columbus gave it the name it now bears.</p> + +<p>St. Pierre is the commercial capital of Martinique, one of the French +West Indies, and the largest of the group belonging to that nation. Fort +de France is the political capital, situated about thirty miles from St. +Pierre. It was nearly ruined by the cyclone of last August, a few weeks +after the author's visit. St. Pierre is the best built town in the +Lesser Antilles, and has a population of about twenty-five thousand. The +streets are well paved, and the principal avenues are beautified by +ornamental trees uniformly planted. The grateful shade thus obtained, +and the long lines of charming arboreal perspective which are formed, +are desirable accessories to any locality, but doubly so in tropical +regions. The houses are very attractive, while there is a prevailing +aspect of order, cleanliness, and thrift everywhere apparent. It was not +our experience to meet one beggar in the streets of St. Pierre. More or +less of poverty must exist everywhere, but it does not stalk abroad +here, as it does in many rich and pretentious capitals of the great +world. The island is situated midway between Dominica and St. Lucia, and +is admitted by all visitors to be one of the most picturesque of the +West Indian groups. Irregular in shape, it is also high and rocky, thus +forming one of the most prominent of the large volcanic family which +sprang up so many ages ago in these seas. Its apex, Mont Pelée, an only +partially extinct volcano, rises between four and five thousand feet +above the level of the ocean, and is the first point visible on +approaching the island from the north. It would be interesting to dilate +upon the past history of Martinique, for it has known not a little of +the checkered vicissitudes of these Antilles, having been twice captured +by the English, and twice restored to France. But this would not be in +accordance with the design of these pages.</p> + +<p>St. Pierre is situated on the lee side of the island, something less +than two thousand miles, by the course we have steered, from New York, +and three hundred miles from St. Thomas. It comes down to the very +water's edge, with its parti-colored houses and red-tiled roofs, which +mingle here and there with tall, overhanging cocoa-palms. This is the +most lavishly beautiful tree in the world, and one which never fails to +impart special interest to its surroundings.</p> + +<p>A marble statue in the Place de la Savane, at Fort de France, on the +same side of the island as St. Pierre, recalls the fact that this was +the birthplace of the Empress Josephine, born in 1763. Her memorable +history is too familiar for us to repeat any portion of it here, but the +brain becomes very active at the mere mention of her name, in recalling +the romantic and tragic episodes of her life, so closely interwoven with +the career of the first Napoleon. One instinctively recalls the small +boudoir in the palace of Trianon, where her husband signed the divorce +from Josephine. That he loved her with his whole power for loving is +plain enough, as is also his well known reason for the separation, +namely, the desire for offspring to transmit his name to posterity. +There is one legend which is always rehearsed to strangers, relating to +Josephine's youth upon the island. We refer to that of the old negress +fortune-teller who prognosticated the grandeur of her future career, +together with its melancholy termination, a story so tinctured with +local color that, if it be not absolutely true, it surely ought to be. +The statue, unless we are misinformed, was the gift of that colossal +fraud, Napoleon III., though it purports to have been raised to the +memory of Josephine by the people of Martinique, who certainly feel +great pride in the fact of her having been born here, and who truly +venerate her memory. The statue represents the empress dressed in the +fashion of the First Empire, with bare arms and shoulders, one hand +resting on a medallion bearing a profile of the emperor to whom she was +devoted. The whole is partially shaded by a half dozen grand old palms. +The group teems with historic suggestiveness, recalling one of the most +tragic chapters of modern European history. It seemed to us that the +artist had succeeded in imparting to the figure an expression indicating +something of the sad story of the original.</p> + +<p>This beautiful island, it will be remembered, also gave to France +another remarkable historic character, Françoise d'Aubigné, afterwards +Madame Scarron, but better known to the world at large as Madame de +Maintenon. She, too, was the wife of a king, though the marriage was a +left-handed one, but as the power behind the throne, she is well known +to have shaped for years the political destinies of France.</p> + +<p>St. Pierre has several schools, a very good hotel, a theatre, a +public library, together with some other modern and progressive +institutions; yet somehow everything looked quaint and olden, a +sixteenth century atmosphere seeming to pervade the town. The windows of +the ordinary dwellings have no glass, which is very naturally considered +to be a superfluity in this climate; but these windows have iron bars +and wooden shutters behind them, relics of the days of slavery, when +every white man's house was his castle, and great precautions were taken +to guard against the possible uprising of the blacks, who outnumbered +their masters twenty to one.</p> + +<p>Though so large a portion of the population are of negro descent, yet +they are very French-like in character. The native women especially seem +to be frivolous and coquettish, not to say rather lax in morals. They +appear to be very fond of dress. The young negresses have learned from +their white mistresses how to put on their diaphanous clothing in a +jaunty and telling fashion, leaving one bronzed arm and shoulder bare, +which strikes the eye in strong contrast with the snow white of their +cotton chemises. They are Parisian grisettes in ebony, and with their +large, roguish eyes, well-rounded figures, straight pose, and dainty +ways, the half-breeds are certainly very attractive, and only too ready +for a lark with a stranger. They strongly remind one of the pretty +quadroons of Louisiana, in their manners, complexion, and general +appearance; and like those handsome offspring of mingled blood, so often +seen in our Southern States, we suspect that these of Martinique enjoy +but a brief space of existence. The average life of a quadroon is less +than thirty years.</p> + +<p>Martinique is eight times as large as St. Thomas, containing a +population of about one hundred and seventy-five thousand. Within its +borders there are at least five extinct volcanoes, one of which has an +enormous crater, exceeded by only three or four others in the known +world. The island rises from the sea in three groups of rugged peaks, +and contains some very fertile valleys. So late as 1851, Mont Pelée +burst forth furiously with flames and smoke, which naturally threw the +people into a serious panic, many persons taking refuge temporarily on +board the shipping in the harbor. The eruption on this occasion did not +amount to anything very serious, only covering some hundreds of acres +with sulphurous débris, yet serving to show that the volcano was not +dead, but sleeping. Once or twice since that date ominous mutterings +have been heard from Mont Pelée, which it is confidently predicted will +one day deluge St. Pierre with ashes and lava, repeating the story of +Pompeii.</p> + +<p>Sugar, rum, coffee, and cotton are the staple products here, +supplemented by tobacco, manioc flour, bread-fruit, and bananas. Rum is +very extensively manufactured, and has a good mercantile reputation for +its excellence, commanding as high prices as the more famous article of +the same nature produced at Jamaica. The purpose of the author is mainly +to record personal impressions, but a certain sprinkling of statistics +and detail is inevitable, if we would inform, as well as amuse, the +average reader.</p> + +<p>The flora of Martinique is the marvel and delight of all who have +enjoyed its extraordinary beauty, while the great abundance and variety +of its fruits are believed to be unsurpassed even in the prolific +tropics. Of that favorite, the mango, the island produces some forty +varieties, and probably in no other region has the muscatel grape +reached to such perfection in size and flavor. The whole island looks +like a maze of greenery, as it is approached from the sea, vividly +recalling Tutuila of the Samoan group in the South Pacific. Like most of +the West Indian islands, Martinique was once densely covered with trees, +and a remnant of these ancient woods creeps down to the neighborhood of +St. Pierre to-day.</p> + +<p>The principal landing is crowded at all times with hogsheads of sugar +and molasses, and other casks containing the highly scented island rum, +the two sweets, together with the spirits, causing a nauseous odor under +the powerful heat of a vertical sun. We must not forget to mention, +however, that St. Pierre has a specific for bad odors in her somewhat +peculiar specialty, namely, eau-de-cologne, which is manufactured on +this island, and is equal to the European article of the same name, +distilled at the famous city on the Rhine. No one visits the port, if it +be for but a single day, without bringing away a sample bottle of this +delicate perfumery, a small portion of which, added to the morning bath, +is delightfully refreshing, especially when one uses salt water at sea, +it so effectively removes the saline stickiness which is apt to remain +upon the limbs and body after a cold bath.</p> + +<p>The town is blessed with an inexhaustible supply of good, fresh, +mountain water, which, besides furnishing the necessary quantity for +several large drinking fountains, feeds some ornamental ones, and +purifies the streets by a flow through the gutters, after the fashion of +Salt Lake City, Utah. This is in fact the only system of drainage at St. +Pierre. A bronze fountain in the Place Bertin is fed from this source, +and is an object of great pleasure in a climate where cold water in +abundance is an inestimable boon. This elaborate fountain was the gift +of a colored man, named Alfred Agnew, who was at one time mayor of the +city. Many of the gardens attached to the dwelling-houses are ornamented +with ever-flowing fountains, which impart a refreshing coolness to the +tropical atmosphere.</p> + +<p>The Rue Victor Hugo is the main thoroughfare, traversing the whole +length of the town parallel with the shore, up hill and down, crossing a +small bridge, and finally losing itself in the environs. It is nicely +kept, well paved, and, though it is rather narrow, it is the Broadway of +St. Pierre. Some of the streets are so abrupt in grade as to recall +similar avenues in the English portion of Hong Kong, too steep for the +passage of vehicles, or even for donkeys, being ascended by means of +much worn stone steps. Fine, broad roadways surround the town and form +pleasant drives.</p> + +<p>The cathedral has a sweet chime of bells, whose soft, liquid notes +came to us across the water of the bay with touching cadence at the +Angelus hour. It must be a sadly calloused heart which fails to respond +to these twilight sounds in an isle of the Caribbean Sea. Millet's +impressive picture was vividly recalled as we sat upon the deck and +listened to those bells, whose notes floated softly upon the air as if +bidding farewell to the lingering daylight. At the moment, all else +being so still, it seemed as though one's heartbeat could be heard, +while the senses were bathed in a tranquil gladness incited by the +surrounding scenery and the suggestiveness of the hour.</p> + +<p>Three fourths of the population are half-breeds, born of whites, +blacks, or mulattoes, with a possible strain of Carib blood in their +veins, the result of which is sometimes a very handsome type of bronzed +hue, but of Circassian features. Some of the young women of the better +class are very attractive, with complexions of a gypsy color, like the +artists' models who frequent the "Spanish Stairs" leading to the Trinità +di Monti, at Rome. These girls possess deep, dark eyes, pearly teeth, +with good figures, upright and supple as the palms. In dress they affect +all the colors of the rainbow, presenting oftentimes a charming audacity +of contrasts, and somehow it seems to be quite the thing for them to do +so; it accords perfectly with their complexions, with the climate, with +everything tropical. The many-colored Madras kerchief is universally +worn by the common class of women, twisted into a jaunty turban, with +one well-starched end ingeniously arranged so as to stand upright like a +soldier's plume. The love of ornament is displayed by the wearing of +hoop earrings of enormous size, together with triple strings of gold +beads, and bracelets of the same material. If any one imagines he has +seen larger sized hoop earrings this side of Africa, he is mistaken. +They are more like bangles than earrings, hanging down so as to rest +upon the neck and shoulders. Those who cannot afford the genuine article +satisfy their vanity with gaudy imitations. They form a very curious and +interesting study, these black, brown, and yellow people, both men and +women. In the market-place at the north end of the town, the women +preside over their bananas, oranges, and other fruits, in groups, +squatting like Asiatics on their heels. In the Havana fish market, one +compares the variety of colors exhibited by the fishes exposed for sale +to those of the kaleidoscope, but here the Cuban display is equaled if +not surpassed.</p> + +<p>St. Pierre has a botanical garden, situated about a mile from the +centre of the town, so located as to admit of utilizing a portion of the +native forest yet left standing, with here and there an impenetrable +growth of the feathery bamboo, king of the grasses, interspersed with +the royal palm and lighter green tree-ferns. The bamboo is a marvel, +single stems of it often attaining a height in tropical regions of a +hundred and seventy feet, and a diameter of a foot. So rapid is its +growth that it is sometimes known to attain the height of a hundred feet +in sixty days. Art has done something to improve the advantages afforded +by nature in this botanical garden, arranging some pretty lakes, +fountains, and cascades. Vistas have been cut through the dense +undergrowth, and driveways have been made, thus improving the rather +neglected grounds. One pretty lake of considerable size contains three +or four small islands, covered with flowering plants, while on the shore +are pretty summer houses and inviting arbors. The frangipanni, tall and +almost leafless, but with thick, fleshy shoots and a broad-spread, +single leaf, was recognized here among other interesting plants. This is +the fragrant flower mentioned by the early discoverers. There was also +the parti-colored passion-flower, and groups of odd-shaped cacti, whose +thick, green leaves were daintily rimmed with an odorless yellow bloom. +Here, also, is an interesting example of the ceba-tree, in whose shade a +hundred persons might banquet together. The author has seen specimens of +the ceba superbly developed in Cuba and the Bahamas, with its massive +and curiously buttressed trunk, having the large roots half above +ground. It is a solitary tree, growing to a large size and enjoying +great longevity. Mangoes abound here, the finest known as the <i>mango +d'or</i>. There is a certain air about the public garden of St. Pierre, +indicating that nature is permitted in a large degree to have her own +sweet will. Evidences enough remain to show the visitor that these +grounds must once have been in a much more presentable condition. There +is a musical cascade, which is well worth a long walk to see and enjoy. +Just inside of the entrance, one spot was all ablaze with a tiny yellow +flower, best known to us as English broom, <i>Cytisus genista</i>. Its +profuse but delicate bloom was dazzling beneath the bright sun's rays. +Could it possibly be indigenous? No one could tell us. Probably some +resident brought it hither from his home across the ocean, and it has +kindly adapted itself to the new soil and climate.</p> + +<p>We were cautioned to look out for and to avoid a certain poisonous +snake, a malignant reptile, with fatal fangs, which is the dread of the +inhabitants, some of whom are said to die every year from the venom of +the creature. It will be remembered that one of these snakes, known here +as the <i>fer-de-lance</i>, bit Josephine, the future empress, when she +was very young, and that her faithful negro nurse saved the child's life +by instantly drawing the poison from the wound with her own lips. It is +singular that this island, and that of St. Lucia, directly south of it, +should be cursed by the presence of these poisonous creatures, which do +not exist in any other of the West Indian islands, and, indeed, so far +as we know, are not to be found anywhere else. The fer-de-lance has one +fatal enemy. This is a large snake, harmless so far as poisonous fangs +are concerned, called the <i>cribo</i>. This reptile fearlessly attacks +the fer-de-lance, and kills and eats him in spite of his venom, a +perfectly justifiable if not gratifying instance of cannibalism, where a +creature eats and relishes the body of one of its own species. The +domestic cat is said also to be more than a match for the dreaded snake, +and instinctively adopts a style of attack which, while protecting +itself, finally closes the contest by the death of the fer-de-lance, +which it seizes just back of the head at the spine, and does not let go +until it has severed the head from the body; and even then instinct +teaches the cat to avoid the head, for though it be severed from the +body, like the mouth of a turtle under similar circumstances, it can +still inflict a serious wound.</p> + +<p>The fer-de-lance is a great destroyer of rats, this rodent forming +its principal source of food. Now as rats are almost as much of a pest +upon the island, and especially on the sugar plantations, as rabbits are +in New Zealand, it will be seen that even the existence of this +poisonous snake is not an unmitigated evil.</p> + +<p>Crosses and wayside shrines of a very humble character are to be seen +in all directions on the roadsides leading from St. Pierre, recalling +similar structures which line the inland roads of Japan, where the local +religion finds like public expression, only varying in the character of +the emblems. At Martinique it is a Christ or a Madonna; in Japan it is a +crude idol of some sort, the more hideous, the more appropriate. The +same idea is to be seen carried out in the streets of Canton and +Shanghai, only Chinese idols are a degree more unlike anything upon or +below the earth than they are elsewhere.</p> + +<p>It was observed that while there were plenty of masculine loafers and +careless idlers of various colors, whose whole occupation seemed to be +sucking at some form of burning tobacco in the shape of cigarette, +cigar, or pipe, the women, of whatever complexion, seen in public, were +all usefully employed. They are industrious by instinct; one almost +never sees them in repose. In the transportation of all articles of +domestic use, women bear them upon their heads, whether the article +weighs one pound or fifty, balancing their load without making use of +the hands except to place the article in position. The women not +infrequently have also a baby upon their backs at the same time. +Negresses and donkeys perform nine tenths of the transportation of +merchandise. Wheeled vehicles are very little used in the West Indian +islands. As we have seen, even in coaling ship, it is the women who do +the work.</p> + +<p>The Hotel des Bains, at St. Pierre, is an excellent hostelry, as such +places go in this part of the world. The stranger will find here most of +the requisites for domestic comfort, and at reasonable prices. As a +health resort the place has its advantages, and a northern invalid, +wishing to escape the rigor of a New England winter, would doubtless +find much to occupy and recuperate him here. St. Pierre, however, has +times of serious epidemic sickness, though this does not often happen in +the winter season. Three or four years ago the island was visited by a +sweeping epidemic of small-pox, but it raged almost entirely among the +lowest classes, principally among the negroes, who seem to have a great +prejudice and superstitious fear relating to vaccination, and its +employment as a preventive against contracting the disease. In the +yellow fever season the city suffers more or less, but the health of St. +Pierre will average as good as that of our extreme Southern States; and +yet, after all, with the earthquakes, hurricanes, tarantulas, scorpions, +and deadly fer-de-lance, as Artemus Ward would say, Martinique presents +many characteristics to recommend protracted absence. A brief visit is +like a poem to be remembered, but one soon gets a surfeit of the +circumscribed island.</p> + +<p>Our next objective point was Barbadoes, to reach which we sailed one +hundred and fifty miles to the eastward, this most important of the +Lesser Antilles being situated further to windward, that is, nearer the +continent of Europe. Our ponderous anchor came up at early morning, just +as the sun rose out of the long, level reach of waters. It looked like a +mammoth ball of fire, which had been immersed during the hours of the +night countless fathoms below the sea. Presently everything was aglow +with light and warmth, while the atmosphere seemed full of infinitesimal +particles of glittering gold. At first one could watch the face of the +rising sun, as it came peering above the sea, a sort of fascination +impelling the observer to do so, but after a few moments, no human eye +could bear its dazzling splendor.</p> + +<p>Said an honest old Marshfield farmer, in 1776, who met the clergyman +of the village very early in the opening day: "Ah, good mornin', Parson, +another fine day," nodding significantly towards the sun just appearing +above the cloudless horizon of Massachusetts Bay. "They do say the airth +moves, and the sun stands still; but you and I, Parson, we git up airly +and we <i>see</i> it rise!"</p> + +<p class="p4"><a name="Ch_3"></a></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER III.</h3> + +<p class="blockquote">English Island of Barbadoes.—Bridgetown the +Capital.—The Manufacture of Rum.—A Geographical +Expert.—Very English.—A Pest of +Ants.—Exports.—The Ice House.—A Dense +Population.—Educational.—Marine Hotel.—Habits of +Gambling.—Hurricanes.—Curious Antiquities.—The +Barbadoes Leg.—Wakeful Dreams.—Absence of +Twilight.—Departure from the Island.</p> + +<p class="p2">Bridgetown is the capital of Barbadoes, an English island +which, unlike St. Thomas, is a highly cultivated sugar plantation from +shore to shore. In natural beauty, however, it will not compare with +Martinique. It is by no means picturesquely beautiful, like most of the +West Indian islands, being quite devoid of their thick tropical verdure. +Nature is here absolutely beaten out of the field by excessive +cultivation. Thirty thousand acres of sugar-cane are cut annually, +yielding, according to late statistics, about seventy thousand hogsheads +of sugar. We are sorry to add that there are twenty-three rum +distilleries on the island, which do pecuniarily a thriving business. +"The poorest molasses makes the best rum," said an experienced manager +to us. He might well have added that it is also the poorest use to which +it could be put. This spirit, like all produced in the West Indies, is +called Jamaica rum, and though a certain amount of it is still shipped +to the coast of Africa, the return cargoes no longer consist of +kidnapped negroes. The article known as New England rum, still +manufactured in the neighborhood of Boston, has always disputed the +African market, so to speak, with the product of these islands. Rum is +the bane of Africa, just as opium is of China, the former thrust upon +the native races by Americans, the latter upon the Chinese by English +merchants, backed by the British government. Events follow each other so +swiftly in modern times as to become half forgotten by contemporary +people, but there are those among us who remember when China as a nation +tried to stop the importation of the deadly drug yielded by the poppy +fields of India, whereupon England forced the article upon her at the +point of the bayonet.</p> + +<p>Bridgetown is situated at the west end of the island on the open +roadstead of Carlisle Bay, and has a population of over twenty-five +thousand. Barbadoes lies about eighty miles to the windward of St. +Vincent, its nearest neighbor, and is separated from Europe by four +thousand miles of the Atlantic Ocean. It is comparatively removed from +the chain formed by the Windward Isles, its situation being so isolated +that it remained almost unnoticed until a century had passed after +Columbus's first discovery in these waters. The area of the British +possessions in the West Indies is about one seventh of the islands. It +is often stated that Barbadoes is nearly as large as the Isle of Wight, +but the fact is, it exceeds that island in superficial area, being a +little over fifty-five miles in circumference. The reader will perhaps +remember that it was here Addison laid the scene of his touching story +of "Inkle and Yarico," published so many years ago in the +"Spectator."</p> + +<p>Though it is not particularly well laid out, Bridgetown makes a very +pleasing picture, as a whole, when seen from the harbor. Here and there +a busy windmill is mixed with tall and verdant tropical trees, backed by +far-reaching fields of yellow sugar-cane, together with low, sloping +hills. The buildings are mostly of stone, or coral rock, and the town +follows the graceful curve of the bay. The streets are macadamized and +lighted with gas, but are far too narrow for business purposes. The +island is about twenty-one miles long and between fourteen and fifteen +broad, the shores being nearly inclosed in a cordon of coral reefs, some +of which extend for two or three miles seaward, demanding of navigators +the greatest care on seeking a landing, though the course into the roads +to a suitable anchorage is carefully buoyed.</p> + +<p>Barbadoes was originally settled by the Portuguese, who here found +the branches of a certain forest tree covered with hair-like hanging +moss, from whence its somewhat peculiar name, Barbadoes, or the "bearded +place," is supposed to have been derived. Probably this was the Indian +fig-tree, still found here, and which lives for many centuries, growing +to enormous proportions. In India, Ceylon, and elsewhere in Asia, it is +held sacred. The author has seen one of these trees at Kandy, in the +island of Ceylon, under which sacred rites have taken place constantly +for a thousand years or more, and whose widespread branches could +shelter five hundred people from the heat of the sun. It stands close by +the famous old Buddhist temple wherein is preserved the tooth of the +prophet, and before which devout Indians prostrate themselves daily, +coming from long distances to do so. Indeed, Kandy is the Mecca of +Ceylon.</p> + +<p>A good share of even the reading public of England would be puzzled +to tell an inquirer exactly where Barbadoes is situated, while most of +those who have any idea about it have gained such knowledge as they +possess from Captain Marryat's clever novel of "Peter Simple," where the +account is, to be sure, meagre enough. Still later, those who have read +Anthony Trollope's "West Indies and the Spanish Main" have got from the +flippant pages of that book some idea of the island, though it is a very +disagreeable example of Trollope's pedantic style.</p> + +<p>"Barbadoes? Barbadoes?" said a society man to the writer of these +pages, in all seriousness, just as he was about to sail from New York, +"that's on the coast of Africa, is it not?" + +"Oh, no," was the reply, "it is one of the islands of the Lesser +Antilles."</p> + +<p>"Where are the Antilles, pray?" + +"You must surely know."</p> + +<p>"But I do not, nevertheless; haven't the remotest idea. Fact is, +geography never was one of my strong points."</p> + +<p>With which remark we silently agreed, and yet our friend is reckoned +to be a fairly educated, cultured person, as these expressions are +commonly used. Probably he represents the average geographical knowledge +of one half the people to be met with in miscellaneous society.</p> + +<p>This is the first English possession where the sugarcane was planted, +and is one of the most ancient colonies of Great Britain. It bears no +resemblance to the other islands in these waters, that is, +topographically, nor, indeed, in the character of its population, being +entirely English. The place might be a bit taken out of any shire town +of the British home island, were it only a little more cleanly and less +unsavory; still it is more English than West Indian. The manners and +customs are all similar to those of the people of that nationality; the +negroes, and their descendants of mixed blood, speak the same tongue as +the denizens of St. Giles, London. The island has often been called +"Little England." There is no reliable history of Barbadoes before the +period when Great Britain took possession of it, some two hundred and +sixty years ago. Government House is a rather plain but pretentious +dwelling, where the governor has his official and domestic residence. In +its rear there is a garden, often spoken of by visitors, which is +beautified by some of the choicest trees and shrubs of this latitude. It +is really surprising how much a refined taste and skillful gardening can +accomplish in so circumscribed a space.</p> + +<p>Barbadoes is somewhat remarkable as producing a variety of minerals; +among which are coal, manganese, iron, kaolin, and yellow ochre. There +are also one or two localities on the island where a flow of petroleum +is found, of which some use is made. It is called Barbadoes tar, and +were the supply sufficient to warrant the use of refining machinery, it +would undoubtedly produce a good burning fluid. There is a "burning +well," situated in what is known as the Scotland District, where the +water emerging from the earth forms a pool, which is kept in a state of +ebullition from the inflammable air or gas which passes through it. This +gas, when lighted by a match, burns freely until extinguished by +artificial means, not rising in large enough quantities to make a great +flame, but still sufficient to create the effect of burning water, and +forming quite a curiosity.</p> + +<p>There are no mountains on the island, but the land is undulating, and +broken into hills and dales; one elevation, known as Mount Hillaby, +reaches a thousand feet and more above the level of tide waters.</p> + +<p>One of the most serious pests ever known at Barbadoes was the +introduction of ants, by slave-ships from Africa. No expedient of human +ingenuity served to rid the place of their destructive presence, and it +was at one time seriously proposed to abandon the island on this +account. After a certain period nature came to the rescue. She does all +things royally, and the hurricane of 1780 completely annihilated the +vermin. Verily, it was appropriate to call Barbadoes in those days the +<ins title="hyphenated in the original">Antilles</ins>! It appears that +there is no affliction quite unmixed with good, and that we must put a +certain degree of faith in the law of compensation, however great the +seeming evil under which we suffer. To our limited power of +comprehension, a destructive hurricane does seem an extreme resort by +which to crush out an insect pest. The query might even arise, with some +minds, whether the cure was not worse than the disorder.</p> + +<p>The exports from the island consist almost wholly of molasses, sugar, +and rum, products of the cane, which grows all over the place, in every +nook and corner, from hilltop to water's edge. The annual export, as +already intimated, is considerably over sixty thousand hogsheads. Sugar +cannot, however, be called king of any one section, since half of the +amount manufactured in the whole world is the product of the beet root, +the growth of which is liberally subsidized by more than one European +government, in order to foster local industry. Like St. Thomas, this +island has been almost denuded of its forest growth, and is occasionally +liable, as we have seen, to destructive hurricanes.</p> + +<p>Bridgetown is a place of considerable progress, having several +benevolent and educational institutions; it also possesses railway, +telephone, and telegraphic service. Its export trade aggregates over +seven million dollars per annum, to accommodate which amount of commerce +causes a busy scene nearly all the time in the harbor. The steam railway +referred to connects the capital with the Parish of St. Andrews, +twenty-one miles away on the other side of the island, its terminus +being at the thrifty little town of Bathsheba, a popular resort, which +is noted for its fine beach and excellent sea bathing.</p> + +<p>The cathedral is consecrated to the established religion of the +Church of England, and is a picturesque, time-worn building, surrounded, +after the style of rural England, by a quaint old graveyard, the +monuments and slabs of which are gray and moss-grown, some of them +bearing dates of the earlier portion of the sixteenth century. This spot +forms a very lovely, peaceful picture, where the graves are shaded by +tree-ferns and stately palms. Somehow one cannot but miss the tall, slim +cypress, which to the European and American eye seems so especially +appropriate to such a spot. There were clusters of low-growing +mignonette, which gave out a faint perfume exactly suited to the solemn +shades which prevailed, and here and there bits of ground enameled with +blue-eyed violets. The walls of the inside of the church are covered +with memorial tablets, and there is an organ of great power and +sweetness of tone.</p> + +<p>The "Ice House," so called, at Bridgetown is a popular resort, which +everybody visits who comes to Barbadoes. Here one can find files of all +the latest American and European papers, an excellent café, with drinks +and refreshments of every conceivable character, and can purchase almost +any desired article from a toothpick to a set of parlor furniture. It is +a public library, an exchange, a "Bon Marché," and an artificial ice +manufactory, all combined. Strangers naturally make it a place of +rendezvous. It seemed to command rather more of the average citizen's +attention than did legitimate business, and one is forced to admit that +although the drinks which were so generously dispensed were cool and +appetizing, they were also very potent. It was observed that some +individuals, who came into the hospitable doors rather sober and +dejected in expression of features, were apt to go out just a little +jolly.</p> + +<p>The Ice House is an institution of these islands, to be found at St. +Thomas, Demerara, and Trinidad, as well as at Barbadoes. Havana has a +similar retreat, but calls it a café, situated on the Paseo, near the +Tacon Theatre.</p> + +<p>The population of the island amounts to about one hundred and +seventy-two thousand,—the census of 1881 showed it to be a trifle +less than this,—giving the remarkable density of one thousand and +more persons to the square mile, thus forming an immense human beehive. +It is the only one of the West Indian islands from which a certain +amount of emigration is necessary annually. The large negro population +makes labor almost incredibly cheap, field-hands on the plantations +being paid only one shilling per day; and yet, so ardent is their love +of home—and the island is home to them—that only a few can +be induced to leave it in search of better wages. When it is remembered +that the State of Massachusetts, which is considered to be one of the +most thickly populated sections of the United States, contains but two +hundred and twenty persons to the square mile, the fact that this West +Indian island supports over one thousand inhabitants in the same average +space will be more fully appreciated. Notwithstanding this crowded state +of the population, we were intelligently informed that while petty +offenses are common, there is a marked absence of serious crimes.</p> + +<p>One sees few if any signs of poverty here. It is a land of +sugar-cane, yams, and sweet potatoes, very prolific, and very easily +tilled. Some of the most prosperous men on the island are colored +planters, who own their large establishments, though born slaves, +perhaps on the very ground they now own. They have by strict economy and +industry saved money enough to make a fair beginning, and in the course +of years have gradually acquired wealth. One plantation, owned by a +colored man, born of slave parents, was pointed out to us, with the +information that it was worth twenty thousand pounds sterling, and that +its last year's crop yielded over three hundred hogsheads of sugar, +besides a considerable quantity of molasses.</p> + +<p>England maintains at heavy expense a military depot here, from which +to draw under certain circumstances. There is no local necessity for +supporting such a force. Georgetown is a busy place. Being the most +seaward of the West Indies, it has become the chief port of call for +ships navigating these seas. The Caribbees are divided by geographers +into the Windward and Leeward islands, in accordance with the direction +in which they lie with regard to the prevailing winds. They are in very +deep water, the neighboring sea having a mean depth of fifteen hundred +fathoms. Being so far eastward, Barbadoes enjoys an exceptionally +equable climate, and it is claimed for it that it has a lower +thermometer than any other West Indian island. Its latitude is 13° 4' +north, longitude 59° 37' west, within eight hundred miles of the +equator. The prevailing wind blows from the northeast, over the broad, +unobstructed Atlantic, rendering the evenings almost always delightfully +cool, tempered by this grateful tonic breath of the ocean.</p> + +<p>Trafalgar Square, Bridgetown, contains a handsome fountain, and a +bronze statue of Nelson which, as a work of art, is simply atrocious. +From this broad, open square the tramway cars start, and it also forms a +general business centre.</p> + +<p>The home government supports, besides its other troops, a regiment of +negroes uniformed as Zouaves and officered by white men. The police of +Bridgetown are also colored men. Slavery was abolished here in 1833. +Everything is so thoroughly English, that only the temperature, together +with the vegetation, tells the story of latitude and longitude. The soil +has been so closely cultivated as to have become partially exhausted, +and this is the only West Indian island, if we are correctly informed, +where artificial enrichment is considered necessary to stimulate the +native soil, or where it has ever been freely used. "I question," said +an intelligent planter to us, "whether we should not be better off +to-day, if we had not so overstimulated, in fact, burned out, our land +with guano and phosphates." These are to the ground like intoxicants to +human beings,—if over-indulged in they are fatal, and even the +partial use is of questionable advantage. The Chinese and Japanese apply +only domestic refuse in their fields as a manure, and no people obtain +such grand results as they do in agriculture. They know nothing of +patent preparations employed for such purposes, and yet will render a +spot of ground profitable which a European would look upon as absolutely +not worth cultivating.</p> + +<p>In any direction from Bridgetown going inland, miles upon miles of +plantations are seen bearing the bright green sugar-cane, turning to +yellow as it ripens, and giving splendid promise for the harvest. Here +and there are grouped a low cluster of cabins, which form the quarters +of the negroes attached to the plantation, while close at hand the tall +chimney of the sugar mill looms over the surrounding foliage. A little +one side, shaded by some palms, is the planter's neat and attractive +residence, painted snow white, in contrast to the deep greenery +surrounding it, and having a few flower beds in its front.</p> + +<p>The Marine Hotel, which is admirably situated on a rocky point at +Hastings, three hundred feet above the beach, is about a league from the +city, and forms a favorite resort for the townspeople. The house is +capable of accommodating three hundred guests at a time. Its spacious +piazzas fronting the ocean are constantly fanned by the northeast trades +from October to March. Some New York families regard the place as a +choice winter resort, the thermometer rarely indicating over 80° Fahr., +or falling below 70°. This suburb of Hastings is the location of the +army barracks, where a broad plain affords admirable space for drill and +military manœuvres. There is a monument at Hastings, raised to the +memory of the victims of the hurricane of 1831, which seems to be rather +unpleasantly suggestive of future possibilities. Near at hand is a +well-arranged mile racecourse, a spot very dear to the army officers, +where during the racing season any amount of money is lost and won. +There seems to be something in this tropical climate which incites to +all sorts of gambling, and the habit among the people is so common as to +be looked upon with great leniency. Just so, at some of the summer +resorts of the south of France, Italy, and Germany, ladies or gentlemen +will frankly say, "I am going to the Casino for a little gambling, but +will be back again by and by."</p> + +<p>The roads in the vicinity of Bridgetown are admirably kept, all being +macadamized, but the dust which rises from the pulverized coral rock is +nearly blinding, and together with the reflection caused by the sun on +the snow white roads proves very trying to the eyesight. The dust and +glare are serious drawbacks to the enjoyment of these environs.</p> + +<p>As we have said, hurricanes have proved very fatal at Barbadoes. In +1780, four thousand persons were swept out of existence in a few hours +by the irresistible fury of a tornado. So late as 1831, the loss of life +by a similar visitation was over two thousand, while the loss of +property aggregated some two million pounds sterling. The experience has +not, however, been so severe here as at several of the other islands. At +the time of the hurricane just referred to, Barbadoes was covered with a +coat of sulphurous ashes nearly an inch thick, which was afterwards +found to have come from the island of St. Vincent, where what is called +Brimstone Mountain burst forth in flames and laid that island also in +ashes. It is interesting to note that there should have been such +intimate relationship shown between a great atmospheric disturbance like +a hurricane and an underground agitation as evinced by the eruption of a +volcano.</p> + +<p>It should be mentioned that these hurricanes have never been known to +pass a certain limit north or south, their ravages having always been +confined between the eleventh and twenty-first degrees of north +latitude.</p> + +<p>It appears that some curious Carib implements were found not long +since just below the surface of the earth on the south shore of the bay, +which are to be forwarded to the British Museum, London. These were of +hard stone, and were thought by the finders to have been used by the +aborigines to fell trees. Some were thick shells, doubtless employed by +the Indians in the rude cultivation of maize, grown here four or five +hundred years ago. It was said that these stone implements resembled +those which have been found from time to time in Norway and Sweden. If +this is correct, it is an important fact for antiquarians to base a +theory upon. Some scientists believe that there was, in prehistoric +times, an intimate relationship between Scandinavia and the continent of +America.</p> + +<p>Though there are several public schools in Bridgetown, both primary +and advanced, we were somehow impressed with the idea that education for +the common people was not fostered in a manner worthy of a British +colony of so long standing; but this is the impression of a casual +observer only. There is a college situated ten or twelve miles from the +city, founded by Sir Christopher Codrington, which has achieved a high +reputation as an educational institution in its chosen field of +operation. It is a large structure of white stone, well-arranged, and +is, as we were told, consistent with the spirit of the times. It has the +dignity of ripened experience, having been opened in 1744. The +professors are from Europe. A delicious fresh water spring rises to the +surface of the land just below the cliff, at Codrington College, a +blessing which people who live in the tropics know how to appreciate. +There is also at Bridgetown what is known as Harrison's College, which, +however, is simply a high school devoted exclusively to girls.</p> + +<p>The island is not exempt from occasional prevalence of tropical +fevers, but may be considered a healthy resort upon the whole. Leprosy +is not unknown among the lower classes, and elephantiasis is frequently +to be met with. This disease is known in the West Indies as the +"Barbadoes Leg." Sometimes a native may be seen on the streets with one +of his legs swollen to the size of his body. There is no known cure for +this disease except the surgeon's knife, and the removal of the victim +from the region where it first developed itself. The author has seen +terrible cases of elephantiasis among the natives of the Samoan group of +islands, where this strange and unaccountable disease is thought to have +reached its most extreme and repulsive development. Foreigners are +seldom if ever afflicted with it, either in the West Indies or the South +Pacific.</p> + +<p>We are to sail to-night. A few passengers and a quantity of freight +have been landed, while some heavy merchandise has been received on +board, designed for continental ports to the southward. The afternoon +shadows lengthen upon the shore, and the sunset hour, so brief in this +latitude, approaches. The traveler who has learned to love the lingering +twilight of the north misses these most charming hours when in +equatorial regions, but as the goddess of night wraps her sombre mantle +about her, it is so superbly decked with diamond stars that the departed +daylight is hardly regretted. It is like the prompter's ringing up of +the curtain upon a complete theatrical scene; the glory of the tropical +sky bursts at once upon the vision in all its completeness, its burning +constellations, its solitaire brilliants, its depth of azure, and its +mysterious Milky Way.</p> + +<p>While sitting under the awning upon deck, watching the gentle swaying +palms and tall fern-trees, listening to the low drone of busy life in +the town, and breathing the sweet exhalations of tropical fruits and +flowers, a trance-like sensation suffuses the brain. Is this the +<i>dolce far niente</i> of the Italians, the sweet do-nothing of the +tropics? To us, however defined, it was a waking dream of sensuous +delight, of entire content. How far away sounds the noise of the +steam-winch, the sharp chafing of the iron pulleys, the prompt orders of +the officer of the deck, the swinging of the ponderous yards, the +rattling of the anchor chain as it comes in through the hawse hole, +while the ship gradually loses her hold upon the land. With half closed +eyes we scarcely heard these many significant sounds, but floated +peacefully on in an Eden of fancy, quietly leaving Carlisle Bay far +behind.</p> + +<p>Our course was to the southward, while everything, high and low, was +bathed in a flood of shimmering moonlight, the magic alchemy of the sky, +whose influence etherealizes all upon which it rests.</p> + +<p class="p4"><a name="Ch_4"></a></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER IV.</h3> + +<p class="blockquote">Curious Ocean Experiences.—The Delicate +Nautilus.—Flying-Fish.—The Southern Cross.—Speaking a +Ship at Sea.—Scientific Navigation.—South America as a +Whole.—Fauna and Flora.—Natural Resources of a Wonderful +Land.—Rivers, Plains, and Mountain Ranges.—Aboriginal +Tribes.—Population.—Political Divisions.—Civil +Wars.—Weakness of South American States.</p> + +<p class="p2">The sudden appearance of a school of flying-fish gliding +swiftly through the air for six or eight rods just above the rippling +waves, and then sinking from sight; the sportive escort of half a +hundred slate-colored porpoises, leaping high out of the water on either +bow of the ship only to plunge back again, describing graceful curves; +the constant presence of that sullen tiger of the ocean, the voracious, +man-eating shark, betrayed by its dorsal fin showing above the surface +of the sea; the sporting of mammoth whales, sending columns of water +high in air from their blowholes, and lashing the waves playfully with +their broad-spread tails, are events at sea too commonplace to comment +upon in detail, though they tend to while away the inevitable monotony +of a long voyage.</p> + +<p>Speaking of flying-fish, there is more in the flying capacity of this +little creature than is generally admitted, else why has it wings on the +forward part of its body, each measuring seven inches in length? If +designed only for fins, they are altogether out of proportion to the +rest of its body. They are manifestly intended for just the use to which +the creature puts them. One was brought to us by a seaman; how it got on +board we know not, but it measured eleven inches from the nose to the +tip of the tail fin, and was in shape and size very much like a small +mackerel. After leaving Barbadoes, we got into what sailors call the +flying-fish latitudes, where they appear constantly in their low, rapid +flight, sometimes singly, but oftener in small schools of a score or +more, creating flashes of silvery-blue lustre. The most careful +observation could detect no vibration of the long, extended fins; the +tiny fish sailed, as it were, upon the wind, the flight of the giant +albatross in miniature.</p> + +<p>One afternoon, when the sea was scarcely dimpled by the soft trade +wind, we came suddenly upon myriads of that little fairy of the ocean, +the gossamer nautilus, with its Greek galleon shape, and as frail, +apparently, as a spider's web. What a gondola it would make for Queen +Mab! How delicate and transparent it is, while radiating prismatic +colors! A touch might dismember it, yet what a daring navigator, +floating confidently upon the sea where the depth is a thousand fathoms, +liable at any moment to be changed into raging billows by an angry +storm! How minute the vitality of this graceful atom, a creature whose +existence is perhaps for only a single day; yet how grand and limitless +the system of life and creation of which it is so humble a +representative! Sailors call these frail marine creatures Portuguese +men-of-war. Possessing some singular facility for doing so, if they are +disturbed, they quickly furl their sails and sink below the surface of +the buoyant waves into deep water, the home of the octopus, the squid, +and the voracious shark. Did they, one is led to query, navigate these +seas after this fashion before the Northmen came across the ocean, and +before Columbus landed at San Salvador? At night the glory of the +southern hemisphere, as revealed in new constellations and brighter +stars brought into view, was observed with keenest +interest,—"Everlasting Night, with her star diadems, with her +silence, and her verities." The phosphorescence of the sea, with its +scintillations of brilliant light, its ripples of liquid fire, the crest +of each wave a flaming cascade, was a charming phenomenon one never +tired of watching. If it be the combination of millions and billions of +animalculæ which thus illumines the waters, then these infinitesimal +creatures are the fireflies of the ocean, as the cucuios, that fairy +torch-bearer, is of the land. Gliding on the magic mirror of the South +Atlantic, in which the combined glory of the sky was reflected with +singular clearness, it seemed as though we were sailing over a starry +world below.</p> + +<p>While observing the moon in its beautiful series of changes, lighting +our way by its chaste effulgence night after night, it was difficult to +realize that it shines entirely by the light which it borrows from the +sun; but it was easy to believe the simpler fact, that of all the +countless hosts of the celestial bodies, she is our nearest neighbor. +"An eighteen-foot telescope reveals to the human eye over forty million +stars," said Captain Baker, as we stood together gazing at the luminous +heavens. "And if we entertain the generally accepted idea," he +continued, "we must believe that each one of that enormous aggregate of +stars is the centre of a solar system similar to our own." The known +facts relating to the stars, like stellar distances, are almost +incomprehensible.</p> + +<p>One cannot but realize that there is always a certain amount of +sentiment wasted on the constellation known as the Southern Cross by +passengers bound to the lands and seas over which it hangs. Orion or the +Pleiades, either of them, is infinitely superior in point of brilliancy, +symmetry, and individuality. A lively imagination is necessary to endow +this irregular cluster of stars with any real resemblance to the +Christian emblem for which it is named. It serves the navigator in the +southern hemisphere, in part, the same purpose which the north star does +in our portion of the globe, and there our own respect for it as a +constellation ends. Much poetic talent has been expended for ages to +idealize the Southern Cross, which is, alas! no cross at all. We have +seen a person unfamiliar with the locality of this constellation strive +long and patiently, but in vain, to find it. It should be remembered +that two prominent stars in Centaurus point directly to it. The one +furthest from the so called cross is held to be the fixed star nearest +to the earth, but its distance from us is twenty thousand times farther +than that of the sun.</p> + +<p>We have never yet met a person, looking upon this cluster of the +heavens for the first time, who did not frankly express his +disappointment. Anticipation and fruition are oftenest at antipodes.</p> + +<p>The graceful marine birds which follow the ship, day after day, +darting hither and thither with arrowy swiftness, lured by the +occasional refuse thrown from on board, would be seriously missed were +they to leave us. Watching their aerial movements and untiring power of +wing, while listening to their sharp complaining cries, is a source of +constant amusement. Even rough weather and a raging sea, if not +accompanied by too serious a storm, is sometimes welcome, serving to +awaken the ship from its dull propriety, and to put officers, crew, and +passengers upon their mettle. To speak a strange vessel at sea is always +interesting. If it is a steamer, a long, black wake of smoke hanging +among the clouds at the horizon betrays her proximity long before the +hull is sighted. All eyes are on the watch until she comes clearly +within the line of vision, gradually increasing in size and distinctness +of outline, until presently the spars and rigging are minutely +delineated. Then speculation is rife as to whence she comes and where +she is going. By and by the two ships approach so near that signal flags +can be read, and the captains talk with each other, exchanging names, +whither bound, and so on. Then each commander dips his flag in +compliment to the other, and the ships rapidly separate. All of this is +commonplace enough, but serves to while away an hour, and insures a +report of our progress and safety at the date of meeting, when the +stranger reaches his port of destination.</p> + +<p>We have spoken of the pleasure experienced at sea in watching +intelligently the various phases of the moon. The subject is a prolific +one; a whole chapter might be written upon it.</p> + +<p>It is perhaps hardly realized by the average landsman, and indeed by +few who constantly cross the ocean, with their thoughts and interests +absorbed by the many attractive novelties of the ocean, how important a +part this great luminary plays in the navigation of a ship. It is to the +intelligent and observant mariner the never-failing watch of the sky, +the stars performing the part of hands to designate the proper figure +upon the dial. If there is occasion to doubt the correctness of his +chronometer, the captain of the ship can verify its figures or correct +them by this planet. Every minute that the chronometer is wrong, +assuming that it be so, may put him fifteen miles out of his reckoning, +which, under some circumstances, might prove to be a fatal error, even +leading to the loss of his ship and all on board. To find his precise +location upon the ocean, the navigator requires both Greenwich time and +local meridian time, the latter obtained by the sun on shipboard, +exactly at midday. To get Greenwich time by lunar observation, the +captain, for example, finds that the moon is three degrees from the star +Regulus. By referring to his nautical almanac he sees recorded there the +Greenwich time at which the moon was three degrees from that particular +star. He then compares his chronometer with these figures, and either +confirms or corrects its indication. It is interesting to the traveler +to observe and understand these important resources, which science has +brought to bear in perfecting his safety on the ocean, promoting the +interests of commerce, and in aid of correct navigation. The experienced +captain of a ship now lays his course as surely by compass, after +satisfying himself by these various means of his exact position, as +though the point of his destination was straight before him all the +while, and visible from the pilot house.</p> + +<p>How indescribable is the grandeur of these serene nights on the +ocean, fanned by the somnolent trade winds; a little lonely, perhaps, +but so blessed with the hallowed benediction of the moonlight, so +gorgeously decorated by the glittering images of the studded heavens, so +sweet and pure and fragrant is the breath of the sleeping wind! If one +listens intently, there seems to come to the senses a whispering of the +waves, as though the sea in confidence would tell its secrets to a +willing ear.</p> + +<p>The ship heads almost due south after leaving Barbadoes, when her +destination is, as in our case, Pará, twelve hundred miles away. On this +course we encounter the equatorial current, which runs northward at a +rate of two miles in an hour, and at some points reaches a much higher +rate of speed.</p> + +<p>As eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, so eternal scrubbing is +the price of cleanliness on shipboard. The deck hands are at it from +five o'clock in the morning until sunset. Our good ship looks as if she +had just come out of dock. Last night's gale, which in its angry turmoil +tossed us about so recklessly, covered her with a saline, sticky +deposit; but with the rising of the sun all this disappears as if by +magic. The many brass mountings shine with dazzling lustre, and the +white paint contrasts with the well-tarred cordage which forms the +standing rigging.</p> + +<p>While the ship pursues her course through the far-reaching ocean, let +us sketch in outline the general characteristics of South America, +whither we are bound.</p> + +<p>It is a country containing twice the area, though not quite one half +the amount of population, of the United States, a land which, though now +presenting nearly all phases of civilization, was four centuries ago +mostly inhabited by nomadic tribes of savages, who knew nothing of the +horse, the ox, or the sheep, which to-day form so great and important a +source of its wealth, and where wheat, its prevailing staple, was also +unknown. It is a land overflowing with native riches, which possesses an +unlimited capacity of production, and whose large and increasing +population requires just such domestic supplies as we of the north can +profitably furnish. The important treaty of reciprocity, so lately +arranged between the giant province of Brazil—or rather we should +say the Republic of Brazil—and our own country, is already +developing new and increasing channels of trade for our shippers and +producers of the great staples, as well as throwing open to us a new +nation of consumers for our special articles of manufacture. Facts speak +louder than words. On the voyage in which the author sailed in the +Vigilancia, she took over twenty thousand barrels of flour to Brazil +from the United States, and would have taken more had her capacity +admitted. Every foot of space on board was engaged for the return +voyage, twelve thousand bags of coffee being shipped from Rio Janeiro +alone, besides nearly as large a consignment of coffee from Santos, in +the same republic. The great mutual benefit which must accrue from this +friendly compact with an enterprising foreign country can hardly be +overestimated. These considerations lead to a community of interests, +which will grow by every reasonable means of familiarizing the people of +the two countries with each other. Hence the possible and practical +value of such a work as the one in hand.</p> + +<p>By briefly consulting one of the many cheap and excellent maps of the +western hemisphere, the patient reader will be enabled to follow the +route taken by the author with increased interest and a clearer +understanding.</p> + +<p>It is surprising, in conversing with otherwise intelligent and +well-informed people, to find how few there are, comparatively speaking, +who have any fixed and clear idea relative to so large a portion of the +habitable globe as South America. The average individual seems to know +less of the gigantic river Amazon than he does of the mysterious Nile, +and is less familiar with that grand, far-reaching water-way, the Plate, +than he is with the sacred Ganges; yet one can ride from Buenos Ayres in +the Argentine Republic, across the wild pampas, to the base of the Andes +in a Pullman palace car. There is no part of the globe concerning which +so little is written, and no other portion which is not more sought by +travelers; in short, it is less known to the average North American than +New Zealand or Australia.</p> + +<p>The vast peninsula which we call South America is connected with our +own part of the continent by the Isthmus of Panama and the territory +designated as Central America. Its configuration is triangular, and +exhibits in many respects a strong similarity to the continents of +Africa and Australia, if the latter gigantic island may be called a +continent. It extends north and south nearly five thousand miles, or +from latitude 12° 30' north to Cape Horn in latitude 55° 59' south. Its +greatest width from east to west is a little over three thousand miles, +and its area, according to the best authorities, is nearly seven million +square miles. Three fourths of this country lie in the torrid zone, +though as a whole it has every variety of climate, from equatorial heat +to the biting frosts of alpine peaks. Its widespread surface consists +principally of three immense plains, watered respectively by the Amazon, +Plate, and Orinoco rivers. This spacious country has a coast line of +over sixteen thousand miles on the two great oceans, with comparatively +few indentures, headlands, or bays, though at the extreme south it +consists of a maze of countless small islands, capes, and promontories, +of which Cape Horn forms the outermost point.</p> + +<p>The Cordillera of the Andes extends through the whole length of this +giant peninsula, from the Strait of Magellan to the Isthmus of Panama, a +distance of forty-five hundred miles, forming one of the most remarkable +physical features of the globe, and presenting the highest mountains on +its surface, except those of the snowy Himalayas which separate India +from Thibet. The principal range of the Andes runs nearly parallel with +the Pacific coast, at an average distance of about one hundred miles +from it, and contains several active volcanoes. If we were to believe a +late school geography, published in London, Cotopaxi, one famous peak of +this Andean range, throws up flames three thousand feet above the brink +of its crater, which is eighteen thousand feet above tide water; but to +be on the safe side, let us reduce these extraordinary figures at least +one half, as regards the eruptive power of Cotopaxi. This mountain +chain, near the border between Chili and Peru, divides into two +branches, the principal one still called the Cordillera of the Andes, +and the other, nearer to the ocean, the Cordillera de la Costa. Between +these ranges, about three thousand feet above the sea, is a vast +table-land with an area larger than that of France.</p> + +<p>It will be observed that we are dealing with a country which, like +our own, is one of magnificent distances. It is difficult for the +nations of the old world, where the population is hived together in such +circumscribed space, to realize the geographical extent of the American +continent. When informed that it required six days and nights, at +express speed upon well-equipped railroads, to cross the United States +from ocean to ocean, a certain editor in London doubted the statement. +Outside of Her Majesty's dominions, the average Englishman has only +superficial ideas of geography. The frequent blunders of some British +newspapers in these matters are simply ridiculous.</p> + +<p>It should be understood that South America is a land of plains as +well as of lofty mountains, having the <i>llanos</i> of the Orinoco +region, the <i>selvas</i> of the Amazon, and the <i>pampas</i> of the +Argentine Republic. The llanos are composed of a region about as large +as the New England States, so level that the motion of the rivers can +hardly be discerned. The selvas are for the most part vast unbroken +forests, in which giant trees, thick undergrowth, and entwining creepers +combine to form a nearly impenetrable region. The pampas lie between the +Andes and the Atlantic Ocean, stretching southward from northern Brazil +to southern Patagonia, affording grass sufficient to feed innumerable +herds of wild cattle, but at the extreme south the country sinks into +half overflowed marshes and lagoons, resembling the glades and savannahs +of Florida.</p> + +<p>The largest river in the world, namely, the Amazon, rises in the +Peruvian Andes, within sixty miles of the Pacific Ocean, and flows +thousands of miles in a general east-northeast direction, finally +emptying into the Atlantic Ocean. This unequaled river course is +navigable for over two thousand miles from its mouth, which is situated +on the equatorial line, where its outflow is partially impeded by the +island of Marajo, a nearly round formation, one hundred and fifty miles +or thereabouts in diameter. This remarkable island divides the river's +outlet into two passages, the largest of which is a hundred and fifty +miles in width, forming an estuary of extraordinary dimensions. The +Amazon has twelve tributaries, each one of which is a thousand miles in +length, not to count its hundreds of smaller ones, while the main stream +affords water communication from the Atlantic Ocean to near the +foothills of the Andes.</p> + +<p>We are simply stating a series of condensed geographical facts, from +which the intelligent reader can form his own deductions as regards the +undeveloped possibilities of this great southland.</p> + +<p>Our own mammoth river, the Mississippi, is a comparatively shallow +stream, with a shifting channel and dangerous sandbanks, which impede +navigation throughout the most of its course; while the Amazon shows an +average depth of over one hundred feet for the first thousand miles of +its flow from the Atlantic, forming inland seas in many places, so +spacious that the opposite banks are not within sight of each other. It +is computed by good authority that this river, with its numerous +affluents, forms a system of navigable water twenty-four thousand miles +in length! There are comparatively few towns or settlements of any +importance on the banks of the Amazon, which flows mostly through a +dense, unpeopled evergreen forest, not absolutely without human beings, +but for very long distances nearly so. Wild animals, anacondas and other +reptiles, together with many varieties of birds and numerous tribes of +monkeys, make up the animal life. Now and again a settlement of European +colonists is found, or a rude Indian village is seen near the banks, but +they are few and far between. There are occasional regions of low, +marshy ground, which are malarious at certain seasons, but the average +country is salubrious, and capable of supporting a population of +millions.</p> + +<p>This is only one of the large rivers of South America; there are many +others of grand proportions. The Plate comes next to it in magnitude, +having a length of two thousand miles, and being navigable for one half +the distance from its mouth at all seasons. It is over sixty miles wide +at Montevideo, and is therefore the widest known river. Like the great +stream already described, it traverses a country remarkable for the +fertility of its soil, but very thinly settled. The Plate carries to the +ocean four fifths as much, in volume of water, as does the mighty +Amazon, the watershed drained by it exceeding a million and a half +square miles. One can only conceive of the true magnitude of such +figures when applied to the land by comparing the number of square miles +contained in any one European nation, or any dozen of our own +States.</p> + +<p>Juan Diaz de Solis discovered the estuary of the Plate in 1508, and +believed it at that time to be a gulf, but on a second voyage from +Europe, in 1516, he ascended the river a considerable distance, and +called it Mar Dulce, on account of the character of the waters. +Unfortunately, this intelligent discoverer was killed by Indian arrows +on attempting to land at a certain point. For a considerable period the +river was called after him, and we think should have continued to be so, +but its name was changed to the Plate on account of the conspicuous +silver ornaments worn in great profusion by the natives, which they +freely exchanged for European gewgaws.</p> + +<p>Though nearly four hundred years have passed since its discovery, a +large portion of the country still remains comparatively unexplored, +much of it being a wilderness sparsely inhabited by Indians, many of +whom are without a vestige of civilization. We know as little of +portions of the continent as we do of Central Africa, yet there is no +section of the globe which suggests a greater degree of physical +interest, or which would respond more readily and profitably to +intelligent effort at development. When the Spaniards first came to +South America, it was only in Peru, the land of the Incas, that they +found natives who had made any substantial progress in civilization. The +earliest history extant relating to this region of the globe is that of +the Incas, a warlike race of sun-worshipers, who possessed enormous +treasures of gold and silver, and who erected magnificent temples +enriched with the precious metals. It was the almost fabulous wealth of +the Incas that led to their destruction, tempting the cupidity of the +avaricious Spaniards, and causing them to institute a system of cruelty, +oppression, robbery, and bloodshed which finally obliterated an entire +people from the face of the globe. The empire of the Incas extended from +Quito, in Ecuador (on the equator), to the river Monté in Chili, and +eastward to the Andes. The romantic career of Pizarro and Cortez is +familiar to us all. There are few palliating circumstances connected +with the advent of the Spaniards, either here, in the West Indies, or in +Mexico. The actual motive which prompted their invasion of this foreign +soil was to search for mineral treasures, though policy led them to +cover their bloodthirsty deeds with a pretense of religious zeal. Their +first acts were reckless, cruel, and sanguinary, followed by a +systematic oppression of the native races which was an outrage upon +humanity. The world at large profited little by the extortion and golden +harvest reaped by Spain, to realize which she adopted a policy of +extermination, both in Peru and in Mexico; but let it be remembered that +her own national ruin was brought about with poetical justice by the +very excess of her ill-gotten, blood-stained treasures. The Spanish +historians tell us, as an evidence of the persistent bravery of their +ancestors, that it took them eight hundred years of constant warfare to +wrest Spain from her Moorish conquerors. It is for us to remind them how +brief has been the continuance of their glory, how rapid their decline +from splendid continental and colonial possessions to their present +condition, that of the weakest and most insignificant power in +Europe.</p> + +<p>There are localities which have been visited by adventurous +explorers, especially in Chili and Peru, where ruins have been found, +and various monuments of antiquity examined, of vast interest to +archæologists, but of which scarcely more than their mere existence is +recorded. Some of these ruins are believed to antedate by centuries the +period of the Incas, and are supposed to be the remains of tribes which, +judging from their pottery and other domestic utensils, were possibly of +Asiatic origin. Comparatively few travelers have visited Lake Titicaca, +in the Peruvian Andes, with its sacred islands and mysterious ruins, +from whence the Incas dated their mythical origin. The substantial +remains of some grand temples are still to be seen on the islands near +the borders of the lake, the decaying masonry decked here and there with +a wild growth of hardy cactus. This remarkable body of water, Lake +Titicaca, in the mountain range of Peru, lies more than twelve thousand +feet above the level of the Pacific; yet it never freezes, and its +average depth is given as six hundred feet, representing an immense body +of water. It covers an area of four thousand square miles, which is +about four fifths as large as our own Lake Ontario, the average depth +being about the same. Titicaca is the largest lake in the world +occupying so elevated a site.</p> + +<p>The population of South America is mostly to be found on the coast, +and is thought to be about thirty-five millions, though, all things +considered, we are disposed to believe this an overestimate. There are +tribes far inland who are not brought in contact with civilization at +all, and whose numbers are not known. The magnitude and density of the +forests are remarkable; they cover, it is intelligently stated, nearly +two thirds of the country. The vegetation, in its various forms, is rich +beyond comparison. Professor Agassiz, who explored the valley of the +Amazon under the most favorable auspices, tells us that he found within +an area of half a mile square over one hundred species of trees, among +which were nearly all of the choicest cabinet and dye woods known to the +tropics, besides others suitable for shipbuilding. Some of these trees +are remarkable for their gigantic size, others for their beauty of form, +and still others are valuable for their gums and resins. Of the latter, +the india-rubber tree is the most prolific and important known to +commerce. From Brazil comes four fifths of the world's supply of the raw +material of rubber.</p> + +<p>The great fertility of the soil generally would seem to militate +against the true progress of the people of South America, absolutely +discouraging, rather than stimulating national industry. One cannot but +contrast the state of affairs in this respect with that of North +America, where the soil is so much less productive, and where the +climate is so universally rigorous. The deduction is inevitable that, to +find man at his best, we must observe him where his skill, energy, and +perseverance are all required to achieve a livelihood, and not where +exuberant nature is over-indulgent, over-productive. The coast, the +valleys, and indeed the main portion of South America are tropical, but +a considerable section of the country is so elevated that its climate is +that of perpetual spring, resembling the great Mexican plateau, both +physically and as regards temperature. The population is largely of +Spanish descent, and that language is almost universally spoken, though +Portuguese is the current tongue in Brazil. These languages are so +similar, in fact, that the people of the two nations can easily +understand each other. It is said to be true that, in the wild regions +of the country, there are tribes of Indians found to-day living close to +each other, separated by no physical barriers, who differ materially in +language, physiognomy, manners, and customs, having absolutely nothing +in common but their brown or copper colored skins. Furthermore, these +tribes live most frequently in deadly feuds with each other. That +cannibalism is still practiced among these interior tribes is positively +believed, especially among some of the tribes of the extreme south, that +is, among the Patagonians and the wild, nomadic race of Terra del Fuego. +These two tribes, on opposite sides of the Strait of Magellan, are quite +different from each other in nearly every respect, especially in size, +nor will they attempt to hold friendly intercourse of any sort with each +other.</p> + +<p>There are certain domestic animals which are believed to be improved +by crossing them with others of a different type, but this does not seem +to apply, very often, advantageously to different races of human beings. +It is plain enough in South America that the amalgamation of foreigners +and natives rapidly effaces the original better qualities of each, the +result being a mongrel, nondescript type, hard to analyze and hard to +improve. That keen observer, Professor Agassiz, especially noticed this +during his year of scientific research in Brazil. This has also been the +author's experience, as illustrated in many lands, where strictly +different races, the one highly civilized, the other barbarian, have +unitedly produced children. It is a sort of amalgamation which nature +does not favor, recording her objections in an unmistakable manner. It +is the flow of European emigration towards these southern republics +which will infuse new life and progress among them. The aboriginal race +is slowly receding, and fading out, as was the case in Australia, in New +Zealand, and in the instance of our western Indians. A new people will +eventually possess the land, composed of the several European +nationalities, who are already the virtual masters of South America so +far as regards numbers, intelligence, and possession.</p> + +<p>Since these notes were written, the Argentine government has sold to +Baron Hirsch three thousand square leagues of land in the province of +Chaco, for the formation of a Jewish colony. Agents are already at work, +aided by competent engineers and practical individuals, in preparing for +the early reception of the new occupants of the country. The first +contingent, of about one thousand Jews, have already arrived and are +becoming domesticated. Argentina wants men perhaps more than money; +indeed, one will make the other. A part of Baron Hirsch's scheme is to +lend these people money, to be repaid in small installments extending +over a considerable period. For this extensive territory the Baron paid +one million three hundred thousand dollars in gold, thus making himself +the owner of the largest connected area of land in the world possessed +by a single individual. It exceeds that of the kingdom of +Montenegro.</p> + +<p>As to the zoölogy of this part of the continent, it is different from +that of Europe, Africa, Asia, and North America. The number of dangerous +beasts of prey is quite limited. There is nothing here to answer to the +African lion, the Asiatic tiger, the elephant of Ceylon, or the grisly +bear of Alaska. The jaguar is perhaps the most formidable animal, and +resembles the leopard. There are also the cougar, tiger-cat, black bear, +hyena, wolf, and ocelot. The llama, alpaca, and vicuña are peculiar to +this country. The monkey tribe exceeds all others in variety and number. +There are said to be nearly two hundred species of them in South +America, each distinctly marked, and varying from each other, in size, +from twelve pounds to less than two. The smallest of the little +marmosets weigh less than a pound and a half each, and are the most +intelligent animal of their size known to man. There are also the deer, +tapir, armadillo, anteater, and a few other minor animals. The pampas +swarm with wild cattle and horses, descended from animals originally +brought from Europe. In the low, marshy grounds the boa-constrictor and +other reptiles abound. Eagles, vultures, and parrots are found in a wild +state all over the country, while the rivers and the waters near the +coast are well filled with fish, crocodiles, and turtles. Scientists +have found over two thousand species of fish in the Amazon River +alone.</p> + +<p>The pure aboriginal race are copper colored, resembling the Mexicans +in character and appearance. Like most natives of equatorial regions, +they are indolent, ignorant, superstitious, sensuous, and by no means +warlike. Forced into the ranks and drilled by Europeans, they make +fairly good soldiers, and when well led will obey orders and fight. +There can be no <i>esprit de corps</i> in soldiers thus organized; the +men neither know nor care what they fight for, their incentive in action +being first a natural instinct for brutality, and second the promise of +booty. In some parts of the country the half-breeds show themselves +skillful workmen in certain simple lines of manufacture, but the native +pure and simple will not work except to keep from starving.</p> + +<p>The Spaniards conquered nearly all parts of South America except +Brazil, which was subject to Portugal until 1823, when it achieved its +independence. The Spanish colonies also revolted, one by one, until they +all became independent of the mother country. The history of these +republics, as in the instance of Mexico, has been both stormy and +sanguinary. Foreign and civil wars have reigned among them incessantly +for half a century and more.</p> + +<p>The present political divisions are: Brazil, British Guiana, Dutch +Guiana, French Guiana, Ecuador, United States of Colombia, Venezuela, +Bolivia, Chili, Peru, Argentine Republic, Uruguay, and Paraguay. Brazil +is the most extensive of these states, and is thought to enjoy the +largest share of natural advantages, including in its area nearly one +half as many square miles as all the rest combined. Its seaboard at +Parahiba, and for hundreds of miles north and south of it, projects into +the Atlantic a thousand miles to the east of the direct line between its +northern and southern extremities. Besides her diamond and gold mines, +she possesses what is much more desirable, namely, valuable deposits of +iron, copper, silver, and other metals. We have before us statistics +which give the result of diamond mining in Brazil from 1740 to 1823, +when national independence was won, which show the aggregate for that +entire period to have been less than ten million dollars in value; while +that of the coffee alone, exported from Rio Janeiro in one year, +exceeded twenty million dollars, showing that, however dazzling the +precious stones may appear in the abstract, they are not even of +secondary consideration when compared with the agricultural products of +the country. The export of coffee has increased very much since the year +1851, which happens to be that from which we have quoted. It must also +be admitted that probably twice the amount of diamonds recorded were +actually found and enriched somebody, all which were duly reported, +having to pay a government royalty according to the pecuniary exigency +of those in authority.</p> + +<p>The population of Brazil is between fourteen and fifteen million, and +it is thought to be more advanced in civilization than other parts of +South America, though in the light of our own experience we should place +the Argentine Republic first in this respect. Indeed, so far as a +transient observer may speak, we are inclined to place Argentina far and +away in advance of Brazil as regards everything calculated to invite the +would-be emigrant who is in search of a new home in a foreign land. Were +it not that intestine wars are of such frequent occurrence among these +states, and national bankruptcy so common, voluntary emigration would +tend towards South America in far larger numbers than it does now. The +revolutions are solely to promote personal aggrandizement; it is +individual interest, not principle, for which these people fight so +often. Unfortunately, every fresh outbreak throws the country back a +full decade as regards national progress. The late civil wars in Chili +and the Argentine Republic are illustrations in point. The first-named +section of South America has suddenly sunk from a condition of +remarkable pecuniary prosperity to one of actual poverty. Thousands of +valuable lives have been sacrificed, an immense amount of property has +been destroyed, her commerce crippled, and for the time being paralyzed. +Ten years of peace and reasonable prosperity could hardly restore Chili +to the position she was in twelve months ago. The country is to-day in a +terrible condition, while many of the best families mourn the death of a +father, a son, or both, whose lives have been sacrificed to the mad +ambition of a usurper. Numerous families, once rich, have now become +impoverished by the confiscation of their entire property. The Chilians +do not carry on warfare in European style, by organized armies; there is +a semblance only of such bodies. The fighting is mostly after the +fashion of free lances, guerrilla bands, and highwaymen. There seems to +be no sense of honor or chivalry among the common people, while the only +idea of the soldiery is to plunder and destroy.</p> + +<p>The Peruvians whose cities were despoiled by Chili must have regarded +the recent cutting of each other's throats by the Chilian soldiery with +something like grim satisfaction.</p> + +<p>The obvious weakness of the South American states lies in their +bitter rivalry towards each other, a condition which might be at once +obviated by their joining together to form one united nation. The +instability which characterizes their several governments in their +present isolated interests has passed into a byword. Divided into nine +unimportant states,—leaving out the three Guianas, which are +dependent upon European powers,—any one of them could be erased +from the map and absorbed by its stronger neighbor, or by a covetous +foreign power. On the contrary, by forming one grand republic, it would +stand eighth in the rank of nations as regards wealth, importance, and +power, amply able to take care of itself, and to maintain the integrity +of its territory. A community of interest would also be established +between our government and that of these South American provinces, which +would be of immense commercial and political importance to both +nations.</p> + +<p>To those who have visited the country, and who have carefully +observed the conditions, it is clear that this division of the continent +will never thrive and fully reap the benefit of its great natural +advantages until the independent republics assume the position of +sovereign states, subservient to a central power, a purpose which has +already been so successfully accomplished in Mexico.</p> + +<p>While we have been considering the great southern continent as a +whole, our good ship, having crossed the equator, has been rapidly +approaching its northern shore. After entering the broad mouth of the +Amazon and ascending its course for many miles, we are now in sight of +the thriving metropolis of Pará.</p> + +<p class="p4"><a name="Ch_5"></a></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER V.</h3> + +<p class="blockquote">City of Pará.—The Equatorial +Line.—Spanish History.—The King of Waters.—Private +Gardens.—Domestic Life in Northern Brazil.—Delicious +Pineapples.—Family Pets.—Opera +House.—Mendicants.—A Grand Avenue.—Botanical +Garden.—India-Rubber Tree.—Gathering the Raw +Material.—Monkeys.—The Royal Palm.—Splendor of +Equatorial Nights.</p> + +<p class="p2">Pará is the most northerly city of Brazil. It also bears +the name of Belem on some maps, and is the capital of a province of the +first designation. The full official title of the place is, in the usual +style of Portuguese and Spanish hyperbole, Santa Maria do Belem do Grão +Pará, which has fortunately and naturally simplified itself to Pará. It +was founded in 1615, and the province of which it is the capital was the +last in Brazil to declare its independence of the mother country, and to +acknowledge the authority of the first emperor, Dom Pedro. It is the +largest political division of the republic, and in some respects the +most thriving. The city is situated about ninety miles south of the +equator, and eighty miles from the Atlantic Ocean on the Pará River, so +called, but which is really one of the mouths of the Amazon. It is thus +the principal city at the mouth of the largest river in the world, a +fact quite sufficient to indicate its present, and to insure its +continued commercial importance.</p> + +<p>As we entered the muddy estuary of the river, whose wide expanse was +lashed into short, angry waves by a strong wind, large tree trunks were +seen floating seaward, rising and sinking on the undulating surface of +the water. Some were quite entire, with all of their branches still +attached to the main trunk. They came, perhaps, from two thousand miles +inland, borne upon the swift current from where it had undermined the +roots in their forest home. Among the rest was a cocoa-palm with its +full tufted head, some large brown nuts still hanging tenaciously to the +parent stem. It had fallen bodily, while in its prime and full bearing, +suddenly unearthed by some swift deviation of the river, which brooks no +trifling impediment to its triumphal march seaward. How long, one would +be glad to know, has this vast stream, fed by the melted snow of the +Andes, poured its accumulated waters into the bosom of the ocean? A +thousand years is but as a day, in reckoning the age of a mountain range +or of a mammoth river.</p> + +<p>As we approached the city, the channel became gradually narrowed by +several prominent islands, crowded with rich green vegetation, forest +trees of various sorts, mangoes, bananas, and regal palms. Though it is +thus broken by islands, the river is here over twenty miles in +width.</p> + +<p>Pará is yielded precedence over the other cities on the east coast of +South America in many respects, and is appreciatively called "Queen of +the Amazon," her water communication reaching into the very heart of +some of the most fertile valleys on the continent. One incorporated +company has established a score of well-appointed steamers, averaging +five hundred tons each, which navigate the river for a distance of two +thousand miles from its mouth. Pará has an excellent harbor, of large +capacity, accommodating an extensive commerce, a considerable portion of +which is with the United States of North America. It has a mixed +population of about fifty thousand, composed of an amalgamation of +Portuguese, Italians, Indians, and negroes, and is the only town of any +importance, except Quito, situated so near to the equatorial line, +where the interested observer has the privilege of beholding the starry +constellations of both hemispheres. Ships of five thousand tons +measurement can lie within a hundred yards of the wharves of Pará, where +the accumulation of coffee, dyewoods, drugs, tobacco, cotton, cocoa, +rice, sugar, and raw india-rubber, indicates the character of the +principal exports. Of all these staples, the last named is the most +important, in a commercial point of view, occupying the third place on +the list of national exports. As we have shown, the import and export +trade of the Amazon valley naturally centres here, and Pará need fear no +commercial rival.</p> + +<p>For a considerable period this unequaled water-way, forming the +spacious port, and conveying the drainage of nearly half of South +America into the Atlantic, bore the name of its discoverer, Orellana, +one of Pizarro's captains; but the fabulous story of a priest called +Friar Gaspar, self-constituted chronicler of the expedition, gave to it +the designation which it now bears. All the Spanish records of the +history and conquests in the New World, relating to the doings of +Columbus, Cortez, Pizarro, and others, without an exception, were +written in the same spirit of exaggeration and untruthfulness, leading +that pious witness and contemporary writer, Las Casas, to pronounce +them, with honest indignation, to be a tissue of falsehoods. Even our +own popular historian, Prescott, who drew so largely upon these sources +for his poetical productions, was forced to admit their manifest +incongruities, contradictions, and general irresponsibility. This +Munchausen of a priest, Friar Gaspar, recorded that a tribe of Amazons, +or fighting women, was encountered far inland, on the banks of the +mighty river, who were tall in stature, symmetrical in form, and had a +profusion of long hair, which hung in braids down their backs. They were +represented to be as warlike as they were beautiful, and as carrying +shields and spears, the latter of which they could use with great skill +and effect. It was this foolish story of the Amazons, hatched in the +prolific brain of Friar Gaspar, which gave the river its lasting +name.</p> + +<p>The Indian designation of the mammoth watercourse was significant and +appropriate, as their names always are. They called it +<i>Parana-tinga</i>, meaning "King of Waters," and it seems to us a +great pity that the name could not have been retained.</p> + +<p>Pará has the advantage of being much nearer to the United States and +to Europe than Rio Janeiro, the capital of Brazil. Though the commerce +of Rio is constantly increasing, in spite of its miserable sanitary +condition, it is confidently believed by intelligent persons engaged in +the South American trade, that Pará will equal it erelong in the +aggregate of its shipments. All freight is now landed by means of +lighters, a process which is an awkward drawback upon commerce, and what +makes it still more aggravating is that it seems to be an entirely +needless one. Certainly a good, substantial, capacious pier might be +easily built, which would obviate this objection, accommodating a dozen +large vessels at the same time. The Brazilians are slow to adopt any +modern improvement. Portuguese and Spaniards are very much alike in this +respect. Wharves will be built at Pará by and by, after a few more +millions have been wasted upon the inconvenient process now in vogue, +which involves not only needless expense, but causes most awkward and +unreasonable delay, both in landing merchandise and in shipping freight +for export. This serious objection applies to all the ports along the +east coast of South America. There is always some private interest which +exerts itself to prevent any progressive movement, and it is this which +retards improved facilities for unloading and shipping of cargoes at +Pará. In this instance the owners of the steam tugs which tow the +flat-bottomed lighters from ship to shore, and vice versa, oppose the +building of piers, because, if they were in existence, these individuals +would find their profitable occupation gone. If proper wharf facilities +were to be furnished, commerce generally would be much benefited, though +a few persons would suffer some pecuniary loss. As we have said, the +wharves will come by and by, when the people realize that private +interest must be subservient to the public good.</p> + +<p>The city of Pará is situated upon slightly elevated ground, and makes +a fine appearance from the river, with its lofty cathedral, numerous +churches, convents, custom house, and arsenal standing forth in bold +relief against an intensely blue sky, while fronting the harbor, like a +line of sentinels, is a row of tall, majestic palms, harmonizing +admirably with the local surroundings, though in the very midst of a +busy commercial centre. The buildings are painted yellow, blue, or pink, +the façades contrasting strongly with the dark red of the heavily tiled +roofs, which, having no chimneys, present an odd appearance to a +northern eye. Here and there a mass of greenery indicates some domestic +garden, or a plaza presided over by tall groups of trees, among which +the thick, umbrageous mangoes prevail. The Rua da Imperatriz is the +principal wholesale street of the city, where the large warehouses are +to be found, but the Rua dos Mercadores is the fashionable shopping +street, through which the tramway also passes. The shops are rather +small, but have a fair stock of goods offered at reasonable rates, +though strangers are apt to be victimized by considerably higher prices +than a native would pay.</p> + +<p>This, however, is not unusual in all foreign countries, so far as our +experience goes. North Americans are looked upon as possessing unlimited +pecuniary means, and as lavish in their expenditures, prices being +gauged accordingly. This is a universal practice in Europe, and +especially so in Germany.</p> + +<p>The climate is very moist, and it has been facetiously remarked that +it rains here eight days in the week. One cannot speak approvingly of +the sanitary condition of a place where turkey buzzards are depended +upon to remove the garbage which accumulates in the thoroughfares. It is +unaccountable that the citizens should submit to such filthy +surroundings, especially in a locality where malarial fever is +acknowledged to prevail in the summer season. Though at this writing it +is the latter part of May, yellow fever is still rife here, and we hear +of many particularly sad cases, ending fatally, all about us. This +destroyer is especially apt to carry off people who have newly arrived +in the country. The present year has been unusually fatal among the +residents of Pará, as regards yellow fever, which seems to linger longer +and longer each year of its visitation. Our own conviction is that the +people have themselves to thank for this lingering of the pest into the +winter months, since the sanitary conditions of the place are +inexcusably defective.</p> + +<p>Gardens in and about the city quickly catch and delight the +eye,—gardens where flowers and fruits grow in great luxuriance. +Among the latter are oranges, mangoes, guavas, figs, and bananas. The +glossy green fronds of the bananas throw other verdure altogether into +the shade, while in dignity and beauty the cocoanut palms excel all +other trees. The tall, straight stem of the palm rises from the roots +without leaf or branch until the plumed head is reached, which bends +slightly under its wealth of pinnated leaves and fruit combined. If you +happen to pass these gardens after nightfall, especially those in the +immediate environs of the city, mark the phosphorescent clouds of +dancing lights which fill the still atmosphere round about the +vegetation. This peculiar effect is produced by the busy cucuios, or +tropical fireflies, each vigorously flashing its individual torch. Do +they shine thus in the daytime, we are led to wonder, like the +constellations in the heavens, though hidden by the greater light of the +sun? They are always demonstrative in the night, be it never so cloudy, +foggy, or damp in the low latitudes. They keep their sparkling revels, +their torchlight dances, all heedless of the grim and deadly fever which +lurks in the surrounding atmosphere, claiming human victims right and +left, among high and low, from the ranks of age and of youth. Insect +life is redundant here. It is the very paradise of butterflies, whose +size, wide spread of wing, variety, and striking beauty of colors, we +have only seen equaled at Penang and Singapore, in the Malacca Straits. +Some of the avenues leading to the environs are lined with handsome +trees, which add greatly to their attractiveness and comfort. The silk +cotton tree and the almond are favorites here as ornamental shade trees. +The cape jessamine is universally cultivated at Pará, and grows to a +large size, filling the air with its agreeable fragrance. Here the +oleander, covered with clusters of bloom, grows to the height of twenty +feet and more. The lime, with its fine acid fruit, which is in great +request in making cooling drinks, also abounds.</p> + +<p>The glimpses of domestic life which one gets in passing the better +class of dwellings reveal rooms with tiled or polished wooden floors, +cane-finished chairs, sofas, and rockers to match, a small foot rug here +and there, a group of flowering plants in one corner, while hammocks +seem to take the place of bedsteads. The temperature is high at Pará in +summer, and woolen carpets, or even mattresses, are too warm for use in +this climate. Bignonias, oleanders, and other blooming plants abound in +the flower-plots about the city, besides many flowering vines which are +strangers to us, half orchids, half creepers. One is apt to jump at +conclusions. These people dearly love flowers, so we conclude they +cannot be very wicked.</p> + +<p>The families live, as it were, in the open patios, which form the +centres of their dwellings, are shaded by broad verandas, and upon which +the domestic apartments all open. The accessories are few, and not +entirely convenient, according to a northerner's ideas of comfort; but +this is compensated for by the fragrance of flowers, the picturesqueness +of the surroundings, and the free and easy out-of-door atmosphere which +ignores conventionalities. These attractive interiors suggest a sort of +picnic mode of life which has conformed itself to climatic influences. +Everything is very quiet, there is no hurry, and the stillness is +occasionally interrupted by the musical laughter of children, which +rings out clear and pleasantly, entirely in harmony with the +surroundings. And such children! Artists' models, every one of them. It +all seems to a stranger to be the very poetry of living, yet we venture +to say that each household has its skeleton in the closet, and some a +whole anatomical museum!</p> + +<p>At Bahia, further south, a revelation awaits the traveler in the +delicious richness, size, and delicacy of the oranges which grow there +in lavish abundance, and which are famous, all along the coast. Here at +Pará, the same may be said of the pineapple, the raising of which is a +local specialty. These are not picked until fully ripe, and often weigh +ten pounds each. When cut open, the inside can be eaten with a spoon, if +one fancies that mode. They require no sugar; nature has supplied the +saccharine principle in abundance. They are absolutely perfect in +themselves alone. People sailing northward lay in a great store of this +admirable fruit, which is as cheap as it is delicious and appetizing. In +New England, the pines of which we partake have been picked in a green +condition in Bermuda, the Bahamas, or Florida, to enable them to bear +transportation. They ripen only partially off the stem, and after a very +poor style, decay setting in at the same time; consequently the pulp is +not suitable to swallow, and is always more or less indigestible. The +Pará pines are seedless, and are propagated by replanting the suckers. +The crown, we were told, would also thrive and reproduce the fruit if +properly planted, but the first named process is that generally +employed, and is probably the best.</p> + +<p>In the neighborhood of Pará are many large and profitable cocoa +plantations, the industry connected with which is a growing one, +representing a considerable amount of capital. But above all others, the +gathering and preparing of raw india-rubber for exportation is the +prevailing industry of this Brazilian capital.</p> + +<p>The common people seem to be an uncertain mixture of races, +confounding all attempts properly to analyze their antecedents. They +have touches of refinement and underlying tenderness of instinct, as +exhibited in their home associations, but also evince a coarseness which +is not inviting, to say the least. They are universal lovers of pet +birds and small animals. No household seems to be complete without some +representatives of the sort. Among these are cranes, ibises, herons, +turtle-doves, parrots, macaws, and paroquets. Monkeys of various tribes, +the little marmoset being the favorite, are seen domesticated in almost +every private garden, full of fun and mischief, and affording infinite +amusement to the youthful members of the household. Young anacondas, +sometimes ten feet long, are kept in and about the dwellings, to catch +and drive away the rats! The reader smiles half incredulously at this, +and we do not wonder. If one of these rodents be caught in a trap and +killed, it is useless to offer it to an anaconda as food. That +fastidious reptile will eat only such creatures as it kills itself. This +is also characteristic of the African lion and the tiger of India, when +in the wild state; neither will molest a dead body, of man or beast, +which they have not themselves deprived of life, though hyenas, wolves, +and some other animals will even rob the graves of human bodies for +food. We had never heard of anacondas employed as ratters before we came +to Pará, but we were assured by those who should know that they are +especially effective in warfare against this domestic pest.</p> + +<p>Broad verandas give a grateful shade to most of the dwelling-houses, +which are seldom over one story in height, each one, however, extending +over considerable ground space. In the business part of the town, +fronting the harbor, the houses are generally two or even three stories +in height, it being necessary in such localities to economize the square +feet of ground occupied. The same sort of external ornamentation is seen +here as upon the house fronts in Mexico, namely, the profuse decoration +of the walls with glazed earthen tiles, often of fancy colors, which +gives a checkerboard appearance to a dwelling-house not calculated to +please a critical eye.</p> + +<p>The Opera House of Pará is a large and imposing structure, one of the +finest edifices in the town, and the largest theatre, we believe, in +South America, quite uncalled for, it would seem, by any local demand. +It is built of brick, finished in stucco, the front being decorated with +marble columns having handsome and elaborate Corinthian capitals. The +house lights up brilliantly at night, being finished in red, white, and +gold. It has four narrow galleries supported upon brackets, thus +obviating the necessity for the objectionable upright posts which so +provokingly interfere with the line of sight. The cathedral is a +substantial and handsome structure, with a couple of tall towers, after +the usual Spanish style, each containing a dozen bells. The interior has +all the florid and tawdry ornamentation always to be found in Roman +Catholic churches, together with the usual complement of bleeding +figures, arrow-pierced saints, high-colored paper rosettes, utterly +meaningless, together with any amount of glittering tinsel, calculated +to catch the eye and captivate the imagination of the grossly ignorant +native population.</p> + +<p>There are many minor churches in the city, and judging by the number +seen in the streets, there must be at least a thousand priests, whose +sole occupation, when they are not gambling or cock-fighting, is to +cajole and impoverish the common people. It was a church festival when +we visited the cathedral. There are over two hundred such days, out of +every three hundred and sixty-five, in Roman Catholic +countries,—not days of humiliation and prayer, but days of gross +latitude, of bull-fights, occasions when the decent amenities of life +are ignored, days when the broadest license prevails, and all excesses +are condoned. There were a large number of women present in the +cathedral on this day, but scarcely half a dozen men. The better class +were dressed gayly, and wore some rich jewelry. The love of finery +prevails, and pervades all classes. Some of the ladies were clad in +costly silks and laces, set off by brilliants and pearls. Diamonds and +precious stones are very common in this country, and a certain class +seem to carry a large share of their worldly possessions showily +displayed upon their persons. What the humbler class lacked in richness +of material, they made up in gaudy colors, blazing scarfs, and imitation +gold and silver jewelry. Nature sets the example of bright colors in +these latitudes, in gaudy plumed birds and high-tinted flowers and +fruits. The natives only follow her. The few men who were present came +to ogle the women, and having satisfied their low-bred curiosity, soon +retired to the neighboring bar-rooms and gambling saloons. On special +festal days temporary booths are erected in the squares, in which +intoxicants are sold, together with toys, cakes, cigars, and charms, the +latter said to have been blessed by the priests, and therefore sure to +prevent any injury from the evil eye!</p> + +<p>As in most of the South American cities, there are several elaborate +buildings here, formerly used as convents, which are now devoted to more +creditable purposes. The present custom house occupies one of these +edifices, which is crowned with two lofty towers.</p> + +<p>There are plenty of mendicants in the streets of Pará, who are very +ready with their importunities, especially in appealing to strangers. +The average citizens seemed to be liberal in dealing with these beggars. +Saturday is called "poor day" in Pará, as it is also in Havana, +Matanzas, Cienfuegos, etc., when every housekeeper who is able to give +something does so, if it be only a small roll of bread, to each visiting +beggar. At most houses these small rolls are baked regularly for this +purpose, and the applicant is nearly sure to get one upon calling, and +if he represents a large family he may receive two. Money is rarely, if +ever, given by residents, nor is it expected; but strangers are +surrounded as by an army with banners, and vigorously importuned for +centavos. The Spaniards and Portuguese are natural beggars.</p> + +<p>Here let us digress for a moment. The system of beggary prevailing in +Spanish countries is very trying to all sensitive travelers. In Italy, +Spain, and the south of France, especially at the watering-places, it is +a terrible pest. Naples has become almost unendurable on this account. +At every rod one is constantly importuned and followed by beggars of all +sizes, ages, and of both sexes,—individuals who should be placed +in asylums and cared for by the state. No reasonable person would object +to paying a certain sum on entering these resorts, to be honestly +devoted to charitable purposes, provided it would insure him against the +disgusting importunities of which strangers are now the victims. +Visitors hasten away from the localities where these things are not only +permitted but are encouraged. It is thought to be quite the thing to +fleece foreigners of every possible penny, and by every possible means. +The contrast in this respect between the cities of the United States and +those of Europe and South America is eminently creditable to the former. +In the beautiful little watering-place known as Luchon, in the south of +France, at the foot of the Pyrenees, with scarcely four thousand +inhabitants, there are over one hundred professional beggars, who +constantly beset and drive away visitors. Some of these, as usual in +such cases, are known to be well off pecuniarily, but are marked by some +physical deformity upon which they trade. If the stranger gives, he is +oftenest encouraging a swindle, rarely performing a true charity. This +is one of the increasing disgraces of Paris. Beggars know too much to +importune citizens, but strangers are beset at every corner of the +boulevards and public gardens, particularly by children, girls and boys, +trained for the purpose.</p> + +<p>Of all the races seen in Brazil, the half-breed Indian girls are the +most attractive, and until they are past the age of twenty-five or +thirty years they are almost universally handsome, no matter to what +class they belong. Those who have the advantage of domestic comforts, +good food, and delicate associations develop accordingly, and are +especially beautiful. They would make charming artists' models. The +remarkably straight figure of the native women is noticeable, caused by +the practice referred to of carrying burdens on the head. As already +mentioned, if a negro or Indian woman has an article to transport, even +if it be but a quart bottle, or an umbrella, it is placed at once upon +the head. The article may weigh five pounds or fifty, it is all the +same; everything but the babies is thus transported. These little naked +creatures, always suggestive of monkeys, are supported on the mother's +back, held there by a shawl or rebozo tied securely across the chest. +When the children are six or eight years old, they are promoted to the +dignity of wearing one small garment, an abbreviated shirt or +chemise.</p> + +<p>The principal food of the common people of northern Brazil is farina +and dried fish, with fried plantains and ripe bananas. Crabs and oysters +of a poor description abound along the coast, and are eaten by the +people, both in a raw and cooked condition. But the white people avoid +the coast oysters, which sometimes poison those not accustomed to +them.</p> + +<p>The finest avenue in Pará is the Estrada de São José, bordered by +grand old palms, which form a beautiful perspective and a welcome shade, +the feathery tops nearly embracing each other overhead. The tramway +takes one through the environs by the Rua de Nazareth, for five miles to +Marco da Legua, where the public wells of the city are situated. The way +thither is lined with neat and handsome dwellings, shaded by noble +trees. The botanical garden is well worth a visit by all lovers of +horticulture. The forest creeps up towards the environs of the town, +wherein many of the trees are rendered beautiful by clinging orchids of +gorgeous blue; others are of blood red, and some of orange yellow, +presenting also a great diversity of form. One has not far to go to see +specimens of the india-rubber tree, growing from ninety to a hundred +feet in height, while measuring from four to five feet in diameter. This +tree begins to produce gum at the age of fifteen years. The trunk is +smooth and perfectly round, the bark of a buff color. It bears a curious +fruit, of which some animals are said to be fond. The author has seen +the india-rubber tree growing in the island of Ceylon, where it seemed +to reach a greater height and dimensions than it does in the district of +Pará. A considerable portion of the roots lie above ground, stretching +away from the base of the tree like huge anacondas, and finally +disappearing in the earth half a rod or more from the parent trunk. The +reader can hardly fail to be familiar with the simple wild plant, which +grows so abundantly by our New England roadsides, known as the +milk-weed, which, when the stem is cut or broken, emits a creamy, +pungent smelling liquid. In the latitude of Pará, this little weed, of +the same family, assumes the form of a colossal tree, and is known as +the india-rubber tree. The United States takes of Brazilian rubber, in +the crude state, over twenty-five thousand tons annually. As to coffee, +Brazil supplies one half of all which is consumed in the civilized +world; but we should frankly tell the reader, if he does not already +realize the fact, that it is most frequently marked and sold for "Old +Government Java."</p> + +<p>The india-rubber tree is tapped annually very much after the same +style in which we treat the sugar-maple in Vermont, and elsewhere, to +procure its sap. A yellow, creamy liquid flows forth from the rubber +tree into small cups placed beneath an incision made in the trunk. When +the cup becomes full, its contents is emptied into a large common +receptacle, where it is allowed to partially harden, and in which form +it is called caoutchouc. The tapping of the trees and attending to the +gathering of the sap furnish employment to hundreds of the natives, who, +however, make but small wages, being employed by contractors, who either +lease the trees of certain districts, or own large tracts of forest +land. These Brazilian forests are very grand, abounding in valuable +aromatic plants, precious woods, gaudy birds, and various wild animals. +The number of monkeys is absolutely marvelous, including many curious +varieties. A native will not kill a monkey; indeed, it must be difficult +for a European to make up his mind to shoot a creature so nearly human +in its actions, and whose pleading cries when wounded are said to be so +pitiable.</p> + +<p>One of the peculiar street sights in Pará is that of native women +with a dozen young monkeys of different species for sale. Marmosets can +be bought for a quarter of a dollar each. So tame are the little +creatures that they cling about the woman's person, fastening upon her +hair, arms, and neck, not in the least inclined to escape from her. It +is remarkable and interesting to see how very fond they become of their +owner, if he is kind to them. Like the dog and the cat, they seem to +have a strong desire for human companionship. When seen running wild in +the woods, leaping from tree to tree, and from branch to branch, they do +not try to get far away from the presence of man, but only to keep, in +their untamed state, just out of reach of his hands. Ships sailing hence +generally take away a few of these animals, but as they are delicate, +and very sensitive to climatic changes, many of them die before reaching +Europe or North America.</p> + +<p>The great beauty of Pará is its abundance of palm trees. The palm is +always an interesting object, as well as a most valuable one; +interesting because of its historical and legendary associations, and +valuable, since it would be almost impossible to enumerate the number of +important uses to which it and its products are put. To the people of +the tropics it is the prolific source of food, shelter, clothing, fuel, +fibre for several uses, sugar, oil, wax, and wine. It has been aptly +termed the "princess of the vegetable world." One indigenous species, +the Piassaba, is a palm which yields a most valuable fibre, extensively +manufactured into cordage and ships' cables, for which purpose it is +much in use on the coast of South America. It is found to be stronger +and more elastic than hemp when thus employed, besides which it is far +more durable. The product of this species of palm is also exported in +large quantities to North America and to England, for the purpose of +making brushes, brooms, and various sorts of domestic matting.</p> + +<p>The nights are especially beautiful in this region. We were +interested in observing the remarkable brilliancy of the sky; the stars +do not seem to sparkle, as with us at the north, but shed a soft, steady +light, making all things luminous. This is the natural result of the +clearness of the atmosphere. One is surprised at first to find the moon +apparently so much increased in size and effulgency. The Southern Cross +is ever present, though it is dominated by the Centaur. Orion is seen in +his glory, and the Scorpion is clearly defined. In the author's +estimation, there is no exhibition of the heavens in these regions which +surpasses the magnificence of the far-reaching Milky Way.</p> + +<p class="p4"><a name="Ch_6"></a></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER VI.</h3> + +<p class="blockquote">Island of Marajo.—Rare and Beautiful +Birds.—Original Mode of Securing +Humming-Birds.—Maranhão.—Educational.—Value of Native +Forests.—Pernambuco.—Difficulty of Landing.—An +Ill-chosen Name.—Local Scenes.—Uncleanly Habits of the +People.—Great Sugar Mart.—Native Houses.—A Quaint +Hostelry.—Catamarans.—A Natural Breakwater.—Sailing +down the Coast.</p> + +<p class="p2">The island of Marajo, situated at the mouth of the Amazon, +opposite Pará, and belonging to the province or state of that name, is a +hundred and eighty miles in length and about one hundred and sixty in +width, nearly identical in size with the island of Sicily, and almost +oval in form. One of the principal shore settlements is Breves, on the +southeastern corner of the island, which lies somewhat low, and consists +of remarkably fertile soil, so abounding in wild and beautiful +vegetation and exquisite floral varieties, that it is called in this +region "the Island of Flowers." We can easily believe the name to be +appropriately chosen, since, as we skirt its verdant shores hour after +hour, they seem to emit the drowsy, caressing sweetness of fragrant +flowers so sensibly as to almost produce a narcotic effect. The easterly +or most seaward part of Marajo is open, marshy, sandy land, but back +from the shore the soil is of a rich, black alluvium, supporting in very +large tracts a dense forest growth, similar to all the low-lying +tropical lands of South America. The population is recorded as numbering +about twenty thousand, divided into several settlements, mostly on the +coast, and consists largely of the aboriginal race found by the first +comers upon this island, who, on account of their somewhat isolated +condition, have amalgamated less with Europeans and the imported colored +race than any other tribe on the east coast of the continent.</p> + +<p>The extensive meadows of Marajo are the grazing fields of numerous +herds of wild horses and horned cattle, the former of a superior breed, +highly prized on the mainland; and yet so rapidly do they increase in +this climate, in the wild state, that every few years they are killed in +large numbers for their hides alone. The exports from the island consist +of rice, cattle, horses, and hides. There are some large plantations +devoted to the cultivation of rice, the soil and water supply of certain +districts being especially favorable to this crop. As intimated, a +considerable portion of Marajo is covered with a forest growth so dense +as to be compared to the jungles of Africa and India, and which, so far +as is known, has never been penetrated by the foot of man. Travelers who +have visited the borders of this leafy wilderness expatiate upon the +strange, inexplicable sounds which are heard at times, amid the +prevailing stillness and sombre aspect of these primeval woods. +Sometimes there comes, it is said, from out the forest depth a wild cry, +like that of a human being in distress, but which, however long one may +listen, is not repeated. Again, there is heard an awful crash, like the +falling of some ponderous forest giant, then stillness once more settles +over the mysterious, tangled woods. Every time the silence is broken it +seems to be by some new and inexplicable sound, not to be satisfactorily +accounted for.</p> + +<p>The lagoons near the centre of Marajo are said to abound in +alligators, which are sometimes sought for by the natives for their +hides, for which a fair price is realized, since fashion has rendered +this article popular in a hundred different forms. The number and +variety of birds and lesser animals to be found upon the island are +marvelous. Certain species of birds seem to have retreated to this spot +from the mainland, before the tide of European immigration; indeed, it +has for a long time been considered the paradise of the naturalist. Over +thirty species of that peculiar bird, the toucan, have been secured +here.</p> + +<p>When Professor Agassiz was engaged in his scientific exploration of +the Amazon, he dispatched a small but competent party especially to +obtain specimens from this island, the result being both a surprise and +a source of great gratification to the king of naturalists. Many of the +objects secured by these explorers were rare and beautiful birds, not a +few of which are unique, and of which no previous record existed. There +were also many curious insects and other specimens particularly valuable +to naturalists, most of which are preserved to-day in the Agassiz Museum +at Cambridge, Massachusetts. The toucan, just spoken of, is most +remarkable for its beauty and variety of colors, as well as for the very +peculiar form and size of its elephantine bill, which makes it look +singularly ill-balanced. This ludicrous appendage is nine inches long +and three in circumference; the color is vermilion and yellow delicately +mingled. The toucan is much coveted for special collections by all +naturalists, and is becoming very scarce, except in this one equatorial +locality. Scarlet ibises and roseate spoonbills are also found at +Marajo, both remarkably fine examples of semi-aquatic fowl, and when +these are secured in good condition for preservation, the natives +realize good prices for them. In order to procure desirable specimens of +the humming-bird species, which are also abundant on this island, the +native hunters resort to an ingenious device, so as not to injure the +skin or the extremely delicate plumage of this butterfly-bird. For this +purpose they use a peculiar syringe made from reeds, and charged with a +solution of adhesive gum, which, when directed by an experienced hand, +clogs the bird's wings at once, stopping its flight and causing it to +fall to the ground. Some are caught by means of nets set on the end of +long bamboo poles, such as are used to secure butterflies, but this +method is poorly adapted to catch so quick moving a creature as a +humming-bird. The author has seen, in southern India, butterflies of +gaudiest texture with bodies as large as small humming-birds, which were +quite as brilliant as they in lovely colors. The variety and beauty of +this insect, as found anywhere from Tuticorin to Darjeeling, is notable. +Wherever British troops are permanently settled, the wives of the common +soldiers become very expert in catching and arranging these attractive +objects, preserving them in frames under glass. These find ready +purchasers for museums and private collections all over Europe, and are +sold at moderate prices, but serve to add a welcome trifle to the +extremely poor pay of a common soldier having perhaps a wife and one or +two children to support.</p> + +<p>The island of Marajo was not formed at the Amazon's mouth of soil +brought down from the interior by the river's current, as is often the +case with islands thus situated, but is a natural, rocky formation which +serves to divide the channel and give the river a double outlet into the +Atlantic. Agassiz studied its character, and gives us an interesting +statement as the result. He declared, after careful geological +examination, that it is an island which was once situated far inland, +away from the river's mouth, but which is now brought near to it by the +gradual encroachment of the Atlantic Ocean, whose waves and restless +currents have slowly worn away the northeastern part of the continent. +This abrasion must have been going on for many thousand years, to have +produced such a decided topographical change. For the word years, upon +second thought, read ages, which will undoubtedly express the true idea +much more correctly.</p> + +<p>There are over twenty species of palms indigenous to Marajo, which, +as one skirts the water front, are seen growing along the far-reaching +shore, fostered by the humidity of the atmosphere arising from the +ever-flowing waters of the great river. Among these the peach-palm is +quite conspicuous, with its spiny stems and mealy, nutritious fruit. +There are also the cocoa-palm and the assai-palm, the latter gayly +decorated with its delicate green plumes and long spear pointing +heavenward, an emblem borne by no other tree in existence. The great +variety of forms of plant life and giant grasses is extremely curious +and beautiful on this interesting island. We heard, while at Pará, of a +proposal made by some European party to thoroughly explore Marajo, which +has never yet been done, so far as is known to our time, and it is +believed that some very interesting and valuable discoveries may be the +result of such an expedition, composed of engineers, scientists, and +naturalists.</p> + +<p>A day's sail to the eastward, bearing a little to the south along the +coast, brings us to the port of Maranhão, which is the capital of a +province of Brazil known by the same name, situated a little over three +hundred miles from Pará. The place is picturesquely nestled, as it were, +in the very lap of the mountains, which come boldly down to the coast at +this point. It was founded nearly three hundred years ago, is regularly +built, and contains between thirty and forty thousand inhabitants. +Nearly all of the houses, which are generally of two stories, are +ornamented with attractive balconies, and have handsome gardens attached +to them, where the luxurious verdure is with difficulty kept within +proper bounds. Vegetation runs riot in equatorial regions. It is the one +pleasing outlet of nature, whose overcharged vitality, spurred on by the +climate, must find vent either in teeming vegetation or in raging +volcanoes, tidal waves, and unwelcome earthquakes, though sometimes, to +be sure, we find them all combined in the tropics.</p> + +<p>The harbor of Maranhão is excellent and sheltered, the depth of water +permitting the entrance of ships drawing full twenty feet, an advantage +which some of the ports to the southward would give millions of dollars +to possess. According to published statistics, the exports during 1890 +were as follows: thirty-six hundred tons of cotton, six hundred tons of +sugar, seven hundred tons of hides, a large amount of rice, and some +other minor articles. The imports for the same period were estimated at +something less than three million dollars in value. This is the entrepôt +of several populous districts, besides that of which it is the capital. +The province itself contains a number of navigable rivers, with some +thrifty towns on their banks. The bay gives ample evidence of commercial +activity, containing at all times a number of foreign steamships, with a +goodly show of coasting vessels. The place is slowly but steadily +growing in its business relations, and in the number of its permanent +population.</p> + +<p>It cannot make any pretension to architectural excellence, though the +Bishop's palace and the cathedral are handsome structures. There are two +or three other prominent edifices, quaint and Moorish, which were once +nunneries or monasteries; also a foundling institution, a special +necessity in all Roman Catholic countries. We found here a public +library, and a botanical garden. Not far inland there are some extensive +rice plantations, the province in some portions being specially adapted +to producing this valuable staple. We were informed by those whose +opinion was worthy of respect, that educational advantages are rather +remarkable here, the Lyceum having in the past few years graduated some +of the most prominent statesmen and professionals in Brazil. One thing +is very certain, the authorities cannot multiply educational facilities +any too rapidly in this country, nor give the subject any too much +attention, especially as regards the rising generation of both sexes. So +far as we could learn by inquiry, or judge by careful observation, the +ignorance of the mass of the people is simply deplorable.</p> + +<p>Maranhão is situated about fourteen hundred miles north of Rio +Janeiro, with which port it carries on an extensive coasting trade. The +exports, besides the staples already spoken of, are various, including +annotto, sarsaparilla, balsam copaiba, and other medicinal extracts, +together with rum and crude india-rubber. The climate is torrid, the +city being one hundred and fifty miles south of the equator; and though, +like most of the towns on the eastern coast of the continent, it is +rather an unhealthy locality, it is much less so than Pará, and is a far +more cleanly place than that city, its situation giving it the advantage +of a system of natural drainage. The country near Maranhão abounds in +native forests of exuberant richness, producing a valuable quality of +timber, and affording some of the finest cabinet woods known to +commerce, as well as a practically inexhaustible supply of various +dyewoods, a considerable business being done in the export of the latter +article. It was observed that the assai-palm, from which the palm wine +is made, was also a prominent feature here. The trunk is quite smooth, +the fruit growing in heavy bunches like grapes, dark brown in color, and +about the size of cranberries, hanging in heavy clusters just below the +bunch of long leaves which forms the top of the tree. The native drink +which is made from these palm grapes is a favorite beverage in northern +Brazil, and when properly fermented it contains about the same +percentage of alcohol as English pale ale.</p> + +<p>To the author, the town of Maranhão was quite unknown; even its place +upon the maps had never attracted his attention until after it was seen +lying peacefully in an amphitheatre of tall hills, which come down close +to the rock-ribbed shore of the Atlantic Ocean. This acknowledgment is +between ourselves, for such a confession would sound very ridiculous to +the good people of Maranhão.</p> + +<p>After leaving its harbor, our next objective point was Pernambuco, +which is situated about four days' sail from Pará by steamship, and +about three from Maranhão.</p> + +<p>This well known port, with its one hundred and fifty thousand +inhabitants, is reckoned as the third city of Brazil in point of size +and commercial importance. It lacks elevation to produce a good effect, +and recalls the low-lying city of Havana in general appearance, as one +approaches it from the sea. The harbor is not what could be desired for +a commercial city, having hardly sufficient depth of water for vessels +of heavy tonnage, and being also too narrow for a modern long steamship +to safely turn in. The American line of steamships come to a mooring +inside the harbor, but the European lines, or at least the Pacific Mail, +in which we made the home passage, anchor in the open roadstead, three +quarters of a mile from the shore. The harbor is formed by a long +natural reef, which makes a breakwater between it and the open sea, a +portion of the reef having been built up with solid masonry to render it +more effective. This remarkable coral formation, which is more or less +clearly defined, extends along the coast for a considerable +distance,—it is said for four hundred miles. Opposite Pernambuco +it rises six feet above the water, that is, above high-water mark, and +runs parallel to the front street of the city at the distance from it of +about a third of a mile or less. A wide opening in the reef at the +northern end of the town makes the entrance to the harbor. Off the +northeast coast of Australia, there is a very similar reef-formation, +fully as long as this on the South American coast, but situated much +further from the shore.</p> + +<p>It is a serious drawback that passengers by large ocean steamers +cannot enter the harbor of Pernambuco except by lighters or open boats; +all freight brought by these steamers must also be transhipped. Landing +here is often accomplished at considerable personal risk, and a thorough +ducking with salt water is not at all uncommon in the attempt to reach +the shore. To pull a boat from the open roadstead into the harbor, or +vice versa, requires six stout oarsmen and an experienced man at the +helm, so that landing from the Pacific Mail steamers is both a serious +and an expensive affair. If a very heavy sea is running, the thing +cannot be done, and no one will attempt it. The powerful wind which so +often prevails on the coast occasionally creates quite a commotion even +inside the harbor, among the shipping moored there, causing the largest +cables to part and vessels to drag their anchors. Of course a vessel +lying in the open roadstead, outside of the reef, has no protection +whatever, and is in a critical situation if the wind blows towards the +land. If it comes on to blow suddenly, she buoys and slips her anchor at +once; she dares not waste the time to hoist it, but gets away as quickly +as possible to where there is plenty of sea room and no lee shore to +fear. Fortunately, though so fierce for the time being, and of a +cyclonic character, the storms upon the coast are generally of brief +duration, and like the furious pamperos, which are so dreaded by +mariners further south, they blow themselves out in a few hours.</p> + +<p>The geographical situation of Pernambuco is such, in the track of +commerce, that vessels bound north or south, from Europe or from North +America, naturally make it a port of call to obtain late advices and +provisions. The name has been singularly chosen, no one can say how or +by whom, but it signifies "the mouth of hell," a cognomen which we do +not think the place at all deserves. It is a narrow, crowded, +picturesque old seaport.</p> + +<p>The town is situated at the mouth of the Biberibe River, just five +hundred miles south of the equator, and is divided in rather a peculiar +manner into three distinct parts: Recife, on a narrow peninsula; Boa +Vista, on the river shore; and San Antonio, on an island in the river; +all being connected, however, by six or eight substantial iron bridges. +The first named division is the business portion of the capital, about +whose water front the commercial life of Pernambuco centres, but the +streets of Recife are very narrow and often confusingly crooked. Boa +Vista is beautified by pleasant domestic residences, delightful gardens, +and attractive promenades, far beyond anything which a stranger +anticipates meeting in this part of the world. Though the business +portion of the city is so low, the other sections are of better and more +recent construction.</p> + +<p>The view of the town and harbor to be had from some portions of +Olinda is very fine and comprehensive, taking in a wide reach of land +and ocean. When a brief storm is raging, spending its force against the +reef, the view from this point is indeed grand. The sea, angered at +meeting a substantial impediment, seethes and foams in wild excitement, +dashing fifty feet into the air, and, falling over the reef, lashes the +inner waters of the harbor into waves which mount the landing piers, and +set everything afloat in the broad plaza which lines the shore. The big +ships rock and sway incessantly, straining at their anchors, or chafing +dangerously at their moorings. Precautions are taken to avert damage, +but man's strength and skill count for little when opposed by the +enraged elements.</p> + +<p>This plaza, or quay, is shaded by aged magnolias of great height, and +is the resort of unemployed seamen, fruit dealers, and idlers of all +degrees. The house fronts in the various sections of the town are +brilliantly colored, yellow, blue, white, and pink, also sometimes being +covered halfway up the first story with glittering tiles of various +hues. At nearly every turn one comes upon the moss-grown, crumbling +façade of some old church, about the corners of which there is often a +grossly filthy receptacle, the vile odor from which permeates the +surrounding atmosphere. This was found to be almost insupportable with +the thermometer standing at 90° Fahr. in the shade, forming so obvious a +means for propagating malarial fever and sickness generally as to be +absolutely exasperating. Notwithstanding all appearances, the American +consul assured us that Pernambuco is one of the healthiest cities on the +east coast of South America. The yellow fever, however, does not by any +means forget to visit the place annually. Experience showed us that the +residents along the coast were accustomed to give their own city +precedence in the matter of hygienic conditions, and to admit, with +serious faces, that the other capitals, north and south, were sadly +afflicted by epidemics at nearly all seasons.</p> + +<p>Pernambuco has several quite small but well-arranged public squares, +decorated with fountains, trees, and flowers of many species. Two of +these plazas have handsome pagodas, from which outdoor concerts are +often given by military bands. The city is a thriving and progressive +place, has extensive gas works, an admirable system of water supply, +tramways, good public schools, and one college or high school. We must +not forget to add to this list a very <i>flourishing</i> foundling +asylum, where any number of poor little waifs are constantly being +received, and no questions asked. A revolving box or cradle is placed in +a wall of the hospital, next to the street, in which any person can +deposit an infant, ring the bell, and the cradle will revolve, leaving +the child on the inside of the establishment, where the little deserted +object will be duly cared for. Connected with the hospital are several +outlying buildings, where children are placed at various stages of +growth. We were told that about forty per cent. of such children live to +grow up to maturity, and leave the care of the government fairly well +fitted to take their place in the world, and to fight the battle of life +so very inauspiciously begun. It has been strongly argued that such an +establishment offers a premium upon illegitimacy and immorality; but one +thing is to be considered, it prevents the terrible crime of +infanticide, which is said to have prevailed here to an alarming extent +before this hospital was founded.</p> + +<p>There is a passably good system of drainage, which was certainly very +much needed, and since its completion the general health of the place is +said to have considerably improved. This is not all that is required, +however. There should be a decided reform in the habits of the people as +regards cleanliness. At present they are positively revolting. The +inhabitants are the very reverse of neat in their domestic associations, +and home arrangements for natural conveniences are inexcusably +objectionable; such, indeed, as would in a North American city, or even +small town, call for the prompt interference of the local board of +health. These remarks do not apply to isolated cases; the trouble is +universal. Families living otherwise in comparative affluence utterly +disregard neatness and decency in the matter to which we allude.</p> + +<p>The districts neighboring to Pernambuco form extensive plains, well +adapted to the raising of sugar, coffee, and cotton, as well as all +sorts of tropical fruits and vegetables. There are many flourishing +plantations representing these several interests, more especially that +of sugar. The storehouses on the wharves and in the business sections of +the city, the oxcarts passing through the streets, drawn each by a +single animal, and even the very atmosphere, seem to be full of sugar. +It is, in fact, the great sugar mart of South America. The annual amount +of the article which is exported averages some twelve hundred thousand +tons. Sugar is certainly king at Pernambuco. People not only drink, but +they talk sugar. It is the one great interest about which all other +business revolves. The article is mostly of the lower grade, and +requires to be refined before it is suitable for the market. The +refining process is being generally adopted at the plantations. American +machinery is introduced for the purpose with entire success. The export +of the crude article will, it is believed, be much less every year for +the future, until it ceases altogether. It was a singular sight to +observe the naked negroes carrying canvas bags of crude sugar upon their +heads through the streets, each bag weighing a hundred pounds or more. +The intense heat caused the canvas to exude quantities of syrup or +molasses, which covered their dark, glossy bodies with small streams of +fluid. They trotted along in single file, and at a quick pace, towards +their destination, unheeding the sticky condition of their woolly heads +and naked bodies.</p> + +<p>Not far inland there are extensive meadows, where large herds of +horned cattle are raised, together with a breed of half-wild horses, the +breaking and domesticating of which, as here practiced, is a most cruel +process. A certain set of men devote themselves to this business; rough +riders, we should call them, very rough. Good horses are to be had at +extraordinarily low prices. In the back country there are some grand and +extensive forests, which produce fine cabinet woods and superior dye +woods.</p> + +<p>By consulting a map of the western hemisphere, it will be seen that +Pernambuco is situated on the great eastern shoulder of South America, +where it pushes farthest into the Atlantic Ocean, fifteen hundred miles +south of Pará, and about five hundred north of Bahia. On the long coral +reef which separates the harbor from the open sea is a picturesque +lighthouse, also a quaint old watch tower which dates from the time of +the Dutch dominion here. It is proposed to build additional layers of +heavy granite blocks upon the reef, so as to raise it about six or eight +feet higher and make it of a uniform elevation along the entire city +front, and thus afford almost complete protection for the inner +anchorage. It will be only possible to make any real improvement of the +harbor by adopting a thorough system of dredging and deepening. There +was evidence of such a purpose being already in progress on our second +visit, two large steam dredging machines being anchored at the southerly +end of the harbor.</p> + +<p>The people of this hot region know the great value of shade trees, +consequently they abound, half hiding from view the numerous handsome +villas which form the attractive suburbs of the city. Everywhere one +sees tall cocoanut palms, clusters of feathery bamboos, widespread +mangoes, prolific bananas, guavas, and plantains growing among other +graceful tropical trees, rich in the green texture of their foliage, and +thrice rich in their luscious and abundant fruits. Among the vine +products we must not forget to mention a rich, high flavored grape, +which is native here, and which all people praise after once tasting. +The water, which is brought into the city by a system of double iron +pipes, comes from a neighboring lake, and is a pure and wholesome drink, +a most incomparable blessing in equatorial regions, which no person who +has not suffered for the want of it can duly appreciate.</p> + +<p>The International Hotel is the favorite resort of strangers, and is +situated a couple of miles from the harbor. It is surrounded by +beautiful trees and flowers, the golden oranges weighing down the +branches nearly to the ground by their size and abundance, while the +young blossoms fill the air with their delicate perfume,—fruit and +blossoms on the tree at the same time. The garden is thronged by +household pets, and contains a spacious aviary. The monkey tribe is +fully represented; gaudy winged parrots dazzle the eye with impossible +colors. One partakes here, in the open air, of the refreshing viands +amid the songs of birds, the occasional scream of the cockatoo, the +cooing of turtle-doves, and the fragrance of a profusion of tropical +flowers. The native servants are well-trained, and there is a French +chef. We were told that this attractive place had once belonged to a +very wealthy Brazilian, a planter, who had come to grief financially, +and as the house was offered for sale, it had been purchased for one +fifth of its original cost and adapted to hotel purposes. While enjoying +our fruit at dessert, a somewhat similar experience was recalled as +having taken place at Christiania, in Norway, where visitors enjoy the +meals in a sort of outdoor museum and garden, surrounded by curious +preserved birds mingled with living ones, the latter so tame as to +alight fearlessly upon the table and await any choice bit guests may +offer them.</p> + +<p>We shall not soon forget the very appetizing dinner of which we +partook, amid such attractive surroundings, in the gardens of the +International Hotel at Pernambuco. One fruit which was served to us is +known by the name of the loquat. It is round, dark yellow, and about the +size of a Tangerine orange,—a great favorite with the natives, +though it is mostly stone and skin, and tastes like turpentine.</p> + +<p>This city is often called the Venice of Brazil, but why, it is +difficult for one to understand. It is only poetical license, for there +is not the first actual resemblance between the two cities. True, there +are several watercourses, and half a dozen bridges, intersecting this +Brazilian capital. One would be equally justified in calling the frail +catamarans which are used by the fishermen in these waters, gondolas. +This singular craft, by the way, consists of four or five logs of the +cork-palm tree, confined together by a series of strong lashings, no +nails being used, thus securing a necessary degree of elasticity. One +end of the logs is hewn down to a smaller size or width than the other, +thus forming stem and stern, while a single thick plank serves as a +keel. There are no bulwarks to this crazy craft,—for it can hardly +be called anything else,—the whole being freely washed by the sea; +but yet, with a rude mast carrying a triangular sail, and with a couple +of oars, two or three fishermen venture far away from the shore; indeed, +we encountered them out of sight of land. A couple of upright stakes are +driven into the logs, to hold on by when occasion requires. It is really +wonderful to see how weatherly such a frail affair can be, and how +literally safe in a rough seaway. The boatmen who navigate these +catamarans (they are called here <i>janguardas</i>) manage to keep the +market of Pernambuco abundantly supplied with the strange, fantastic +fish which so prevail along the Atlantic coast in equatorial +regions.</p> + +<p>We have seen a craft very similar to these catamarans in use off the +Coromandel coast, between Madras and the mouth of the Hoogly River, +which leads up to Calcutta. Here the natives manage them in a sea so +rough that an ordinary ship's boat, if exposed, would surely be swamped. +The Madras catamaran consists of three pieces of timber, mere logs +twelve or fourteen feet long, securely bound together with ropes made +from the fibre of the cocoanut palm. Nails are no more available here +than in the former crafts we have named. No nails could withstand the +wrenching which this raft is subjected to. The middle log is a little +longer than the two outside ones, and is given a slight upward turn at +the end which forms the prow. No sail is used, but two fishermen +generally go out with each of these rafts, propelling them with +broad-bladed paddles, used alternately on either side. Of course the +natives who navigate these crafts are naked, with the exception of a +breech-cloth at the loins. They are very frequently thrown off by the +sea, but regain their places with remarkable agility. They manage also, +somehow, to secure their fishing gear, and generally to bring in a +remunerative fare from their excursions. Strange as the catamaran is, it +must yet be described as breezy, watery, and safe—for amphibious +creatures. There is one enemy these fishermen have to look out for, +namely the shark, both on the coast of Madras and South America. It is +more common to say when one is lost that the sharks got him, than it is +to say he was drowned.</p> + +<p>The reef so often referred to, forming the breakwater opposite +Pernambuco, is about forty feet in width at the surface, and is the +marvelous architecture of that tiny coral builder which works beneath +these southern seas. When it has reared a pyramid reaching from the far +bottom of the ocean to the surface, its mission is performed and it +dies. It lives and works only beneath the surface of the sea; +atmospheric air is fatal to it. The pyramids of Egypt cannot compare +with these submerged structures for height, solidity, or magnitude. One +is the product of a creature of such seeming unimportance as to require +microscopic aid to detect its existence; the other are monuments erected +by ancient kings commanding infinite resources; the former being the +process of nature in carrying out her great and mysterious plan; the +latter, the ambitious work of men whose very identity is now +questionable. If we were to enter into a calculation based upon known +scientific facts, as to how many thousands of years were required for +this minute animal to rear this massive structure, the result would +astonish the average reader.</p> + +<p>On approaching Pernambuco from the sea, the first object to attract +the eye is the long line of snow white breakers, caused by the incessant +swell of the sea striking against the firmly planted reef with a +deafening surge, breaking into foam and spray which are thrown forty +feet and more into the air. As we drew near for the first time, the +extended line of breakers was illumined by the early morning sun, making +fancy rainbows and misty pictures in the mingled air and water. We were +escorted by myriads of sea-birds, whose sharp cries came close upon the +ear, as they flew in and about the rigging. Behind the reef lay the +comparatively smooth waters of the harbor, dotted here and there by tiny +white sails, curious-shaped coasting craft, rowboats, and steam tugs, +while the background was formed by a leafless forest of tall ships' +masts which lined the wharves, and partially screened the low-lying +capital from view.</p> + +<p>We have remained quite long enough at this city of the reef, and now +turn southward towards the more attractive port of Bahia.</p> + +<p>In running down the coast, the Brazilian shore is so near as to be +distinctly visible, with its surf-fringed beach of golden sands +extending mile after mile, beyond which, far inland, rise ranges of +forest-clad hills, and beyond these, sky-reaching alps. It is often +necessary to give the land a wide berth, as at certain points dangerous +sandbars make out from it far to seaward; but whenever near enough to +the coast to make out the character of the vegetation, it was of deepest +green and exuberantly tropical. With the exception of one or two small +towns, and an occasional fisherman's hamlet, the shore presented no +signs of habitation, being mostly a sandy waste adjoining the sea, where +heavy rollers spent their force upon the smooth, water-worn, yellow +beach.</p> + +<p class="p4"><a name="Ch_7"></a></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER VII.</h3> + +<p class="blockquote">Port of Bahia.—A Quaint Old +City.—Former Capital of Brazil.—Whaling +Interests.—Beautiful Panorama.—Tramways.—No Color Line +Here.—The Sedan Chair.—Feather Flowers.—Great Orange +Mart.—Passion Flower Fruit.—Coffee, Sugar, and +Tobacco.—A Coffee Plantation.—Something about +Diamonds.—Health of the City.—Curious Tropical Street +Scenes.</p> + +<p class="p2">Bahia,—pronounced Bah-ee´ah,—situated three +hundred and fifty miles south of Pernambuco, is the capital of a +province of the same name in Brazil, and contains nearly two hundred +thousand inhabitants. It is admirably situated on elevated ground at the +entrance of All Saints Bay,—<i>Todos os Santos</i>,—just +within Cape San Antonio, eight hundred miles or thereabouts north of Rio +Janeiro. The entrance of the bay is seven miles broad. For its size, +there are few harbors in the world which present a more attractive +picture as one first beholds it on entering from the open Atlantic. The +elevated site of the city, with its close array of neat, white three and +four story houses, breaks the sky-line in front of the anchorage, while +the town forms a half moon in shape, extending for a couple of miles +each way, right and left. Near the water's edge, on the lower line of +the city, are many substantial warehouses, official establishments, the +custom house, and the like. Between the lower and the upper town is a +long reach of green terraced embankment, intense in its bright verdure. +Probably no other city on the globe, certainly not so far as our +experience extends, is so peculiarly divided.</p> + +<p>A sad episode marked our first experience here. We came to anchor in +the harbor, according to custom, at what is known as the Quarantine. +About a cable's length from us lay a large European steamship, flying +the yellow flag at the fore. She came into port from Rio Janeiro on the +previous evening; five of her passengers who had died of yellow fever on +the passage were buried at sea, while two more were down with it, and +were being taken to the lazaretto on shore, as we dropped our anchor. +Probably they went there to die. This was naturally depressing, more so, +perhaps, as we were bound direct for Rio Janeiro; but as we now came +from a northern port with a clean bill of health, we were finally +released from quarantine and permitted to land. It is late in the +season—last of May—for this pest of the coast to prevail, +but the year 1891 has been one of unusual fatality in the South American +ports, and none of them have been entirely exempt from the scourge, some +showing a fearful list of mortality among both citizens and strangers. +We were conversant with many instances of a particularly trying and sad +nature, if any distinction can be made where death intervenes with such +a rude hand. Victims who were in apparent good health in the morning +were not infrequently buried on the evening of the same day! But we will +spare the reader harrowing details.</p> + +<p>Americus Vespucius discovered Bahia in 1503, while sailing under the +patronage of Portugal, and as it was settled in 1511, it is the oldest +city in the country, being also the second in size, though not in +commercial importance. The excellent harbor is so spacious as to form a +small inland sea, the far-reaching shores of which are beautified by +mingled green foliage and pretty villas stretching along the bay, while +the business portion gives evidence of a growing and important foreign +trade. This deduction is also corroborated by the presence of numerous +European steamships, and full-rigged sailing vessels devoted to the +transportation of merchandise. The buildings are generally of a +substantial appearance, whether designed as residences or for business +purposes, but are mostly of an antique pattern, old and dingy. Though +the city is divided into the lower and the upper town, the latter two or +three hundred feet above the former, it is made easily accessible by +mechanical means. A large elevator, run by hydraulic power, is employed +for the purpose, which was built by an energetic Yankee, and has been in +successful operation several years, taking the citizens from the lower +to the upper town, as we pass from basement to attic in our tall North +American buildings. Between the two portions of Bahia there are streets +for the transportation of merchandise, which wind zigzag fashion along +the ravine to avoid the abruptness of the ascent. Besides these means, +there are narrow stone steps leading upwards to the first level, among +the tropical verdure, the deep green branches and leaves nodding to one +from out of narrow lanes and quiet nooks. There is still another way of +reaching the upper town, namely, a cable road, of very steep grade, one +car ascending while another descends, thus forming a sort of +counterbalance. By all these facilities united, the population manage +very comfortably to overcome the topographical difficulties of the +situation.</p> + +<p>Though there are few buildings of any special note in Bahia, the +general architecture being quaint and nondescript, still the combined +view of the city, as we have endeavored to show, is of no inconsiderable +beauty. We approached it from the north, doubling Light House Point in +the early morning, just as the rising sun lighted up the bay. Seen from +the harbor, the large dome of the cathedral overlooks the whole town +very much like the gilded dome which forms so conspicuous an object on +approaching the city of Boston. The dark, low-lying, grim-looking fort, +which presides over the quarantine anchorage, is built upon a natural +ledge of rock, half a mile from the shore of the town, and looks like a +huge cheese-box.</p> + +<p>In the upper portion of Bahia the streets are narrow, and the houses +so tall as to nearly exclude the sun when it is not in the zenith. They +are built of a native stone, and differ from the majority of South +American dwellings, which are rarely over two stories in height, and +generally of one only. We have heard it argued that it is advantageous +to build tropical cities with narrow streets, so as to exclude the heat +of the sun's rays and thus keep the houses cooler. This is not logical. +Wide avenues and broad streets give ventilation which cannot be obtained +in any other way in populous centres. Narrow lanes invite epidemics, +fevers, and malarial diseases; broad thoroughfares give less opportunity +for their lodgment. A beehive of human beings, crowded together in a +narrow space, exhausts the life-giving principle of the surrounding +atmosphere, but this is impossible where plenty of room is given for the +circulation of fresh air.</p> + +<p>These tall houses of Bahia have overhanging ornamental balconies, +which towards evening are filled with the female portion of the +families, laughing, chatting, singing, and smoking, for the ladies of +these latitudes smoke in their domestic circles. Narrow as the streets +of Bahia are, room is found for a well patronized tramway to run through +them. No one thinks of walking, if it be for only a couple of hundred +rods, on the line of the street cars. All of the civilized world seems +to have grown lazy since the introduction of this modern facility for +cheap transportation.</p> + +<p>Bahia was the capital of Brazil until 1763, during which year the +headquarters of the government were removed to Rio Janeiro.</p> + +<p>This is a sort of New Bedford, so to speak, having been for more than +a century extensively engaged in the whaling business, an occupation +which is still pursued to a limited extent. Whales frequent the bay of +Bahia, where they are sometimes captured by small boats from the shore. +It is supposed that the favorite food of this big game is found in these +waters. There was a time when the close pursuit by fishing fleets fitted +out in nearly all parts of the world rendered the whales wary and +scarce. The catching and killing of so many seemed to have thinned out +their number in most of the seas of the globe. Then came the great +discovery of rock oil, which rapidly superseded the whale oil of +commerce in general use. Thereupon the pursuit of the gigantic animal +ceased to be of any great moment, while there was oil enough +spontaneously pouring out of the wells of Pennsylvania, and elsewhere, +to fully satisfy the demand of the world at large. Being no longer +hunted, the whales gradually became tame and increased in numbers, so +that to-day there are probably as many in the usual haunts of these +leviathans in either hemisphere as there ever were. The briefest sea +voyage can hardly be made without sighting one or more of them, and +sometimes in large schools.</p> + +<p>There is a portion of the elevated section of Bahia which is called +Victoria, a really beautiful locality, having delightful gardens, +attractive walks, and myriads of noble shade trees. From here the +visitor overlooks the bay, with its islands and curving shore decked +with graceful palms, bamboos, and mango groves; upon the water are +numerous tiny boats, while white winged sailing ships and dark, begrimed +steamers unite in forming a picture of active life and maritime beauty. +In the distance lies the ever green island of Itaparica, named after the +first governor's Indian bride, while still farther away is seen range +after range of tall, purple hills, multiplied until lost in the +distance.</p> + +<p>A few grim looking convents and monasteries, which have gradually +come into the possession of the government, are now used as free +schools, libraries, and hospitals. There is a medical college here which +has a national reputation for general excellence, and many students come +from Rio Janeiro, eight hundred miles away, to avail themselves of its +advantages, receiving a diploma after attending upon its three years' +course of studies. From subsequent inquiry, however, not only here but +in Rio and elsewhere, we are satisfied that the science of medicine and +surgery stands at a very low ebb throughout this great southland. +Foreign doctors are looked upon with great distrust and jealousy; +indeed, it is very difficult for them to obtain a suitable license to +practice in Brazil. This does not apply to dentistry, of which +profession there are many American experts in the country, who have +realized decided pecuniary and professional success. There were six or +eight on board the Vigilancia, who had been on a visit to their North +American homes during the summer season, at which time the fever is most +to be dreaded here.</p> + +<p>The city contains over sixty churches, some of which are fine +edifices, built of stone brought from Europe. This could easily be done +without much extra expense, as the vessels visiting the port in those +early days required ballast with which to cross the ocean. They brought +no other cargo of any account, but were sure at certain seasons of the +year to obtain a suitable return freight, which paid a good profit on +the round voyage. Several of these churches are in a very dilapidated +condition, and probably will not be repaired. The cathedral is one of +the largest structures of the sort in Brazil, and is thought by many to +be one of the finest. The cathedral at Rio, however, is a much more +elaborate structure, and far more costly. It takes enormous sums, wrung +from the poorest class of people, to maintain these gorgeous temples and +support the horde of fat, licentious, useless priests attached to them, +while the mass of humanity find life a daily struggle with abject want +and poverty. Does any thoughtful person believe for one moment that such +hollow service can be grateful to a just and merciful Supreme Being?</p> + +<p>Bahia was a flourishing port before Rio Janeiro was known +commercially, and was the first place of settlement by English traders +on this coast. The present population is of a very mixed character, +composed of nearly all nationalities, white and black, European and +natives. There is no prejudice evinced as regards color. Mulatto or +negro may once have been a slave, but he is a freeman now, both socially +and in the eyes of the law. He is eligible for any position of trust, +public or private, if he develops the requisite degree of intelligence. +Men who have been slaves in their youth are now filling political +offices here, with credit to themselves and satisfaction to the public. +The actual reform from being a degraded land of slavery to one of human +freedom is much more radical and thorough in Brazil than it is in our +own Southern States, where the pretended equality of the colored race is +simply a burlesque upon constitutional liberty.</p> + +<p>The occasional use of that quaint mode of conveyance, the sedan +chair, was observable, taking one back to the days of Queen Anne. Only a +few years ago it was the one mode of transportation from the lower to +the upper part of the town; but modern facilities, already referred to, +have thrown the sedan chair nearly out of use. A few antique +representatives of this style of vehicle, some quite expensive and +elaborately ornamented, are still seen obstructing the entrances to the +houses. The local name they bear is <i>cadeira</i>. When these chairs +are used, they are borne upon the shoulders of two or four stalwart +blacks, and are hung upon long poles, like a palanquin, after the +fashion so often seen in old pictures and ancient tapestry.</p> + +<p>We have spoken of the narrowness of the streets through which the +tramways pass. In many places, pedestrians are compelled to step into +the doorways of dwellings to permit the cars to pass them. This is not +only the case at Bahia, but also in half the busy portion of South +American cities. These mule propelled cars are now adopted all over this +country and Mexico; even fourth class cities have tramways, and many +towns which have not yet risen to the dignity of having a city +organization are thus supplied with transportation. The Bahia tramway, +on its route to the suburbs, passes through fertile districts of great +rural beauty, among groves of tropical fruits, orange orchards, tall +overshadowing mangoes, and cultivated flowers. There is an attempt at a +public garden, though it is an idea only half carried out; but there is +a terrace in connection here called "The Bluff," from whence one gets a +magnificent view, more especially of the near and the distant sea. These +delightful and comprehensive natural pictures are photographed upon the +memory, forming a charming cabinet of scenic views appertaining to each +special locality, choice, original, and never to be effaced.</p> + +<p>We must not omit to mention a specialty of this city, an article +produced in one or two of the charitable institutions, as well as in +many humble family circles, namely, artificial flowers made from the +choicest feathers of the most brilliant colored birds. None of these +articles are poor, while some of them are exquisite in design and +execution, produced entirely from the plumage of native birds. A +considerable aggregate sum of money is realized by a certain portion of +the community, in the regular manufacture of these delicate ornaments. +Girls begin to learn the art at a very early age, and in a few years +arrive at a marvelous degree of perfection, producing realistic pictures +which rival the brush and pencil of a more pretentious department of +art. Nearly all visitors carry away with them dainty examples of this +exquisite and artistic work, which has a reputation beyond the seas. +Thousands of beautiful birds are annually sacrificed to furnish the +necessary material. Thus the delicate family of the humming-bird, whose +variety is infinite in Brazil, has been almost exterminated in some +parts of the country. There is one other specialty here, namely, the +manufacture of lace, which gives constant employment to many women of +Bahia, their product being much esteemed all over South America for the +beauty of the designs and the perfection of the manufacture.</p> + +<p>The special fruit of this province, as already intimated, is oranges, +and it is safe to say that none produced elsewhere can excel them. They +are not picked until they are thoroughly ripe, and are therefore too +delicate, in their prime condition, to sustain transportation to any +considerable distance. Those sold in our northern cities are picked in a +green condition and ripened off the trees, a process which does not +injure some fruits, but which detracts very materially from the orange +and the pineapple. The oranges of Bahia average from five to six inches +in diameter, have a rather thin skin, are full of juice, and contain no +pips; in short, they are perfectly delicious, being delicately sweet, +with a slight subacid flavor. The first enjoyment of this special fruit +in Bahia is a gastronomic revelation. The maracajus is also a favorite +fruit here, but hardly to be named beside the orange. It is the product +of the vine which bears the passion flower, but this we could not +relish. It is a common fruit in Australia and New Zealand, where the +author found it equally unpalatable, yet people who have once acquired +the taste become very fond of it. The vine with its flower is common +enough in the United States, but we have never seen it in a +fruit-bearing condition in our country.</p> + +<p>The province of Bahia has an area of two hundred thousand square +miles, and is represented as containing some of the most fertile land in +Brazil, capable of producing immense crops of several important staples. +It is especially fertile near the coast, where there are some large and +thriving tobacco, sugar, and coffee plantations. The first mentioned +article, owing to some favorable peculiarity of the soil in this +vicinity, is held to be nearly equal to the average Cuban product, and +it is being more and more extensively cultivated each year. Bahia cigars +are not only very cheap, but they are remarkably fine in flavor. It was +observed that old travelers on this coast made haste to lay in a goodly +supply of them for personal use.</p> + +<p>A coffee plantation situated not far from this city was visited, +affording a small party of strangers to the place much pleasure and +information. The coffee plant is an evergreen, and thus the foliage is +always fresh in appearance, yielding two harvests annually. Boa Vista, +the plantation referred to, covers about one hundred acres, much of +which is also devoted to the raising of fodder, fruit, corn, and beans, +with some special vegetables, forming the principal sustenance of the +people and animals employed upon the estate. At first, in laying out +such a plantation, the coffee sprouts are started in a nursery, and when +they have had a year's growth are transplanted to the open field, where +they are placed with strict uniformity in long rows at equal distances +apart. After the second year these young plants begin to bear, and +continue to do so for twenty-five or thirty years, at which period both +the trees and the soil become in a measure exhausted, and a new tract of +land is again selected for a plantation. By proper management the new +plantation can be made to begin bearing at the same time that the old +one ceases to be sufficiently productive and remunerative to cultivate +for the same purpose. The coffee-tree is thought to be in its prime at +from five to ten years of age. Fruit trees, such as bananas, oranges, +mandioca, guavas, and so on, are planted among the coffee-trees to +afford them a partial shelter, which, to a certain degree, is requisite +to their best success, especially when they are young and throwing out +thin roots. The coffee bushes are kept trimmed down to about the height +of one's head, which facilitates the harvesting of the crop, and also +throws the sap into the formation and growth of berries. The +coffee-tree, when permitted to grow to its natural height, reaches +between twenty and thirty feet, and, with its deep green foliage, is a +handsome ornamental garden tree, much used for this purpose in Brazil. +The coffee pods, when ripe, are scarlet in color, and resemble cherries, +though they are much smaller. Each berry contains two seeds, which, when +detached from the pod and properly dried, form the familiar article of +such universal domestic use. A coffee plantation well managed, in +Brazil, is an almost certain source of ample fortune. The crop is sure; +that is to say, it has scarcely any drawbacks, and is always in demand. +Of course there are inconveniences of climate, and other things needless +to enumerate, as regards entering into the business, but the growth and +ripening of a coffee crop very seldom fail.</p> + +<p>As has been intimated, this port is famous for the production of +oranges and tobacco; so Rio is famous for coffee, Pernambuco for sugar, +and Pará for crude india-rubber.</p> + +<p>We must not forget to mention one other, and by no means +insignificant product of Brazil which is exported from Bahia, namely, +diamonds of the very first quality, which for purity of color far exceed +those of Africa and elsewhere. It appears that a syndicate in London +control the world's supply of this peculiar gem from all the mines on +the globe, permitting only a certain quantity of diamonds to go on to +the market annually, and thus keeping up the selling price and the +market value. No one is permitted to know the real product of the mines +but the managers of this syndicate. The quantity of the sparkling gems +which are held back by the dealers in London, Paris, and Vienna is +really enormous; were they to be placed in the retail dealers' hands as +fast as they are produced from the various sources of supply, they would +be erelong as cheap and plenty as moonstones. This sounds like an +extravagant assertion, but still there is far more truth in it than is +generally realized. One of the public journals of London lately spoke of +a proposed corporation, to be known as the "Diamond Trust," which is +certainly a significant evidence that the market requires to be +carefully controlled as to the quantity which is annually put upon it. +In old times a diamond was simply valued as a diamond; its cutting and +polishing were of the simplest character. A series of irregular plane +surfaces were thought to sufficiently bring out its reflective +qualities, but the stone is now treated with far more care and +intelligence. A large portion of the value of a diamond has come to +consist in the artistic, and we may say scientific, manner in which it +is cut. By this means its latent qualities of reflection of light are +brought to perfection, developing its real brilliancy. Accomplished +workmen realize fabulous wages in this employment. A stone of +comparatively little value, by being cut in the best manner, can be made +to outshine a much finer stone which is cut after the old style. +Amsterdam used to control the business of diamond cutting, but it is now +as well done in Boston and New York as in any part of the world.</p> + +<p>The largest diamond yet discovered came from Brazil, and is known as +the Braganza. The first European expert in precious stones has valued +this extraordinary gem, which is still in the rough, at three hundred +million sterling! Its actual weight is something over one pound troy. In +the light of such a statement, we pause to ask ourselves, What is a +diamond? Simply carbon crystallized, that is, in its greatest purity, +and carbon is the combustible principle of charcoal. The author was +told, both here and in Rio Janeiro, that there is a considerable and +profitable mining industry carried on in this country, of which the +general public hear nothing. The results are only known to prominent and +interested Brazilians, the whole matter being kept as secret as possible +for commercial reasons. No one reads anything about the products of the +diamond mines in the local papers.</p> + +<p>We cannot say that the city of Bahia is a very healthy locality, +though it certainly seems that it ought to be, it is so admirably +situated. Yellow fever and other epidemics prevail more or less every +year. The lower part of the town, on the water front, is so shamefully +filthy as to induce fever. Upon first landing, the stranger finds +himself almost nauseated by the vile smells which greet him. This +section of the town is also very hot, the cliff, or upper town, shutting +off almost entirely the circulation of air. It is here that sailors, +particularly, indulge in all sorts of excesses, especially in drinking +the vile, raw liquor sold by negresses, besides eating unripe and +overripe fruit, thus inviting disease. One favorite drink produced here, +very cheap and very potent, is a poisonous but seductive white rum.</p> + +<p>The trade and people in this part of the town form a strange +conglomerate,—monkeys, parrots, caged birds, tame jaguars, mongrel +puppies, pineapples, oranges, mangoes, and bananas, these being flanked +by vegetables and flowers. The throng is made up of half-naked boatmen, +indolent natives from the country, with negresses, both as venders and +purchasers. As we look at the scene, in addition to what we have +depicted there is a jovial group of sailors from a man-of-war in the +harbor enjoying their shore leave, while not far away a small party of +yachtsmen from an English craft are amusing themselves with petty +bargains, close followed by half a dozen Americans, who came hither in +the last mail steamer. A polyglot scene of mixed tongues and gay +colors.</p> + +<p>In passing into and out of the harbor of Bahia, one can count a dozen +forts and batteries, all constructed after the old style, and armed in +the most ineffective manner. These would count as nothing in a contest +with modern ships of war having plated hulls and arms of precision. Land +fortifications, designed to protect commercial ports from foreign +enemies, have not kept pace with the progress in naval armament.</p> + +<p>Bahia is connected by submarine telegraph with Pernambuco, Pará, and +Rio Janeiro, and through them with all parts of the civilized world.</p> + +<p class="p4"><a name="Ch_8"></a></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER VIII.</h3> + +<p class="blockquote">Cape Frio.—Rio Janeiro.—A Splendid +Harbor.—Various Mountains.—Botafogo Bay.—The +Hunchback.—Farewell to the Vigilancia.—Tijuca.—Italian +Emigrants.—City Institutions.—Public +Amusements.—Street Musicians.—Churches.—Narrow +Thoroughfares.—Merchants' Clerks.—Railroads in +Brazil.—Natural Advantages of the City.—The Public +Plazas.—Exports.</p> + +<p class="p2">After a three days' voyage down the coast, between Bahia +and Rio Janeiro, the tall lighthouse of Cape Frio—"Cool +Cape"—was sighted. This promontory is a large oval mass of +granite, sixteen hundred feet in height, quite isolated from other +highlands, protruding boldly into the Atlantic Ocean. It forms the +southeastern extremity of the coast of Brazil, and in clear weather can +be seen, it is said, forty miles or more away. Here the long swell of +the open sea is unobstructed and finds full sway, asserting its giant +power at all seasons of the year. Experienced travelers who rarely +suffer from seasickness are apt to succumb to this trying illness off +Cape Frio. It is situated in latitude 22° 59' south, longitude 41° 57' +west, which is particularly specified because the line of no magnetic +variation touches on this cape,—that line which Columbus was so +amazed at discovering one hundred leagues west of Flores, in the Azores, +nearly four hundred years ago. We had been running almost due south for +the last eight hundred miles, but in doubling Cape Frio, and making for +Rio harbor, the ship was headed to the westward, while the mountains on +the coast assumed the most grotesque and singular shapes, the range +extending from west to east until it ends at Cape Frio. The continent of +South America here forms a sharp angle, but we were too full of +expectancy as to the king of harbors towards which we were heading, to +speculate much about Cape Frio and its ocean-swept surroundings.</p> + +<p>Rio Janeiro, the capital of Brazil, is also the largest, if not the +most important city in South America, situated about twelve hundred +miles north of Montevideo and Buenos Ayres, just within the borders of +the southern torrid zone. The distance of Rio from New York direct is +five thousand miles, but most voyagers, on the way through the West +Indies, stop at three or four of these islands, and also at some of the +northern ports of the continent of South America, the same as in our own +case, so that about five hundred miles may be fairly added to the +distance we have just named. Though the vessel was a month in making the +voyage to this port, had we sailed direct it might have been done in two +thirds of the time.</p> + +<p>After doubling the cape and sailing some sixty or eighty miles, we +steered boldly towards the mouth of the harbor of Rio. For a few moments +the ship's prow pointed towards Raza Island, on which stands the +lighthouse, but a slight turn of the wheel soon changed its relative +position, and we entered the passage leading into the bay. After passing +the "Sugar Loaf," a rock twelve hundred feet in height, the city lay off +our port bow. All is so well defined, the water is so deep and free from +obstructions of any sort, that no pilot is required and none is taken, +and thus we crept slowly up towards our moorings. As the reader may well +suppose, to eyes weary of the monotony of the sea, the panorama which +opened before us was one of intense interest. Everything seemed matured +and olden. There was no sign of newness; indeed, we recalled the fact +that Rio was an established commercial port half a century before New +York had a local habitation or a name. The town lies on the west side of +the port, between a mountain range and the bay, running back less than +two miles in depth, but extending along the shore for a distance of some +eight miles, fronting one of the finest and most spacious harbors in the +world, famous for its manifold scenic beauties, which, from the moment +of passing within the narrow entrance, are ever changing and ever +lovely. The most prominent features are the verdure-clad hills of +Gloria, Theresa, and Castello, behind which extend ranges of steep, +everlasting mountains, one line beyond another, until lost among the +clouds. Few natural spectacles can equal the grand contour of this +famous bay. People who have visited it always speak in superlative +language of Rio harbor, but we hardly think it could be overpraised. It +is the grand entrance to a tropical paradise, so far as nature is +concerned, amid clustering mountains, abrupt headlands, inviting inlets, +and beautiful islands, covered with palms, tree-ferns, bananas, acacias, +and other delights of tropical vegetation, which, when seen depicted in +books, impress one as an exaggeration, but seen here thrill us with +vivid reality. It is only in the torrid zone that one sees these lavish +developments of verdure, these labyrinths of charming arboreous +effect.</p> + +<p>Though so well known and so often written about, the harbor of Rio is +less famous than beautiful. The bay is said to contain about one hundred +islands, its area extending inland some seventeen or eighteen miles. The +largest of these is Governor's Island, nearly fronting the city, being +six miles long. Some idea of the extent of the bay may be had from the +fact that there are fifty square miles of good anchorage for ships +within its compass. Into the bay flows the water of two inconsiderable +rivers, the Macacu and the Iguaçu, the first named coming in at the +northeast and the latter at the northwest corner of the harbor.</p> + +<p>The Organ Mountains,—Serra dos Orgãos,—capped with soft, +fleecy clouds, formed the lofty background of the picture towards the +north, as we entered upon the scene, the immediate surroundings being +dominated by the sky-reaching Sugar Loaf Rock,—Pão +d'Assucar,—which is also the navigator's guiding mark while yet +far away at sea. This bold, irregular rock of red sandstone rises +abruptly from the water, like a giant standing waist-high in the sea, +and forms the western boundary of the entrance to the harbor, opposite +to which, crowning a small but bold promontory, is the fort of Santa +Cruz, the two highlands forming an appropriate portal to the grandeur +which is to greet one within. The distance between these bounds is about +a mile, inside of which the water widens at once to lake-like +proportions. Clouds of frigate birds, gulls, and gannets fly gracefully +about each incoming ship, as if to welcome them to the harbor where +anchorage might be had for the combined shipping of the whole world. We +have lately seen the harbor of Rio compared to that of Queenstown, on +the Irish coast, twenty times magnified; but the infinite superiority of +the former in every respect makes the allusion quite pointless.</p> + +<p>The Organ Mountains, to which we have referred, and which form so +conspicuous a portion of the scene in and about Rio, are so called +because of their fancied resemblance in shape to the pipes of an organ; +but though blessed with the usual share of imagination, we were quite +unable to trace any such resemblance. However, one must not be +hypercritical. The gigantic recumbent form of a human being, so often +spoken of as discernible along this mountain range, is no poetical +fancy, but is certainly clear enough to any eye, recalling the likeness +to a crouching lion outlined by the promontory of Gibraltar as one first +sees the rock, either on entering the strait or coming from Malta.</p> + +<p>One of the most beautiful indentures of the shore, earliest to catch +the eye after passing into the harbor of Rio from the sea, is called the +Bay of Botafogo. The word means "thrown into the fire," and alludes to +the inhuman <i>autos-da-fé</i> which occurred here when the natives, on +refusing to subscribe to the Roman Catholic faith, were committed by the +priests to the flames! This is the way in which the Romish creed was +introduced into Mexico and South America, and the means by which it was +sustained.</p> + +<p>The principal charm of this lovely bay within a +bay—Botafogo—is its flowers and exposition of soaring royal +palms. The attractiveness of the handsome residences is quite secondary +to that of nature, here revealed with a lavish profusion. This part of +Rio is overshadowed by the tall peak of the Corcovado, "the Hunchback," +one of the mass of hills which occupy a large area west of the city, and +the nearest mountain to it. From its never-failing springs comes a large +share of the water supply of the capital. The aqueduct is some ten miles +long, crossing a valley at one point seven hundred feet in width, at a +height of ninety feet, upon double arches. Another large aqueduct is in +contemplation, besides which some other sources are now in actual +operation, as Rio has long since outgrown the capacity of the original +supply derived from the Corcovado. The drainage of the town suffers +seriously for want of sufficient water wherewith to flush the conduits, +which at this writing, with the deadly fever claiming victims on all +hands, are permitted to remain in a stagnant condition! And yet there +are hundreds of hills round about, within long cannon range, which would +readily yield the required element in almost limitless quantity.</p> + +<p>We left the Vigilancia, and our good friend Captain Baker, with +regret. The noble ship had borne us in safety thousands of miles during +the past month, through storms and calms, amid intense tropical heat, +and such floods of rain as are only encountered in southern seas. +Watching from her deck, there had been revealed to us the glories of the +changing latitudes, and particularly the grandeur of the radiant heavens +in equatorial regions. A sense of all-absorbing curiosity prevailed as +we landed at the stone steps, overlooked by the yellow ochre walls of +the arsenal, in the picturesque, though pestilential city. The nauseous +odors which greet one as he steps on shore are very discordant elements +in connection with the intense interest created by the novel sights that +engage the eye of a stranger.</p> + +<p>With a population, including the immediate suburbs, of over half a +million,—estimated at six hundred and fifty thousand,—Rio +has most of the belongings of a North American city of the first class, +though we cannot refrain from mentioning one remarkable exception, +namely, the entire absence of good hotels. There is not a really good +and comfortable public house in all Brazil. Those which do exist in Rio +charge exorbitantly for the most indifferent service, and strangers are +often puzzled to find a sleeping-room for a single night on first +arriving here. Tijuca, situated in the hills a few miles from the city, +is perhaps the most desirable place of temporary sojourn for the newly +arrived traveler, who will find at least one large and comfortable +public house there, favorably known to travelers as Whyte's Hotel. It is +some little distance from the city, but is easily reached by tramway, +which takes one to the foot of the hills of the Tijuca range, whose +tallest peak is thirty-four hundred feet above tide-water. This place +abounds in attractive villas, tropical vegetation, and beautiful +flowers, both wild and cultivated. From here also one gets a most +charming view of the distant city, the famous bay, and the broad +Atlantic; indeed, the view alone will repay one for making this brief +excursion. The loftiest village in these hills is called Boa Vista. +There are mountains, however, on either side, which are five or six +hundred feet higher than the village containing the hotel. American +enterprise is engaged at this writing in constructing a narrow gauge +electric tramway to the summit of Tijuca. The driving road from the base +to the top is an admirable piece of engineering, and is kept in the very +best condition possible.</p> + +<p>The objectionable character of the Italian emigrants, who come hither +as well as to our own States, was demonstrated by a party of them +robbing and nearly murdering a resident of Tijuca who happened to be a +short distance from his own house, the evening previous to the day which +we spent at this resort. These Italians are mostly employed as workmen +upon the railroad, though some are gardeners on the neighboring estates. +In town they act as porters and day laborers on the wharves, as boatmen, +and so on, but, as we were assured, are a lawless, vagabond element of +the community, giving the police force a great deal of trouble.</p> + +<p>Rio has many large and commodious public buildings and some elegant +private residences, the latter generally of a half Moorish type of +architecture. Some of the edifices date back a couple of centuries. The +early Portuguese built of stone and cement, hence the somewhat +remarkable durability of these houses. The large edifice devoted to the +department of agriculture and public works is one of the most noticeable +in the city. The Bank of Brazil occupies a building which is classic in +its fine architecture, being elaborately constructed of hammered +granite. There is no more superb example of masonry in the country. The +National Mint, on the Square of the Republic, is also a fine granite +building; so is that devoted to the Bourse, where enormous values change +hands daily. Educational institutions are numerous, well organized, and +generally availed of by the rising generation. The National College is +of notable influence in the dissemination of general intelligence, and +the same may be said of the Polytechnic College, an excellent and +practical institution. It should be observed that any well organized +educational establishment is called a college in this country.</p> + +<p>The public library of Rio contains some two hundred thousand volumes, +besides many valuable Spanish and Portuguese documents in manuscript. It +is liberally conducted; black and white people alike, as well as all +respectable strangers, have free access and liberal accommodations +within the walls. This institution is an honor to Brazil.</p> + +<p>Rio has a new and well organized navy yard, a large arsenal, cotton +mills, and several extensive manufacturing establishments. Among the +latter is the largest flour mill we have ever seen. This is an English +enterprise; but so far as we could learn, it had been found impossible +to compete profitably with the American flour, as now landed at Rio. A +foundling hospital on the Rua Everesta de Veiga is worthy of mention. +Here, as already described in relation to another Brazilian city, +infants are freely received and cared for, without any inquiry being +made of those who deposit them. These little ones at the outset become +children of the state, and are registered and numbered as such. +Oftentimes the mother pins to the little deserted one's clothes the name +she desires should be given to it, and the wish is usually regarded by +the officials of the institution. The authorities put each child out to +nurse for a year, but receive it back again at the expiration of that +time, and at a proper period send it to school, and endeavor to rear it +to some useful employment or trade. While the child is thus disposed of, +the payment for its board and care is very moderate in amount, and is +also contingent upon its good health and physical condition. Thus the +deserted one is likely to have good attention, if not for humanity's +sake, then from mercenary motives. This plan is copied from that which +is pursued by the great foundling hospitals of St. Petersburg and +Moscow, which are certainly the best organized and largest institutions +of the sort in the world. Where so large a percentage of the children +born are illegitimate, such a hospital becomes a real necessity. There +has been no year since this establishment was opened, in 1738, as we +were told, in which less than four hundred infants were received. +Sometimes parents, whose worldly conditions have greatly improved, come +forward after the lapse of years and claim their children. This right on +their part is duly respected by their properly proving the relationship +beyond all possible doubt, and paying a sum of money equal to that which +has been actually expended by the state in the child's behalf.</p> + +<p>In the line of public amusements there is a large and well-appointed +opera house besides eight other fairly good theatres, together with an +excellent museum. The performances at the theatres are given in French, +Spanish, and Portuguese. Italian opera is presented three times a week +during the season. This year the performances were summarily stopped by +the principal tenor dying of yellow fever. The theatre bearing the name +of the late emperor is a sort of mammoth cave in size, and is capable of +seating six thousand people, not one half of whom can hear what is said +or sung upon the stage by the performers. Street bands of German +musicians perform here as they do in Boston and New York; the mass of +the people, being music loving, patronize these itinerants liberally. +One band posted themselves daily before the popular Globe Restaurant, at +the hour of the midday meal (breakfast), and performed admirably, +reaping a generous response from the habitués. Most of the patrons of +this excellent establishment were observed to be American, English, and +French merchants, who attended to business in Rio during the day, but +who went home to the elevated environs to dine and to sleep. "I have +been here in business nine years," said one of these gentlemen to us, +"and have been down with the fever once; but I would not sleep in Rio +overnight for any amount of money, at this season of the year." This was +early in June. He added: "The fever should have disappeared before this +time, which is our winter, but it seems to linger later and later each +succeeding year." This was a conclusion which we heard expressed by +other observant individuals, but all joined in ascribing its persistency +in no small degree to the imperfect drainage, and the vile personal +habits of the mass of the common people, who make no effort to be +cleanly, or to regard the decencies of life in this respect.</p> + +<p>As to churches, Rio has between sixty and seventy, none of which are +very remarkable, all being dim, dirty, and offensive to the olfactories. +The cause of the foul air being so noticeable in all of these Romish +churches is the fact that no provision whatever is made for proper +ventilation, and this, too, in places of all others where it is most +imperatively necessary. The offense is created by exhalations from the +bodies of the least cleanly class of the population. It is such who +mostly fill these churches all over the continent of Europe, Mexico, +South America, and the United States. Precisely the same disgusting odor +greets the senses of the visitor to these edifices, be it in one +hemisphere or another, but especially in Italy and Spain.</p> + +<p>The cathedral of Rio is a large, showy edifice, surrounded by narrow +streets, and thus hidden by other buildings, so that no general and +satisfactory outside effect can be had. The front and sides are of solid +granite, and the whole is known to have cost a mint of money, yet the +safety of the foundation is more than questionable. Like the grand +church of St. Isaacs, in the Russian capital of St. Petersburg, great +expense will doubtless have to be incurred to renew and strengthen it in +this respect. It is believed that the site upon which Rio stands was +once under the sea, and, geologically speaking, at no very remote +period, which accounts for considerable trouble being experienced in +obtaining secure and solid foundations for any heavy superstructure. At +this writing, the cathedral is undergoing extensive repairs, inside and +out, but in spite of the noise of workmen, the disagreeable lime dust, +and the interference of a network of interior staging, it is still very +striking in its architectural effect.</p> + +<p>In the old part of the town, two prominent cupolas dominate the +surroundings. These belong respectively to the churches of Candelaria +and San Luigi. The most popular church in Rio is undoubtedly that which +crowns the Gloria Hill, called the Igreja da Gloria do Onterio, which +overlooks the bay. Its commanding situation is very remarkable. In shape +it is octagonal, and seems to be very solidly built. In front of the +church there is a broad terrace, from whence a fine view may be enjoyed. +On a moonlight night the picture presented from the Gloria Hill is +something worth going miles on foot to behold. This church was the +favorite resort of the late royal family when they were in the city, +though much of their home life and all of their summers were passed in +the hills of the Organ Mountains at the emperor's favorite +resort,—Petropolis.</p> + +<p>The shops of Rio, notwithstanding they are generally small and +situated upon streets so narrow that they would be called only lanes in +North America,—close, confined, half-strangled +thoroughfares,—will compare favorably in many respects with those +of continental Europe. The larger number of the merchants here are +French, together with a considerable sprinkling of German Jews. Indeed, +can any one tell us where we shall not find this peculiar race +represented in the trade centres of the wide world? In many of the +fancy-goods stores the famous Brazilian feather flowers are exhibited +for sale, but the best place to purchase these is at Bahia, where they +are a specialty, and where their manufacture is said to have originated. +The narrow streets, traversed by tramways, are at times almost +impassable for pedestrians, and are often blocked by heavy mule teams +for fifteen minutes at a time. By and by some lazy policeman makes his +appearance and quietly begins to unravel the snarl, which he at length +succeeds in doing, and the ordinary traffic of the thoroughfare is once +more resumed. An unsightly gutter runs through the middle of some of +these thoroughfares, which adds to the annoyances incident to ordinary +travel. All are regularly laid out, chess-board fashion, very ill +smelling, and harbor an infinite number of beggars and mangy dogs.</p> + +<p>It is customary for local merchants who employ European +clerks—and there are many English, French, and Brazilians in Rio +who do so,—to give them a fixed salary, quite moderate in amount, +and to furnish them with lodgings also. The latter are of a very rude +and undesirable character, in the business establishment itself, either +over the store, or in the back part of it. The bedding which is +furnished is of a makeshift character, rarely changed, and never +properly aired. Exceedingly uncleanly domestic arrangements, or the +entire absence of them, are also a serious matter in this connection, +from a sanitary point of view. The clerks get their food at some +neighboring restaurant, and contract irregular habits, all of which is +both mentally and physically demoralizing. It is among this class of +foreigners that the yellow fever finds the most ready victims. To sleep +in these crowded business centres, in ill-ventilated apartments, with +far from cleanly surroundings, is simply to provoke fatal illness, and +during an epidemic of fever these places furnish fuel for the flames. +Neatness and cleanliness among domestic associations in this city are +entirely lost sight of and are totally disregarded by men and women.</p> + +<p>The Rua Direita is the State Street or Wall Street of Rio; a new +name, which escapes us at this moment, has been given to it, but the old +one is still the favorite and in common use. Here brokers, bankers, and +commission merchants meet and bargain, and fiercely speculate in coffee. +The principal shopping street is the Rua de Ouvidor, where the best +stores and choicest retail goods are to be found. In the Rua dos +Ourives,—"Goldsmith's Street,"—the display of fine jewelry, +diamonds, and other precious stones recalls the Rue de la Paix of Paris. +Diamonds are held at quite as high prices as in London or New York, and +those of the best quality can be bought better at retail out of this +country than in it. A poor quality of stone, off color, is imported and +offered here as being of native production, and careless purchasers are +not infrequently deceived by cunning dealers in these matters.</p> + +<p>Two vehicles cannot pass each other in this avenue without driving +upon the narrow sidewalk. At times a deafening uproar prevails along +these circumscribed lanes. The rough grinding of wheels, noisy +bootblacks, whooping orange-sellers, screaming newspaper boys, howling +dogs, the rattle of the street peddler, lottery ticket venders, fighting +street gamins, all join to swell the mingled chorus. And yet these +crowded thoroughfares would lose half of their picturesqueness were +these elements to be banished from them. They each and all add a certain +crude element of interest to this every-day picture of Vanity Fair.</p> + +<p>In their ambition to copy European and North American fashions, the +gentlemen of Rio utterly disregard the eternal fitness of things, +wearing broadcloth suits of black, with tall, stove-pipe hats, neither +of which articles should be adopted for a moment in their torrid +climate. Nothing could be more inappropriate. Linen clothing and light +straw hats are the true costume for the tropics, naturally suggesting +themselves in hot climates to the exclusion of woolen, heat-brewing +costumes, which are necessary articles of wear in the north. Fashion, +however, ignores climate and is omnipotent everywhere; comfort is +subsidiary. Wear woolen clothing by all means, gentlemen of Rio, even +when the thermometer hangs persistently at 95° Fahr. in the shade, and +the human body perspires like a mountain stream.</p> + +<p>The tramway system of Rio is excellent in a crude way. Statistics +show that fifty million passengers are annually transported by this +popular means from one part of the city to another, and into the +suburbs. The street railway was first introduced here by North American +enterprise, the pioneer route being that between the city proper and the +botanical garden. The prices of passage vary according to distances, as +is the case with the London omnibuses. The cars are all open ones, of +cheap, coarse construction, and far from inviting in appearance, being +entirely unupholstered, and affording only hard board seats for +passengers to sit upon. They are usually drawn by one small donkey, +whose strength is quite overtasked, but the ground in the city is so +nearly level that the cars move very easily and rapidly.</p> + +<p>There is one delightful excursion from Rio which nearly all strangers +are sure to enjoy. We refer to the ascent of Corcovado, the mountain +which looms over Botafogo Bay to the height of twenty-two hundred feet, +and to the summit of which a railway has been constructed. The grades +are extremely steep, and the road is what is called a centre line, +worked upon the cog-wheel system, the ascent being very slow and +winding. The principle is the same as that of the railway by which Mount +Washington is ascended, in New Hampshire, or the Righi, in Switzerland. +This road was built by the national government, but as a pecuniary +speculation it does not pay, though it is of considerable indirect +benefit to the city. We will not dilate upon the grand outlook to be had +from the summit of the Hunchback, which takes in a bird's-eye view of +the harbor and its surroundings, but will add that no one should come +hither without ascending Corcovado. The top consists of two rounded +masses of bare rock, and is walled in to prevent accident, there being +on one side a perpendicular descent of a thousand feet. It gives one at +first a dizzy sensation to look down upon the vast city spread out over +the plain, from whence a hum of mingled sounds comes up with singular +distinctness. Even the bells upon the mules which are attached to the +tram-cars can be distinguished, and other sounds still more delicate and +minute. Just so balloonists tell us that at two or three thousand feet +in mid-air they can distinguish the voices of individuals upon the earth +below them. The experienced traveler learns to be astonished at nothing, +but there are degrees of pleasure induced by beautiful and majestic +views which mount to the apex of our capacity for admiration. One can +safely promise such a realizing sense to him who ascends the +Corcovado.</p> + +<p>A tramway which starts from the centre of the city will take the +traveler to the base of the hill, through roads lined by palms of great +age and beauty, finally leaving him near the point from whence the steam +road begins the upward journey.</p> + +<p>Nictheroy, just across the harbor of Rio, on the east side of the +bay, is a sort of faubourg of the capital, with which it is connected by +a line of steam ferry-boats, as Chelsea is with Boston, or Brooklyn with +the city of New York. It is the capital of the province of Rio Janeiro, +and has broader streets, is more reasonably laid out, and is kept more +cleanly than Rio itself. Space is found for a profusion of attractive +gardens, and the senses are greeted by sweet odors in the place of +needlessly offensive smells, which attack one on all sides in the +metropolis so near at hand. It is quite a relief to get on to one of the +ferry-boats and cross over to Nictheroy occasionally, for a breath of +pure air. This is the native Indian name of the place, and signifies +"hidden water," particularly applicable when these land-locked bays were +shrouded in dense tropical woods.</p> + +<p>Unlike Pará, Montevideo, and Buenos Ayres, this city has no special +river communication with the interior, but her commerce is large and +increasing. Railroads are more reliable feeders for business than either +rivers or canals. It is a fact which is not generally realized, that +Brazil has over six thousand miles of well-constructed railways in +operation, besides having a telegraph system covering seven thousand +miles of land service. In the construction of the railroads, the cost, +so far as the ground work and grading was concerned, was reduced to the +minimum, owing to the level nature of the country. As was the case in +New Zealand, many of these railways were constructed at great expense, +in anticipation of the wants of a future population, who it was hoped +would settle rapidly upon the route which they followed. That is to say, +many of these roads did not open communication between populous +districts already in existence. This would have been perfectly +legitimate. They run to no particular objective point, and seem to stop +finally nowhere. The natural sequence followed. After being built and +equipped with borrowed money, they were anything but self-supporting, +and pecuniary aid from the government was freely given to enable them to +be kept in operation.</p> + +<p>There must always come a day of reckoning for all such forced +schemes, and the Brazilian railways were no exception to the rule. This +is largely the primary cause of the present monetary troubles in this +country, as well as in the Argentine Republic. The capital for the +construction of these roads came mostly from England, and that country +has been accordingly a heavy pecuniary sufferer. The rates charged for +transportation upon most of the lines are also exorbitant, if we were +rightly informed; so much so, in fact, as to prove nearly prohibitory. +Scarcely any species of merchandise brought from a considerable distance +inland will bear such freight charges and leave a margin for profit to +the producer and shipper. Would-be planters of coffee and sugar-cane +dare not enter upon raising these staples for the market, unless +situated very near the shipping point, or near some available river's +course, the latter means being naturally much cheaper than any form of +railway transportation.</p> + +<p>Situated on the border of two zones, Rio Janeiro has the products of +both within her reach, and thus possesses peculiar advantages for +extensive trade and general commerce. It is in this latter direction +that her progressive and enterprising merchants are endeavoring to +extend the facilities of the port. The passenger landings—not +wharves—which border the water front of the city here and there +are of solid granite, from which at suitable intervals broad stone steps +lead down to the water's edge, as on the borders of the Neva at St. +Petersburg. We have few, if any, such substantial landing-places in our +North American ports. We know of no harbor on the globe which enjoys a +more eligible situation as regards the commerce of foreign countries, +both of the New and the Old World. The one convenience so imperatively +demanded is proper wharves for the landing and shipping of cargoes, thus +obviating the necessity of the expensive and tedious lighter system. It +is her many natural and extraordinary advantages which has led to so +steady a growth of the city, notwithstanding the very serious drawback +of an unwholesome climate, aggravated by the indolence and incapacity of +the local authorities in sanitary matters. Both consumption and yellow +fever have proved more fatal here than at any other port in South +America, so far as we could draw comparisons.</p> + +<p>The well-equipped marine arsenal of Rio is of considerable interest +and importance, as there is no other port on the Atlantic coast, between +the Gulf of Mexico and Cape Horn, where a large modern vessel can go +into dry dock for needed repairs. This receptacle is ample in size, and +is substantially built of granite. Such an establishment as a national +shipyard is a prime necessity to a commercial country like Brazil, which +has eleven hundred leagues of seacoast.</p> + +<p>In the Plaza Constitution, which is a very grand and spacious park in +the heart of the city, there is an elaborate and costly statue of the +father of the late emperor, of heroic size. The pedestal is surrounded +by four bronze groups, representing typical scenes of early Indian life +in this country. The Paseo Publico is also a garden-like spot, extending +three or four hundred feet along the bay. This is a cool and favorite +resort of the populace. On the corners of the principal streets and +squares there are little octagonal structures called kiosks, gayly +painted, where hot coffee, lottery tickets, and bonbons are sold, as +well as newspapers and flowers. Here, as in Havana, the city of Mexico, +Naples, and many European cities, the lottery proves to be a terrible +curse to the common people, draining their pockets and diverting them +from all ideas of steady-going business. It is customary also for the +regularly organized business establishments to patronize the lottery +with never-failing regularity, charging a certain monthly sum to expense +account, but the money is nevertheless paid out for lottery tickets. The +bad moral effect of this upon clerks and all concerned is very obvious. +When by chance any prize, be it never so small, is awarded, a great +flurry is made of the fact, and advertisements emphasize it, thus to +incite fresh investments in this organized public swindle. Tickets are +sold by boys and girls, men and women, and half the talk of the +thoughtless multitude is about the lottery, how to hit upon lucky +numbers, and so on.</p> + +<p>It is a mistaken though popular idea that our New England +consumptives have only to seek some tropical locality to alleviate their +special trouble. Rio seems to be particularly fatal to persons suffering +from pulmonary troubles. The same may be said of many other tropical +regions. When consumption is developed in the Bahamas, Cuba, or the +Sandwich Islands, for instance, it runs its fatal course with a speed +never realized in the Northern States of America. Physicians do not send +patients to foreign localities so indiscriminately as they used to. +Almost every sort of climate is to be found within the borders of the +United States, where also civilized comforts are more universally to be +obtained than abroad. Besides which, an invalid does not have to brave +seasickness and other ocean hardships, if sent to some eligible locality +within our own borders.</p> + +<p>Though Brazil has long been, and is still, famous for its production +of diamonds, precious stones, and gold, yet these are as nothing when +compared with her exports of sugar, coffee, and hides, not taking into +account her product of rice, cocoa, tobacco, dyewoods, and other +important staples. A large portion of the abnormal growth of her forests +is valuable for its timber, resins, fibre, and fruits. It is naturally a +very rich country, with a world of wealth in its soil, but miserable +financial mismanagement has caused the national treasury to become +utterly bankrupt, and at this writing mercantile credit is an unknown +quantity, so to speak. The natural resources of the country are +unlimited; therefore it must be only a question of time when a healthy +reaction shall set in, and a period of sound prosperity follow.</p> + +<p>It should be remembered in this connection that the immediate country +of which we are speaking, that is, Brazil as a whole, is as large as the +United States, leaving out the territory of Alaska.</p> + +<p class="p4"><a name="Ch_9"></a></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER IX.</h3> + +<p class="blockquote">Outdoor Scenes in Rio Janeiro.—The Little +Marmoset.—The Fish Market.—Secluded Women.—The Romish +Church.—Botanical Garden.—Various Species of +Trees.—Grand Avenue of Royal Palms.—About +Humming-Birds.—Climate of Rio.—Surrounded by Yellow +Fever.—The Country Inland.—Begging on the +Streets.—Flowers.—"Portuguese Joe."—Social +Distinctions.</p> + +<p class="p2">It would require many pages to properly describe Rio +Janeiro with its curious phases of street life, its manners and customs, +its local peculiarities, and moving panorama of events, all combining to +make up a unique personality. These out-of-door scenes go far to tell +the true story of any special locality. The fruit and vegetable market, +near Palace Square, is a highly attractive place to visit at early +morning. The negro women venders, always stout and portly creatures, +with heads turbaned in many-colored bandannas, are eloquent in +recommending their articles for sale, and are also very shrewd at a +bargain. It is not uncommon for these middle-aged negresses to stand six +feet high, without shoes or stockings, and to turn the scales at double +the average weight of men of the same color and class. These women were +all slaves in their girlhood. As regards prices charged for provisions, +fruits, and vegetables, in the markets of Rio, they seemed to the author +rather exorbitant, but doubtless permanent residents do not pay such +sums as are charged to strangers for the same articles. We were heartily +laughed at by a housekeeper on stating the cost of a small basket of +choice fruit which we had purchased, being told that we had paid four +times its market value. However, it was well worth the price to us, who +had just arrived from an ocean voyage of five thousand miles and more. +On shipboard fruit is necessarily a scarce article, and it was certainly +worth something extra to be introduced for the first time to the +luscious products of this region.</p> + +<p>The abundance and variety of flowers, as well as their cheapness and +fragrance, make them a desirable morning purchase, with all their dewy +freshness upon them. Oranges, limes, pineapples, lemons, +alligator-pears, cocoanuts, grapes, mangoes, with an infinite variety of +other fruits, make up the stock in trade, together with squealing pigs, +live turkeys, and noisy guinea-fowls. Here also are various gaudy +feathered songsters, in cheap, home-made cages, besides monkeys, +marmosets, and other household pets. The macaws, chained by the leg, and +the screaming parrots vie with each other and with the monkeys in the +amount of noise they make. Wicker baskets filled with live ducks, geese, +and fowls are borne on the heads of native women, who have brought them +many a long weary mile from far inland, hoping to make a few pennies by +their sale. The chatter of the women, the cries of men and animals, an +occasional quarrel between two noisy Italians, ending in furious +vociferations and gesticulations, all add to the Babel of sound. One +little marmoset put his hand into that of the author, looking so +appealingly into his face that, imagining the little fellow might be +hungry, some nice edibles, calculated to rejoice the monkey heart, were +promptly purchased and gratefully received by the marmoset, which, in +his eager haste to consume the same, stuffed the sides of either jaw to +alarming proportions. The little creature was wonderfully human, and +having found a kindly disposed stranger, insisted upon keeping one of +his tiny hands in our own, while he rapidly filled his mouth with the +other.</p> + +<p>It is interesting to observe the artistic manner in which the native +women, Indians and blacks, mingle and arrange the various fruits and +vegetables, showing a natural instinct for the harmonious blending of +colors and forms. A pile of yellow oranges, green limes, and mangoes had +a base of buff-colored bananas picturesquely arranged with all the +pointed ends of the finger-like fruit outward, while a luscious ripe +pineapple formed the apex of the pile, set off jauntily by its +cactus-like, prickly leaves. On the borders of the market and along the +iron railing of Palace Square, black-haired, bareheaded Italian women +displayed cheap jewelry, imitation shell, gilded combs, and other fancy +trinkets for sale, embracing priestly knick-knacks, ivory crosses, +crucifixion scenes, coral beads, high-colored ribbons, and gaudy +kerchiefs. The bronzed faces of these black-eyed, gypsy-like women were +very cadaverous, as though the land of their adoption did not +particularly agree with them. It seems hardly possible that these +peddlers could gain a livelihood trading in these tawdry and utterly +useless articles among such a humble, impecunious class of customers as +frequent the market, and yet their numerous wide-open, shallow tin boxes +showed a considerable stock of goods.</p> + +<p>The fish market is a curious sight in the variety of colors and +shapes afforded by the inhabitants of the neighboring bay, where most of +them are caught. What an array of finny monsters!—rock-fish, large +as halibut, ray, skates, craw-fish, cuttle-fish, and prawns half as +large as lobsters, together with devil-fish and oysters. Funny idea, but +these oysters, many of them, are grown on trees! How is this possible? +Let us tell you. The mangrove trees line the water's edge; many of the +branches overhang the sea, and are submerged therein. To these young +oysters affix themselves, and there they live and thrive. The same +phenomenon was observed by the author some years ago in Cuba. These +oysters are found in small corrugated shells scarcely larger than a +good-sized English walnut, which they somewhat resemble.</p> + +<p>In the fish market one sees some very original characters among the +negro women who preside over the finny tribe. They are large, +good-natured creatures, quick at a trade, and quite intelligent. We +recall one, who was a prominent figure among her companions. She was +tall, portly, and strong as a horse. Her head was decked with a bandanna +kerchief of many colors, her flat nose and protruding lips indicating +close African relationship. Secured behind one of her ears was a +cigarette, while a friction match protruded from the other, ready for +use. Her coarse calico dress, of deep red, was covered in front by a +brown linen apron extending nearly to her bare feet. Her uncovered arms +were about as large as a man's legs. This negress dressed the several +kinds of fish with the facility of an expert, making change for her +patrons with commendable promptness, and dismissing them with a +good-natured smile, adding some remark which was pretty sure to elicit +hearty laughter.</p> + +<p>As we stood viewing these things, a noisy fellow made himself very +obnoxious to every person whom he met. He had evidently been too often +to the neighboring spirit-shops. A police officer arrested the man by +touching him lightly on the shoulder and saying a few words to him; +then, pointing ahead, made the fellow precede him to the lock-up. Though +this disturber of the peace was half drunk, he knew too much to resist +an officer, which is considered to be a heinous offense and is severely +punished in Rio. It was natural to contrast this scene with the violent +resistance offered by offenders with whom the police of New York and +Boston have often to deal.</p> + +<p>The streets of Rio, at all times of the day, present a motley crowd +of half-naked negroes, overladen donkeys, lazy Portuguese, Italian, and +Spanish loafers, smoking cheap cigars, with here and there a Jew hawking +articles of personal wear, women with various heavy articles upon their +heads, water carriers, vociferous sellers of confectionery, all moving +hither and thither, each one intent upon his or her individual interest +and oblivious of all others. The background to this kaleidoscopic +picture is the low, stucco-finished houses, painted in lively red, +yellow, or blue, interspersed here and there by bas-reliefs, the whole +reflecting the rays of a torrid sun. Though it is all quite different, +yet somehow it recalls the narrow, crowded streets and bazaars of Cairo +and Alexandria. It is very natural, in passing, to regard with interest +those screened balconies, and to imagine what the lives may be of the +half orientally excluded women within them, while occasionally catching +luminous glances from curious eyes. The notes of a guitar, or those of +the piano, often reach the ear of the passer-by, sometimes accompanied +by the ringing notes of a song, for the ladies of Brazil are extremely +fond of music; indeed, it seems to be almost their only distraction. Of +books they know very little, and any literary reference is to them like +speaking in an unknown tongue. Even the one poet of Portugal, Camoens, +appears to be a stranger on this side of the Atlantic. The isolation and +want of intellectual resort among the average women of this country are +a sad reality, and are in a degree their excuse for some unfortunate +indulgences and immoralities, domestic unfaithfulness being as common +here as in Paris or Vienna.</p> + +<p>The majority of the Brazilian women marry at or before the age of +sixteen, and become old, as we use the term, at thirty. The climate and +the cares of maternity together age them prematurely. In early youth, +and until they have reached twenty three or four years, they are almost +universally very handsome, but this beauty is not retained, as is often +the case among the sex in colder climes. Of their charms, it must be +honestly admitted that they are almost purely physical (animal); the +beauty which high culture imparts to the features, by informing the mind +and developing the intellect, is not found as a rule among Brazilian +women. Of course there are some delightful and notable exceptions to +this conclusion, but we speak of the women, generally, of what is termed +the better class. Now and then one meets with ladies who have been +educated in the United States, or in Europe, upon whom early and refined +associations have left an unmistakable impress. The superiority of such +is at once manifest, both in general ease of manner, and the +inexplicable charm which high breeding imparts.</p> + +<p>One searches in vain for a full-faced, well-developed, hearty looking +man, among the natives in the streets of this capital. The average +people, both high and low, are sallow, undersized, and cadaverous. +Sunken cheeks and thin figures are the rule among the men, a passing +North American or Englishman only serving to furnish a strong and +suggestive contrast. These people have brilliantly expressive eyes, with +handsome teeth and mouths, though half shriveled up and undeveloped in +body. If one pauses to analyze the matter, he comes to the conclusion +that vice and short commons, unwholesome morals and an unwholesome +climate, have much to do with this prevailing appearance, which must be +in part hereditary, to be so universal, commencing some way back and +increasing with the generations. As in Mexico, gentlemen meeting on the +streets of Rio hug each other with both arms, at the same time +inflicting two or three quick, earnest slaps with the flat of the hand +upon the back. This is perhaps after an absence of a few days; but if +they meet ten times a day, off come their hats, and they shake hands +with the most earnest demonstrations, both at meeting and at parting. +Kissing on both cheeks is common enough in many parts of Europe among +society people, but this hugging business between men meeting upon the +public streets strikes one as a waste of the raw material.</p> + +<p>It goes without saying that the popular religion of Rio Janeiro and +the country at large is that of the Romish Church, though all +denominations are tolerated by the laws of the republic. In some +districts it is the same here as in Mexico and continental Spain, the +Protestants being persecuted in every possible manner. Nevertheless, the +power of the priesthood, we were creditably informed, is on the wane. +They owe the loss of it in a great measure to the gross abuse of their +positions and their shamefully immoral lives. No one conversant with the +true state of the case, be he Protestant or Romanist, can deny this +statement. The author thought that the Roman Catholic priests of Mexico +were about as wicked a set of men as he had ever met with, taken as a +whole, but further experience in South America has convinced him that +the Mexican priesthood have their equals in immorality in Brazil, and +elsewhere south of Panama. The popular religion of the country is one of +the saddest features of its national existence, forming the great +drag-weight upon its moral, and indirectly upon its physical +progress.</p> + +<p>The Botanical Garden of Rio is a justly famous resort, situated about +six miles from the city, behind the Corcovada, between that mountain and +the sea, but it is easily reached by tramway, or better still by a +delightful drive along the shore of Botafogo Bay, over a road shaded by +imperial palms, together with occasional clusters of the ever beautiful +bamboo, the sight of which recalled the luxuriant specimens seen in +Japan and Sumatra. The nearest approach to this admirable public garden +is to be found at Kandy, in the island of Ceylon, which, as we remember +it, is considerably more extensive, and presents a larger variety of +tropical vegetation. The examples of the india-rubber tree, especially, +are finer in the Asiatic garden than we find them at Rio. A tall, +slim-stemmed sloth-tree, straight as an arrow, and bare of branches or +leaves except at the top, was pointed out to us here. It is so called +because it is the favorite resort of that animal. This creature is very +easily captured, and the natives are fond of its meat, which may be +nutritious, but it can hardly be called palatable. As it is almost +entirely a vegetable-feeding animal, we know not why there should be any +objection to the meat it produces. The sloth climbs up into the tall +branches of the tree described, though it does so with considerable +difficulty, and there remains until it has consumed every leaf and +tender shoot which it bears; then the voracious creature wanders off to +find and denude another.</p> + +<p>The bread-fruit tree is interesting, with its handsome feathery +leaves, and its large, melon-shaped product. It grows to fifty feet in +height, and bears fruit constantly for three quarters of the year, then +takes a three months' rest. It is only equaled in the profuseness of its +product by the banana, forming one of the staple sources of food supply +to the lazy, indolent denizens of tropical regions. The candelabra-tree, +with its silver-tinted foliage, is one of the beauties of this charming +Brazilian garden. Among other notable trees are fine specimens of the +camphor-tree, the tamarind, the broad-spreading mango, opulent in +fruitfulness, the flowering magnolia, also the soap-tree, with its +saponaceous berries. The cochineal cactus was thriving after its kind, +near by what is called the cow-tree, which interests one quite as much +as any of its companions, rising over a hundred feet in height, with a +red bark and fig-like leaves. The milk which it yields is of cream-like +consistency, very similar to that from a cow, and it may be used for any +ordinary purpose to which we put that article. The tree is tapped, as we +treat the sugar-maple, in order to obtain its very remarkable and useful +product. It is nutritious, that is freely admitted; but most probably it +has some medicinal properties of a latent character, though of this we +could learn nothing.</p> + +<p>The world-famed avenue of royal palms in the Botanical Garden of Rio +is unique, being undoubtedly the finest tropical arboretum in the world +arranged by the hand of man. We saw here a delicate little member of the +palm family, a sort of baby tree, known as the small-stemmed palm of +Pará. Many trees from Asia have become domesticated side by side with +the maple, the pine, and the elm from New England. Some of the large +trees were decked with orchids and hanging lichens, the dainty and +fantastic ornamentation of nature herself, not promoted by artificial +means. The humidity of the atmosphere especially facilitates the growth +of this beautiful family of plants, which are as erratic in shape as +they are variegated in prismatic colors.</p> + +<p>It would require a whole chapter to do even partial justice to this +remarkable garden behind the Corcovado mountain.</p> + +<p>One sees here myriads of delicate humming-birds, wonderful animated +gems of color, remarkable in Brazil for their metallic hues. Such +brilliancy of lustre, glancing in the warm sunlight, is fascinating to +behold. The Spaniards call these delicate little creatures "winged +flowers," and the Portuguese, "flower-kissers." A lady resident of Rio +told the author of the vain attempt of a patient German scientist to +domesticate a few specimens of these birds. He commenced by taking them +from the nest soon after they were hatched, at various periods of their +growth, and even after they had learned to fly, but although infinite +care was taken to supply their usual food, and also not to confine them +too closely, the naturalist was fain to acknowledge the impossibility of +accomplishing his object, though the experiment extended over a period +of two years. The ceaseless activity of this frail little bird renders +any circumscribing of its liberty fatal to existence.</p> + +<p>Delicate, innocent, and apparently harmless as butterflies, these +diminutive creatures are often very pugnacious, and when two males +engage in a contest with each other, which is not seldom the case, one +or the other often loses his life. If disturbed during the period of +incubation, they will attack large birds and even human beings, +directing their long, needle-like bills at the offender's eyes. Our +informant told us the particulars of a man who, under such +circumstances, came very near losing both of these organs. Scientists +have succeeded in preserving over two hundred different specimens of +this little feathered beauty, representing that number of species +indigenous to Brazil. Some of these are only five or six times as large +as a humble-bee. The artificial flowers already referred to as being for +sale in the shops of Rio depend almost entirely upon the humming-bird +for their delicate beauty; no other feathered creature affords such +marvelous colors and exquisitely fine material for the purpose. The best +specimens of this work are necessarily expensive, requiring, besides a +truly artistic taste and eye, skill of execution, infinite patience, and +much time, to produce them. We saw a choice design of this sort, +measuring about fifteen by twenty inches, framed under a glass, the +design being a bouquet of natural flowers, for which the asking price +was five hundred dollars; four hundred and fifty had been refused. The +feathers were almost entirely from the throat and breast of +humming-birds, arranged by a woman who had made this work the occupation +of her life from girlhood. We learned that such a piece of artistic +effect represented nearly a year's labor!</p> + +<p>One also finds in the Rio shops flower-pieces ingeniously formed from +the scales of high-colored fishes, as well as from the wings and bodies +of native insects characterized by brilliant colors, but these of course +will not compare in delicacy and beauty with the products of the +feathers. The Brazilian beetle is prepared in a myriad of ornamental +forms and in many combinations, sometimes mingled with feathers. In the +Rua dos Ourives there are two or three shops where a great variety of +such objects is offered for sale. These stores have also many choice +native stones of great beauty, including the true Brazilian topaz, for +which there is a growing and appreciative demand.</p> + +<p>The idea prevails that the climate of Rio is like some parts of +Africa, suffocatingly hot all the time, but this is not correct. The +American consul told the author that he had suffered more from the cold +than from the heat in the environs of the city, where his residence is +in a rather elevated district. He declared that the temperature, even in +town, was rarely so extreme as is often found in the cities of the +United States. He believes that the yellow fever might be effectually +banished from Rio by the adoption of strict quarantine and effective +sanitary measures in the city proper. As we have already intimated, +consumption prevails here to an alarming extent. This is doubtless owing +to the peculiar dampness of the atmosphere. We found that statistics +show one half as many deaths from consumption as from yellow fever, +taking the aggregate of five years. "The one disease comes annually in +the heat of summer only, as a rule," said our informant, "while the +other prevails more or less all the year round, year in and year out." +During the two weeks which the author stopped at Rio, forty and fifty +fatal cases of yellow fever a day were recorded, and doubtless more than +that number actually fell victims to its ravages, as only those who died +in the several hospitals were enumerated. We were in the city in June, +one of the winter months in this latitude. Heretofore the fever has +nearly always disappeared, as an epidemic, by the first or middle of +May, even in years when it has been most prevalent and fatal. +Notwithstanding the charm of novelty which so absorbs the stranger, we +are free to confess there was a lurking dread of the subtle enemy which +proved so swift and fatal all about us. Fifty deaths daily by yellow +fever in a population exceeding half a million only served to show that +it still lingered in a sporadic form where the seeds are perhaps never +entirely exterminated. It most readily attacks strangers and the +unacclimated, but no class is exempt. The indigent, careless, drunken +portion of the population are no more liable, we were informed, to +contract the disease than others of better habits. This outrages all +preconceived notions of diseases of this character, but we were assured +by good authority that it was really so. The day we left Rio, the +English Bishop, a most estimable man, who was universally respected and +beloved, died of the fell disease.</p> + +<p>The summer season begins in October and lasts until April, and is +better known here as the wet season, the rain falling with great +regularity nearly every afternoon, and at about the same time. Usually +an hour of liberal downpour is experienced, then it promptly clears up +and becomes bright and pleasant. The warmest month is February. The +winter months are May, June, July, and August; this is the dry season, +during which very little rain falls. The climate appears to be +particularly injurious to persons who are troubled with a torpid liver. +Elephantiasis is indigenous, but it is not very common; the few cases +seen were upon the streets, and were those of negroes who exposed their +diseased limbs to excite public pity, making the affliction an excuse +for systematic begging. A score of such unfortunates were seen daily in +and about Palace Square, and one or two regularly posted themselves +before the Globe Restaurant, which is the Maison Dorée of Rio +Janeiro.</p> + +<p>The well-to-do merchants do not think of living in town, but select +some pleasant spot in the environs, where they erect picturesque homes, +often extremely attractive to the eye architecturally, and surrounded by +lovely gardens, containing both native and exotic plants and trees. The +contrast between commercial and rural Rio is something very striking. +One presents all the grossness and belittling aspect of money-getting, +the other the graces, liberality, and ennobling appearance of culture +and refinement. Of all the trees in these attractive environs, the palm, +in its great variety, challenges one's admiration most. We mention it +frequently, for it was our constant delight. At every turn one comes +upon it, in its several species,—the cocoa-palm, the palmetto, the +cabbage, the assai-palm, the fanshaped-palm, and scores of other +varieties. The hand and taste of woman are seen in these gardens of the +environs. Flowers are selected and arranged as only feminine taste could +suggest, while the broad piazzas are simply floral bowers and gardens of +placid delights.</p> + +<p>The province round about Rio is beautified and rendered profitable by +the many large coffee plantations, particularly attractive when the +well-trimmed bushes are seen in full bearing, bending under the weight +of red berries. Orange orchards abound, the branches of the trees heavy +with the rich golden fruit; yet as an orange-producing section, Florida, +in our own country, is fully its equal. The fruit of the southern part +of the United States is much better and more intelligently cultivated, +and is larger and fairer, than the fruit of this region. We except +Bahia, however, in this remark; that is the very paradise of oranges. +Besides the abundance of fruits, Flora reigns in Brazil, and near to Rio +bignonias, passifloras, variegated honeysuckles, morning-glories, +magnolias, and orchids mingle with the dark green mango trees and the +delicate light green mimosas which meet the eye everywhere. It appears +that the several species of flowers have their special season for +blooming, when they are at their best, so that a large variety is always +seen in bloom at all times in the year. We must confess to having felt +half lost without the "Queen of Flowers," our grand favorite; but as to +roses, it was found that the ever present ants maintained a fixed +hostility to them, rendering it particularly difficult to rear them in +this country. In all of the many lands we have visited, the author has +never seen such superbly developed roses as are produced in and about +the city of Boston. There is some quality in the climate of New England, +added to the genius of her famous florists, especially adapted to their +perfection.</p> + +<p>The broad leafed umbrella-tree—<i>chapeo do sul</i>—is +often seen in this neighborhood cultivated as a shade tree, both in town +and country, while the thick clustering bamboo, so often referred to, +adds its unique beauty to the environs in all directions. The banana and +plantain, both cultivated and wild, thrive hereabouts, and form an +important adjunct to the food supply of all classes. The banana is +cultivated by offsets, and is of rapid growth, coming to maturity and +bearing fruit a few months after it is planted. Brazil seems to be well +called the home of fruits and flowers.</p> + +<p>Has the reader ever chanced to hear of "Portuguese Joe," of Rio +Janeiro? He is a man as well known in the capital of Brazil as the late +emperor. Ostensibly he is only a successful shipchandler, wholesale +grocer, purveyor—by appointment—to the American and British +naval ships which put into Rio, or which are stationed here; but over +and above his extensive commercial relations, we found him to be a Good +Samaritan. He is quite ready for legitimate business, and has realized a +handsome fortune by fair and honorable dealing. He charges a reasonable +profit upon the various supplies which he furnishes, but his goods are +exactly what he represents them to be, and he has the confidence of all +who deal with him. His establishment grew up from a small beginning, he +having come from Portugal to engage in business when only thirteen years +of age. To-day he is in the prime of life, and his store on the Paraça +de Dom Pedro II. is a city institution. The highest official, the +wealthiest bankers, and the most influential merchants are glad to shake +him cordially by the hand. Signor J. C. V. Mendes—the other title +being a trade <i>nom de plume</i> of long standing—is a gentleman +by nature, and a true friend to all strangers who seek his counsels on +arriving at Rio. We fortunately became acquainted with Signor Mendes on +the first day of our landing, and are glad to speak of his ready +courtesy and desire to make all Americans at home who arrive in the +capital of Brazil. It is no particular recommendation, but it is a +pleasure to say that, with his calm, self-possessed manner, his +brilliant black eyes and genial smile lighting up his bronzed features, +he is unquestionably the handsomest man whom we chanced to meet in Rio +Janeiro. Manly beauty is not an imperative adjunct to excellence, but is +still a very agreeable accessory.</p> + +<p>One naturally anticipates but will not find any social distinction as +to race in this city. Color opposes no obstacle to progress in +educational or official position. Pupils of the public schools meet on +the same footing and mingle promiscuously. There is nothing to prevent +the intelligent negro from becoming a judge or minister of state, or +from filling any high civil office, if he develops proper ability. Many +bureaus in the public offices are held by colored men, observably in the +custom house, and the race generally is regarded with far more respect +than with us in the United States.</p> + +<p>Providence has liberally endowed the larger portion of Brazil with a +fertile soil, an unrivaled flora, and a delightful climate. For a +tropical country, it is remarkably temperate and salubrious. It has +mountain scenery excelling that of Switzerland, with fertile valleys +surpassing those of Italy, and myriads of rivers affording ample means +of transportation with natural and abundant irrigation. Unlike many of +her sister states, including those on the west coast of the continent, +she is exempt from earthquakes and the destruction caused by devouring +tidal waves. While so much of Mexico and thousands of miles of the +Pacific coast are scorched by drought, there are no districts of Brazil +exempt from regular and refreshing rains, the importance of which cannot +be overestimated. To crown all else, the splendid harbor of her capital +by its size, safety, and beauty invites the commerce of the world. It +would certainly seem, when we realize all of these special advantages, +that nature had intended so large and favored a portion of the globe to +ultimately be the home of a great, powerful, and prosperous nation.</p> + +<p>That the material growth of Brazil is mainly in the right direction +is manifest to the most casual observer. The many lines of railways +penetrating the country in every province will by and by prove to be +effective means of development. Wherever the facilities are liberally +afforded, not only individuals, but ideas, are sure to travel, and +social and material improvement must follow. Civilization keeps pace +with the iron horse. When the street rails penetrated the cañons of +Utah, polygamy was doomed. Material facts are stronger than arguments of +well-meaning moralists. The establishment of so many railroads through +the wilds of South America may not be a paying matter, it is not so at +this writing, but a great moral purpose, and that of true progress, will +be subserved by them. They will be the agents of enlightenment and +civilization to many wild tribes of Indians, at the same time opening +broad and favorable tracts of territory for settlement by emigrants from +the crowded and overstocked states of Europe.</p> + +<p>On the homeward passage, when we visited Rio Janeiro for the second +time, it was found to be rife with politics; but like Joseph's coat, of +so many colors as to be confusing to a foreigner. It may reasonably be +doubted if the natives themselves clearly understood what they wanted. +The revolutionary element seemed very strong, and was led by men who had +nothing to lose by agitation, but everything to gain by a lawless +uprising. The most intelligent citizens predicted a popular revolution +of some sort in the near future, and their anticipation proved to be +correct. Revolution is chronic in South America.</p> + +<p class="p4"><a name="Ch_10"></a></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER X.</h3> + +<p class="blockquote">Petropolis.—Summer Residence of the Citizens +of Rio.—Brief Sketch of the late Royal Family.—Dom Pedro's +Palace.—A Delightful Mountain Sanitarium.—A Successful but +Bloodless Revolution.—Floral Delights.—Mountain +Scenery.—Heavy Gambling.—A German +Settlement.—Cascatinha.—Remarkable Orchids.—Local +Types.—A Brazilian Forest.—Compensation.</p> + +<p class="p2">Petropolis,—or the city of Peter,—the +fashionable summer resort of the citizens of Rio Janeiro, is a modern +town, dating only from 1844, and contains at that season of the year a +population of some eight thousand. The intense heat of the crowded city +in the summer months, not to mention its usually unhealthy condition, +makes even the acclimated inhabitants seek a refuge in the hills. So +long as the fever continues to rage, merchants leave their families +here, and come up nightly to sleep and breathe the fresh, pure air. It +is only on the coast and in crowded communities that epidemics prevail. +We were told by residents that a case of yellow fever never originated +at Petropolis; that it was too elevated for the citizens to fear +anything of the sort. It is so generally throughout the country; the +yellow fever prevails only in the ports and at sea level, a peculiarity +also observable in Cuba and the several West Indian islands. When the +fever prevails, as it does annually at Havana and Matanzas, the wealthy +citizens, and all unacclimated people who are able to do so, retire +inland to elevated localities, where they are comparatively safe from +the scourge. The same rule applies to the coast cities of South +America,—Pará, Pernambuco, Bahia, etc. It is a very important +matter to the merchants of Rio that they have, within two or three +hours' reach of their overheated city offices, a resort where they can +sit in a dry skin and sleep in quiet and comfort. Had they not this +resort, they would be obliged to succumb to disease, or to leave Rio for +half of the year annually.</p> + +<p>Petropolis is situated in the Organ Mountain range, about thirty +miles from the metropolis, and is something less than three thousand +feet above tide-water. The town is built in a slight depression among +the well wooded hills, forming a vale of alpine beauty, easily reached +from Rio by boat and rail. The latter portion of the trip, comprising a +sharp mountain ascent, is made by a system of railroad like that by +which the summit of Corcovado is reached. The popular route is to cross +the harbor at Rio by a large and commodious steamboat, a distance of +twelve miles, and then to take the steam-cars. There is also another +railroad route, all the way by land. The late emperor's summer palace is +the prominent feature of Petropolis, together with its elaborate +gardens, covering some fifteen or twenty acres of land. Hither come the +diplomatic representatives of foreign nations to enjoy the salubrious +mountain air and the hospitable society of the best people of Rio +Janeiro, and to lay aside many of the constraints of city life. A great +contrast is apparent here to the crowded streets and narrow lanes of the +uncleanly capital, while the air is undoubtedly remarkable for its +healthful and invigorating qualities. The summer palace is surrounded by +elegantly arranged grounds, planted with rare flowers and choice trees +from every clime. In general effect it resembles an old English country +house, except for the tropical vegetation, the fine verdant lawns of +grass, the only ones of any extent in the country, being particularly +noticeable. This mountain resort has been called the Versailles of +Brazil.</p> + +<p>It seems appropriate to recall, in brief, the family history of the +late emperor, Dom Pedro II., of whose favorite abiding-place we are +speaking. He enjoyed a distinguished reputation among modern rulers, was +liberal, scholarly, and possessed of great experience of men and the +world at large. Having been an observant and studious traveler in many +parts of the globe, his endeavor was to adopt the best well-tried +systems of other governments in educational and other matters relating +to political economy. His system was mild, progressive, and designed for +the general good of the people over whom he presided; in fact, it was +too mild for the turbulent, unlettered masses of the provinces of +Brazil. They were not intellectually prepared for such leniency.</p> + +<p>The royal family of Portugal fled hither in 1808, at the time of +Napoleon's invasion of that country, but returned to Europe in 1821. A +national congress assembled at Rio Janeiro the next year, and chose Dom +Pedro, eldest son of King Joâo VI. of Portugal, "Perpetual Defender of +Brazil." He proclaimed the independence of the country, and was chosen +"Constitutional Emperor." In 1831 he abdicated in favor of his only son, +Dom Pedro II., who reigned as emperor until November 15, 1889, when he +was dethroned by a bloodless revolution, and, together with his family, +was exiled, Brazil declaring herself a republic under the title she now +bears of the United States of Brazil. The feeling was nearly universal +among the Brazilians that they desired to live under a republican form +of government, but Dom Pedro II. was a man of such estimable character, +so just, intelligent, and popular a ruler, that the revolution, which +finally dethroned him, was deferred long after it was determined upon. +The peaceful manner in which it was finally achieved is perhaps without +precedent, and shows how thoroughly the mind of the active spirits of +the nation was made up to this end. It was a political <i>coup +d'état</i>, accomplished without the burning of an ounce of gunpowder. +The emperor himself seemed to accept the position as a foregone +conclusion. We learned from persons who had been quite intimate with him +that he had already anticipated the whole condition of affairs, +foreseeing that it was inevitable. If this is so, he was wise as well as +diplomatic and humane, for he had enough devoted adherents about him to +have made a serious though doubtless futile conflict for possession. +There are always myriads of the unthinking rabble ready to join and even +fight for authority which is already established, especially when +seconded, as was the case with Dom Pedro, by a strong personal +popularity.</p> + +<p>The palace at Petropolis is, with its extensive grounds, now offered +for sale, the country having no further use for palaces. It is +understood that a local syndicate propose to purchase the whole and cut +up the land into building lots, which are very much in demand just at +this writing. It would not be surprising if Petropolis were to double +its population during the next four or five years. Speculators are +already at work "booming" the place, and a summer home here is just what +the Rio merchant requires.</p> + +<p>Some queer stories are told about the every-day life of Dom Pedro by +his neighbors. It seems, according to these reports,—for the truth +of which we cannot vouch,—that he often chose as his associates +and advisers uneducated persons of very humble origin, who had +accumulated wealth by shrewdness and industry, besides which he latterly +exhibited many very peculiar traits of character; but, as we say, it is +difficult to decide whether these stories are to be relied upon. It is +more than hinted that he had grown very weak minded, or, as the Scotch +say, had a bee in his bonnet. At all events, it now appears that he did +not possess the necessary energy and executive ability requisite to +control a naturally turbulent and restless people, and that his summary +dethronement, so peaceably accomplished, must have come sooner or +later.</p> + +<p>It is very natural to speculate upon the present state of affairs in +this country, since the change has taken place. To render a republic +possible and successful requires a liberal degree of intelligence among +the common people, that is, the masses at large. Unfortunately Brazil +cannot boast of such a condition among her population. The educated, +cultured portion of the community is quite limited, consequently the +country is hardly fit for self-government. Ignorant masses are only +amenable to the strong arm, and cannot, while untaught, be controlled +through the influence of reason and argument. Past experience shows us +that while a republic in the United States, France, or Switzerland means +freedom and order, in these half barbaric southern states it signifies +an alternation of revolution and of military despotism. Subject to the +rule of Dom Pedro, Brazil was alike free from despotism and from +disorder, so that it may be questioned whether his liberal reign was +not, under the circumstances, the truest republic for which Brazil was +fitted. Indeed, while these lines are being written, the question of a +return to the former style of government is openly discussed at Rio +Janeiro, where a state of political imbroglio exists very similar to the +conditions which caused the late disastrous civil war in Chili, on the +other side of the Andes. Such a shocking outcome, however, need never be +feared in Brazil as has been developed by the sister republic on the +Pacific coast, since both intelligence and civilization are far more +advanced in Brazil than in Chili.</p> + +<p>The town of Petropolis and its neighborhood possesses good roads for +driving purposes, this location having been for several years the pride +and pleasure of the late emperor, who made the place what it now is by +his liberal expenditures and the constant improvements which he +instituted, paying for them out of his own private purse. The first +selection of this healthful spot was also his idea, and he felt a +personal pride in doing everything possible towards making it popular. +The roads referred to lead one through delightful scenery and highly +cultivated neighborhoods, beautified by art, until finally they lose +themselves among the hills and amidst impenetrable forests. There are +several fairly good hotels here, where the charges are moderate and the +domestic conveniences execrable! The great variety of trees to be found +in and about the town is marvelous, the palm and pine prevailing, +interspersed with the beautiful feathery Brazilian cedar. The tree-ferns +which grow here to a height of twelve feet are great favorites, with +their bright green fronds, six feet in length, almost reaching the +ground as the stalk bends gracefully with their weight. The scarlet +passion flower is trained as an ornamental creeper in nearly every +garden-plot, and tall fuchsias in various colors and pearl white +camellias also abound. We have rarely seen the camellia in such variety +of colors, or such profusion of flowers. It is often found blooming +beside tall coffee-trees, themselves full of deep green clustering +berries, the tree, where grown for ornamental purposes, being permitted +to reach full proportions. Here one sees also a profusion of the rich +green bamboo in prolific groves by the roadside, or surrounding humble +cottages, thus forming a welcome shade. In midsummer, so rapid is the +growth of the bamboo that every twenty-four hours adds two feet to its +height, or in other words, it grows an inch each hour throughout the day +and the night. Jack's fabulous beanstalk hardly surpasses the bamboo, +though the former is an amusing myth, while the latter is simply a +literal fact. Some very lovely gladioli and white roses were noted as +adding their beauty to these charming hill gardens in the Organ +Mountains. So abundant were the flowers of various kinds in the grounds +which surrounded our hotel, that any one was welcome to pluck and +appropriate them to the extent of his fancy. The public tables were +supplied with fresh ones every day, forming great living pyramids of +beautiful colors, emitting inimitable fragrance.</p> + +<p>Our hotel was situated on gently rising ground, commanding a +considerable view of the plateau on which the town stands, with Dom +Pedro's palace in the middle foreground, shaded by groups of palms. It +was a delight to sit out-of-doors and watch the cloud effects as they +hung over the tree-covered hills and peaks, closing their ranks now and +again, and sweeping over the valley like a dashing charge of cavalry; or +cautiously advancing in single scuds like infantry deployed as +skirmishers; or, again, mottling the sky in white and peaceful masses. +At the brief twilight hour, it was like a living poem to note the +varying sunset hues creeping along the valley and gleaming through the +branches of the grand old trees which broke the sky-line of the +mountains, and the soft lilac blush of the sky, like a profile in +silhouette, with sharp curves and infinite detail. A deep, broad gulch, +opening towards the west, afforded a lingering view of the golden, +crimson, and pink horizon, long after the day had closed, and until the +stars gleamed forth through the transparent atmosphere and glorified the +advent of night.</p> + +<p>This is nature in her happy moods. A little later, to these exquisite +delights of the moment, an ugly obverse presents itself. "Only man is +vile."</p> + +<p>From opposite the open window where we sit penning these +lines,—it is a Sabbath evening,—there comes the sharp rattle +of diceboxes and billiard balls, together with the loud, angry talk of +persons engaged at gambling games of cards, interrupted by the repeated +cries of the presiding genius of the roulette table: "Make your game, +signors, make your game," as he coolly rakes in the winnings of the +bank. Italian, French, English, and Spanish adventurers mingle their +jargon with Portuguese in the noisy throng who crowd the gambling +"hell." It was said that seventeen thousand dollars were won by a +Portuguese gentleman, last evening, in this "casino" just across the +street, so losers to a like amount, on the same occasion, must have been +rendered half desperate. The wretchedly demoralizing effect of gambling +is apparent throughout all the cities of this republic, the common +lotteries tempting the mass of the people, and various games of chance +others who have money to risk.</p> + +<p>Petropolis is extremely attractive in many respects, the scenery +round about it very much resembling that of Switzerland. The broad +streets are lined with such pretty villas and attractive gardens that +one falls to making romantic pictures of possible delightful things +which might naturally happen in them, and is led to peer into nooks and +corners with a prying earnestness amounting almost to impertinence. +These avenues contain in their centres deep canals, thirty or forty feet +wide, having granite linings and the upper portion of the banks neatly +sodded with grass. Through these canals the water from the surrounding +hills flows in a pure, rapid stream, carrying away the drainage of the +town, which is emptied into them by underground conduits. These +water-ways are crossed by numerous small but substantial bridges, +painted scarlet, while the rushing river imparts a delightful +coolness.</p> + +<p>The largest portion of the permanent inhabitants of Petropolis is +composed of Germans, whose native tongue is heard on all sides, while +the familiar clatter of wooden shoes speaks of Berlin, Dresden, and +other German continental centres. The rosy-cheeked, flaxen-haired, +blue-eyed children are also prima facie evidence of the prevailing +nationality, though there are a large number of Italians who reside +here. The latter keep small shops and are peddlers of fruit, or marble +cutters and stucco workers, while many others find employment as +gardeners.</p> + +<p>The highway to a certain mining district passes through the town, and +many donkeys laden with inland products are constantly to be seen in the +streets en route for Rio, giving the place a business aspect hardly +warranted by the local trade. From the neighboring hills charcoal +burners drive their donkeys every morning, laden with that article for +domestic use in the town, forming picturesque groups on the public +square, where they await purchasers. Others bring small-cut wood from +the hill for fuel, packed in little, narrow, toy carts, each drawn by a +single donkey. Scores of donkeys bearing tall, widespread loads of green +fodder are so hidden by the mass of greenery which they struggle under, +that none of the animal is seen at all, leading one to imagine that +Birnam wood has literally come to Dunsinane. These animals are almost +always attended by women, who sell the fodder in the market and return +home at night with such domestic necessities as are required. Women are +the laborers here, as at home in Germany, where they perform the hard +work, while their husbands guzzle beer and smoke endless tobacco.</p> + +<p>Petropolis is, as we have said, steadily growing, but the banishment +of the emperor will retard its progress, as it takes from the town its +strongest element of assured success. We counted about a score of fine, +large residences in course of construction. The climate here is like +that of June in New England, and the verdure of the trees is +perennial.</p> + +<p>There is a charming excursion which strangers rarely fail to enjoy, +namely, to a place familiarly known as the Cascades. The village +adjoining these falls is called Cascatinha, and is situated in the lap +of the Organ Mountains, about five miles from Petropolis. The road +thither leads along the side of a small but boisterous stream, which +gladdens the ear with its merry, gurgling notes, past lowly, thatched +cottages, orange orchards, bamboo and banana groves, and green breadths +of well-cultivated, undulating land, finally ending in the midst of a +panorama of bold mountain peaks, lovely with varied gradations of tint, +and subtlest effects of light and shade. Here the abundant water +furnished by the river, which is artificially adapted to the purpose, +forms a series of cascades and falls, at the same time furnishing the +motive power for operating extensive cotton and woolen mills, which give +employment to several hundred men and women. A very humble type of life +mingles hereabouts with that of a much more refined character. Naked or +half-clad children are seen here and there playing with those who are +comparatively well dressed. Nice cottage homes adjoin those of the +poorest class. Children of both sexes are observed, only partially +covered with rags, who are endowed with a loveliness of eyes and +features, together with handsome figures, causing one to reflect upon +the unfulfilled possibilities of such childish beauty.</p> + +<p>Men and women often bring into Petropolis and offer for sale +beautiful orchids, which they find in the woods not far away. These they +pack in green leaves, retaining a piece of the original bark or wood +upon which they have grown. These pretty flowerings of exuberant nature +are sold for a trifling price. Some are very remarkable in form and +color, such as we have never before chanced to see, and for really rare +ones the finders ask and receive good prices. We saw among them a +specimen of the Flor del Espiritu Santo,—"Flower of the Holy +Spirit,"—to find which is thought to bring to the fortunate +discoverer good luck, as well as a handsome price for the orchid. These +women may have passed whole days in their search of the forest, +patiently breaking their way through nearly impassable jungles, before +nature reveals to them one of her most dainty gems. As a rule, the +forests are so dense that it is useless to try to penetrate them, except +by following some beaten route,—a charcoal burner's road or a +straggling way formed by a watercourse.</p> + +<p>We well remember, but can only partially describe, the glory and +beauty of the Brazilian primeval forest. The general tone of the color +is brownish rather than light green, influenced by the absence of strong +light, for though the sun is glowing in the open country, here it is +twilight. Not one direct beam penetrates the density of the foliage, the +sombre drapery of the woods. At first one is awed by the vast extent of +the forest, by the dark, mournful shadows, by the gigantic trees +reaching so far heavenward, forming here and there gothic arcades of +matchless grandeur, and by the bewildering variety of the undergrowth. +Scarcely a tree trunk is seen without its parasite, green with foliage +not its own, "beyond the power of botanists to number up their tribe." +These dense jungles might be in India, or a bit out of "Darkest Africa;" +one is barred by an impenetrable wall of vegetation. Where palms occur, +it is almost always in groups; being a social tree, it loves the company +of its species. So with the bamboo, which is found in the more swampy +regions, but always in groups of its own family. These damp woods are +the home of the orchids; it is here that they revel in moisture, +clinging to the trunks of tall, columnar trees, fattening on decayed +portions of the bark, but forming bits of lovely color, while about the +stems of other forest monarchs wind creeping vines of rope-like texture, +binding huge trunks in a fatal embrace. Their final strangulation is +slow, but it is sure,—only a question of time. Lofty trees bear +charming flowers, as lowly shrubs do in our northern clime. Arborescent +ferns vie with the palms in poetic beauty, with their elastic, tufted +tops. Bunches of lilac and blossoms of snowy whiteness hang in the air. +Drooping mosses depend like human hair from widespread branches, and +soft, velvety moss carpets the way, with here and there dwarf mimosas +trailing beneath the ferns. Long vines of woody climbers, in deep +olive-green, twine and intertwine among the ranks of stout, aged trees, +breaking out at short distances with pink, blue, and scarlet buds, +rivaling the color of the birds which flash hither and thither like rays +of sunlight breaking through the leafy screen. Now and again the shrill +or plaintive notes of unfamiliar songsters fall upon the ear, mingling +with the cooing of the wood-doves and the low drone of the dragon-fly. +The magnificent arboreal growth of these forests develops itself into +thousands of strange and beautiful forms, stimulated by the constant +humidity of the high temperature.</p> + +<p>The atheist must feel himself stifled for breath in the tropical +forest, and his fallacious creed challenged by every surrounding object, +while a new light illumines his unwilling soul with irrefutable +evidences. The Supreme Being writes his gospel not in the Bible alone, +but upon the grand old trees, the lowly flowers, the fleeting clouds, +and upon the eternal stars. Those who seek nature for religious +inspiration never fail to obtain it, untrammeled by the vulgar tenets of +sectarianism or outraged by the tinsel of church forms and +ceremonies.</p> + +<p>The observant traveler from the north is fain to seek some +consolation, some evidence of the glorious law of compensation, while +comparing the features of these poetical latitudes with his own +well-beloved but more prosaic home. He remembers that if these gaudy +birds do flout in vivid colors that dazzle and charm the eye, they have +not the exquisite power of song which inspires our more soberly clad New +England favorites. Brilliancy of feathers and sweetness of song rarely +go together, a natural fact which suggests a whole moral essay in +itself. The torrid zone clothes its feathered tribes in glowing plumage, +but the colder north endows hers with heart-touching melody. If the +flowers of the tropics exhaust the hues of the prism, attracting us by +the oddity of their forms, while blooming in exuberant abundance, the +sweet and lowly children of Flora in higher latitudes greet the senses +with a fragrance unknown in equatorial regions. Joy is nowhere all of a +piece. Blessings, we are forced to believe, whether in the form of +beauty of color, fragrance, or melody, are very equally divided all over +the world, and those portions which have not one, as a rule, are almost +sure to have the other. When we become eloquent and appreciative in the +lively enjoyment of scenes in a new country, it is not always because +they are more desirable or more beautiful than our own; it is the +newness and the contrast which for the moment so captivate us. That to +which we are accustomed, however grand, becomes commonplace; we covet +and require novelty to quicken the observation. Were the sun to rise but +once a year, in place of three hundred and sixty-five times every twelve +months, we would willingly travel thousands of miles, if it were +necessary, to witness the glorious phenomenon. The most charming natural +objects please us in proportion to their rarity or our unfamiliarity +with them.</p> + +<p class="p4"><a name="Ch_11"></a></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XI.</h3> + +<p class="blockquote">Port of Santos.—Yellow Fever +Scourge.—Down the Coast to Montevideo.—The +Cathedral.—Pamperos.—Domestic Architecture.—A Grand +Thoroughfare.—City Institutions.—Commercial +Advantages.—The Opera House.—The Bull-Fight.—Beggars +on Horseback.—City Shops.—A Typical +Character.—Intoxication.—The Campo +Santo.—Exports.—Rivers and Railways.</p> + +<p class="p2">Santos is the name of a commercially important harbor +situated on the east coast of South America about three hundred miles +southwest of Rio Janeiro, after which city it is the greatest export +harbor for coffee in Brazil. Otherwise it is about as uninteresting a +spot as can be found on the continent. It became a city so late as 1839, +and contains some twenty thousand inhabitants. Its annual export of +coffee will reach an aggregate of two hundred and twenty-five thousand +sacks. The bay is surrounded by a succession of hills, and is well +sheltered, except on the southwest. The town is situated on the west +side of the harbor, and hugs the shore, many of the houses being built +upon piles. Behind the town to the westward rises a succession of +mountain ranges. The immediately surrounding country is low and +malarial, causing fevers to prevail all the year round. During the +present season Santos has suffered more seriously from yellow fever than +any other place on the coast in proportion to the number of its +inhabitants. As a commercial port it has no rival in southern Brazil. +Santa Catharina, Porto Alegre, and Rio Grande, the three harbors south +of Santos, are rendered inaccessible for any but small craft, owing to +sandbars at their entrances.</p> + +<p>This is the present terminus of the United States and Brazil Mail +steamship route from New York, and notwithstanding its many drawbacks in +point of sanitary conditions, is yet growing rapidly in commercial +importance. Its wretchedly unhealthy condition causes one to hasten away +to the more elevated country, where St. Paul is situated, and where the +traveler runs little or no risk of contracting yellow fever or malarial +affections of any sort.</p> + +<p>Santos is the port for St. Paul, with which it is connected by rail, +and from which it is separated by about forty miles.</p> + +<p>This capital of the state of São Paulo, St. Paul, contains some +ninety thousand inhabitants. The province is credited with a million and +a half. The city lies just under the tropic of Capricorn, southwest of +Rio, about two thousand feet above the level of the sea, upon a high +ridge, covering an elevated plateau of undulating hills. It enjoys the +sunshine of the tropics, modified by the freshness of the temperate +zone. It is venerable in years, having been founded in 1554, but it +seems to have taken a fresh start of late, as its population has doubled +in the last decade. As intimated, it is entirely free from yellow fever, +which is so fatal at Santos, and has excellent drinking water, together +with good drainage and well paved streets. The city contains some fine +public buildings, and has many handsome adornments, being largely +peopled by North Americans and English; the former prevail in numbers +and influence, indeed, it has been called the American city of Brazil. +There is also a large Italian colony settled here. St. Paul has a good +system of tramways, several Protestant churches, and a number of +educational and charitable public institutions, together with many of +the attractions of a much larger capital. Among the popular amusements, +the theatre of San José is justly esteemed, and is a well-appointed +establishment in all of its belongings. There are two spacious public +gardens, embellished with grottoes, fountains, choice trees, and +flowers, while the private gardens attached to the dwellings are +numerous and tasteful.</p> + +<p>In the district round about the city venomous serpents are frequently +met with, whose bite is as dangerous as that of the rattlesnakes of our +northern climate. As the land is cleared and cultivated, they naturally +and rapidly disappear. These reptiles fear man, and avoid his vicinity +quite as earnestly as human beings avoid them. It is only when they are +molested, trodden upon, or cornered, as it were, that they attack any +one.</p> + +<p>The city is connected with Rio Janeiro by a railway, and two other +railroads run from it far inland. The Rio and St. Paul railway is fairly +equipped, but the roadbed is not properly ballasted, and consequently +one rides over the route in a cloud of dust, while suffering from the +oscillations and jolting of the cars. This railway, however, is one of +the most successful and profitable in the republic. It is some three +hundred miles in length, and passes through a dozen or more tunnels, one +of which is a mile and a half in length. This tunnel required seven +years' labor before it was passable. There is just now a great "boom" of +land values in and about St. Paul. It is towards this state that the +tide of Italian emigration is largely directed, for some reason which we +do not comprehend, but it is probably stimulated by a combined effort to +this effect.</p> + +<p>The passage southward from Rio Janeiro or Santos to Montevideo +occupies about five days, but a large amount of rough ocean experience +is generally crowded into that brief period, added to which the coasting +steamers are far from affording the ordinary comforts so desirable at +sea. Of the food supplied to passengers one does not feel inclined to +complain, because a person embarking upon these lines does so knowing +what to expect; but as regards the domestic conveniences and cleanliness +generally, there is no excuse for their defective character. We are +sorry to say that the class of Portuguese and Spaniards one encounters +on these coasting vessels is far from decently cleanly in daily habits, +carelessly adding to the unsanitary conditions.</p> + +<p>The wind in these latitudes is not only inclined to be fierce, but it +usually goes entirely round the compass at least once or twice during +the voyage, and is more than liable to wind up, off the mouth of the +river Plate, with a regular and furious pampero. This is a hurricane +wind, which is born in the gorges of the Andes, and thence pursuing its +course over nearly a thousand miles of level pampas, gains speed and +power with every league of progress. The season in which these +hurricanes—for in their fury they deserve to be thus +designated—prevail, is from March to September, but they are +liable to come at any time. The wind is considered by the people of +Montevideo to be wholesome and invigorating, as far as the land is +concerned, but seamen dread it on shipboard, and call it a Plate River +hurricane. We know of no more disagreeable roadstead than that of +Montevideo, when a pampero is blowing. We have seen ships under these +circumstances, with two anchors down, obliged to resort to the use of +oil on the sea, to prevent themselves from being swamped. Though the +inhabitants represent a pampero to be comparatively harmless on the +land, yet it does sometimes commit fearful havoc there also, especially +among the unprotected herds of wild cattle on the plains, and upon all +trees or plantations which lie in its devastating course. It is true +that it brings with it a bracing and life-giving atmosphere from the +snow-capped Andes far away, and if it could only do so with less +forceful demonstration, it would be a welcome visitor in the heated days +of these regions.</p> + +<p>The most direct way to illustrate what these South American pampas +are is to compare them to the vast prairies of our Western and +Southwestern States. Any one familiar with those far-reaching, +horizon-bounded plains knows what the pampas of the Argentine Republic +are like. Beginning near the foothills of the Cordilleras, in their very +shadow, as it were, these smoothed out, level lands extend hundreds of +miles eastward to the great estuary of the Plate River, on the borders +of the Atlantic Ocean. Though apparently sterile, the soil of the +pampas, like the dry, baked land of Australia, only requires irrigation +and cultivation to rival the most attractive valleys of Southern Europe. +It is believed by scientists that these plains were once covered by a +broad inland sea, connected directly with the Atlantic. In their present +condition these pampas can hardly be called barren, since they give +excellent grazing for extensive herds of wild cattle, which thrive and +fatten upon the abundance of coarse, natural grass, similar to what is +known as bunch grass in Texas and New Mexico. This product ripens and +makes itself into standing hay, retaining its natural vitality and +nutritious qualities throughout months of atmospheric exposure. After +being close-cropped by the roving herds of cattle, the bunch grass +renews itself, reproducing in great abundance.</p> + +<p>Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, is situated on the remarkable +estuary of the Plate River,—Rio de la Plata, or "Silver +River,"—whose spacious mouth is marked by two capes, Santa Maria +and San Antonio, more than one hundred miles apart. Only a nautical +observation will show just where the line of ocean ceases and that of +the estuary begins. The unobservant passenger believes himself still +sailing upon the broad ocean until he finally sights the land on which +the city stands. The flag of Uruguay flying from various +crafts—blue and white, in alternate stripes, with a glowing sun in +the upper corner near the staff—indicates the near approach to the +land it represents.</p> + +<p>On the island of Flores, fifteen miles from Montevideo, there are a +lighthouse and quarantine station. The island is formed by a rocky +upheaval, not over twenty feet above sea level, measuring about a mile +in length and two or three hundred yards in width. The fierce pamperos +render the navigation of this estuary oftentimes precarious. When +approaching the broad river's mouth from the north, sailors know that it +is near at hand, long before land is seen, by the color of the water, +which comes forth in such immense volume as to impart a distinct yellow +hue to the ocean for a long distance from the coast. This effect is said +to be discernible one hundred miles off the shore, but thirty or forty +miles will perhaps be nearer the truth, and is at the same time a +statement answering all legitimate purposes. The tide about the estuary +is mostly governed by the wind, and so up the river, showing no +regularity in its rise and fall. The current of the Plate opposite +Montevideo runs at the rate of about three miles an hour. In extent, +this ranks as the third great river of the world, draining, with its +affluents, eight hundred thousand square miles of territory; a mammoth +basin, which is only exceeded by those of the Amazon and the +Mississippi.</p> + +<p>The commercial activity of the port is shown by the arrival and +departure daily of many large steamships, foreign and coastwise. Sixty +European steamers are recorded as arriving here monthly, besides a +number from the United States. The maritime business of the port is +mostly in the hands of Englishmen, Americans, and Frenchmen. The +native-born citizen evinces no genius in commercial matters. The +department of the capital is the smallest in the republic, having an +area of only twenty-five square miles, but it is fertile, well wooded +and watered, its agricultural interests predominating, which is a most +important fact in estimating the stability and pecuniary responsibility +of any state.</p> + +<p>The city is exceptionably well situated on a small rocky promontory, +or rather we should designate it as a peninsula, jutting out into the +estuary, three of its sides fronting the sea, and as its streets are +nearly always swept by ocean breezes, it is cool and pleasant even in +midsummer. The land rises gradually as it recedes from the shore, and +then declines to the bed of a small stream which empties into the bay, +thus affording a natural surface drainage. Uruguay is a little more than +twelve times as large territorially as the State of Massachusetts, and +is divided into thirteen departments. There are over half a million +acres of land under good cultivation in the republic, the principal +staples being wheat and corn. Extreme heat and extreme cold are alike +unknown, the country being within the temperate zone. The mean summer +temperature is 71° Fahr., that of autumn 62°, and of spring 60°. There +are, therefore, but few things which the climate is too hot or too cold +to produce, while for the raising of cattle on a large scale it is said +to be the best section of South America, and this forms, we believe, its +largest industry.</p> + +<p>In approaching Montevideo from the sea, it is observed that the +surrounding country is quite level, with scarcely a single object to +break the distant view. Immediately upon landing one realizes that the +city is clean and well built, though it is mostly made up of low +structures one story in height. There are plenty of dwellings of two and +three stories, however, in the more modern part of the town. Dominating +the whole stand the lofty dome and towers of the cathedral, which faces +the Plaza Constitution. The turrets are of striking proportions, each +rising to the height of one hundred and thirty-three feet. The +widespread dome would be grand in effect, were it not covered with +glazed tiles of various colors, blue, green, yellow, and so on, the +combined effect of which is anything but pleasing to a critical eye. +Still, it is no more tawdry than much of the inside finish and +meaningless ornamentation. There is an elaborate marble fountain in the +centre of the plaza, besides some ornamental shrubbery and flowers. The +very fine marble façade of the building occupied by the Uruguay Club +adds to the beauty of the plaza. Near the fountain is a fanciful music +stand, in which a military band is occasionally stationed to perform for +the public pleasure. These South Americans would as soon give up the +bull-fights as the popular outdoor evening concerts, the excellent moral +effect of which no one can possibly doubt.</p> + +<p>An abrupt hill at the head of the harbor, four or five hundred feet +in height, known as the "Monte," gives the city its name, Montevideo. +This hill is crowned by a small fort and lighthouse, the latter +containing a revolving light which can be seen a long distance at sea. A +couple of miles inland rises another hill called the Cerrito, or "little +hill." Several times during revolutionary struggles, these two hills +have been fortified by opposing parties, who have desired to control the +city, but restless revolutionists are now at a discount, fortunately, in +this republic of Uruguay, a class of uneasy spirits who have reigned +quite long enough on the southern continent.</p> + +<p>The town is built in the form of an amphitheatre, and has +comparatively few edifices of importance. Its regular, straight streets +and open squares are intensely Spanish. The Paseo del Molino is the +fashionable part of the town, where the wealthy merchants reside in +curious chalets, or <i>quintas</i> as they are called here. There is +rather an extraordinary taste displayed in the matter of buildings on +this Paseo. Swiss cottages, Italian villas, Chinese dwellings, and +Gothic structures are mingled with Spanish and Moorish styles. This +architectural incongruity is not picturesque, but, on the contrary, +strikes one as very crude and ill-chosen. The charm of domestic +residences in any part of the globe is a certain adaptability to the +natural surroundings, and is, when well conceived, a graceful part of +the whole. Inappropriate structures are to the eye like false notes in +music to the ear, an outrage upon harmony. A Swiss chalet in Hindostan, +or a Japanese bamboo house in England, is simply discordancy in scenic +consistency. Nature should always be a silent partner in the creation +and adaptation of architectural designs. In olden times the Jesuits +built a large mill near this spot, and hence the name of the place.</p> + +<p>The climate must be very equable and fine to admit of such fruit +culture as exists here. The strawberries grown in the neighborhood are +famous for their size and sweetness, the vines producing this favorite +fruit all the year round. They are perhaps a little over-developed, and +would doubtless be of finer flavor if they were smaller.</p> + +<p>The Plaza de la Independencia is highly attractive, and so is the +broad, tree-lined avenue known as the Calle del Dieziochavo de Julio, +named after the anniversary of the Uruguayan declaration of +independence. This, indeed, is thought to be the most effective +boulevard in all South America. On festal occasions it is decorated in +an original and brilliant manner, having colored draperies hanging from +the windows and balconies, bright colored cambrics stretched from point +to point, with the gay flag of the republic festooned here and there. +Chinese lanterns are hung from the trees, and arches spanning the +roadway and bearing national designs are all ablaze with ingeniously +arranged gas jets. Down one side of this long avenue and up the other, +it being over a hundred feet broad, a civic and military procession +marches on the annual recurrence of the date which its name indicates, +the several divisions headed by bands of music, with flags flying and +drums beating. On such occasions the windows and balconies are filled +with groups of handsome women, in gala dresses, together with pretty +children in holiday costumes, who add charm and completeness to the +scene. This avenue is the Champs Elysées of the southern continent, a +thoroughfare of which the residents are justly very proud.</p> + +<p>The streets and sidewalks generally are of better width in Montevideo +than in most of the South American cities. Some few of the private +residences display fine architectural taste, the dwellings being well +adapted to the climate and the surroundings. Many of the city houses +have little towers erected on their roofs, called <i>miradores</i>, from +whence one gets an excellent view of the entire city and of the sea. The +town is spread over a large territory, and stretches away into thinly +populated suburbs, but all parts are rendered accessible by the +well-perfected system of tramways which extend over fifty miles within +the city and the immediate environs. In the absence of official figures, +we should judge that Montevideo had a population of at least two hundred +thousand. Every other nationality seems to be represented in its streets +and warehouses, except that of Uruguay herself. Those "native and to the +manner born" are conspicuous by their absence. Speaking of this rather +curious characteristic to a friend who lives here, he replied: "There +are probably fifty thousand European and North American residents doing +business in this city, forming by far the most active element of the +place. They are seen everywhere, to the apparent exclusion of the +natives. Indigenous blood and energy could not have made this capital +what it is at the present time. It is reaping the advantage of North +American enterprise, English and American capital, and German +shrewdness. These, combined with the natural advantages of the location +and climate, will eventually make Montevideo the Liverpool of South +America." Though all this goes without saying, our friend put it so +aptly that his words were deemed worthy of recording. We do not hesitate +to predict that the next decade will nearly double the number of the +population here, as well as the aggregate of its imports and exports. No +other city on the southern continent has greater advantages in its +geographical position, or as regards salubrity of climate and +adaptability to commerce. Were it not for the occasional visits of the +howling pamperos, the climate would be nearly perfect, and even these +exhibitions of a local nature are, as we have said, accepted with great +equanimity by the people on land. There are few stoves, and no +fireplaces or chimneys, in Montevideo. Cooking is done with charcoal on +braziers out-of-doors, as is the custom in most tropical countries.</p> + +<p>The capital of Uruguay contains the usual educational and religious, +charitable and scientific, public organizations, with appropriate +edifices for the same. It should certainly be considered a reading +community, having more daily newspapers than London, and double as many +as the city of New York; also supporting a large number of weekly +newspapers and monthly magazines. As to books, so far as a casual +observer may speak, they are few and far between in family circles. The +men read the newspapers, and the women fill up their leisure time with +music and gossip. There is a national university in Montevideo, where +over six hundred pupils are regularly taught at the present time, and +there are forty-eight professors attached to this admirably organized +institution. We heard it highly spoken of by those who should be good +judges in educational matters. The custom house, with which the stranger +always makes an early acquaintance after arriving in port, is a large +and costly structure, three stories in height. The opera house is worthy +of particular mention, being a spacious building of the Doric order, +capable of seating three thousand persons, and when it is filled at +night, the interior presents a grand array of elegant costumes and +female beauty, the ladies of this city being noted for their personal +charms. This is a circumstance not mentioned casually as a mere +compliment, but simply as a fact. The opera house covers an entire +square, and has two large wings attached to the main building, one of +which is devoted to business purposes, and the other contains the +National Museum. There is here the nucleus of a most valuable +collection, to which constant additions are being made, both by the +state and through personal liberality and interest. We are sorry to say +in this connection that the bull-fight, as a public exhibition, above +all other styles of amusement, is the favorite one with the rank and +file of the populace, which is quite sufficiently Spanish to control the +matter and insure its permanency. The bull-ring, wherein these brutal +and terribly demoralizing exhibitions take place on each Sabbath +afternoon during the season, is situated about a league from the city +proper.</p> + +<p>It must be a country or district under Roman Catholic influence, and +with more or less of a Spanish element permeating it, to admit of this +style of desecrating the Sabbath, or, indeed, of indulging on any day of +the week in an exhibition which is so thoroughly brutal, cowardly, and +repulsive. It is a sad reflection upon the community, high and low, to +state that the bull-fight is one of its popular entertainments. We have +said that this is a cowardly game. The fact is, the bull is doomed from +the moment he enters the arena. He has only his horns and his courage to +help him in the unequal contest. The professional fighters opposed to +him are all fully armed, and protected by sheltering guards, behind +which they can retire at will. It is twelve experts pitted against one +poor beast. Ingenious, heathenish modes of torture are devised and +adopted to wound, to weaken, and to craze the victim. If it was one +armed man against the bull, whether mounted or otherwise, it would be a +more equal and gallant struggle,—but twelve to one! bah, it is +only a cowardly game in which gallant horses and brave bulls are +sacrificed by a dozen armed men. Even the matadore, who gives the final +and fatal thrust with his sword, and who is looked upon as a sort of +hero by the spectators, does not enter the ring to attempt the act until +the bull is comparatively harmless, having been worried and wounded +until he is exhausted by the struggle and the copious loss of blood, so +that he is scarcely able to stand. Though reeling like a drunken man, he +staggers bravely towards his fresh and well-armed enemy, showing fight +to the last gasp.</p> + +<p>Realize the moral effect of such cut-throat exhibitions upon youth! +The older, cruel and hardened spectators are only rendered more so, but +the young and impressionable are then and there inoculated with a love +of brutality and bloodshed, fostered by every fresh exhibition which +they witness.</p> + +<p>The Exchange is a grand and spacious structure, admirably adapted to +its purpose, being one of the finest business edifices in South America, +to our mind infinitely superior in all respects to that of Rio, upon +which so much money has been expended in meretricious designs. The +author counted the names of some forty charitable institutions and +associations in a Montevideo directory, eight or ten of which are +maintained mostly by public endowment, such as hospitals, asylums for +the poor, orphanages, industrial schools, lunatic asylums, and so on. +Near the Plaza Ramirez there is a school of arts and trades, which at +this writing accommodates a large body of pupils, taught by competent +professors and experts. We were told that this institution was of great +practical service in the cause of education, its general aim being +similar to that of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. One was +hardly prepared to credit Montevideo with so many and well-sustained +educational purposes as she was found to be justly entitled to. The +reader will observe that we speak qualifiedly of these matters; it is +only the outward and most obvious characteristics of a city, so briefly +visited, of which one can speak correctly. It would have been gratifying +to have remained longer in this capital, to understand more clearly the +educational advantages which are offered here. In this department of +progress, Montevideo seems in advance of many larger cities.</p> + +<p>Squads of soldiers are seen lounging about the town, dressed in a +uniform of the Zouave pattern, not very jaunty looking fellows, it must +be confessed, but perhaps "as good food for powder as a better." The +entire army of Uruguay consists of only five thousand men, of all +branches. The president has also a battalion of body-guards, consisting +of three or four hundred men, forming a very efficient as well as +ornamental organization. This organization consists of men loyal to the +administration, and beyond a doubt personally devoted to the president. +The rank and file of the army embraces all shades of color, both as to +mind and body, and is liable to become disaffected at the outbreak of +any popular upheaval, or through the influence of designing men. This +body-guard, however, being always on duty, is ready and able to turn the +scale by prompt and consistent action, in favor of the established +authorities, and thus nip rebellion in the bud. It is only after getting +thoroughly under way that revolutionary attempts become formidable. At +the inception, the strong arm promptly applied stamps out the life and +courage of the mob, and renders sedition futile. "No parleying; fire +promptly, and fire to kill; that ends the matter," said Napoleon. Blank +cartridges and vacillation stimulate a half-formed purpose into +action.</p> + +<p>One is forced to admit that beggars are rather numerous in +Montevideo,—beggars on horseback and wearing spurs. They coolly +stop their small, wiry, half-fed ponies, and with magnificent effrontery +beg of any stranger they chance to meet for a centavo, a copper coin +worth about two cents of our American money. The incongruity of beggars +mounted, while the stranger of whom they solicit alms is a pedestrian, +is somewhat obvious. It must be remembered, however, that horses are +very cheap in this country, and that nearly every one rides or drives. A +good serviceable animal can be bought in any of the South American +cities at what we should consider a mere trifle to pay for one. A +well-broken young saddle-horse will bring from twenty to twenty-five +dollars, but the owner, if one of the dudes about town, will expend five +hundred dollars upon a silver-decked saddle, bridle, and trimmings, a +Spanish peculiarity which is also observed in the city of Mexico. A pair +of well-matched carriage-horses, in good condition, can be had for +seventy-five or eighty dollars. Mares are not worked in this country, +being solely used for breeding purposes, and have no fixed price; +indeed, they are not met with in the cities. It will be seen that for a +beggar to set up business here requires some capital, but not much. De +Quincey would describe Spanish beggary as having become elevated to one +of the fine arts.</p> + +<p>There is a class of men in Uruguay called gauchos who devote +themselves to breaking the wild horses of the pampas for domestic use. +They are more Indian than Spanish, and pass their lives mostly as +herdsmen of the vast numbers of animals which live in a semi-wild state +upon the plains of South America. These men can hardly be said to train +their horses. They only conquer them by a process of cruel discipline +which thoroughly subdues the animal. After this the poor creatures are +ever on the alert to obey their rider's will, prompted by a pressure of +the powerful bit, and a merciless thrust of the long, sharp rowels. The +gaucho reminds one of the cowboys of our Western States. He forms a very +picturesque figure when seen upon his wiry little mustang, galloping +along with his yellow poncho streaming behind him, his head covered by a +broad-brimmed soft felt hat, his long, dark hair floating upon the +breeze, and his broad, loose trousers fluttering in the wind. A lasso of +braided or twisted leather sometimes swings from one hand, while the +rider skillfully manages his horse with the other. Altogether the gaucho +forms a picture of strong vitality and vivid color. He spends a small +fortune upon his equipments, and his heavy spurs are of solid silver. He +is not a hard drinker, an occasional glass of country wine satisfies +him; but he will gamble all night long until he has lost his last penny +to professional sportsmen, who somehow know the way to win by fair means +or foul.</p> + +<p>Few strangers who visit Montevideo for the first time will be at all +prepared to see such a quantity and variety of rich jewelry in the +shops. Imported dress goods of the finest quality are also offered for +sale in these shops. The Parisian boulevards have no display windows +which contain larger or finer diamonds, sapphires, and emeralds; indeed, +this country seems to be the home of precious stones and real gems. The +silversmiths exhibit goods equally artistic and elegant. The best +products of Vienna, Paris, and London, in the fancy-goods line, are +fully represented here. Readers who have visited Genoa will recall the +fine silver filigree-work which is a specialty of that city, but some of +the manufactures of this character made here are quite equal, if they do +not excel, that of the Italian capital.</p> + +<p>It seemed to be rather a singular and significant fact, that when a +couple of pennies will purchase a tumblerful of the national tipple +called caña, a raw liquor made from sugar-cane, and quite as strong as +brandy, still comparatively few persons are seen under its influence +upon the public streets. It is true that on all church festal occasions +the common people have a regular carousal, and get very much +intoxicated, whereupon they lose one day in repenting and two in +recuperation. It is the same all over the world. The lower, uneducated +classes, having no intellectual resort, seem imbued with the idea that +to get thoroughly tipsy is the acme of pleasure. The inevitable +punishment does not enter into the calculation at all, nor does it deter +the victim from repeated excesses. It is curious to observe the peculiar +effect which intoxicants produce upon people of different nationalities: +the Russian gets boozy on vodka, and only becomes more loving to his +species; the Mexican drinks pulque by the pint measure, and craves only +to be permitted to sleep; the French guzzle brandy and wine until they +become equally full of song and gayety; the American Indian is made +utterly crazy and reckless by drink; the Irishman finds a fight in every +glass of whiskey; and the Englishman who indulges overmuch becomes +eloquent on politics and patriotism. In South America the common people +who drink to excess are rendered pugnacious and revolutionary. The +police arrangements of Montevideo are excellent, and the streets are +safe for man or woman at any hour of the day or night, which one is +forced to admit is more than can be truthfully said of the majority of +large cities in either Europe or North America. There is no sickly +sentimentality about crime and criminals here. If a man outrages the +law, he has to suffer for it, and there is no pardoning him until he has +worked out his entire penalty. It is the certainty of punishment which +intimidates professional rascals. Official leniency and pardoning of +criminals are a premium on crime.</p> + +<p>Between two and three miles from the city there is a public park, +which is laid out with excellent taste and skill, forming a popular +pleasure resort. There are here many fine native and exotic trees, as +well as flowering shrubs and blooming flowers. This spacious park, +intersected by a willow-lined stream, is called the Paseo, and is +ornamented with statues, fountains, and rockeries. The grounds are also +occupied by several small places devoted to amusements, +shooting-galleries, billiard saloons, and gambling tables, very similar +to the Deer Garden in the environs of Copenhagen. Citizens of Montevideo +of the humbler class come hither with their families, bringing food and +drink to be disposed of in picnic fashion. Bordering the sweep of the +bay, which forms the harbor, are many cottages, the homes of the rich +merchants. These villas are surrounded by flower gardens and graceful +shrubbery, the endless spring climate making the bloom perennial. The +flat roofs of many of the town houses are partially inclosed, so as to +form a pleasant resort in the closing hours of the day, where family +parties are often seen gathered together. Social life among the +residents of the environs is very gay, and so indeed is that of the town +residents, whose hospitality is also proverbial. The Hotel Oriental is +the favorite hostelry of Montevideo, built of marble and well furnished, +though it is hardly equal to the Hotel Victoria, its rival, +architecturally speaking.</p> + +<p>The drinking water, and all that is used for domestic purposes in the +city, is brought by a well-engineered system from the river Santa Lucia, +which is tapped for this purpose at a distance of thirty or forty miles +from Montevideo.</p> + +<p>The Campo Santo of the capital is admirably arranged and particularly +well kept, being in several respects like those of Pisa, Genoa, and +other Italian cities. It is the most elaborate cemetery in South +America, surrounded by high walls so built as to contain five tiers of +niches which form the receptacles for the dead. The grounds are nearly +as crowded with elaborate tombs and stone monuments as Père la Chaise, +at Paris, the funereal cypress rising here and there in stately +mournfulness above the marble slabs. The abundance of metallic wreaths +and artificial flowers afforded another resemblance to the famous French +cemetery. The freshness of many of the floral offerings showed that the +memory of the departed was kept green in the hearts of those left +behind. The traveler sees many such touching evidences of tenderness all +over the world. Much of the marble work seen in these grounds was +imported from Milan, and some from both Florence and Rome. The +monumental entrance to the grounds, and the elaborate chapel within +them, are both in good taste.</p> + +<p>Beef, hides, wool, hair, and grain seem to be the principal articles +of export. Uruguay contains over half a million of people, and has an +area of seventy-one thousand square miles, intersected by several +railways, bringing the interior within easy reach of the capital. It is +said to be growing more rapidly in proportion to its size and the +present number of inhabitants than any other part of South America. The +republic is best known to the world by its Indian name, Uruguay, but on +many maps it is still designated as the Banda Oriental, that is, the +"Eastern Border." It will be remembered that this now independent state +was originally a part of the Argentine Republic, which was formerly +known by that designation. Though Uruguay is one of the smallest of the +independent divisions of the continent, it is yet one of the most +important, a fact owing largely to its admirable commercial location. +Nearly all of its territory can be reached by navigable rivers, while +its Atlantic shore has a dozen good harbors. Sixteen large rivers +intersect the republic in various directions, all of which have their +several tributaries. Cheap internal transportation is assured by over +three hundred miles of railways; also by these rivers. As already +intimated, its agricultural interests are largely on the increase, the +strongest element of permanency. Originally the pastoral interest +prevailed over all other, but agriculture, both here and in the +Argentine Republic, has taken precedence. The model farms near +Montevideo are unsurpassed for extent, completeness, and the liberal +manner in which they are conducted. Some large estates might be named +which will compare favorably with anything of the sort which the author +has ever seen in any country, where agriculture is followed on +intelligent principles. Here the cultivation of the soil is carried on +not solely to obtain all which can be wrung from it, in the way of +pecuniary profit, but <i>con amore</i>, and with a due regard to system. +As may be supposed, the return is fully commensurate with the +intelligence and liberality exercised in the business. Such farming may +be and is called fancy farming, but it is a sort which pays most +liberally, and which affords those engaged in it the most +satisfaction.</p> + +<p>To be an honest chronicler, one must not hesitate to look at all +phases of progress, successful or otherwise, on the part of each people +and country visited and written about. There are always deep-lying +influences acting for good or evil, which scarcely present themselves to +the thoughtless observer.</p> + +<p>One reason for the rapid growth of this republic of Uruguay is +because of its gradually casting off the slough of Roman Catholic +influence, a species of dry rot quite sufficient to bring about the +destruction of any government. The same incubus which was of so long +standing in Mexico, where its effect kept the people in ignorance and +ferment for centuries, has at last been abolished, and modern progress +naturally follows. In Uruguay the Romish Church has lost its prestige, +having hastened its own downfall by blindly striving to enforce +fifteenth century ideas upon people of the nineteenth. Monks and nuns +have been expelled, and parish schools have been closed. Free schools +now prevail, and general knowledge is becoming broadcast, which simply +means destruction to all popish control. Intelligence is the antidote +for bigotry, which explains the bitter opposition of the Roman Catholic +priesthood to free schools wherever their faith prevails.</p> + +<p>In all of these South American provinces it has been found difficult +to throw off the evil inheritance of sloth and anarchy which the +Spaniards imposed upon their colonial possessions. The schoolhouse is +the true temple of liberty for this people. In the department of +Montevideo alone there are to-day over sixty free schools, and in the +whole republic nearly four hundred, something for her authorities to +point at with a spirit of just pride. This enumeration does not include +the private schools, of which there are also a large number in the +capital.</p> + +<p>We find by published statistics that Uruguay exports of wool, about +seven million dollars' worth per annum; of beef, over six million +dollars' worth; of hides, four million dollars' worth; and of wheat +about the same amount in value as that of the last article named. These +staples, however, are only representative articles, to which many more +might be added, to show her growing commercial importance and assured +prosperity.</p> + +<p>Our next stopping-place is the important city of Buenos Ayres, on the +opposite bank of the river, about one hundred and fifty miles southwest +of Montevideo.</p> + +<p class="p4"><a name="Ch_12"></a></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XII.</h3> + +<p class="blockquote">Buenos Ayres.—Extent of the Argentine +Republic.—Population.—Narrow Streets.—Large Public +Squares.—Basques.—Poor Harbor.—Railway +System.—River Navigation.—Tramways.—The +Cathedral.—Normal Schools.—Newspapers.—Public +Buildings.—Calle Florida.—A Busy City.—Mode of +furnishing Milk.—Environs.—Commercial and Political +Growth.—The New Capital.</p> + +<p class="p2">The city of Buenos Ayres—"Good Air"—is well +named so far as its natural situation is concerned, but this condition +of a pure atmosphere has been seriously affected by unsanitary +conditions, naturally arising from the large influx of a very +promiscuous population. A considerable percentage are Italians, and so +far as personal cleanliness and decency go, they seem to be among the +lost arts with them.</p> + +<p>This thriving city is the capital of the Argentine Republic, which, +next to Brazil, is the largest independent state in South America, +containing fourteen provinces, each of which has its own local +government, modeled after those of the United States. The average reader +will doubtless be surprised, as the author certainly was, to realize +that this southern republic exceeds in extent of territory the united +kingdoms of Great Britain, together with France, Germany, Austria, +Hungary, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Holland, and Greece combined, +the actual area being something over twelve hundred thousand square +miles. The province of Buenos Ayres is just about the size of the State +of New York, and contains in round numbers a population of one million. +Two hundred years ago, the city of Buenos Ayres had a population of five +hundred. Having the statistics at hand, it is perhaps worth while to +state that, of the aggregate population of the province, a majority, or +fully six hundred thousand, are foreigners, classed as follows: three +hundred thousand Italians, one hundred and fifty thousand French, one +hundred thousand Spaniards, forty thousand English, and twenty thousand +Germans. The number of North American residents is very small, though +they control a fair percentage of the exports and imports. Authentic +statistics show that they number less than six hundred. Paris is not +more crowded with refugees from various countries than is this Argentine +capital. Why such a spot was selected on which to establish a commercial +city is an unsolved riddle, as it embraces about all the natural +inconveniences that could possibly be encountered on the banks of a +large river. The perversity of such a selection is the more obvious, +because those who made it must have passed by a score of admirable +points eminently superior in all respects to the one now occupied.</p> + +<p>The first view of Buenos Ayres on approaching it by water is +peculiar, the line of sight being only broken by the church towers and a +few prominent public buildings; the horizon alone forms the background +of the picture. Unlike nearly all of the South American cities, there is +no forest or mountain range behind or surrounding the capital. From its +environs a continuous plain stretches away for nearly eight hundred +miles to the foothills of the Andes. Situated between the 34° and 35° of +south latitude, it enjoys a climate similar to that of the south of +France, and almost identical with that of New Orleans. The site upon +which the city stands is considerably above the level of the river, and +though the streets are far too narrow for business purposes in the older +portions of the town, they widen to a better size in the newer parts. +The roadways are poorly paved, so that it is very uncomfortable to walk +or drive over them. Boulevards are laid out to cut the older parts of +the city diagonally, as was done in Paris and Genoa, and is now being +done in Florence, so as to relieve the present insufficient capacity for +the transportation of merchandise. One is apt, however, when remarking +upon these particularly narrow and irregular streets in a foreign +country, to forget that there are, in the older portions of the capital +of Massachusetts, some quite as circumscribed and corkscrew fashioned. +If we do not find all the excellences of civilization predominating, and +admirable people in the majority here, we should do well to remember +that we have also left them in the minority at home.</p> + +<p>The huge custom house of Buenos Ayres, with its circular form and +high walls facing the river, recalls in general appearance Castle Garden +in New York harbor, or the fort on Governor's Island. In its importance +as a commercial emporium, this city disputes the first place with only +three others in the southern hemisphere, namely, Rio Janeiro, Sydney, +and Melbourne, the latter of which has lately added greatly to its +harbor facilities by deepening and widening the Yarra-Yarra River.</p> + +<p>The dwelling-houses of Buenos Ayres are mostly built of brick, and +are of a far more substantial character than those upon the west coast +of the continent. They have much more the appearance of North American +dwellings than Spanish, except that the windows are strongly guarded +with iron bars, and the cool, shady patios present domestic scenes, +mingled with flowers and fragrance, strongly local in color. The city is +regularly laid out in squares of a hundred and fifty yards each, so when +one is told that such or such a place is so many squares away, he knows +exactly the distance which is indicated. The Plaza de la Victoria is +surrounded by handsome edifices, including the opera house and the +cathedral, the façade of the latter very much resembling that of the +Madeleine at Paris. This square has a fine equestrian statue of some +patriot, and a small column commemorating a national event. The city has +a population equaling that of Boston in number, and we do not hesitate +to say that it is more noted for its enterprise and general progress +than any other of the South American cities. It has been appropriately +called the Chicago of the southern continent. The republic, of which it +is the principal city, has seven thousand miles of telegraphic wire +within its area, a tangible evidence of enterprise which requires no +comment. One remarkable line connects this city with that of Valparaiso, +on the Pacific side of the continent, and is constructed with iron poles +nearly the whole distance, crossing the Andes by means of forty miles of +cable laid beneath the perpetual snows!</p> + +<p>It may well be supposed that the inhabitants of Buenos Ayres are of a +cosmopolitan character, when it is known that the daily newspapers are +issued in five different languages. As shown by the statistics already +given, a considerable share of the people are Italians, who form much +the larger portion of the emigrants now coming hither from Europe, or +who have arrived here during the last decade. As additions to the +population, they form a more desirable class, in many respects, than +those who seek homes further north. After the Italians, the Basques are +among the most numerous of the new-comers. There are over fifty thousand +of this people settled in the province of Buenos Ayres alone, readily +adapting themselves to the country. They are a strongly individualized +race, whom no one is liable to mistake for any other. They maintain in a +great measure the picturesque style of dress which prevails in their +native land, no matter what their vocation may be here. As a rule, the +Basques come with their families, bringing some moderate amount of +pecuniary means with them, and at once devote themselves to agricultural +pursuits. They take especially to the department of the dairy, making +butter and cheese of excellent quality, for which they find a ready city +market. They have a natural inclination towards cattle tending, and are +looked upon by the authorities as among the very best of European +emigrants. To promote this immigration to Argentina, a per capita +premium has been paid heretofore by the government, who, indeed, are +still ready to furnish a free passage for responsible emigrants, both of +this and other nationalities. This generous offer has been so shamefully +abused by the beggars, lazzaroni, and criminal classes of Naples and +Sicily, that a check has necessarily been put upon it, particularly as +regards the generally objectionable people of Sicily.</p> + +<p>As a shipping port, Montevideo has a decided advantage over this +Argentine metropolis. Large steamers are obliged to anchor eight or ten +miles, or even more, below the city, on account of the shallowness of +the river at this point. A channel has been opened to facilitate the +approach of vessels of moderate tonnage, but much yet remains to be done +before the experiment will be of any practical advantage. Tugboats land +passengers on the quay, who arrive by the large mail steamers. Vessels +of not over twenty-five hundred tons can lie at the shore and land their +cargoes by means of the limited conveniences of the new dock. One would +think that this want of harbor facilities was an insuperable objection +and impediment in the growth of a great commercial capital, but Buenos +Ayres goes straight onward, progressing in wealth and business, +apparently regardless of such disadvantages. The present aggregate of +its imports, in round numbers, is one hundred million dollars per +annum.</p> + +<p>Even to-day, while resting under so serious a financial cloud, with +her credit at the lowest ebb, and so many of her lately wealthy +merchants in bankruptcy, the city has a certain steady, normal growth, +which it would appear that nothing can seriously impair. As we have +intimated, the tide of immigration has been checked, though not entirely +stopped, by the depressed financial and business condition of the +country; still, in one closing month of the last year, October, 1891, +over two thousand passengers arrived by steamship in Argentina, seeking +new and permanent homes.</p> + +<p>When a pampero is blowing, it sometimes forces nearly all of the +water out of the harbor, leaving it high and dry, so to speak, though +the river is thirty miles in width opposite Buenos Ayres. Passengers, +baggage, and freight have in the past often been landed by means of +horse carts, hung on high wheels, and driven out into the water to such +a depth as would float small boats and lighters. Indeed, this was for +many years the common mode of landing freight and passengers at Buenos +Ayres. Two long and narrow piers which have been built partially obviate +the necessity of employing carts, unless the water becomes very low. It +has been said in all seriousness, and we believe it to be true, that the +cost of landing a cargo of merchandise at Buenos Ayres has often been as +great as the freight by vessel from New York, Liverpool, or Boston.</p> + +<p>To construct a suitable harbor here for commercial purposes is a +project attended by almost insurmountable difficulties, but the attempt +is gradually being made. The water in front of the city is not only +shallow, but the bottom is extremely hard, while the increase of depth +down the river is so little that it would involve the dredging of soil +for a distance of ten miles, together with an indefinite width. It is +very doubtful if a channel in such a situation, liable to constant +changes, could be effectually established and maintained at any cost. +The city does not depend upon its foreign commerce alone for business, +having a boundless and productive territory in its rear, of which it +will always be the commercial capital. It is already a great railway +centre, the republic having over seven thousand miles of iron and steel +rails within its borders. Five railways radiate from Buenos Ayres at +this writing, and a sixth is projected. One route has been surveyed with +the idea of connecting this city direct with Valparaiso, the distance +between the two capitals being about nine hundred miles. It is designed +to take advantage of the road already completed to Mendoza, from whence +the addition would cross the Cordilleras at a height of ten thousand +feet, and pass through several tunnels, one of which would be two miles +long.</p> + +<p>It should also be remembered, while on this subject of transportation +facilities, that the Paraná River is navigable for light draught +steamers two thousand miles inland from Buenos Ayres, into and through +one of the most productive valleys in the world. From Montevideo to +Point Piedras, the river is uniformly sixty miles wide, and at Buenos +Ayres it has only narrowed to about half this distance. The two main +rivers which form the Plate are the Uruguay and the Paraná, which in +turn unite to form the grand estuary called Rio de la Plata.</p> + +<p>The city of Buenos Ayres has about as many miles of tramway as there +are in Boston. The various routes are well managed, and afford an +infinite amount of popular accommodation. This service is carried on by +six different companies. It is not in the hands of one big monopoly, as +with us in Boston. Competition in undoubtedly best for the public good, +but the business can be more advantageously conducted by a single +company. Experience has shown, however, that such a franchise is liable +to great abuse in the hands of a corporation having no rivalry to +fear.</p> + +<p>The citizens suffered long and patiently for want of good water for +drinking and domestic purposes. This trouble has been partially obviated +for a considerable time by the establishment of extensive water-works, +but they are not adequate to the demand. The means for obtaining a new +and additional supply are now under consideration. A system of drainage +has also been constructed, which was fully as much of a necessity as the +supply of water, but which, as usual, proves to be insufficient in +capacity to perform the necessary work,—at least it but partially +meets the requirements for which it was designed. People grow hardened +by association with danger, but the importance of good and sufficient +drainage for a capital in which malarial fevers prevail hardly requires +argument.</p> + +<p>Unlike nearly all of the South American cities, Buenos Ayres has no +Plaza Mayor, or public square, as a grand business and pleasure resort, +a central point, par excellence, designed also for the recreation of the +general public. There are, however, several spacious squares, quite +large enough to represent such an idea,—nine or ten of them in +fact, all of which are surrounded by fine buildings. The Plaza Victoria, +for instance, already referred to, is some eight acres in extent, made +brilliant at night by electric lights, which supplement the old style of +gas-burners. The government house, the Palace of Justice, the cathedral, +and other effective buildings front upon the Plaza Victoria. Eight or +ten of the principal streets converge here, and this point is also the +place of departure for several lines of tram-cars. The cathedral is in +the Grecian style, the portico supported by twelve Corinthian columns, +composed of brick, mortar, and stucco, but the general effect is the +same as though each pillar was a monolith. The edifice is capable of +containing eight or ten thousand people at a time, being equal in size +and architectural effect to any ecclesiastical establishment on the +continent. As this cathedral is a very remarkable one in many respects, +we devote more than usual space to its description. It was rebuilt by +the Jesuits in the seventeenth century, but was originally founded in +1580, and is not much inferior to St. Paul's, London, as the following +dimensions will show. It is two hundred and seventy feet long by one +hundred and fifty in width, having an area of forty-five hundred square +rods, and stands next in size to Notre Dame, Paris. The interior of this +immense building, with its twelve side chapels, is dark, dingy, and +dirty, while the want of ventilation renders the air within foul and +offensive. It is only on some rare festal occasions that an audience at +all adequate to occupy its great capacity is seen within its walls. A +hundred persons do not seem like more than a dozen in such a place. Less +than a thousand only serve to emphasize its loneliness. One sees a few +women, but scarcely any men, present on ordinary occasions. The latter +are content to stand about the outer doors and watch the former when +they come from morning mass, or the ordinary Sabbath services. Here, as +in Havana, Seville, and Madrid, the Spanish ladies, who lead a secluded +home life, under a half oriental restraint imposed by custom inherited +from the ancient Moorish rule in continental Spain, do not resent being +stared at when in the streets. Probably this is the main attraction +which draws most of the señors and señoritas to the church services, +though undoubtedly many of them are devout and sincere in the outward +services which they perform. At least, let us give them the benefit of +such a conclusion.</p> + +<p>The national religion of Argentina is that of the Roman Catholic +Church, but the power of the priesthood is strictly confined to +ecclesiastical affairs, as in Uruguay. Absolute religious freedom may be +said to exist here. No religious processions or church parades are +permitted in the public streets. This used to be very different in times +past, almost every other day in the Romish calendar being some saint's +day, and it was the custom to make the most of these occasions by +elaborate parades and gorgeous display. Besides some twenty-four Roman +Catholic churches and chapels, there are a score presided over by +Protestants of various denominations,—Episcopal, Presbyterian, +Lutheran, Methodist, and so on. There is, as we were informed, a large +and growing Protestant constituency in the city.</p> + +<p>It should be mentioned very much to her credit that Buenos Ayres has +supported, since 1872, a series of normal schools, in which regular +courses of three years' training are given to persons desiring to fit +themselves to become school-teachers. To assist those wishing to avail +themselves of these advantages, the government appropriates a certain +sum of money, and those persons who receive this public aid bind +themselves, in consideration of the same, to teach on specific terms in +the free schools for a period of three years. There are quite a number +of North American ladies employed in these schools, throughout the +several districts of Argentina, receiving a liberal compensation +therefor, and commanding a high degree of respect. The University of +Buenos Ayres, with about fifty professors and some eight hundred +students, stands at the head of the national system of education. It was +founded in 1821, having classical, law, medical, and physical +departments. There are also four military schools, two for the army and +two for the navy.</p> + +<p>Buenos Ayres has more daily papers published within its precincts +than either Boston or New York. It has several elegant marble structures +devoted to the banking business, generally holding large capitals, +though the financial condition of several of them at this writing is +simply that of bankruptcy. This applies mainly to the state banks. There +are here an orphanage, a deaf and dumb asylum, four public hospitals, +and two libraries: the National Library containing some seventy thousand +volumes, the Popular Library having fifty thousand. There is also a free +art school, together with public and private schools of all grades. Last +to be named, but by no means least in importance, the city has a number +of fairly good hotels and restaurants, the latter much superior to the +former. Hotels are not only a strong indication of the social refinement +of a people, or of the want of it, but they are of great importance as +regards the commercial prosperity of a large community. Travelers who +are made comfortable in these temporary homes remain longer in a city +than they would otherwise, spend more money there, and are apt to come +again. If, on the contrary, the hotel accommodations are poor, travelers +complain of them, and strangers avoid a city where they are liable to be +rendered needlessly uncomfortable in this respect. Rio Janeiro is a +notable instance in hand, a city whose hotels we conscientiously advise +the traveler to avoid.</p> + +<p>We well remember, at the great caravansary in Calcutta, the only +hotel there of any size or pretension, that a party of five Englishmen +and five Americans, who had come from Madras with the purpose of passing +a fortnight in the former city, shortened their stay one half, simply +because the hotel was so wretchedly kept, the accommodations were so +abominably poor, and the discomforts so numerous. Let us put this idea +in mercenary form. Ten guests, expending at least eight dollars each per +day, curtailed their visit seven days. It is safe to say that they would +have left six hundred dollars more in Calcutta had they been comfortably +lodged, than they did under the circumstances.</p> + +<p>We should not omit to mention the Commercial Exchange, in speaking of +the public buildings of Buenos Ayres. It is a fine, large, modern +structure, admirably adapted to the purpose for which it is designed. +Until within a year, the edifice in Boston applied to the same purpose +would not compare with that of this South American capital.</p> + +<p>There is no dullness or torpor in this city. All is stir and bustle. +Life and business are rampant, and yet, strange to say, no one seems to +be in any special hurry. Everything is done in a leisurely manner. The +number of handsome stores and the elegance of the goods displayed in +them are remarkable, while the annual amount of sales in these +establishments rivals that of some of our most popular New York and +Boston concerns in similar lines of business. One may count forty +first-class jewelry establishments in a short walk about town. There is +hardly a more attractive display in this line either in Paris or London. +Diamonds and precious stones of all descriptions dazzle the eye and +captivate the fancy. The Calle Florida is one of the most fashionable +thoroughfares, and presents in the afterpart of the day a very gay and +striking picture of local life, a large element being composed of +handsome women, attended by gayly dressed nurses, in charge of lovely +children wearing fancy costumes. The young boys affect naval styles, and +their little sisters wear marvelously broad Roman scarfs, and have their +feet encased in dainty buff slippers. What pleasing domestic pictures +they suggest to the eye of a restless wanderer!</p> + +<p>On account of the narrowness of the streets, there is but one line of +rails laid for the tramway service, so that a person goes out of town, +say to Palermo, by one system of streets and returns by another. These +cars move rapidly. A considerable distance is covered in a brief time, +the motive power being small horses. An almost continuous line of cars, +with scarcely a break, is passing any given point from early morning +until night, and the citizens are liberal patrons of them. We saw some +statistics relating to the number of persons carried by the tramways of +this city annually, which were simply amazing, and which would make the +management of the West End Railway of Boston "grow green with jealousy, +or pallid with despair." Of course all this has been temporarily +affected by the present financial crisis. As we have tried to show, +Buenos Ayres is a wonderfully busy city, in which respect it resembles +our own country much more than it does the average capitals of the +south. There is none of the visible languor and spirit of delay which +usually strikes one in tropical centres. People get up in the morning +wide awake, and go promptly to business. There is no closing of the +shops at midday here, as there is in Havana, Santiago, the capital of +Chili, or some of the Mexican cities, so that clerks may absent +themselves for dinner or to enjoy a siesta. A much more convenient +course for both clerks and patrons is adopted, which does not block the +wheels of trade. The idea of closing stores at midday to steal a couple +of hours for eating and sleeping is a bit of Rip Van Winkleism entirely +unworthy of the go-ahead spirit of the nineteenth century.</p> + +<p>The Plaza Retiro is as large as the Plaza Victoria, and occupies the +spot where in old Spanish days the hateful exhibitions of the +bull-fights were given. Indeed, this square was formerly known as the +Plaza de Toros. Many historical interests hang about the locality, +around which the rich merchants of the city have erected some palatial +residences, faced to a certain height with marble on the outside. These +domestic retreats have courtyards constructed one beyond another, +covering a considerable depth, and forming a series of patios, each +appropriated to some special domestic use,—the dining court, the +reception court, and the nursery. In this square, and also in the Plaza +Victoria, there are always plenty of hackney coaches to be found +awaiting hire, and it should be remarked that charges are very +reasonable for this service in Buenos Ayres.</p> + +<p>There are thirteen theatres in the city, and an admirable museum. The +latter, rich in antiquities, is noted for its prehistoric remains of +animals which once lived in the southern part of this continent, but +whose species have long been extinct. This particular museum is +advantageously known to scientists all over the world. The Colon Theatre +is a large, well-equipped, and imposing place of entertainment, as much +so as the Théâtre Française, Paris, and takes a high position in +representations of the legitimate drama and the production of the better +spectacular plays. This house adopts what is called here the +<i>cazuela</i> in the division of its auditorium, an excellent system, +very general in South American theatres, and we believe, nowhere else. +It consists in giving up the entire second tier of boxes or seats to the +exclusive use of unattended ladies, an arrangement which seemed to us +strongly to recommend itself. To this division of the auditorium there +is a separate entrance from the street, and no gentlemen are admitted +under any pretext whatever. So those who desire to come to the +entertainments quite unattended can do so with perfect propriety, and +are safe from all intrusion in this isolated position. The ladies of +this city, when they appear in public, dress very elegantly, following +closely North American and European styles, while displaying the +choicest imported materials well made up. Perhaps comparisons are +invidious, but we feel inclined to accord precedence in the matter of +personal beauty to those of Montevideo. In dress, however, the ladies of +Buenos Ayres certainly excel them. Each city has its local "Worth," but +many dresses are made in Paris and imported, regardless of expense.</p> + +<p>There may be somewhere a noisier city than Buenos Ayres, as regards +street life in the business section, but London or New York cannot rival +it in this respect. Undoubtedly this is owing in a measure to the fact +that the traffic of so large and busy a metropolis is crowded into such +narrow thoroughfares, barely thirty feet in width, and often less than +that, a portion of which space is taken up by the tramway tracks. The +noisy vehicles which run on these rails make their full share of the +racket and hubbub. Here, as in the cities of Mexico and Puebla, the +drivers of the cars are supplied each with a tin horn, hung about his +neck, or suspended from the car front, upon which he exercises his +lungs, producing ear-piercing and discordant notes. Wheels and hoofs +upon the uneven pavements increase the din, supplemented by shouts and +language more forcible than proper, uttered by enraged teamsters because +of the frequent blocking of the roadway. Add to these dulcet sounds the +cries of itinerant fruit venders, fancy-goods sellers, and the shouts of +persistent newsboys, and one has some idea of the irritating uproar +which rages all day long in the older streets of Buenos Ayres.</p> + +<p>Cows and mares are driven singly or in groups through the streets of +this city, and milked at the customers' doors, so that one is nearly +certain of getting the genuine article in this line, though we were +assured that some roguish dealers carry an india-rubber tube and flat +bag under their clothing from which they slyly extract a portion of +water to "extend" the lacteal fluid. "Is there no honesty extant?" +Adulteration seems to have become an instinct of trade. Asses are still +driven through the streets of Paris, in the early mornings, and the milk +obtained from them is distributed in the same manner, whether with a +slight adulteration of water or not, we are unable to say. It is not +uncommon at Buenos Ayres to see a person served on the street with fresh +milk just drawn from the animal, which he drinks on the spot. A very +refreshing, modest, and nutritious morning tipple. Mares, as before +mentioned, are not used for working or riding in this country, but are +kept solely for breeding purposes and to furnish milk. This article is +considered to be more nourishing for invalids and children than cow's +milk, and is often prescribed as a regular diet by the physicians.</p> + +<p>The grand driving park of the capital, known by the name of Third of +February, is situated at Palermo, some distance from the city proper, +and covers between eight and nine hundred acres. On certain days, +especially on Sundays, a military band gives a public outdoor concert +here, when all the beauty and fashion of the city turn out in gay +equipages to see and to be seen, forming also a grand and spirited +cavalcade of fine horses and carriages. The races take place at Palermo, +and, as in all Roman Catholic countries, on Sundays.</p> + +<p>The neighborhood of Buenos Ayres is generally under good cultivation, +the soil and climate uniting to produce splendid agricultural results. +The suburbs of Flores and Belgrano each present a very pretty group of +quintas and gardens, wherein great skill and refinement of taste is +evinced. The alfalfa, a species of clover used here in a green condition +as fodder for cattle, and which is as rich as the red clover of New +England, to which family of grasses it belongs, grows so rapidly and +ripens so promptly that three crops are often realized from the same +field in a single season. The immediate environs of the city are +occupied by private residences, many of which are very elaborate and +imposing, surrounded by charming gardens and pleasure grounds. Grottoes, +statuary, and fountains abound, while orchards of various fruits are +common, interspersed here and there with picturesque graperies. Some of +the highways are guarded by hedges of +cactus,—<i>agave</i>,—much more impenetrable than any +artificial fencing. Trees of the eucalyptus family have heretofore been +favorites here, originally imported from Australia, but they have ceased +to be desirable, since it appears that nothing will grow in their +shadow. They seem to exercise a blighting power on other species of +vegetation. Figs, peaches, and oranges grow side by side, surrounded by +other fruits, while the low-lying fields and open meadows nearest to the +river are divided into large squares of three or four acres each, +enameled with the deep green of the thick growing alfalfa, and other +crops varying in color after their kind. Richest of all are the +intensely yellow fields of ripening wheat still farther inland, whose +softly undulating surface, gently yielding to the passing breeze, +produces long, widespread floating ripples of golden light.</p> + +<p>The love of flowers is a passion among all classes of the people, and +their cultivation as a business by experienced individuals gives +profitable employment to many florists, whose grounds are pictures of +accumulated beauty, fragrance, and variety of hues. There is as true +harmony to the eye in such blendings as there is to the ear in perfect +music. The reader may be sure that where the children of Flora so much +abound, bright tinted humming-birds do much more abound, dainty little +living feathered gems, rivaling rubies, sapphires, and emeralds.</p> + +<p>To insure the good health of her large and increasing population, the +system of drainage in Buenos Ayres requires prompt and effectual +treatment. The natural fall of the ground towards the river is hardly +sufficient to second any engineering effort to this end. That typhoid +fever should prevail here to the extent which it does, at nearly all +seasons of the year, is a terrible reflection upon those in authority. +This is a fatal disease which is quite preventable, and in this instance +clearly traceable to obvious causes. Rio Janeiro, with its yellow fever +scourge, is hardly more seriously afflicted than Buenos Ayres with its +typhoid malaria. Indeed, it is contended by some persons living on the +coast that the number of deaths per annum in the two cities arising from +these causes is very nearly equal, taking into account the results of +year after year. Sometimes, unaccountably, Rio escapes the fever for a +twelvemonth, that is to say, some seasons it does not rage as an +epidemic; but we fear, if the truth were fairly expressed, it would be +found that the seeds are there all the while, and that the city of Rio +Janeiro, like that of Vera Cruz on the Gulf of Mexico, is never +absolutely exempt from occasional cases.</p> + +<p>The Argentine Republic contains more than a million square miles, as +already stated; indeed, immensity may be said to be one of its most +manifest characteristics. The plains, the woods, the rivers, are +colossal. To be sure, all of her territory is not, strictly speaking, +available land, suitable for agricultural purposes, any more than is the +case in our own wide-spread country. No other nation equals this +republic in the value of cattle, compared with the number of the +population, not forgetting Australia with its immense sheep and cattle +ranches. It is believed, nevertheless, that the agricultural interest +here, as in Uruguay, is gradually increasing in such ratio that it will +erelong rival the pastoral. The average soil is very similar to that of +our Mississippi valley, yielding a satisfactory succession of crops +without the aid of any artificial enrichment. The pampas have a mellow, +dry soil, the common grass growing in tussocks to the height of three or +four feet, and possessing a perennial vigor which mostly crowds out +other vegetation. A few wild flowers are occasionally seen, and in the +marshy places lilies of several species are to be met with; but taken +all together the flora of the pampas is the poorest of any fertile +district with which we are acquainted. A few half-developed herbs and +trefoils occasionally meet the eye, together with small patches of wild +verbenas of various colors. At long distances from each other one comes +upon areas of tall pampas grass as it is called, so stocky as to be +almost like the bamboo, eight or ten feet high, decked with fleecy, +white plumes. Birds are scarce on the pampas. There is a peculiar +species of hare, besides some animals of the rodent family, resembling +prairie-dogs—<i>biscachos</i>—or overgrown rats, together +with an occasional jaguar and puma, found on these plains, as well as +that meanest of all animals, the pestiferous skunk. Animal life, other +than the herds of wild cattle, can hardly be said to abound on the +pampas.</p> + +<p>Until a few years since, Buenos Ayres enjoyed the distinction of +being the capital of the province of the same name, as also of the +Argentine Republic; but the present capital of the province of Buenos +Ayres, called La Plata, is situated about forty miles south-east of +Buenos Ayres, with which it is connected by railway. The site of the new +capital was an uninhabited wilderness ten years ago, the foundation +stone of this city having been laid in 1882. To-day La Plata has a +population of about fifty thousand, although over seventy are claimed +for it, a comprehensive system of tramways, broad, well paved streets, +two theatres, thirty public schools, a national college, and six large +hotels. There are many monuments and fountains ornamenting the +thoroughfares, and what is now wanting is a population commensurate with +the grand scale on which the capital is designed. An immense cathedral +is being built, but has only reached a little way above its foundation, +as work upon it has for a while been suspended. If the original plan is +fully carried out, it may be half a century or more in course of +construction. La Plata is suffering from the pecuniary crisis perhaps +more seriously than any other part of the country. The city is lighted +by both electricity and gas, issues five daily newspapers, has a very +complete astronomical observatory, a public library, five railroad +stations, and some very elegant public buildings. Its large +possibilities are by no means improved, however. Of the buildings, the +edifice of the provincial legislature, that of the minister of finance, +and the legislative palace are all worthy of mention. The government +house is a long, low structure, the front view of which is rendered +effective by an added story in the centre, which projects from the line +of the building, and is supported by high columns. The "Palace," as it +is called, forming the residence of the governor of the province, is an +elaborate and pretentious building, three stories in height, with two +flanking domes and a dominating one in the centre. Of course La Plata +has gained its start and rapid growth from the prestige of being the +provincial capital, but it is now slowly developing a legitimate growth +on a sound business basis, and though it can hardly be expected to ever +equal Buenos Ayres in population and commercial importance, it +nevertheless promises to be a prosperous city in the distant future; its +citizens already call it the "Washington" of South America. A close +observer could not but notice that many houses were unoccupied, and the +streets seemed half deserted.</p> + +<p>While the most of our maps and geographies remain pretty much as they +were a score of years ago, and a majority of the kingdoms of the Old +World have changed scarcely at all, the Argentine Republic has been +steadily growing in population, progressing rapidly in intelligence, +constantly extending its commercial relations, and marching all the +while towards the front rank of modern civilization. A detailed +statement of its extraordinary development during the last twenty years, +in commerce, railway connections, schools, agriculture, and general +wealth, would surprise the most intelligent reader. It is believed by +experienced and conservative people, particularly those conversant with +the South American republics, that Buenos Ayres will be the first city +south of the equator in commercial rank and population, within a quarter +of a century. The increase of this republic in population during the +last two decades has been over one hundred and fifty per cent., a +rapidity of growth almost without precedent. The increase of population +in our own country, during the same period, was less than eighty per +cent. Twenty-four lines of magnificent steamships connect the Argentine +Republic with Europe, and twice that number of vessels sail back and +forth each month of the year, while its railway system embraces over six +thousand miles of road in operation, besides one or two yet incomplete +routes, though the opening of its first line was so late as thirty-four +years ago. Add to this her system of inland river navigation, covering +thousands of miles, which has been so systematized as to fully +supplement the remarkable railway facilities.</p> + +<p>That Argentina rests at the present moment, as we have constantly +intimated, under a financial cloud is only too well known to every one. +It is a crisis brought about by an overhaste in the development of the +country, especially in railroad enterprises. <i>Festina lente</i> is a +good sound maxim, which the people of this republic have quite +disregarded, and for which they and their creditors are suffering +accordingly. It is seldom that any newly developed country escapes the +maladies attendant upon too rapid growth, but this is a sort of illness +pretty sure to remedy itself in due time, and rarely impedes the proper +development of maturer years. If this republic has been unduly +extravagant, and borrowed too much money in advancing her material +interests, she has at least something to show for it. The funds have not +been foolishly expended in sustaining worse than useless hordes of armed +men, nor in the profitless support of royal puppets.</p> + +<p>Nations no less than individuals are liable to financial failure, but +with her grand and inexhaustible native resources, backed by the energy +of her adopted citizens, this republic is as sure as anything mortal can +be to soon recover from her present business depression, and to astonish +the world at large by the rapidity of her financial recuperation. Her +present annual crop of wool exceeds all former record in amount, and is +authoritatively estimated at over thirty million dollars in value. To +this large industrial product is to be added her prolific harvest of +maize and wheat, together with an almost fabulous amount of valuable +hides.</p> + +<p class="p4"><a name="Ch_13"></a></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XIII.</h3> + +<p class="blockquote">City of Rosario.—Its Population.—A +Pretentious Church.—Ocean Experiences.—Morbid +Fancies.—Strait of Magellan.—A Great Discoverer.—Local +Characteristics.—Patagonians and Fuegians.—Giant +Kelp.—Unique Mail Box.—Punta Arenas.—An Ex-Penal +Colony.—The Albatross.—Natives.—A Naked +People.—Whales.—Sea-Birds.—Glaciers.—Mount +Sarmiento.—A Singular Story.</p> + +<p class="p2">The route to Rosario is rather monotonous by railway, +taking the traveler through a very flat but fertile region, over +prairies which are virtually treeless, not unlike long reaches of +country through which the Canadian Pacific Railroad passes between +Banff, in the Rocky Mountains, and Port Arthur, on Lake Superior. The +monotonous scenery is varied only by a sight of occasional herds of +cattle, feeding upon the rich grass, with here and there a mounted +herdsman, and the numberless telegraph poles which line the track. It is +at least a seven hours' journey from Buenos Ayres to Rosario. +Occasionally a marshy reach of soil is encountered where large aquatic +birds are seen, such as flamingoes, storks, cranes, herons, and the +like.</p> + +<p>Rosario, in the province of Santa Fé, is the second city in point of +population and importance in the Argentine Republic. It is a young and +promising capital, hardly yet fairly launched upon its voyage of +prosperity, but so far it has been singularly favored by various +circumstances. The place is arranged in the usual crisscross manner as +regards the streets of this country, which, unfortunately, are too +narrow for even its present limited business. In place of twenty-four +feet they should have been laid out at least double that width, in the +light of all experience has developed in these South American cities. +This new town is situated a little less than three hundred miles by +water from Buenos Ayres, and about two hundred by land, railroad and +steamboat connection being regularly maintained between them. The site +is admirably chosen on the banks of the Paraná River, fifty or sixty +feet above its level, and it is destined to become, eventually, a great +commercial centre. In 1854 it was only a large village, containing some +four thousand people. It is the natural seaport, not only of the rich +province of Cordova, but also of the more inland districts, Mendoza, San +Luis, Tucuman, Salta, and Jujuy, the first named having a population of +half a million. Owing to the height of the river's banks, merchandise is +loaded by "shutes," being thus conducted at once from the warehouses to +the hatches of the vessels. Already a number of foreign steamships may +be seen almost any day lying at anchor opposite the town, while the +railway communications in various directions have all of their +transportation capacity fully employed. One of these lines reaches +almost across the continent to Mendoza, at the eastern slope of the +Andes, west from Rosario. Other roads run both north and south from +here. The foreign and domestic trade of the place is second only to that +of Buenos Ayres. Vessels drawing fifteen feet of water ascend the river +to this point. As a shipping port, Rosario has to a certain extent +special advantages even over the larger city, being two or three hundred +miles nearer the merchandise producing points.</p> + +<p>There is already a population of some seventy-five thousand here, +and, as we have intimated, the city is growing rapidly. Wharves, docks, +and warehouses are in course of construction, and can hardly be finished +fast enough to meet the demand for their use. There are a few +substantial and handsome dwellings being erected, and many of a more +ordinary class, in the finishing of which many a cargo of New England +lumber is consumed. Some of the public buildings are imposing in size +and architectural design, wisely constructed in anticipation of the +future size of the city, whose rapid growth is only equaled by St. Paul +in Brazil. The tramway, gas, and telephone have been successfully +introduced. There is certainly no lack of enterprise evinced in all +legitimate business directions, while attention is being very properly +and promptly turned towards perfecting a carefully devised educational +system of free schools, primary and progressive. When the founders of a +new city begin in this intelligent fashion, we may be very sure that +they are moving in the right direction, and that permanency, together +with abundant present success, is sure to be the sequence.</p> + +<p>On one side of the Plaza Mayor of Rosario stands a very pretentious +church, not yet quite completed, but as the towers and dome are finished +it makes a prominent feature from a long way off, as one approaches the +town. In the centre of this square is a marble shaft surmounted by a +figure representing Victory, and at the base are four statues of +Argentine historic characters. This square is adorned with a double row +of handsome acacias. As regards amusements, so far as is visible, +theatricals seem to take the lead, the place having two theatres, both +of which appear to be enjoying a thriving business.</p> + +<p>When a new city is started in South America upon a site so well +selected, and after so thoroughly substantial a plan, the result is no +problem. The influx of European immigrants promptly supplies the +necessary laborers and artisans, quite as fast, indeed, as they are +required, while the ordinary growth and development of inland resources +tax the local business capacity, enterprise, and capital to their +utmost. Rosario needs to perfect a careful and thorough system of +drainage. Fevers are at present alarmingly prevalent, arising from +causes which judicious attention and sanitary means would easily +obviate.</p> + +<p>We will not weary the reader by protracted delay at this point, +having still a long voyage before us.</p> + +<p>Embarking at Montevideo, our way is southward over a broad and lonely +track of ocean. If we can summon a degree of philosophy to our aid, it +is fortunate. Without genial companions, surrounded by strangers, and +thrown entirely upon ourselves, mental resort often fails us, life +appears sombre, the wide, wide ocean almost appalling. One of the +inevitable trials of a long sea voyage is the wakeful hours which will +occasionally visit the most experienced traveler,—midnight hours, +when the weary brain becomes preternaturally active, the imagination +oversensitive and weird in its erratic conceptions, while forebodings of +evil which never happens are apt to fill the mind with morbid anxieties. +The very silence of the surroundings is impressive, interrupted only by +the regular throbbing of the great, tireless engine, and the dashing +waters chafing along the iron hull close beside the wakeful dreamer. +Separated by thousands of miles from home, all communication cut off +with friends and the world at large, while watching the dreary ocean, +day after day, week after week, we imagine endless misfortunes that may +have come to dear ones on shore. However limited may be the world of +reality, that of the imagination is boundless, and sometimes one +realizes years of wretched anxiety in the space of a few overwrought +hours. It is such moments of passive misery which beget wrinkles and +white hairs. Action is the only relief, and one hastens to the deck for +a change of scene and thoughts. After experiencing such a night, how +glad and glorious seems the sun rising out of the wide waste of waters, +how bright and glowing the smile he casts upon the long lazy swell of +the South Atlantic, as if pointedly to rebuke the overwrought fancy, and +reassure the aching heart!</p> + +<p>Be we never so dreary, the great ship speeds on its course, heeding +us not; its busy motor, like heart-beats, throbs with undisturbed +uniformity, forcing the vessel onward despite the joy or sorrow of those +it carries within its capacious hull.</p> + +<p>The Strait of Magellan, which divides South America from the +mysterious island group which is known as Terra del Fuego, and connects +the Atlantic with the Pacific Ocean by a most intricate water-way, is +considerably less than four hundred miles in length, and of various +widths. De Lesseps, with his successful Suez Canal and his deplorable +Panama failure, is quite distanced by the hand of Nature in this line of +business. It would require about ten thousand Suez Canals to make a +Magellan Strait, and then it would be but a very sorry imitation. It +will be remembered that the Portuguese navigator who discovered this +remarkable passage, and for whom it is justly named, first passed +through it in November, 1520, finally emerging into the waters of the +new sea, upon which he was the first to sail, and which he named Mar +Pacifico. Doubtless it seemed "pacific" to him after his rude experience +in the South Atlantic, but the author has known as rough weather in this +misnamed ocean as he has ever encountered in any part of the globe.</p> + +<p>One can well conceive of the elation and surprise of Magellan, upon +emerging from the intricate passage through which he had been struggling +to make his way for so many weary days. What a sensation of satisfaction +and triumph must the courageous and persevering navigator have +experienced at the discovery he had made! What mattered all his weary +hours of watching, of self-abnegation, of cold and hunger, of incessant +battling with the raging sea? Henceforth to him royal censure or royal +largess mattered little. His name would descend to all future +generations as the great discoverer of this almost limitless ocean.</p> + +<p>The passage leading to the strait on the Atlantic or eastern end is +about twenty miles across, Cape Vergens being on the starboard side, and +Cape Espiritu Santo—or Cape Holy Ghost—on the port. The +entrance on the western or Pacific end is marked by Cape Pillar, +Desolation Land, where the scenery is far more rugged and mountainous, +the cape terminating in two cliffs, shaped so much like artificial +towers as to be quite deceptive at a short distance. The narrowest part +of the strait is about one mile in width, known to mariners as Crooked +Reach. A passage through this great natural canal is an experience +similar, in some respects, to that of sailing in the inland sea of +Alaska, between Victoria and Glacier Bay, bringing into view dense +forests, immense glaciers, abrupt mountain peaks, and snow-covered +summits, the whole shrouded in the same solitude and silence, varied by +the occasional flight of sea-birds or the appearance of seals and +porpoises from below the deep waters. So irregular in its course is this +passage between the two great oceans, so changeable are its currents, so +impeded by dangerous rocks and hidden shoals, so beset with squalls and +sudden storms, that sailing vessels are forced to double the +ever-dreaded Cape Horn rather than take the Magellan route. A United +States man-of-war, a sailing ship, was once over two months in making +the passage through the strait, and Magellan tells us that he was +thirty-seven days in passing from ocean to ocean, though using all +ordinary dispatch. Within a fortnight of the writing of these notes, a +European mail steamship was lost here by striking upon a sunken rock. +Fortunately, owing to the proximity of the shore and moderate weather +prevailing, the crew and passengers were all saved.</p> + +<p>Winter lingers, and the days are short in this latitude. A sailing +ship would be compelled to find anchorage nightly, and some days would +perhaps be driven back in a few hours a distance which it had required a +week to make in her proper direction. Steamships usually accomplish the +run in from thirty to forty hours, there being many reaches where it is +necessary to run only at half speed. If heavy fogs and bad weather +prevail, they often lay by during the night, and also in snow-storms, +which occur not infrequently. The sky is seldom clear for many hours +together, and the sun's warmth is rarely felt, the rain falling almost +daily. Even in the summer of this high southern latitude the nights are +cold and gloomy, ice nearly always forming. It must be admitted that +this region, of itself, is not calculated to attract the most inveterate +wanderer. One is not surprised when reading the rather startling +narrations of the old navigators who made the passage of the strait, +encountering the constantly varying winds, and having canvas only to +depend upon. The marvel is that, with their primitive means, they should +have accomplished so much. There are no lighthouses in this passage from +ocean to ocean, though it has been pretty well surveyed and buoyed in +late years, thanks to the liberality of the English naval service, by +whom this was done. There is, in fact, a dearth of lighthouses on the +entire coast of South America, especially on the west side of the +continent. We can recall but three between Montevideo and Valparaiso, a +distance, by way of the strait, of fully two thousand miles. The +lighthouses we refer to are at Punta Arenas, Punta Galesa, near +Valdivia, and that which marks the port of Concepcion, at Talcahuano. +The Strait of Magellan is only fit as an abiding-place for seals, +waterfowl, and otters; humanity can hardly find congenial foothold +here.</p> + +<p>The natives of Patagonia, who live on the northern side of the +strait, are called horse Indians, because they make such constant use of +the wild horses; they do not move in any direction without them. Those +on the Fuegian side are called canoe Indians, as the canoe forms their +universal and indeed only mode of transportation. The former are a +rather large, tall race of people, the men averaging about six feet in +height; the latter are smaller in physical development, and are less +civilized than the Indians of Patagonia, which, to be sure, is saying +very little for the latter, who are really a low type of nomads. The +Fuegians are believed to still practice cannibalism. One writer tells us +that criminals and prisoners of war are thus disposed of, and that the +last crew of shipwrecked seamen who fell into their hands were roasted +and eaten by them. Their hostile purposes are well understood, for +whenever they dare to exercise such a spirit they are sure to do so. +They cautiously send out a boat or two to passing vessels, with whom a +little trading is attempted, the main body of natives keeping well out +of sight; but in case of any mishap to a ship, or if a small party land +and are unable to defend themselves, they will appear in swarms from +various hiding-places, swooping down upon their victims like vultures in +the desert. The officers of the yacht Sunbeam, as recounted by Lady +Brassey, found it necessary to turn her steam-pipes full force upon the +swarming natives, who were doubtless preparing to make an effort to +capture the yacht and her crew, hoping to overcome them by mere force of +numbers. They were, however, so frightened and utterly astonished by the +means of defense adopted by Lord Brassey that they threw themselves, one +and all, into the sea, and sought the shore pell-mell. Humboldt, in his +day, ranked these Fuegians among the lowest specimens of humanity he had +ever met, and they certainly do not seem to have improved much in the +mean time. One is at a loss to understand why the Patagonians should +have impressed the early navigators with the idea that they were a +people of gigantic size. There is no evidence to-day of their being, or +ever having been, taller or larger than the average New Englander. +Half-naked savages, standing six feet high, naturally impress one as +being taller than Europeans clad in the conventional style of civilized +people.</p> + +<p>The waters of Magellan are very dark, deep, and sullen in aspect, +with insufficient room in many places to manage a ship properly under +canvas alone. In their depth and darkness these waters also resemble +those of Alaska's inland sea. The shores are quite bold, and the rocks +below the surface are mostly indicated by giant kelp—<i>Fucus +giganteus</i>—growing over them, a kind provision of nature in +behalf of safe navigation. It will not answer, however, to depend solely +upon this indication; the many rocks in the strait are by no means all +so designated, nor are they all buoyed. Sea-kelp is very plentiful in +this region, and serves many useful purposes. It forms a nourishing food +for the Fuegians under certain circumstances, when their usual supply is +scarce. They dry it and prepare it in a rude way suited to their +unsophisticated palates. It also forms a portion of the support of the +seals and sea-otters; these creatures feed freely upon its more delicate +and tender shoots. It is wonderful how it can exist and thrive among +such breakers as it constantly encounters in these restless waters, +which are churned into mounds of foam in squally weather; but it does +grow in great luxuriance, rising oftentimes two hundred feet and more +from the bottom of the sea. It is curious to watch its abundant growth +and its peculiar habits. If the wind and tide are in the same direction, +the plant lies smooth upon the water; but if the wind is against the +tide, the leaves curl up, causing a ripple on the surface, like a school +of small fish. A specimen of giant kelp was secured from alongside of +the ship, broken off at arm's length below the surface of the water. It +was heavy and full of parasites. Upon shaking it, myriads of marine +insects, shells, tiny crabs, sea-eggs, and star-fish fell upon the deck. +All of these were of the smallest species, some almost invisible to the +naked eye, but how wonderful they appeared under the microscope, which +developed hundreds of forms of life infinitesimal in size!</p> + +<p>At a prominent point of the main channel is a strong box made fast by +a chain, which always used to be opened by the masters of passing ships, +either to deposit or to take away letters, as the case might be, each +shipmaster undertaking the free delivery of all letters whose address +was within the line of his subsequent course. In the whaleship service, +especially during times now long past, this arrangement has been of +great service, and there is no instance on record where the purpose of +this self-sustaining post-office was disregarded. In these days of fast +and regular post-office service, the "Magellan mail," as it was called, +is of no practical account.</p> + +<p>There are several fairly good harbors in the strait, but the only +white settlement was originally a penal colony founded by the Chilian +government, though it no longer serves for that purpose, the convicts +having risen some years since, and overpowered the garrison. A large +portion of the Patagonian shore is well wooded, besides which an +available coal deposit has been found and worked to fair advantage. +Steamships, which were formerly obliged to go to the Falkland Islands, +in the Atlantic, five hundred miles from the mouth of the strait, when +running short of fuel, can now get their supply in an exigency at Punta +Arenas—"Sandy Point." It is situated in the eastern section of the +strait, about a hundred and twenty-five miles from the entrance. We do +not mean to convey the idea that this is a regular coaling station, +though it may some time become so. The town consists of straggling, +low-built log-houses, and a few framed ones, reminding one of Port Said +at the Mediterranean end of the Suez Canal, with its heterogeneous +population. That of Sandy Point is made up of all nationalities, +strongly tinctured with ex-convicts, and deserters from the Chilian army +and navy. English is the language most commonly spoken, though the place +is Chilian territory. It contains some twelve or fifteen hundred +inhabitants, and is the most southerly town on the globe, as well as the +most undesirable one in which to live, if one may express an opinion +upon such brief acquaintance.</p> + +<p>We made no attempt to go on shore at Punta Arenas. A rain-storm was +at its height while the ship lay off the town, and when it rains in +these latitudes, it attends exclusively to the business in hand. The +water comes down like Niagara, until finally, when the clouds have +entirely emptied themselves, it stops. Jupiter Pluvius is master of the +situation, when he asserts himself, and there is no one who can dispute +his authority. Umbrellas and waterproofs are of no more use as a +protection during the downpour, than they would be to a person who had +fallen overboard in water forty fathoms deep. One of our passengers came +on deck with a life preserver about his body, solemnly declaring that if +this sort of thing continued much longer, the article would be +absolutely necessary in order to keep afloat.</p> + +<p>During the season the Patagonians bring into Punta Arenas the result +of their hunting in the shape of seal and otter skins, together with +guanaco, and silver-fox skins, which are gathered by local traders and +shipped to Europe. Occasionally a few sea-otter skins of rare value are +obtained from here, fully equal, we were told, to anything taken in +Alaskan waters. We have said that Punta Arenas is the most southerly +town on the globe. The next nearest town to the Antarctic circle is the +Bluff, so called,—also known as Campbelltown,—in the extreme +south of New Zealand, where the author has eaten of the famous oysters +indigenous there.</p> + +<p>Two sorts of supplies are to be obtained by navigators of the strait, +namely, fuel and good drinking water. Sometimes a valuable skin robe may +be purchased of the Patagonian Indians. It is called a guanaco-skin +cloak, and made from the skin of the young deer. To obtain these skins +of a uniform fineness of texture, the fawns are killed when but eight or +ten days old; the available product got from each one is so small as +hardly to exceed twice the size of one's hand. These are sewn together +with infinite care and neatness by the Indian women, who use the fine +sinews taken from ostriches' legs for thread. One of these guanaco-skin +cloaks represents a vast amount of labor, and a hundred fawns must die +to supply the raw material. Only chiefs of tribes can afford to wear +them. Strangers who are willing to pay a price commensurate with their +real cost and value may occasionally buy such an article as we describe, +but these cloaks are rare. One was brought on board ship and shown to +us, the price of which was twelve hundred dollars, nor do we think it +was an excessive valuation. It was worth the amount as a rare curiosity +for some art museum.</p> + +<p>That monarch bird of Antarctic regions, the albatross, frequents both +ends of the strait, and sometimes accompanies steamships during the +passage, together with cape-pigeons, gulls, and other marine birds, +though as a rule the albatross is little seen except on the broad +expanse of the ocean. A bird called the steamer-duck, also nicknamed by +sailors the paddle-wheel duck, was pointed out to us by our captain. It +is so called from its mode of propelling itself through the water, +scooting over the surface of the strait while using both wings and legs, +and creating considerable disturbance of the water, like a side-wheeler. +The wings are too small to give it power of flight through the air. The +steamer-duck is a large bird, nearly the size of the domestic goose; +after its fashion, it moves with astonishing velocity, considerably +faster than the average speed of a steamship. But we were speaking a +moment since of the albatross, which is a feathered cannibal, and shows +some truly wolfish traits. When one of its own species, a member of the +same flock even, is wounded and drops helpless to the surface of the +sea, its comrades swoop down upon it, and tearing the body to pieces +with their powerful bills, devour the flesh ravenously. This was +witnessed near the Arctic circle, between Hobart, in Tasmania, and the +Bluff, in New Zealand, a few years ago, when some English sportsmen +succeeded in wounding one of these mammoth birds from the deck of the +steamship Zealandia. The only other known bird of our day which measures +from eleven to twelve feet between the tips of the extended wings is the +South American condor.</p> + +<p>The sea hereabouts abounds in fish, which constitute the largest +portion of the food supply of the few Indians who live near the coast of +either shore. The Fuegians dwell in the rudest shelters possible, +nothing approaching the form of a house. The frailest shelter, covered +with sea-lion's skins, suffices to keep them from the inclemencies of +the weather. With the exception of an animal skin of some sort, having +the fur on, secured over one shoulder on the side exposed to the wind, +the canoe Indians wear no clothing. We were told that several of these +natives, while quite young, were taken to England by advice of the +missionaries and taught to read and write, being also kindly instructed +in civilized manners and customs, which they gladly adopted for the time +being; but upon returning to their native land, in every instance they +rapidly lapsed into a condition of semi-savagery. It had been hoped they +would act as a civilizing medium with their former friends, after +returning among them, but this proved fallacious, and was a great +disappointment to the well-meaning philanthropists. This same +experience, as is well known, has been the result of similar experiments +with natives of Africa and the South Sea Islands. The author is +conversant with a striking illustration of this character in connection +with an Australian Indian youth, which occurred in Queensland, and which +was both interesting and very romantic in its development. It simply +went to prove that hereditary instincts cannot be easily eradicated, and +that not one, but many generations are necessary to banish savage +proclivities which are inherited from a long line of ancestors.</p> + +<p>Gold is found to some extent in the beds of the streams in +Patagonia,—free gold, washed from the disintegrated rocks. Natives +sometimes bring small quantities of the gold dust into Punta Arenas, +with which to purchase tobacco and other articles. Many heedless and +unprincipled individuals sell them intoxicants, to obtain which these +Indians will part with anything they possess, after they have once +become familiar with the taste and effect of the captivating poison.</p> + +<p>Not far from Cape Forward, near the middle of the strait, which is +the most southerly portion of the American continent, three native boats +were seen during our passage. The steamer was slowed for a few moments +to give us a brief opportunity to see the savage occupants. These three +frail, ill-built canoes were tossed high and low by the swell of the +Pacific, which set to the eastward through the strait. Each boat +contained a man, a couple of women, and one or two children, the latter +entirely naked, the others nearly so. They were Fuegians, raising their +hands and voices to attract our attention, asking for food and tobacco, +to which appeal a generous response was made. Their broad faces, high +cheek-bones, low foreheads, and flat noses, their faces and necks +screened by coarse black hair, did not challenge our admiration, however +much we were exercised by pity for human beings in so desolate a +condition. They certainly possessed two redeeming +features,—brilliant eyes and teeth of dazzling whiteness. The +fruit thrown to them seemed best to suit the ideas and palates of the +children, who devoured oranges, skin and all; but the gift of clothing +which was made to the parents was laid aside for future consideration, +though there are probably no "ole clo'" merchants in Terra del Fuego. +The men ate hard sea biscuit and slices of cold corned beef ravenously. +The plump, well-rounded shoulders and limbs of the women showed them to +be in far better physical condition than the men, whose bodies consisted +of little besides skin and bones. They were copper colored, and the skin +of the women shone in the bright sunlight which prevailed for the +moment, as though they had been varnished. If their faces had been as +well formed as their bodies, they would have been models of natural +beauty. How these people could remain so nearly naked with apparent +comfort, while we found overcoats quite necessary, was a problem +difficult to solve satisfactorily.</p> + +<p>"They were born so," said our first officer. "As you go through life +with your face and hands exposed, so they go with their entire bodies. +It is a mere matter of habit,—habit from babyhood to +maturity."</p> + +<p>All of which is perfectly reasonable. It was observed that on the +bottom of their boats was a layer of flat stones, and on these, just +amidship, was spread a low, smouldering fire of dried vines and small +twigs, designed to temper the atmosphere about them. So frail were the +boats that one of the occupants was kept constantly baling out +water.</p> + +<p>It is impossible to form any intelligent estimate as to how many of +these aborigines there are in and about the strait. They find food, like +the canvas-back ducks, in the wild celery, adding shell-fish and dried +berberries, and are a strictly nomadic people. After exhausting the +products of one vicinity, for the time being, they move on, but return +to the locality at a proper time, when nature has recuperated herself +and furnished a fresh supply of vegetable growth and edible shell-fish. +A stranded whale is a godsend to these savages, upon the putrid flesh of +which they live and fatten until all has disappeared. In their primitive +way they hunt this leviathan, but want of proper facilities renders them +rarely successful. Occasionally they manage to plant a spear in some +vital spot, deep enough to be effectual, so that the whale, after diving +to the depths of the sea, finally comes to the surface, near the place +where he was wounded, to thrash about and to die. Even then, unless it +is at a favorable point, the large body is liable to be swept away by +the strong tide setting through the strait, so that the natives seldom +secure a carcass by these means.</p> + +<p>Not long since one of the European mail steamers, on approaching the +Atlantic end of the strait, sighted an object which was at first thought +to be a sunken rock. If this was its character, it was all important to +obtain the exact location. A boat was lowered and pulled to the object, +when it was found to be the carcass of a dead whale, in which was a +stout wooden spear which had fatally wounded the creature. Securely +attached to the spear, by means of a rope made of animal sinews, there +were a couple of inflated bladders. The spear was evidently a Fuegian +weapon, and though it had finally cost the whale his life, the dead body +had been carried by the current far beyond the reach of those who had +caused the fatal wound. The discovery showed the crude manner in which +these savages seek to possess themselves of a whale occasionally and +thus to appease their barbaric appetites. They could not pursue one in +their frail boats, but the creature is sometimes found sleeping on the +surface of the sea, which is the Fuegian opportunity for approaching it +noiselessly, and for planting a spear in some vital part of the huge +body. Whales, when thus attacked, do not show fight, but their instinct +leads them to dive at once.</p> + +<p>A few whales were observed within the strait during our passage, some +so near as to show that they had no fear of the ship. It was curious to +watch them. There was a baby whale among the rest, five or six feet in +length, which kept very close to its dam; it suddenly disappeared once +while we were watching the school, though only to rise again to the +surface of the sea and emit a tiny fountain of spray from its diminutive +blow-hole. In passing a small inlet which formed a calm, sheltered piece +of water, still as an inland lake, there were seen upon its tranquil +bosom a few white geese, quietly floating, while close at hand upon some +rocks, a half score of awkward penguins were also observed, with their +ludicrous dummy wings, and their bodies supported in a half standing, +half sitting position.</p> + +<p>Ducks seem to be very abundant in the strait, but geese are scarce. +An occasional cormorant is caught sight of, with its distended pouch +bearing witness to its proverbial voracity. All the birds one sees in +these far away regions have each some peculiar adaptability to the +climate, the locality, or to both. The penguin never makes the mistake +of seeking our northern shores, nor is the albatross often seen north of +the fortieth degree of south latitude. True, were the former to +emigrate, he would have to swim the whole distance, but the latter is so +marvelously strong of wing that it has been said of him, he might +breakfast, if he chose, at the Cape of Good Hope, and dine on the coast +of Newfoundland.</p> + +<p>Terra del Fuego,—"Land of Fire,"—which makes the southern +side of the strait, opposite Patagonia, is composed of a very large +group of islands washed by the Atlantic on the east side and the Pacific +on the west, trending towards the southeast for about two hundred miles +from the strait, and terminating at Cape Horn. The largest of these +islands is East Terra del Fuego, which measures from east to west +between three and four hundred miles. One can only speak vaguely of +detail, as this is still a <i>terra incognita</i>. These islands do +indeed form "a land of desolation," as Captain Cook appropriately named +them, sparsely inhabited to be sure, but hardly fit for human beings. +They are deeply indented and cut up by arms of the sea, and composed +mostly of sterile mountains, whose tops are covered with perpetual snow. +When the mountains are not too much exposed to the ocean storms on the +west coast, they are scantily covered with a species of hardy, +wind-distorted trees from the water's edge upward to the snow line, +which is here about two thousand feet above the sea. In sheltered areas +this growth is dense and forest-like, especially nearest to the sea; in +others it is interspersed by bald and blanched patches of barren rocks. +In some open places, where they have worn themselves a broad path, the +glaciers come down to the water, discharging sections of ice constantly +into the deep sea, crowded forward and downward by the immense but +slow-moving mass behind,—a frozen river,—thus illustrating +the habit of the iceberg-producing glaciers of the far north.</p> + +<p>One never approaches this subject without recalling the lamented +Agassiz and his absorbing theories relating to it.</p> + +<p>The author has seen huge glaciers in Scandinavia and in Switzerland, +forming natural exhibitions of great interest; each country has +peculiarities in this respect. In the last-named country, for instance, +there is no example where a glacier descends lower than thirty-five +hundred feet above the sea level, while in Norway the only one of which +he can speak from personal observation has before it a large terminal +moraine, thus losing the capacity for that most striking performance, +the discharge of icebergs. The best example of this interesting +operation of nature which we have ever witnessed, and probably the most +effective in the world, is that of the Muir glacier in Alaska, where an +immense frozen river comes boldly down from the Arctic regions to the +sea level, with a sheer height at its terminus of over two hundred feet. +From this unique façade, nearly two miles in width, the constant +tumbling of icebergs into the sea is accompanied by a noise like a salvo +of cannon. This glacier, it should be remembered, also extends to the +bottom of the bay, where it enters it two hundred feet below the surface +of the water, thus giving it a height, or perhaps we should say a depth +and height combined, of fully four hundred feet. Icebergs are discharged +from the submerged portion continually, and float to the surface, thus +repeating the process below the water which is all the while going on +above it, and visible upon the perpendicular surface. Nothing which we +have seen in the Canadian Selkirks, in Switzerland, Norway, or +elsewhere, equals in size, grandeur, or clearly defined glacial action, +the famous Muir glacier of Alaska.</p> + +<p>The most remarkable peak to be seen in passing through the Strait of +Magellan is Mount Sarmiento, which is inexpressibly grand in its +proportions, dominating the borders of Cockburn's Channel near the +Pacific end of the great water-way. It is about seven thousand feet in +height, a spotless cone of snow, being in form extremely abrupt and +pointed. This frosty monarch sends down from its upper regions a score +or more of narrow, sky-blue glaciers to the sea through openings in the +dusky forest. Darwin was especially impressed by the sight of these when +he explored this region, and speaks of them as looking like so many +Niagaras, but they are only miniature glaciers after all. One sees in +the Pyrenees and the St. Gothard Pass similar cascades flowing down from +the mountains towards the valleys, except that in the one instance the +crystal waters are liquid, in the other they are quite congealed. The +group or range of which Sarmiento is the apex is very generally shrouded +in mist, and is visited by frequent rain, snow, and hail storms. We were +fortunate to see it under a momentary glow of warm sunshine, when the +sky was deepest blue, and the ermine cloak of the mountain was spangled +with frost gems.</p> + +<p>It would seem that such exposure to the elements in a frigid climate, +and such deprivations as must be constantly endured by the barbarous +natives who inhabit these bleak regions, must surely shorten their +lives, and perhaps it does so, though "the survival of the fittest," who +grow up to maturity, is in such numbers that one is a little puzzled in +considering the matter. A singular instance touching upon this point +came indirectly to the writer's knowledge.</p> + +<p>It appears that four Fuegian women, one of whom was about forty years +of age, and the others respectively about twenty, twenty-five, and +thirty, were picked up adrift in the strait a few years ago. It was +believed that they had escaped from some threatened tribal cruelty, but +upon this subject they would reveal nothing. These fugitives were kindly +taken in hand by philanthropic people at Sandy Point, and entertained +with true Christian hospitality. When first discovered they were, as +usual, quite naked, but were promptly clothed and properly housed. No +more work was required of them than they chose voluntarily to perform; +in short, they were most kindly treated, and though the best of care was +taken of them in a hygienic sense, they all gradually faded, and died of +consumption in less than two years. They seemed to be contented, were +grateful and cheerful, but clothing and a warm house to live in, odd as +it may seem, killed them! They were born to a free, open air and exposed +daily life, and their apparently sturdy constitutions required such a +mode of living. Civilized habits, strange to say, proved fatal to these +wild children of the rough Fuegian coast.</p> + +<p class="p4"><a name="Ch_14"></a></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XIV.</h3> + +<p class="blockquote">The Land of Fire.—Cape Horn.—In the +Open Pacific.—Fellow Passengers.—Large Sea-Bird.—An +Interesting Invalid.—A Weary Captive.—A Broken-Hearted +Mother.—Study of the Heavens.—The Moon.—Chilian Civil +War.—Concepcion.—A Growing City.—Commercial +Importance.—Cultivating City Gardens on a New +Plan.—Important Coal Mines.—Delicious Fruits.</p> + +<p class="p2">Magellan named this extreme southern land, of which we +have been speaking, "the Land of Fire," because of the numerous fires +which he, from his ships, saw on the shore at night, and which were then +supposed by the discoverers to be of a volcanic character. The fact +probably was that the Indians did not fail to recognize the need of +artificial heat, especially at night, though they had not sufficient +genius to teach them to construct garments suitable to protect them from +the inclemency of the weather. These fires were kindled in the open air, +but the natives camped close about them, sleeping within their +influence.</p> + +<p>Cape Horn, the extreme point of South America, on the outermost +island of the Fuegian group, is a lofty, steep black rock, with a +pointed summit, which has stood there for ages, like a watchful sentinel +at his post. Two thirds of Patagonia and Terra del Fuego—the +western part—belong to Chili, and the balance of both—the +eastern part—belongs to the Argentine Republic. A recently +consummated treaty between these two nationalities has fixed upon this +final division of territory, and thus settled a question which has long +been a source of dispute and ill feeling between them. This division +makes Cape Horn belong to Chili, not a specially desirable possession, +to be sure, but it is an indelible landmark.</p> + +<p>The sail along the coast northward after leaving the Pacific mouth of +the strait affords very little variety of scenery; the dull hue of the +barren shore is without change of color for hundreds of miles, until the +eye becomes weary of watching it, as we speed onward through the long, +indolent ocean swell. Arid hills and small indentures form the coast +line, but as we get further northward, this dreary sameness is varied by +the appearance of an occasional small settlement, forming a group of +dwellings of a rude character, possibly a mining region or a fishing +hamlet, connected with some business locality further inland. Sometimes +a green valley is descried, which makes a verdant gulch opening quite +down to the sea.</p> + +<p>This dense monotony becomes more and more tedious, until one longs to +get somewhere, anywhere, away from it.</p> + +<p>In the dearth of scenic interest, we fall to studying the various +passengers traveling between the Pacific ports, a great variety of +nationalities being represented. Among those of the second-class was a +handsome Italian boy, with marvelous eyes of jet and a profusion of long +black hair. He had a small organ hung about his neck, and carried an +intelligent monkey with him. The boy and his monkey joined in the +performance of certain simple, amusing tricks to elicit money from the +lookers-on. Both boy and monkey were happy in the result achieved, the +former in liberal cash receipts, the latter in being fed liberally with +cakes and bonbons. The capacity of monkeys for the rapid consumption of +palatable dainties is one of the unsolved mysteries of nature.</p> + +<p>Schools of porpoises played about the hull of the ship, and clouds of +sea-birds at times wheeled about the topmasts, or followed in the ship's +wake watching for refuse from the cook's department. Occasionally the +head of a large, deep-water turtle would appear for a moment above the +surface, twisting its awkward neck to watch the course of the steamer, +while shoreward the mottled surface of the gently undulating waves +betrayed the presence of myriads of small fish, over which hovered +predatory birds of the gull tribe. Now and again one would swoop swiftly +downward to secure a victim to its appetite. Few albatrosses were seen +after leaving the Pacific mouth of the strait. They are lovers of the +stormy Antarctic region, with the tempestuous atmosphere of which their +great power of wing enables them to cope successfully. The author has +seen one of these birds off the southern coast of New Zealand which +spread eleven feet from tip to tip of its extended wings. It was caught +with a floating bait by one of the seamen and drawn on board ship, where +it was measured, but not until a long contest of strength had taken +place between men and bird. The albatross was slightly wounded in the +mouth and throat by the process of catching him with a baited hook. But +they are hardy creatures, and unless injured in some vital part pay +little heed to a small wound. After this bird had been examined, it was +liberated, and resumed its graceful flight about the ship as though +nothing unusual had happened.</p> + +<p>An invalid girl of Spanish birth, who was perhaps sixteen years of +age, very tenderly cared for by her mother, was propped up daily in a +reclining seat upon deck, where she might find amusement in watching the +sea and distant shore, while inhaling the saline tonic of the +atmosphere. Poor child, how her large, dark eyes, pallid lips, and +painful respiration appealed to one's sympathy! It required no +professional knowledge to divine her approaching fate. She was really in +the last stages of consumption, and was on her way to a popular +sanitarium near the coast, hoping against reason that the change might +prove restorative and of radical benefit. It was pleasant to observe how +promptly every one on board strove to add to her comfort by simple +attentions and services, and how the choicest bits from the table were +secured to tempt her capricious appetite. The grateful mother's eyes +were often suffused with tears, carefully hidden from the gentle +invalid. Her maternal heart was too full for the utterance even of +thanks.</p> + +<p>"Ah," said she to us in a low tone of voice, "she is the last of my +three children, two boys and this girl. The two boys faded away just +like this. Do you think there is any hope for her, señor?" + +"Why not, señora? We should never cease to hope. The land breeze and the +springs where you are going may do wonders."</p> + +<p>Heaven forgive us. The child's fate was only too plainly to be read +in her attenuated form, and the dull action of her almost congested +lungs.</p> + +<p>One day a small, weary sea-bird, newly out of its nest, flew on board +our ship quite exhausted, and being easily secured, was given to the +young girl to pet. It soon became quite at home in her lap, eating small +bread crumbs and little bits of meat from her fingers. Confidence being +thus established between them, the little half-fledged creature would +not willingly leave its new-found benefactress. It seemed to be a +providential occurrence, affording considerable diversion to the sick +one. For a while, at least, she was aroused from the listlessness which +is so very significant in consumption, and her whole heart went out to +the confiding little waif. It was a pretty sight to see the bird nestle +contentedly close to her bosom, the pale-faced girl scarcely less +fragile than the little feathered stranger she had adopted. No one +thought that Death was hovering so very near, yet the third night after +the bird flew on board the young girl lay in her shroud, with an ivory +crucifix, typical of the Romish faith, in one hand, and the other +resting upon the inanimate bird she had befriended, which had also +breathed its last.</p> + +<p>Attempted consolation to a freshly bleeding heart is almost always +premature, and there are few, very few, human beings competent to offer +it effectually under the best circumstances. The sad-eyed mother +listened to a few well-meant words of this character, but slowly shook +her head and made no reply. Time only could assuage the keenness of her +sorrow. By and by she spoke, with her eyes still resting upon that pale, +dead face, where nothing but a wonderful peace and serenity were now +expressed.</p> + +<p>"Have birds souls, do you think?" she asked, in a low, trembling +voice.</p> + +<p>"Possibly," was the reply; "but why do you ask?" + +"Because," she continued, speaking very slowly, "that tiny creature and +my darling died almost at the same moment, and if so, her spirit would +have company on its way to the good God."</p> + +<p>The unconscious poetry of the thought, so quietly expressed by the +sorrowing mother, as she sat beside the corpse with folded hands and +burning eyes, which could not find the relief of tears, was very +touching.</p> + +<p>The motor of the big ship throbbed on, the routine of duty continued +unchanged, passengers ate, drank, and were merry, the sea-birds wheeled +about us uttering their sharp contentious cries, and we pressed forward +through the opposing wind and tide, as though nothing had happened. Only +a mother's loving heart was broken. Only a soul gone to its God. Surely +such sweet innocence must be welcome in heaven. But ah! the great +mystery of it all!</p> + +<p>Most intelligent people will agree with us that no study known to +science can compare with astronomy for absorbing interest. At sea one +finds ample time, convenience, and incentive to study the sky, populous +with countless hosts of constellations. Especially is it interesting to +watch the numerous phases of the moon, beginning with her advent as a +delicate crescent of pale light in the eastern sky, after the sun has +set, and continuing to the period when she becomes full. Each succeeding +night it is found that she has moved farther and farther westward, +until, arriving at the full, she rises nearly at the same time that the +sun sets. From the period of full moon, the disc of light diminishes +nightly until the last quarter is reached, and the moon is then seen +high over the ship's topmast head, before day breaks in the east. Thus +she goes on waning, all the while drawing closer to the sun, until +finally she becomes absorbed in his light. The interesting process +completed, she again comes into view at twilight in the west, in her +exquisite crescent form, once more to pass through a similar series of +changes.</p> + +<p>The superstition of sailors touching the moonlight is curious. No +foremast hand will sleep where it shines directly upon him. They are +voluble in relating many instances of comrades rendered melancholy-mad +by so doing. "They talk about the moon making the ebb and flow of the +tide," said an able seaman to the author. "There's lots of queer things +about the moon, but <i>that's</i> d—d nonsense, saving your +honor's presence." Thus Jack eagerly absorbs superstitious ideas, and +ignores natural phenomena. No humble class of men are so intelligent in +a general way, and yet at the same time so universally superstitious, as +those who go down to the sea in ships.</p> + +<p>In coming on to the west coast it is natural, perhaps, for the reader +to expect us to refer briefly to the late civil war in Chili, but we +have not attempted in these notes to depict the local political +condition of any of the states of South America. In the past they have +most of them shown themselves as changeable as the wind, and remarks +which would depict the status of to-day might be quite unsuited to that +of to-morrow. The average reader is sufficiently familiar with the +struggle so lately ended in Chili. One party was led by the late +President Balmaceda, in opposition to the other, known as the +Congressional party. That which brought about this open warfare was the +refusal of Congress any longer to recognize the president on account of +his high-handed, illegal, and venal official conduct. A line will +illustrate the cause of the outbreak. It was the Constitution of the +country as against a Dictatorship. The President of the Chilian +Republic, like the President of the United States, has a personal +authority such as nowadays is wielded by few constitutional monarchs. +Balmaceda proved to be a tyrant of the first water, abusing the power of +his position to condemn to death those who opposed him, without even the +semblance of a trial. He succeeded in attaching most of the regular army +to his cause by profuse promises and the free use of money, while the +navy went almost bodily over to the side of Congress. The contest +assumed revolutionary proportions, and many battles were fought. As a +casual observer, the author heartily coincided with the Congressional +party, and rejoices at their wholesale triumph.</p> + +<p>The suicidal act which ended Balmaceda's life was no heroic resort, +but the deed of a coward fearing to face the consequences of his +murderous career. It is not the man who has been actuated by high and +noble sentiments who cuts his throat or blows out his brains. Such is +the act of the cunning fraud who realizes that he has not only totally +failed in his object, but that his true character is known to the world. +Suicide has been declared to be the final display of egoism, and it +certainly leaves the world with one less thoroughly selfish character. +The disappearance of such an individual may produce a momentary ripple +on the surface of time, but it fails to leave any permanent mark.</p> + +<p>Nearly three hundred miles south of Santiago, capital of Chili, on +the Pacific coast, is situated the city of Concepcion. It stands on the +right bank of the river Biobio, six or seven miles from its mouth, and +contains about twenty-five thousand inhabitants. The people seem to be +exceptionally active and enterprising, though at this writing suffering +from the effects of the late civil war. It is the third city in point of +size and importance in the republic, and dates from over three hundred +years ago. It will be remembered also that it once held the place now +occupied by Santiago as capital of the country. The city is built in the +valley of Mocha, under the coast range of hills, and is justly famed, +like Puebla in Mexico, for its pretty women and beautiful flowers. It is +a clean and thrifty town, with handsome shops, a charming plaza, and an +attractive alameda. This latter deserves special mention. It is a mile +long, and beautified with several rows of tall Lombardy poplars, the +sight of which carried us to another hemisphere, where those lovely +Italian plains stretch away from the environs of Milan towards the +foothills of the neighboring Alps and the more distant Apennines. Great +things are prognosticated for Concepcion in the near future by its +friends, and it is already the principal town of southern Chili. The +streets are well paved, and lined by handsome business blocks, together +with pleasant dwelling-houses, built low, to avoid the effect of +earthquakes, the universal material being sun-dried bricks, finished +externally in stucco. The façades are painted in harlequin variety of +colors, yellow, blue, and peach-blossom prevailing. The town has really +more the appearance of a northern than a southern city, and has long +been connected with Valparaiso by railway.</p> + +<p>Some of the most extensive coal mines on this part of the continent +have been discovered in this vicinity, and are being worked on a large +scale. In fact, Coronal, not far away, is the great coaling station on +the Chilian coast for steamships bound to Europe or Panama. One would +suppose that this coal mining must be quite profitable, as we were told +that twenty-five and even thirty dollars per ton was realized for it +delivered at the nearest tide-water. The port of Concepcion is some +seven miles from the city, where the river Biobio flows into the ocean +at Talcahuano,—pronounced Tal-ca-wha'no,—a small town on +Concepcion Bay possessing an excellent harbor. There are here a large +marine dock, an arsenal, and a seaman's hospital. Close by the shore is +a spacious and convenient railway station. The bay is some six miles +wide by seven in length. There is a resident population of nearly four +thousand, who form an extremely active community. The majority of the +houses are of a very humble character and, like those of Concepcion, are +built of adobe.</p> + +<p>Spanish capitals in the West Indies and South America were originally +placed, like Concepcion, some distance from the coast, to render them +more secure against the attack of pirates and lawless sea-rovers, who +might land from their vessels, burn a town on the seashore, after +robbing it of all valuables, and easily make good their escape; whereas +to march inland and attack a town far from their base, or to proceed up +a shallow river in boats for such a purpose, was a far more difficult, +if not indeed an impossible thing to do. Thus Callao is the harbor of +Lima; Valparaiso, of Santiago; and Talcahuano, of Concepcion. The +situation of the last named capital is admirable, at the head of the +bay, which affords one of the best harbors on the west coast of the +continent. When the transcontinental railway from Buenos Ayres, on the +Atlantic side, is finished, surmounting the passes of the +Andes,—already "a foregone conclusion,"—it will have its +termination here at Talcahuano, which must then become a great shipping +point for New Zealand and Australia. Half a dozen lines of European mail +steamers already touch here regularly. The river is too shallow to admit +of vessels drawing more than a few feet of water ascending it so far as +Concepcion, but Talcahuano is all sufficient as a port.</p> + +<p>Few places have been so frequently devastated by fire, flood, and +earthquakes, or so often ravaged by war, as has this interesting city. +In the early days the Araucanian Indians put the settlers to the sword +again and again. This was the bravest of all the native Indian tribes of +South America, and is still an unconquered people. The city was laid in +ruins so late as 1835 by an earthquake, though no special signs of this +destructive visitor are to be seen here to-day. Still, one cannot but +feel that with such possibilities hanging over the locality, there must +be few people willing to expend freely of their means for substantial +building purposes, or to make Concepcion a permanent place of abode. +Human nature adapts itself to all exigencies, however, and the place +grows rapidly, notwithstanding the discouraging circumstances which we +have named. It is not the native but the foreign element of the +population which is doing so much for this region. Were the mingled +native race to be left to themselves, there would be few signs of +progress evinced; they would rapidly lapse into a condition of +semi-barbarism. The Chilian proper is a very poor creature as regards +morals, intelligence, or true manhood; his instincts are brutal and his +aims predaceous.</p> + +<p>Like all South American cities, Concepcion is laid out by rule and +compass, the fairly broad streets crossing each other at right angles. +There is a large and costly cathedral, but a wholesome fear of +earthquakes has caused it to be left without the usual twin towers, +which gives it an unfinished appearance. The place also contains other +churches, a well-appointed theatre, two hospitals, and several edifices +devoted to charitable purposes. Opposite the cathedral stands the +Intendencia, a large and handsome government house. Telephones and +electric lights have long been adopted, and the telegraph poles do much +abound. In these foreign places, so far away from home, to see the +streets lined, as they are with us, by big, tall poles, holding aloft a +maze of wires, is very suggestive; but where can one go that they are +not? It is curious to realize that we can step into an office close at +hand and promptly communicate with any part of the world. We may have +sailed over the ocean many thousands of miles, and have consumed months +to reach the spot where we stand, but electricity, like thought, +annihilates space, and will take our message instantly to its +destination, though it be at the farthest end of the globe. These +marvelous facilities are no longer confined to populous centres. +Electricity not only bears our messages to the uttermost parts of the +world, but it propels the tramway cars in Rome, Boston, and Munich, +while it also lights the streets of New York, Auckland in New Zealand, +as well as of London and Honolulu.</p> + +<p>The importance of Concepcion is manifest from the fact that several +new railway connections terminating here have lately been accomplished; +but the important event already referred to, of the transcontinental +railway, will finally insure her commercial greatness. The town is +surrounded by a widespread, fertile country, abounding in both mineral +and agricultural wealth, equal to, if not surpassing, any other province +in Chili. The city was financially strong before the late civil war, and +has still some very wealthy residents. The principal bank of Concepcion, +with a capital of one million dollars, paid a dividend to its +stockholders in 1890 of sixteen per cent. on the previous year's +business. The cathedral and government house, already spoken of, front +on the plaza, a large open square ornamented with statuary, trees, and +flowers, the latter kept in most exquisite order and constant bloom by +means of a singular and original device. It seems that each separate +plot of these grounds is owned or cared for by a different family of the +citizens, and that a spirit of emulation is thus excited by the effort +of the several parties to make their special plot excel in its beauty +and fragrance. This keeps the whole plaza in a lovely condition, and +makes it the pride of the city.</p> + +<p>Society and business circles are mostly composed of foreigners, the +German element largely predominating. The native, or humbler classes, as +we have already intimated, are a wretchedly low people. They "wake" +their dead before burial, much after the style which prevails in +Ireland, except that the process is more exaggerated in manner. Drinking +and debauchery characterize these occasions, which are continued often +for three days at a time, or so long as the means for indulgence in +excess last. In case of youthful deaths, the child's cheeks are painted +red, and the head is crowned in a fantastic manner, the body being +dressed and placed in a sitting position, thus forming a strange and +hideous sight. Such treatment of a corpse could only be tolerated by a +barbarous people. In the environs of the town, Lazarus jostles Dives. +There are here many hovels, as well as a better class of residences. +Some of them are wretchedly poor, built of mud and bamboo, the +inhabitants half-naked and wholly starved, if one may judge by their +appearance. On Saturday, which in Spanish towns and cities is called +"poor day," the streets of Concepcion are full of either assumed or real +mendicants. The Spanish race is one of chronic beggars,—they seem +born so. Scarcely less of a nuisance than the beggars are the army of +half-starved, mongrel, neglected dogs, that throng in the streets of the +city, rivaling Constantinople.</p> + +<p>It should be mentioned that Concepcion has a good system of tramway +service, and that the cars have attached to them a class of neat, +pretty, and modest girls for conductors, who wear natty straw hats, snow +white aprons, and are supplied with a leather cash bag hung by a strap +about the neck. It seems rather incongruous that while so many evidences +of real progress abound in this city, water, the prime necessity of +life, should be peddled about the streets by the bucketful. Now is the +time to perfect a system of drainage, and to introduce an adequate +supply of good water, from easily available sources.</p> + +<p>The inexhaustible coal fields already mentioned, which are situated +but a few miles away, must prove to be a lasting source of prosperity to +Concepcion. They are far more important and valuable, all things +considered, than a gold or silver mine near at hand would be. Indeed, it +is found in the long run that the latter kind of mineral discoveries do +not always tend to the material benefit of the community in which they +are found. The earth produces far more profitable crops than gold and +precious stones, even when considered in the most mercenary light. The +business prospects of Concepcion, as we have pointed out in detail, are +exceedingly promising. That the city is destined eventually to rival +Valparaiso seems more than probable, and yet there is another side to +this favorable aspect thus presented, which it is not wise to ignore. +True, the climate is equable and healthy, but that great drawback, the +liability to earthquakes and tidal waves, still remains, like a dark, +portending shadow. In spite of this startling possibility there is +something of a "boom" already instituted, at this writing, as to the +prices of land in and about both the port and city of Concepcion. It is +a fact that people will soon become calloused and heedless of almost any +familiar danger. Jack turns in and quickly falls to sleep, when the +watch below is called and relieves him from the deck, though the ship is +in the midst of cyclone latitudes, and while a half-gale is blowing. The +people of Torre del Grecco, at the base of the volcano, do not sleep any +less soundly to-day because Pompeii was utterly destroyed by Vesuvius +eighteen or nineteen centuries ago. The earthquake of 1835 first shook +Talcahuano nearly to pieces, and then completed its destruction by a +tidal wave which swept what remained of it into the sea.</p> + +<p>It goes without saying that most of the fruits and staple products of +the tropics are to be found both at Concepcion and at the port of +Talcahuano. Each place we visit seems to have some specialty in this +line. Here, it is the watermelon. Favored by the soil and the climate, +this fruit is developed to its maximum in weight, richness of flavor, +and general perfection. They are sold cheap enough everywhere. A centavo +will buy a large ripe one. Street carts and donkeys are laden with them, +and so are the decks of all outgoing vessels. It is both food and drink +to the poor peons, who consume the fruit in quantities strongly +suggestive of cholera, dropsy, or some other dreadful illness. Any one +accustomed to travel in our Southern States, in the right season of the +year, will have observed how voraciously the negro population, young and +old, eat of the cheap, ripe crop of watermelons; but these South +American peons have a capacity for storage and digestion of this really +wholesome article, beyond all comparison. A child not more than ten +years of age will devour the ripe portion of a large melon in a few +minutes, and no ill effects seem to follow. An adult eats two at a meal +which would weigh, we are afraid to say how much, but they are +considerably larger than the average melons which are brought to New +England from the South. After all, the watermelon is healthful food, +though it is more filling than nourishing. It will be remembered that +the famous fasting individual, Dr. Tanner, after eating nothing for +forty days and forty nights, took for his first article of nourishment, +at the close of this time of fasting, half a watermelon, and that he +retained and digested it successfully.</p> + +<p class="p4"><a name="Ch_15"></a></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XV.</h3> + +<p class="blockquote">Valparaiso.—Principal South American Port of +the Pacific.—A Good Harbor.—Tallest Mountain on this +Continent.—The Newspaper Press.—Warlike Aspect.—Girls +as Car Conductors.—Chilian Exports.—Foreign +Merchants.—Effects of Civil War.—Gambling in Private +Houses.—Immigration.—Culture of the +Grape.—Agriculture.—Island of Juan Fernandez.</p> + +<p class="p2">Valparaiso—"Vale of Paradise"—was thus +fancifully named because of its assumed loveliness. True, it is +beautifully situated, and is a fine city of its class, located in an +admirable semicircular bay, not upon one, but upon many hills, backed by +a crescent-shaped mountain range. But when one compares its harbor to +that of Naples, or Sydney in Australia, for picturesqueness of scenery, +as is often done, it only provokes invidious remarks. The matchless +harbor of Rio Janeiro, on the eastern coast of the continent, already +fully described in these pages, is far more charming in general effect +and in all of its surroundings, not to mention that it is more than +twenty times as large. Valparaiso is the principal seaport of Chili, and +indeed, for the present, it is the main port of the entire west coast of +South America. By consulting the map it will be readily seen that Chili +must ever be a maritime nation, depending more upon an effective navy +than an army. The possession of the national ships of war by the +Congressional party in the revolution so lately terminated gave them +virtual control of the cities along the coast, at the outbreak of the +émeute, and this means they employed against the Presidential party with +the most ruthless effect. They did not hesitate to savagely cannonade +and shell a city, though two thirds of the occupants were their own +friends and supporters, provided it was held ostensibly, and for the +time being only, by the supporters of Balmaceda. The outrageous +bombardment of Iquique is an instance in illustration of this charge. +The Chilian delights to be cruel; it is his instinct to destroy and to +plunder. He is by nature boastful, passionate, and headstrong. This +disposition seems to be born in the race, is in fact a matter of +heredity, fostered by bull-fights and kindred entertainments. But the +country must now pay for the enormous destruction of property of which +the directors of the civil war have been guilty. The European powers +have already begun to send in their demands for damages done to their +non-combatant merchants. England comes first with a bill calling for +payment of sixty million dollars. Spain, Italy, and Germany will follow. +It is estimated that a hundred million dollars will be required to +settle these foreign demands. Chili must pay. There is no avoiding it. +Reckless destruction will be found to be rather an expensive amusement +in future for these South Americans. Their outrageous and murderous +treatment of citizens of the United States who land upon their shore is +also like to cost them a heavy sum in way of penalty. The present is a +good opportunity to teach them a salutary lesson. The Chilians will not +be in a hurry to repeat crimes which they find entail sure and swift +punishment.</p> + +<p>A majority of the population of Chili lives, as a rule, within a few +miles of the sea, and her coast line extends from Cape Horn northward +over two thousand miles to the borders of Bolivia and Peru. With this +extraordinary length, she has an average width of hardly more than a +hundred miles, bordered on the east by the western slope of the Andes, +whose eastern side belongs to the Argentine Republic, and on the west by +the Pacific Ocean. The present estimated area of the republic is about +two hundred and twenty thousand square miles, containing a population of +considerably less than three millions, though its capacious territory +could be so divided as to make twenty-five states as large as +Massachusetts. Sixteen hundred miles of steam railroads render the +principal sections of Chili accessible to one another. The coast line +has from time to time been undergoing decided changes through volcanic +action. In 1822, after a visible commotion, the shore was permanently +raised three feet at Valparaiso, and four feet at Quintere. This change +extended over an area of a hundred thousand miles. Another but lesser +elevation took place in the same region in 1835.</p> + +<p>There seems to be no accounting for the vagaries of a land subject to +volcanic influences.</p> + +<p>The harbor of Valparaiso is well protected on the east, south, and +west, but it is open to the north, from which direction come very heavy +winds and seas during a couple of months in the winter season, often +causing serious casualties among the shipping which may chance to be +anchored in the harbor. A "norther" is as much dreaded here as it is at +Vera Cruz and along the Gulf of Mexico generally.</p> + +<p>The entrance to the harbor is on its north side, and is a mile in +width, more or less. The flags of nearly all nations are seen here, +though the Stars and Stripes are less frequently to be met with than +others. The city lies at the base of the closely surrounding hills, up +whose sides and in the ravines the dwelling-houses have been +constructed, tier above tier. Over all, further inland, looms the +frosted head of grand old Aconcagua, twenty-two thousand feet and more +in height, believed to be the tallest mountain in the western +hemisphere. This mighty member of the Andean Cordillera is said to be +ninety miles away, but it is so lofty and dominant, as seen through the +clear atmosphere, that it appears almost within cannon range. At this +writing the harbor presents quite a warlike aspect. English, American, +French, German, and Chilian men-of-war are anchored here, looking after +their several national interests, as affected by the civil war. The +bugle calls of the several ships, the morning and evening guns, the +display of naval bunting, together with the flitting hither and thither +of well-manned boats, all unite to form a gay and suggestive scene. The +Chilian cruisers in the hands of the revolutionists would not hesitate +to batter down any government buildings on the coast, destroying +incidentally the domestic residences and merchandise of non-combatants, +were they not restrained by the presence of foreign flags and guns. When +Balmaceda undertook by a proclamation to shut up the ports of Chili, and +declared them blockaded, he was told by the several naval commanders on +the coast that he could not establish a paper blockade, and that if the +merchant ships of their several countries were in any way interfered +with, he would have to fight somebody else besides the revolutionists. +The ports were therefore kept as open to legitimate commerce as they +ever were.</p> + +<p>The author was disappointed at not being able to reach Santiago, the +capital of Chili, which is situated at the foot of the western slope of +the Andes, nearly two thousand feet above tide-water. It is connected +with Valparaiso by railway, and under ordinary circumstances can be +reached in eight hours. The difficulties caused by the civil war, and +the suspicion with which all foreigners were regarded, proved impossible +to surmount without a protracted effort, and submitting to any amount of +red tape. Santiago was founded by one of Pizarro's captains, in 1541, +and now contains about two hundred thousand inhabitants. There are some +Americans and many English resident in Santiago, together with Germans +and Frenchmen, the foreigners being mostly merchants. We were told of +two familiar statues which are to be seen in a public square of the +city, in front of the post-office. One represents George Washington, the +other Abraham Lincoln, both of which were stolen from Lima during the +late conflict between Chili and Peru.</p> + +<p>But this is a digression. Let us once more return to the commercial +port of Valparaiso.</p> + +<p>A considerable portion of this city has been reclaimed from the sea, +and still more land suitable for the erection of business warehouses +near the shore is being added to this part of the town. Local +enterprise, however, is pretty much suspended for the time being, owing +to the disturbed condition of political affairs. The mountains near at +hand supply ample stone and soil for the purpose of extending the area +of this business portion of the town. Sixty or seventy years ago, the +city contained only a single street, on the edge of the harbor; to-day +it has all the appearance and belongings of a great commercial capital, +and a population of a hundred and thirty thousand. Except Rio Janeiro +and Buenos Ayres, we saw nowhere thoroughfares more full of energetic +life and business activity. The main avenue is the Calle Victoria, which +runs round the entire water front, occupied by the banks, hotels, +insurance offices, and the best shops in the town.</p> + +<p>There are four large daily newspapers published in Valparaiso, whose +united circulation exceeds thirty thousand copies. "El Mercurio" has the +eminent respectability of age, having been published regularly for a +period of half a century. The facility for news-gathering is very good, +as this city is connected with the world at large by submarine cable, +but no such detailed and complete summary of intelligence is attempted +as our North American journals exhibit daily. While on this subject, we +may add that there are no newspapers in Europe, or elsewhere, which will +compare with those of the United States in the average ability and +journalistic merit which characterizes them. We do not say this in a +boastful spirit, but simply make the statement as an incontrovertible +fact.</p> + +<p>Some of the business structures along the harbor front of Valparaiso +are fine edifices architecturally, and many of the retail stores will +compare favorably with the average of ours in Washington Street, Boston. +The elegant class of goods displayed in some of these establishments +shows that the population is an habitually extravagant and free-living +one. We were told, by way of illustration, that millionaires were as +plenty as blackberries before the late civil war, while many wealthy +men, foreseeing the catastrophe which was about to occur, shrewdly +prepared for it, and by careful management saved their property intact. +Many of the private houses on Victoria Street are spacious, elegant, and +costly, the occupants living in regal style, to support which must cost +a very heavy annual outlay. It appears that President Balmaceda +discovered, during the late struggle, where and how to lay his hands +upon the resources of a few of these citizens, and that such he +completely impoverished, under one pretext and another, using their +property to support his armed minions, and to swell the aggregate of +funds which he sent for deposit in his own name to Europe. One or two +cases of this sort were related to us in which the citizens were not +only made to give up the whole of their private property, but were +finally imprisoned and sentenced to death upon a charge of treason, +without even the semblance of a trial!</p> + +<p>It is no marvel, to those who know the facts of his career, that a +man who was guilty of such crimes, when at last brought to bay, finding +himself betrayed and deserted by his pretended friends, should have +blown out his own brains. The posthumous papers which he left, and +wherein he tries to pose as a martyr, are simply a ludicrous failure. +José Manuel Balmaceda was in the fifty-second year of his age when he +committed suicide, and was at the time hiding for fear of the infuriated +citizens of Santiago, who would certainly have hanged the would-be +dictator without the least hesitation or formality, if they could have +got possession of his person.</p> + +<p>The tramway-cars of Valparaiso are of the two-story pattern, like +those of Copenhagen and New Orleans, also found in many of the European +cities. They have as conductors, like Concepcion, very pretty half-breed +girls, who appear to thoroughly understand their business, and to +fulfill its requirements to universal satisfaction. If an intoxicated or +unruly person appears on the cars, the conductress does not attempt +personally to eject him. She has only to hold up her hand, and the +nearest policeman, of whom there are always a goodly number about, jumps +on to the car and settles the matter in short order. Girls were thus +first employed in order that the men who ordinarily fill these places +might be drafted into the army, during the late war between Chili and +Peru, and as the system proved to be a complete success, it has been +continued ever since. The fare charged on these tram-cars is five cents +for each inside passenger, and half that sum for the outside; and, as in +Paris, when the seats are all full, a little sign is shown upon the car, +signifying that no more persons will be admitted, none being allowed to +stand. The same rule is enforced in London, and the thought suggested +itself as to whether our West End Railway Company of Boston might not +take an important hint therefrom.</p> + +<p>The ladies and gentlemen of the city are a well dressed class, the +former adopting Parisian costumes, and the gentlemen wearing a full +dress of dark broadcloth, with tall stove-pipe hats. The women of the +more common class wear the national "manta," and the men the "poncha." +The former is a dark, soft shawl which covers in part the head and face +of the wearer. The latter is a long, striped shawl, with a slit cut in +the centre, through which the head of the wearer is thrust. Nothing +could be more simple in construction than both of these garments, and +yet they are somehow very picturesque.</p> + +<p>As we have already intimated, it is soon learned, upon landing at any +port of the commercial world, what the staple products of the +neighborhood are, by simply noting the visible merchandise made ready +for shipment. Here we have sugar, wool, and cotton prevailing over all +other articles. Guano and nitrate, which also form specialties here, are +represented, though the supply of the former is pretty much exhausted. +The nitrate trade is controlled by an Englishman of large fortune, +Colonel North, known here as the "Nitrate King." This valuable +fertilizer is the deposit of the nitrate of soda in the beds of lakes +long since dried up, the waters of which originally contained in +solution large quantities of this material. These lakes in olden times +received the flow of a great water-shed, and having no outlet, save by +evaporation, accumulated and precipitated at the bottom the chemical +elements flowing into them from the surrounding country. The article is +now dug up and put through a certain process, then shipped to foreign +countries as a fertilizer, believed to put new heart into exhausted +soil. England consumes an immense quantity of it annually, and many +ships are regularly employed in its transportation.</p> + +<p>The custom house, situated near the landing at Valparaiso, is a +somewhat remarkable structure, having a long, low façade surmounted by +tall, handsome towers. This is eminently the business part of the town, +and is called "El Puerto." The larger share of the residences of the +merchants and well-to-do citizens is situated on the hillsides, to reach +which it is necessary to ascend long flights of steps. At certain points +elevators are also supplied by which access is gained to the upper +portions of the town, after the fashion already described at Bahia, on +the east coast.</p> + +<p>The majority of people doing business in Valparaiso are English, and +English is the almost universal language. Even the names upon the city +signs are suggestive in this direction. Among the public houses are the +"Queen's Arms," the "Royal Oak," the "Red Lion," and so on. Besides an +English school, there are three churches belonging to that nationality. +There are numerous free schools, both of a primary and advanced +character, an elaborately organized college, two or three theatres, and +the usual charitable establishments, including a public library. The +principal part of the city is lighted by electricity, and the telephone +is in general use. A special effort has lately been made to promote the +education of the rising generation in Chili, and we know of no field +where the endeavor would be more opportune. Such an effort is never out +of place, but here it is imperatively called for. The almost universal +ignorance of the common people of Chili is deplorable, and little +improvement can be hoped for as regards their moral or physical +condition, except through the means of educating the youth of the +country. A commissioner-general of education was appointed some time +ago, who has already visited Europe and North America to study the best +modern methods adopted in the public schools. This is a tangible +evidence of improvement which speaks for itself, and is a great stride +of this people in the right direction. Of course the late political +crisis will greatly retard the hoped-for results, just as it will put +Chili back some years in her national progress, whatever may be the +final outcome in other respects.</p> + +<p>Gambling is a prevailing national trait in this country, by no means +confined to any one class of the community. The street gamin plays for +copper centavos, while the pretentious caballero does the same for gold +coins. It is quite common in family circles, held to be very +aristocratic, to see the gaming table laid out every evening, as +regularly as the table upon which the meals are served. Money in large +sums is lost and won with assumed indifference in these private circles, +whole fortunes being sometimes sacrificed at a single sitting. Gambling +seems to be held exempt from the censure of either church or state, +since both officials and priests indulge in all sorts of games of +chance. There are the usual public lotteries always going on to tempt +the poorer classes of the people, and to capture their hard-earned +wages.</p> + +<p>One virtue must be freely accorded to the business centre of this +city, namely, that of cleanliness, in which respect it is far in advance +of most of the capitals on the east coast of South America. Being the +first seaport of any importance in the South Pacific, it is naturally a +place of call for European bound steamers coming from New Zealand and +Australia, as well as those sailing from Panama and San Francisco. In +view of the fact that six hundred and fifty thousand people emigrate +from Europe annually, seeking new homes in foreign lands, the Chilian +government, in common with some others of the South American states, has +for several years past held forth the liberal inducement of substantial +aid to all bona fide settlers from foreign countries. Each newcomer who +is the head of a family is given two hundred acres of available land, +together with lumber and other materials for building a comfortable +dwelling-house, also a cart, a plough, and a reasonable amount of seed +for planting. Besides these favors which we have enumerated, some other +important considerations are offered. Only a small number, comparatively +speaking, of emigrants have availed themselves of such liberal terms, +and these have been mostly Germans. If such an offer were properly +promulgated and laid before the poor peasantry of Ireland and Spain and +Italy, it would seem as though many of those people would hasten to +accept it in the hope of bettering their condition in life. Whether such +a result would follow emigration would of course depend upon many other +things besides the liberality of the offer of the Chilian government. +The Germans form a good class of emigrants, perhaps the best, often +bringing with them considerable pecuniary means, together with habits of +industry. The late civil war has put a stop to emigration for a period +at least, and will interfere with its success for some time to come, if +indeed Chili ever assumes quite so favorable a condition as she has +sacrificed.</p> + +<p>There are some districts, including Limache and Pauquehue, where +grape culture has been brought to great perfection, and where it is +conducted on a very large scale. Wine-making is thus taking its place as +one of the prosperous industries of the country. The amount of the +native product consumed at home is very large, and a regular system of +exports to other South American ports has been established. All of the +most important modes of culture, such as have been proven most +successful in France and California, have been carefully adopted here. +Tramways are laid to intersect the various parts of these extensive +vineyards, to aid in the gathering and transportation of the ripe fruit, +while the appliances for expressing the juice of the grape are equally +well systematized. One vineyard, belonging to the Consiño family, near +Santiago, covers some two hundred acres, closely planted with selected +vines from France, Switzerland, and California, the purpose being to +retain permanently such grades as are found best adapted to the soil and +the climate of Chili. The white wines are the most popular here, but red +Burgundy brands are produced with good success. The vines are trained on +triple lines of wires, stretched between iron posts, presenting an +appearance of great uniformity, the long rows being planted about three +or four feet apart. Every arrangement for artificial irrigation is +provided, it being an absolute necessity in this district of Chili. +Trenches are cut along the rows of vines, through which the water, from +ample reservoirs, is permitted to flow at certain intervals; +particularly when the grape begins to swell and ripen. The fruit is not +trodden here, as it is in Italy, but is thoroughly expressed by means of +proper machinery.</p> + +<p>Geographically, Chili is, as we have intimated, a long, narrow +country, lying south of Peru and Bolivia, ribbon-like in form, and +divided into nineteen provinces. It has been considerably enlarged by +conquest from both of the nationalities just named; including the +important territory of Terapaca. The name "Chili" signifies snow, with +which the tops of most of the mountain ranges upon the eastern border +are always covered. Still, extending as she does, from latitude 24° +south to Cape Horn, she embraces every sort of climate, from burning +heat to glacial frosts, while nearly everything that grows can be +produced upon her soil. Though she has less than three million +inhabitants, still her territory exceeds that of any European +nationality except Russia. The manifest difference between the aggregate +of her population and that of her square miles does not speak very +favorably for the healthful character of the climate. There is no use in +attempting to disguise the fact that Chili has rather a hard time of it, +with sweeping epidemics, frequent earthquakes, and devouring tidal +waves. The country contains thirty volcanoes, none of which are +permanently active, but all of which have their periods of eruption, and +most of which exhibit their dangerous nature by emitting sulphurous +smoke and ashes. The unhygienic condition of life among her native races +accounts for the large death-rate prevailing at all times, and +especially among the peon children, thus preventing a natural increase +in the population. Unless a liberal immigration can be induced, Chili +must annually decrease in population. As regards the foreign whites and +the educated natives who indulge in no extravagant excesses, living with +a reasonable regard for hygiene, doubtless Chili is as healthy as most +countries, but there is still to be remembered the erratic exhibitions +of nature, a possibility always hanging like the sword of Damocles over +this region. A whole town may, without the least warning, vanish from +the face of the earth in the space of five minutes, or be left a mass of +ruins.</p> + +<p>It is in the districts of the north that the rich mines and the +nitrate fields are found, but the central portion of the country, and +particularly towards the south, is the section where the greatest +agricultural results are realized, and which will continue to yield in +abundance after the mineral wealth shall have become quite exhausted. +The southern portion of the country embraces Patagonia, which has lately +been divided between Chili and the Argentine Republic. In short, Chili +is no exception to the rule that agriculture, and not mining products, +is the true and permanent reliance of any country.</p> + +<p>A little less than four hundred miles off the shore of Valparaiso, on +the same line of latitude, is the memorable island of Juan Fernandez. It +is politically an unimportant dependence of Chili, though of late years +it has indirectly been made the means of producing some income for the +national treasury. There was a period in which Chili maintained a penal +colony here, but the convicts mutinied, and massacred the officers who +had charge of them. These convicts succeeded in getting away from the +island on passing ships. No attempt has been made since that time to +reëstablish a penal colony on this island. To-day the place is occupied +by thriving vegetable gardeners, and raisers of stock. Every intelligent +youth will remember the island as the spot where De Foe laid the scene +of his popular and fascinating story of "Robinson Crusoe." The island is +about twenty miles long by ten broad, and is covered with dense tropical +verdure, gentle hills, sheltered valleys, and thrifty woods. Juan +Fernandez resembles the Azores in the North Atlantic. Though generally +spoken of in the singular, there are actually three islands here, +forming a small, compact group, known as Inward Island, Outward Island, +and Great Island. Many intelligent people think that the story of +Robinson Crusoe is a pure fabrication, but this is not so. De Foe +availed himself of an actual occurrence, and put it into readable form, +adding a few romantic episodes to season the story for the taste of the +million. It was in a measure truth, which he stamped with the image of +his own genius. Occasionally some enthusiastic admirer of De Foe comes +thousands of miles out of the beaten track of travel to visit this group +of islands, by the way of Valparaiso. Grapes, figs, and other tropical +fruits abound at Juan Fernandez. It is said that several thousand people +might be easily supported by the natural resources of these islands, and +the abundance of fish which fill the neighboring waters. An English +naval commander stopped here in 1741, to recruit his ships' crews, and +to repair some damages. While here he caused various seeds to be planted +for the advantage of any mariners who might follow. The benefit of this +Christian act has been realized by many seamen since that date. Fruits, +grain, and vegetables are now produced by spontaneous fertility +annually, which were not before to be found here. The English commander +also left goats and swine to run wild, and to multiply, and these +animals are numerous there to-day.</p> + +<p>Juan Fernandez has one tall peak, nearly three thousand feet high, +which the pilots point out long before the rest of the island is seen. +It was from this lofty lookout that Alexander Selkirk was wont to watch +daily in the hope of sighting some passing ship, by which he might be +released from his imprisonment. There are about one hundred residents +upon the group to-day, it having been leased by the Chilian government +as a stock ranch for the breeding of goats and cattle, as well as for +the raising of vegetables for the market of Valparaiso. There are said +to be thirty thousand horned cattle, and many sheep, upon these islands. +Occasional excursion parties are made up at Valparaiso to visit the +group by steamboat, for the purpose of shooting seals and mountain +goats. Stories are told of Juan Fernandez having been formerly made the +headquarters of pirates who came from thence to ravage the towns on the +coast of the continent, and it is believed by the credulous that much of +the ill-gotten wealth of the buccaneers still remains hidden there. In +search of this supposititious treasure, expeditions have been fitted out +in past years at Valparaiso, and many an acre of ground has been vainly +dug over in seeking for piratical gold, supposed to be buried there. +Some of the shrewd stock raisers of Juan Fernandez are ready, for a +consideration, to point out to seekers the most probable places where +such treasures might have been buried.</p> + +<p class="p4"><a name="Ch_16"></a></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XVI.</h3> + +<p class="blockquote">The Port of Callao.—A Submerged +City.—Peruvian Exports.—A Dirty and Unwholesome +Town.—Cinchona Bark.—The Andes.—The Llama.—A +National Dance.—City of Lima.—An Old and Interesting +Capital.—Want of Rain.—Pizarro and His Crimes.—A Grand +Cathedral.—Chilian Soldiers.—Costly Churches of +Peru.—Roman Catholic Influence.—Desecration of the +Sabbath.</p> + +<p class="p2">The passage northward from Valparaiso to Callao occupies +about four days by the steamers which do not stop at intermediate ports. +We entered the harbor in the early morning while a soft veil of mist +enshrouded the bay, but as the sun fairly shone upon the view, this +aerial screen rapidly disappeared, revealing Callao just in front of us, +making the foreground of a pleasing and vivid picture, the middle +distance filled by the ancient city of Lima, and the far background by +alpine ranges. Callao is an ill-built though important town, with a +population of about thirty thousand, and serves as the port for Lima, +the capital of Peru. It has a good harbor, well protected by the island +of San Lorenzo, which, with the small island of El Fronton, and the +Palminos reef, forms a protection against the constant swell of the +ocean. There are nearly always one or two ships of war belonging to +foreign nations in the harbor, and large steamships from the north or +the south. The sailing distance from Panama is fifteen hundred miles. +The Callao of to-day is comparatively modern. Old Callao formerly stood +on a tongue of land opposite San Lorenzo, but in 1746 an earthquake +submerged it and drowned some five thousand of the inhabitants, +foundered a score of ships, and stranded a Spanish man-of-war. In calm +weather one can row a boat over the spot where the old city stood, and +see the ruins far down in the deep waters. The present city has twice +been near to sharing the same fate: once in 1825, and again in 1868. It +is, therefore, not assuming too much to say that Callao may at any time +disappear in the most summary fashion. The sunken ruins in the harbor +are a melancholy and suggestive sight, the duplicate of which we do not +believe can be found elsewhere on the globe. Though seismic disturbances +are of such frequent occurrence, and are so destructive on the west +coast of South America, they are hardly known on the Atlantic or eastern +side of the continent. That they are frequently coincident with volcanic +disturbances indicates that there is an intimate connection between +them, but yet earthquakes often occur in regions where volcanoes do not +exist. This was the case, not long since, as most of our readers will +remember, in South Carolina. It has been noticed by careful observers +that animals become uneasy on the eve of such an event, which would seem +to show that earthquakes sometimes owe their origin to extraordinary +atmospheric conditions.</p> + +<p>San Lorenzo is about six miles from Callao, and is four miles long by +one in width. It is utterly barren, presenting a mass of brownish gray +color, eleven hundred feet high, at whose base there is ever a broad, +snow white ruffle, caused by the never-ceasing ocean swell breaking into +foam. An English smelting company has established extensive works near +the shore of the island, for the reduction of silver and copper ores. +The approach to Callao from the sea affords a fine view of the +undulating shore, backed by the snowy Cordilleras, the shabby buildings +of the town, with the dismantled castle of San Felipe forming the +foreground. In landing one must be cautious: there is always +considerable swell in the harbor.</p> + +<p>The staple products of this region are represented by packages of +merchandise prepared for shipment, and which are the first to attract +one's attention upon landing, such as cinchona bark from the native +forests, piles of wheat in bulk, hides, quantities of crude salt, sugar +packed in dried banana leaves, bales of alpaca wool, and, most +suggestive of all, some heavy bags of silver ore. Little is being done +in mining at present, though the field for this industry is large. The +difficulty of transportation is one of the great drawbacks, yet Peru has +over a thousand miles of railways in her rather limited area. Gold, +platinum, silver, and copper are all found in paying quantities. Coal +and petroleum also exist here, in various inland districts. The guano +deposits, which have yielded so much wealth to Peru in the past, are +practically exhausted, while the nitrate-producing province of Tarapaca +has been stolen by Chili, to which it now belongs. It is thought that +the nitrate deposits can be profitably worked for fifty years to +come.</p> + +<p>A crowd of the lazy, ragged population were loafing about the +landing, watching the strangers as they came on shore at the wet and +slippery stone steps.</p> + +<p>It is very plain that the great importance of Callao has departed, +though there is still an appearance of business activity. Not long ago, +a hundred vessels at a time might be seen at anchor inside of San +Lorenzo; now, a score of good-sized ships are all one can count. This is +owing to various causes: an unreasonable high tariff is one of them, +exorbitant port charges is another, and the general depression of +business on the west coast is felt quite as strongly here as at any of +the ports. Like Santos, on the other side of the continent, Callao is +ever an unhealthy resort, where a great mortality prevails in the fever +season. The absence of good drainage and inattention to hygienic rules +will in part account for the bad repute that the port has among the +shipping masters who frequent the coast. The streets are particularly +malodorous about the water front. The dirty vultures seem to be depended +upon to remove offensive garbage.</p> + +<p>A certain remarkable occurrence sometimes takes place in this harbor, +which, so far as the writer knows, is without precedent elsewhere. A +ship may come in from sea and anchor at about sunset, in good order and +condition, everything being white and clean on board, but when her +captain comes on deck the next morning, he may find that his ship has +been painted, inside and out, a dark chocolate color during the night, +the atmosphere at the same time being impregnated with a peculiar odor, +arising from this "paint," or whatever it may be, which clings +tenaciously to every object, wood or iron. While it is damp and freshly +deposited, it can be removed like fresh paint, but if it is permitted to +dry, it is as difficult to remove as ordinary dried paint would be. No +one can tell the origin of this nuisance, but most seamen whose business +brings them to Callao have been through this experience. Of course it +must be an atmospheric deposit, but from whence? It has never been known +to occur upon the neighboring land, but only in the harbor. Scientists +have given the matter their attention, and have concluded that it may be +caused by sulphurous gases produced in the earth below the water, which +rise to the surface and disseminate themselves in the surrounding +atmosphere.</p> + +<p>From any elevated point in the city one may enjoy a delightful view, +the main features of which are the Andes on the land side, and seaward, +the broad heaving bosom of the Pacific. The corrugated peaks of the +former, clad in white, seem like restless phantoms marching through the +sky. Over the latter, long lines of inky blackness trail behind northern +or southern bound steamers, while here and there a tall, full-rigged +ship recalls the older modes of navigation.</p> + +<p>The smoother water inside of San Lorenzo is alive with small boats, +some under sails, some propelled by oars, shooting in and out among the +shipping which lie at anchor before the town. A pair of large whales +assisted at this scene for our special benefit, just inside the harbor's +mouth. It must have been only play on their part,—leviathans at +play,—but they threw up the sea in such clouds of spray with their +broad tails, as to make it appear like a battle-royal seen from a mile +away.</p> + +<p>We mentioned the fact of seeing cinchona bark in bales ready for +shipping. Of all the products of South America, gold, silver, and +precious stones included, the most valuable is the drug which is called +quinine, made from the bark of the cinchona tree. There is no other one +article known to the materia medica which has been used in such large +quantities or with such unvarying success by suffering humanity. It was +first introduced into Europe from Peru, and was then known as Peruvian +bark. It was supposed at that time to be found only in this section of +the continent; but subsequently it was discovered to abound in all the +forests along the course of the Andes, and especially on their western +slope. So large has been its export that it was found the source of +supply was rapidly becoming exhausted, until local governments awoke to +the importance of the matter, and protected by law the trees which +produce it. These are no longer ruthlessly cut down to die, when +yielding their valuable harvest, but only a certain quantity of the +desirable bark is taken from each tree annually, so that nature replaces +the portion which had been removed, by covering the trunk with a fresh +growth. The cinchona tree, having been transplanted from South America, +is now successfully cultivated in the islands of the Malacca Straits, +Ceylon, India, and other tropical regions.</p> + +<p>The tree which produces this valuable febrifuge belongs to the same +family as the coffee plant. In appearance it is very like our native +beech tree, having remarkably white wood.</p> + +<p>The llama is found nearly all over South America, and is often seen +as a beast of burden at Callao, taking the place here which the donkey +or burro fills in Mexico. It has been described as having the head and +neck of a camel, the body of a deer, the wool of a sheep, and the neigh +of a horse. We do not agree with those who pronounce the llama an +awkward creature. True, the body is a little ungainly, but the head, the +graceful pose, the pointed, delicate ears, and the large, lustrous eyes +are absolutely handsome. It can carry a burden weighing one hundred +pounds over hard mountain roads, day after day, while living upon very +scanty food. It is slow in its movements, patient when well treated, and +particularly sure-footed. It is of a very gentle disposition, but when +it finds the weight placed upon its back too heavy, like the Egyptian +camel, it immediately lies down and will not rise until the load is +lightened. The llama, or "mountain camel," as it has been aptly called, +is the only domesticated native animal. The horse, ox, hog, and sheep +are all importations which were entirely unknown here four centuries +ago. The llama has two notable peculiarities: when angry it will +expectorate at its enemy, and when hurt will shed tears. The +expectoration is of an acrid, semi-poisonous nature, and if it strikes +the eyes will, it is said, blind them. The llama, guanaco, alpaca, and +vicuña were the four sheep of the Incas, the wool of the first clothing +the common people; the second, the nobles; the third, the royal +governors; and the fourth the Incas. The first two are domesticated, +guanacos and vicuñas are wild, though they all belong to the same +family.</p> + +<p>The manners and customs of any people new to the traveler are always +an interesting study, but in nothing are they more strongly +individualized than in the pursuit of amusements. A favorite dance, +known here as the <i>zama cueca</i>, is often witnessed out-of-doors in +retired corners of the plaza or the alameda, as well as elsewhere. It +requires two performers, and is generally danced by a male and female, +being not unlike the Parisian cancan, both in the movement and the +purpose of the expression. The two dancers stand opposite each other, +each having a pocket handkerchief in the right hand, while the music +begins at first a dull, monotonous air, which rapidly rises and falls in +cadence. The dancers approach each other, swaying their bodies +gracefully, and using their limbs nimbly; now they pass each other, +turning in the act to coquettishly wave the handkerchief about their +heads, and also to snap it towards each other's faces. Thus they advance +and retreat several times, whipping at each other's faces, while +throwing their bodies into peculiar attitudes. Again they resume the +first movement of advance and retreat, one assuming coyness, the other +ardor, and thus continue, until, as a sort of climax, they fall into +each other's arms with a peal of hearty laughter. A guitar is the usual +accompanying instrument, the player uttering the while a shrill +impromptu chant. When a male dancer joins in this street performance, as +is sometimes the case, it is apt to be a little coarse and vulgar.</p> + +<p>There is very little in Callao to detain us, and one is quite ready +to hasten on to Lima, the capital of Peru, hoping to escape the stench +and universal dirtiness of the port.</p> + +<p>The city of Lima has at this writing about one hundred and sixty +thousand inhabitants, and is situated six miles from Callao, its +shipping port, with which it is connected by two rival railways. These +roads are constructed upon an up-grade the whole distance, but the rise +is so gradual as to be almost imperceptible, though Lima is over five +hundred feet higher than Callao. The capital, which is clearly visible +from the water as we enter the harbor, presents from that distance, and +even from a much nearer point of view, a most pleasing picture, being +favorably situated on elevated ground, with its many spires and domes +standing forth in bold relief. It has, when seen from such a distance, a +certain oriental appearance, charming to the eye of a stranger. But it +is deceptive; it is indeed distance which lends enchantment in this +case, for upon arriving within its precincts one is rudely undeceived. +The apparently grand array of architecture on near inspection proves to +be flimsy and poor in detail: everything is bamboo frame and plaster; no +edifice is solid above the basement. Still, one can easily imagine how +attractive the place must have been in those viceregal days, the period +of its false glory and prosperity. The capital stands almost at the very +foot of the Cordillera which forms the coast range, and is built upon +both sides of the Rimac, over which stretches a substantial stone bridge +of six arches, very old and very homely, but all the more interesting +because it is so venerable. The width of the river at this point is over +five hundred feet. In the winter season it is a very moderate stream, +but when the summer sun asserts itself, the snow upon the neighboring +mountains yields to its warmth, and the Rio Rimac then becomes an alpine +torrent. It is like the Arno at Florence, which at certain seasons has +the form of a river without the circulation. The anecdote is told here +of a Yankee visitor to Lima who was being shown over the city by a +patriotic citizen, and who on coming to this spot remarked to his +chaperon: "You ought either to buy a river or sell this bridge."</p> + +<p>At the entrance of this ancient structure stands a lofty and very +effective archway, with two tall towers, and a clock in a central +elevation. Prominent over the arched entrance to the roadway is the +motto <i>Dios y La Patria</i>,—"God and Country." Nothing in Lima +is of more interest than this hoary, unique, moss-grown bridge.</p> + +<p>One pauses before the crumbling yet still substantial old structure +to recall the vivid scenes which must have been enacted in the long, +long past upon its roadway. Here madly contending parties have spilled +each other's blood, hundreds of gaudy church processions have crossed +these arches, bitter civil and foreign wars have raged about the bridge, +dark conspiracies have been whispered and ripened here, solitary murders +committed in the darkness of night, and lifeless bodies thrown from its +parapet; but the dumb witness still remains intact, having endured more +than three hundred years of use and abuse.</p> + +<p>It is not necessary to unpack one's waterproof or umbrella in Lima. +It never rains here, any more than it does in the region of Aden, at the +mouth of the Red Sea. All vegetable growth is more or less dependent +upon artificial irrigation, and in the environs where this is +judiciously applied the orange and lemon trees are heavy with golden +fruit, forming a rich contrast with the deep green of the luxuriant +plantain, the thick, lance-like agave, and the prolific banana. The city +and its environs would be as poorly off without the water of the Rimac +as would the Egyptians if deprived of the annual overflow of the +fertilizing Nile. Though the river is so inconsiderable at certain +seasons, still it does supply a certain quantity of water always, which +is improved to the utmost. Dews some times prevail at night, so heavy as +to be of partial benefit, giving to vegetation a breath of moisture, and +taking away the dead dryness of the atmosphere. This, however favorable +for vegetation, is considered unwholesome for humanity. The flowers and +shrubbery of the plaza droop for want of water, and are only preserved +by great care on the part of those in charge of them. In some of the +private gardens the pashinba palm-tree is seen, very peculiar in its +growth, being mounted as it were upon stilts, formed by the exposed +straight roots which radiate, like a series of props, to support the +tall trunk. At its apex is a singular, spear-like stem, pointing +straight skyward, without leaf or branch, just beneath which are the +graceful, long, curved palm leaves, exquisite in proportions, bending +like ostrich feathers. At first sight this tree looks like an artificial +production, in which nature has taken no part. Lying only twelve degrees +south of the equator, Lima has a tropical climate, but being also close +to the foothills of the Andes, she is near to a temperate district, so +that her market yields the fruits and vegetables of two zones.</p> + +<p>Pizarro, the ambitious and intrepid conqueror of Peru, here +established his capital in 1535, and here ended his days in 1541, dying +at the hands of the assassin, the natural and retributive end of a life +of gross bigotry, sensuality, recklessness, and almost unparalleled +cruelty. In a narrow street,—the Callejon de +Petateron,—leading out of the Plaza Mayor, a house is pointed out +as being the one in which Pizarro was assassinated. Both Pizarro in Peru +and Cortez in Mexico owed their phenomenal success to exceptional +circumstances, namely, to the civil wars which prevailed among the +native tribes of the countries they invaded. By shrewdly directing these +intestine troubles so as to aid their own purposes, each commander in +his special field achieved complete victory over races which, thus +disunited and pitted against each other, fell an easy prey to the +cunning invaders. Neither of these adventurers had sufficient strength +to contend against a united and determined people. Such an enemy on his +own ground would have swept the handful of Spaniards led by Pizarro from +the face of the earth by mere force of numbers.</p> + +<p>Soon after its foundation, Lima became the most luxurious and +profligate of the viceregal courts of Spain, and so continued until its +declaration of independence, and final separation from the mother +country. The most worthless and restless spirits about the throne of +Spain were favored in a desire to join Pizarro in the New World. The +home government, while purging itself of so undesirable an element, +added to the recklessness and utter immorality which reigned in the +atmosphere of Lima. Forty-three successive viceroys ruled Peru during +the Spanish occupancy. The nefarious Inquisition, steeped in the blood +of helpless and innocent natives, was active here long after its +decadence in Madrid, while the local churches, convents, and monasteries +accumulated untold wealth by a system of arbitrary taxation, and +iniquitous extortion exercised towards the native race. What better +could have been expected from Pizarro than to inaugurate and foster such +a state of affairs? Under the influence of designing priests and +lascivious monks, he was as clay in the potter's hands, being originally +only an illiterate swineherd, one who could neither read nor write. The +state documents put forth during his viceregency, still preserved and to +be seen in the archives of Lima, show that he could only affix his mark, +not even attempting to write his own name. Though Charles V. finally +indorsed and ennobled him with the title of Marques de la Conquista, and +appointed him viceroy of the conquered country, he was still and ever +the illegitimate, low-bred hind of Truxillo in continental Spain. The +palace of this man, who, with the exception of Cortez, was the greatest +human butcher of the age in which he lived, is still used for government +offices, while the senate occupies the council chamber of the old +Inquisition building, infamous for the bloody work done within its +walls. H. Willis Baxley, M. D., the admirable author, writes on the spot +as follows: "When the apologists of Pizarro attempt to shield his +crimes, and excuse his acts of cruelty by his religious zeal and holy +purpose of extending the dominion of the cross, they may well be +answered that the religion was unworthy of adoption which required for +its extension that the wife of the Inca Manco, then a prisoner in +Pizarro's power, should be 'stripped naked, bound to a tree, and in +presence of the camp be scourged with rods, and then shot to death with +arrows!' This cold-blooded brutality, and to a woman, should brand his +name with eternal infamy."</p> + +<p>As we have intimated, Lima, like Constantinople, looks at its best +from a distance, viewed so that the full and combined effect of its many +domes and spires can be taken in as a whole; but whether near to it or +far from it, few places in South America possess more poetical and +historical interest. Its past story reads like an Arabian Nights' tale. +Though the city is by no means what it has been, and wears an +unmistakable air of decayed greatness, and though foreign invaders and +civil wars have done their worst, Lima is still an extremely attractive +metropolis. Even the vandalism of the late Chilian invaders, who +outraged all the laws of civilized warfare (if there is any such thing +as civilized warfare), regardless of the rights of non-combatants, could +not obliterate her natural attractions and historical associations. The +Chilian soldiers destroyed solely for the sake of destroying, mutilated +statuary and works of art generally, besides burning historical +treasures and libraries; and yet these Chilians claim to be the highest +type of modern civilization on the southern continent. They strove to +ruin whatever they could not steal and carry away with them from Peru, +and, almost incredible to record, they wantonly killed the elephant in +the zoölogical garden of Lima, and purloined the small animals. Noble, +chivalrous Chilians! The rank and file of these people are the very +embodiment of ignorance and brutality. The Chilian soldier carries, as a +regular weapon, a curved knife called a <i>curvos</i>, with which he +cuts the throats of his enemies. At close quarters, instead of fighting +man-fashion, as nearly all other nations do, he springs like a fierce +bull-dog at his opponent's throat, and with his curvos cuts it from ear +to ear. After a battle, bands of these fiends in human shape go over the +field, seeking out the wounded who are still alive, deliberately cutting +their throats, and robbing their bodies of all valuables. It is Chilian +tactics to take no prisoners, give no quarter. These brave soldiers +would have burned Lima to the ground after gaining possession, had it +not been for the interference of the foreign ministers, who had national +men-of-war at Callao with which to back their arguments. These +guerrillas—for that is just about what the Chilian soldiers +are—knew full well that if even a small European battalion of +disciplined men were landed and brought against them, they would simply +be swept from the face of the earth.</p> + +<p>Lima is laid out with the streets in rectangular form, the central +point being the Plaza Mayor, in the shape of a quadrangle, each side of +which is five hundred feet in length. On the north side of this +admirably arranged square stand the buildings occupied as government +offices, together with the bishop's palace, and the cathedral +overshadowed by its two lofty towers. The corner-stone of this edifice +was laid by Pizarro with great ceremony. The spires, although presenting +such an effective appearance, are constructed of the most frail +material, such as bricks, stucco, and bamboo frames, but still, as a +whole, they are undeniably imposing. In this dry climate they are, +perhaps, enduring also. Like the façade of the church of St. Roche, in +Paris, this of the Lima cathedral is marked by bullet-holes +commemorating the Chilian invasion. The church is raised six or eight +feet above the level of the plaza, as is usual in South America, +standing upon a marble platform, reached by broad steps, well calculated +to enhance the really graceful proportions, and add to the effect of its +broad, high towers. The interior is quite commonplace, with the usual +tinsel, poor carvings, and wretched oil paintings, including several +grotesque Virgin Marys. These were too poor even for the Chilians to +steal. Beneath the grand altar rest the ashes of Pizarro, the cruel, +ambitious, reckless tool of the Romish Church. The cathedral was built +in 1540, but has undergone complete repairs and renovations from time to +time, being still considered to be one of the most imposing +ecclesiastical edifices in America. Its original cost is said to have +been nine million dollars, to obtain which Pizarro robbed the Inca +temples of all their elaborate gold and silver ornaments. According to +Prescott, the Spaniards took twenty-four thousand, eight hundred pounds +of gold, and eighty-two thousand ounces of silver from a single Inca +temple! Prescott is careful in his statements to warn us of the +unreliability of the Spanish writers, nearly all of whom were Romish +priests. Where figures are concerned they cannot be depended upon for a +moment. They also took special care to cover up the fiendish atrocities +of the Inquisition, and the extortions of the church as exercised +towards the poor, down-trodden native race.</p> + +<p>One's spirits partook of the sombre and austere atmosphere which +reigns at all times in this ancient edifice. It was very lonely. Not a +soul was to be seen during our brief visit to the cathedral at noonday, +except a couple of decrepit old beggars at the entrance, the faint, dull +glare of the burning candles about the altar only serving to deepen the +shadows and emphasize the darkness.</p> + +<p>The area of the Plaza Mayor embraces eight or nine acres of land, and +has often been the theatre of most sanguinary scenes, where hand-to-hand +fights have frequently taken place between insurgent citizens and +soldiers of the ruling power of the day, while many unpopular officials +have been hanged in the towers of the cathedral, from each of which +projects a gibbet! The middle of the plaza is beautified by a bronze +fountain with arboreal and floral surroundings. There was formerly some +statuary here, which the brave Chilians stole and carried away with +them, even purloining the iron benches, which they transported to +Valparaiso and Santiago. The streets running from this square, with the +exception of the Calle de los Mercaderes, have an atmosphere of +antiquity, which contrasts with the people one meets in them. Even the +turkey buzzards, acting as street scavengers, are of an antique species, +looking quite gray and dilapidated, as though they were a hundred years +old. In Vera Cruz the same species of bird, kept for a similar purpose, +have a brightness of feather, and jauntiness withal, quite unlike these +feathered street-cleaners of Lima. The "Street of the Merchants," just +referred to, is the fashionable shopping thoroughfare of Lima, where in +the afternoons the ladies and gentlemen are seen in goodly numbers +promenading in full dress.</p> + +<p>There is here the usual multiplicity of churches, convents, and +nunneries, such as are to be found in all Spanish cities, though the +latter establishments have been partially suppressed. Some of the +churches of Lima are fabulously expensive structures; indeed, the amount +of money squandered on churches and church property in this city is +marvelous. During the late war many articles of gold and silver, +belonging to them, were melted into coin, but some were hidden, and have +once more been restored to their original position in the churches. The +convent and church of San Francisco form one of the most costly groups +of buildings of the sort in America. The ornamental tiles of the +flooring are calculated, not by the square yard, but by the acre. There +are over a hundred Roman Catholic churches in Lima, few of which have +any architectural beauty, but all of which are crowded with vulgar wax +figures, wooden images, and bleeding saints. These churches in several +instances have very striking façades: that of La Merced, for instance; +but they are mere shams, as we have already said,—stucco and +plaster; they would not endure the wear of any other climate for a +single decade.</p> + +<p>With all this outside religious show in Lima, there is no +corresponding observance of the sacred character of the Sabbath. It is +held rather as a period of gross license and indulgence, and devoted to +bull-fights, cock-fighting, and drunkenness. The lottery-ticket vender +reaps the greatest harvest on this occasion, and the gambling saloons +are all open. Children pursue their every-day sports with increased +ardor, and the town puts on a gala day aspect. At night the streets are +ablaze, the theatres are crowded, and dissipation of every conceivable +sort waxes fast and furious until long past midnight. The ignorant mass +generally has drifted into observing the rituals of the Romish Church, +but there are many of the native Indians in Peru who cherish a belief of +a millennium in the near future; a time when the true prophet of the sun +will return and restore the grand old Inca dynasty. Just so the Moors of +Tangier hold to the belief that the time will yet come when they will be +restored to the glory of their fathers, and to their beloved Granada; +that the halls of the Alhambra will once more resound to the Moorish +lute, and the grand cathedral of Cordova shall again become a mosque of +the true faith.</p> + +<p>The fact that the bull-ring of Lima will accommodate sixteen thousand +people, and that it is always well filled on Sundays, speaks for itself. +At these sanguinary performances a certain class of women appear in +large numbers and in full dress, entering heartily into the spirit of +the occasion, and waving their handkerchiefs furiously to applaud the +actors in the tragedy, while the exhibitions are characterized by even +more cruelty than at Madrid or Havana.</p> + +<p class="p4"><a name="Ch_17"></a></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XVII.</h3> + +<p class="blockquote">A Grand Plaza.—Retribution.—The +University of Lima.—Significance of Ancient +Pottery.—Architecture.—Picturesque Dwelling.—Domestic +Scene.—Destructive Earthquakes.—Spanish Sway.—Women of +Lima.—Street Costumes.—Ancient Bridge of +Lima.—Newspapers.—Pawnbrokers' +Shops.—Exports.—An Ancient Mecca.—Home by Way of +Europe.</p> + +<p class="p2">The large square in Lima, known as Plazuela de la +Independencia, is grand in its proportions. One prominent feature is the +bronze statue of Bolivar, the famous South American patriot. It also +contains the old palace of the Inquisition, which looks to-day more like +a stable than a palace. This detestable institution attained to greater +scope and power here than it did even in Mexico. According to its own +records, during its existence in the capital of Peru, fifty-nine persons +were publicly burned alive as heretics, because they would not +acknowledge the Roman Catholic faith, thousands were tortured until in +their agony they agreed to anything, while thousands were publicly +scourged to the same end. Could the truth be fully known as regards the +bigoted reign of the priesthood at the time referred to in Peru, it +would form one of the most startling chapters of modern history. But +they were their own chroniclers, and suppressed everything which might +possibly reflect upon themselves or upon their church. Retribution was +slow, but it has come finally. The former convent of Guadeloupe is now +occupied for a worthy object as a high school; the main portion of the +cloisters of San Francisco have made way for the college of San Marco; +that of San Carlos has supplanted the Jesuits; San Juan de Dios is now +occupied as a railway station; while the once famous and infamous +convent of Santa Catalina serves to-day as the public market.</p> + +<p>The University of Lima was the first seat of education established in +the New World, or, to fix the period more clearly in the average +reader's mind, it dates from about seventy years before the historic +Mayflower reached the shore of New England. The National Library +contains some forty thousand volumes, also a collection of Peruvian +antiquities, besides many objects of natural history, mostly of such +examples as are indigenous to this section. There is one large oil +painting in this building by a native artist named Monteros, the canvas +measuring thirty by twenty feet. The title is "Obsequies of Atahualpa." +This was carried away by the thieving Chilians, but was finally restored +to Peru. It should be mentioned, to their lasting shame, that the books +which they stole at the same time have not been returned.</p> + +<p>The ancient pottery one sees in the collection of Peruvian +antiquities is wonderfully like that to be found in the Boulak Museum at +Cairo, in Egypt, Etruscan and Egyptian patterns prevailing over all +other forms, which strongly suggests a common origin. Besides those +which we have named, there are several other educational and art +institutions in the city, together with three hospitals, two lunatic +asylums, a college of arts, and the National Mint. One hospital, bearing +the name of the Second of May Hospital, is a very large and thoroughly +equipped establishment, occupying a whole square, and having +accommodations for seven hundred patients. There are four theatres, one +of which is conducted by the Chinese after their own peculiar fashion. +The outsides of the dwelling-houses are painted in various brilliant +colors, a practice which is found to prevail all over the southern +continent, and which exhibits an inherent love among the people for +warm, bright hues. The roofs of most houses serve as a depository for +hens and chickens, noisy gamecocks especially asserting themselves +before daybreak, forbidding all ideas of morning naps, unless one is +accustomed to the din. Many of the dwellings are picturesque and +attractive, with overhanging balconies and bay windows, the latter +oftentimes finished very elaborately with handsome wood carvings and +open-work lattices. As to the prevailing style of architecture, it is +Spanish and Moorish combined, each building being constructed about a +central patio, which is often rendered lovely with flowers and statuary, +together with small orange and lemon trees in large painted tubs.</p> + +<p>The abundance of cracks in the walls of the dwellings, both inside +and out, is a significant hint that we are in an earthquake country. A +slight shake is hardly spoken of at all; they come so often as to be +comparatively unheeded.</p> + +<p>In the environs of Lima the houses are built of adobe, rarely over +one story in height, with very thick walls, this style having been found +the best to resist the earthquakes, which must be very serious indeed to +affect a low adobe house with walls two feet and a half thick. About +these residences, which, not to put too fine a point upon the matter, +are really nothing but mud cabins, there is often seen an attractive and +refining feature, namely, small, but exceedingly pretty plots of +cultivated flowers. It is astonishing how perfectly they serve to throw +a flavor of refinement over all things else. The variety and fragrance +of the Lima roses are something long to be remembered, and the people +here seem to have a special love for this most popular of flowers. We +had missed them nearly everywhere else in South America; therefore they +were thrice welcome when they greeted us at Lima.</p> + +<p>There is a dwelling-house in this city belonging to an old and rich +family, which is worth a pilgrimage to see. It is built of stone, +artistically carved, with a square balcony and bay window on each side +of the tall, spacious, and elaborately ornamented doorway. It is clearly +Moorish in type, and must be nearly or quite three hundred years old. +Photographs are found of its façade in the art stores of Lima, and most +visitors bring one away with them as a memento of the place. The house +stands even with the thorough-*fare, and is only two stories in height, +but is a beautiful relic of the past. It would be quite in accordance +with the surroundings, were it to be transported to Cairo or Bagdad.</p> + +<p>On the way from the Plaza Mayor to this attractive bit of Morisco +architecture, one gets frequent glimpses of pretty, cool, flower-decked +patios, about which the low picturesque dwellings are erected, and where +domestic life is seen in partial seclusion. An infant is playing on the +marble paved court, watched by a dark Indian nurse. An ermine-colored +cockatoo with a gorgeous yellow plume is gravely eying the child from +its perch. Creeping vines twine about the slim columns which support a +low arcade above the entrance floor. Farther in, a bit of statuary peeps +out from among the greenery, which is growing in high-colored wooden +tubs. The vine, which clings tenaciously to the small columns, is the +passion plant, its flowers seeming almost artificial in their +regularity, brightness, and abundance. A fair señora in diaphanous robes +reclines at ease in a low, pillowed seat, and the señor, cigarette in +mouth, swings leisurely in a hammock.</p> + +<p>It was a pretty, characteristic family picture, of which we should be +glad to possess a photograph.</p> + +<p>Few cities have a more agreeable climate. The range of the +thermometer throughout the year being for the winter season from 68° to +75°, and in the summer from 80° to 88°. The Humboldt current, as it is +called, sweeps along the coast from the Antarctic circle, causing a much +lower temperature here than exists in the same latitude on the other +side of the continent. Lima, it will be remembered, is situated about +twelve degrees from the equatorial line. The climate is of exquisite +softness, beneath a sky serenely blue; every breath is a pleasure, +tranquillizing to both mind and body. Rain is of very rare occurrence, +as we have intimated, but earthquakes are frequent. The most destructive +visit of this sort in modern times was in 1745, which at the same time +destroyed the port of Callao. Though Lima is blessed with such a +seemingly equable climate, for some unexplained reason it is very far +from being a healthy place. The great mortality which prevails here is +entirely out of proportion to the number of inhabitants. There must be +some local reason for this. Even in the days of the Incas, the present +site of the city was deemed to be a spot only fit for criminals; that is +to say, a penal colony was located here, where the earlier Peruvians +placed condemned people, and where a high rate of mortality was not +regarded as being entirely objectionable. The Campo Santo of Lima, in +the immediate environs of the city, is built with tall thick walls +containing niches four ranges high, and recalls those of the city of +Mexico. It is not customary to bury in the ground. Some of the monuments +are quite elaborate, but the place generally has a neglected appearance, +and no attempt seems made to give it a pleasing aspect. It has neither +flowers nor trees.</p> + +<p>The Spaniards, during a sway which lasted over three hundred years, +were terrible taskmasters in Peru, enslaving, crushing, and massacring +the natives, just as they did in Cuba and Mexico. The Indians were +looked upon as little more than beasts of burden, and their lives or +well-being were of no sort of account, except so far as they served the +purposes of the invading hordes of Spaniards. The race which has been +produced by intermarriage and promiscuous intercourse is a very +heterogeneous one, born of aborigines, negroes, mulattoes, Spaniards, +and Portuguese. In religion, as well as in daily life, the habits of the +people are Castilian, whether red, yellow, or black. There is also a +considerable Chinese population, which, however, as a rule, maintains +isolation from other nationalities so far as intermarriage or close +intimacy is concerned. Many of the Chinese keep cheap eating-houses, and +always seem to be industrious and thrifty. They are the outcome of the +coolie trade, by which the Peruvian plantations were for years supplied +with laborers,—slave labor, for that is exactly what it was to all +intents and purposes, call it what we may. But this cruel and unjust +system has long been suppressed. Most of the small shops are kept by +Italians, and the best hotels by Frenchmen. The banking-houses are +usually conducted by Germans, while Americans and Englishmen divide the +engineering work, the construction of railways, with such other +progressive enterprises as require a large share of brains, energy, and +capital.</p> + +<p>The women are generally handsome and of the Spanish type, yet they +differ therefrom in some important and very obvious particulars. Their +gypsy complexions, jet black hair and eyes, white, regular teeth, with +full red lips, form a combination very pleasing to the eye. It must be +acknowledged, however, that their complexions are aided by cosmetics. +The features are small and regular, the ears being set particularly +close to the head, which is always a noticeable peculiarity when it +prevails. They are vivacious and mirthful, yet not forward or immodest. +As regards the youthful portion, conventionality prevents all exhibition +of the latter trait. In dress they follow the styles of Boston, New +York, and Paris. As their brothers have been mostly educated in the +cities named, they very generally speak French and English. Many of the +ladies have themselves enjoyed the advantages of English, French, or +North American schools in their girlhood. A certain etiquette as regards +the society of men is very strictly observed here. No gentleman can +associate with a young lady unless she is chaperoned by her mother or a +married sister. From what we know of Spanish and Italian character, we +are not at all surprised at the punctiliousness adhered to in both +countries in this regard. There are very good reasons why such rules are +imperative, not only in South America, but in continental Europe. Like +most of the Spanish women, these of Lima, after the age of twenty-five, +though they are rather short, and of small frames, nearly always develop +into a decided fullness of figure.</p> + +<p>There is a semi-oriental seclusion observed at all times as regards +the sex in this country. They are rarely seen upon the streets, except +when driving, or going and coming from church; but one need not watch +very closely to see many inquisitive eyes peeping from behind the +curtained balconies which overhang the thoroughfares, and to catch +occasionally stolen glances from pretty, coquettish owners, who would be +very hospitable to strangers if they dared.</p> + +<p>Human nature is much the same in Lima as elsewhere. When seen on the +streets, the ladies generally wear the black "manta" drawn close about +the head and shoulders and partially covering the face. The manta is a +shawl and bonnet combined, or rather it takes the place of a bonnet, and +suggests the lace veil so universally worn at Havana, Seville, and +Madrid, also recalling the yashmak worn by the women of the East. The +Lima ladies cover half the face, including one eye; those of Egypt only +cover the lower part of the face, leaving both eyes exposed.</p> + +<p>We are speaking of the better class of the metropolis. Among the more +common people, instances of great personal beauty are frequent. One sees +daily youthful girls on the streets who would be pronounced beautiful +under nearly any circumstances, an inheritance only too often proving a +fatal legacy to the owner, forming a source of temptation in a community +where morals are held of such slight account, except among the more +refined classes, of whom we have been speaking.</p> + +<p>One peculiarity is especially noticeable here among the native race: +it is that the Peruvians seem to be mere lookers-on as regards the +business of life in their country. All of the important trade is, as we +have said, in the hands of foreigners. The English control the shipping +interests, almost entirely, while the skilled machinists are nearly all +Americans, with a few Scotchmen. We repeat this fact as showing the +do-nothing nature of the natives, and also as signifying that for true +progress, indeed, for the growth of civilization in any desirable +direction, emigration from Europe and North America must be depended +upon.</p> + +<p>The heavy alcoves of the old stone bridge at Lima are appropriated by +the fruit women, whose tempting display forms glowing bits of color. The +thorough-*fares are crowded by itinerant peddlers of all sorts of +merchandise. Milk-women come from the country, mounted astride of small +horses or donkeys; water carriers trot about on jackasses, sitting +behind their water jars and uttering piercing cries; Chinese food +venders, with articles made from mysterious sources, balance their +baskets at either end of long poles placed across their shoulders; the +lottery-ticket vender, loud voiced and urgent, is ever present; +newspaper boys, after our own fashion, shout "El Pais," or "El +Nacional;" chicken dealers, with baskets full of live birds on their +head and half a dozen hanging from each hand, solicit your patronage; +beggars of both sexes, but mostly lazy, worthless men, feign pitiful +lameness, while importuning every stranger for a centavo; bright, +careless girls and boys rush hither and thither, full of life and +spirit,—black, yellow, brown, and white, all mingling together on +an equal footing. The absence of wheeled vehicles is noticeable, the +tramway-cars gliding rapidly past the pedestrians, while pack-horses and +donkeys transport mostly such merchandise as is not carried on the heads +of men and women. Of the better class of citizens who help to make up +this polyglot community of the metropolis, one very easily distinguishes +the American, French, German, and English; each nationality is somehow +distinctively marked.</p> + +<p>The stock of goods offered for sale in the pawn-*brokers' shops, as a +rule, is very significant in foreign cities; here the shelves of these +dealers are full of valuable domestic articles, which the fallen +fortunes of the once rich Lima families have compelled them to part with +from time to time in a struggle to keep the wolf from the door. The +Chilians took all they could readily find of both public and private +property, and though they ruined financially some of the best families, +they did not succeed in getting everything which was portable and +valuable. Heirlooms are offered in these shops for comparatively +trifling sums, such as rich old lace; diamonds; superbly wrought +bracelets in gold, rubies, topazes, and other precious stones, set and +unset; gold and silver spoons and forks of curious designs, and of which +only one set were ever manufactured, intended to fill a special order +and suit the fancy of some rich family. Drinking-cups bearing royal +crests, and others with the arms of noble Castilian families engraved +upon them, are numerous. There are also swords with jeweled hilts, gold +and silver table ornaments, together with antique china, which might +rival the Satsuma of Japan. Curio hunters have secured many, nay, nearly +all, of the very choicest of these domestic relics, which they have +mostly taken to London, where they obtained fabulous prices for +them.</p> + +<p>We were told of an enterprising Yankee who invested one thousand +dollars in these articles, took them to England, and promptly realized +some eleven thousand dollars above all his expenses upon the venture. +Returning to Rio Janeiro, on the east coast, he purchased precious +stones with his increased capital, and, strange to say, although he was +by no means an expert, among his gems he secured an old mine diamond of +great value at a low figure, which, having been crudely cut, did not +exhibit its real excellence. Taking the whole of his second purchase to +Paris, he disposed of his gems at a large advance, and finally returned +to New York with a net capital exceeding forty thousand dollars. This +enterprising and successful individual bore the euphonious name of +Smyth,—Smyth with a <i>y</i>,—Alfred Smyth.</p> + +<p>The three watering-places, or country villages of Miraflores, +Baranco, and Chorillos, are connected with Lima by railway, and in these +resorts many city merchants have their summer homes, occupying +picturesque ranches. The Chilians sacked and burned these places during +the war, but they have been mostly rebuilt, and are once more in a +thriving condition.</p> + +<p>Peru was celebrated for centuries as the most prolific gold and +silver producing country in the world; her very name has long been the +synonym for riches. Although the product of the precious metals is still +considerable, yet it is quite insignificant compared with the revenue +which she has realized from the export of guano and phosphates. The +former article, as we have already said, has become virtually exhausted, +and the latter source of supply, still immensely prolific and valuable, +has been stolen from her bodily by the Chilians, so that Peru has now to +fall back upon industry and the remaining natural resources of the +soil.</p> + +<p>The most remarkable peculiarity in the physical formation of Peru is +the double Cordillera of the Andes, which traverse it from southeast to +northwest, separating the country into three distinct regions, which +differ materially from each other in climate, soil, and vegetation. To +the proximity of the range nearest to the coast is undoubtedly to be +attributed the frequent earthquakes which disturb the shore, whether the +volcanoes are apparently extinct or not. It may be reasonably doubted if +any of the volcanoes are absolutely extinct, in the full sense of the +term. They may be inoperative, so far as can be seen, for an entire +century, and at its close break out in full vigor. In consulting the +authorities upon this subject we find that, since 1570, there have been +sixty-nine destructive earthquakes recorded as having taken place on the +west coast of South America. The most terrible of them was that already +referred to, which destroyed Callao in 1745. It is stated that the +shocks at that time continued with more or less violence for three +consecutive months, and the records of the event further state that +there were two hundred and twenty distinct shocks within the twenty-four +hours following the enormous tidal wave which overwhelmed Callao. At +present, hardly a week passes without decided indications of volcanic +disturbance occurring, but these are of so slight a nature, +comparatively speaking, that but little attention is paid to them by the +native population, though it is true that sensitive strangers often turn +pale at such an event and tremble with fearful anticipations.</p> + +<p>About twenty miles south of Lima, on elevated ground which overlooks +the Pacific, is the prehistoric spot known as Pachacamac, in the valley +of the Lurin River. The name signifies the "Creator of the World," to +whom the city and its temples were originally dedicated. Here, upon the +edge of the desert, once stood the sacred city of a people who preceded +the Incas, and who have left in these interesting, mouldering ruins +tokens of their advanced civilization, as clearly defined as are those +of Thebes, in far away Egypt. Another fact should not be lost sight of +in this connection, that many ancient remains to be found in this +neighborhood evince a higher degree of intelligence, in their +constructive belongings, than do any evidences left to us respecting the +days of the Incas, with whom we are in a measure familiar. The +archæologists, whose profession it is to carefully weigh even the +slightest tangible evidence which time has spared, long since came to +this conclusion.</p> + +<p>Pachacamac was the Mecca of South America, or at least of the most +civilized portion of it, if we may judge by present appearances, and by +the testimony of history as far back as it reaches.</p> + +<p>The ruins at Pachacamac consist of walls formed of <ins title="'adode' +in the original"> adobe</ins> and sun-dried bricks, some of which can be +traced, notwithstanding the many earthquakes which have shaken the +neighborhood. The site of the ruins is a hilly spot, and the sands have +drifted so as to cover them in many places, just as the Sphinx and the +base of the pyramids have been covered, near Cairo. Specific ruins are +designated as having once been the grand temple of the sun, and others +as the house of the sacred virgins of the sun. It is very obvious that +the Incas destroyed a grand and spacious temple here, which legend tells +us was heavily adorned with silver and gold, to make way for one of +their own dedicated to the worship of the sun. Who this race were and +whence they came, with so considerable a system of civilization, is a +theme which has long absorbed the speculative antiquarian. It is easy +enough to construct theories which may meet the case, but it is +difficult to support them when they are subjected to the cold arguments +of reason and the test of known history. Actual knowledge is a great +iconoclast, and smashes the poetical images of the unreliable historian +with a ruthless hand. The Spanish records relating to the period of +early discovery here, as also of Pizarro's career and the doing of the +agents of the Romish Church, have long since been proven to be +absolutely unworthy of belief.</p> + +<p>About the ruins of Pachacamac was once a sacred burial place, where +well-preserved mummies are still to be found, but the great, silent, +ruined city itself does not contain one living inhabitant. The +graveyard—the Campo Santo—remains, as it were, intact, but +the proud city, with its grand temples dedicated to unknown gods, has +crumbled to dust.</p> + +<p>Curiously carved gold and silver vases and ornaments, exhibiting the +exercise of a high degree of artistic skill, have been exhumed in the +vast graveyard surrounding these ruins, whose extent, if judged by the +number of interments which have taken place here, must have been ten +times larger than the present site of Lima, and it must have contained a +population many times larger than that of the present capital of Peru. +In the mouths of the well-preserved mummies found buried here, we are +told that gold coins were found, presumably placed there to pay for +ferriage across the river of death. Here we have a fact also worthy of +note. It thus appears that this people must have had a circulating +medium in the shape of gold coin. As the placing of coin in the mouth of +the deceased was a custom of the ancient Greeks, may it not be that +these people came originally from Greece or from some contiguous +country?</p> + +<p>There are numerous other ancient remains in the neighborhood of Lima, +of which even tradition fails to give any account. Antiquarians find +many clues to special knowledge of the past in the remains which can be +exhumed in places on the coast of Chili and Peru, in the ancient graves +where the nitrous soil has preserved not only the bodies of a former +people, but also their tools, weapons, and domestic utensils.</p> + +<p class="center">* * * * *</p> + +<p>To reach the United States from Callao, the most direct course is to +sail northward fifteen hundred miles to Panama, and cross the isthmus, +again taking ship from the Atlantic side; but the author's family +awaited him in Europe, and as the Pacific mail service exactly met his +requirements, he sailed southward, touching at several of the ports +already visited, crossing the Atlantic by way of the Canary and Cape de +Verde Islands to Lisbon, thence to Southampton and to London. Joining +his family, he crossed the Atlantic from Liverpool to Boston, after an +absence of seven months, traveling in all of this equatorial journey +some thirty thousand miles without any serious mishap, and having +acquired a largely augmented fund of pleasurable memories.</p> + +<div class="p4 center box"> + +<p class="center"><b>By +Maturin M. Ballou</b>.</p> + +<p class="p2 indent">EQUATORIAL AMERICA. Descriptive of a Visit to St. +Thomas, Martinique, Barbadoes, and the Principal Capitals of South +America. A New Book. Crown 8vo, $1.50.</p> + +<p class="indent">AZTEC LAND. Crown 8vo, $1.50.</p> + +<p class="indent">THE NEW ELDORADO. A Summer Journey to Alaska. Crown +8vo, $1.50.</p> + +<p class="indent">ALASKA. The New Eldorado. A Summer Journey to Alaska. +<i>Tourist's Edition</i>, with 4 maps. 16mo, $1.00.</p> + +<p class="indent">DUE WEST; or, <span class="smcap">Round the World in +Ten Months</span>. Crown 8vo, $1.50.</p> + +<p class="indent">DUE SOUTH; or, <span class="smcap">Cuba Past and +Present</span>. Crown 8vo, $1.50.</p> + +<p class="indent">UNDER THE SOUTHERN CROSS; or, <span +class="smcap">Travels in Australasia</span>. Crown 8vo, $1.50.</p> + +<p class="indent">DUE NORTH; or, <span class="smcap">Glimpses of +Scandinavia and Russia</span>. Crown 8vo, $1.50.</p> + +<p class="indent">GENIUS IN SUNSHINE AND SHADOW. Crown 8vo, $1.50.</p> + +<p class="indent">EDGE-TOOLS OF SPEECH. Selected and edited by Mr. <span +class="smcap">Ballou</span>. 8vo, $3.50.</p> + +<p class="indent">A TREASURY OF THOUGHT. An Encyclopedia of Quotations. +8vo, full gilt, $3.50.</p> + +<p class="indent">PEARLS OF THOUGHT. 16mo, full gilt, $1.25.</p> + +<p class="indent">NOTABLE THOUGHTS ABOUT WOMEN. Crown 8vo, $1.50.</p> + +<p class="p2 center">HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & COMPANY,<br /> + +<span class="smcap">Boston and New York</span>.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="p4 tnote"> + +<h3>Transcriber's Notes:</h3> + +<p>The list of books by Maturin M. Ballou was moved from the beginning +to the end of the book.</p> + +<p>Obsolete and alternate spellings of words were not changed. Hyphens +were added to or deleted from compound words to maintain consistency +within the text.</p> + +<p>The remaining changes are indicated by dotted lines under the text. +Scroll the mouse over the word and the original text will <ins +title="Original reads 'apprear'"> appear</ins>.</p> + +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Equatorial America, by Maturin M. 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Ballou + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Equatorial America + Descriptive of a Visit to St. Thomas, Martinique, Barbadoes, + and the Principal Capitals of South America + +Author: Maturin M. Ballou + +Release Date: August 3, 2011 [EBook #36963] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EQUATORIAL AMERICA *** + + + + +Produced by Julia Miller, Carol Ann Brown, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + EQUATORIAL AMERICA + + _DESCRIPTIVE OF A VISIT TO ST. THOMAS + MARTINIQUE, BARBADOES, AND + THE PRINCIPAL CAPITALS + OF SOUTH AMERICA_ + + BY + + MATURIN M. BALLOU + + [Illustration: Printer's logo] + + BOSTON AND NEW YORK + HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY + The Riverside Press, Cambridge + 1892 + + + + + Copyright, 1892, + BY MATURIN M. BALLOU. + + _All rights reserved._ + + _The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A._ + Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton & Company. + + + + + DEDICATED + TO + CAPTAIN E. C. BAKER + OF THE + _STEAMSHIP VIGILANCIA_ + WITH WARM APPRECIATION OF HIS QUALITIES + AS A GENTLEMAN + AND AN ACCOMPLISHED SEAMAN + + [Illustration: decoration] + + + + +PREFACE. + + +"I am a part of all that I have seen," says Tennyson, a sentiment which +every one of large experience will heartily indorse. With the +extraordinary facilities for travel available in modern times, it is a +serious mistake in those who possess the means, not to become familiar +with the various sections of the globe. Vivid descriptions and excellent +photographs give us a certain knowledge of the great monuments of the +world, both natural and artificial, but the traveler always finds the +reality a new revelation, whether it be the marvels of a Yellowstone +Park, a vast oriental temple, Alaskan glaciers, or the Pyramids of +Ghiza. The latter, for instance, do not differ from the statistics which +we have so often seen recorded, their great, dominating outlines are the +same as pictorially delineated, but when we actually stand before them, +they are touched by the wand of enchantment, and spring into visible +life. Heretofore they have been shadows, henceforth they are tangible +and real. The best descriptions fail to inspire us, experience alone can +do that. What words can adequately depict the confused grandeur of the +Falls of Schaffhausen; the magnificence of the Himalayan +range,--roof-tree of the world; the thrilling beauty of the Yosemite +Valley; the architectural loveliness of the Taj Mahal, of India; the +starry splendor of equatorial nights; the maritime charms of the Bay of +Naples; or the marvel of the Midnight Sun at the North Cape? It is +personal observation alone which truly satisfies, educating the eye and +enriching the understanding. If we can succeed in imparting, a portion +of our enjoyment to others, we enhance our own pleasure, and therefore +these notes of travel are given to the public. + + M. M. B. + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + CHAPTER I. + + PAGE + + Commencement of a Long Journey.--The Gulf + Stream.--Hayti.--Sighting St. Thomas.--Ship + Rock.--Expert Divers.--Fidgety Old Lady.--An + Important Island.--The Old + Slaver.--Aborigines.--St. Thomas + Cigars.--Population.--Tri-Mountain.--The + Negro Paradise.--Hurricanes.--Variety of + Fish.--Coaling Ship.--The Firefly Dance.--A + Weird Scene.--An Antique Anchor 1 + + + CHAPTER II. + + Curious Seaweed.--Professor Agassiz.--Myth of + a Lost Continent.--Island of Martinique.--An + Attractive Place.--Statue of the Empress + Josephine.--Birthplace of Madame de + Maintenon.--City of St. Pierre.--Mont + Pelee.--High Flavored Specialty.--Grisettes + of Maritinque.--A Botanical + Garden.--Defective Drainage.--A Fatal + Enemy.--A Cannibal Snake.--The Climate 33 + + + CHAPTER III. + + English Island of Barbadoes.--Bridgetown the + Capital.--The Manufacture of Rum.--A + Geographical Expert.--Very English.--A Pest + of Ants.--Exports.--The Ice House.--A Dense + Population.--Educational.--Marine + Hotel.--Habits of + Gambling.--Hurricanes.--Curious + Antiquities.--The Barbadoes Leg.--Wakeful + Dreams.--Absence of Twilight.--Departure from + the Island 51 + + + CHAPTER IV. + + Curious Ocean Experiences.--The Delicate + Nautilus.--Flying-Fish.--The Southern + Cross.--Speaking a Ship at Sea.--Scientific + Navigation.--South America as a Whole.--Fauna + and Flora.--Natural Resources of a Wonderful + Land.--Rivers, Plains, and Mountain + Ranges.--Aboriginal + Tribes.--Population.--Political + Divisions.--Civil Wars.--Weakness of South + American States 68 + + + CHAPTER V. + + City of Para.--The Equatorial Line.--Spanish + History.--The King of Waters.--Private + Gardens.--Domestic Life in Northern + Brazil.--Delicious Pineapples.--Family + Pets.--Opera House.--Mendicants.--A Grand + Avenue.--Botanical Garden.--India-Rubber + Tree.--Gathering the Raw + Material.--Monkeys.--The Royal + Palm.--Splendor of Equatorial Nights 94 + + + CHAPTER VI. + + Island of Marajo.--Rare and Beautiful + Birds.--Original Mode of Securing + Humming-Birds.--Maranhao.--Educational.-- + Value of Native + Forests.--Pernambuco.--Difficulty of + Landing.--An Ill-Chosen Name.--Local + Scenes.--Uncleanly Habits of the + People.--Great Sugar Mart.--Native Houses.--A + Quaint Hostelry.--Catamarans.--A Natural + Breakwater.--Sailing down the Coast 115 + + + CHAPTER VII. + + Port of Bahia.--A Quaint Old City.--Former + Capital of Brazil.--Whaling + Interests.--Beautiful + Panorama.--Tramways.--No Color Line + Here.--The Sedan Chair.--Feather Flowers.--A + Great Orange Mart.--Passion Flower + Fruit.--Coffee, Sugar, and Tobacco.--A Coffee + Plantation.--Something about + Diamonds.--Health of the City.--Curious + Tropical Street Scenes 138 + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + Cape Frio.--Rio Janeiro.--A Splendid + Harbor.--Various Mountains.--Botafogo + Bay.--The Hunchback.--Farewell to the + Vigilancia.--Tijuca.--Italian + Emigrants.--City Institutions.--Public + Amusements.--Street + Musicians.--Churches.--Narrow + Thoroughfares.--Merchants' Clerks.--Railroads + in Brazil.--Natural Advantages of the + City.--The Public Plazas.--Exports 155 + + + CHAPTER IX. + + Outdoor Scenes in Rio Janeiro.--The Little + Marmoset.--The Fish Market.--Secluded + Women.--The Romish Church.--Botanical + Garden.--Various Species of Trees.--Grand + Avenue of Royal Palms.--About + Humming-Birds.--Climate of Rio.--Surrounded + by Yellow Fever.--The Country + Inland.--Begging on the + Streets.--Flowers.--"Portuguese Joe."--Social + Distinctions 180 + + + CHAPTER X. + + Petropolis.--Summer Residence of the Citizens + of Rio.--Brief Sketch of the late Royal + Family.--Dom Pedro's Palace.--A Delightful + Mountain Sanitarium.--A Successful but + Bloodless Revolution.--Floral + Delights.--Mountain Scenery.--Heavy + Gambling.--A German + Settlement.--Cascatinha.--Remarkable + Orchids.--Local Types.--A Brazilian + Forest.--Compensation 201 + + + CHAPTER XI. + + Port of Santos.--Yellow Fever Scourge.--Down + the Coast to Montevideo.--The + Cathedral.--Pamperos.--Domestic + Architecture.--A Grand Thoroughfare.--City + Institutions.--Commercial Advantages.--The + Opera House.--The Bull-Fight.--Beggars on + Horseback.--City Shops.--A Typical + Character.--Intoxication.--The Campo + Santo.--Exports.--Rivers and Railways 217 + + + CHAPTER XII. + + Buenos Ayres.--Extent of the Argentine + Republic.--Population.--Narrow + Streets.--Large Public + Squares.--Basques.--Poor Harbor.--Railway + System.--River Navigation.--Tramways.--The + Cathedral.--Normal + Schools.--Newspapers.--Public + Buildings.--Calle Florida.--A Busy + City.--Mode of furnishing + Milk.--Environs.--Commercial and Political + Growth.--The New Capital 244 + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + City of Rosario.--Its Population.--A + Pretentious Church.--Ocean + Experiences.--Morbid Fancies.--Strait of + Magellan.--A Great Discoverer.--Local + Characteristics.--Patagonians and + Fuegians.--Giant Kelp.--Unique Mail + Box.--Punta Arenas.--An Ex-Penal Colony.--The + Albatross.--Natives.--A Naked + People.--Whales.--Sea-Birds.--Glaciers.-- + Mount Sarmiento.--A Singular Story 271 + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + The Land of Fire.--Cape Horn.--In the Open + Pacific.--Fellow Passengers.--Large + Sea-Bird.--An Interesting Invalid.--A Weary + Captive.--A Broken-Hearted Mother.--Study of + the Heavens.--The Moon.--Chilian Civil + War.--Concepcion.--A Growing + City.--Commercial Importance.--Cultivating + City Gardens on a New Plan.--Important Coal + Mines.--Delicious Fruits 297 + + + CHAPTER XV. + + Valparaiso.--Principal South American Port of + the Pacific.--A Good Harbor.--Tallest + Mountain on this Continent.--The Newspaper + Press.--Warlike Aspect.--Girls as Car + Conductors.--Chilian Exports.--Foreign + Merchants.--Effects of Civil War.--Gambling + in Private Houses.--Immigration.--Culture of + the Grape.--Agriculture.--Island of Juan + Fernandez 315 + + + CHAPTER XVI. + + The Port of Callao.--A Submerged + City.--Peruvian Exports.--A Dirty and + Unwholesome Town.--Cinchona Bark.--The + Andes.--The Llama.--A National Dance.--City + of Lima.--An Old and Interesting + Capital.--Want of Rain.--Pizarro and His + Crimes.--A Grand Cathedral.--Chilian + Soldiers.--Costly Churches of Peru.--Roman + Catholic Influence.--Desecration of the + Sabbath 334 + + + CHAPTER XVII. + + A Grand Plaza.--Retribution.--The University + of Lima.--Significance of Ancient + Pottery.--Architecture.--Picturesque + Dwelling.--Domestic Scene.--Destructive + Earthquakes.--Spanish Sway.--Women of + Lima.--Street Costumes.--Ancient Bridge of + Lima.--Newspapers.--Pawnbrokers' + Shops.--Exports.--An Ancient Mecca.--Home by + Way of Europe. 355 + + + + + EQUATORIAL AMERICA. + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + Commencement of a Long Journey.--The Gulf + Stream.--Hayti.--Sighting St. Thomas.--Ship Rock.--Expert + Divers.--Fidgety Old Lady.--An Important Island.--The Old + Slaver.--Aborigines.--St. Thomas + Cigars.--Population.--Tri-Mountain.--Negro + Paradise.--Hurricanes.--Variety of Fish.--Coaling Ship.--The + Firefly Dane.--A Weird Scene.--An Antique Anchor. + + +In starting upon foreign travel, one drops into the familiar routine on +shipboard much after the same fashion wherever bound, whether crossing +the Atlantic eastward, or steaming to the south through the waters of +the Caribbean Sea; whether in a Peninsular and Oriental ship in the +Indian Ocean, or on a White Star liner in the Pacific bound for Japan. +The steward brings a cup of hot coffee and a slice of dry toast to one's +cabin soon after the sun rises, as a sort of eye-opener; and having +swallowed that excellent stimulant, one feels better fortified for the +struggle to dress on the uneven floor of a rolling and pitching ship. +Then comes the brief promenade on deck before breakfast, a liberal +inhalation of fresh air insuring a good appetite. There is no hurry at +this meal. There is so little to do at sea, and so much time to do it +in, that passengers are apt to linger at table as a pastime, and even +multiply their meals in number. As a rule, we make up our mind to follow +some instructive course of reading while at sea, but, alas! we never +fulfill the good resolution. An entire change of habits and associations +for the time being is not favorable to such a purpose. The tonic of the +sea braces one up to an unwonted degree, evinced by great activity of +body and mind. Favored by the unavoidable companionship of individuals +in the circumscribed space of a ship, acquaintances are formed which +often ripen into lasting friendship. Inexperienced voyagers are apt to +become effusive and over-confiding, abrupt intimacies and unreasonable +dislikes are of frequent occurrence, and before the day of separation, +the student of human nature has seen many phases exhibited for his +analysis. + +Our vessel, the Vigilancia, is a large, commodious, and well-appointed +ship, embracing all the modern appliances for comfort and safety at sea. +She is lighted by electricity, having a donkey engine which sets in +motion a dynamo machine, converting mechanical energy into electric +energy. Perhaps the reader, though familiar with the effect of this mode +of lighting, has never paused to analyze the very simple manner in which +it is produced. The current is led from the dynamos to the various +points where light is desired by means of insulated wires. The lamps +consist of a fine thread of carbon inclosed in a glass bulb from which +air has been entirely excluded. This offers such resistance to the +current passing through it that the energy is expended in raising the +carbon to a white heat, thus forming the light. The permanence of the +carbon is insured by the absence of oxygen. If the glass bulb is broken +and atmospheric air comes in contact with the carbon, it is at once +destroyed by combustion, and all light from this source ceases. These +lamps are so arranged that each one can be turned off or on at will +without affecting others. The absence of offensive smell or smoke, the +steadiness of the light, unaffected by the motion of the ship, and its +superior brilliancy, all join to make this mode of lighting a vessel a +positive luxury. + +Some pleasant hours were passed on board the Vigilancia, between New +York and the West Indies, in the study of the Gulf Stream, through which +we were sailing,--that river in the ocean with its banks and bottom of +cold water, while its current is always warm. Who can explain the +mystery of its motive power? What keeps its tepid water, in a course of +thousands of miles, from mingling with the rest of the sea? Whence does +it really come? The accepted theories are familiar enough, but we place +little reliance upon them, the statements of scientists are so easily +formulated, but often so difficult to prove. As Professor Maury tells +us, there is in the world no other flow of water so majestic as this; it +has a course more rapid than either the Mississippi or the Amazon, and a +volume more than a thousand times greater. The color of this remarkable +stream, whose fountain is supposed to be the Gulf of Mexico and the +Caribbean Sea, is so deep a blue off our southern shore that the line of +demarcation from its surroundings is quite obvious, the Gulf water +having apparently a decided reluctance to mingling with the rest of the +ocean, a peculiarity which has been long and vainly discussed without a +satisfactory solution having been reached. The same phenomenon has been +observed in the Pacific, where the Japanese current comes up from the +equator, along the shore of that country, crossing Behring's Sea to the +continent of North America, and, turning southward along the coast of +California, finally disappears. Throughout all this ocean passage, like +the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic, it retains its individuality, and is +quite separate from the rest of the ocean. The fact that the water is +saltier than that of the Atlantic is by some supposed to account for the +indigo blue of the Gulf Stream. + +The temperature of this water is carefully taken on board all well +regulated ships, and is recorded in the log. On this voyage it was found +to vary from 75 deg. to 80 deg. Fahrenheit. + +Our ship had touched at Newport News, Va., after leaving New York, to +take the U. S. mail on board; thence the course was south-southeast, +giving the American continent a wide berth, and heading for the Danish +island of St. Thomas, which lies in the latitude of Hayti, but a long +way to the eastward of that uninteresting island. We say uninteresting +with due consideration, though its history is vivid enough to satisfy +the most sensational taste. It has produced its share of native heroes, +as well as native traitors, while the frequent upheavals of its mingled +races have been no less erratic than destructive. The ignorance and +confusion which reign among the masses on the island are deplorable. +Minister Douglass utterly failed to make anything out of Hayti. The +lower classes of the people living inland come next to the inhabitants +of Terra del Fuego in the scale of humanity, and are much inferior to +the Maoris of New Zealand, or the savage tribes of Australia. It is +satisfactorily proven that cannibalism still exists among them in its +most repulsive form, so revolting, indeed, that we hesitate to detail +the experience of a creditable eye-witness relating to this matter, as +personally described to us. + +Upon looking at the map it would seem, to one unaccustomed to the ocean, +that a ship could not lay her course direct, in these island dotted +waters, without running down one or more of them; but the distances +which are so circumscribed upon the chart are extended for many a league +at sea, and a good navigator may sail his ship from New York to +Barbadoes, if he so desires, without sighting the land. Not a sailing +vessel or steamship was seen, on the brief voyage from the American +continent to the West Indies, these latitudes being far less frequented +by passenger and freighting ships than the transatlantic route further +north. + +It is quite natural that the heart should throb with increased +animation, the spirits become more elate, and the eyes more than usually +appreciative, when the land of one's destination heaves in sight after +long days and nights passed at sea. This is especially the case if the +change from home scenes is so radical in all particulars as when coming +from our bleak Northern States in the early days of spring, before the +trees have donned their leaves, to the soft temperature and exuberant +verdure of the low latitudes. Commencing the voyage herein described, +the author left the Brooklyn shore of New York harbor about the first of +May, during a sharp snow-squall, though, as Governor's Island was passed +on the one hand, and the Statue of Liberty on the other, the sun burst +forth from its cloudy environment, as if to smile a cheerful farewell. +Thus we passed out upon the broad Atlantic, bound southward, soon +feeling its half suppressed force in the regular sway and roll of the +vessel. She was heavily laden, and measured considerably over four +thousand tons, drawing twenty-two feet of water, yet she was like an +eggshell upon the heaving breast of the ocean. As these mammoth ships +lie in port beside the wharf, it seems as though their size and enormous +weight would place them beyond the influence of the wind and waves: but +the power of the latter is so great as to be beyond computation, and +makes a mere toy of the largest hull that floats. No one can realize the +great strength of the waves who has not watched the sea in all of its +varying moods. + +"Land O!" shouts the lookout on the forecastle. + +A wave of the hand signifies that the occupant of the bridge has already +made out the mote far away upon the glassy surface of the sea, which now +rapidly grows into definite form. + +When the mountain which rises near the centre of St. Thomas was fairly +in view from the deck of the Vigilancia, it seemed as if beckoning us to +its hospitable shore. The light breeze which fanned the sea came from +off the land flavored with an odor of tropical vegetation, a suggestion +of fragrant blossoms, and a promise of luscious fruits. On our starboard +bow there soon came into view the well known Ship Rock, which appears, +when seen from a short distance, almost precisely like a full-rigged +ship under canvas. If the sky is clouded and the atmosphere hazy, the +delusion is remarkable. + +This story is told of a French corvette which was cruising in these +latitudes at the time when the buccaneers were creating such havoc with +legitimate commerce in the West Indies. It seems that the coast was +partially hidden by a fog, when the corvette made out the rock through +the haze, and, supposing it to be what it so much resembles, a ship +under sail, fired a gun to leeward for her to heave to. Of course there +was no response to the shot, so the Frenchman brought his ship closer, +at the same time clearing for action. Being satisfied that he had to do +with a powerful adversary, he resolved to obtain the advantage by +promptly crippling the enemy, and so discharged the whole of his +starboard broadside into the supposed ship, looming through the mist. +The fog quietly dispersed as the corvette went about and prepared to +deliver her port guns in a similar manner. As the deceptive rock stood +in precisely the same place when the guns came once more to bear upon +it, the true character of the object was discovered. It is doubtful +whether the Frenchman's surprise or mortification predominated. + +An hour of steady progress served to raise the veil of distance, and to +reveal the spacious bay of Charlotte Amalie, with its strong background +of abrupt hills and dense greenery of tropical foliage. How wonderfully +blue was the water round about the island,--an emerald set in a sea of +molten sapphire! It seemed as if the sky had been melted and poured all +over the ebbing tide. About the Bahamas, especially off the shore at +Nassau, the water is green,--a delicate bright green; here it exhibits +only the true azure blue,--Mediterranean blue. It is seen at its best +and in marvelous glow during the brief moments of twilight, when a +glance of golden sunset tinges its mottled surface with iris hues, like +the opaline flashes from a humming-bird's throat. + +The steamer gradually lost headway, the vibrating hull ceased to throb +with the action of its motive power, as though pausing to take breath +after long days and nights of sustained effort, and presently the anchor +was let go in the excellent harbor of St. Thomas, latitude 18 deg. 20' +north, longitude 64 deg. 48' west. Our forecastle gun, fired to announce +arrival, awakened the echoes in the hills, so that all seemed to join in +clapping their hands to welcome us. Thus amid the Norwegian fiords the +report of the steamer's single gun becomes a whole broadside, as it is +reverberated from the grim and rocky elevations which line that +iron-bound coast. + +There was soon gathered about the ship a bevy of naked colored boys, a +score or more, jabbering like a lot of monkeys, some in canoes of home +construction, it would seem, consisting of a sugar box sawed in two +parts, or a few small planks nailed together, forming more of a tub than +a boat, and leaking at every joint. These frail floats were propelled +with a couple of flat boards used as paddles. The young fellows came out +from the shore to dive for sixpences and shillings, cast into the sea by +passengers. The moment a piece of silver was thrown, every canoe was +instantly emptied of its occupant, all diving pell-mell for the money. +Presently one of the crowd was sure to come to the surface with the +silver exhibited above his head between his fingers, after which, +monkey-like, it was securely deposited inside of his cheek. Similar +scenes often occur in tropical regions. The last which the author can +recall, and at which he assisted, was at Aden, where the Indian Ocean +and the Red Sea meet. Another experience of the sort is also well +remembered as witnessed in the South Pacific off the Samoan islands. On +this occasion the most expert of the natives, among the naked divers, +was a young Samoan girl, whose agility in the water was such that she +easily secured more than half the bright coins which were thrown +overboard, though a dozen male competitors were her rivals in the +pursuit. Nothing but an otter could have excelled this bronzed, unclad, +exquisitely formed girl of Tutuila as a diver and swimmer. + +But let us not stray to the far South Pacific, forgetting that we are +all this time in the snug harbor of St. Thomas, in the West Indies. + +A fidgety old lady passenger, half hidden in an avalanche of wraps, +while the thermometer indicated 80 deg. Fahr., one who had gone into partial +hysterics several times during the past few days, upon the slightest +provocation, declared that this was the worst region for hurricanes in +the known world, adding that there were dark, ominous clouds forming to +windward which she was sure portended a cyclone. One might have told her +truthfully that May was not a hurricane month in these latitudes, but we +were just then too earnestly engaged in preparing for a stroll on shore, +too full of charming anticipations, to discuss possible hurricanes, and +so, without giving the matter any special thought, admitted that it did +look a little threatening in the northwest. This was quite enough to +frighten the old lady half out of her senses, and to call the stewardess +into prompt requisition, while the deck was soon permeated with the odor +of camphor, sal volatile, and valerian. We did not wait to see how she +survived the attack, but hastened into a shore boat and soon landed at +what is known as King's wharf, when the temperature seemed instantly to +rise about twenty degrees. Near the landing was a small plaza, shaded by +tall ferns and cabbage palms, with here and there an umbrageous mango. +Ladies and servant girls were seen promenading with merry children, +whites and blacks mingling indiscriminately, while the Danish military +band were producing most shocking strains with their brass instruments. +One could hardly conceive of a more futile attempt at harmony. + +There is always something exciting in first setting foot upon a foreign +soil, in mingling with utter strangers, in listening to the voluble +utterances and jargon of unfamiliar tongues, while noting the manners, +dress, and faces of a new people. The current language of the mass of +St. Thomas is a curious compound of negro grammar, Yankee accent, and +English drawl. Though somewhat familiar with the West Indies, the author +had never before landed upon this island. Everything strikes one as +curious, each turn affords increased novelty, and every moment is full +of interest. Black, yellow, and white men are seen in groups, the former +with very little covering on their bodies, the latter in diaphanous +costumes. Negresses sporting high colors in their scanty clothing, set +off by rainbow kerchiefs bound round their heads, turban fashion; little +naked blacks with impossible paunches; here and there a shuffling negro +bearing baskets of fish balanced on either end of a long pole resting +across his shoulders; peddlers of shells and corals; old women carrying +trays upon their heads containing cakes sprinkled with granulated sugar, +and displayed upon neat linen towels, seeking for customers among the +newly arrived passengers,--all together form a unique picture of local +life. The constantly shifting scene moves before the observer like a +panorama unrolled for exhibition, seeming quite as theatrical and +artificial. + +St. Thomas is one of the Danish West Indian Islands, of which there are +three belonging to Denmark, namely, St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John. +For the possession of the first named Mr. Seward, when Secretary of +State, in 1866, offered the King of Denmark five million dollars in +gold, which proposition was finally accepted, and it would have been a +cheap purchase for us at that price; but after all detail had been duly +agreed upon, the United States Congress refused to vote the necessary +funds wherewith to pay for the title deed. So when Mr. Seward +consummated the purchase of Alaska, for a little over seven million +dollars, there were nearly enough of the small-fry politicians in +Congress to defeat the bargain with Russia in the same manner. The +income from the lease of two islands alone belonging to Alaska--St. +George and St. Paul--has paid four and one half per cent. per annum upon +the purchase money ever since the territory came into our possession. +There is one gold mine on Douglas Island, Alaska, not to mention its +other rich and inexhaustible products, for which a French syndicate has +offered fourteen million dollars. We doubt if St. Thomas could be +purchased from the Danes to-day for ten million dollars, while the +estimated value of Alaska would be at least a hundred million or more, +with its vast mineral wealth, its invaluable salmon fisheries, its +inexhaustible forests of giant timber, and its abundance of seal, otter, +and other rich furs. A penny-wise and pound-foolish Congress made a huge +mistake in opposing Mr. Seward's purpose as regarded the purchase of St. +Thomas. The strategic position of the island is quite sufficient to +justify our government in wishing to possess it, for it is +geographically the keystone of the West Indies. The principal object +which Mr. Seward had in view was to secure a coaling and refitting +station for our national ships in time of war, for which St. Thomas +would actually be worth more than the island of Cuba. Opposite to it is +the continent of Africa; equidistant are the eastern shores of North and +South America; on one side is western Europe, on the other the route to +India and the Pacific Ocean; in the rear are Central America, the West +Indies, and Mexico, together with those great inland bodies of salt +water, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. It requires no argument +to show how important the possession of such an outpost might prove to +this country. + +Since these notes were written, it is currently reported that our +government has once more awakened to the necessity of obtaining +possession of this island, and fresh negotiations have been entered +into. One thing is very certain, if we do not seize the opportunity to +purchase St. Thomas at the present time, England, or some other +important power, will promptly do so, to our serious detriment and just +mortification. + +St. Thomas has an area of nearly fifty square miles, and supports a +population of about fourteen thousand. In many respects the capital is +unique, and being our first landing-place after leaving home, was of +more than ordinary interest to the writer. The highest point on the +island, which comes first into view from the deck of a southern bound +steamer, is West Mountain, rising sixteen hundred feet above the level +of the surrounding waters. Geologists would describe St. Thomas as being +the top of a small chain of submerged mountains, which would be quite +correct, since the topography of the bottom of the sea is but a +counterpart of that upon the more familiar surface of the earth we +occupy. When ocean electric cables for connecting islands and continents +are laid, engineers find that there are the same sort of plains, +mountains, valleys, and gorges beneath as above the waters of the ocean. +The skeletons of whales, and natural beds of deep-sea shells, found in +valleys and hills many hundred feet above the present level of tide +waters, tell us plainly enough that in the long ages which have passed, +the diversified surface of the earth which we now behold has changed +places with these submerged regions, which probably once formed the dry +land. The history of the far past is full of instances showing the slow +but continuous retreat of the water from the land in certain regions and +its encroachment in others, the drying up of lakes and rivers, as well +as the upheaval of single islands and groups from the bed of the ocean. + +A range of dome-shaped hills runs through the entire length of this +island of St. Thomas, fifteen miles from west to east, being +considerably highest at the west end. As we passed between the two +headlands which mark the entrance to the harbor, the town was seen +spread over three hills of nearly uniform height, also occupying the +gentle valleys between. Two stone structures, on separate hills, form a +prominent feature; these are known respectively as Blue Beard and Black +Beard tower, but their origin is a myth, though there are plenty of +legends extant about them. Both are now utilized as residences, having +mostly lost their original crudeness and picturesque appearance. The +town, as a whole, forms a pleasing and effective background to the +land-locked bay, which is large enough to afford safe anchorage for two +hundred ships at the same time, except when a hurricane prevails; then +the safest place for shipping is as far away from the land as possible. +It is a busy port, considering the small number of inhabitants, steamers +arriving and departing constantly, besides many small coasting vessels +which ply between this and the neighboring islands. St. Thomas is +certainly the most available commercially of the Virgin group of +islands. Columbus named them "Las Vergines," in reference to the +familiar Romish legend of the eleven thousand virgins, about as +inappropriate a title as the fable it refers to is ridiculous. + +Close in shore, at the time of our visit, there lay a schooner-rigged +craft of more than ordinary interest, her jaunty set upon the water, her +graceful lines, tall, raking masts, and long bowsprit suggesting the +model of the famous old Baltimore clippers. There is a fascinating +individuality about sailing vessels which does not attach to steamships. +Seamen form romantic attachments for the former. The officers and crew +of the Vigilancia were observed to cast admiring eyes upon this handsome +schooner, anchored under our lee. A sort of mysterious quiet hung about +her; every rope was hauled taut, made fast, and the slack neatly coiled. +Her anchor was atrip, that is, the cable was hove short, showing that +she was ready to sail at a moment's notice. The only person visible on +board was a bareheaded, white-haired old seaman, who sat on the transom +near the wheel, quietly smoking his pipe. On inquiry it was found that +the schooner had a notable history and bore the name of the Vigilant, +having been first launched a hundred and thirty years ago. It appeared +that she was a successful slaver in former days, running between the +coast of Africa and these islands. She was twice captured by English +cruisers, but somehow found her way back again to the old and nefarious +business. Of course, she had been overhauled, repaired, and re-rigged +many times, but it is still the same old frame and hull that so often +made the middle passage, as it was called. To-day she serves as a mail +boat running between Santa Cruz and St. Thomas, and, it is said, can +make forty leagues, with a fair wind, as quick as any steamer on the +coast. The same evening the Vigilant spread her broad white wings and +glided silently out of the harbor, gathering rapid way as she passed its +entrance, until feeling the spur of the wind and the open sea, she +quickly vanished from sight. It was easy to imagine her bound upon her +old piratical business, screened by the shadows of the night. + +Though it no longer produces a single article of export on its own soil, +St. Thomas was, in the days of negro slavery, one of the most prolific +sugar yielding islands of this region. It will be remembered that the +emancipation of the blacks took place here in 1848. It was never before +impressed upon us, if we were aware of the fact, that the sugar-cane is +not indigenous to the West Indies. It seems that the plant came +originally from Asia, and was introduced into these islands by Columbus +and his followers. As is often the case with other representatives of +the vegetable kingdom, it appears to have flourished better here than in +the land of its nativity, new climatic combinations, together with the +soil, developing in the saccharine plant better qualities and increased +productiveness, for a long series of years enriching many enterprising +planters. + +When Columbus discovered St. Thomas, in 1493, it was inhabited by two +tribes of Indians, the Caribs and the Arrowauks, both of which soon +disappeared under the oppression and hardships imposed by the Spaniards. +It is also stated that from this island, as well as from Cuba and Hayti, +many natives were transported to Spain and there sold into slavery, in +the days following close upon its discovery. Thus Spain, from the +earliest date, characterized her operations in the New World by a +heartlessness and injustice which ever attended upon her conquests, both +among the islands and upon the continent of America. The Caribs were of +the red Indian race, and appear to have been addicted to cannibalism. +Indeed, the very word, by which the surrounding sea is also known, is +supposed to be a corruption of the name of this tribe. "These Caribs did +not eat their own babies," says an old writer apologetically, "like some +sorts of wild beasts, but only roasted and ate their prisoners of war." + +The island was originally covered with a dense forest growth, but is now +comparatively denuded of trees, leaving the land open to the full force +of the sun, and causing it to suffer at times from serious droughts. +There is said to be but one natural spring of water on the island. This +shows itself at the surface, and is of very limited capacity; the scanty +rains which occur here are almost entirely depended upon to supply water +for domestic use. + +St. Thomas being so convenient a port of call for steamers from Europe +and America, and having so excellent a harbor, is improved as a depot +for merchandise by several of the neighboring islands, thus enjoying a +considerable commerce, though it is only in _transitu_. It is also the +regular coaling station of several steamship lines. Judging from +appearances, however, it would seem that the town is not growing in +population or business relations, but is rather retrograding. The value +of the imports in 1880 was less than half the aggregate amount of 1870. +We were told that green groceries nearly all come from the United +States, and that even eggs and poultry are imported from the neighboring +islands, showing an improvidence on the part of the people difficult to +account for, since these sources of food supply can be profitably +produced at almost any spot upon the earth where vegetation will grow. +Cigars are brought hither from Havana in considerable quantities, and +having no duty to pay, can be sold very cheap by the dealers at St. +Thomas, and still afford a reasonable profit. Quite a trade is thus +carried on with the passengers of the several steamers which call here +regularly, and travelers avail themselves of the opportunity to lay in +an ample supply. Cuban cigars of the quality which would cost nine or +ten dollars a hundred in Boston are sold at St. Thomas for five or six +dollars, and lower grades even cheaper in proportion. There is said to +be considerable smuggling successfully carried on between this island +and the Florida shore, in the article of cigars as well as in tobacco in +the unmanufactured state. The high duty on these has always incited to +smuggling, thus defeating the very object for which it is imposed. +Probably a moderate duty would yield more to the government in the +aggregate, by rendering it so much less of an object to smuggle. + +Though the island is Danish in nationality, there are few surroundings +calculated to recall the fact, save that the flag of that country floats +over the old fort and the one or two official buildings, just as it has +done for the last two centuries. The prominent officials are Danes, as +well as the officers of the small body of soldiers maintained on the +island. English is almost exclusively spoken, though there are French, +Spanish, and Italian residents here. English is also the language taught +in the public schools. People have come here to make what money they +can, but with the fixed purpose of spending it and enjoying it +elsewhere. As a rule, all Europeans who come to the West Indies and +embark in business do so with exactly this purpose. In Cuba the +Spaniards from the continent, among whom are many Jews, have a proverb +the significance of which is: "Ten years of starvation, and a fortune," +and most of them live up to this axiom. They leave all principles of +honor, all sense of moral responsibility, all sacred domestic ties, +behind them, forgetting, or at least ignoring, the significant query, +namely, "What shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and +lose his own soul?" + +About one third of the population is Roman Catholic. The Jews have a +synagogue, and a membership of six hundred. They have a record on the +island dating as far back as the year 1757, and add much to the activity +and thrift of St. Thomas. No matter where we find the Jews, in Mexico, +Warsaw, California, or the West Indies, they are all alike intent upon +money making, and are nearly always successful. Their irrepressible +energy wins for them the goal for which they so earnestly strive. That +soldier of fortune, Santa Anna, formerly ruler of Mexico, when banished +as a traitor from his native country, made his home on this island, and +the house which he built and occupied is still pointed out to visitors +as one of the local curiosities. The social life of St. Thomas is +naturally very circumscribed, but is good so far as it goes. A few +cultured people, who have made it their home for some years, have become +sincerely attached to the place, and enjoy the climate. There are a +small public library, a hospital, several charitable institutions, and a +theatre, which is occupied semi-occasionally. The island is connected +with the continent by cable, and has a large floating dock and marine +railway, which causes vessels in distress to visit the port for needed +repairs. The town is situated on the north side of the bay which indents +the middle of the south side of the island. The harbor has a depth of +water varying from eighteen to thirty-six feet, and has the advantage of +being a free port, a fact, perhaps, of not much account to a place which +has neither exports nor imports of its own. St. Thomas is the only town +of any importance on the island, and is known locally as Charlotte +Amalie, a fact which sometimes leads to a confusion of ideas. + +The reader need not encounter the intense heat, which so nearly wilted +us, in an effort to obtain a good lookout from some elevated spot; but +the result will perhaps interest him, as it fully repaid the writer for +all the consequent discomfort. + +From the brow of a moderate elevation just behind the town, a delightful +and far-reaching view is afforded, embracing St. Thomas in the +foreground, the well-sheltered bay, dotted with vessels bearing the +flags of various nations, an archipelago of islets scattered over the +near waters, and numerous small bays indenting the coast. At a distance +of some forty miles across the sea looms the island of Santa Cruz; and +farther away, on the horizon's most distant limit, are seen the tall +hills and mountains of Porto Rico; while the sky is fringed by a long +trailing plume of smoke, indicating the course of some passing +steamship. The three hills upon which the town stands are spurs of West +Mountain, and the place is quite as well entitled to the name of +Tremont--"tri-mountain"--as was the capital of Massachusetts, before its +hills were laid low to accommodate business demands. On the seaward side +of these elevations the red tiled roofs of the white houses rise in +regular terraces from the street which borders the harbor, forming a +very picturesque group as seen from the bay. + +Though it has not often been visited by epidemics, Mr. Anthony Trollope +pronounces the island, in his usual irresponsible way, to be "one of the +hottest and one of the most unhealthy spots among all these hot and +unhealthy regions," and adds that he would perhaps be justified in +saying "that of all such spots it is the hottest and most unhealthy." +This is calculated to give an incorrect idea of St. Thomas. True, it is +liable to periods of unhealthiness, when a species of low fever +prevails, proving more or less fatal. This is thought to originate from +the surface drainage, and the miasma arising from the bay. All the +drains of the town flow into the waters of the harbor, which has not +sufficient flow of tide to carry seaward the foul matter thus +accumulated. The hot sun pouring its heat down upon this tainted water +causes a dangerous exhalation. Still, sharks do not seem to be sensitive +as to this matter, for they much abound. It is yet to be discovered why +these tigers of the sea do not attack the negroes, who fearlessly leap +overboard; a white man could not do this with impunity. The Asiatics of +the Malacca Straits do not enjoy any such immunity from danger, though +they have skins as dark as the divers of St. Thomas. Sharks appear in +the West Indies in small schools, or at least there are nearly always +two or three together, but in Oriental waters they are only seen singly. +Thus a Malay of Singapore, for a compensation, say an English sovereign, +will place a long, sharp knife between his teeth and leap naked into the +sea to attack a shark. He adroitly dives beneath the creature, and as it +turns its body to bring its awkward mouth into use, with his knife the +Malay slashes a deep, long opening in its exposed belly, at the same +time forcing himself out of the creature's reach. The knife is sure and +fatal. After a few moments the huge body of the fish is seen to rise and +float lifeless upon the surface of the water. + +A large majority of the people are colored, exhibiting some peculiarly +interesting types, intermarriage with whites of various nationalities +having produced among the descendants of Africans many changes of color +and of features. One feels sure that there is also a trace of Carib or +Indian blood mingled with the rest,--a trace of the aborigines whom +Columbus found here. The outcome is not entirely a race with flat noses +and protruding lips; straight Grecian profiles are not uncommon, +accompanied by thin nostrils and Anglo-Saxon lips. Faultless teeth, soft +blue eyes, and hair nearly straight are sometimes met with among the +creoles. As to the style of walking and of carrying the head and body, +the common class of women of St. Thomas have arrived at perfection. Some +of them are notable examples of unconscious dignity and grace combined. +This has been brought about by carrying burdens upon their heads from +childhood, without the supporting aid of the hands. Modesty, or rather +conventionality, does not require boys or girls under eight years of age +to encumber themselves with clothing. The costume of the market women +and the lower classes generally is picturesque, composed of a Madras +kerchief carefully twisted into a turban of many colors, yellow +predominating, a cotton chemise which leaves the neck and shoulders +exposed, reaching just below the knees, the legs and feet being bare. +The men wear cotton drawers reaching nearly to the knee, the rest of the +body being uncovered, except the head, which is usually sheltered under +a broad brimmed straw hat, the sides of which are perforated by many +ventilating holes. The whites generally, and also the better class of +natives, dress very much after the fashion which prevails in North +America. + +This is the negroes' paradise, but it is a climate in which the white +race gradually wanes. The heat of the tropics is modified by the +constant and grateful trade winds, a most merciful dispensation, without +which the West Indies would be uninhabitable by man. On the hillsides of +St. Thomas these winds insure cool nights at least, and a comparatively +temperate state of the atmosphere during the day. Vegetation is +abundant, the fruit trees are perennial, bearing leaf, blossom, and +fruit in profusion, month after month, year after year. Little, if any, +cultivation is required. The few sugar plantations which are still +carried on yield from three to four successive years without replanting. +It is a notable fact that where vegetation is at its best, where the +soil is most rank and prolific, where fruits and flowers grow in wild +exuberance, elevated humanity thrives the least. The lower the grade of +man, the nearer he approximates to the animals, the less civilized he is +in mind and body, the better he appears to be adapted to such +localities. The birds and the butterflies are in exact harmony with the +loveliness of tropical nature, however prolific she may be; the flowers +are glorious and beautiful: it is man alone who seems out of place. A +great variety of fruits are indigenous here, such as the orange, lime, +alligator pear, moss-apple, and mango, but none of them are cultivated +to any extent; the people seem to lack the energy requisite to improve +the grand possibilities of their fertile soil and prolific climate. + +We were reminded by a resident of the town, before we left the harbor of +St. Thomas, that the nervous old lady referred to was not entirely +without reason for her anxiety. Some of our readers will remember, +perhaps, that in October, 1867, a most disastrous hurricane swept over +these Virgin Islands, leaving widespread desolation in its track. The +shipping which happened to be in the bay of St. Thomas was nearly all +destroyed, together with hundreds of lives, while on the land scores of +houses and many lives were also sacrificed to the terrible cyclone of +that date. Even the thoroughly built iron and stone lighthouse was +completely obliterated. There is a theory that such visitations come in +this region about once in every twelve or fifteen years, and upon +looking up the matter we find them to have occurred, with more or less +destructive force, in the years 1793, 1819, 1837, 1867, 1871, and so +late as August, 1891. Other hurricanes have passed over these islands +during the period covered by these dates, but of a mitigated character. +August, September, and October are the months in which the hurricanes +are most likely to occur, and all vessels navigating the West Indian +seas during these months take extra precautions to secure themselves +against accidents from this source. When such visitations happen, the +event is sure to develop heroic deeds. In the hurricane of 1867, the +captain of a Spanish man-of-war, who was a practical sailor, brought up +from boyhood upon the ocean, seeing the oncoming cyclone, and knowing by +experience what to expect, ordered the masts of his vessel to be cut +away at once, and every portion of exposed top hamper to be cast into +the sea. When thus stripped he exposed little but the bare hull of his +steamer to the fury of the storm. After the cyclone had passed, it was +found that he had not lost a man, and that the steamer's hull, though +severely battered, was substantially unharmed. Keeping up all steam +during the awful scene, this captain devoted himself and his ship to the +saving of human life, promptly taking his vessel wherever he could be of +the most service. Hundreds of seamen were saved from death by the +coolness and intrepidity of this heroic sailor. + +Since these notes were written among the islands, a terrible cyclone has +visited them. This was on August 18, last past, and proved more +destructive to human life, to marine and other property, than any +occurrence of the kind during the last century. At Martinique a sharp +shock of earthquake added to the horror of the occasion, the town of +Fort de France being very nearly leveled with the ground. Many tall and +noble palms, the growth of half a hundred years, were utterly demolished +in the twinkling of an eye, and other trees were uprooted by the score. + +The waters of this neighborhood teem with strange forms of animal and +vegetable life. Here we saw specimens of red and blue snappers, the +angel-fish, king-fish, gurnets, cow-fish, whip-ray, peacock-fish, +zebra-fish, and so on, all, or nearly all, unfamiliar to us, each +species individualized either in shape, color, or both. The whip-ray, +with a body like a flounder, has a tail six or seven feet long, tapering +from an inch and over to less than a quarter of an inch at the small +end. When dried, it still retains a degree of elasticity, and is used by +the natives as a whip with which to drive horses and donkeys. In some +places, so singularly clear is the water that the bottom is distinctly +visible five or six fathoms below the surface, where fishes of various +sorts are seen in ceaseless motion. White shells, corals, star-fish, and +sea-urchins mingle their various forms and colors, objects and hues +seeming to be intensified by the strong reflected light from the +surface, so that one could easily fancy them to be flowers blooming in +the fairy gardens of the mermaids. The early morning, just after the sun +begins to gild the surface of the sea, is the favorite time for the +flying-fishes to display their aerial proclivities. They are always +attracted by a strong light, and are thus lured to their destruction by +the torches of the fishermen, who often go out for the purpose at night +and take them in nets. In the early morning, as seen from the ship's +deck, they scoot above the rippling waves in schools of a hundred and +more, so compact as to cast fleeting shadows over the blue enameled +surface of the waters. At St. Thomas, Martinique, and Barbadoes, as well +as among the other islands bordering the Caribbean Sea, they form no +inconsiderable source of food for the humble natives, who fry them in +batter mixed with onions, making a savory and nutritious dish. + +St. Thomas is, as we have said, a coaling station for steamships, and +when the business is in progress a most unique picture is presented. The +ship is moored alongside of the dock for this purpose, two side ports +being thrown open, one for ingress, the other for egress. A hundred +women and girls, wearing one scanty garment reaching to the knees, are +in line, and commence at once to trot on board in single file, each one +bearing a bushel basket of coal upon her head, weighing, say sixty +pounds. Another gang fill empty baskets where the coal is stored, so +that there is a continuous line of negresses trotting into the ship at +one port and, after dumping their loads into the coal bunkers, out at +the other, hastening back to the source of supply for more. Their step +is quick, their pose straight as an arrow, while their feet keep time to +a wild chant in which all join, the purport of which it is not possible +to clearly understand. Now and again their voices rise in softly mingled +harmony, floating very sweetly over the still waters of the bay. The +scene we describe occurred at night, but the moon had not yet risen. +Along the wharf, to the coal deposits, iron frames were erected +containing burning bituminous coal, and the blaze, fanned by the open +air, formed the light by which the women worked. It was a weird picture. +Everything seemed quite in harmony: the hour, the darkness of night +relieved by the flaming brackets of coal, the strange, dark figures +hastening into the glare of light and quickly vanishing, the harmony of +high-pitched voices occasionally broken in upon by the sharp, stern +voice of their leader,--all was highly dramatic and effective. + +Not unfrequently three or four steamers are coaling at the same time +from different wharves. Hundreds of women and girls of St. Thomas make +this labor their special occupation, and gain a respectable living by +it, doubtless supporting any number of lazy, worthless husbands, +fathers, and brothers. + +After our ship was supplied with coal, these women, having put three +hundred tons on board in a surprisingly short period of time, formed a +group upon the wharf and held what they called a firefly dance, +indescribably quaint and grotesque, performed by the flickering light of +the flaming coal. Their voices were joined in a wild, quick chant, as +they twisted and turned, clapping their hands at intervals to emphasize +the chorus. Now and again a couple of the girls would separate from the +rest for a moment, then dance toward and from each other, throwing their +arms wildly about their heads, and finally, gathering their scanty +drapery in one hand and extending the other, perform a movement similar +to the French cancan. Once more springing back among their companions, +all joined hands, and a roundabout romp closed the firefly dance. Could +such a scene be produced in a city theatre _au naturel_, with proper +accessories and by these actual performers, it would surely prove an +attraction good for one hundred nights. Of course this would be +impossible. Conventionality would object to such diaphanous costumes, +and bare limbs, though they were of a bronzed hue, would shock Puritanic +eyes. + +Upon first entering the harbor, the Vigilancia anchored at a short +distance from the shore; but when it became necessary to haul alongside +the wharf, the attempt was made to get up the anchor, when it was found +to require far more than the usual expenditure of power to do so. +Finally, however, the anchor was secured, but attached to its flukes +there came also, from the bottom of the bay, a second anchor, of antique +shape, covered with rust and barnacles. It was such a one as was carried +by the galleons of the fifteenth century, and had doubtless lain for +over four hundred years just where the anchor of our ship had got +entangled with it. What a remarkable link this corroded piece of iron +formed, uniting the present with the far past, and how it stimulated the +mind in forming romantic possibilities! It may have been the holding +iron of Columbus's own caravel, or have been the anchor of one of +Cortez's fleet, which touched here on its way into the Gulf of Mexico, +or, indeed, it may have belonged to some Caribbean buccaneer, who was +obliged to let slip his cable and hasten away to escape capture. + +It was deemed a fortunate circumstance to have secured this ancient +relic, and a sure sign of future good luck to the ship, so it was duly +stored away in the lower hold of the Vigilancia. + +That same night on which the coal bunkers were filled, our good ship was +got under way, while the rising moon made the harbor and its +surroundings as clearly visible as though it were midday. The light from +the burning coal brackets had waned, only a few sparks bursting forth +now and again, disturbed by a passing breeze which fanned them into life +for a moment. When we passed through the narrow entrance by the +lighthouse, and stood out once more upon the open sea, it was mottled, +far and near, with argent ripples, that waltzed merrily in the soft, +clear moonlight, rivaling the firefly dance on shore. Even to the very +horizon the water presented a white, silvery, tremulous sheen of liquid +light. One gazed in silent enjoyment until the eyes were weary with the +lavish beauty of the scene, and the brain became giddy with its +splendor. Is it idle and commonplace to be enthusiastic? Perhaps so; but +we hope never to outlive such inspiration. + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + Curious Seaweed.--Professor Agassiz.--Myth of a Lost + Continent.--Island of Martinique.--An Attractive + Place.--Statue of the Empress Josephine.--Birthplace of + Madame de Maintenon.--City of St. Pierre.--Mont Pelee.--High + Flavored Specialty.--Grisettes of Martinique.--A Botanical + Garden.--Defective Drainage.--A Fatal Enemy.--A Cannibal + Snake.--The Climate. + + +Between St. Thomas and the island of Martinique, we fell in with some +floating seaweed, so peculiar in appearance that an obliging +quartermaster picked up a spray for closer examination. It is a strange, +sponge-like plant, which propagates itself on the ocean, unharmed by the +fiercest agitation of the waves, or the wildest raging of the winds, at +the same time giving shelter to zooephytes and mollusks of a species, +like itself, found nowhere else. Sailors call it Gulf weed, but it has +nothing to do with the Gulf Stream, though sometimes clusters get astray +and are carried far away on the bosom of that grand ocean current. The +author has seen small bodies of it, after a fierce storm in the +Caribbean Sea, a thousand miles to the eastward of Barbadoes. Its +special home is a broad space of ocean surface between the Gulf Stream +and the equatorial current, known as the Sargasso Sea. Its limits, +however, change somewhat with the seasons. It was first noticed by +Columbus in 1492, and in this region it has remained for centuries, even +to the present day. Sometimes this peculiar weed is so abundant as to +present the appearance of a submerged meadow, through which the ship +ploughs its way as though sailing upon the land. We are told that +Professor Agassiz, while at sea, having got possession of a small branch +of this marine growth, kept himself busily absorbed with it and its +products for twelve hours, forgetting all the intervening meals. Science +was more than food and drink to this grand savant. His years from +boyhood were devoted to the study of nature in her various forms. "Life +is so short," said he, "one can hardly find space to become familiar +with a single science, much less to acquire knowledge of many." When he +was applied to by a lyceum committee to come to a certain town and +lecture, he replied that he was too busy. "But we will pay you double +price, Mr. Agassiz, if you will come," said the applicant. "I cannot +waste time to make money," was the noble reply. + +The myth of a lost continent is doubtless familiar to the reader,--a +continent supposed to have existed in these waters thousands of years +ago, but which, by some evolution of nature, became submerged, sinking +from sight forever. It was the Atlantis which is mentioned by Plato; the +land in which the Elysian Fields were placed, and the Garden of +Hesperides, from which the early civilization of Greece, Egypt, and Asia +Minor were derived, and whose kings and heroes were the Olympian deities +of a later time. The poetical idea prevails that this plant, which once +grew in those gardens, having lost its original home, has become a +floating waif on the sapphire sea of the tropics. The color of the +Sargasso weed is a faint orange shade; the leaves are pointed, delicate, +and exquisitely formed, like those of the weeping willow in their +youthful freshness, having a tiny, round, light green berry near the +base of each leaf. Mother Cary's chickens are said to be fond of these +berries, and that bird abounds in these waters. + +Probably the main portion of the West Indian islands was once a part of +the continent of America, many, many ages ago. There are trees of the +locust family growing among the group to-day, similar to those found on +our southern coast, which are declared to be four thousand years old. +This statement is partially corroborated by known characteristics of the +growth of the locust, and there are arborists who fully credit this +great longevity. It is interesting to look upon an object which had a +vital existence two thousand years and more before Christ was upon +earth, and which is still animate. + + * * * * * + +Each new island which one visits in the West Indies seems more lovely +than its predecessor, always leaving Hayti out of the question; but +Martinique, at this moment of writing, appears to rival all those with +which the author is familiar. It might be a choice bit out of Cuba, +Singapore, or far-away Hawaii. Its liability to destructive hurricanes +is its only visible drawback. Having been discovered on St. Martin's +day, Columbus gave it the name it now bears. + +St. Pierre is the commercial capital of Martinique, one of the French +West Indies, and the largest of the group belonging to that nation. Fort +de France is the political capital, situated about thirty miles from St. +Pierre. It was nearly ruined by the cyclone of last August, a few weeks +after the author's visit. St. Pierre is the best built town in the +Lesser Antilles, and has a population of about twenty-five thousand. The +streets are well paved, and the principal avenues are beautified by +ornamental trees uniformly planted. The grateful shade thus obtained, +and the long lines of charming arboreal perspective which are formed, +are desirable accessories to any locality, but doubly so in tropical +regions. The houses are very attractive, while there is a prevailing +aspect of order, cleanliness, and thrift everywhere apparent. It was not +our experience to meet one beggar in the streets of St. Pierre. More or +less of poverty must exist everywhere, but it does not stalk abroad +here, as it does in many rich and pretentious capitals of the great +world. The island is situated midway between Dominica and St. Lucia, and +is admitted by all visitors to be one of the most picturesque of the +West Indian groups. Irregular in shape, it is also high and rocky, thus +forming one of the most prominent of the large volcanic family which +sprang up so many ages ago in these seas. Its apex, Mont Pelee, an only +partially extinct volcano, rises between four and five thousand feet +above the level of the ocean, and is the first point visible on +approaching the island from the north. It would be interesting to dilate +upon the past history of Martinique, for it has known not a little of +the checkered vicissitudes of these Antilles, having been twice captured +by the English, and twice restored to France. But this would not be in +accordance with the design of these pages. + +St. Pierre is situated on the lee side of the island, something less +than two thousand miles, by the course we have steered, from New York, +and three hundred miles from St. Thomas. It comes down to the very +water's edge, with its parti-colored houses and red-tiled roofs, which +mingle here and there with tall, overhanging cocoa-palms. This is the +most lavishly beautiful tree in the world, and one which never fails to +impart special interest to its surroundings. + +A marble statue in the Place de la Savane, at Fort de France, on the +same side of the island as St. Pierre, recalls the fact that this was +the birthplace of the Empress Josephine, born in 1763. Her memorable +history is too familiar for us to repeat any portion of it here, but the +brain becomes very active at the mere mention of her name, in recalling +the romantic and tragic episodes of her life, so closely interwoven with +the career of the first Napoleon. One instinctively recalls the small +boudoir in the palace of Trianon, where her husband signed the divorce +from Josephine. That he loved her with his whole power for loving is +plain enough, as is also his well known reason for the separation, +namely, the desire for offspring to transmit his name to posterity. +There is one legend which is always rehearsed to strangers, relating to +Josephine's youth upon the island. We refer to that of the old negress +fortune-teller who prognosticated the grandeur of her future career, +together with its melancholy termination, a story so tinctured with +local color that, if it be not absolutely true, it surely ought to be. +The statue, unless we are misinformed, was the gift of that colossal +fraud, Napoleon III., though it purports to have been raised to the +memory of Josephine by the people of Martinique, who certainly feel +great pride in the fact of her having been born here, and who truly +venerate her memory. The statue represents the empress dressed in the +fashion of the First Empire, with bare arms and shoulders, one hand +resting on a medallion bearing a profile of the emperor to whom she was +devoted. The whole is partially shaded by a half dozen grand old palms. +The group teems with historic suggestiveness, recalling one of the most +tragic chapters of modern European history. It seemed to us that the +artist had succeeded in imparting to the figure an expression indicating +something of the sad story of the original. + +This beautiful island, it will be remembered, also gave to France +another remarkable historic character, Francoise d'Aubigne, afterwards +Madame Scarron, but better known to the world at large as Madame de +Maintenon. She, too, was the wife of a king, though the marriage was a +left-handed one, but as the power behind the throne, she is well known +to have shaped for years the political destinies of France. + +St. Pierre has several schools, a very good hotel, a theatre, a public +library, together with some other modern and progressive institutions; +yet somehow everything looked quaint and olden, a sixteenth century +atmosphere seeming to pervade the town. The windows of the ordinary +dwellings have no glass, which is very naturally considered to be a +superfluity in this climate; but these windows have iron bars and wooden +shutters behind them, relics of the days of slavery, when every white +man's house was his castle, and great precautions were taken to guard +against the possible uprising of the blacks, who outnumbered their +masters twenty to one. + +Though so large a portion of the population are of negro descent, yet +they are very French-like in character. The native women especially seem +to be frivolous and coquettish, not to say rather lax in morals. They +appear to be very fond of dress. The young negresses have learned from +their white mistresses how to put on their diaphanous clothing in a +jaunty and telling fashion, leaving one bronzed arm and shoulder bare, +which strikes the eye in strong contrast with the snow white of their +cotton chemises. They are Parisian grisettes in ebony, and with their +large, roguish eyes, well-rounded figures, straight pose, and dainty +ways, the half-breeds are certainly very attractive, and only too ready +for a lark with a stranger. They strongly remind one of the pretty +quadroons of Louisiana, in their manners, complexion, and general +appearance; and like those handsome offspring of mingled blood, so often +seen in our Southern States, we suspect that these of Martinique enjoy +but a brief space of existence. The average life of a quadroon is less +than thirty years. + +Martinique is eight times as large as St. Thomas, containing a +population of about one hundred and seventy-five thousand. Within its +borders there are at least five extinct volcanoes, one of which has an +enormous crater, exceeded by only three or four others in the known +world. The island rises from the sea in three groups of rugged peaks, +and contains some very fertile valleys. So late as 1851, Mont Pelee +burst forth furiously with flames and smoke, which naturally threw the +people into a serious panic, many persons taking refuge temporarily on +board the shipping in the harbor. The eruption on this occasion did not +amount to anything very serious, only covering some hundreds of acres +with sulphurous debris, yet serving to show that the volcano was not +dead, but sleeping. Once or twice since that date ominous mutterings +have been heard from Mont Pelee, which it is confidently predicted will +one day deluge St. Pierre with ashes and lava, repeating the story of +Pompeii. + +Sugar, rum, coffee, and cotton are the staple products here, +supplemented by tobacco, manioc flour, bread-fruit, and bananas. Rum is +very extensively manufactured, and has a good mercantile reputation for +its excellence, commanding as high prices as the more famous article of +the same nature produced at Jamaica. The purpose of the author is mainly +to record personal impressions, but a certain sprinkling of statistics +and detail is inevitable, if we would inform, as well as amuse, the +average reader. + +The flora of Martinique is the marvel and delight of all who have +enjoyed its extraordinary beauty, while the great abundance and variety +of its fruits are believed to be unsurpassed even in the prolific +tropics. Of that favorite, the mango, the island produces some forty +varieties, and probably in no other region has the muscatel grape +reached to such perfection in size and flavor. The whole island looks +like a maze of greenery, as it is approached from the sea, vividly +recalling Tutuila of the Samoan group in the South Pacific. Like most of +the West Indian islands, Martinique was once densely covered with trees, +and a remnant of these ancient woods creeps down to the neighborhood of +St. Pierre to-day. + +The principal landing is crowded at all times with hogsheads of sugar +and molasses, and other casks containing the highly scented island rum, +the two sweets, together with the spirits, causing a nauseous odor under +the powerful heat of a vertical sun. We must not forget to mention, +however, that St. Pierre has a specific for bad odors in her somewhat +peculiar specialty, namely, eau-de-cologne, which is manufactured on +this island, and is equal to the European article of the same name, +distilled at the famous city on the Rhine. No one visits the port, if it +be for but a single day, without bringing away a sample bottle of this +delicate perfumery, a small portion of which, added to the morning bath, +is delightfully refreshing, especially when one uses salt water at sea, +it so effectively removes the saline stickiness which is apt to remain +upon the limbs and body after a cold bath. + +The town is blessed with an inexhaustible supply of good, fresh, +mountain water, which, besides furnishing the necessary quantity for +several large drinking fountains, feeds some ornamental ones, and +purifies the streets by a flow through the gutters, after the fashion of +Salt Lake City, Utah. This is in fact the only system of drainage at St. +Pierre. A bronze fountain in the Place Bertin is fed from this source, +and is an object of great pleasure in a climate where cold water in +abundance is an inestimable boon. This elaborate fountain was the gift +of a colored man, named Alfred Agnew, who was at one time mayor of the +city. Many of the gardens attached to the dwelling-houses are ornamented +with ever-flowing fountains, which impart a refreshing coolness to the +tropical atmosphere. + +The Rue Victor Hugo is the main thoroughfare, traversing the whole +length of the town parallel with the shore, up hill and down, crossing a +small bridge, and finally losing itself in the environs. It is nicely +kept, well paved, and, though it is rather narrow, it is the Broadway of +St. Pierre. Some of the streets are so abrupt in grade as to recall +similar avenues in the English portion of Hong Kong, too steep for the +passage of vehicles, or even for donkeys, being ascended by means of +much worn stone steps. Fine, broad roadways surround the town and form +pleasant drives. + +The cathedral has a sweet chime of bells, whose soft, liquid notes came +to us across the water of the bay with touching cadence at the Angelus +hour. It must be a sadly calloused heart which fails to respond to these +twilight sounds in an isle of the Caribbean Sea. Millet's impressive +picture was vividly recalled as we sat upon the deck and listened to +those bells, whose notes floated softly upon the air as if bidding +farewell to the lingering daylight. At the moment, all else being so +still, it seemed as though one's heartbeat could be heard, while the +senses were bathed in a tranquil gladness incited by the surrounding +scenery and the suggestiveness of the hour. + +Three fourths of the population are half-breeds, born of whites, blacks, +or mulattoes, with a possible strain of Carib blood in their veins, the +result of which is sometimes a very handsome type of bronzed hue, but of +Circassian features. Some of the young women of the better class are +very attractive, with complexions of a gypsy color, like the artists' +models who frequent the "Spanish Stairs" leading to the Trinita di +Monti, at Rome. These girls possess deep, dark eyes, pearly teeth, with +good figures, upright and supple as the palms. In dress they affect all +the colors of the rainbow, presenting oftentimes a charming audacity of +contrasts, and somehow it seems to be quite the thing for them to do so; +it accords perfectly with their complexions, with the climate, with +everything tropical. The many-colored Madras kerchief is universally +worn by the common class of women, twisted into a jaunty turban, with +one well-starched end ingeniously arranged so as to stand upright like a +soldier's plume. The love of ornament is displayed by the wearing of +hoop earrings of enormous size, together with triple strings of gold +beads, and bracelets of the same material. If any one imagines he has +seen larger sized hoop earrings this side of Africa, he is mistaken. +They are more like bangles than earrings, hanging down so as to rest +upon the neck and shoulders. Those who cannot afford the genuine article +satisfy their vanity with gaudy imitations. They form a very curious and +interesting study, these black, brown, and yellow people, both men and +women. In the market-place at the north end of the town, the women +preside over their bananas, oranges, and other fruits, in groups, +squatting like Asiatics on their heels. In the Havana fish market, one +compares the variety of colors exhibited by the fishes exposed for sale +to those of the kaleidoscope, but here the Cuban display is equaled if +not surpassed. + +St. Pierre has a botanical garden, situated about a mile from the centre +of the town, so located as to admit of utilizing a portion of the native +forest yet left standing, with here and there an impenetrable growth of +the feathery bamboo, king of the grasses, interspersed with the royal +palm and lighter green tree-ferns. The bamboo is a marvel, single stems +of it often attaining a height in tropical regions of a hundred and +seventy feet, and a diameter of a foot. So rapid is its growth that it +is sometimes known to attain the height of a hundred feet in sixty days. +Art has done something to improve the advantages afforded by nature in +this botanical garden, arranging some pretty lakes, fountains, and +cascades. Vistas have been cut through the dense undergrowth, and +driveways have been made, thus improving the rather neglected grounds. +One pretty lake of considerable size contains three or four small +islands, covered with flowering plants, while on the shore are pretty +summer houses and inviting arbors. The frangipanni, tall and almost +leafless, but with thick, fleshy shoots and a broad-spread, single leaf, +was recognized here among other interesting plants. This is the fragrant +flower mentioned by the early discoverers. There was also the +parti-colored passion-flower, and groups of odd-shaped cacti, whose +thick, green leaves were daintily rimmed with an odorless yellow bloom. +Here, also, is an interesting example of the ceba-tree, in whose shade a +hundred persons might banquet together. The author has seen specimens of +the ceba superbly developed in Cuba and the Bahamas, with its massive +and curiously buttressed trunk, having the large roots half above +ground. It is a solitary tree, growing to a large size and enjoying +great longevity. Mangoes abound here, the finest known as the _mango +d'or_. There is a certain air about the public garden of St. Pierre, +indicating that nature is permitted in a large degree to have her own +sweet will. Evidences enough remain to show the visitor that these +grounds must once have been in a much more presentable condition. There +is a musical cascade, which is well worth a long walk to see and enjoy. +Just inside of the entrance, one spot was all ablaze with a tiny yellow +flower, best known to us as English broom, _Cytisus genista_. Its +profuse but delicate bloom was dazzling beneath the bright sun's rays. +Could it possibly be indigenous? No one could tell us. Probably some +resident brought it hither from his home across the ocean, and it has +kindly adapted itself to the new soil and climate. + +We were cautioned to look out for and to avoid a certain poisonous +snake, a malignant reptile, with fatal fangs, which is the dread of the +inhabitants, some of whom are said to die every year from the venom of +the creature. It will be remembered that one of these snakes, known here +as the _fer-de-lance_, bit Josephine, the future empress, when she was +very young, and that her faithful negro nurse saved the child's life by +instantly drawing the poison from the wound with her own lips. It is +singular that this island, and that of St. Lucia, directly south of it, +should be cursed by the presence of these poisonous creatures, which do +not exist in any other of the West Indian islands, and, indeed, so far +as we know, are not to be found anywhere else. The fer-de-lance has one +fatal enemy. This is a large snake, harmless so far as poisonous fangs +are concerned, called the _cribo_. This reptile fearlessly attacks the +fer-de-lance, and kills and eats him in spite of his venom, a perfectly +justifiable if not gratifying instance of cannibalism, where a creature +eats and relishes the body of one of its own species. The domestic cat +is said also to be more than a match for the dreaded snake, and +instinctively adopts a style of attack which, while protecting itself, +finally closes the contest by the death of the fer-de-lance, which it +seizes just back of the head at the spine, and does not let go until it +has severed the head from the body; and even then instinct teaches the +cat to avoid the head, for though it be severed from the body, like the +mouth of a turtle under similar circumstances, it can still inflict a +serious wound. + +The fer-de-lance is a great destroyer of rats, this rodent forming its +principal source of food. Now as rats are almost as much of a pest upon +the island, and especially on the sugar plantations, as rabbits are in +New Zealand, it will be seen that even the existence of this poisonous +snake is not an unmitigated evil. + +Crosses and wayside shrines of a very humble character are to be seen in +all directions on the roadsides leading from St. Pierre, recalling +similar structures which line the inland roads of Japan, where the local +religion finds like public expression, only varying in the character of +the emblems. At Martinique it is a Christ or a Madonna; in Japan it is a +crude idol of some sort, the more hideous, the more appropriate. The +same idea is to be seen carried out in the streets of Canton and +Shanghai, only Chinese idols are a degree more unlike anything upon or +below the earth than they are elsewhere. + +It was observed that while there were plenty of masculine loafers and +careless idlers of various colors, whose whole occupation seemed to be +sucking at some form of burning tobacco in the shape of cigarette, +cigar, or pipe, the women, of whatever complexion, seen in public, were +all usefully employed. They are industrious by instinct; one almost +never sees them in repose. In the transportation of all articles of +domestic use, women bear them upon their heads, whether the article +weighs one pound or fifty, balancing their load without making use of +the hands except to place the article in position. The women not +infrequently have also a baby upon their backs at the same time. +Negresses and donkeys perform nine tenths of the transportation of +merchandise. Wheeled vehicles are very little used in the West Indian +islands. As we have seen, even in coaling ship, it is the women who do +the work. + +The Hotel des Bains, at St. Pierre, is an excellent hostelry, as such +places go in this part of the world. The stranger will find here most of +the requisites for domestic comfort, and at reasonable prices. As a +health resort the place has its advantages, and a northern invalid, +wishing to escape the rigor of a New England winter, would doubtless +find much to occupy and recuperate him here. St. Pierre, however, has +times of serious epidemic sickness, though this does not often happen in +the winter season. Three or four years ago the island was visited by a +sweeping epidemic of small-pox, but it raged almost entirely among the +lowest classes, principally among the negroes, who seem to have a great +prejudice and superstitious fear relating to vaccination, and its +employment as a preventive against contracting the disease. In the +yellow fever season the city suffers more or less, but the health of St. +Pierre will average as good as that of our extreme Southern States; and +yet, after all, with the earthquakes, hurricanes, tarantulas, scorpions, +and deadly fer-de-lance, as Artemus Ward would say, Martinique presents +many characteristics to recommend protracted absence. A brief visit is +like a poem to be remembered, but one soon gets a surfeit of the +circumscribed island. + +Our next objective point was Barbadoes, to reach which we sailed one +hundred and fifty miles to the eastward, this most important of the +Lesser Antilles being situated further to windward, that is, nearer the +continent of Europe. Our ponderous anchor came up at early morning, just +as the sun rose out of the long, level reach of waters. It looked like a +mammoth ball of fire, which had been immersed during the hours of the +night countless fathoms below the sea. Presently everything was aglow +with light and warmth, while the atmosphere seemed full of infinitesimal +particles of glittering gold. At first one could watch the face of the +rising sun, as it came peering above the sea, a sort of fascination +impelling the observer to do so, but after a few moments, no human eye +could bear its dazzling splendor. + +Said an honest old Marshfield farmer, in 1776, who met the clergyman of +the village very early in the opening day: "Ah, good mornin', Parson, +another fine day," nodding significantly towards the sun just appearing +above the cloudless horizon of Massachusetts Bay. "They do say the airth +moves, and the sun stands still; but you and I, Parson, we git up airly +and we _see_ it rise!" + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + English Island of Barbadoes.--Bridgetown the Capital.--The + Manufacture of Rum.--A Geographical Expert.--Very + English.--A Pest of Ants.--Exports.--The Ice House.--A Dense + Population.--Educational.--Marine Hotel.--Habits of + Gambling.--Hurricanes.--Curious Antiquities.--The Barbadoes + Leg.--Wakeful Dreams.--Absence of Twilight.--Departure from + the Island. + + +Bridgetown is the capital of Barbadoes, an English island which, unlike +St. Thomas, is a highly cultivated sugar plantation from shore to shore. +In natural beauty, however, it will not compare with Martinique. It is +by no means picturesquely beautiful, like most of the West Indian +islands, being quite devoid of their thick tropical verdure. Nature is +here absolutely beaten out of the field by excessive cultivation. Thirty +thousand acres of sugar-cane are cut annually, yielding, according to +late statistics, about seventy thousand hogsheads of sugar. We are sorry +to add that there are twenty-three rum distilleries on the island, which +do pecuniarily a thriving business. "The poorest molasses makes the best +rum," said an experienced manager to us. He might well have added that +it is also the poorest use to which it could be put. This spirit, like +all produced in the West Indies, is called Jamaica rum, and though a +certain amount of it is still shipped to the coast of Africa, the return +cargoes no longer consist of kidnapped negroes. The article known as New +England rum, still manufactured in the neighborhood of Boston, has +always disputed the African market, so to speak, with the product of +these islands. Rum is the bane of Africa, just as opium is of China, the +former thrust upon the native races by Americans, the latter upon the +Chinese by English merchants, backed by the British government. Events +follow each other so swiftly in modern times as to become half forgotten +by contemporary people, but there are those among us who remember when +China as a nation tried to stop the importation of the deadly drug +yielded by the poppy fields of India, whereupon England forced the +article upon her at the point of the bayonet. + +Bridgetown is situated at the west end of the island on the open +roadstead of Carlisle Bay, and has a population of over twenty-five +thousand. Barbadoes lies about eighty miles to the windward of St. +Vincent, its nearest neighbor, and is separated from Europe by four +thousand miles of the Atlantic Ocean. It is comparatively removed from +the chain formed by the Windward Isles, its situation being so isolated +that it remained almost unnoticed until a century had passed after +Columbus's first discovery in these waters. The area of the British +possessions in the West Indies is about one seventh of the islands. It +is often stated that Barbadoes is nearly as large as the Isle of Wight, +but the fact is, it exceeds that island in superficial area, being a +little over fifty-five miles in circumference. The reader will perhaps +remember that it was here Addison laid the scene of his touching story +of "Inkle and Yarico," published so many years ago in the "Spectator." + +Though it is not particularly well laid out, Bridgetown makes a very +pleasing picture, as a whole, when seen from the harbor. Here and there +a busy windmill is mixed with tall and verdant tropical trees, backed by +far-reaching fields of yellow sugar-cane, together with low, sloping +hills. The buildings are mostly of stone, or coral rock, and the town +follows the graceful curve of the bay. The streets are macadamized and +lighted with gas, but are far too narrow for business purposes. The +island is about twenty-one miles long and between fourteen and fifteen +broad, the shores being nearly inclosed in a cordon of coral reefs, some +of which extend for two or three miles seaward, demanding of navigators +the greatest care on seeking a landing, though the course into the roads +to a suitable anchorage is carefully buoyed. + +Barbadoes was originally settled by the Portuguese, who here found the +branches of a certain forest tree covered with hair-like hanging moss, +from whence its somewhat peculiar name, Barbadoes, or the "bearded +place," is supposed to have been derived. Probably this was the Indian +fig-tree, still found here, and which lives for many centuries, growing +to enormous proportions. In India, Ceylon, and elsewhere in Asia, it is +held sacred. The author has seen one of these trees at Kandy, in the +island of Ceylon, under which sacred rites have taken place constantly +for a thousand years or more, and whose widespread branches could +shelter five hundred people from the heat of the sun. It stands close by +the famous old Buddhist temple wherein is preserved the tooth of the +prophet, and before which devout Indians prostrate themselves daily, +coming from long distances to do so. Indeed, Kandy is the Mecca of +Ceylon. + +A good share of even the reading public of England would be puzzled to +tell an inquirer exactly where Barbadoes is situated, while most of +those who have any idea about it have gained such knowledge as they +possess from Captain Marryat's clever novel of "Peter Simple," where the +account is, to be sure, meagre enough. Still later, those who have read +Anthony Trollope's "West Indies and the Spanish Main" have got from the +flippant pages of that book some idea of the island, though it is a very +disagreeable example of Trollope's pedantic style. + +"Barbadoes? Barbadoes?" said a society man to the writer of these pages, +in all seriousness, just as he was about to sail from New York, "that's +on the coast of Africa, is it not?" + +"Oh, no," was the reply, "it is one of the islands of the Lesser +Antilles." + +"Where are the Antilles, pray?" + +"You must surely know." + +"But I do not, nevertheless; haven't the remotest idea. Fact is, +geography never was one of my strong points." + +With which remark we silently agreed, and yet our friend is reckoned to +be a fairly educated, cultured person, as these expressions are commonly +used. Probably he represents the average geographical knowledge of one +half the people to be met with in miscellaneous society. + +This is the first English possession where the sugarcane was planted, +and is one of the most ancient colonies of Great Britain. It bears no +resemblance to the other islands in these waters, that is, +topographically, nor, indeed, in the character of its population, being +entirely English. The place might be a bit taken out of any shire town +of the British home island, were it only a little more cleanly and less +unsavory; still it is more English than West Indian. The manners and +customs are all similar to those of the people of that nationality; the +negroes, and their descendants of mixed blood, speak the same tongue as +the denizens of St. Giles, London. The island has often been called +"Little England." There is no reliable history of Barbadoes before the +period when Great Britain took possession of it, some two hundred and +sixty years ago. Government House is a rather plain but pretentious +dwelling, where the governor has his official and domestic residence. In +its rear there is a garden, often spoken of by visitors, which is +beautified by some of the choicest trees and shrubs of this latitude. It +is really surprising how much a refined taste and skillful gardening can +accomplish in so circumscribed a space. + +Barbadoes is somewhat remarkable as producing a variety of minerals; +among which are coal, manganese, iron, kaolin, and yellow ochre. There +are also one or two localities on the island where a flow of petroleum +is found, of which some use is made. It is called Barbadoes tar, and +were the supply sufficient to warrant the use of refining machinery, it +would undoubtedly produce a good burning fluid. There is a "burning +well," situated in what is known as the Scotland District, where the +water emerging from the earth forms a pool, which is kept in a state of +ebullition from the inflammable air or gas which passes through it. This +gas, when lighted by a match, burns freely until extinguished by +artificial means, not rising in large enough quantities to make a great +flame, but still sufficient to create the effect of burning water, and +forming quite a curiosity. + +There are no mountains on the island, but the land is undulating, and +broken into hills and dales; one elevation, known as Mount Hillaby, +reaches a thousand feet and more above the level of tide waters. + +One of the most serious pests ever known at Barbadoes was the +introduction of ants, by slave-ships from Africa. No expedient of human +ingenuity served to rid the place of their destructive presence, and it +was at one time seriously proposed to abandon the island on this +account. After a certain period nature came to the rescue. She does all +things royally, and the hurricane of 1780 completely annihilated the +vermin. Verily, it was appropriate to call Barbadoes in those days the +Antilles! It appears that there is no affliction quite unmixed with +good, and that we must put a certain degree of faith in the law of +compensation, however great the seeming evil under which we suffer. To +our limited power of comprehension, a destructive hurricane does seem an +extreme resort by which to crush out an insect pest. The query might +even arise, with some minds, whether the cure was not worse than the +disorder. + +The exports from the island consist almost wholly of molasses, sugar, +and rum, products of the cane, which grows all over the place, in every +nook and corner, from hilltop to water's edge. The annual export, as +already intimated, is considerably over sixty thousand hogsheads. Sugar +cannot, however, be called king of any one section, since half of the +amount manufactured in the whole world is the product of the beet root, +the growth of which is liberally subsidized by more than one European +government, in order to foster local industry. Like St. Thomas, this +island has been almost denuded of its forest growth, and is occasionally +liable, as we have seen, to destructive hurricanes. + +Bridgetown is a place of considerable progress, having several +benevolent and educational institutions; it also possesses railway, +telephone, and telegraphic service. Its export trade aggregates over +seven million dollars per annum, to accommodate which amount of commerce +causes a busy scene nearly all the time in the harbor. The steam railway +referred to connects the capital with the Parish of St. Andrews, +twenty-one miles away on the other side of the island, its terminus +being at the thrifty little town of Bathsheba, a popular resort, which +is noted for its fine beach and excellent sea bathing. + +The cathedral is consecrated to the established religion of the Church +of England, and is a picturesque, time-worn building, surrounded, after +the style of rural England, by a quaint old graveyard, the monuments and +slabs of which are gray and moss-grown, some of them bearing dates of +the earlier portion of the sixteenth century. This spot forms a very +lovely, peaceful picture, where the graves are shaded by tree-ferns and +stately palms. Somehow one cannot but miss the tall, slim cypress, which +to the European and American eye seems so especially appropriate to such +a spot. There were clusters of low-growing mignonette, which gave out a +faint perfume exactly suited to the solemn shades which prevailed, and +here and there bits of ground enameled with blue-eyed violets. The walls +of the inside of the church are covered with memorial tablets, and there +is an organ of great power and sweetness of tone. + +The "Ice House," so called, at Bridgetown is a popular resort, which +everybody visits who comes to Barbadoes. Here one can find files of all +the latest American and European papers, an excellent cafe, with drinks +and refreshments of every conceivable character, and can purchase almost +any desired article from a toothpick to a set of parlor furniture. It is +a public library, an exchange, a "Bon Marche," and an artificial ice +manufactory, all combined. Strangers naturally make it a place of +rendezvous. It seemed to command rather more of the average citizen's +attention than did legitimate business, and one is forced to admit that +although the drinks which were so generously dispensed were cool and +appetizing, they were also very potent. It was observed that some +individuals, who came into the hospitable doors rather sober and +dejected in expression of features, were apt to go out just a little +jolly. + +The Ice House is an institution of these islands, to be found at St. +Thomas, Demerara, and Trinidad, as well as at Barbadoes. Havana has a +similar retreat, but calls it a cafe, situated on the Paseo, near the +Tacon Theatre. + +The population of the island amounts to about one hundred and +seventy-two thousand,--the census of 1881 showed it to be a trifle less +than this,--giving the remarkable density of one thousand and more +persons to the square mile, thus forming an immense human beehive. It is +the only one of the West Indian islands from which a certain amount of +emigration is necessary annually. The large negro population makes labor +almost incredibly cheap, field-hands on the plantations being paid only +one shilling per day; and yet, so ardent is their love of home--and the +island is home to them--that only a few can be induced to leave it in +search of better wages. When it is remembered that the State of +Massachusetts, which is considered to be one of the most thickly +populated sections of the United States, contains but two hundred and +twenty persons to the square mile, the fact that this West Indian island +supports over one thousand inhabitants in the same average space will be +more fully appreciated. Notwithstanding this crowded state of the +population, we were intelligently informed that while petty offenses are +common, there is a marked absence of serious crimes. + +One sees few if any signs of poverty here. It is a land of sugar-cane, +yams, and sweet potatoes, very prolific, and very easily tilled. Some of +the most prosperous men on the island are colored planters, who own +their large establishments, though born slaves, perhaps on the very +ground they now own. They have by strict economy and industry saved +money enough to make a fair beginning, and in the course of years have +gradually acquired wealth. One plantation, owned by a colored man, born +of slave parents, was pointed out to us, with the information that it +was worth twenty thousand pounds sterling, and that its last year's crop +yielded over three hundred hogsheads of sugar, besides a considerable +quantity of molasses. + +England maintains at heavy expense a military depot here, from which to +draw under certain circumstances. There is no local necessity for +supporting such a force. Georgetown is a busy place. Being the most +seaward of the West Indies, it has become the chief port of call for +ships navigating these seas. The Caribbees are divided by geographers +into the Windward and Leeward islands, in accordance with the direction +in which they lie with regard to the prevailing winds. They are in very +deep water, the neighboring sea having a mean depth of fifteen hundred +fathoms. Being so far eastward, Barbadoes enjoys an exceptionally +equable climate, and it is claimed for it that it has a lower +thermometer than any other West Indian island. Its latitude is 13 deg. 4' +north, longitude 59 deg. 37' west, within eight hundred miles of the +equator. The prevailing wind blows from the northeast, over the broad, +unobstructed Atlantic, rendering the evenings almost always delightfully +cool, tempered by this grateful tonic breath of the ocean. + +Trafalgar Square, Bridgetown, contains a handsome fountain, and a bronze +statue of Nelson which, as a work of art, is simply atrocious. From this +broad, open square the tramway cars start, and it also forms a general +business centre. + +The home government supports, besides its other troops, a regiment of +negroes uniformed as Zouaves and officered by white men. The police of +Bridgetown are also colored men. Slavery was abolished here in 1833. +Everything is so thoroughly English, that only the temperature, together +with the vegetation, tells the story of latitude and longitude. The soil +has been so closely cultivated as to have become partially exhausted, +and this is the only West Indian island, if we are correctly informed, +where artificial enrichment is considered necessary to stimulate the +native soil, or where it has ever been freely used. "I question," said +an intelligent planter to us, "whether we should not be better off +to-day, if we had not so overstimulated, in fact, burned out, our land +with guano and phosphates." These are to the ground like intoxicants to +human beings,--if over-indulged in they are fatal, and even the partial +use is of questionable advantage. The Chinese and Japanese apply only +domestic refuse in their fields as a manure, and no people obtain such +grand results as they do in agriculture. They know nothing of patent +preparations employed for such purposes, and yet will render a spot of +ground profitable which a European would look upon as absolutely not +worth cultivating. + +In any direction from Bridgetown going inland, miles upon miles of +plantations are seen bearing the bright green sugar-cane, turning to +yellow as it ripens, and giving splendid promise for the harvest. Here +and there are grouped a low cluster of cabins, which form the quarters +of the negroes attached to the plantation, while close at hand the tall +chimney of the sugar mill looms over the surrounding foliage. A little +one side, shaded by some palms, is the planter's neat and attractive +residence, painted snow white, in contrast to the deep greenery +surrounding it, and having a few flower beds in its front. + +The Marine Hotel, which is admirably situated on a rocky point at +Hastings, three hundred feet above the beach, is about a league from the +city, and forms a favorite resort for the townspeople. The house is +capable of accommodating three hundred guests at a time. Its spacious +piazzas fronting the ocean are constantly fanned by the northeast trades +from October to March. Some New York families regard the place as a +choice winter resort, the thermometer rarely indicating over 80 deg. Fahr., +or falling below 70 deg.. This suburb of Hastings is the location of the +army barracks, where a broad plain affords admirable space for drill and +military manoeuvres. There is a monument at Hastings, raised to the +memory of the victims of the hurricane of 1831, which seems to be rather +unpleasantly suggestive of future possibilities. Near at hand is a +well-arranged mile racecourse, a spot very dear to the army officers, +where during the racing season any amount of money is lost and won. +There seems to be something in this tropical climate which incites to +all sorts of gambling, and the habit among the people is so common as to +be looked upon with great leniency. Just so, at some of the summer +resorts of the south of France, Italy, and Germany, ladies or gentlemen +will frankly say, "I am going to the Casino for a little gambling, but +will be back again by and by." + +The roads in the vicinity of Bridgetown are admirably kept, all being +macadamized, but the dust which rises from the pulverized coral rock is +nearly blinding, and together with the reflection caused by the sun on +the snow white roads proves very trying to the eyesight. The dust and +glare are serious drawbacks to the enjoyment of these environs. + +As we have said, hurricanes have proved very fatal at Barbadoes. In +1780, four thousand persons were swept out of existence in a few hours +by the irresistible fury of a tornado. So late as 1831, the loss of life +by a similar visitation was over two thousand, while the loss of +property aggregated some two million pounds sterling. The experience has +not, however, been so severe here as at several of the other islands. At +the time of the hurricane just referred to, Barbadoes was covered with a +coat of sulphurous ashes nearly an inch thick, which was afterwards +found to have come from the island of St. Vincent, where what is called +Brimstone Mountain burst forth in flames and laid that island also in +ashes. It is interesting to note that there should have been such +intimate relationship shown between a great atmospheric disturbance like +a hurricane and an underground agitation as evinced by the eruption of a +volcano. + +It should be mentioned that these hurricanes have never been known to +pass a certain limit north or south, their ravages having always been +confined between the eleventh and twenty-first degrees of north +latitude. + +It appears that some curious Carib implements were found not long since +just below the surface of the earth on the south shore of the bay, which +are to be forwarded to the British Museum, London. These were of hard +stone, and were thought by the finders to have been used by the +aborigines to fell trees. Some were thick shells, doubtless employed by +the Indians in the rude cultivation of maize, grown here four or five +hundred years ago. It was said that these stone implements resembled +those which have been found from time to time in Norway and Sweden. If +this is correct, it is an important fact for antiquarians to base a +theory upon. Some scientists believe that there was, in prehistoric +times, an intimate relationship between Scandinavia and the continent of +America. + +Though there are several public schools in Bridgetown, both primary and +advanced, we were somehow impressed with the idea that education for the +common people was not fostered in a manner worthy of a British colony of +so long standing; but this is the impression of a casual observer only. +There is a college situated ten or twelve miles from the city, founded +by Sir Christopher Codrington, which has achieved a high reputation as +an educational institution in its chosen field of operation. It is a +large structure of white stone, well-arranged, and is, as we were told, +consistent with the spirit of the times. It has the dignity of ripened +experience, having been opened in 1744. The professors are from Europe. +A delicious fresh water spring rises to the surface of the land just +below the cliff, at Codrington College, a blessing which people who live +in the tropics know how to appreciate. There is also at Bridgetown what +is known as Harrison's College, which, however, is simply a high school +devoted exclusively to girls. + +The island is not exempt from occasional prevalence of tropical fevers, +but may be considered a healthy resort upon the whole. Leprosy is not +unknown among the lower classes, and elephantiasis is frequently to be +met with. This disease is known in the West Indies as the "Barbadoes +Leg." Sometimes a native may be seen on the streets with one of his legs +swollen to the size of his body. There is no known cure for this disease +except the surgeon's knife, and the removal of the victim from the +region where it first developed itself. The author has seen terrible +cases of elephantiasis among the natives of the Samoan group of islands, +where this strange and unaccountable disease is thought to have reached +its most extreme and repulsive development. Foreigners are seldom if +ever afflicted with it, either in the West Indies or the South Pacific. + +We are to sail to-night. A few passengers and a quantity of freight have +been landed, while some heavy merchandise has been received on board, +designed for continental ports to the southward. The afternoon shadows +lengthen upon the shore, and the sunset hour, so brief in this latitude, +approaches. The traveler who has learned to love the lingering twilight +of the north misses these most charming hours when in equatorial +regions, but as the goddess of night wraps her sombre mantle about her, +it is so superbly decked with diamond stars that the departed daylight +is hardly regretted. It is like the prompter's ringing up of the curtain +upon a complete theatrical scene; the glory of the tropical sky bursts +at once upon the vision in all its completeness, its burning +constellations, its solitaire brilliants, its depth of azure, and its +mysterious Milky Way. + +While sitting under the awning upon deck, watching the gentle swaying +palms and tall fern-trees, listening to the low drone of busy life in +the town, and breathing the sweet exhalations of tropical fruits and +flowers, a trance-like sensation suffuses the brain. Is this the _dolce +far niente_ of the Italians, the sweet do-nothing of the tropics? To us, +however defined, it was a waking dream of sensuous delight, of entire +content. How far away sounds the noise of the steam-winch, the sharp +chafing of the iron pulleys, the prompt orders of the officer of the +deck, the swinging of the ponderous yards, the rattling of the anchor +chain as it comes in through the hawse hole, while the ship gradually +loses her hold upon the land. With half closed eyes we scarcely heard +these many significant sounds, but floated peacefully on in an Eden of +fancy, quietly leaving Carlisle Bay far behind. + +Our course was to the southward, while everything, high and low, was +bathed in a flood of shimmering moonlight, the magic alchemy of the sky, +whose influence etherealizes all upon which it rests. + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + Curious Ocean Experiences.--The Delicate + Nautilus.--Flying-Fish.--The Southern Cross.--Speaking a + Ship at Sea.--Scientific Navigation.--South America as a + Whole.--Fauna and Flora.--Natural Resources of a Wonderful + Land.--Rivers, Plains, and Mountain Ranges.--Aboriginal + Tribes.--Population.--Political Divisions.--Civil + Wars.--Weakness of South American States. + + +The sudden appearance of a school of flying-fish gliding swiftly through +the air for six or eight rods just above the rippling waves, and then +sinking from sight; the sportive escort of half a hundred slate-colored +porpoises, leaping high out of the water on either bow of the ship only +to plunge back again, describing graceful curves; the constant presence +of that sullen tiger of the ocean, the voracious, man-eating shark, +betrayed by its dorsal fin showing above the surface of the sea; the +sporting of mammoth whales, sending columns of water high in air from +their blowholes, and lashing the waves playfully with their broad-spread +tails, are events at sea too commonplace to comment upon in detail, +though they tend to while away the inevitable monotony of a long voyage. + +Speaking of flying-fish, there is more in the flying capacity of this +little creature than is generally admitted, else why has it wings on the +forward part of its body, each measuring seven inches in length? If +designed only for fins, they are altogether out of proportion to the +rest of its body. They are manifestly intended for just the use to which +the creature puts them. One was brought to us by a seaman; how it got on +board we know not, but it measured eleven inches from the nose to the +tip of the tail fin, and was in shape and size very much like a small +mackerel. After leaving Barbadoes, we got into what sailors call the +flying-fish latitudes, where they appear constantly in their low, rapid +flight, sometimes singly, but oftener in small schools of a score or +more, creating flashes of silvery-blue lustre. The most careful +observation could detect no vibration of the long, extended fins; the +tiny fish sailed, as it were, upon the wind, the flight of the giant +albatross in miniature. + +One afternoon, when the sea was scarcely dimpled by the soft trade wind, +we came suddenly upon myriads of that little fairy of the ocean, the +gossamer nautilus, with its Greek galleon shape, and as frail, +apparently, as a spider's web. What a gondola it would make for Queen +Mab! How delicate and transparent it is, while radiating prismatic +colors! A touch might dismember it, yet what a daring navigator, +floating confidently upon the sea where the depth is a thousand fathoms, +liable at any moment to be changed into raging billows by an angry +storm! How minute the vitality of this graceful atom, a creature whose +existence is perhaps for only a single day; yet how grand and limitless +the system of life and creation of which it is so humble a +representative! Sailors call these frail marine creatures Portuguese +men-of-war. Possessing some singular facility for doing so, if they are +disturbed, they quickly furl their sails and sink below the surface of +the buoyant waves into deep water, the home of the octopus, the squid, +and the voracious shark. Did they, one is led to query, navigate these +seas after this fashion before the Northmen came across the ocean, and +before Columbus landed at San Salvador? At night the glory of the +southern hemisphere, as revealed in new constellations and brighter +stars brought into view, was observed with keenest +interest,--"Everlasting Night, with her star diadems, with her silence, +and her verities." The phosphorescence of the sea, with its +scintillations of brilliant light, its ripples of liquid fire, the crest +of each wave a flaming cascade, was a charming phenomenon one never +tired of watching. If it be the combination of millions and billions of +animalculae which thus illumines the waters, then these infinitesimal +creatures are the fireflies of the ocean, as the cucuios, that fairy +torch-bearer, is of the land. Gliding on the magic mirror of the South +Atlantic, in which the combined glory of the sky was reflected with +singular clearness, it seemed as though we were sailing over a starry +world below. + +While observing the moon in its beautiful series of changes, lighting +our way by its chaste effulgence night after night, it was difficult to +realize that it shines entirely by the light which it borrows from the +sun; but it was easy to believe the simpler fact, that of all the +countless hosts of the celestial bodies, she is our nearest neighbor. +"An eighteen-foot telescope reveals to the human eye over forty million +stars," said Captain Baker, as we stood together gazing at the luminous +heavens. "And if we entertain the generally accepted idea," he +continued, "we must believe that each one of that enormous aggregate of +stars is the centre of a solar system similar to our own." The known +facts relating to the stars, like stellar distances, are almost +incomprehensible. + +One cannot but realize that there is always a certain amount of +sentiment wasted on the constellation known as the Southern Cross by +passengers bound to the lands and seas over which it hangs. Orion or the +Pleiades, either of them, is infinitely superior in point of brilliancy, +symmetry, and individuality. A lively imagination is necessary to endow +this irregular cluster of stars with any real resemblance to the +Christian emblem for which it is named. It serves the navigator in the +southern hemisphere, in part, the same purpose which the north star does +in our portion of the globe, and there our own respect for it as a +constellation ends. Much poetic talent has been expended for ages to +idealize the Southern Cross, which is, alas! no cross at all. We have +seen a person unfamiliar with the locality of this constellation strive +long and patiently, but in vain, to find it. It should be remembered +that two prominent stars in Centaurus point directly to it. The one +furthest from the so called cross is held to be the fixed star nearest +to the earth, but its distance from us is twenty thousand times farther +than that of the sun. + +We have never yet met a person, looking upon this cluster of the heavens +for the first time, who did not frankly express his disappointment. +Anticipation and fruition are oftenest at antipodes. + +The graceful marine birds which follow the ship, day after day, darting +hither and thither with arrowy swiftness, lured by the occasional refuse +thrown from on board, would be seriously missed were they to leave us. +Watching their aerial movements and untiring power of wing, while +listening to their sharp complaining cries, is a source of constant +amusement. Even rough weather and a raging sea, if not accompanied by +too serious a storm, is sometimes welcome, serving to awaken the ship +from its dull propriety, and to put officers, crew, and passengers upon +their mettle. To speak a strange vessel at sea is always interesting. If +it is a steamer, a long, black wake of smoke hanging among the clouds at +the horizon betrays her proximity long before the hull is sighted. All +eyes are on the watch until she comes clearly within the line of vision, +gradually increasing in size and distinctness of outline, until +presently the spars and rigging are minutely delineated. Then +speculation is rife as to whence she comes and where she is going. By +and by the two ships approach so near that signal flags can be read, and +the captains talk with each other, exchanging names, whither bound, and +so on. Then each commander dips his flag in compliment to the other, and +the ships rapidly separate. All of this is commonplace enough, but +serves to while away an hour, and insures a report of our progress and +safety at the date of meeting, when the stranger reaches his port of +destination. + +We have spoken of the pleasure experienced at sea in watching +intelligently the various phases of the moon. The subject is a prolific +one; a whole chapter might be written upon it. + +It is perhaps hardly realized by the average landsman, and indeed by few +who constantly cross the ocean, with their thoughts and interests +absorbed by the many attractive novelties of the ocean, how important a +part this great luminary plays in the navigation of a ship. It is to the +intelligent and observant mariner the never-failing watch of the sky, +the stars performing the part of hands to designate the proper figure +upon the dial. If there is occasion to doubt the correctness of his +chronometer, the captain of the ship can verify its figures or correct +them by this planet. Every minute that the chronometer is wrong, +assuming that it be so, may put him fifteen miles out of his reckoning, +which, under some circumstances, might prove to be a fatal error, even +leading to the loss of his ship and all on board. To find his precise +location upon the ocean, the navigator requires both Greenwich time and +local meridian time, the latter obtained by the sun on shipboard, +exactly at midday. To get Greenwich time by lunar observation, the +captain, for example, finds that the moon is three degrees from the star +Regulus. By referring to his nautical almanac he sees recorded there the +Greenwich time at which the moon was three degrees from that particular +star. He then compares his chronometer with these figures, and either +confirms or corrects its indication. It is interesting to the traveler +to observe and understand these important resources, which science has +brought to bear in perfecting his safety on the ocean, promoting the +interests of commerce, and in aid of correct navigation. The experienced +captain of a ship now lays his course as surely by compass, after +satisfying himself by these various means of his exact position, as +though the point of his destination was straight before him all the +while, and visible from the pilot house. + +How indescribable is the grandeur of these serene nights on the ocean, +fanned by the somnolent trade winds; a little lonely, perhaps, but so +blessed with the hallowed benediction of the moonlight, so gorgeously +decorated by the glittering images of the studded heavens, so sweet and +pure and fragrant is the breath of the sleeping wind! If one listens +intently, there seems to come to the senses a whispering of the waves, +as though the sea in confidence would tell its secrets to a willing ear. + +The ship heads almost due south after leaving Barbadoes, when her +destination is, as in our case, Para, twelve hundred miles away. On this +course we encounter the equatorial current, which runs northward at a +rate of two miles in an hour, and at some points reaches a much higher +rate of speed. + +As eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, so eternal scrubbing is +the price of cleanliness on shipboard. The deck hands are at it from +five o'clock in the morning until sunset. Our good ship looks as if she +had just come out of dock. Last night's gale, which in its angry turmoil +tossed us about so recklessly, covered her with a saline, sticky +deposit; but with the rising of the sun all this disappears as if by +magic. The many brass mountings shine with dazzling lustre, and the +white paint contrasts with the well-tarred cordage which forms the +standing rigging. + +While the ship pursues her course through the far-reaching ocean, let us +sketch in outline the general characteristics of South America, whither +we are bound. + +It is a country containing twice the area, though not quite one half the +amount of population, of the United States, a land which, though now +presenting nearly all phases of civilization, was four centuries ago +mostly inhabited by nomadic tribes of savages, who knew nothing of the +horse, the ox, or the sheep, which to-day form so great and important a +source of its wealth, and where wheat, its prevailing staple, was also +unknown. It is a land overflowing with native riches, which possesses an +unlimited capacity of production, and whose large and increasing +population requires just such domestic supplies as we of the north can +profitably furnish. The important treaty of reciprocity, so lately +arranged between the giant province of Brazil--or rather we should say +the Republic of Brazil--and our own country, is already developing new +and increasing channels of trade for our shippers and producers of the +great staples, as well as throwing open to us a new nation of consumers +for our special articles of manufacture. Facts speak louder than words. +On the voyage in which the author sailed in the Vigilancia, she took +over twenty thousand barrels of flour to Brazil from the United States, +and would have taken more had her capacity admitted. Every foot of space +on board was engaged for the return voyage, twelve thousand bags of +coffee being shipped from Rio Janeiro alone, besides nearly as large a +consignment of coffee from Santos, in the same republic. The great +mutual benefit which must accrue from this friendly compact with an +enterprising foreign country can hardly be overestimated. These +considerations lead to a community of interests, which will grow by +every reasonable means of familiarizing the people of the two countries +with each other. Hence the possible and practical value of such a work +as the one in hand. + +By briefly consulting one of the many cheap and excellent maps of the +western hemisphere, the patient reader will be enabled to follow the +route taken by the author with increased interest and a clearer +understanding. + +It is surprising, in conversing with otherwise intelligent and +well-informed people, to find how few there are, comparatively speaking, +who have any fixed and clear idea relative to so large a portion of the +habitable globe as South America. The average individual seems to know +less of the gigantic river Amazon than he does of the mysterious Nile, +and is less familiar with that grand, far-reaching water-way, the Plate, +than he is with the sacred Ganges; yet one can ride from Buenos Ayres in +the Argentine Republic, across the wild pampas, to the base of the Andes +in a Pullman palace car. There is no part of the globe concerning which +so little is written, and no other portion which is not more sought by +travelers; in short, it is less known to the average North American than +New Zealand or Australia. + +The vast peninsula which we call South America is connected with our own +part of the continent by the Isthmus of Panama and the territory +designated as Central America. Its configuration is triangular, and +exhibits in many respects a strong similarity to the continents of +Africa and Australia, if the latter gigantic island may be called a +continent. It extends north and south nearly five thousand miles, or +from latitude 12 deg. 30' north to Cape Horn in latitude 55 deg. 59' south. Its +greatest width from east to west is a little over three thousand miles, +and its area, according to the best authorities, is nearly seven million +square miles. Three fourths of this country lie in the torrid zone, +though as a whole it has every variety of climate, from equatorial heat +to the biting frosts of alpine peaks. Its widespread surface consists +principally of three immense plains, watered respectively by the Amazon, +Plate, and Orinoco rivers. This spacious country has a coast line of +over sixteen thousand miles on the two great oceans, with comparatively +few indentures, headlands, or bays, though at the extreme south it +consists of a maze of countless small islands, capes, and promontories, +of which Cape Horn forms the outermost point. + +The Cordillera of the Andes extends through the whole length of this +giant peninsula, from the Strait of Magellan to the Isthmus of Panama, a +distance of forty-five hundred miles, forming one of the most remarkable +physical features of the globe, and presenting the highest mountains on +its surface, except those of the snowy Himalayas which separate India +from Thibet. The principal range of the Andes runs nearly parallel with +the Pacific coast, at an average distance of about one hundred miles +from it, and contains several active volcanoes. If we were to believe a +late school geography, published in London, Cotopaxi, one famous peak of +this Andean range, throws up flames three thousand feet above the brink +of its crater, which is eighteen thousand feet above tide water; but to +be on the safe side, let us reduce these extraordinary figures at least +one half, as regards the eruptive power of Cotopaxi. This mountain +chain, near the border between Chili and Peru, divides into two +branches, the principal one still called the Cordillera of the Andes, +and the other, nearer to the ocean, the Cordillera de la Costa. Between +these ranges, about three thousand feet above the sea, is a vast +table-land with an area larger than that of France. + +It will be observed that we are dealing with a country which, like our +own, is one of magnificent distances. It is difficult for the nations of +the old world, where the population is hived together in such +circumscribed space, to realize the geographical extent of the American +continent. When informed that it required six days and nights, at +express speed upon well-equipped railroads, to cross the United States +from ocean to ocean, a certain editor in London doubted the statement. +Outside of Her Majesty's dominions, the average Englishman has only +superficial ideas of geography. The frequent blunders of some British +newspapers in these matters are simply ridiculous. + +It should be understood that South America is a land of plains as well +as of lofty mountains, having the _llanos_ of the Orinoco region, the +_selvas_ of the Amazon, and the _pampas_ of the Argentine Republic. The +llanos are composed of a region about as large as the New England +States, so level that the motion of the rivers can hardly be discerned. +The selvas are for the most part vast unbroken forests, in which giant +trees, thick undergrowth, and entwining creepers combine to form a +nearly impenetrable region. The pampas lie between the Andes and the +Atlantic Ocean, stretching southward from northern Brazil to southern +Patagonia, affording grass sufficient to feed innumerable herds of wild +cattle, but at the extreme south the country sinks into half overflowed +marshes and lagoons, resembling the glades and savannahs of Florida. + +The largest river in the world, namely, the Amazon, rises in the +Peruvian Andes, within sixty miles of the Pacific Ocean, and flows +thousands of miles in a general east-northeast direction, finally +emptying into the Atlantic Ocean. This unequaled river course is +navigable for over two thousand miles from its mouth, which is situated +on the equatorial line, where its outflow is partially impeded by the +island of Marajo, a nearly round formation, one hundred and fifty miles +or thereabouts in diameter. This remarkable island divides the river's +outlet into two passages, the largest of which is a hundred and fifty +miles in width, forming an estuary of extraordinary dimensions. The +Amazon has twelve tributaries, each one of which is a thousand miles in +length, not to count its hundreds of smaller ones, while the main stream +affords water communication from the Atlantic Ocean to near the +foothills of the Andes. + +We are simply stating a series of condensed geographical facts, from +which the intelligent reader can form his own deductions as regards the +undeveloped possibilities of this great southland. + +Our own mammoth river, the Mississippi, is a comparatively shallow +stream, with a shifting channel and dangerous sandbanks, which impede +navigation throughout the most of its course; while the Amazon shows an +average depth of over one hundred feet for the first thousand miles of +its flow from the Atlantic, forming inland seas in many places, so +spacious that the opposite banks are not within sight of each other. It +is computed by good authority that this river, with its numerous +affluents, forms a system of navigable water twenty-four thousand miles +in length! There are comparatively few towns or settlements of any +importance on the banks of the Amazon, which flows mostly through a +dense, unpeopled evergreen forest, not absolutely without human beings, +but for very long distances nearly so. Wild animals, anacondas and other +reptiles, together with many varieties of birds and numerous tribes of +monkeys, make up the animal life. Now and again a settlement of European +colonists is found, or a rude Indian village is seen near the banks, but +they are few and far between. There are occasional regions of low, +marshy ground, which are malarious at certain seasons, but the average +country is salubrious, and capable of supporting a population of +millions. + +This is only one of the large rivers of South America; there are many +others of grand proportions. The Plate comes next to it in magnitude, +having a length of two thousand miles, and being navigable for one half +the distance from its mouth at all seasons. It is over sixty miles wide +at Montevideo, and is therefore the widest known river. Like the great +stream already described, it traverses a country remarkable for the +fertility of its soil, but very thinly settled. The Plate carries to the +ocean four fifths as much, in volume of water, as does the mighty +Amazon, the watershed drained by it exceeding a million and a half +square miles. One can only conceive of the true magnitude of such +figures when applied to the land by comparing the number of square miles +contained in any one European nation, or any dozen of our own States. + +Juan Diaz de Solis discovered the estuary of the Plate in 1508, and +believed it at that time to be a gulf, but on a second voyage from +Europe, in 1516, he ascended the river a considerable distance, and +called it Mar Dulce, on account of the character of the waters. +Unfortunately, this intelligent discoverer was killed by Indian arrows +on attempting to land at a certain point. For a considerable period the +river was called after him, and we think should have continued to be so, +but its name was changed to the Plate on account of the conspicuous +silver ornaments worn in great profusion by the natives, which they +freely exchanged for European gewgaws. + +Though nearly four hundred years have passed since its discovery, a +large portion of the country still remains comparatively unexplored, +much of it being a wilderness sparsely inhabited by Indians, many of +whom are without a vestige of civilization. We know as little of +portions of the continent as we do of Central Africa, yet there is no +section of the globe which suggests a greater degree of physical +interest, or which would respond more readily and profitably to +intelligent effort at development. When the Spaniards first came to +South America, it was only in Peru, the land of the Incas, that they +found natives who had made any substantial progress in civilization. The +earliest history extant relating to this region of the globe is that of +the Incas, a warlike race of sun-worshipers, who possessed enormous +treasures of gold and silver, and who erected magnificent temples +enriched with the precious metals. It was the almost fabulous wealth of +the Incas that led to their destruction, tempting the cupidity of the +avaricious Spaniards, and causing them to institute a system of cruelty, +oppression, robbery, and bloodshed which finally obliterated an entire +people from the face of the globe. The empire of the Incas extended from +Quito, in Ecuador (on the equator), to the river Monte in Chili, and +eastward to the Andes. The romantic career of Pizarro and Cortez is +familiar to us all. There are few palliating circumstances connected +with the advent of the Spaniards, either here, in the West Indies, or in +Mexico. The actual motive which prompted their invasion of this foreign +soil was to search for mineral treasures, though policy led them to +cover their bloodthirsty deeds with a pretense of religious zeal. Their +first acts were reckless, cruel, and sanguinary, followed by a +systematic oppression of the native races which was an outrage upon +humanity. The world at large profited little by the extortion and golden +harvest reaped by Spain, to realize which she adopted a policy of +extermination, both in Peru and in Mexico; but let it be remembered that +her own national ruin was brought about with poetical justice by the +very excess of her ill-gotten, blood-stained treasures. The Spanish +historians tell us, as an evidence of the persistent bravery of their +ancestors, that it took them eight hundred years of constant warfare to +wrest Spain from her Moorish conquerors. It is for us to remind them how +brief has been the continuance of their glory, how rapid their decline +from splendid continental and colonial possessions to their present +condition, that of the weakest and most insignificant power in Europe. + +There are localities which have been visited by adventurous explorers, +especially in Chili and Peru, where ruins have been found, and various +monuments of antiquity examined, of vast interest to archaeologists, but +of which scarcely more than their mere existence is recorded. Some of +these ruins are believed to antedate by centuries the period of the +Incas, and are supposed to be the remains of tribes which, judging from +their pottery and other domestic utensils, were possibly of Asiatic +origin. Comparatively few travelers have visited Lake Titicaca, in the +Peruvian Andes, with its sacred islands and mysterious ruins, from +whence the Incas dated their mythical origin. The substantial remains of +some grand temples are still to be seen on the islands near the borders +of the lake, the decaying masonry decked here and there with a wild +growth of hardy cactus. This remarkable body of water, Lake Titicaca, in +the mountain range of Peru, lies more than twelve thousand feet above +the level of the Pacific; yet it never freezes, and its average depth is +given as six hundred feet, representing an immense body of water. It +covers an area of four thousand square miles, which is about four fifths +as large as our own Lake Ontario, the average depth being about the +same. Titicaca is the largest lake in the world occupying so elevated a +site. + +The population of South America is mostly to be found on the coast, and +is thought to be about thirty-five millions, though, all things +considered, we are disposed to believe this an overestimate. There are +tribes far inland who are not brought in contact with civilization at +all, and whose numbers are not known. The magnitude and density of the +forests are remarkable; they cover, it is intelligently stated, nearly +two thirds of the country. The vegetation, in its various forms, is rich +beyond comparison. Professor Agassiz, who explored the valley of the +Amazon under the most favorable auspices, tells us that he found within +an area of half a mile square over one hundred species of trees, among +which were nearly all of the choicest cabinet and dye woods known to the +tropics, besides others suitable for shipbuilding. Some of these trees +are remarkable for their gigantic size, others for their beauty of form, +and still others are valuable for their gums and resins. Of the latter, +the india-rubber tree is the most prolific and important known to +commerce. From Brazil comes four fifths of the world's supply of the raw +material of rubber. + +The great fertility of the soil generally would seem to militate against +the true progress of the people of South America, absolutely +discouraging, rather than stimulating national industry. One cannot but +contrast the state of affairs in this respect with that of North +America, where the soil is so much less productive, and where the +climate is so universally rigorous. The deduction is inevitable that, to +find man at his best, we must observe him where his skill, energy, and +perseverance are all required to achieve a livelihood, and not where +exuberant nature is over-indulgent, over-productive. The coast, the +valleys, and indeed the main portion of South America are tropical, but +a considerable section of the country is so elevated that its climate is +that of perpetual spring, resembling the great Mexican plateau, both +physically and as regards temperature. The population is largely of +Spanish descent, and that language is almost universally spoken, though +Portuguese is the current tongue in Brazil. These languages are so +similar, in fact, that the people of the two nations can easily +understand each other. It is said to be true that, in the wild regions +of the country, there are tribes of Indians found to-day living close to +each other, separated by no physical barriers, who differ materially in +language, physiognomy, manners, and customs, having absolutely nothing +in common but their brown or copper colored skins. Furthermore, these +tribes live most frequently in deadly feuds with each other. That +cannibalism is still practiced among these interior tribes is positively +believed, especially among some of the tribes of the extreme south, that +is, among the Patagonians and the wild, nomadic race of Terra del Fuego. +These two tribes, on opposite sides of the Strait of Magellan, are quite +different from each other in nearly every respect, especially in size, +nor will they attempt to hold friendly intercourse of any sort with each +other. + +There are certain domestic animals which are believed to be improved by +crossing them with others of a different type, but this does not seem to +apply, very often, advantageously to different races of human beings. It +is plain enough in South America that the amalgamation of foreigners and +natives rapidly effaces the original better qualities of each, the +result being a mongrel, nondescript type, hard to analyze and hard to +improve. That keen observer, Professor Agassiz, especially noticed this +during his year of scientific research in Brazil. This has also been the +author's experience, as illustrated in many lands, where strictly +different races, the one highly civilized, the other barbarian, have +unitedly produced children. It is a sort of amalgamation which nature +does not favor, recording her objections in an unmistakable manner. It +is the flow of European emigration towards these southern republics +which will infuse new life and progress among them. The aboriginal race +is slowly receding, and fading out, as was the case in Australia, in New +Zealand, and in the instance of our western Indians. A new people will +eventually possess the land, composed of the several European +nationalities, who are already the virtual masters of South America so +far as regards numbers, intelligence, and possession. + +Since these notes were written, the Argentine government has sold to +Baron Hirsch three thousand square leagues of land in the province of +Chaco, for the formation of a Jewish colony. Agents are already at work, +aided by competent engineers and practical individuals, in preparing for +the early reception of the new occupants of the country. The first +contingent, of about one thousand Jews, have already arrived and are +becoming domesticated. Argentina wants men perhaps more than money; +indeed, one will make the other. A part of Baron Hirsch's scheme is to +lend these people money, to be repaid in small installments extending +over a considerable period. For this extensive territory the Baron paid +one million three hundred thousand dollars in gold, thus making himself +the owner of the largest connected area of land in the world possessed +by a single individual. It exceeds that of the kingdom of Montenegro. + +As to the zooelogy of this part of the continent, it is different from +that of Europe, Africa, Asia, and North America. The number of dangerous +beasts of prey is quite limited. There is nothing here to answer to the +African lion, the Asiatic tiger, the elephant of Ceylon, or the grisly +bear of Alaska. The jaguar is perhaps the most formidable animal, and +resembles the leopard. There are also the cougar, tiger-cat, black bear, +hyena, wolf, and ocelot. The llama, alpaca, and vicuna are peculiar to +this country. The monkey tribe exceeds all others in variety and number. +There are said to be nearly two hundred species of them in South +America, each distinctly marked, and varying from each other, in size, +from twelve pounds to less than two. The smallest of the little +marmosets weigh less than a pound and a half each, and are the most +intelligent animal of their size known to man. There are also the deer, +tapir, armadillo, anteater, and a few other minor animals. The pampas +swarm with wild cattle and horses, descended from animals originally +brought from Europe. In the low, marshy grounds the boa-constrictor and +other reptiles abound. Eagles, vultures, and parrots are found in a wild +state all over the country, while the rivers and the waters near the +coast are well filled with fish, crocodiles, and turtles. Scientists +have found over two thousand species of fish in the Amazon River alone. + +The pure aboriginal race are copper colored, resembling the Mexicans in +character and appearance. Like most natives of equatorial regions, they +are indolent, ignorant, superstitious, sensuous, and by no means +warlike. Forced into the ranks and drilled by Europeans, they make +fairly good soldiers, and when well led will obey orders and fight. +There can be no _esprit de corps_ in soldiers thus organized; the men +neither know nor care what they fight for, their incentive in action +being first a natural instinct for brutality, and second the promise of +booty. In some parts of the country the half-breeds show themselves +skillful workmen in certain simple lines of manufacture, but the native +pure and simple will not work except to keep from starving. + +The Spaniards conquered nearly all parts of South America except Brazil, +which was subject to Portugal until 1823, when it achieved its +independence. The Spanish colonies also revolted, one by one, until they +all became independent of the mother country. The history of these +republics, as in the instance of Mexico, has been both stormy and +sanguinary. Foreign and civil wars have reigned among them incessantly +for half a century and more. + +The present political divisions are: Brazil, British Guiana, Dutch +Guiana, French Guiana, Ecuador, United States of Colombia, Venezuela, +Bolivia, Chili, Peru, Argentine Republic, Uruguay, and Paraguay. Brazil +is the most extensive of these states, and is thought to enjoy the +largest share of natural advantages, including in its area nearly one +half as many square miles as all the rest combined. Its seaboard at +Parahiba, and for hundreds of miles north and south of it, projects into +the Atlantic a thousand miles to the east of the direct line between its +northern and southern extremities. Besides her diamond and gold mines, +she possesses what is much more desirable, namely, valuable deposits of +iron, copper, silver, and other metals. We have before us statistics +which give the result of diamond mining in Brazil from 1740 to 1823, +when national independence was won, which show the aggregate for that +entire period to have been less than ten million dollars in value; while +that of the coffee alone, exported from Rio Janeiro in one year, +exceeded twenty million dollars, showing that, however dazzling the +precious stones may appear in the abstract, they are not even of +secondary consideration when compared with the agricultural products of +the country. The export of coffee has increased very much since the year +1851, which happens to be that from which we have quoted. It must also +be admitted that probably twice the amount of diamonds recorded were +actually found and enriched somebody, all which were duly reported, +having to pay a government royalty according to the pecuniary exigency +of those in authority. + +The population of Brazil is between fourteen and fifteen million, and it +is thought to be more advanced in civilization than other parts of South +America, though in the light of our own experience we should place the +Argentine Republic first in this respect. Indeed, so far as a transient +observer may speak, we are inclined to place Argentina far and away in +advance of Brazil as regards everything calculated to invite the +would-be emigrant who is in search of a new home in a foreign land. Were +it not that intestine wars are of such frequent occurrence among these +states, and national bankruptcy so common, voluntary emigration would +tend towards South America in far larger numbers than it does now. The +revolutions are solely to promote personal aggrandizement; it is +individual interest, not principle, for which these people fight so +often. Unfortunately, every fresh outbreak throws the country back a +full decade as regards national progress. The late civil wars in Chili +and the Argentine Republic are illustrations in point. The first-named +section of South America has suddenly sunk from a condition of +remarkable pecuniary prosperity to one of actual poverty. Thousands of +valuable lives have been sacrificed, an immense amount of property has +been destroyed, her commerce crippled, and for the time being paralyzed. +Ten years of peace and reasonable prosperity could hardly restore Chili +to the position she was in twelve months ago. The country is to-day in a +terrible condition, while many of the best families mourn the death of a +father, a son, or both, whose lives have been sacrificed to the mad +ambition of a usurper. Numerous families, once rich, have now become +impoverished by the confiscation of their entire property. The Chilians +do not carry on warfare in European style, by organized armies; there is +a semblance only of such bodies. The fighting is mostly after the +fashion of free lances, guerrilla bands, and highwaymen. There seems to +be no sense of honor or chivalry among the common people, while the only +idea of the soldiery is to plunder and destroy. + +The Peruvians whose cities were despoiled by Chili must have regarded +the recent cutting of each other's throats by the Chilian soldiery with +something like grim satisfaction. + +The obvious weakness of the South American states lies in their bitter +rivalry towards each other, a condition which might be at once obviated +by their joining together to form one united nation. The instability +which characterizes their several governments in their present isolated +interests has passed into a byword. Divided into nine unimportant +states,--leaving out the three Guianas, which are dependent upon +European powers,--any one of them could be erased from the map and +absorbed by its stronger neighbor, or by a covetous foreign power. On +the contrary, by forming one grand republic, it would stand eighth in +the rank of nations as regards wealth, importance, and power, amply able +to take care of itself, and to maintain the integrity of its territory. +A community of interest would also be established between our government +and that of these South American provinces, which would be of immense +commercial and political importance to both nations. + +To those who have visited the country, and who have carefully observed +the conditions, it is clear that this division of the continent will +never thrive and fully reap the benefit of its great natural advantages +until the independent republics assume the position of sovereign states, +subservient to a central power, a purpose which has already been so +successfully accomplished in Mexico. + +While we have been considering the great southern continent as a whole, +our good ship, having crossed the equator, has been rapidly approaching +its northern shore. After entering the broad mouth of the Amazon and +ascending its course for many miles, we are now in sight of the thriving +metropolis of Para. + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + City of Para.--The Equatorial Line.--Spanish History.--The + King of Waters.--Private Gardens.--Domestic Life in Northern + Brazil.--Delicious Pineapples.--Family Pets.--Opera + House.--Mendicants.--A Grand Avenue.--Botanical + Garden.--India-Rubber Tree.--Gathering the Raw + Material.--Monkeys.--The Royal Palm.--Splendor of Equatorial + Nights. + + +Para is the most northerly city of Brazil. It also bears the name of +Belem on some maps, and is the capital of a province of the first +designation. The full official title of the place is, in the usual style +of Portuguese and Spanish hyperbole, Santa Maria do Belem do Grao Para, +which has fortunately and naturally simplified itself to Para. It was +founded in 1615, and the province of which it is the capital was the +last in Brazil to declare its independence of the mother country, and to +acknowledge the authority of the first emperor, Dom Pedro. It is the +largest political division of the republic, and in some respects the +most thriving. The city is situated about ninety miles south of the +equator, and eighty miles from the Atlantic Ocean on the Para River, so +called, but which is really one of the mouths of the Amazon. It is thus +the principal city at the mouth of the largest river in the world, a +fact quite sufficient to indicate its present, and to insure its +continued commercial importance. + +As we entered the muddy estuary of the river, whose wide expanse was +lashed into short, angry waves by a strong wind, large tree trunks were +seen floating seaward, rising and sinking on the undulating surface of +the water. Some were quite entire, with all of their branches still +attached to the main trunk. They came, perhaps, from two thousand miles +inland, borne upon the swift current from where it had undermined the +roots in their forest home. Among the rest was a cocoa-palm with its +full tufted head, some large brown nuts still hanging tenaciously to the +parent stem. It had fallen bodily, while in its prime and full bearing, +suddenly unearthed by some swift deviation of the river, which brooks no +trifling impediment to its triumphal march seaward. How long, one would +be glad to know, has this vast stream, fed by the melted snow of the +Andes, poured its accumulated waters into the bosom of the ocean? A +thousand years is but as a day, in reckoning the age of a mountain range +or of a mammoth river. + +As we approached the city, the channel became gradually narrowed by +several prominent islands, crowded with rich green vegetation, forest +trees of various sorts, mangoes, bananas, and regal palms. Though it is +thus broken by islands, the river is here over twenty miles in width. + +Para is yielded precedence over the other cities on the east coast of +South America in many respects, and is appreciatively called "Queen of +the Amazon," her water communication reaching into the very heart of +some of the most fertile valleys on the continent. One incorporated +company has established a score of well-appointed steamers, averaging +five hundred tons each, which navigate the river for a distance of two +thousand miles from its mouth. Para has an excellent harbor, of large +capacity, accommodating an extensive commerce, a considerable portion of +which is with the United States of North America. It has a mixed +population of about fifty thousand, composed of an amalgamation of +Portuguese, Italians, Indians, and negroes, and is the only town of any +importance, except Quito, situated so near to the equatorial line, +where the interested observer has the privilege of beholding the starry +constellations of both hemispheres. Ships of five thousand tons +measurement can lie within a hundred yards of the wharves of Para, where +the accumulation of coffee, dyewoods, drugs, tobacco, cotton, cocoa, +rice, sugar, and raw india-rubber, indicates the character of the +principal exports. Of all these staples, the last named is the most +important, in a commercial point of view, occupying the third place on +the list of national exports. As we have shown, the import and export +trade of the Amazon valley naturally centres here, and Para need fear no +commercial rival. + +For a considerable period this unequaled water-way, forming the spacious +port, and conveying the drainage of nearly half of South America into +the Atlantic, bore the name of its discoverer, Orellana, one of +Pizarro's captains; but the fabulous story of a priest called Friar +Gaspar, self-constituted chronicler of the expedition, gave to it the +designation which it now bears. All the Spanish records of the history +and conquests in the New World, relating to the doings of Columbus, +Cortez, Pizarro, and others, without an exception, were written in the +same spirit of exaggeration and untruthfulness, leading that pious +witness and contemporary writer, Las Casas, to pronounce them, with +honest indignation, to be a tissue of falsehoods. Even our own popular +historian, Prescott, who drew so largely upon these sources for his +poetical productions, was forced to admit their manifest incongruities, +contradictions, and general irresponsibility. This Munchausen of a +priest, Friar Gaspar, recorded that a tribe of Amazons, or fighting +women, was encountered far inland, on the banks of the mighty river, who +were tall in stature, symmetrical in form, and had a profusion of long +hair, which hung in braids down their backs. They were represented to be +as warlike as they were beautiful, and as carrying shields and spears, +the latter of which they could use with great skill and effect. It was +this foolish story of the Amazons, hatched in the prolific brain of +Friar Gaspar, which gave the river its lasting name. + +The Indian designation of the mammoth watercourse was significant and +appropriate, as their names always are. They called it _Parana-tinga_, +meaning "King of Waters," and it seems to us a great pity that the name +could not have been retained. + +Para has the advantage of being much nearer to the United States and to +Europe than Rio Janeiro, the capital of Brazil. Though the commerce of +Rio is constantly increasing, in spite of its miserable sanitary +condition, it is confidently believed by intelligent persons engaged in +the South American trade, that Para will equal it erelong in the +aggregate of its shipments. All freight is now landed by means of +lighters, a process which is an awkward drawback upon commerce, and what +makes it still more aggravating is that it seems to be an entirely +needless one. Certainly a good, substantial, capacious pier might be +easily built, which would obviate this objection, accommodating a dozen +large vessels at the same time. The Brazilians are slow to adopt any +modern improvement. Portuguese and Spaniards are very much alike in this +respect. Wharves will be built at Para by and by, after a few more +millions have been wasted upon the inconvenient process now in vogue, +which involves not only needless expense, but causes most awkward and +unreasonable delay, both in landing merchandise and in shipping freight +for export. This serious objection applies to all the ports along the +east coast of South America. There is always some private interest which +exerts itself to prevent any progressive movement, and it is this which +retards improved facilities for unloading and shipping of cargoes at +Para. In this instance the owners of the steam tugs which tow the +flat-bottomed lighters from ship to shore, and vice versa, oppose the +building of piers, because, if they were in existence, these individuals +would find their profitable occupation gone. If proper wharf facilities +were to be furnished, commerce generally would be much benefited, though +a few persons would suffer some pecuniary loss. As we have said, the +wharves will come by and by, when the people realize that private +interest must be subservient to the public good. + +The city of Para is situated upon slightly elevated ground, and makes a +fine appearance from the river, with its lofty cathedral, numerous +churches, convents, custom house, and arsenal standing forth in bold +relief against an intensely blue sky, while fronting the harbor, like a +line of sentinels, is a row of tall, majestic palms, harmonizing +admirably with the local surroundings, though in the very midst of a +busy commercial centre. The buildings are painted yellow, blue, or pink, +the facades contrasting strongly with the dark red of the heavily tiled +roofs, which, having no chimneys, present an odd appearance to a +northern eye. Here and there a mass of greenery indicates some domestic +garden, or a plaza presided over by tall groups of trees, among which +the thick, umbrageous mangoes prevail. The Rua da Imperatriz is the +principal wholesale street of the city, where the large warehouses are +to be found, but the Rua dos Mercadores is the fashionable shopping +street, through which the tramway also passes. The shops are rather +small, but have a fair stock of goods offered at reasonable rates, +though strangers are apt to be victimized by considerably higher prices +than a native would pay. + +This, however, is not unusual in all foreign countries, so far as our +experience goes. North Americans are looked upon as possessing unlimited +pecuniary means, and as lavish in their expenditures, prices being +gauged accordingly. This is a universal practice in Europe, and +especially so in Germany. + +The climate is very moist, and it has been facetiously remarked that it +rains here eight days in the week. One cannot speak approvingly of the +sanitary condition of a place where turkey buzzards are depended upon to +remove the garbage which accumulates in the thoroughfares. It is +unaccountable that the citizens should submit to such filthy +surroundings, especially in a locality where malarial fever is +acknowledged to prevail in the summer season. Though at this writing it +is the latter part of May, yellow fever is still rife here, and we hear +of many particularly sad cases, ending fatally, all about us. This +destroyer is especially apt to carry off people who have newly arrived +in the country. The present year has been unusually fatal among the +residents of Para, as regards yellow fever, which seems to linger longer +and longer each year of its visitation. Our own conviction is that the +people have themselves to thank for this lingering of the pest into the +winter months, since the sanitary conditions of the place are +inexcusably defective. + +Gardens in and about the city quickly catch and delight the +eye,--gardens where flowers and fruits grow in great luxuriance. Among +the latter are oranges, mangoes, guavas, figs, and bananas. The glossy +green fronds of the bananas throw other verdure altogether into the +shade, while in dignity and beauty the cocoanut palms excel all other +trees. The tall, straight stem of the palm rises from the roots without +leaf or branch until the plumed head is reached, which bends slightly +under its wealth of pinnated leaves and fruit combined. If you happen to +pass these gardens after nightfall, especially those in the immediate +environs of the city, mark the phosphorescent clouds of dancing lights +which fill the still atmosphere round about the vegetation. This +peculiar effect is produced by the busy cucuios, or tropical fireflies, +each vigorously flashing its individual torch. Do they shine thus in the +daytime, we are led to wonder, like the constellations in the heavens, +though hidden by the greater light of the sun? They are always +demonstrative in the night, be it never so cloudy, foggy, or damp in the +low latitudes. They keep their sparkling revels, their torchlight +dances, all heedless of the grim and deadly fever which lurks in the +surrounding atmosphere, claiming human victims right and left, among +high and low, from the ranks of age and of youth. Insect life is +redundant here. It is the very paradise of butterflies, whose size, wide +spread of wing, variety, and striking beauty of colors, we have only +seen equaled at Penang and Singapore, in the Malacca Straits. Some of +the avenues leading to the environs are lined with handsome trees, which +add greatly to their attractiveness and comfort. The silk cotton tree +and the almond are favorites here as ornamental shade trees. The cape +jessamine is universally cultivated at Para, and grows to a large size, +filling the air with its agreeable fragrance. Here the oleander, covered +with clusters of bloom, grows to the height of twenty feet and more. The +lime, with its fine acid fruit, which is in great request in making +cooling drinks, also abounds. + +The glimpses of domestic life which one gets in passing the better class +of dwellings reveal rooms with tiled or polished wooden floors, +cane-finished chairs, sofas, and rockers to match, a small foot rug here +and there, a group of flowering plants in one corner, while hammocks +seem to take the place of bedsteads. The temperature is high at Para in +summer, and woolen carpets, or even mattresses, are too warm for use in +this climate. Bignonias, oleanders, and other blooming plants abound in +the flower-plots about the city, besides many flowering vines which are +strangers to us, half orchids, half creepers. One is apt to jump at +conclusions. These people dearly love flowers, so we conclude they +cannot be very wicked. + +The families live, as it were, in the open patios, which form the +centres of their dwellings, are shaded by broad verandas, and upon which +the domestic apartments all open. The accessories are few, and not +entirely convenient, according to a northerner's ideas of comfort; but +this is compensated for by the fragrance of flowers, the picturesqueness +of the surroundings, and the free and easy out-of-door atmosphere which +ignores conventionalities. These attractive interiors suggest a sort of +picnic mode of life which has conformed itself to climatic influences. +Everything is very quiet, there is no hurry, and the stillness is +occasionally interrupted by the musical laughter of children, which +rings out clear and pleasantly, entirely in harmony with the +surroundings. And such children! Artists' models, every one of them. It +all seems to a stranger to be the very poetry of living, yet we venture +to say that each household has its skeleton in the closet, and some a +whole anatomical museum! + +At Bahia, further south, a revelation awaits the traveler in the +delicious richness, size, and delicacy of the oranges which grow there +in lavish abundance, and which are famous, all along the coast. Here at +Para, the same may be said of the pineapple, the raising of which is a +local specialty. These are not picked until fully ripe, and often weigh +ten pounds each. When cut open, the inside can be eaten with a spoon, if +one fancies that mode. They require no sugar; nature has supplied the +saccharine principle in abundance. They are absolutely perfect in +themselves alone. People sailing northward lay in a great store of this +admirable fruit, which is as cheap as it is delicious and appetizing. In +New England, the pines of which we partake have been picked in a green +condition in Bermuda, the Bahamas, or Florida, to enable them to bear +transportation. They ripen only partially off the stem, and after a very +poor style, decay setting in at the same time; consequently the pulp is +not suitable to swallow, and is always more or less indigestible. The +Para pines are seedless, and are propagated by replanting the suckers. +The crown, we were told, would also thrive and reproduce the fruit if +properly planted, but the first named process is that generally +employed, and is probably the best. + +In the neighborhood of Para are many large and profitable cocoa +plantations, the industry connected with which is a growing one, +representing a considerable amount of capital. But above all others, the +gathering and preparing of raw india-rubber for exportation is the +prevailing industry of this Brazilian capital. + +The common people seem to be an uncertain mixture of races, confounding +all attempts properly to analyze their antecedents. They have touches of +refinement and underlying tenderness of instinct, as exhibited in their +home associations, but also evince a coarseness which is not inviting, +to say the least. They are universal lovers of pet birds and small +animals. No household seems to be complete without some representatives +of the sort. Among these are cranes, ibises, herons, turtle-doves, +parrots, macaws, and paroquets. Monkeys of various tribes, the little +marmoset being the favorite, are seen domesticated in almost every +private garden, full of fun and mischief, and affording infinite +amusement to the youthful members of the household. Young anacondas, +sometimes ten feet long, are kept in and about the dwellings, to catch +and drive away the rats! The reader smiles half incredulously at this, +and we do not wonder. If one of these rodents be caught in a trap and +killed, it is useless to offer it to an anaconda as food. That +fastidious reptile will eat only such creatures as it kills itself. This +is also characteristic of the African lion and the tiger of India, when +in the wild state; neither will molest a dead body, of man or beast, +which they have not themselves deprived of life, though hyenas, wolves, +and some other animals will even rob the graves of human bodies for +food. We had never heard of anacondas employed as ratters before we came +to Para, but we were assured by those who should know that they are +especially effective in warfare against this domestic pest. + +Broad verandas give a grateful shade to most of the dwelling-houses, +which are seldom over one story in height, each one, however, extending +over considerable ground space. In the business part of the town, +fronting the harbor, the houses are generally two or even three stories +in height, it being necessary in such localities to economize the square +feet of ground occupied. The same sort of external ornamentation is seen +here as upon the house fronts in Mexico, namely, the profuse decoration +of the walls with glazed earthen tiles, often of fancy colors, which +gives a checkerboard appearance to a dwelling-house not calculated to +please a critical eye. + +The Opera House of Para is a large and imposing structure, one of the +finest edifices in the town, and the largest theatre, we believe, in +South America, quite uncalled for, it would seem, by any local demand. +It is built of brick, finished in stucco, the front being decorated with +marble columns having handsome and elaborate Corinthian capitals. The +house lights up brilliantly at night, being finished in red, white, and +gold. It has four narrow galleries supported upon brackets, thus +obviating the necessity for the objectionable upright posts which so +provokingly interfere with the line of sight. The cathedral is a +substantial and handsome structure, with a couple of tall towers, after +the usual Spanish style, each containing a dozen bells. The interior has +all the florid and tawdry ornamentation always to be found in Roman +Catholic churches, together with the usual complement of bleeding +figures, arrow-pierced saints, high-colored paper rosettes, utterly +meaningless, together with any amount of glittering tinsel, calculated +to catch the eye and captivate the imagination of the grossly ignorant +native population. + +There are many minor churches in the city, and judging by the number +seen in the streets, there must be at least a thousand priests, whose +sole occupation, when they are not gambling or cock-fighting, is to +cajole and impoverish the common people. It was a church festival when +we visited the cathedral. There are over two hundred such days, out of +every three hundred and sixty-five, in Roman Catholic countries,--not +days of humiliation and prayer, but days of gross latitude, of +bull-fights, occasions when the decent amenities of life are ignored, +days when the broadest license prevails, and all excesses are condoned. +There were a large number of women present in the cathedral on this day, +but scarcely half a dozen men. The better class were dressed gayly, and +wore some rich jewelry. The love of finery prevails, and pervades all +classes. Some of the ladies were clad in costly silks and laces, set off +by brilliants and pearls. Diamonds and precious stones are very common +in this country, and a certain class seem to carry a large share of +their worldly possessions showily displayed upon their persons. What the +humbler class lacked in richness of material, they made up in gaudy +colors, blazing scarfs, and imitation gold and silver jewelry. Nature +sets the example of bright colors in these latitudes, in gaudy plumed +birds and high-tinted flowers and fruits. The natives only follow her. +The few men who were present came to ogle the women, and having +satisfied their low-bred curiosity, soon retired to the neighboring +bar-rooms and gambling saloons. On special festal days temporary booths +are erected in the squares, in which intoxicants are sold, together with +toys, cakes, cigars, and charms, the latter said to have been blessed by +the priests, and therefore sure to prevent any injury from the evil eye! + +As in most of the South American cities, there are several elaborate +buildings here, formerly used as convents, which are now devoted to more +creditable purposes. The present custom house occupies one of these +edifices, which is crowned with two lofty towers. + +There are plenty of mendicants in the streets of Para, who are very +ready with their importunities, especially in appealing to strangers. +The average citizens seemed to be liberal in dealing with these beggars. +Saturday is called "poor day" in Para, as it is also in Havana, +Matanzas, Cienfuegos, etc., when every housekeeper who is able to give +something does so, if it be only a small roll of bread, to each visiting +beggar. At most houses these small rolls are baked regularly for this +purpose, and the applicant is nearly sure to get one upon calling, and +if he represents a large family he may receive two. Money is rarely, if +ever, given by residents, nor is it expected; but strangers are +surrounded as by an army with banners, and vigorously importuned for +centavos. The Spaniards and Portuguese are natural beggars. + +Here let us digress for a moment. The system of beggary prevailing in +Spanish countries is very trying to all sensitive travelers. In Italy, +Spain, and the south of France, especially at the watering-places, it is +a terrible pest. Naples has become almost unendurable on this account. +At every rod one is constantly importuned and followed by beggars of all +sizes, ages, and of both sexes,--individuals who should be placed in +asylums and cared for by the state. No reasonable person would object to +paying a certain sum on entering these resorts, to be honestly devoted +to charitable purposes, provided it would insure him against the +disgusting importunities of which strangers are now the victims. +Visitors hasten away from the localities where these things are not only +permitted but are encouraged. It is thought to be quite the thing to +fleece foreigners of every possible penny, and by every possible means. +The contrast in this respect between the cities of the United States and +those of Europe and South America is eminently creditable to the former. +In the beautiful little watering-place known as Luchon, in the south of +France, at the foot of the Pyrenees, with scarcely four thousand +inhabitants, there are over one hundred professional beggars, who +constantly beset and drive away visitors. Some of these, as usual in +such cases, are known to be well off pecuniarily, but are marked by some +physical deformity upon which they trade. If the stranger gives, he is +oftenest encouraging a swindle, rarely performing a true charity. This +is one of the increasing disgraces of Paris. Beggars know too much to +importune citizens, but strangers are beset at every corner of the +boulevards and public gardens, particularly by children, girls and boys, +trained for the purpose. + +Of all the races seen in Brazil, the half-breed Indian girls are the +most attractive, and until they are past the age of twenty-five or +thirty years they are almost universally handsome, no matter to what +class they belong. Those who have the advantage of domestic comforts, +good food, and delicate associations develop accordingly, and are +especially beautiful. They would make charming artists' models. The +remarkably straight figure of the native women is noticeable, caused by +the practice referred to of carrying burdens on the head. As already +mentioned, if a negro or Indian woman has an article to transport, even +if it be but a quart bottle, or an umbrella, it is placed at once upon +the head. The article may weigh five pounds or fifty, it is all the +same; everything but the babies is thus transported. These little naked +creatures, always suggestive of monkeys, are supported on the mother's +back, held there by a shawl or rebozo tied securely across the chest. +When the children are six or eight years old, they are promoted to the +dignity of wearing one small garment, an abbreviated shirt or chemise. + +The principal food of the common people of northern Brazil is farina and +dried fish, with fried plantains and ripe bananas. Crabs and oysters of +a poor description abound along the coast, and are eaten by the people, +both in a raw and cooked condition. But the white people avoid the coast +oysters, which sometimes poison those not accustomed to them. + +The finest avenue in Para is the Estrada de Sao Jose, bordered by grand +old palms, which form a beautiful perspective and a welcome shade, the +feathery tops nearly embracing each other overhead. The tramway takes +one through the environs by the Rua de Nazareth, for five miles to Marco +da Legua, where the public wells of the city are situated. The way +thither is lined with neat and handsome dwellings, shaded by noble +trees. The botanical garden is well worth a visit by all lovers of +horticulture. The forest creeps up towards the environs of the town, +wherein many of the trees are rendered beautiful by clinging orchids of +gorgeous blue; others are of blood red, and some of orange yellow, +presenting also a great diversity of form. One has not far to go to see +specimens of the india-rubber tree, growing from ninety to a hundred +feet in height, while measuring from four to five feet in diameter. This +tree begins to produce gum at the age of fifteen years. The trunk is +smooth and perfectly round, the bark of a buff color. It bears a curious +fruit, of which some animals are said to be fond. The author has seen +the india-rubber tree growing in the island of Ceylon, where it seemed +to reach a greater height and dimensions than it does in the district of +Para. A considerable portion of the roots lie above ground, stretching +away from the base of the tree like huge anacondas, and finally +disappearing in the earth half a rod or more from the parent trunk. The +reader can hardly fail to be familiar with the simple wild plant, which +grows so abundantly by our New England roadsides, known as the +milk-weed, which, when the stem is cut or broken, emits a creamy, +pungent smelling liquid. In the latitude of Para, this little weed, of +the same family, assumes the form of a colossal tree, and is known as +the india-rubber tree. The United States takes of Brazilian rubber, in +the crude state, over twenty-five thousand tons annually. As to coffee, +Brazil supplies one half of all which is consumed in the civilized +world; but we should frankly tell the reader, if he does not already +realize the fact, that it is most frequently marked and sold for "Old +Government Java." + +The india-rubber tree is tapped annually very much after the same style +in which we treat the sugar-maple in Vermont, and elsewhere, to procure +its sap. A yellow, creamy liquid flows forth from the rubber tree into +small cups placed beneath an incision made in the trunk. When the cup +becomes full, its contents is emptied into a large common receptacle, +where it is allowed to partially harden, and in which form it is called +caoutchouc. The tapping of the trees and attending to the gathering of +the sap furnish employment to hundreds of the natives, who, however, +make but small wages, being employed by contractors, who either lease +the trees of certain districts, or own large tracts of forest land. +These Brazilian forests are very grand, abounding in valuable aromatic +plants, precious woods, gaudy birds, and various wild animals. The +number of monkeys is absolutely marvelous, including many curious +varieties. A native will not kill a monkey; indeed, it must be difficult +for a European to make up his mind to shoot a creature so nearly human +in its actions, and whose pleading cries when wounded are said to be so +pitiable. + +One of the peculiar street sights in Para is that of native women with a +dozen young monkeys of different species for sale. Marmosets can be +bought for a quarter of a dollar each. So tame are the little creatures +that they cling about the woman's person, fastening upon her hair, arms, +and neck, not in the least inclined to escape from her. It is remarkable +and interesting to see how very fond they become of their owner, if he +is kind to them. Like the dog and the cat, they seem to have a strong +desire for human companionship. When seen running wild in the woods, +leaping from tree to tree, and from branch to branch, they do not try to +get far away from the presence of man, but only to keep, in their +untamed state, just out of reach of his hands. Ships sailing hence +generally take away a few of these animals, but as they are delicate, +and very sensitive to climatic changes, many of them die before reaching +Europe or North America. + +The great beauty of Para is its abundance of palm trees. The palm is +always an interesting object, as well as a most valuable one; +interesting because of its historical and legendary associations, and +valuable, since it would be almost impossible to enumerate the number of +important uses to which it and its products are put. To the people of +the tropics it is the prolific source of food, shelter, clothing, fuel, +fibre for several uses, sugar, oil, wax, and wine. It has been aptly +termed the "princess of the vegetable world." One indigenous species, +the Piassaba, is a palm which yields a most valuable fibre, extensively +manufactured into cordage and ships' cables, for which purpose it is +much in use on the coast of South America. It is found to be stronger +and more elastic than hemp when thus employed, besides which it is far +more durable. The product of this species of palm is also exported in +large quantities to North America and to England, for the purpose of +making brushes, brooms, and various sorts of domestic matting. + +The nights are especially beautiful in this region. We were interested +in observing the remarkable brilliancy of the sky; the stars do not seem +to sparkle, as with us at the north, but shed a soft, steady light, +making all things luminous. This is the natural result of the clearness +of the atmosphere. One is surprised at first to find the moon apparently +so much increased in size and effulgency. The Southern Cross is ever +present, though it is dominated by the Centaur. Orion is seen in his +glory, and the Scorpion is clearly defined. In the author's estimation, +there is no exhibition of the heavens in these regions which surpasses +the magnificence of the far-reaching Milky Way. + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + Island of Marajo.--Rare and Beautiful Birds.--Original Mode + of Securing Humming-Birds.--Maranhao.--Educational.--Value + of Native Forests.--Pernambuco.--Difficulty of Landing.--An + Ill-chosen Name.--Local Scenes.--Uncleanly Habits of the + People.--Great Sugar Mart.--Native Houses.--A Quaint + Hostelry.--Catamarans.--A Natural Breakwater.--Sailing down + the Coast. + + +The island of Marajo, situated at the mouth of the Amazon, opposite +Para, and belonging to the province or state of that name, is a hundred +and eighty miles in length and about one hundred and sixty in width, +nearly identical in size with the island of Sicily, and almost oval in +form. One of the principal shore settlements is Breves, on the +southeastern corner of the island, which lies somewhat low, and consists +of remarkably fertile soil, so abounding in wild and beautiful +vegetation and exquisite floral varieties, that it is called in this +region "the Island of Flowers." We can easily believe the name to be +appropriately chosen, since, as we skirt its verdant shores hour after +hour, they seem to emit the drowsy, caressing sweetness of fragrant +flowers so sensibly as to almost produce a narcotic effect. The easterly +or most seaward part of Marajo is open, marshy, sandy land, but back +from the shore the soil is of a rich, black alluvium, supporting in very +large tracts a dense forest growth, similar to all the low-lying +tropical lands of South America. The population is recorded as numbering +about twenty thousand, divided into several settlements, mostly on the +coast, and consists largely of the aboriginal race found by the first +comers upon this island, who, on account of their somewhat isolated +condition, have amalgamated less with Europeans and the imported colored +race than any other tribe on the east coast of the continent. + +The extensive meadows of Marajo are the grazing fields of numerous herds +of wild horses and horned cattle, the former of a superior breed, highly +prized on the mainland; and yet so rapidly do they increase in this +climate, in the wild state, that every few years they are killed in +large numbers for their hides alone. The exports from the island consist +of rice, cattle, horses, and hides. There are some large plantations +devoted to the cultivation of rice, the soil and water supply of certain +districts being especially favorable to this crop. As intimated, a +considerable portion of Marajo is covered with a forest growth so dense +as to be compared to the jungles of Africa and India, and which, so far +as is known, has never been penetrated by the foot of man. Travelers who +have visited the borders of this leafy wilderness expatiate upon the +strange, inexplicable sounds which are heard at times, amid the +prevailing stillness and sombre aspect of these primeval woods. +Sometimes there comes, it is said, from out the forest depth a wild cry, +like that of a human being in distress, but which, however long one may +listen, is not repeated. Again, there is heard an awful crash, like the +falling of some ponderous forest giant, then stillness once more settles +over the mysterious, tangled woods. Every time the silence is broken it +seems to be by some new and inexplicable sound, not to be satisfactorily +accounted for. + +The lagoons near the centre of Marajo are said to abound in alligators, +which are sometimes sought for by the natives for their hides, for which +a fair price is realized, since fashion has rendered this article +popular in a hundred different forms. The number and variety of birds +and lesser animals to be found upon the island are marvelous. Certain +species of birds seem to have retreated to this spot from the mainland, +before the tide of European immigration; indeed, it has for a long time +been considered the paradise of the naturalist. Over thirty species of +that peculiar bird, the toucan, have been secured here. + +When Professor Agassiz was engaged in his scientific exploration of the +Amazon, he dispatched a small but competent party especially to obtain +specimens from this island, the result being both a surprise and a +source of great gratification to the king of naturalists. Many of the +objects secured by these explorers were rare and beautiful birds, not a +few of which are unique, and of which no previous record existed. There +were also many curious insects and other specimens particularly valuable +to naturalists, most of which are preserved to-day in the Agassiz Museum +at Cambridge, Massachusetts. The toucan, just spoken of, is most +remarkable for its beauty and variety of colors, as well as for the very +peculiar form and size of its elephantine bill, which makes it look +singularly ill-balanced. This ludicrous appendage is nine inches long +and three in circumference; the color is vermilion and yellow delicately +mingled. The toucan is much coveted for special collections by all +naturalists, and is becoming very scarce, except in this one equatorial +locality. Scarlet ibises and roseate spoonbills are also found at +Marajo, both remarkably fine examples of semi-aquatic fowl, and when +these are secured in good condition for preservation, the natives +realize good prices for them. In order to procure desirable specimens of +the humming-bird species, which are also abundant on this island, the +native hunters resort to an ingenious device, so as not to injure the +skin or the extremely delicate plumage of this butterfly-bird. For this +purpose they use a peculiar syringe made from reeds, and charged with a +solution of adhesive gum, which, when directed by an experienced hand, +clogs the bird's wings at once, stopping its flight and causing it to +fall to the ground. Some are caught by means of nets set on the end of +long bamboo poles, such as are used to secure butterflies, but this +method is poorly adapted to catch so quick moving a creature as a +humming-bird. The author has seen, in southern India, butterflies of +gaudiest texture with bodies as large as small humming-birds, which were +quite as brilliant as they in lovely colors. The variety and beauty of +this insect, as found anywhere from Tuticorin to Darjeeling, is notable. +Wherever British troops are permanently settled, the wives of the common +soldiers become very expert in catching and arranging these attractive +objects, preserving them in frames under glass. These find ready +purchasers for museums and private collections all over Europe, and are +sold at moderate prices, but serve to add a welcome trifle to the +extremely poor pay of a common soldier having perhaps a wife and one or +two children to support. + +The island of Marajo was not formed at the Amazon's mouth of soil +brought down from the interior by the river's current, as is often the +case with islands thus situated, but is a natural, rocky formation which +serves to divide the channel and give the river a double outlet into the +Atlantic. Agassiz studied its character, and gives us an interesting +statement as the result. He declared, after careful geological +examination, that it is an island which was once situated far inland, +away from the river's mouth, but which is now brought near to it by the +gradual encroachment of the Atlantic Ocean, whose waves and restless +currents have slowly worn away the northeastern part of the continent. +This abrasion must have been going on for many thousand years, to have +produced such a decided topographical change. For the word years, upon +second thought, read ages, which will undoubtedly express the true idea +much more correctly. + +There are over twenty species of palms indigenous to Marajo, which, as +one skirts the water front, are seen growing along the far-reaching +shore, fostered by the humidity of the atmosphere arising from the +ever-flowing waters of the great river. Among these the peach-palm is +quite conspicuous, with its spiny stems and mealy, nutritious fruit. +There are also the cocoa-palm and the assai-palm, the latter gayly +decorated with its delicate green plumes and long spear pointing +heavenward, an emblem borne by no other tree in existence. The great +variety of forms of plant life and giant grasses is extremely curious +and beautiful on this interesting island. We heard, while at Para, of a +proposal made by some European party to thoroughly explore Marajo, which +has never yet been done, so far as is known to our time, and it is +believed that some very interesting and valuable discoveries may be the +result of such an expedition, composed of engineers, scientists, and +naturalists. + +A day's sail to the eastward, bearing a little to the south along the +coast, brings us to the port of Maranhao, which is the capital of a +province of Brazil known by the same name, situated a little over three +hundred miles from Para. The place is picturesquely nestled, as it were, +in the very lap of the mountains, which come boldly down to the coast at +this point. It was founded nearly three hundred years ago, is regularly +built, and contains between thirty and forty thousand inhabitants. +Nearly all of the houses, which are generally of two stories, are +ornamented with attractive balconies, and have handsome gardens attached +to them, where the luxurious verdure is with difficulty kept within +proper bounds. Vegetation runs riot in equatorial regions. It is the one +pleasing outlet of nature, whose overcharged vitality, spurred on by the +climate, must find vent either in teeming vegetation or in raging +volcanoes, tidal waves, and unwelcome earthquakes, though sometimes, to +be sure, we find them all combined in the tropics. + +The harbor of Maranhao is excellent and sheltered, the depth of water +permitting the entrance of ships drawing full twenty feet, an advantage +which some of the ports to the southward would give millions of dollars +to possess. According to published statistics, the exports during 1890 +were as follows: thirty-six hundred tons of cotton, six hundred tons of +sugar, seven hundred tons of hides, a large amount of rice, and some +other minor articles. The imports for the same period were estimated at +something less than three million dollars in value. This is the entrepot +of several populous districts, besides that of which it is the capital. +The province itself contains a number of navigable rivers, with some +thrifty towns on their banks. The bay gives ample evidence of commercial +activity, containing at all times a number of foreign steamships, with a +goodly show of coasting vessels. The place is slowly but steadily +growing in its business relations, and in the number of its permanent +population. + +It cannot make any pretension to architectural excellence, though the +Bishop's palace and the cathedral are handsome structures. There are two +or three other prominent edifices, quaint and Moorish, which were once +nunneries or monasteries; also a foundling institution, a special +necessity in all Roman Catholic countries. We found here a public +library, and a botanical garden. Not far inland there are some extensive +rice plantations, the province in some portions being specially adapted +to producing this valuable staple. We were informed by those whose +opinion was worthy of respect, that educational advantages are rather +remarkable here, the Lyceum having in the past few years graduated some +of the most prominent statesmen and professionals in Brazil. One thing +is very certain, the authorities cannot multiply educational facilities +any too rapidly in this country, nor give the subject any too much +attention, especially as regards the rising generation of both sexes. So +far as we could learn by inquiry, or judge by careful observation, the +ignorance of the mass of the people is simply deplorable. + +Maranhao is situated about fourteen hundred miles north of Rio Janeiro, +with which port it carries on an extensive coasting trade. The exports, +besides the staples already spoken of, are various, including annotto, +sarsaparilla, balsam copaiba, and other medicinal extracts, together +with rum and crude india-rubber. The climate is torrid, the city being +one hundred and fifty miles south of the equator; and though, like most +of the towns on the eastern coast of the continent, it is rather an +unhealthy locality, it is much less so than Para, and is a far more +cleanly place than that city, its situation giving it the advantage of a +system of natural drainage. The country near Maranhao abounds in native +forests of exuberant richness, producing a valuable quality of timber, +and affording some of the finest cabinet woods known to commerce, as +well as a practically inexhaustible supply of various dyewoods, a +considerable business being done in the export of the latter article. It +was observed that the assai-palm, from which the palm wine is made, was +also a prominent feature here. The trunk is quite smooth, the fruit +growing in heavy bunches like grapes, dark brown in color, and about the +size of cranberries, hanging in heavy clusters just below the bunch of +long leaves which forms the top of the tree. The native drink which is +made from these palm grapes is a favorite beverage in northern Brazil, +and when properly fermented it contains about the same percentage of +alcohol as English pale ale. + +To the author, the town of Maranhao was quite unknown; even its place +upon the maps had never attracted his attention until after it was seen +lying peacefully in an amphitheatre of tall hills, which come down close +to the rock-ribbed shore of the Atlantic Ocean. This acknowledgment is +between ourselves, for such a confession would sound very ridiculous to +the good people of Maranhao. + +After leaving its harbor, our next objective point was Pernambuco, which +is situated about four days' sail from Para by steamship, and about +three from Maranhao. + +This well known port, with its one hundred and fifty thousand +inhabitants, is reckoned as the third city of Brazil in point of size +and commercial importance. It lacks elevation to produce a good effect, +and recalls the low-lying city of Havana in general appearance, as one +approaches it from the sea. The harbor is not what could be desired for +a commercial city, having hardly sufficient depth of water for vessels +of heavy tonnage, and being also too narrow for a modern long steamship +to safely turn in. The American line of steamships come to a mooring +inside the harbor, but the European lines, or at least the Pacific Mail, +in which we made the home passage, anchor in the open roadstead, three +quarters of a mile from the shore. The harbor is formed by a long +natural reef, which makes a breakwater between it and the open sea, a +portion of the reef having been built up with solid masonry to render it +more effective. This remarkable coral formation, which is more or less +clearly defined, extends along the coast for a considerable +distance,--it is said for four hundred miles. Opposite Pernambuco it +rises six feet above the water, that is, above high-water mark, and runs +parallel to the front street of the city at the distance from it of +about a third of a mile or less. A wide opening in the reef at the +northern end of the town makes the entrance to the harbor. Off the +northeast coast of Australia, there is a very similar reef-formation, +fully as long as this on the South American coast, but situated much +further from the shore. + +It is a serious drawback that passengers by large ocean steamers cannot +enter the harbor of Pernambuco except by lighters or open boats; all +freight brought by these steamers must also be transhipped. Landing here +is often accomplished at considerable personal risk, and a thorough +ducking with salt water is not at all uncommon in the attempt to reach +the shore. To pull a boat from the open roadstead into the harbor, or +vice versa, requires six stout oarsmen and an experienced man at the +helm, so that landing from the Pacific Mail steamers is both a serious +and an expensive affair. If a very heavy sea is running, the thing +cannot be done, and no one will attempt it. The powerful wind which so +often prevails on the coast occasionally creates quite a commotion even +inside the harbor, among the shipping moored there, causing the largest +cables to part and vessels to drag their anchors. Of course a vessel +lying in the open roadstead, outside of the reef, has no protection +whatever, and is in a critical situation if the wind blows towards the +land. If it comes on to blow suddenly, she buoys and slips her anchor at +once; she dares not waste the time to hoist it, but gets away as quickly +as possible to where there is plenty of sea room and no lee shore to +fear. Fortunately, though so fierce for the time being, and of a +cyclonic character, the storms upon the coast are generally of brief +duration, and like the furious pamperos, which are so dreaded by +mariners further south, they blow themselves out in a few hours. + +The geographical situation of Pernambuco is such, in the track of +commerce, that vessels bound north or south, from Europe or from North +America, naturally make it a port of call to obtain late advices and +provisions. The name has been singularly chosen, no one can say how or +by whom, but it signifies "the mouth of hell," a cognomen which we do +not think the place at all deserves. It is a narrow, crowded, +picturesque old seaport. + +The town is situated at the mouth of the Biberibe River, just five +hundred miles south of the equator, and is divided in rather a peculiar +manner into three distinct parts: Recife, on a narrow peninsula; Boa +Vista, on the river shore; and San Antonio, on an island in the river; +all being connected, however, by six or eight substantial iron bridges. +The first named division is the business portion of the capital, about +whose water front the commercial life of Pernambuco centres, but the +streets of Recife are very narrow and often confusingly crooked. Boa +Vista is beautified by pleasant domestic residences, delightful gardens, +and attractive promenades, far beyond anything which a stranger +anticipates meeting in this part of the world. Though the business +portion of the city is so low, the other sections are of better and more +recent construction. + +The view of the town and harbor to be had from some portions of Olinda +is very fine and comprehensive, taking in a wide reach of land and +ocean. When a brief storm is raging, spending its force against the +reef, the view from this point is indeed grand. The sea, angered at +meeting a substantial impediment, seethes and foams in wild excitement, +dashing fifty feet into the air, and, falling over the reef, lashes the +inner waters of the harbor into waves which mount the landing piers, and +set everything afloat in the broad plaza which lines the shore. The big +ships rock and sway incessantly, straining at their anchors, or chafing +dangerously at their moorings. Precautions are taken to avert damage, +but man's strength and skill count for little when opposed by the +enraged elements. + +This plaza, or quay, is shaded by aged magnolias of great height, and is +the resort of unemployed seamen, fruit dealers, and idlers of all +degrees. The house fronts in the various sections of the town are +brilliantly colored, yellow, blue, white, and pink, also sometimes being +covered halfway up the first story with glittering tiles of various +hues. At nearly every turn one comes upon the moss-grown, crumbling +facade of some old church, about the corners of which there is often a +grossly filthy receptacle, the vile odor from which permeates the +surrounding atmosphere. This was found to be almost insupportable with +the thermometer standing at 90 deg. Fahr. in the shade, forming so obvious a +means for propagating malarial fever and sickness generally as to be +absolutely exasperating. Notwithstanding all appearances, the American +consul assured us that Pernambuco is one of the healthiest cities on the +east coast of South America. The yellow fever, however, does not by any +means forget to visit the place annually. Experience showed us that the +residents along the coast were accustomed to give their own city +precedence in the matter of hygienic conditions, and to admit, with +serious faces, that the other capitals, north and south, were sadly +afflicted by epidemics at nearly all seasons. + +Pernambuco has several quite small but well-arranged public squares, +decorated with fountains, trees, and flowers of many species. Two of +these plazas have handsome pagodas, from which outdoor concerts are +often given by military bands. The city is a thriving and progressive +place, has extensive gas works, an admirable system of water supply, +tramways, good public schools, and one college or high school. We must +not forget to add to this list a very _flourishing_ foundling asylum, +where any number of poor little waifs are constantly being received, and +no questions asked. A revolving box or cradle is placed in a wall of the +hospital, next to the street, in which any person can deposit an infant, +ring the bell, and the cradle will revolve, leaving the child on the +inside of the establishment, where the little deserted object will be +duly cared for. Connected with the hospital are several outlying +buildings, where children are placed at various stages of growth. We +were told that about forty per cent. of such children live to grow up to +maturity, and leave the care of the government fairly well fitted to +take their place in the world, and to fight the battle of life so very +inauspiciously begun. It has been strongly argued that such an +establishment offers a premium upon illegitimacy and immorality; but one +thing is to be considered, it prevents the terrible crime of +infanticide, which is said to have prevailed here to an alarming extent +before this hospital was founded. + +There is a passably good system of drainage, which was certainly very +much needed, and since its completion the general health of the place is +said to have considerably improved. This is not all that is required, +however. There should be a decided reform in the habits of the people as +regards cleanliness. At present they are positively revolting. The +inhabitants are the very reverse of neat in their domestic associations, +and home arrangements for natural conveniences are inexcusably +objectionable; such, indeed, as would in a North American city, or even +small town, call for the prompt interference of the local board of +health. These remarks do not apply to isolated cases; the trouble is +universal. Families living otherwise in comparative affluence utterly +disregard neatness and decency in the matter to which we allude. + +The districts neighboring to Pernambuco form extensive plains, well +adapted to the raising of sugar, coffee, and cotton, as well as all +sorts of tropical fruits and vegetables. There are many flourishing +plantations representing these several interests, more especially that +of sugar. The storehouses on the wharves and in the business sections of +the city, the oxcarts passing through the streets, drawn each by a +single animal, and even the very atmosphere, seem to be full of sugar. +It is, in fact, the great sugar mart of South America. The annual amount +of the article which is exported averages some twelve hundred thousand +tons. Sugar is certainly king at Pernambuco. People not only drink, but +they talk sugar. It is the one great interest about which all other +business revolves. The article is mostly of the lower grade, and +requires to be refined before it is suitable for the market. The +refining process is being generally adopted at the plantations. American +machinery is introduced for the purpose with entire success. The export +of the crude article will, it is believed, be much less every year for +the future, until it ceases altogether. It was a singular sight to +observe the naked negroes carrying canvas bags of crude sugar upon their +heads through the streets, each bag weighing a hundred pounds or more. +The intense heat caused the canvas to exude quantities of syrup or +molasses, which covered their dark, glossy bodies with small streams of +fluid. They trotted along in single file, and at a quick pace, towards +their destination, unheeding the sticky condition of their woolly heads +and naked bodies. + +Not far inland there are extensive meadows, where large herds of horned +cattle are raised, together with a breed of half-wild horses, the +breaking and domesticating of which, as here practiced, is a most cruel +process. A certain set of men devote themselves to this business; rough +riders, we should call them, very rough. Good horses are to be had at +extraordinarily low prices. In the back country there are some grand and +extensive forests, which produce fine cabinet woods and superior dye +woods. + +By consulting a map of the western hemisphere, it will be seen that +Pernambuco is situated on the great eastern shoulder of South America, +where it pushes farthest into the Atlantic Ocean, fifteen hundred miles +south of Para, and about five hundred north of Bahia. On the long coral +reef which separates the harbor from the open sea is a picturesque +lighthouse, also a quaint old watch tower which dates from the time of +the Dutch dominion here. It is proposed to build additional layers of +heavy granite blocks upon the reef, so as to raise it about six or eight +feet higher and make it of a uniform elevation along the entire city +front, and thus afford almost complete protection for the inner +anchorage. It will be only possible to make any real improvement of the +harbor by adopting a thorough system of dredging and deepening. There +was evidence of such a purpose being already in progress on our second +visit, two large steam dredging machines being anchored at the southerly +end of the harbor. + +The people of this hot region know the great value of shade trees, +consequently they abound, half hiding from view the numerous handsome +villas which form the attractive suburbs of the city. Everywhere one +sees tall cocoanut palms, clusters of feathery bamboos, widespread +mangoes, prolific bananas, guavas, and plantains growing among other +graceful tropical trees, rich in the green texture of their foliage, and +thrice rich in their luscious and abundant fruits. Among the vine +products we must not forget to mention a rich, high flavored grape, +which is native here, and which all people praise after once tasting. +The water, which is brought into the city by a system of double iron +pipes, comes from a neighboring lake, and is a pure and wholesome drink, +a most incomparable blessing in equatorial regions, which no person who +has not suffered for the want of it can duly appreciate. + +The International Hotel is the favorite resort of strangers, and is +situated a couple of miles from the harbor. It is surrounded by +beautiful trees and flowers, the golden oranges weighing down the +branches nearly to the ground by their size and abundance, while the +young blossoms fill the air with their delicate perfume,--fruit and +blossoms on the tree at the same time. The garden is thronged by +household pets, and contains a spacious aviary. The monkey tribe is +fully represented; gaudy winged parrots dazzle the eye with impossible +colors. One partakes here, in the open air, of the refreshing viands +amid the songs of birds, the occasional scream of the cockatoo, the +cooing of turtle-doves, and the fragrance of a profusion of tropical +flowers. The native servants are well-trained, and there is a French +chef. We were told that this attractive place had once belonged to a +very wealthy Brazilian, a planter, who had come to grief financially, +and as the house was offered for sale, it had been purchased for one +fifth of its original cost and adapted to hotel purposes. While enjoying +our fruit at dessert, a somewhat similar experience was recalled as +having taken place at Christiania, in Norway, where visitors enjoy the +meals in a sort of outdoor museum and garden, surrounded by curious +preserved birds mingled with living ones, the latter so tame as to +alight fearlessly upon the table and await any choice bit guests may +offer them. + +We shall not soon forget the very appetizing dinner of which we partook, +amid such attractive surroundings, in the gardens of the International +Hotel at Pernambuco. One fruit which was served to us is known by the +name of the loquat. It is round, dark yellow, and about the size of a +Tangerine orange,--a great favorite with the natives, though it is +mostly stone and skin, and tastes like turpentine. + +This city is often called the Venice of Brazil, but why, it is difficult +for one to understand. It is only poetical license, for there is not the +first actual resemblance between the two cities. True, there are several +watercourses, and half a dozen bridges, intersecting this Brazilian +capital. One would be equally justified in calling the frail catamarans +which are used by the fishermen in these waters, gondolas. This singular +craft, by the way, consists of four or five logs of the cork-palm tree, +confined together by a series of strong lashings, no nails being used, +thus securing a necessary degree of elasticity. One end of the logs is +hewn down to a smaller size or width than the other, thus forming stem +and stern, while a single thick plank serves as a keel. There are no +bulwarks to this crazy craft,--for it can hardly be called anything +else,--the whole being freely washed by the sea; but yet, with a rude +mast carrying a triangular sail, and with a couple of oars, two or three +fishermen venture far away from the shore; indeed, we encountered them +out of sight of land. A couple of upright stakes are driven into the +logs, to hold on by when occasion requires. It is really wonderful to +see how weatherly such a frail affair can be, and how literally safe in +a rough seaway. The boatmen who navigate these catamarans (they are +called here _janguardas_) manage to keep the market of Pernambuco +abundantly supplied with the strange, fantastic fish which so prevail +along the Atlantic coast in equatorial regions. + +We have seen a craft very similar to these catamarans in use off the +Coromandel coast, between Madras and the mouth of the Hoogly River, +which leads up to Calcutta. Here the natives manage them in a sea so +rough that an ordinary ship's boat, if exposed, would surely be swamped. +The Madras catamaran consists of three pieces of timber, mere logs +twelve or fourteen feet long, securely bound together with ropes made +from the fibre of the cocoanut palm. Nails are no more available here +than in the former crafts we have named. No nails could withstand the +wrenching which this raft is subjected to. The middle log is a little +longer than the two outside ones, and is given a slight upward turn at +the end which forms the prow. No sail is used, but two fishermen +generally go out with each of these rafts, propelling them with +broad-bladed paddles, used alternately on either side. Of course the +natives who navigate these crafts are naked, with the exception of a +breech-cloth at the loins. They are very frequently thrown off by the +sea, but regain their places with remarkable agility. They manage also, +somehow, to secure their fishing gear, and generally to bring in a +remunerative fare from their excursions. Strange as the catamaran is, it +must yet be described as breezy, watery, and safe--for amphibious +creatures. There is one enemy these fishermen have to look out for, +namely the shark, both on the coast of Madras and South America. It is +more common to say when one is lost that the sharks got him, than it is +to say he was drowned. + +The reef so often referred to, forming the breakwater opposite +Pernambuco, is about forty feet in width at the surface, and is the +marvelous architecture of that tiny coral builder which works beneath +these southern seas. When it has reared a pyramid reaching from the far +bottom of the ocean to the surface, its mission is performed and it +dies. It lives and works only beneath the surface of the sea; +atmospheric air is fatal to it. The pyramids of Egypt cannot compare +with these submerged structures for height, solidity, or magnitude. One +is the product of a creature of such seeming unimportance as to require +microscopic aid to detect its existence; the other are monuments erected +by ancient kings commanding infinite resources; the former being the +process of nature in carrying out her great and mysterious plan; the +latter, the ambitious work of men whose very identity is now +questionable. If we were to enter into a calculation based upon known +scientific facts, as to how many thousands of years were required for +this minute animal to rear this massive structure, the result would +astonish the average reader. + +On approaching Pernambuco from the sea, the first object to attract the +eye is the long line of snow white breakers, caused by the incessant +swell of the sea striking against the firmly planted reef with a +deafening surge, breaking into foam and spray which are thrown forty +feet and more into the air. As we drew near for the first time, the +extended line of breakers was illumined by the early morning sun, making +fancy rainbows and misty pictures in the mingled air and water. We were +escorted by myriads of sea-birds, whose sharp cries came close upon the +ear, as they flew in and about the rigging. Behind the reef lay the +comparatively smooth waters of the harbor, dotted here and there by tiny +white sails, curious-shaped coasting craft, rowboats, and steam tugs, +while the background was formed by a leafless forest of tall ships' +masts which lined the wharves, and partially screened the low-lying +capital from view. + +We have remained quite long enough at this city of the reef, and now +turn southward towards the more attractive port of Bahia. + +In running down the coast, the Brazilian shore is so near as to be +distinctly visible, with its surf-fringed beach of golden sands +extending mile after mile, beyond which, far inland, rise ranges of +forest-clad hills, and beyond these, sky-reaching alps. It is often +necessary to give the land a wide berth, as at certain points dangerous +sandbars make out from it far to seaward; but whenever near enough to +the coast to make out the character of the vegetation, it was of deepest +green and exuberantly tropical. With the exception of one or two small +towns, and an occasional fisherman's hamlet, the shore presented no +signs of habitation, being mostly a sandy waste adjoining the sea, where +heavy rollers spent their force upon the smooth, water-worn, yellow +beach. + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + Port of Bahia.--A Quaint Old City.--Former Capital of + Brazil.--Whaling Interests.--Beautiful + Panorama.--Tramways.--No Color Line Here.--The Sedan + Chair.--Feather Flowers.--Great Orange Mart.--Passion Flower + Fruit.--Coffee, Sugar, and Tobacco.--A Coffee + Plantation.--Something about Diamonds.--Health of the + City.--Curious Tropical Street Scenes. + + +Bahia,--pronounced Bah-ee'ah,--situated three hundred and fifty miles +south of Pernambuco, is the capital of a province of the same name in +Brazil, and contains nearly two hundred thousand inhabitants. It is +admirably situated on elevated ground at the entrance of All Saints +Bay,--_Todos os Santos_,--just within Cape San Antonio, eight hundred +miles or thereabouts north of Rio Janeiro. The entrance of the bay is +seven miles broad. For its size, there are few harbors in the world +which present a more attractive picture as one first beholds it on +entering from the open Atlantic. The elevated site of the city, with its +close array of neat, white three and four story houses, breaks the +sky-line in front of the anchorage, while the town forms a half moon in +shape, extending for a couple of miles each way, right and left. Near +the water's edge, on the lower line of the city, are many substantial +warehouses, official establishments, the custom house, and the like. +Between the lower and the upper town is a long reach of green terraced +embankment, intense in its bright verdure. Probably no other city on the +globe, certainly not so far as our experience extends, is so peculiarly +divided. + +A sad episode marked our first experience here. We came to anchor in the +harbor, according to custom, at what is known as the Quarantine. About a +cable's length from us lay a large European steamship, flying the yellow +flag at the fore. She came into port from Rio Janeiro on the previous +evening; five of her passengers who had died of yellow fever on the +passage were buried at sea, while two more were down with it, and were +being taken to the lazaretto on shore, as we dropped our anchor. +Probably they went there to die. This was naturally depressing, more so, +perhaps, as we were bound direct for Rio Janeiro; but as we now came +from a northern port with a clean bill of health, we were finally +released from quarantine and permitted to land. It is late in the +season--last of May--for this pest of the coast to prevail, but the year +1891 has been one of unusual fatality in the South American ports, and +none of them have been entirely exempt from the scourge, some showing a +fearful list of mortality among both citizens and strangers. We were +conversant with many instances of a particularly trying and sad nature, +if any distinction can be made where death intervenes with such a rude +hand. Victims who were in apparent good health in the morning were not +infrequently buried on the evening of the same day! But we will spare +the reader harrowing details. + +Americus Vespucius discovered Bahia in 1503, while sailing under the +patronage of Portugal, and as it was settled in 1511, it is the oldest +city in the country, being also the second in size, though not in +commercial importance. The excellent harbor is so spacious as to form a +small inland sea, the far-reaching shores of which are beautified by +mingled green foliage and pretty villas stretching along the bay, while +the business portion gives evidence of a growing and important foreign +trade. This deduction is also corroborated by the presence of numerous +European steamships, and full-rigged sailing vessels devoted to the +transportation of merchandise. The buildings are generally of a +substantial appearance, whether designed as residences or for business +purposes, but are mostly of an antique pattern, old and dingy. Though +the city is divided into the lower and the upper town, the latter two or +three hundred feet above the former, it is made easily accessible by +mechanical means. A large elevator, run by hydraulic power, is employed +for the purpose, which was built by an energetic Yankee, and has been in +successful operation several years, taking the citizens from the lower +to the upper town, as we pass from basement to attic in our tall North +American buildings. Between the two portions of Bahia there are streets +for the transportation of merchandise, which wind zigzag fashion along +the ravine to avoid the abruptness of the ascent. Besides these means, +there are narrow stone steps leading upwards to the first level, among +the tropical verdure, the deep green branches and leaves nodding to one +from out of narrow lanes and quiet nooks. There is still another way of +reaching the upper town, namely, a cable road, of very steep grade, one +car ascending while another descends, thus forming a sort of +counterbalance. By all these facilities united, the population manage +very comfortably to overcome the topographical difficulties of the +situation. + +Though there are few buildings of any special note in Bahia, the general +architecture being quaint and nondescript, still the combined view of +the city, as we have endeavored to show, is of no inconsiderable beauty. +We approached it from the north, doubling Light House Point in the early +morning, just as the rising sun lighted up the bay. Seen from the +harbor, the large dome of the cathedral overlooks the whole town very +much like the gilded dome which forms so conspicuous an object on +approaching the city of Boston. The dark, low-lying, grim-looking fort, +which presides over the quarantine anchorage, is built upon a natural +ledge of rock, half a mile from the shore of the town, and looks like a +huge cheese-box. + +In the upper portion of Bahia the streets are narrow, and the houses so +tall as to nearly exclude the sun when it is not in the zenith. They are +built of a native stone, and differ from the majority of South American +dwellings, which are rarely over two stories in height, and generally of +one only. We have heard it argued that it is advantageous to build +tropical cities with narrow streets, so as to exclude the heat of the +sun's rays and thus keep the houses cooler. This is not logical. Wide +avenues and broad streets give ventilation which cannot be obtained in +any other way in populous centres. Narrow lanes invite epidemics, +fevers, and malarial diseases; broad thoroughfares give less opportunity +for their lodgment. A beehive of human beings, crowded together in a +narrow space, exhausts the life-giving principle of the surrounding +atmosphere, but this is impossible where plenty of room is given for the +circulation of fresh air. + +These tall houses of Bahia have overhanging ornamental balconies, which +towards evening are filled with the female portion of the families, +laughing, chatting, singing, and smoking, for the ladies of these +latitudes smoke in their domestic circles. Narrow as the streets of +Bahia are, room is found for a well patronized tramway to run through +them. No one thinks of walking, if it be for only a couple of hundred +rods, on the line of the street cars. All of the civilized world seems +to have grown lazy since the introduction of this modern facility for +cheap transportation. + +Bahia was the capital of Brazil until 1763, during which year the +headquarters of the government were removed to Rio Janeiro. + +This is a sort of New Bedford, so to speak, having been for more than a +century extensively engaged in the whaling business, an occupation which +is still pursued to a limited extent. Whales frequent the bay of Bahia, +where they are sometimes captured by small boats from the shore. It is +supposed that the favorite food of this big game is found in these +waters. There was a time when the close pursuit by fishing fleets fitted +out in nearly all parts of the world rendered the whales wary and +scarce. The catching and killing of so many seemed to have thinned out +their number in most of the seas of the globe. Then came the great +discovery of rock oil, which rapidly superseded the whale oil of +commerce in general use. Thereupon the pursuit of the gigantic animal +ceased to be of any great moment, while there was oil enough +spontaneously pouring out of the wells of Pennsylvania, and elsewhere, +to fully satisfy the demand of the world at large. Being no longer +hunted, the whales gradually became tame and increased in numbers, so +that to-day there are probably as many in the usual haunts of these +leviathans in either hemisphere as there ever were. The briefest sea +voyage can hardly be made without sighting one or more of them, and +sometimes in large schools. + +There is a portion of the elevated section of Bahia which is called +Victoria, a really beautiful locality, having delightful gardens, +attractive walks, and myriads of noble shade trees. From here the +visitor overlooks the bay, with its islands and curving shore decked +with graceful palms, bamboos, and mango groves; upon the water are +numerous tiny boats, while white winged sailing ships and dark, begrimed +steamers unite in forming a picture of active life and maritime beauty. +In the distance lies the ever green island of Itaparica, named after the +first governor's Indian bride, while still farther away is seen range +after range of tall, purple hills, multiplied until lost in the +distance. + +A few grim looking convents and monasteries, which have gradually come +into the possession of the government, are now used as free schools, +libraries, and hospitals. There is a medical college here which has a +national reputation for general excellence, and many students come from +Rio Janeiro, eight hundred miles away, to avail themselves of its +advantages, receiving a diploma after attending upon its three years' +course of studies. From subsequent inquiry, however, not only here but +in Rio and elsewhere, we are satisfied that the science of medicine and +surgery stands at a very low ebb throughout this great southland. +Foreign doctors are looked upon with great distrust and jealousy; +indeed, it is very difficult for them to obtain a suitable license to +practice in Brazil. This does not apply to dentistry, of which +profession there are many American experts in the country, who have +realized decided pecuniary and professional success. There were six or +eight on board the Vigilancia, who had been on a visit to their North +American homes during the summer season, at which time the fever is most +to be dreaded here. + +The city contains over sixty churches, some of which are fine edifices, +built of stone brought from Europe. This could easily be done without +much extra expense, as the vessels visiting the port in those early days +required ballast with which to cross the ocean. They brought no other +cargo of any account, but were sure at certain seasons of the year to +obtain a suitable return freight, which paid a good profit on the round +voyage. Several of these churches are in a very dilapidated condition, +and probably will not be repaired. The cathedral is one of the largest +structures of the sort in Brazil, and is thought by many to be one of +the finest. The cathedral at Rio, however, is a much more elaborate +structure, and far more costly. It takes enormous sums, wrung from the +poorest class of people, to maintain these gorgeous temples and support +the horde of fat, licentious, useless priests attached to them, while +the mass of humanity find life a daily struggle with abject want and +poverty. Does any thoughtful person believe for one moment that such +hollow service can be grateful to a just and merciful Supreme Being? + +Bahia was a flourishing port before Rio Janeiro was known commercially, +and was the first place of settlement by English traders on this coast. +The present population is of a very mixed character, composed of nearly +all nationalities, white and black, European and natives. There is no +prejudice evinced as regards color. Mulatto or negro may once have been +a slave, but he is a freeman now, both socially and in the eyes of the +law. He is eligible for any position of trust, public or private, if he +develops the requisite degree of intelligence. Men who have been slaves +in their youth are now filling political offices here, with credit to +themselves and satisfaction to the public. The actual reform from being +a degraded land of slavery to one of human freedom is much more radical +and thorough in Brazil than it is in our own Southern States, where the +pretended equality of the colored race is simply a burlesque upon +constitutional liberty. + +The occasional use of that quaint mode of conveyance, the sedan chair, +was observable, taking one back to the days of Queen Anne. Only a few +years ago it was the one mode of transportation from the lower to the +upper part of the town; but modern facilities, already referred to, have +thrown the sedan chair nearly out of use. A few antique representatives +of this style of vehicle, some quite expensive and elaborately +ornamented, are still seen obstructing the entrances to the houses. The +local name they bear is _cadeira_. When these chairs are used, they are +borne upon the shoulders of two or four stalwart blacks, and are hung +upon long poles, like a palanquin, after the fashion so often seen in +old pictures and ancient tapestry. + +We have spoken of the narrowness of the streets through which the +tramways pass. In many places, pedestrians are compelled to step into +the doorways of dwellings to permit the cars to pass them. This is not +only the case at Bahia, but also in half the busy portion of South +American cities. These mule propelled cars are now adopted all over this +country and Mexico; even fourth class cities have tramways, and many +towns which have not yet risen to the dignity of having a city +organization are thus supplied with transportation. The Bahia tramway, +on its route to the suburbs, passes through fertile districts of great +rural beauty, among groves of tropical fruits, orange orchards, tall +overshadowing mangoes, and cultivated flowers. There is an attempt at a +public garden, though it is an idea only half carried out; but there is +a terrace in connection here called "The Bluff," from whence one gets a +magnificent view, more especially of the near and the distant sea. These +delightful and comprehensive natural pictures are photographed upon the +memory, forming a charming cabinet of scenic views appertaining to each +special locality, choice, original, and never to be effaced. + +We must not omit to mention a specialty of this city, an article +produced in one or two of the charitable institutions, as well as in +many humble family circles, namely, artificial flowers made from the +choicest feathers of the most brilliant colored birds. None of these +articles are poor, while some of them are exquisite in design and +execution, produced entirely from the plumage of native birds. A +considerable aggregate sum of money is realized by a certain portion of +the community, in the regular manufacture of these delicate ornaments. +Girls begin to learn the art at a very early age, and in a few years +arrive at a marvelous degree of perfection, producing realistic pictures +which rival the brush and pencil of a more pretentious department of +art. Nearly all visitors carry away with them dainty examples of this +exquisite and artistic work, which has a reputation beyond the seas. +Thousands of beautiful birds are annually sacrificed to furnish the +necessary material. Thus the delicate family of the humming-bird, whose +variety is infinite in Brazil, has been almost exterminated in some +parts of the country. There is one other specialty here, namely, the +manufacture of lace, which gives constant employment to many women of +Bahia, their product being much esteemed all over South America for the +beauty of the designs and the perfection of the manufacture. + +The special fruit of this province, as already intimated, is oranges, +and it is safe to say that none produced elsewhere can excel them. They +are not picked until they are thoroughly ripe, and are therefore too +delicate, in their prime condition, to sustain transportation to any +considerable distance. Those sold in our northern cities are picked in a +green condition and ripened off the trees, a process which does not +injure some fruits, but which detracts very materially from the orange +and the pineapple. The oranges of Bahia average from five to six inches +in diameter, have a rather thin skin, are full of juice, and contain no +pips; in short, they are perfectly delicious, being delicately sweet, +with a slight subacid flavor. The first enjoyment of this special fruit +in Bahia is a gastronomic revelation. The maracajus is also a favorite +fruit here, but hardly to be named beside the orange. It is the product +of the vine which bears the passion flower, but this we could not +relish. It is a common fruit in Australia and New Zealand, where the +author found it equally unpalatable, yet people who have once acquired +the taste become very fond of it. The vine with its flower is common +enough in the United States, but we have never seen it in a +fruit-bearing condition in our country. + +The province of Bahia has an area of two hundred thousand square miles, +and is represented as containing some of the most fertile land in +Brazil, capable of producing immense crops of several important staples. +It is especially fertile near the coast, where there are some large and +thriving tobacco, sugar, and coffee plantations. The first mentioned +article, owing to some favorable peculiarity of the soil in this +vicinity, is held to be nearly equal to the average Cuban product, and +it is being more and more extensively cultivated each year. Bahia cigars +are not only very cheap, but they are remarkably fine in flavor. It was +observed that old travelers on this coast made haste to lay in a goodly +supply of them for personal use. + +A coffee plantation situated not far from this city was visited, +affording a small party of strangers to the place much pleasure and +information. The coffee plant is an evergreen, and thus the foliage is +always fresh in appearance, yielding two harvests annually. Boa Vista, +the plantation referred to, covers about one hundred acres, much of +which is also devoted to the raising of fodder, fruit, corn, and beans, +with some special vegetables, forming the principal sustenance of the +people and animals employed upon the estate. At first, in laying out +such a plantation, the coffee sprouts are started in a nursery, and when +they have had a year's growth are transplanted to the open field, where +they are placed with strict uniformity in long rows at equal distances +apart. After the second year these young plants begin to bear, and +continue to do so for twenty-five or thirty years, at which period both +the trees and the soil become in a measure exhausted, and a new tract of +land is again selected for a plantation. By proper management the new +plantation can be made to begin bearing at the same time that the old +one ceases to be sufficiently productive and remunerative to cultivate +for the same purpose. The coffee-tree is thought to be in its prime at +from five to ten years of age. Fruit trees, such as bananas, oranges, +mandioca, guavas, and so on, are planted among the coffee-trees to +afford them a partial shelter, which, to a certain degree, is requisite +to their best success, especially when they are young and throwing out +thin roots. The coffee bushes are kept trimmed down to about the height +of one's head, which facilitates the harvesting of the crop, and also +throws the sap into the formation and growth of berries. The +coffee-tree, when permitted to grow to its natural height, reaches +between twenty and thirty feet, and, with its deep green foliage, is a +handsome ornamental garden tree, much used for this purpose in Brazil. +The coffee pods, when ripe, are scarlet in color, and resemble cherries, +though they are much smaller. Each berry contains two seeds, which, when +detached from the pod and properly dried, form the familiar article of +such universal domestic use. A coffee plantation well managed, in +Brazil, is an almost certain source of ample fortune. The crop is sure; +that is to say, it has scarcely any drawbacks, and is always in demand. +Of course there are inconveniences of climate, and other things needless +to enumerate, as regards entering into the business, but the growth and +ripening of a coffee crop very seldom fail. + +As has been intimated, this port is famous for the production of oranges +and tobacco; so Rio is famous for coffee, Pernambuco for sugar, and Para +for crude india-rubber. + +We must not forget to mention one other, and by no means insignificant +product of Brazil which is exported from Bahia, namely, diamonds of the +very first quality, which for purity of color far exceed those of Africa +and elsewhere. It appears that a syndicate in London control the world's +supply of this peculiar gem from all the mines on the globe, permitting +only a certain quantity of diamonds to go on to the market annually, and +thus keeping up the selling price and the market value. No one is +permitted to know the real product of the mines but the managers of this +syndicate. The quantity of the sparkling gems which are held back by the +dealers in London, Paris, and Vienna is really enormous; were they to be +placed in the retail dealers' hands as fast as they are produced from +the various sources of supply, they would be erelong as cheap and plenty +as moonstones. This sounds like an extravagant assertion, but still +there is far more truth in it than is generally realized. One of the +public journals of London lately spoke of a proposed corporation, to be +known as the "Diamond Trust," which is certainly a significant evidence +that the market requires to be carefully controlled as to the quantity +which is annually put upon it. In old times a diamond was simply valued +as a diamond; its cutting and polishing were of the simplest character. +A series of irregular plane surfaces were thought to sufficiently bring +out its reflective qualities, but the stone is now treated with far more +care and intelligence. A large portion of the value of a diamond has +come to consist in the artistic, and we may say scientific, manner in +which it is cut. By this means its latent qualities of reflection of +light are brought to perfection, developing its real brilliancy. +Accomplished workmen realize fabulous wages in this employment. A stone +of comparatively little value, by being cut in the best manner, can be +made to outshine a much finer stone which is cut after the old style. +Amsterdam used to control the business of diamond cutting, but it is now +as well done in Boston and New York as in any part of the world. + +The largest diamond yet discovered came from Brazil, and is known as the +Braganza. The first European expert in precious stones has valued this +extraordinary gem, which is still in the rough, at three hundred million +sterling! Its actual weight is something over one pound troy. In the +light of such a statement, we pause to ask ourselves, What is a diamond? +Simply carbon crystallized, that is, in its greatest purity, and carbon +is the combustible principle of charcoal. The author was told, both here +and in Rio Janeiro, that there is a considerable and profitable mining +industry carried on in this country, of which the general public hear +nothing. The results are only known to prominent and interested +Brazilians, the whole matter being kept as secret as possible for +commercial reasons. No one reads anything about the products of the +diamond mines in the local papers. + +We cannot say that the city of Bahia is a very healthy locality, though +it certainly seems that it ought to be, it is so admirably situated. +Yellow fever and other epidemics prevail more or less every year. The +lower part of the town, on the water front, is so shamefully filthy as +to induce fever. Upon first landing, the stranger finds himself almost +nauseated by the vile smells which greet him. This section of the town +is also very hot, the cliff, or upper town, shutting off almost entirely +the circulation of air. It is here that sailors, particularly, indulge +in all sorts of excesses, especially in drinking the vile, raw liquor +sold by negresses, besides eating unripe and overripe fruit, thus +inviting disease. One favorite drink produced here, very cheap and very +potent, is a poisonous but seductive white rum. + +The trade and people in this part of the town form a strange +conglomerate,--monkeys, parrots, caged birds, tame jaguars, mongrel +puppies, pineapples, oranges, mangoes, and bananas, these being flanked +by vegetables and flowers. The throng is made up of half-naked boatmen, +indolent natives from the country, with negresses, both as venders and +purchasers. As we look at the scene, in addition to what we have +depicted there is a jovial group of sailors from a man-of-war in the +harbor enjoying their shore leave, while not far away a small party of +yachtsmen from an English craft are amusing themselves with petty +bargains, close followed by half a dozen Americans, who came hither in +the last mail steamer. A polyglot scene of mixed tongues and gay colors. + +In passing into and out of the harbor of Bahia, one can count a dozen +forts and batteries, all constructed after the old style, and armed in +the most ineffective manner. These would count as nothing in a contest +with modern ships of war having plated hulls and arms of precision. Land +fortifications, designed to protect commercial ports from foreign +enemies, have not kept pace with the progress in naval armament. + +Bahia is connected by submarine telegraph with Pernambuco, Para, and Rio +Janeiro, and through them with all parts of the civilized world. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + Cape Frio.--Rio Janeiro.--A Splendid Harbor.--Various + Mountains.--Botafogo Bay.--The Hunchback.--Farewell to the + Vigilancia.--Tijuca.--Italian Emigrants.--City + Institutions.--Public Amusements.--Street + Musicians.--Churches.--Narrow Thoroughfares.--Merchants' + Clerks.--Railroads in Brazil.--Natural Advantages of the + City.--The Public Plazas.--Exports. + + +After a three days' voyage down the coast, between Bahia and Rio +Janeiro, the tall lighthouse of Cape Frio--"Cool Cape"--was sighted. +This promontory is a large oval mass of granite, sixteen hundred feet in +height, quite isolated from other highlands, protruding boldly into the +Atlantic Ocean. It forms the southeastern extremity of the coast of +Brazil, and in clear weather can be seen, it is said, forty miles or +more away. Here the long swell of the open sea is unobstructed and finds +full sway, asserting its giant power at all seasons of the year. +Experienced travelers who rarely suffer from seasickness are apt to +succumb to this trying illness off Cape Frio. It is situated in latitude +22 deg. 59' south, longitude 41 deg. 57' west, which is particularly specified +because the line of no magnetic variation touches on this cape,--that +line which Columbus was so amazed at discovering one hundred leagues +west of Flores, in the Azores, nearly four hundred years ago. We had +been running almost due south for the last eight hundred miles, but in +doubling Cape Frio, and making for Rio harbor, the ship was headed to +the westward, while the mountains on the coast assumed the most +grotesque and singular shapes, the range extending from west to east +until it ends at Cape Frio. The continent of South America here forms a +sharp angle, but we were too full of expectancy as to the king of +harbors towards which we were heading, to speculate much about Cape Frio +and its ocean-swept surroundings. + +Rio Janeiro, the capital of Brazil, is also the largest, if not the most +important city in South America, situated about twelve hundred miles +north of Montevideo and Buenos Ayres, just within the borders of the +southern torrid zone. The distance of Rio from New York direct is five +thousand miles, but most voyagers, on the way through the West Indies, +stop at three or four of these islands, and also at some of the northern +ports of the continent of South America, the same as in our own case, so +that about five hundred miles may be fairly added to the distance we +have just named. Though the vessel was a month in making the voyage to +this port, had we sailed direct it might have been done in two thirds of +the time. + +After doubling the cape and sailing some sixty or eighty miles, we +steered boldly towards the mouth of the harbor of Rio. For a few moments +the ship's prow pointed towards Raza Island, on which stands the +lighthouse, but a slight turn of the wheel soon changed its relative +position, and we entered the passage leading into the bay. After passing +the "Sugar Loaf," a rock twelve hundred feet in height, the city lay off +our port bow. All is so well defined, the water is so deep and free from +obstructions of any sort, that no pilot is required and none is taken, +and thus we crept slowly up towards our moorings. As the reader may well +suppose, to eyes weary of the monotony of the sea, the panorama which +opened before us was one of intense interest. Everything seemed matured +and olden. There was no sign of newness; indeed, we recalled the fact +that Rio was an established commercial port half a century before New +York had a local habitation or a name. The town lies on the west side of +the port, between a mountain range and the bay, running back less than +two miles in depth, but extending along the shore for a distance of some +eight miles, fronting one of the finest and most spacious harbors in the +world, famous for its manifold scenic beauties, which, from the moment +of passing within the narrow entrance, are ever changing and ever +lovely. The most prominent features are the verdure-clad hills of +Gloria, Theresa, and Castello, behind which extend ranges of steep, +everlasting mountains, one line beyond another, until lost among the +clouds. Few natural spectacles can equal the grand contour of this +famous bay. People who have visited it always speak in superlative +language of Rio harbor, but we hardly think it could be overpraised. It +is the grand entrance to a tropical paradise, so far as nature is +concerned, amid clustering mountains, abrupt headlands, inviting inlets, +and beautiful islands, covered with palms, tree-ferns, bananas, acacias, +and other delights of tropical vegetation, which, when seen depicted in +books, impress one as an exaggeration, but seen here thrill us with +vivid reality. It is only in the torrid zone that one sees these lavish +developments of verdure, these labyrinths of charming arboreous effect. + +Though so well known and so often written about, the harbor of Rio is +less famous than beautiful. The bay is said to contain about one hundred +islands, its area extending inland some seventeen or eighteen miles. The +largest of these is Governor's Island, nearly fronting the city, being +six miles long. Some idea of the extent of the bay may be had from the +fact that there are fifty square miles of good anchorage for ships +within its compass. Into the bay flows the water of two inconsiderable +rivers, the Macacu and the Iguacu, the first named coming in at the +northeast and the latter at the northwest corner of the harbor. + +The Organ Mountains,--Serra dos Orgaos,--capped with soft, fleecy +clouds, formed the lofty background of the picture towards the north, as +we entered upon the scene, the immediate surroundings being dominated by +the sky-reaching Sugar Loaf Rock,--Pao d'Assucar,--which is also the +navigator's guiding mark while yet far away at sea. This bold, irregular +rock of red sandstone rises abruptly from the water, like a giant +standing waist-high in the sea, and forms the western boundary of the +entrance to the harbor, opposite to which, crowning a small but bold +promontory, is the fort of Santa Cruz, the two highlands forming an +appropriate portal to the grandeur which is to greet one within. The +distance between these bounds is about a mile, inside of which the water +widens at once to lake-like proportions. Clouds of frigate birds, gulls, +and gannets fly gracefully about each incoming ship, as if to welcome +them to the harbor where anchorage might be had for the combined +shipping of the whole world. We have lately seen the harbor of Rio +compared to that of Queenstown, on the Irish coast, twenty times +magnified; but the infinite superiority of the former in every respect +makes the allusion quite pointless. + +The Organ Mountains, to which we have referred, and which form so +conspicuous a portion of the scene in and about Rio, are so called +because of their fancied resemblance in shape to the pipes of an organ; +but though blessed with the usual share of imagination, we were quite +unable to trace any such resemblance. However, one must not be +hypercritical. The gigantic recumbent form of a human being, so often +spoken of as discernible along this mountain range, is no poetical +fancy, but is certainly clear enough to any eye, recalling the likeness +to a crouching lion outlined by the promontory of Gibraltar as one first +sees the rock, either on entering the strait or coming from Malta. + +One of the most beautiful indentures of the shore, earliest to catch the +eye after passing into the harbor of Rio from the sea, is called the Bay +of Botafogo. The word means "thrown into the fire," and alludes to the +inhuman _autos-da-fe_ which occurred here when the natives, on refusing +to subscribe to the Roman Catholic faith, were committed by the priests +to the flames! This is the way in which the Romish creed was introduced +into Mexico and South America, and the means by which it was sustained. + +The principal charm of this lovely bay within a bay--Botafogo--is its +flowers and exposition of soaring royal palms. The attractiveness of the +handsome residences is quite secondary to that of nature, here revealed +with a lavish profusion. This part of Rio is overshadowed by the tall +peak of the Corcovado, "the Hunchback," one of the mass of hills which +occupy a large area west of the city, and the nearest mountain to it. +From its never-failing springs comes a large share of the water supply +of the capital. The aqueduct is some ten miles long, crossing a valley +at one point seven hundred feet in width, at a height of ninety feet, +upon double arches. Another large aqueduct is in contemplation, besides +which some other sources are now in actual operation, as Rio has long +since outgrown the capacity of the original supply derived from the +Corcovado. The drainage of the town suffers seriously for want of +sufficient water wherewith to flush the conduits, which at this writing, +with the deadly fever claiming victims on all hands, are permitted to +remain in a stagnant condition! And yet there are hundreds of hills +round about, within long cannon range, which would readily yield the +required element in almost limitless quantity. + +We left the Vigilancia, and our good friend Captain Baker, with regret. +The noble ship had borne us in safety thousands of miles during the past +month, through storms and calms, amid intense tropical heat, and such +floods of rain as are only encountered in southern seas. Watching from +her deck, there had been revealed to us the glories of the changing +latitudes, and particularly the grandeur of the radiant heavens in +equatorial regions. A sense of all-absorbing curiosity prevailed as we +landed at the stone steps, overlooked by the yellow ochre walls of the +arsenal, in the picturesque, though pestilential city. The nauseous +odors which greet one as he steps on shore are very discordant elements +in connection with the intense interest created by the novel sights that +engage the eye of a stranger. + +With a population, including the immediate suburbs, of over half a +million,--estimated at six hundred and fifty thousand,--Rio has most of +the belongings of a North American city of the first class, though we +cannot refrain from mentioning one remarkable exception, namely, the +entire absence of good hotels. There is not a really good and +comfortable public house in all Brazil. Those which do exist in Rio +charge exorbitantly for the most indifferent service, and strangers are +often puzzled to find a sleeping-room for a single night on first +arriving here. Tijuca, situated in the hills a few miles from the city, +is perhaps the most desirable place of temporary sojourn for the newly +arrived traveler, who will find at least one large and comfortable +public house there, favorably known to travelers as Whyte's Hotel. It is +some little distance from the city, but is easily reached by tramway, +which takes one to the foot of the hills of the Tijuca range, whose +tallest peak is thirty-four hundred feet above tide-water. This place +abounds in attractive villas, tropical vegetation, and beautiful +flowers, both wild and cultivated. From here also one gets a most +charming view of the distant city, the famous bay, and the broad +Atlantic; indeed, the view alone will repay one for making this brief +excursion. The loftiest village in these hills is called Boa Vista. +There are mountains, however, on either side, which are five or six +hundred feet higher than the village containing the hotel. American +enterprise is engaged at this writing in constructing a narrow gauge +electric tramway to the summit of Tijuca. The driving road from the base +to the top is an admirable piece of engineering, and is kept in the very +best condition possible. + +The objectionable character of the Italian emigrants, who come hither as +well as to our own States, was demonstrated by a party of them robbing +and nearly murdering a resident of Tijuca who happened to be a short +distance from his own house, the evening previous to the day which we +spent at this resort. These Italians are mostly employed as workmen upon +the railroad, though some are gardeners on the neighboring estates. In +town they act as porters and day laborers on the wharves, as boatmen, +and so on, but, as we were assured, are a lawless, vagabond element of +the community, giving the police force a great deal of trouble. + +Rio has many large and commodious public buildings and some elegant +private residences, the latter generally of a half Moorish type of +architecture. Some of the edifices date back a couple of centuries. The +early Portuguese built of stone and cement, hence the somewhat +remarkable durability of these houses. The large edifice devoted to the +department of agriculture and public works is one of the most noticeable +in the city. The Bank of Brazil occupies a building which is classic in +its fine architecture, being elaborately constructed of hammered +granite. There is no more superb example of masonry in the country. The +National Mint, on the Square of the Republic, is also a fine granite +building; so is that devoted to the Bourse, where enormous values change +hands daily. Educational institutions are numerous, well organized, and +generally availed of by the rising generation. The National College is +of notable influence in the dissemination of general intelligence, and +the same may be said of the Polytechnic College, an excellent and +practical institution. It should be observed that any well organized +educational establishment is called a college in this country. + +The public library of Rio contains some two hundred thousand volumes, +besides many valuable Spanish and Portuguese documents in manuscript. It +is liberally conducted; black and white people alike, as well as all +respectable strangers, have free access and liberal accommodations +within the walls. This institution is an honor to Brazil. + +Rio has a new and well organized navy yard, a large arsenal, cotton +mills, and several extensive manufacturing establishments. Among the +latter is the largest flour mill we have ever seen. This is an English +enterprise; but so far as we could learn, it had been found impossible +to compete profitably with the American flour, as now landed at Rio. A +foundling hospital on the Rua Everesta de Veiga is worthy of mention. +Here, as already described in relation to another Brazilian city, +infants are freely received and cared for, without any inquiry being +made of those who deposit them. These little ones at the outset become +children of the state, and are registered and numbered as such. +Oftentimes the mother pins to the little deserted one's clothes the name +she desires should be given to it, and the wish is usually regarded by +the officials of the institution. The authorities put each child out to +nurse for a year, but receive it back again at the expiration of that +time, and at a proper period send it to school, and endeavor to rear it +to some useful employment or trade. While the child is thus disposed of, +the payment for its board and care is very moderate in amount, and is +also contingent upon its good health and physical condition. Thus the +deserted one is likely to have good attention, if not for humanity's +sake, then from mercenary motives. This plan is copied from that which +is pursued by the great foundling hospitals of St. Petersburg and +Moscow, which are certainly the best organized and largest institutions +of the sort in the world. Where so large a percentage of the children +born are illegitimate, such a hospital becomes a real necessity. There +has been no year since this establishment was opened, in 1738, as we +were told, in which less than four hundred infants were received. +Sometimes parents, whose worldly conditions have greatly improved, come +forward after the lapse of years and claim their children. This right on +their part is duly respected by their properly proving the relationship +beyond all possible doubt, and paying a sum of money equal to that which +has been actually expended by the state in the child's behalf. + +In the line of public amusements there is a large and well-appointed +opera house besides eight other fairly good theatres, together with an +excellent museum. The performances at the theatres are given in French, +Spanish, and Portuguese. Italian opera is presented three times a week +during the season. This year the performances were summarily stopped by +the principal tenor dying of yellow fever. The theatre bearing the name +of the late emperor is a sort of mammoth cave in size, and is capable of +seating six thousand people, not one half of whom can hear what is said +or sung upon the stage by the performers. Street bands of German +musicians perform here as they do in Boston and New York; the mass of +the people, being music loving, patronize these itinerants liberally. +One band posted themselves daily before the popular Globe Restaurant, at +the hour of the midday meal (breakfast), and performed admirably, +reaping a generous response from the habitues. Most of the patrons of +this excellent establishment were observed to be American, English, and +French merchants, who attended to business in Rio during the day, but +who went home to the elevated environs to dine and to sleep. "I have +been here in business nine years," said one of these gentlemen to us, +"and have been down with the fever once; but I would not sleep in Rio +overnight for any amount of money, at this season of the year." This was +early in June. He added: "The fever should have disappeared before this +time, which is our winter, but it seems to linger later and later each +succeeding year." This was a conclusion which we heard expressed by +other observant individuals, but all joined in ascribing its persistency +in no small degree to the imperfect drainage, and the vile personal +habits of the mass of the common people, who make no effort to be +cleanly, or to regard the decencies of life in this respect. + +As to churches, Rio has between sixty and seventy, none of which are +very remarkable, all being dim, dirty, and offensive to the olfactories. +The cause of the foul air being so noticeable in all of these Romish +churches is the fact that no provision whatever is made for proper +ventilation, and this, too, in places of all others where it is most +imperatively necessary. The offense is created by exhalations from the +bodies of the least cleanly class of the population. It is such who +mostly fill these churches all over the continent of Europe, Mexico, +South America, and the United States. Precisely the same disgusting odor +greets the senses of the visitor to these edifices, be it in one +hemisphere or another, but especially in Italy and Spain. + +The cathedral of Rio is a large, showy edifice, surrounded by narrow +streets, and thus hidden by other buildings, so that no general and +satisfactory outside effect can be had. The front and sides are of solid +granite, and the whole is known to have cost a mint of money, yet the +safety of the foundation is more than questionable. Like the grand +church of St. Isaacs, in the Russian capital of St. Petersburg, great +expense will doubtless have to be incurred to renew and strengthen it in +this respect. It is believed that the site upon which Rio stands was +once under the sea, and, geologically speaking, at no very remote +period, which accounts for considerable trouble being experienced in +obtaining secure and solid foundations for any heavy superstructure. At +this writing, the cathedral is undergoing extensive repairs, inside and +out, but in spite of the noise of workmen, the disagreeable lime dust, +and the interference of a network of interior staging, it is still very +striking in its architectural effect. + +In the old part of the town, two prominent cupolas dominate the +surroundings. These belong respectively to the churches of Candelaria +and San Luigi. The most popular church in Rio is undoubtedly that which +crowns the Gloria Hill, called the Igreja da Gloria do Onterio, which +overlooks the bay. Its commanding situation is very remarkable. In shape +it is octagonal, and seems to be very solidly built. In front of the +church there is a broad terrace, from whence a fine view may be enjoyed. +On a moonlight night the picture presented from the Gloria Hill is +something worth going miles on foot to behold. This church was the +favorite resort of the late royal family when they were in the city, +though much of their home life and all of their summers were passed in +the hills of the Organ Mountains at the emperor's favorite +resort,--Petropolis. + +The shops of Rio, notwithstanding they are generally small and situated +upon streets so narrow that they would be called only lanes in North +America,--close, confined, half-strangled thoroughfares,--will compare +favorably in many respects with those of continental Europe. The larger +number of the merchants here are French, together with a considerable +sprinkling of German Jews. Indeed, can any one tell us where we shall +not find this peculiar race represented in the trade centres of the wide +world? In many of the fancy-goods stores the famous Brazilian feather +flowers are exhibited for sale, but the best place to purchase these is +at Bahia, where they are a specialty, and where their manufacture is +said to have originated. The narrow streets, traversed by tramways, are +at times almost impassable for pedestrians, and are often blocked by +heavy mule teams for fifteen minutes at a time. By and by some lazy +policeman makes his appearance and quietly begins to unravel the snarl, +which he at length succeeds in doing, and the ordinary traffic of the +thoroughfare is once more resumed. An unsightly gutter runs through the +middle of some of these thoroughfares, which adds to the annoyances +incident to ordinary travel. All are regularly laid out, chess-board +fashion, very ill smelling, and harbor an infinite number of beggars and +mangy dogs. + +It is customary for local merchants who employ European clerks--and +there are many English, French, and Brazilians in Rio who do so,--to +give them a fixed salary, quite moderate in amount, and to furnish them +with lodgings also. The latter are of a very rude and undesirable +character, in the business establishment itself, either over the store, +or in the back part of it. The bedding which is furnished is of a +makeshift character, rarely changed, and never properly aired. +Exceedingly uncleanly domestic arrangements, or the entire absence of +them, are also a serious matter in this connection, from a sanitary +point of view. The clerks get their food at some neighboring restaurant, +and contract irregular habits, all of which is both mentally and +physically demoralizing. It is among this class of foreigners that the +yellow fever finds the most ready victims. To sleep in these crowded +business centres, in ill-ventilated apartments, with far from cleanly +surroundings, is simply to provoke fatal illness, and during an epidemic +of fever these places furnish fuel for the flames. Neatness and +cleanliness among domestic associations in this city are entirely lost +sight of and are totally disregarded by men and women. + +The Rua Direita is the State Street or Wall Street of Rio; a new name, +which escapes us at this moment, has been given to it, but the old one +is still the favorite and in common use. Here brokers, bankers, and +commission merchants meet and bargain, and fiercely speculate in coffee. +The principal shopping street is the Rua de Ouvidor, where the best +stores and choicest retail goods are to be found. In the Rua dos +Ourives,--"Goldsmith's Street,"--the display of fine jewelry, diamonds, +and other precious stones recalls the Rue de la Paix of Paris. Diamonds +are held at quite as high prices as in London or New York, and those of +the best quality can be bought better at retail out of this country than +in it. A poor quality of stone, off color, is imported and offered here +as being of native production, and careless purchasers are not +infrequently deceived by cunning dealers in these matters. + +Two vehicles cannot pass each other in this avenue without driving upon +the narrow sidewalk. At times a deafening uproar prevails along these +circumscribed lanes. The rough grinding of wheels, noisy bootblacks, +whooping orange-sellers, screaming newspaper boys, howling dogs, the +rattle of the street peddler, lottery ticket venders, fighting street +gamins, all join to swell the mingled chorus. And yet these crowded +thoroughfares would lose half of their picturesqueness were these +elements to be banished from them. They each and all add a certain crude +element of interest to this every-day picture of Vanity Fair. + +In their ambition to copy European and North American fashions, the +gentlemen of Rio utterly disregard the eternal fitness of things, +wearing broadcloth suits of black, with tall, stove-pipe hats, neither +of which articles should be adopted for a moment in their torrid +climate. Nothing could be more inappropriate. Linen clothing and light +straw hats are the true costume for the tropics, naturally suggesting +themselves in hot climates to the exclusion of woolen, heat-brewing +costumes, which are necessary articles of wear in the north. Fashion, +however, ignores climate and is omnipotent everywhere; comfort is +subsidiary. Wear woolen clothing by all means, gentlemen of Rio, even +when the thermometer hangs persistently at 95 deg. Fahr. in the shade, and +the human body perspires like a mountain stream. + +The tramway system of Rio is excellent in a crude way. Statistics show +that fifty million passengers are annually transported by this popular +means from one part of the city to another, and into the suburbs. The +street railway was first introduced here by North American enterprise, +the pioneer route being that between the city proper and the botanical +garden. The prices of passage vary according to distances, as is the +case with the London omnibuses. The cars are all open ones, of cheap, +coarse construction, and far from inviting in appearance, being entirely +unupholstered, and affording only hard board seats for passengers to sit +upon. They are usually drawn by one small donkey, whose strength is +quite overtasked, but the ground in the city is so nearly level that the +cars move very easily and rapidly. + +There is one delightful excursion from Rio which nearly all strangers +are sure to enjoy. We refer to the ascent of Corcovado, the mountain +which looms over Botafogo Bay to the height of twenty-two hundred feet, +and to the summit of which a railway has been constructed. The grades +are extremely steep, and the road is what is called a centre line, +worked upon the cog-wheel system, the ascent being very slow and +winding. The principle is the same as that of the railway by which Mount +Washington is ascended, in New Hampshire, or the Righi, in Switzerland. +This road was built by the national government, but as a pecuniary +speculation it does not pay, though it is of considerable indirect +benefit to the city. We will not dilate upon the grand outlook to be had +from the summit of the Hunchback, which takes in a bird's-eye view of +the harbor and its surroundings, but will add that no one should come +hither without ascending Corcovado. The top consists of two rounded +masses of bare rock, and is walled in to prevent accident, there being +on one side a perpendicular descent of a thousand feet. It gives one at +first a dizzy sensation to look down upon the vast city spread out over +the plain, from whence a hum of mingled sounds comes up with singular +distinctness. Even the bells upon the mules which are attached to the +tram-cars can be distinguished, and other sounds still more delicate and +minute. Just so balloonists tell us that at two or three thousand feet +in mid-air they can distinguish the voices of individuals upon the earth +below them. The experienced traveler learns to be astonished at nothing, +but there are degrees of pleasure induced by beautiful and majestic +views which mount to the apex of our capacity for admiration. One can +safely promise such a realizing sense to him who ascends the Corcovado. + +A tramway which starts from the centre of the city will take the +traveler to the base of the hill, through roads lined by palms of great +age and beauty, finally leaving him near the point from whence the steam +road begins the upward journey. + +Nictheroy, just across the harbor of Rio, on the east side of the bay, +is a sort of faubourg of the capital, with which it is connected by a +line of steam ferry-boats, as Chelsea is with Boston, or Brooklyn with +the city of New York. It is the capital of the province of Rio Janeiro, +and has broader streets, is more reasonably laid out, and is kept more +cleanly than Rio itself. Space is found for a profusion of attractive +gardens, and the senses are greeted by sweet odors in the place of +needlessly offensive smells, which attack one on all sides in the +metropolis so near at hand. It is quite a relief to get on to one of the +ferry-boats and cross over to Nictheroy occasionally, for a breath of +pure air. This is the native Indian name of the place, and signifies +"hidden water," particularly applicable when these land-locked bays were +shrouded in dense tropical woods. + +Unlike Para, Montevideo, and Buenos Ayres, this city has no special +river communication with the interior, but her commerce is large and +increasing. Railroads are more reliable feeders for business than either +rivers or canals. It is a fact which is not generally realized, that +Brazil has over six thousand miles of well-constructed railways in +operation, besides having a telegraph system covering seven thousand +miles of land service. In the construction of the railroads, the cost, +so far as the ground work and grading was concerned, was reduced to the +minimum, owing to the level nature of the country. As was the case in +New Zealand, many of these railways were constructed at great expense, +in anticipation of the wants of a future population, who it was hoped +would settle rapidly upon the route which they followed. That is to say, +many of these roads did not open communication between populous +districts already in existence. This would have been perfectly +legitimate. They run to no particular objective point, and seem to stop +finally nowhere. The natural sequence followed. After being built and +equipped with borrowed money, they were anything but self-supporting, +and pecuniary aid from the government was freely given to enable them to +be kept in operation. + +There must always come a day of reckoning for all such forced schemes, +and the Brazilian railways were no exception to the rule. This is +largely the primary cause of the present monetary troubles in this +country, as well as in the Argentine Republic. The capital for the +construction of these roads came mostly from England, and that country +has been accordingly a heavy pecuniary sufferer. The rates charged for +transportation upon most of the lines are also exorbitant, if we were +rightly informed; so much so, in fact, as to prove nearly prohibitory. +Scarcely any species of merchandise brought from a considerable distance +inland will bear such freight charges and leave a margin for profit to +the producer and shipper. Would-be planters of coffee and sugar-cane +dare not enter upon raising these staples for the market, unless +situated very near the shipping point, or near some available river's +course, the latter means being naturally much cheaper than any form of +railway transportation. + +Situated on the border of two zones, Rio Janeiro has the products of +both within her reach, and thus possesses peculiar advantages for +extensive trade and general commerce. It is in this latter direction +that her progressive and enterprising merchants are endeavoring to +extend the facilities of the port. The passenger landings--not +wharves--which border the water front of the city here and there are of +solid granite, from which at suitable intervals broad stone steps lead +down to the water's edge, as on the borders of the Neva at St. +Petersburg. We have few, if any, such substantial landing-places in our +North American ports. We know of no harbor on the globe which enjoys a +more eligible situation as regards the commerce of foreign countries, +both of the New and the Old World. The one convenience so imperatively +demanded is proper wharves for the landing and shipping of cargoes, thus +obviating the necessity of the expensive and tedious lighter system. It +is her many natural and extraordinary advantages which has led to so +steady a growth of the city, notwithstanding the very serious drawback +of an unwholesome climate, aggravated by the indolence and incapacity of +the local authorities in sanitary matters. Both consumption and yellow +fever have proved more fatal here than at any other port in South +America, so far as we could draw comparisons. + +The well-equipped marine arsenal of Rio is of considerable interest and +importance, as there is no other port on the Atlantic coast, between the +Gulf of Mexico and Cape Horn, where a large modern vessel can go into +dry dock for needed repairs. This receptacle is ample in size, and is +substantially built of granite. Such an establishment as a national +shipyard is a prime necessity to a commercial country like Brazil, which +has eleven hundred leagues of seacoast. + +In the Plaza Constitution, which is a very grand and spacious park in +the heart of the city, there is an elaborate and costly statue of the +father of the late emperor, of heroic size. The pedestal is surrounded +by four bronze groups, representing typical scenes of early Indian life +in this country. The Paseo Publico is also a garden-like spot, extending +three or four hundred feet along the bay. This is a cool and favorite +resort of the populace. On the corners of the principal streets and +squares there are little octagonal structures called kiosks, gayly +painted, where hot coffee, lottery tickets, and bonbons are sold, as +well as newspapers and flowers. Here, as in Havana, the city of Mexico, +Naples, and many European cities, the lottery proves to be a terrible +curse to the common people, draining their pockets and diverting them +from all ideas of steady-going business. It is customary also for the +regularly organized business establishments to patronize the lottery +with never-failing regularity, charging a certain monthly sum to expense +account, but the money is nevertheless paid out for lottery tickets. The +bad moral effect of this upon clerks and all concerned is very obvious. +When by chance any prize, be it never so small, is awarded, a great +flurry is made of the fact, and advertisements emphasize it, thus to +incite fresh investments in this organized public swindle. Tickets are +sold by boys and girls, men and women, and half the talk of the +thoughtless multitude is about the lottery, how to hit upon lucky +numbers, and so on. + +It is a mistaken though popular idea that our New England consumptives +have only to seek some tropical locality to alleviate their special +trouble. Rio seems to be particularly fatal to persons suffering from +pulmonary troubles. The same may be said of many other tropical regions. +When consumption is developed in the Bahamas, Cuba, or the Sandwich +Islands, for instance, it runs its fatal course with a speed never +realized in the Northern States of America. Physicians do not send +patients to foreign localities so indiscriminately as they used to. +Almost every sort of climate is to be found within the borders of the +United States, where also civilized comforts are more universally to be +obtained than abroad. Besides which, an invalid does not have to brave +seasickness and other ocean hardships, if sent to some eligible locality +within our own borders. + +Though Brazil has long been, and is still, famous for its production of +diamonds, precious stones, and gold, yet these are as nothing when +compared with her exports of sugar, coffee, and hides, not taking into +account her product of rice, cocoa, tobacco, dyewoods, and other +important staples. A large portion of the abnormal growth of her forests +is valuable for its timber, resins, fibre, and fruits. It is naturally a +very rich country, with a world of wealth in its soil, but miserable +financial mismanagement has caused the national treasury to become +utterly bankrupt, and at this writing mercantile credit is an unknown +quantity, so to speak. The natural resources of the country are +unlimited; therefore it must be only a question of time when a healthy +reaction shall set in, and a period of sound prosperity follow. + +It should be remembered in this connection that the immediate country of +which we are speaking, that is, Brazil as a whole, is as large as the +United States, leaving out the territory of Alaska. + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + Outdoor Scenes in Rio Janeiro.--The Little Marmoset.--The + Fish Market.--Secluded Women.--The Romish Church.--Botanical + Garden.--Various Species of Trees.--Grand Avenue of Royal + Palms.--About Humming-Birds.--Climate of Rio.--Surrounded by + Yellow Fever.--The Country Inland.--Begging on the + Streets.--Flowers.--"Portuguese Joe."--Social Distinctions. + + +It would require many pages to properly describe Rio Janeiro with its +curious phases of street life, its manners and customs, its local +peculiarities, and moving panorama of events, all combining to make up a +unique personality. These out-of-door scenes go far to tell the true +story of any special locality. The fruit and vegetable market, near +Palace Square, is a highly attractive place to visit at early morning. +The negro women venders, always stout and portly creatures, with heads +turbaned in many-colored bandannas, are eloquent in recommending their +articles for sale, and are also very shrewd at a bargain. It is not +uncommon for these middle-aged negresses to stand six feet high, without +shoes or stockings, and to turn the scales at double the average weight +of men of the same color and class. These women were all slaves in their +girlhood. As regards prices charged for provisions, fruits, and +vegetables, in the markets of Rio, they seemed to the author rather +exorbitant, but doubtless permanent residents do not pay such sums as +are charged to strangers for the same articles. We were heartily laughed +at by a housekeeper on stating the cost of a small basket of choice +fruit which we had purchased, being told that we had paid four times its +market value. However, it was well worth the price to us, who had just +arrived from an ocean voyage of five thousand miles and more. On +shipboard fruit is necessarily a scarce article, and it was certainly +worth something extra to be introduced for the first time to the +luscious products of this region. + +The abundance and variety of flowers, as well as their cheapness and +fragrance, make them a desirable morning purchase, with all their dewy +freshness upon them. Oranges, limes, pineapples, lemons, +alligator-pears, cocoanuts, grapes, mangoes, with an infinite variety of +other fruits, make up the stock in trade, together with squealing pigs, +live turkeys, and noisy guinea-fowls. Here also are various gaudy +feathered songsters, in cheap, home-made cages, besides monkeys, +marmosets, and other household pets. The macaws, chained by the leg, and +the screaming parrots vie with each other and with the monkeys in the +amount of noise they make. Wicker baskets filled with live ducks, geese, +and fowls are borne on the heads of native women, who have brought them +many a long weary mile from far inland, hoping to make a few pennies by +their sale. The chatter of the women, the cries of men and animals, an +occasional quarrel between two noisy Italians, ending in furious +vociferations and gesticulations, all add to the Babel of sound. One +little marmoset put his hand into that of the author, looking so +appealingly into his face that, imagining the little fellow might be +hungry, some nice edibles, calculated to rejoice the monkey heart, were +promptly purchased and gratefully received by the marmoset, which, in +his eager haste to consume the same, stuffed the sides of either jaw to +alarming proportions. The little creature was wonderfully human, and +having found a kindly disposed stranger, insisted upon keeping one of +his tiny hands in our own, while he rapidly filled his mouth with the +other. + +It is interesting to observe the artistic manner in which the native +women, Indians and blacks, mingle and arrange the various fruits and +vegetables, showing a natural instinct for the harmonious blending of +colors and forms. A pile of yellow oranges, green limes, and mangoes had +a base of buff-colored bananas picturesquely arranged with all the +pointed ends of the finger-like fruit outward, while a luscious ripe +pineapple formed the apex of the pile, set off jauntily by its +cactus-like, prickly leaves. On the borders of the market and along the +iron railing of Palace Square, black-haired, bareheaded Italian women +displayed cheap jewelry, imitation shell, gilded combs, and other fancy +trinkets for sale, embracing priestly knick-knacks, ivory crosses, +crucifixion scenes, coral beads, high-colored ribbons, and gaudy +kerchiefs. The bronzed faces of these black-eyed, gypsy-like women were +very cadaverous, as though the land of their adoption did not +particularly agree with them. It seems hardly possible that these +peddlers could gain a livelihood trading in these tawdry and utterly +useless articles among such a humble, impecunious class of customers as +frequent the market, and yet their numerous wide-open, shallow tin boxes +showed a considerable stock of goods. + +The fish market is a curious sight in the variety of colors and shapes +afforded by the inhabitants of the neighboring bay, where most of them +are caught. What an array of finny monsters!--rock-fish, large as +halibut, ray, skates, craw-fish, cuttle-fish, and prawns half as large +as lobsters, together with devil-fish and oysters. Funny idea, but these +oysters, many of them, are grown on trees! How is this possible? Let us +tell you. The mangrove trees line the water's edge; many of the branches +overhang the sea, and are submerged therein. To these young oysters +affix themselves, and there they live and thrive. The same phenomenon +was observed by the author some years ago in Cuba. These oysters are +found in small corrugated shells scarcely larger than a good-sized +English walnut, which they somewhat resemble. + +In the fish market one sees some very original characters among the +negro women who preside over the finny tribe. They are large, +good-natured creatures, quick at a trade, and quite intelligent. We +recall one, who was a prominent figure among her companions. She was +tall, portly, and strong as a horse. Her head was decked with a bandanna +kerchief of many colors, her flat nose and protruding lips indicating +close African relationship. Secured behind one of her ears was a +cigarette, while a friction match protruded from the other, ready for +use. Her coarse calico dress, of deep red, was covered in front by a +brown linen apron extending nearly to her bare feet. Her uncovered arms +were about as large as a man's legs. This negress dressed the several +kinds of fish with the facility of an expert, making change for her +patrons with commendable promptness, and dismissing them with a +good-natured smile, adding some remark which was pretty sure to elicit +hearty laughter. + +As we stood viewing these things, a noisy fellow made himself very +obnoxious to every person whom he met. He had evidently been too often +to the neighboring spirit-shops. A police officer arrested the man by +touching him lightly on the shoulder and saying a few words to him; +then, pointing ahead, made the fellow precede him to the lock-up. Though +this disturber of the peace was half drunk, he knew too much to resist +an officer, which is considered to be a heinous offense and is severely +punished in Rio. It was natural to contrast this scene with the violent +resistance offered by offenders with whom the police of New York and +Boston have often to deal. + +The streets of Rio, at all times of the day, present a motley crowd of +half-naked negroes, overladen donkeys, lazy Portuguese, Italian, and +Spanish loafers, smoking cheap cigars, with here and there a Jew hawking +articles of personal wear, women with various heavy articles upon their +heads, water carriers, vociferous sellers of confectionery, all moving +hither and thither, each one intent upon his or her individual interest +and oblivious of all others. The background to this kaleidoscopic +picture is the low, stucco-finished houses, painted in lively red, +yellow, or blue, interspersed here and there by bas-reliefs, the whole +reflecting the rays of a torrid sun. Though it is all quite different, +yet somehow it recalls the narrow, crowded streets and bazaars of Cairo +and Alexandria. It is very natural, in passing, to regard with interest +those screened balconies, and to imagine what the lives may be of the +half orientally excluded women within them, while occasionally catching +luminous glances from curious eyes. The notes of a guitar, or those of +the piano, often reach the ear of the passer-by, sometimes accompanied +by the ringing notes of a song, for the ladies of Brazil are extremely +fond of music; indeed, it seems to be almost their only distraction. Of +books they know very little, and any literary reference is to them like +speaking in an unknown tongue. Even the one poet of Portugal, Camoens, +appears to be a stranger on this side of the Atlantic. The isolation and +want of intellectual resort among the average women of this country are +a sad reality, and are in a degree their excuse for some unfortunate +indulgences and immoralities, domestic unfaithfulness being as common +here as in Paris or Vienna. + +The majority of the Brazilian women marry at or before the age of +sixteen, and become old, as we use the term, at thirty. The climate and +the cares of maternity together age them prematurely. In early youth, +and until they have reached twenty three or four years, they are almost +universally very handsome, but this beauty is not retained, as is often +the case among the sex in colder climes. Of their charms, it must be +honestly admitted that they are almost purely physical (animal); the +beauty which high culture imparts to the features, by informing the mind +and developing the intellect, is not found as a rule among Brazilian +women. Of course there are some delightful and notable exceptions to +this conclusion, but we speak of the women, generally, of what is termed +the better class. Now and then one meets with ladies who have been +educated in the United States, or in Europe, upon whom early and refined +associations have left an unmistakable impress. The superiority of such +is at once manifest, both in general ease of manner, and the +inexplicable charm which high breeding imparts. + +One searches in vain for a full-faced, well-developed, hearty looking +man, among the natives in the streets of this capital. The average +people, both high and low, are sallow, undersized, and cadaverous. +Sunken cheeks and thin figures are the rule among the men, a passing +North American or Englishman only serving to furnish a strong and +suggestive contrast. These people have brilliantly expressive eyes, with +handsome teeth and mouths, though half shriveled up and undeveloped in +body. If one pauses to analyze the matter, he comes to the conclusion +that vice and short commons, unwholesome morals and an unwholesome +climate, have much to do with this prevailing appearance, which must be +in part hereditary, to be so universal, commencing some way back and +increasing with the generations. As in Mexico, gentlemen meeting on the +streets of Rio hug each other with both arms, at the same time +inflicting two or three quick, earnest slaps with the flat of the hand +upon the back. This is perhaps after an absence of a few days; but if +they meet ten times a day, off come their hats, and they shake hands +with the most earnest demonstrations, both at meeting and at parting. +Kissing on both cheeks is common enough in many parts of Europe among +society people, but this hugging business between men meeting upon the +public streets strikes one as a waste of the raw material. + +It goes without saying that the popular religion of Rio Janeiro and the +country at large is that of the Romish Church, though all denominations +are tolerated by the laws of the republic. In some districts it is the +same here as in Mexico and continental Spain, the Protestants being +persecuted in every possible manner. Nevertheless, the power of the +priesthood, we were creditably informed, is on the wane. They owe the +loss of it in a great measure to the gross abuse of their positions and +their shamefully immoral lives. No one conversant with the true state of +the case, be he Protestant or Romanist, can deny this statement. The +author thought that the Roman Catholic priests of Mexico were about as +wicked a set of men as he had ever met with, taken as a whole, but +further experience in South America has convinced him that the Mexican +priesthood have their equals in immorality in Brazil, and elsewhere +south of Panama. The popular religion of the country is one of the +saddest features of its national existence, forming the great +drag-weight upon its moral, and indirectly upon its physical progress. + +The Botanical Garden of Rio is a justly famous resort, situated about +six miles from the city, behind the Corcovada, between that mountain and +the sea, but it is easily reached by tramway, or better still by a +delightful drive along the shore of Botafogo Bay, over a road shaded by +imperial palms, together with occasional clusters of the ever beautiful +bamboo, the sight of which recalled the luxuriant specimens seen in +Japan and Sumatra. The nearest approach to this admirable public garden +is to be found at Kandy, in the island of Ceylon, which, as we remember +it, is considerably more extensive, and presents a larger variety of +tropical vegetation. The examples of the india-rubber tree, especially, +are finer in the Asiatic garden than we find them at Rio. A tall, +slim-stemmed sloth-tree, straight as an arrow, and bare of branches or +leaves except at the top, was pointed out to us here. It is so called +because it is the favorite resort of that animal. This creature is very +easily captured, and the natives are fond of its meat, which may be +nutritious, but it can hardly be called palatable. As it is almost +entirely a vegetable-feeding animal, we know not why there should be any +objection to the meat it produces. The sloth climbs up into the tall +branches of the tree described, though it does so with considerable +difficulty, and there remains until it has consumed every leaf and +tender shoot which it bears; then the voracious creature wanders off to +find and denude another. + +The bread-fruit tree is interesting, with its handsome feathery leaves, +and its large, melon-shaped product. It grows to fifty feet in height, +and bears fruit constantly for three quarters of the year, then takes a +three months' rest. It is only equaled in the profuseness of its product +by the banana, forming one of the staple sources of food supply to the +lazy, indolent denizens of tropical regions. The candelabra-tree, with +its silver-tinted foliage, is one of the beauties of this charming +Brazilian garden. Among other notable trees are fine specimens of the +camphor-tree, the tamarind, the broad-spreading mango, opulent in +fruitfulness, the flowering magnolia, also the soap-tree, with its +saponaceous berries. The cochineal cactus was thriving after its kind, +near by what is called the cow-tree, which interests one quite as much +as any of its companions, rising over a hundred feet in height, with a +red bark and fig-like leaves. The milk which it yields is of cream-like +consistency, very similar to that from a cow, and it may be used for any +ordinary purpose to which we put that article. The tree is tapped, as we +treat the sugar-maple, in order to obtain its very remarkable and useful +product. It is nutritious, that is freely admitted; but most probably it +has some medicinal properties of a latent character, though of this we +could learn nothing. + +The world-famed avenue of royal palms in the Botanical Garden of Rio is +unique, being undoubtedly the finest tropical arboretum in the world +arranged by the hand of man. We saw here a delicate little member of the +palm family, a sort of baby tree, known as the small-stemmed palm of +Para. Many trees from Asia have become domesticated side by side with +the maple, the pine, and the elm from New England. Some of the large +trees were decked with orchids and hanging lichens, the dainty and +fantastic ornamentation of nature herself, not promoted by artificial +means. The humidity of the atmosphere especially facilitates the growth +of this beautiful family of plants, which are as erratic in shape as +they are variegated in prismatic colors. + +It would require a whole chapter to do even partial justice to this +remarkable garden behind the Corcovado mountain. + +One sees here myriads of delicate humming-birds, wonderful animated gems +of color, remarkable in Brazil for their metallic hues. Such brilliancy +of lustre, glancing in the warm sunlight, is fascinating to behold. The +Spaniards call these delicate little creatures "winged flowers," and the +Portuguese, "flower-kissers." A lady resident of Rio told the author of +the vain attempt of a patient German scientist to domesticate a few +specimens of these birds. He commenced by taking them from the nest soon +after they were hatched, at various periods of their growth, and even +after they had learned to fly, but although infinite care was taken to +supply their usual food, and also not to confine them too closely, the +naturalist was fain to acknowledge the impossibility of accomplishing +his object, though the experiment extended over a period of two years. +The ceaseless activity of this frail little bird renders any +circumscribing of its liberty fatal to existence. + +Delicate, innocent, and apparently harmless as butterflies, these +diminutive creatures are often very pugnacious, and when two males +engage in a contest with each other, which is not seldom the case, one +or the other often loses his life. If disturbed during the period of +incubation, they will attack large birds and even human beings, +directing their long, needle-like bills at the offender's eyes. Our +informant told us the particulars of a man who, under such +circumstances, came very near losing both of these organs. Scientists +have succeeded in preserving over two hundred different specimens of +this little feathered beauty, representing that number of species +indigenous to Brazil. Some of these are only five or six times as large +as a humble-bee. The artificial flowers already referred to as being for +sale in the shops of Rio depend almost entirely upon the humming-bird +for their delicate beauty; no other feathered creature affords such +marvelous colors and exquisitely fine material for the purpose. The best +specimens of this work are necessarily expensive, requiring, besides a +truly artistic taste and eye, skill of execution, infinite patience, and +much time, to produce them. We saw a choice design of this sort, +measuring about fifteen by twenty inches, framed under a glass, the +design being a bouquet of natural flowers, for which the asking price +was five hundred dollars; four hundred and fifty had been refused. The +feathers were almost entirely from the throat and breast of +humming-birds, arranged by a woman who had made this work the occupation +of her life from girlhood. We learned that such a piece of artistic +effect represented nearly a year's labor! + +One also finds in the Rio shops flower-pieces ingeniously formed from +the scales of high-colored fishes, as well as from the wings and bodies +of native insects characterized by brilliant colors, but these of course +will not compare in delicacy and beauty with the products of the +feathers. The Brazilian beetle is prepared in a myriad of ornamental +forms and in many combinations, sometimes mingled with feathers. In the +Rua dos Ourives there are two or three shops where a great variety of +such objects is offered for sale. These stores have also many choice +native stones of great beauty, including the true Brazilian topaz, for +which there is a growing and appreciative demand. + +The idea prevails that the climate of Rio is like some parts of Africa, +suffocatingly hot all the time, but this is not correct. The American +consul told the author that he had suffered more from the cold than from +the heat in the environs of the city, where his residence is in a rather +elevated district. He declared that the temperature, even in town, was +rarely so extreme as is often found in the cities of the United States. +He believes that the yellow fever might be effectually banished from Rio +by the adoption of strict quarantine and effective sanitary measures in +the city proper. As we have already intimated, consumption prevails here +to an alarming extent. This is doubtless owing to the peculiar dampness +of the atmosphere. We found that statistics show one half as many deaths +from consumption as from yellow fever, taking the aggregate of five +years. "The one disease comes annually in the heat of summer only, as a +rule," said our informant, "while the other prevails more or less all +the year round, year in and year out." During the two weeks which the +author stopped at Rio, forty and fifty fatal cases of yellow fever a day +were recorded, and doubtless more than that number actually fell victims +to its ravages, as only those who died in the several hospitals were +enumerated. We were in the city in June, one of the winter months in +this latitude. Heretofore the fever has nearly always disappeared, as an +epidemic, by the first or middle of May, even in years when it has been +most prevalent and fatal. Notwithstanding the charm of novelty which so +absorbs the stranger, we are free to confess there was a lurking dread +of the subtle enemy which proved so swift and fatal all about us. Fifty +deaths daily by yellow fever in a population exceeding half a million +only served to show that it still lingered in a sporadic form where the +seeds are perhaps never entirely exterminated. It most readily attacks +strangers and the unacclimated, but no class is exempt. The indigent, +careless, drunken portion of the population are no more liable, we were +informed, to contract the disease than others of better habits. This +outrages all preconceived notions of diseases of this character, but we +were assured by good authority that it was really so. The day we left +Rio, the English Bishop, a most estimable man, who was universally +respected and beloved, died of the fell disease. + +The summer season begins in October and lasts until April, and is better +known here as the wet season, the rain falling with great regularity +nearly every afternoon, and at about the same time. Usually an hour of +liberal downpour is experienced, then it promptly clears up and becomes +bright and pleasant. The warmest month is February. The winter months +are May, June, July, and August; this is the dry season, during which +very little rain falls. The climate appears to be particularly injurious +to persons who are troubled with a torpid liver. Elephantiasis is +indigenous, but it is not very common; the few cases seen were upon the +streets, and were those of negroes who exposed their diseased limbs to +excite public pity, making the affliction an excuse for systematic +begging. A score of such unfortunates were seen daily in and about +Palace Square, and one or two regularly posted themselves before the +Globe Restaurant, which is the Maison Doree of Rio Janeiro. + +The well-to-do merchants do not think of living in town, but select some +pleasant spot in the environs, where they erect picturesque homes, often +extremely attractive to the eye architecturally, and surrounded by +lovely gardens, containing both native and exotic plants and trees. The +contrast between commercial and rural Rio is something very striking. +One presents all the grossness and belittling aspect of money-getting, +the other the graces, liberality, and ennobling appearance of culture +and refinement. Of all the trees in these attractive environs, the palm, +in its great variety, challenges one's admiration most. We mention it +frequently, for it was our constant delight. At every turn one comes +upon it, in its several species,--the cocoa-palm, the palmetto, the +cabbage, the assai-palm, the fanshaped-palm, and scores of other +varieties. The hand and taste of woman are seen in these gardens of the +environs. Flowers are selected and arranged as only feminine taste could +suggest, while the broad piazzas are simply floral bowers and gardens of +placid delights. + +The province round about Rio is beautified and rendered profitable by +the many large coffee plantations, particularly attractive when the +well-trimmed bushes are seen in full bearing, bending under the weight +of red berries. Orange orchards abound, the branches of the trees heavy +with the rich golden fruit; yet as an orange-producing section, Florida, +in our own country, is fully its equal. The fruit of the southern part +of the United States is much better and more intelligently cultivated, +and is larger and fairer, than the fruit of this region. We except +Bahia, however, in this remark; that is the very paradise of oranges. +Besides the abundance of fruits, Flora reigns in Brazil, and near to Rio +bignonias, passifloras, variegated honeysuckles, morning-glories, +magnolias, and orchids mingle with the dark green mango trees and the +delicate light green mimosas which meet the eye everywhere. It appears +that the several species of flowers have their special season for +blooming, when they are at their best, so that a large variety is always +seen in bloom at all times in the year. We must confess to having felt +half lost without the "Queen of Flowers," our grand favorite; but as to +roses, it was found that the ever present ants maintained a fixed +hostility to them, rendering it particularly difficult to rear them in +this country. In all of the many lands we have visited, the author has +never seen such superbly developed roses as are produced in and about +the city of Boston. There is some quality in the climate of New England, +added to the genius of her famous florists, especially adapted to their +perfection. + +The broad leafed umbrella-tree--_chapeo do sul_--is often seen in this +neighborhood cultivated as a shade tree, both in town and country, while +the thick clustering bamboo, so often referred to, adds its unique +beauty to the environs in all directions. The banana and plantain, both +cultivated and wild, thrive hereabouts, and form an important adjunct to +the food supply of all classes. The banana is cultivated by offsets, and +is of rapid growth, coming to maturity and bearing fruit a few months +after it is planted. Brazil seems to be well called the home of fruits +and flowers. + +Has the reader ever chanced to hear of "Portuguese Joe," of Rio Janeiro? +He is a man as well known in the capital of Brazil as the late emperor. +Ostensibly he is only a successful shipchandler, wholesale grocer, +purveyor--by appointment--to the American and British naval ships which +put into Rio, or which are stationed here; but over and above his +extensive commercial relations, we found him to be a Good Samaritan. He +is quite ready for legitimate business, and has realized a handsome +fortune by fair and honorable dealing. He charges a reasonable profit +upon the various supplies which he furnishes, but his goods are exactly +what he represents them to be, and he has the confidence of all who deal +with him. His establishment grew up from a small beginning, he having +come from Portugal to engage in business when only thirteen years of +age. To-day he is in the prime of life, and his store on the Paraca de +Dom Pedro II. is a city institution. The highest official, the +wealthiest bankers, and the most influential merchants are glad to shake +him cordially by the hand. Signor J. C. V. Mendes--the other title being +a trade _nom de plume_ of long standing--is a gentleman by nature, and a +true friend to all strangers who seek his counsels on arriving at Rio. +We fortunately became acquainted with Signor Mendes on the first day of +our landing, and are glad to speak of his ready courtesy and desire to +make all Americans at home who arrive in the capital of Brazil. It is no +particular recommendation, but it is a pleasure to say that, with his +calm, self-possessed manner, his brilliant black eyes and genial smile +lighting up his bronzed features, he is unquestionably the handsomest +man whom we chanced to meet in Rio Janeiro. Manly beauty is not an +imperative adjunct to excellence, but is still a very agreeable +accessory. + +One naturally anticipates but will not find any social distinction as to +race in this city. Color opposes no obstacle to progress in educational +or official position. Pupils of the public schools meet on the same +footing and mingle promiscuously. There is nothing to prevent the +intelligent negro from becoming a judge or minister of state, or from +filling any high civil office, if he develops proper ability. Many +bureaus in the public offices are held by colored men, observably in the +custom house, and the race generally is regarded with far more respect +than with us in the United States. + +Providence has liberally endowed the larger portion of Brazil with a +fertile soil, an unrivaled flora, and a delightful climate. For a +tropical country, it is remarkably temperate and salubrious. It has +mountain scenery excelling that of Switzerland, with fertile valleys +surpassing those of Italy, and myriads of rivers affording ample means +of transportation with natural and abundant irrigation. Unlike many of +her sister states, including those on the west coast of the continent, +she is exempt from earthquakes and the destruction caused by devouring +tidal waves. While so much of Mexico and thousands of miles of the +Pacific coast are scorched by drought, there are no districts of Brazil +exempt from regular and refreshing rains, the importance of which cannot +be overestimated. To crown all else, the splendid harbor of her capital +by its size, safety, and beauty invites the commerce of the world. It +would certainly seem, when we realize all of these special advantages, +that nature had intended so large and favored a portion of the globe to +ultimately be the home of a great, powerful, and prosperous nation. + +That the material growth of Brazil is mainly in the right direction is +manifest to the most casual observer. The many lines of railways +penetrating the country in every province will by and by prove to be +effective means of development. Wherever the facilities are liberally +afforded, not only individuals, but ideas, are sure to travel, and +social and material improvement must follow. Civilization keeps pace +with the iron horse. When the street rails penetrated the canons of +Utah, polygamy was doomed. Material facts are stronger than arguments of +well-meaning moralists. The establishment of so many railroads through +the wilds of South America may not be a paying matter, it is not so at +this writing, but a great moral purpose, and that of true progress, will +be subserved by them. They will be the agents of enlightenment and +civilization to many wild tribes of Indians, at the same time opening +broad and favorable tracts of territory for settlement by emigrants from +the crowded and overstocked states of Europe. + +On the homeward passage, when we visited Rio Janeiro for the second +time, it was found to be rife with politics; but like Joseph's coat, of +so many colors as to be confusing to a foreigner. It may reasonably be +doubted if the natives themselves clearly understood what they wanted. +The revolutionary element seemed very strong, and was led by men who had +nothing to lose by agitation, but everything to gain by a lawless +uprising. The most intelligent citizens predicted a popular revolution +of some sort in the near future, and their anticipation proved to be +correct. Revolution is chronic in South America. + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + Petropolis.--Summer Residence of the Citizens of Rio.--Brief + Sketch of the late Royal Family.--Dom Pedro's Palace.--A + Delightful Mountain Sanitarium.--A Successful but Bloodless + Revolution.--Floral Delights.--Mountain Scenery.--Heavy + Gambling.--A German Settlement.--Cascatinha.--Remarkable + Orchids.--Local Types.--A Brazilian Forest.--Compensation. + + +Petropolis,--or the city of Peter,--the fashionable summer resort of the +citizens of Rio Janeiro, is a modern town, dating only from 1844, and +contains at that season of the year a population of some eight thousand. +The intense heat of the crowded city in the summer months, not to +mention its usually unhealthy condition, makes even the acclimated +inhabitants seek a refuge in the hills. So long as the fever continues +to rage, merchants leave their families here, and come up nightly to +sleep and breathe the fresh, pure air. It is only on the coast and in +crowded communities that epidemics prevail. We were told by residents +that a case of yellow fever never originated at Petropolis; that it was +too elevated for the citizens to fear anything of the sort. It is so +generally throughout the country; the yellow fever prevails only in the +ports and at sea level, a peculiarity also observable in Cuba and the +several West Indian islands. When the fever prevails, as it does +annually at Havana and Matanzas, the wealthy citizens, and all +unacclimated people who are able to do so, retire inland to elevated +localities, where they are comparatively safe from the scourge. The same +rule applies to the coast cities of South America,--Para, Pernambuco, +Bahia, etc. It is a very important matter to the merchants of Rio that +they have, within two or three hours' reach of their overheated city +offices, a resort where they can sit in a dry skin and sleep in quiet +and comfort. Had they not this resort, they would be obliged to succumb +to disease, or to leave Rio for half of the year annually. + +Petropolis is situated in the Organ Mountain range, about thirty miles +from the metropolis, and is something less than three thousand feet +above tide-water. The town is built in a slight depression among the +well wooded hills, forming a vale of alpine beauty, easily reached from +Rio by boat and rail. The latter portion of the trip, comprising a sharp +mountain ascent, is made by a system of railroad like that by which the +summit of Corcovado is reached. The popular route is to cross the harbor +at Rio by a large and commodious steamboat, a distance of twelve miles, +and then to take the steam-cars. There is also another railroad route, +all the way by land. The late emperor's summer palace is the prominent +feature of Petropolis, together with its elaborate gardens, covering +some fifteen or twenty acres of land. Hither come the diplomatic +representatives of foreign nations to enjoy the salubrious mountain air +and the hospitable society of the best people of Rio Janeiro, and to lay +aside many of the constraints of city life. A great contrast is apparent +here to the crowded streets and narrow lanes of the uncleanly capital, +while the air is undoubtedly remarkable for its healthful and +invigorating qualities. The summer palace is surrounded by elegantly +arranged grounds, planted with rare flowers and choice trees from every +clime. In general effect it resembles an old English country house, +except for the tropical vegetation, the fine verdant lawns of grass, the +only ones of any extent in the country, being particularly noticeable. +This mountain resort has been called the Versailles of Brazil. + +It seems appropriate to recall, in brief, the family history of the late +emperor, Dom Pedro II., of whose favorite abiding-place we are speaking. +He enjoyed a distinguished reputation among modern rulers, was liberal, +scholarly, and possessed of great experience of men and the world at +large. Having been an observant and studious traveler in many parts of +the globe, his endeavor was to adopt the best well-tried systems of +other governments in educational and other matters relating to political +economy. His system was mild, progressive, and designed for the general +good of the people over whom he presided; in fact, it was too mild for +the turbulent, unlettered masses of the provinces of Brazil. They were +not intellectually prepared for such leniency. + +The royal family of Portugal fled hither in 1808, at the time of +Napoleon's invasion of that country, but returned to Europe in 1821. A +national congress assembled at Rio Janeiro the next year, and chose Dom +Pedro, eldest son of King Joao VI. of Portugal, "Perpetual Defender of +Brazil." He proclaimed the independence of the country, and was chosen +"Constitutional Emperor." In 1831 he abdicated in favor of his only son, +Dom Pedro II., who reigned as emperor until November 15, 1889, when he +was dethroned by a bloodless revolution, and, together with his family, +was exiled, Brazil declaring herself a republic under the title she now +bears of the United States of Brazil. The feeling was nearly universal +among the Brazilians that they desired to live under a republican form +of government, but Dom Pedro II. was a man of such estimable character, +so just, intelligent, and popular a ruler, that the revolution, which +finally dethroned him, was deferred long after it was determined upon. +The peaceful manner in which it was finally achieved is perhaps without +precedent, and shows how thoroughly the mind of the active spirits of +the nation was made up to this end. It was a political _coup d'etat_, +accomplished without the burning of an ounce of gunpowder. The emperor +himself seemed to accept the position as a foregone conclusion. We +learned from persons who had been quite intimate with him that he had +already anticipated the whole condition of affairs, foreseeing that it +was inevitable. If this is so, he was wise as well as diplomatic and +humane, for he had enough devoted adherents about him to have made a +serious though doubtless futile conflict for possession. There are +always myriads of the unthinking rabble ready to join and even fight for +authority which is already established, especially when seconded, as was +the case with Dom Pedro, by a strong personal popularity. + +The palace at Petropolis is, with its extensive grounds, now offered for +sale, the country having no further use for palaces. It is understood +that a local syndicate propose to purchase the whole and cut up the land +into building lots, which are very much in demand just at this writing. +It would not be surprising if Petropolis were to double its population +during the next four or five years. Speculators are already at work +"booming" the place, and a summer home here is just what the Rio +merchant requires. + +Some queer stories are told about the every-day life of Dom Pedro by his +neighbors. It seems, according to these reports,--for the truth of which +we cannot vouch,--that he often chose as his associates and advisers +uneducated persons of very humble origin, who had accumulated wealth by +shrewdness and industry, besides which he latterly exhibited many very +peculiar traits of character; but, as we say, it is difficult to decide +whether these stories are to be relied upon. It is more than hinted that +he had grown very weak minded, or, as the Scotch say, had a bee in his +bonnet. At all events, it now appears that he did not possess the +necessary energy and executive ability requisite to control a naturally +turbulent and restless people, and that his summary dethronement, so +peaceably accomplished, must have come sooner or later. + +It is very natural to speculate upon the present state of affairs in +this country, since the change has taken place. To render a republic +possible and successful requires a liberal degree of intelligence among +the common people, that is, the masses at large. Unfortunately Brazil +cannot boast of such a condition among her population. The educated, +cultured portion of the community is quite limited, consequently the +country is hardly fit for self-government. Ignorant masses are only +amenable to the strong arm, and cannot, while untaught, be controlled +through the influence of reason and argument. Past experience shows us +that while a republic in the United States, France, or Switzerland means +freedom and order, in these half barbaric southern states it signifies +an alternation of revolution and of military despotism. Subject to the +rule of Dom Pedro, Brazil was alike free from despotism and from +disorder, so that it may be questioned whether his liberal reign was +not, under the circumstances, the truest republic for which Brazil was +fitted. Indeed, while these lines are being written, the question of a +return to the former style of government is openly discussed at Rio +Janeiro, where a state of political imbroglio exists very similar to the +conditions which caused the late disastrous civil war in Chili, on the +other side of the Andes. Such a shocking outcome, however, need never be +feared in Brazil as has been developed by the sister republic on the +Pacific coast, since both intelligence and civilization are far more +advanced in Brazil than in Chili. + +The town of Petropolis and its neighborhood possesses good roads for +driving purposes, this location having been for several years the pride +and pleasure of the late emperor, who made the place what it now is by +his liberal expenditures and the constant improvements which he +instituted, paying for them out of his own private purse. The first +selection of this healthful spot was also his idea, and he felt a +personal pride in doing everything possible towards making it popular. +The roads referred to lead one through delightful scenery and highly +cultivated neighborhoods, beautified by art, until finally they lose +themselves among the hills and amidst impenetrable forests. There are +several fairly good hotels here, where the charges are moderate and the +domestic conveniences execrable! The great variety of trees to be found +in and about the town is marvelous, the palm and pine prevailing, +interspersed with the beautiful feathery Brazilian cedar. The tree-ferns +which grow here to a height of twelve feet are great favorites, with +their bright green fronds, six feet in length, almost reaching the +ground as the stalk bends gracefully with their weight. The scarlet +passion flower is trained as an ornamental creeper in nearly every +garden-plot, and tall fuchsias in various colors and pearl white +camellias also abound. We have rarely seen the camellia in such variety +of colors, or such profusion of flowers. It is often found blooming +beside tall coffee-trees, themselves full of deep green clustering +berries, the tree, where grown for ornamental purposes, being permitted +to reach full proportions. Here one sees also a profusion of the rich +green bamboo in prolific groves by the roadside, or surrounding humble +cottages, thus forming a welcome shade. In midsummer, so rapid is the +growth of the bamboo that every twenty-four hours adds two feet to its +height, or in other words, it grows an inch each hour throughout the day +and the night. Jack's fabulous beanstalk hardly surpasses the bamboo, +though the former is an amusing myth, while the latter is simply a +literal fact. Some very lovely gladioli and white roses were noted as +adding their beauty to these charming hill gardens in the Organ +Mountains. So abundant were the flowers of various kinds in the grounds +which surrounded our hotel, that any one was welcome to pluck and +appropriate them to the extent of his fancy. The public tables were +supplied with fresh ones every day, forming great living pyramids of +beautiful colors, emitting inimitable fragrance. + +Our hotel was situated on gently rising ground, commanding a +considerable view of the plateau on which the town stands, with Dom +Pedro's palace in the middle foreground, shaded by groups of palms. It +was a delight to sit out-of-doors and watch the cloud effects as they +hung over the tree-covered hills and peaks, closing their ranks now and +again, and sweeping over the valley like a dashing charge of cavalry; or +cautiously advancing in single scuds like infantry deployed as +skirmishers; or, again, mottling the sky in white and peaceful masses. +At the brief twilight hour, it was like a living poem to note the +varying sunset hues creeping along the valley and gleaming through the +branches of the grand old trees which broke the sky-line of the +mountains, and the soft lilac blush of the sky, like a profile in +silhouette, with sharp curves and infinite detail. A deep, broad gulch, +opening towards the west, afforded a lingering view of the golden, +crimson, and pink horizon, long after the day had closed, and until the +stars gleamed forth through the transparent atmosphere and glorified the +advent of night. + +This is nature in her happy moods. A little later, to these exquisite +delights of the moment, an ugly obverse presents itself. "Only man is +vile." + +From opposite the open window where we sit penning these lines,--it is a +Sabbath evening,--there comes the sharp rattle of diceboxes and billiard +balls, together with the loud, angry talk of persons engaged at gambling +games of cards, interrupted by the repeated cries of the presiding +genius of the roulette table: "Make your game, signors, make your game," +as he coolly rakes in the winnings of the bank. Italian, French, +English, and Spanish adventurers mingle their jargon with Portuguese in +the noisy throng who crowd the gambling "hell." It was said that +seventeen thousand dollars were won by a Portuguese gentleman, last +evening, in this "casino" just across the street, so losers to a like +amount, on the same occasion, must have been rendered half desperate. +The wretchedly demoralizing effect of gambling is apparent throughout +all the cities of this republic, the common lotteries tempting the mass +of the people, and various games of chance others who have money to +risk. + +Petropolis is extremely attractive in many respects, the scenery round +about it very much resembling that of Switzerland. The broad streets are +lined with such pretty villas and attractive gardens that one falls to +making romantic pictures of possible delightful things which might +naturally happen in them, and is led to peer into nooks and corners with +a prying earnestness amounting almost to impertinence. These avenues +contain in their centres deep canals, thirty or forty feet wide, having +granite linings and the upper portion of the banks neatly sodded with +grass. Through these canals the water from the surrounding hills flows +in a pure, rapid stream, carrying away the drainage of the town, which +is emptied into them by underground conduits. These water-ways are +crossed by numerous small but substantial bridges, painted scarlet, +while the rushing river imparts a delightful coolness. + +The largest portion of the permanent inhabitants of Petropolis is +composed of Germans, whose native tongue is heard on all sides, while +the familiar clatter of wooden shoes speaks of Berlin, Dresden, and +other German continental centres. The rosy-cheeked, flaxen-haired, +blue-eyed children are also prima facie evidence of the prevailing +nationality, though there are a large number of Italians who reside +here. The latter keep small shops and are peddlers of fruit, or marble +cutters and stucco workers, while many others find employment as +gardeners. + +The highway to a certain mining district passes through the town, and +many donkeys laden with inland products are constantly to be seen in the +streets en route for Rio, giving the place a business aspect hardly +warranted by the local trade. From the neighboring hills charcoal +burners drive their donkeys every morning, laden with that article for +domestic use in the town, forming picturesque groups on the public +square, where they await purchasers. Others bring small-cut wood from +the hill for fuel, packed in little, narrow, toy carts, each drawn by a +single donkey. Scores of donkeys bearing tall, widespread loads of green +fodder are so hidden by the mass of greenery which they struggle under, +that none of the animal is seen at all, leading one to imagine that +Birnam wood has literally come to Dunsinane. These animals are almost +always attended by women, who sell the fodder in the market and return +home at night with such domestic necessities as are required. Women are +the laborers here, as at home in Germany, where they perform the hard +work, while their husbands guzzle beer and smoke endless tobacco. + +Petropolis is, as we have said, steadily growing, but the banishment of +the emperor will retard its progress, as it takes from the town its +strongest element of assured success. We counted about a score of fine, +large residences in course of construction. The climate here is like +that of June in New England, and the verdure of the trees is perennial. + +There is a charming excursion which strangers rarely fail to enjoy, +namely, to a place familiarly known as the Cascades. The village +adjoining these falls is called Cascatinha, and is situated in the lap +of the Organ Mountains, about five miles from Petropolis. The road +thither leads along the side of a small but boisterous stream, which +gladdens the ear with its merry, gurgling notes, past lowly, thatched +cottages, orange orchards, bamboo and banana groves, and green breadths +of well-cultivated, undulating land, finally ending in the midst of a +panorama of bold mountain peaks, lovely with varied gradations of tint, +and subtlest effects of light and shade. Here the abundant water +furnished by the river, which is artificially adapted to the purpose, +forms a series of cascades and falls, at the same time furnishing the +motive power for operating extensive cotton and woolen mills, which give +employment to several hundred men and women. A very humble type of life +mingles hereabouts with that of a much more refined character. Naked or +half-clad children are seen here and there playing with those who are +comparatively well dressed. Nice cottage homes adjoin those of the +poorest class. Children of both sexes are observed, only partially +covered with rags, who are endowed with a loveliness of eyes and +features, together with handsome figures, causing one to reflect upon +the unfulfilled possibilities of such childish beauty. + +Men and women often bring into Petropolis and offer for sale beautiful +orchids, which they find in the woods not far away. These they pack in +green leaves, retaining a piece of the original bark or wood upon which +they have grown. These pretty flowerings of exuberant nature are sold +for a trifling price. Some are very remarkable in form and color, such +as we have never before chanced to see, and for really rare ones the +finders ask and receive good prices. We saw among them a specimen of the +Flor del Espiritu Santo,--"Flower of the Holy Spirit,"--to find which is +thought to bring to the fortunate discoverer good luck, as well as a +handsome price for the orchid. These women may have passed whole days in +their search of the forest, patiently breaking their way through nearly +impassable jungles, before nature reveals to them one of her most dainty +gems. As a rule, the forests are so dense that it is useless to try to +penetrate them, except by following some beaten route,--a charcoal +burner's road or a straggling way formed by a watercourse. + +We well remember, but can only partially describe, the glory and beauty +of the Brazilian primeval forest. The general tone of the color is +brownish rather than light green, influenced by the absence of strong +light, for though the sun is glowing in the open country, here it is +twilight. Not one direct beam penetrates the density of the foliage, the +sombre drapery of the woods. At first one is awed by the vast extent of +the forest, by the dark, mournful shadows, by the gigantic trees +reaching so far heavenward, forming here and there gothic arcades of +matchless grandeur, and by the bewildering variety of the undergrowth. +Scarcely a tree trunk is seen without its parasite, green with foliage +not its own, "beyond the power of botanists to number up their tribe." +These dense jungles might be in India, or a bit out of "Darkest Africa;" +one is barred by an impenetrable wall of vegetation. Where palms occur, +it is almost always in groups; being a social tree, it loves the company +of its species. So with the bamboo, which is found in the more swampy +regions, but always in groups of its own family. These damp woods are +the home of the orchids; it is here that they revel in moisture, +clinging to the trunks of tall, columnar trees, fattening on decayed +portions of the bark, but forming bits of lovely color, while about the +stems of other forest monarchs wind creeping vines of rope-like texture, +binding huge trunks in a fatal embrace. Their final strangulation is +slow, but it is sure,--only a question of time. Lofty trees bear +charming flowers, as lowly shrubs do in our northern clime. Arborescent +ferns vie with the palms in poetic beauty, with their elastic, tufted +tops. Bunches of lilac and blossoms of snowy whiteness hang in the air. +Drooping mosses depend like human hair from widespread branches, and +soft, velvety moss carpets the way, with here and there dwarf mimosas +trailing beneath the ferns. Long vines of woody climbers, in deep +olive-green, twine and intertwine among the ranks of stout, aged trees, +breaking out at short distances with pink, blue, and scarlet buds, +rivaling the color of the birds which flash hither and thither like rays +of sunlight breaking through the leafy screen. Now and again the shrill +or plaintive notes of unfamiliar songsters fall upon the ear, mingling +with the cooing of the wood-doves and the low drone of the dragon-fly. +The magnificent arboreal growth of these forests develops itself into +thousands of strange and beautiful forms, stimulated by the constant +humidity of the high temperature. + +The atheist must feel himself stifled for breath in the tropical forest, +and his fallacious creed challenged by every surrounding object, while a +new light illumines his unwilling soul with irrefutable evidences. The +Supreme Being writes his gospel not in the Bible alone, but upon the +grand old trees, the lowly flowers, the fleeting clouds, and upon the +eternal stars. Those who seek nature for religious inspiration never +fail to obtain it, untrammeled by the vulgar tenets of sectarianism or +outraged by the tinsel of church forms and ceremonies. + +The observant traveler from the north is fain to seek some consolation, +some evidence of the glorious law of compensation, while comparing the +features of these poetical latitudes with his own well-beloved but more +prosaic home. He remembers that if these gaudy birds do flout in vivid +colors that dazzle and charm the eye, they have not the exquisite power +of song which inspires our more soberly clad New England favorites. +Brilliancy of feathers and sweetness of song rarely go together, a +natural fact which suggests a whole moral essay in itself. The torrid +zone clothes its feathered tribes in glowing plumage, but the colder +north endows hers with heart-touching melody. If the flowers of the +tropics exhaust the hues of the prism, attracting us by the oddity of +their forms, while blooming in exuberant abundance, the sweet and lowly +children of Flora in higher latitudes greet the senses with a fragrance +unknown in equatorial regions. Joy is nowhere all of a piece. Blessings, +we are forced to believe, whether in the form of beauty of color, +fragrance, or melody, are very equally divided all over the world, and +those portions which have not one, as a rule, are almost sure to have +the other. When we become eloquent and appreciative in the lively +enjoyment of scenes in a new country, it is not always because they are +more desirable or more beautiful than our own; it is the newness and the +contrast which for the moment so captivate us. That to which we are +accustomed, however grand, becomes commonplace; we covet and require +novelty to quicken the observation. Were the sun to rise but once a +year, in place of three hundred and sixty-five times every twelve +months, we would willingly travel thousands of miles, if it were +necessary, to witness the glorious phenomenon. The most charming natural +objects please us in proportion to their rarity or our unfamiliarity +with them. + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + Port of Santos.--Yellow Fever Scourge.--Down the Coast to + Montevideo.--The Cathedral.--Pamperos.--Domestic + Architecture.--A Grand Thoroughfare.--City + Institutions.--Commercial Advantages.--The Opera House.--The + Bull-Fight.--Beggars on Horseback.--City Shops.--A Typical + Character.--Intoxication.--The Campo + Santo.--Exports.--Rivers and Railways. + + +Santos is the name of a commercially important harbor situated on the +east coast of South America about three hundred miles southwest of Rio +Janeiro, after which city it is the greatest export harbor for coffee in +Brazil. Otherwise it is about as uninteresting a spot as can be found on +the continent. It became a city so late as 1839, and contains some +twenty thousand inhabitants. Its annual export of coffee will reach an +aggregate of two hundred and twenty-five thousand sacks. The bay is +surrounded by a succession of hills, and is well sheltered, except on +the southwest. The town is situated on the west side of the harbor, and +hugs the shore, many of the houses being built upon piles. Behind the +town to the westward rises a succession of mountain ranges. The +immediately surrounding country is low and malarial, causing fevers to +prevail all the year round. During the present season Santos has +suffered more seriously from yellow fever than any other place on the +coast in proportion to the number of its inhabitants. As a commercial +port it has no rival in southern Brazil. Santa Catharina, Porto Alegre, +and Rio Grande, the three harbors south of Santos, are rendered +inaccessible for any but small craft, owing to sandbars at their +entrances. + +This is the present terminus of the United States and Brazil Mail +steamship route from New York, and notwithstanding its many drawbacks in +point of sanitary conditions, is yet growing rapidly in commercial +importance. Its wretchedly unhealthy condition causes one to hasten away +to the more elevated country, where St. Paul is situated, and where the +traveler runs little or no risk of contracting yellow fever or malarial +affections of any sort. + +Santos is the port for St. Paul, with which it is connected by rail, and +from which it is separated by about forty miles. + +This capital of the state of Sao Paulo, St. Paul, contains some ninety +thousand inhabitants. The province is credited with a million and a +half. The city lies just under the tropic of Capricorn, southwest of +Rio, about two thousand feet above the level of the sea, upon a high +ridge, covering an elevated plateau of undulating hills. It enjoys the +sunshine of the tropics, modified by the freshness of the temperate +zone. It is venerable in years, having been founded in 1554, but it +seems to have taken a fresh start of late, as its population has doubled +in the last decade. As intimated, it is entirely free from yellow fever, +which is so fatal at Santos, and has excellent drinking water, together +with good drainage and well paved streets. The city contains some fine +public buildings, and has many handsome adornments, being largely +peopled by North Americans and English; the former prevail in numbers +and influence, indeed, it has been called the American city of Brazil. +There is also a large Italian colony settled here. St. Paul has a good +system of tramways, several Protestant churches, and a number of +educational and charitable public institutions, together with many of +the attractions of a much larger capital. Among the popular amusements, +the theatre of San Jose is justly esteemed, and is a well-appointed +establishment in all of its belongings. There are two spacious public +gardens, embellished with grottoes, fountains, choice trees, and +flowers, while the private gardens attached to the dwellings are +numerous and tasteful. + +In the district round about the city venomous serpents are frequently +met with, whose bite is as dangerous as that of the rattlesnakes of our +northern climate. As the land is cleared and cultivated, they naturally +and rapidly disappear. These reptiles fear man, and avoid his vicinity +quite as earnestly as human beings avoid them. It is only when they are +molested, trodden upon, or cornered, as it were, that they attack any +one. + +The city is connected with Rio Janeiro by a railway, and two other +railroads run from it far inland. The Rio and St. Paul railway is fairly +equipped, but the roadbed is not properly ballasted, and consequently +one rides over the route in a cloud of dust, while suffering from the +oscillations and jolting of the cars. This railway, however, is one of +the most successful and profitable in the republic. It is some three +hundred miles in length, and passes through a dozen or more tunnels, one +of which is a mile and a half in length. This tunnel required seven +years' labor before it was passable. There is just now a great "boom" of +land values in and about St. Paul. It is towards this state that the +tide of Italian emigration is largely directed, for some reason which we +do not comprehend, but it is probably stimulated by a combined effort to +this effect. + +The passage southward from Rio Janeiro or Santos to Montevideo occupies +about five days, but a large amount of rough ocean experience is +generally crowded into that brief period, added to which the coasting +steamers are far from affording the ordinary comforts so desirable at +sea. Of the food supplied to passengers one does not feel inclined to +complain, because a person embarking upon these lines does so knowing +what to expect; but as regards the domestic conveniences and cleanliness +generally, there is no excuse for their defective character. We are +sorry to say that the class of Portuguese and Spaniards one encounters +on these coasting vessels is far from decently cleanly in daily habits, +carelessly adding to the unsanitary conditions. + +The wind in these latitudes is not only inclined to be fierce, but it +usually goes entirely round the compass at least once or twice during +the voyage, and is more than liable to wind up, off the mouth of the +river Plate, with a regular and furious pampero. This is a hurricane +wind, which is born in the gorges of the Andes, and thence pursuing its +course over nearly a thousand miles of level pampas, gains speed and +power with every league of progress. The season in which these +hurricanes--for in their fury they deserve to be thus +designated--prevail, is from March to September, but they are liable to +come at any time. The wind is considered by the people of Montevideo to +be wholesome and invigorating, as far as the land is concerned, but +seamen dread it on shipboard, and call it a Plate River hurricane. We +know of no more disagreeable roadstead than that of Montevideo, when a +pampero is blowing. We have seen ships under these circumstances, with +two anchors down, obliged to resort to the use of oil on the sea, to +prevent themselves from being swamped. Though the inhabitants represent +a pampero to be comparatively harmless on the land, yet it does +sometimes commit fearful havoc there also, especially among the +unprotected herds of wild cattle on the plains, and upon all trees or +plantations which lie in its devastating course. It is true that it +brings with it a bracing and life-giving atmosphere from the snow-capped +Andes far away, and if it could only do so with less forceful +demonstration, it would be a welcome visitor in the heated days of these +regions. + +The most direct way to illustrate what these South American pampas are +is to compare them to the vast prairies of our Western and Southwestern +States. Any one familiar with those far-reaching, horizon-bounded plains +knows what the pampas of the Argentine Republic are like. Beginning near +the foothills of the Cordilleras, in their very shadow, as it were, +these smoothed out, level lands extend hundreds of miles eastward to the +great estuary of the Plate River, on the borders of the Atlantic Ocean. +Though apparently sterile, the soil of the pampas, like the dry, baked +land of Australia, only requires irrigation and cultivation to rival the +most attractive valleys of Southern Europe. It is believed by scientists +that these plains were once covered by a broad inland sea, connected +directly with the Atlantic. In their present condition these pampas can +hardly be called barren, since they give excellent grazing for extensive +herds of wild cattle, which thrive and fatten upon the abundance of +coarse, natural grass, similar to what is known as bunch grass in Texas +and New Mexico. This product ripens and makes itself into standing hay, +retaining its natural vitality and nutritious qualities throughout +months of atmospheric exposure. After being close-cropped by the roving +herds of cattle, the bunch grass renews itself, reproducing in great +abundance. + +Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, is situated on the remarkable +estuary of the Plate River,--Rio de la Plata, or "Silver River,"--whose +spacious mouth is marked by two capes, Santa Maria and San Antonio, more +than one hundred miles apart. Only a nautical observation will show just +where the line of ocean ceases and that of the estuary begins. The +unobservant passenger believes himself still sailing upon the broad +ocean until he finally sights the land on which the city stands. The +flag of Uruguay flying from various crafts--blue and white, in alternate +stripes, with a glowing sun in the upper corner near the +staff--indicates the near approach to the land it represents. + +On the island of Flores, fifteen miles from Montevideo, there are a +lighthouse and quarantine station. The island is formed by a rocky +upheaval, not over twenty feet above sea level, measuring about a mile +in length and two or three hundred yards in width. The fierce pamperos +render the navigation of this estuary oftentimes precarious. When +approaching the broad river's mouth from the north, sailors know that it +is near at hand, long before land is seen, by the color of the water, +which comes forth in such immense volume as to impart a distinct yellow +hue to the ocean for a long distance from the coast. This effect is said +to be discernible one hundred miles off the shore, but thirty or forty +miles will perhaps be nearer the truth, and is at the same time a +statement answering all legitimate purposes. The tide about the estuary +is mostly governed by the wind, and so up the river, showing no +regularity in its rise and fall. The current of the Plate opposite +Montevideo runs at the rate of about three miles an hour. In extent, +this ranks as the third great river of the world, draining, with its +affluents, eight hundred thousand square miles of territory; a mammoth +basin, which is only exceeded by those of the Amazon and the +Mississippi. + +The commercial activity of the port is shown by the arrival and +departure daily of many large steamships, foreign and coastwise. Sixty +European steamers are recorded as arriving here monthly, besides a +number from the United States. The maritime business of the port is +mostly in the hands of Englishmen, Americans, and Frenchmen. The +native-born citizen evinces no genius in commercial matters. The +department of the capital is the smallest in the republic, having an +area of only twenty-five square miles, but it is fertile, well wooded +and watered, its agricultural interests predominating, which is a most +important fact in estimating the stability and pecuniary responsibility +of any state. + +The city is exceptionably well situated on a small rocky promontory, or +rather we should designate it as a peninsula, jutting out into the +estuary, three of its sides fronting the sea, and as its streets are +nearly always swept by ocean breezes, it is cool and pleasant even in +midsummer. The land rises gradually as it recedes from the shore, and +then declines to the bed of a small stream which empties into the bay, +thus affording a natural surface drainage. Uruguay is a little more than +twelve times as large territorially as the State of Massachusetts, and +is divided into thirteen departments. There are over half a million +acres of land under good cultivation in the republic, the principal +staples being wheat and corn. Extreme heat and extreme cold are alike +unknown, the country being within the temperate zone. The mean summer +temperature is 71 deg. Fahr., that of autumn 62 deg., and of spring 60 deg.. There +are, therefore, but few things which the climate is too hot or too cold +to produce, while for the raising of cattle on a large scale it is said +to be the best section of South America, and this forms, we believe, its +largest industry. + +In approaching Montevideo from the sea, it is observed that the +surrounding country is quite level, with scarcely a single object to +break the distant view. Immediately upon landing one realizes that the +city is clean and well built, though it is mostly made up of low +structures one story in height. There are plenty of dwellings of two and +three stories, however, in the more modern part of the town. Dominating +the whole stand the lofty dome and towers of the cathedral, which faces +the Plaza Constitution. The turrets are of striking proportions, each +rising to the height of one hundred and thirty-three feet. The +widespread dome would be grand in effect, were it not covered with +glazed tiles of various colors, blue, green, yellow, and so on, the +combined effect of which is anything but pleasing to a critical eye. +Still, it is no more tawdry than much of the inside finish and +meaningless ornamentation. There is an elaborate marble fountain in the +centre of the plaza, besides some ornamental shrubbery and flowers. The +very fine marble facade of the building occupied by the Uruguay Club +adds to the beauty of the plaza. Near the fountain is a fanciful music +stand, in which a military band is occasionally stationed to perform for +the public pleasure. These South Americans would as soon give up the +bull-fights as the popular outdoor evening concerts, the excellent moral +effect of which no one can possibly doubt. + +An abrupt hill at the head of the harbor, four or five hundred feet in +height, known as the "Monte," gives the city its name, Montevideo. This +hill is crowned by a small fort and lighthouse, the latter containing a +revolving light which can be seen a long distance at sea. A couple of +miles inland rises another hill called the Cerrito, or "little hill." +Several times during revolutionary struggles, these two hills have been +fortified by opposing parties, who have desired to control the city, but +restless revolutionists are now at a discount, fortunately, in this +republic of Uruguay, a class of uneasy spirits who have reigned quite +long enough on the southern continent. + +The town is built in the form of an amphitheatre, and has comparatively +few edifices of importance. Its regular, straight streets and open +squares are intensely Spanish. The Paseo del Molino is the fashionable +part of the town, where the wealthy merchants reside in curious chalets, +or _quintas_ as they are called here. There is rather an extraordinary +taste displayed in the matter of buildings on this Paseo. Swiss +cottages, Italian villas, Chinese dwellings, and Gothic structures are +mingled with Spanish and Moorish styles. This architectural incongruity +is not picturesque, but, on the contrary, strikes one as very crude and +ill-chosen. The charm of domestic residences in any part of the globe is +a certain adaptability to the natural surroundings, and is, when well +conceived, a graceful part of the whole. Inappropriate structures are to +the eye like false notes in music to the ear, an outrage upon harmony. A +Swiss chalet in Hindostan, or a Japanese bamboo house in England, is +simply discordancy in scenic consistency. Nature should always be a +silent partner in the creation and adaptation of architectural designs. +In olden times the Jesuits built a large mill near this spot, and hence +the name of the place. + +The climate must be very equable and fine to admit of such fruit culture +as exists here. The strawberries grown in the neighborhood are famous +for their size and sweetness, the vines producing this favorite fruit +all the year round. They are perhaps a little over-developed, and would +doubtless be of finer flavor if they were smaller. + +The Plaza de la Independencia is highly attractive, and so is the broad, +tree-lined avenue known as the Calle del Dieziochavo de Julio, named +after the anniversary of the Uruguayan declaration of independence. +This, indeed, is thought to be the most effective boulevard in all South +America. On festal occasions it is decorated in an original and +brilliant manner, having colored draperies hanging from the windows and +balconies, bright colored cambrics stretched from point to point, with +the gay flag of the republic festooned here and there. Chinese lanterns +are hung from the trees, and arches spanning the roadway and bearing +national designs are all ablaze with ingeniously arranged gas jets. Down +one side of this long avenue and up the other, it being over a hundred +feet broad, a civic and military procession marches on the annual +recurrence of the date which its name indicates, the several divisions +headed by bands of music, with flags flying and drums beating. On such +occasions the windows and balconies are filled with groups of handsome +women, in gala dresses, together with pretty children in holiday +costumes, who add charm and completeness to the scene. This avenue is +the Champs Elysees of the southern continent, a thoroughfare of which +the residents are justly very proud. + +The streets and sidewalks generally are of better width in Montevideo +than in most of the South American cities. Some few of the private +residences display fine architectural taste, the dwellings being well +adapted to the climate and the surroundings. Many of the city houses +have little towers erected on their roofs, called _miradores_, from +whence one gets an excellent view of the entire city and of the sea. The +town is spread over a large territory, and stretches away into thinly +populated suburbs, but all parts are rendered accessible by the +well-perfected system of tramways which extend over fifty miles within +the city and the immediate environs. In the absence of official figures, +we should judge that Montevideo had a population of at least two hundred +thousand. Every other nationality seems to be represented in its streets +and warehouses, except that of Uruguay herself. Those "native and to the +manner born" are conspicuous by their absence. Speaking of this rather +curious characteristic to a friend who lives here, he replied: "There +are probably fifty thousand European and North American residents doing +business in this city, forming by far the most active element of the +place. They are seen everywhere, to the apparent exclusion of the +natives. Indigenous blood and energy could not have made this capital +what it is at the present time. It is reaping the advantage of North +American enterprise, English and American capital, and German +shrewdness. These, combined with the natural advantages of the location +and climate, will eventually make Montevideo the Liverpool of South +America." Though all this goes without saying, our friend put it so +aptly that his words were deemed worthy of recording. We do not hesitate +to predict that the next decade will nearly double the number of the +population here, as well as the aggregate of its imports and exports. No +other city on the southern continent has greater advantages in its +geographical position, or as regards salubrity of climate and +adaptability to commerce. Were it not for the occasional visits of the +howling pamperos, the climate would be nearly perfect, and even these +exhibitions of a local nature are, as we have said, accepted with great +equanimity by the people on land. There are few stoves, and no +fireplaces or chimneys, in Montevideo. Cooking is done with charcoal on +braziers out-of-doors, as is the custom in most tropical countries. + +The capital of Uruguay contains the usual educational and religious, +charitable and scientific, public organizations, with appropriate +edifices for the same. It should certainly be considered a reading +community, having more daily newspapers than London, and double as many +as the city of New York; also supporting a large number of weekly +newspapers and monthly magazines. As to books, so far as a casual +observer may speak, they are few and far between in family circles. The +men read the newspapers, and the women fill up their leisure time with +music and gossip. There is a national university in Montevideo, where +over six hundred pupils are regularly taught at the present time, and +there are forty-eight professors attached to this admirably organized +institution. We heard it highly spoken of by those who should be good +judges in educational matters. The custom house, with which the stranger +always makes an early acquaintance after arriving in port, is a large +and costly structure, three stories in height. The opera house is worthy +of particular mention, being a spacious building of the Doric order, +capable of seating three thousand persons, and when it is filled at +night, the interior presents a grand array of elegant costumes and +female beauty, the ladies of this city being noted for their personal +charms. This is a circumstance not mentioned casually as a mere +compliment, but simply as a fact. The opera house covers an entire +square, and has two large wings attached to the main building, one of +which is devoted to business purposes, and the other contains the +National Museum. There is here the nucleus of a most valuable +collection, to which constant additions are being made, both by the +state and through personal liberality and interest. We are sorry to say +in this connection that the bull-fight, as a public exhibition, above +all other styles of amusement, is the favorite one with the rank and +file of the populace, which is quite sufficiently Spanish to control the +matter and insure its permanency. The bull-ring, wherein these brutal +and terribly demoralizing exhibitions take place on each Sabbath +afternoon during the season, is situated about a league from the city +proper. + +It must be a country or district under Roman Catholic influence, and +with more or less of a Spanish element permeating it, to admit of this +style of desecrating the Sabbath, or, indeed, of indulging on any day of +the week in an exhibition which is so thoroughly brutal, cowardly, and +repulsive. It is a sad reflection upon the community, high and low, to +state that the bull-fight is one of its popular entertainments. We have +said that this is a cowardly game. The fact is, the bull is doomed from +the moment he enters the arena. He has only his horns and his courage to +help him in the unequal contest. The professional fighters opposed to +him are all fully armed, and protected by sheltering guards, behind +which they can retire at will. It is twelve experts pitted against one +poor beast. Ingenious, heathenish modes of torture are devised and +adopted to wound, to weaken, and to craze the victim. If it was one +armed man against the bull, whether mounted or otherwise, it would be a +more equal and gallant struggle,--but twelve to one! bah, it is only a +cowardly game in which gallant horses and brave bulls are sacrificed by +a dozen armed men. Even the matadore, who gives the final and fatal +thrust with his sword, and who is looked upon as a sort of hero by the +spectators, does not enter the ring to attempt the act until the bull is +comparatively harmless, having been worried and wounded until he is +exhausted by the struggle and the copious loss of blood, so that he is +scarcely able to stand. Though reeling like a drunken man, he staggers +bravely towards his fresh and well-armed enemy, showing fight to the +last gasp. + +Realize the moral effect of such cut-throat exhibitions upon youth! The +older, cruel and hardened spectators are only rendered more so, but the +young and impressionable are then and there inoculated with a love of +brutality and bloodshed, fostered by every fresh exhibition which they +witness. + +The Exchange is a grand and spacious structure, admirably adapted to its +purpose, being one of the finest business edifices in South America, to +our mind infinitely superior in all respects to that of Rio, upon which +so much money has been expended in meretricious designs. The author +counted the names of some forty charitable institutions and associations +in a Montevideo directory, eight or ten of which are maintained mostly +by public endowment, such as hospitals, asylums for the poor, +orphanages, industrial schools, lunatic asylums, and so on. Near the +Plaza Ramirez there is a school of arts and trades, which at this +writing accommodates a large body of pupils, taught by competent +professors and experts. We were told that this institution was of great +practical service in the cause of education, its general aim being +similar to that of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. One was +hardly prepared to credit Montevideo with so many and well-sustained +educational purposes as she was found to be justly entitled to. The +reader will observe that we speak qualifiedly of these matters; it is +only the outward and most obvious characteristics of a city, so briefly +visited, of which one can speak correctly. It would have been gratifying +to have remained longer in this capital, to understand more clearly the +educational advantages which are offered here. In this department of +progress, Montevideo seems in advance of many larger cities. + +Squads of soldiers are seen lounging about the town, dressed in a +uniform of the Zouave pattern, not very jaunty looking fellows, it must +be confessed, but perhaps "as good food for powder as a better." The +entire army of Uruguay consists of only five thousand men, of all +branches. The president has also a battalion of body-guards, consisting +of three or four hundred men, forming a very efficient as well as +ornamental organization. This organization consists of men loyal to the +administration, and beyond a doubt personally devoted to the president. +The rank and file of the army embraces all shades of color, both as to +mind and body, and is liable to become disaffected at the outbreak of +any popular upheaval, or through the influence of designing men. This +body-guard, however, being always on duty, is ready and able to turn the +scale by prompt and consistent action, in favor of the established +authorities, and thus nip rebellion in the bud. It is only after getting +thoroughly under way that revolutionary attempts become formidable. At +the inception, the strong arm promptly applied stamps out the life and +courage of the mob, and renders sedition futile. "No parleying; fire +promptly, and fire to kill; that ends the matter," said Napoleon. Blank +cartridges and vacillation stimulate a half-formed purpose into action. + +One is forced to admit that beggars are rather numerous in +Montevideo,--beggars on horseback and wearing spurs. They coolly stop +their small, wiry, half-fed ponies, and with magnificent effrontery beg +of any stranger they chance to meet for a centavo, a copper coin worth +about two cents of our American money. The incongruity of beggars +mounted, while the stranger of whom they solicit alms is a pedestrian, +is somewhat obvious. It must be remembered, however, that horses are +very cheap in this country, and that nearly every one rides or drives. A +good serviceable animal can be bought in any of the South American +cities at what we should consider a mere trifle to pay for one. A +well-broken young saddle-horse will bring from twenty to twenty-five +dollars, but the owner, if one of the dudes about town, will expend five +hundred dollars upon a silver-decked saddle, bridle, and trimmings, a +Spanish peculiarity which is also observed in the city of Mexico. A pair +of well-matched carriage-horses, in good condition, can be had for +seventy-five or eighty dollars. Mares are not worked in this country, +being solely used for breeding purposes, and have no fixed price; +indeed, they are not met with in the cities. It will be seen that for a +beggar to set up business here requires some capital, but not much. De +Quincey would describe Spanish beggary as having become elevated to one +of the fine arts. + +There is a class of men in Uruguay called gauchos who devote themselves +to breaking the wild horses of the pampas for domestic use. They are +more Indian than Spanish, and pass their lives mostly as herdsmen of the +vast numbers of animals which live in a semi-wild state upon the plains +of South America. These men can hardly be said to train their horses. +They only conquer them by a process of cruel discipline which thoroughly +subdues the animal. After this the poor creatures are ever on the alert +to obey their rider's will, prompted by a pressure of the powerful bit, +and a merciless thrust of the long, sharp rowels. The gaucho reminds one +of the cowboys of our Western States. He forms a very picturesque figure +when seen upon his wiry little mustang, galloping along with his yellow +poncho streaming behind him, his head covered by a broad-brimmed soft +felt hat, his long, dark hair floating upon the breeze, and his broad, +loose trousers fluttering in the wind. A lasso of braided or twisted +leather sometimes swings from one hand, while the rider skillfully +manages his horse with the other. Altogether the gaucho forms a picture +of strong vitality and vivid color. He spends a small fortune upon his +equipments, and his heavy spurs are of solid silver. He is not a hard +drinker, an occasional glass of country wine satisfies him; but he will +gamble all night long until he has lost his last penny to professional +sportsmen, who somehow know the way to win by fair means or foul. + +Few strangers who visit Montevideo for the first time will be at all +prepared to see such a quantity and variety of rich jewelry in the +shops. Imported dress goods of the finest quality are also offered for +sale in these shops. The Parisian boulevards have no display windows +which contain larger or finer diamonds, sapphires, and emeralds; indeed, +this country seems to be the home of precious stones and real gems. The +silversmiths exhibit goods equally artistic and elegant. The best +products of Vienna, Paris, and London, in the fancy-goods line, are +fully represented here. Readers who have visited Genoa will recall the +fine silver filigree-work which is a specialty of that city, but some of +the manufactures of this character made here are quite equal, if they do +not excel, that of the Italian capital. + +It seemed to be rather a singular and significant fact, that when a +couple of pennies will purchase a tumblerful of the national tipple +called cana, a raw liquor made from sugar-cane, and quite as strong as +brandy, still comparatively few persons are seen under its influence +upon the public streets. It is true that on all church festal occasions +the common people have a regular carousal, and get very much +intoxicated, whereupon they lose one day in repenting and two in +recuperation. It is the same all over the world. The lower, uneducated +classes, having no intellectual resort, seem imbued with the idea that +to get thoroughly tipsy is the acme of pleasure. The inevitable +punishment does not enter into the calculation at all, nor does it deter +the victim from repeated excesses. It is curious to observe the peculiar +effect which intoxicants produce upon people of different nationalities: +the Russian gets boozy on vodka, and only becomes more loving to his +species; the Mexican drinks pulque by the pint measure, and craves only +to be permitted to sleep; the French guzzle brandy and wine until they +become equally full of song and gayety; the American Indian is made +utterly crazy and reckless by drink; the Irishman finds a fight in every +glass of whiskey; and the Englishman who indulges overmuch becomes +eloquent on politics and patriotism. In South America the common people +who drink to excess are rendered pugnacious and revolutionary. The +police arrangements of Montevideo are excellent, and the streets are +safe for man or woman at any hour of the day or night, which one is +forced to admit is more than can be truthfully said of the majority of +large cities in either Europe or North America. There is no sickly +sentimentality about crime and criminals here. If a man outrages the +law, he has to suffer for it, and there is no pardoning him until he has +worked out his entire penalty. It is the certainty of punishment which +intimidates professional rascals. Official leniency and pardoning of +criminals are a premium on crime. + +Between two and three miles from the city there is a public park, which +is laid out with excellent taste and skill, forming a popular pleasure +resort. There are here many fine native and exotic trees, as well as +flowering shrubs and blooming flowers. This spacious park, intersected +by a willow-lined stream, is called the Paseo, and is ornamented with +statues, fountains, and rockeries. The grounds are also occupied by +several small places devoted to amusements, shooting-galleries, billiard +saloons, and gambling tables, very similar to the Deer Garden in the +environs of Copenhagen. Citizens of Montevideo of the humbler class come +hither with their families, bringing food and drink to be disposed of in +picnic fashion. Bordering the sweep of the bay, which forms the harbor, +are many cottages, the homes of the rich merchants. These villas are +surrounded by flower gardens and graceful shrubbery, the endless spring +climate making the bloom perennial. The flat roofs of many of the town +houses are partially inclosed, so as to form a pleasant resort in the +closing hours of the day, where family parties are often seen gathered +together. Social life among the residents of the environs is very gay, +and so indeed is that of the town residents, whose hospitality is also +proverbial. The Hotel Oriental is the favorite hostelry of Montevideo, +built of marble and well furnished, though it is hardly equal to the +Hotel Victoria, its rival, architecturally speaking. + +The drinking water, and all that is used for domestic purposes in the +city, is brought by a well-engineered system from the river Santa Lucia, +which is tapped for this purpose at a distance of thirty or forty miles +from Montevideo. + +The Campo Santo of the capital is admirably arranged and particularly +well kept, being in several respects like those of Pisa, Genoa, and +other Italian cities. It is the most elaborate cemetery in South +America, surrounded by high walls so built as to contain five tiers of +niches which form the receptacles for the dead. The grounds are nearly +as crowded with elaborate tombs and stone monuments as Pere la Chaise, +at Paris, the funereal cypress rising here and there in stately +mournfulness above the marble slabs. The abundance of metallic wreaths +and artificial flowers afforded another resemblance to the famous French +cemetery. The freshness of many of the floral offerings showed that the +memory of the departed was kept green in the hearts of those left +behind. The traveler sees many such touching evidences of tenderness all +over the world. Much of the marble work seen in these grounds was +imported from Milan, and some from both Florence and Rome. The +monumental entrance to the grounds, and the elaborate chapel within +them, are both in good taste. + +Beef, hides, wool, hair, and grain seem to be the principal articles of +export. Uruguay contains over half a million of people, and has an area +of seventy-one thousand square miles, intersected by several railways, +bringing the interior within easy reach of the capital. It is said to be +growing more rapidly in proportion to its size and the present number of +inhabitants than any other part of South America. The republic is best +known to the world by its Indian name, Uruguay, but on many maps it is +still designated as the Banda Oriental, that is, the "Eastern Border." +It will be remembered that this now independent state was originally a +part of the Argentine Republic, which was formerly known by that +designation. Though Uruguay is one of the smallest of the independent +divisions of the continent, it is yet one of the most important, a fact +owing largely to its admirable commercial location. Nearly all of its +territory can be reached by navigable rivers, while its Atlantic shore +has a dozen good harbors. Sixteen large rivers intersect the republic in +various directions, all of which have their several tributaries. Cheap +internal transportation is assured by over three hundred miles of +railways; also by these rivers. As already intimated, its agricultural +interests are largely on the increase, the strongest element of +permanency. Originally the pastoral interest prevailed over all other, +but agriculture, both here and in the Argentine Republic, has taken +precedence. The model farms near Montevideo are unsurpassed for extent, +completeness, and the liberal manner in which they are conducted. Some +large estates might be named which will compare favorably with anything +of the sort which the author has ever seen in any country, where +agriculture is followed on intelligent principles. Here the cultivation +of the soil is carried on not solely to obtain all which can be wrung +from it, in the way of pecuniary profit, but _con amore_, and with a due +regard to system. As may be supposed, the return is fully commensurate +with the intelligence and liberality exercised in the business. Such +farming may be and is called fancy farming, but it is a sort which pays +most liberally, and which affords those engaged in it the most +satisfaction. + +To be an honest chronicler, one must not hesitate to look at all phases +of progress, successful or otherwise, on the part of each people and +country visited and written about. There are always deep-lying +influences acting for good or evil, which scarcely present themselves to +the thoughtless observer. + +One reason for the rapid growth of this republic of Uruguay is because +of its gradually casting off the slough of Roman Catholic influence, a +species of dry rot quite sufficient to bring about the destruction of +any government. The same incubus which was of so long standing in +Mexico, where its effect kept the people in ignorance and ferment for +centuries, has at last been abolished, and modern progress naturally +follows. In Uruguay the Romish Church has lost its prestige, having +hastened its own downfall by blindly striving to enforce fifteenth +century ideas upon people of the nineteenth. Monks and nuns have been +expelled, and parish schools have been closed. Free schools now prevail, +and general knowledge is becoming broadcast, which simply means +destruction to all popish control. Intelligence is the antidote for +bigotry, which explains the bitter opposition of the Roman Catholic +priesthood to free schools wherever their faith prevails. + +In all of these South American provinces it has been found difficult to +throw off the evil inheritance of sloth and anarchy which the Spaniards +imposed upon their colonial possessions. The schoolhouse is the true +temple of liberty for this people. In the department of Montevideo alone +there are to-day over sixty free schools, and in the whole republic +nearly four hundred, something for her authorities to point at with a +spirit of just pride. This enumeration does not include the private +schools, of which there are also a large number in the capital. + +We find by published statistics that Uruguay exports of wool, about +seven million dollars' worth per annum; of beef, over six million +dollars' worth; of hides, four million dollars' worth; and of wheat +about the same amount in value as that of the last article named. These +staples, however, are only representative articles, to which many more +might be added, to show her growing commercial importance and assured +prosperity. + +Our next stopping-place is the important city of Buenos Ayres, on the +opposite bank of the river, about one hundred and fifty miles southwest +of Montevideo. + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + Buenos Ayres.--Extent of the Argentine + Republic.--Population.--Narrow Streets.--Large Public + Squares.--Basques.--Poor Harbor.--Railway System.--River + Navigation.--Tramways.--The Cathedral.--Normal + Schools.--Newspapers.--Public Buildings.--Calle Florida.--A + Busy City.--Mode of furnishing Milk.--Environs.--Commercial + and Political Growth.--The New Capital. + + +The city of Buenos Ayres--"Good Air"--is well named so far as its +natural situation is concerned, but this condition of a pure atmosphere +has been seriously affected by unsanitary conditions, naturally arising +from the large influx of a very promiscuous population. A considerable +percentage are Italians, and so far as personal cleanliness and decency +go, they seem to be among the lost arts with them. + +This thriving city is the capital of the Argentine Republic, which, next +to Brazil, is the largest independent state in South America, containing +fourteen provinces, each of which has its own local government, modeled +after those of the United States. The average reader will doubtless be +surprised, as the author certainly was, to realize that this southern +republic exceeds in extent of territory the united kingdoms of Great +Britain, together with France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Italy, Spain, +Portugal, Belgium, Holland, and Greece combined, the actual area being +something over twelve hundred thousand square miles. The province of +Buenos Ayres is just about the size of the State of New York, and +contains in round numbers a population of one million. Two hundred years +ago, the city of Buenos Ayres had a population of five hundred. Having +the statistics at hand, it is perhaps worth while to state that, of the +aggregate population of the province, a majority, or fully six hundred +thousand, are foreigners, classed as follows: three hundred thousand +Italians, one hundred and fifty thousand French, one hundred thousand +Spaniards, forty thousand English, and twenty thousand Germans. The +number of North American residents is very small, though they control a +fair percentage of the exports and imports. Authentic statistics show +that they number less than six hundred. Paris is not more crowded with +refugees from various countries than is this Argentine capital. Why such +a spot was selected on which to establish a commercial city is an +unsolved riddle, as it embraces about all the natural inconveniences +that could possibly be encountered on the banks of a large river. The +perversity of such a selection is the more obvious, because those who +made it must have passed by a score of admirable points eminently +superior in all respects to the one now occupied. + +The first view of Buenos Ayres on approaching it by water is peculiar, +the line of sight being only broken by the church towers and a few +prominent public buildings; the horizon alone forms the background of +the picture. Unlike nearly all of the South American cities, there is no +forest or mountain range behind or surrounding the capital. From its +environs a continuous plain stretches away for nearly eight hundred +miles to the foothills of the Andes. Situated between the 34 deg. and 35 deg. of +south latitude, it enjoys a climate similar to that of the south of +France, and almost identical with that of New Orleans. The site upon +which the city stands is considerably above the level of the river, and +though the streets are far too narrow for business purposes in the older +portions of the town, they widen to a better size in the newer parts. +The roadways are poorly paved, so that it is very uncomfortable to walk +or drive over them. Boulevards are laid out to cut the older parts of +the city diagonally, as was done in Paris and Genoa, and is now being +done in Florence, so as to relieve the present insufficient capacity for +the transportation of merchandise. One is apt, however, when remarking +upon these particularly narrow and irregular streets in a foreign +country, to forget that there are, in the older portions of the capital +of Massachusetts, some quite as circumscribed and corkscrew fashioned. +If we do not find all the excellences of civilization predominating, and +admirable people in the majority here, we should do well to remember +that we have also left them in the minority at home. + +The huge custom house of Buenos Ayres, with its circular form and high +walls facing the river, recalls in general appearance Castle Garden in +New York harbor, or the fort on Governor's Island. In its importance as +a commercial emporium, this city disputes the first place with only +three others in the southern hemisphere, namely, Rio Janeiro, Sydney, +and Melbourne, the latter of which has lately added greatly to its +harbor facilities by deepening and widening the Yarra-Yarra River. + +The dwelling-houses of Buenos Ayres are mostly built of brick, and are +of a far more substantial character than those upon the west coast of +the continent. They have much more the appearance of North American +dwellings than Spanish, except that the windows are strongly guarded +with iron bars, and the cool, shady patios present domestic scenes, +mingled with flowers and fragrance, strongly local in color. The city is +regularly laid out in squares of a hundred and fifty yards each, so when +one is told that such or such a place is so many squares away, he knows +exactly the distance which is indicated. The Plaza de la Victoria is +surrounded by handsome edifices, including the opera house and the +cathedral, the facade of the latter very much resembling that of the +Madeleine at Paris. This square has a fine equestrian statue of some +patriot, and a small column commemorating a national event. The city has +a population equaling that of Boston in number, and we do not hesitate +to say that it is more noted for its enterprise and general progress +than any other of the South American cities. It has been appropriately +called the Chicago of the southern continent. The republic, of which it +is the principal city, has seven thousand miles of telegraphic wire +within its area, a tangible evidence of enterprise which requires no +comment. One remarkable line connects this city with that of Valparaiso, +on the Pacific side of the continent, and is constructed with iron poles +nearly the whole distance, crossing the Andes by means of forty miles of +cable laid beneath the perpetual snows! + +It may well be supposed that the inhabitants of Buenos Ayres are of a +cosmopolitan character, when it is known that the daily newspapers are +issued in five different languages. As shown by the statistics already +given, a considerable share of the people are Italians, who form much +the larger portion of the emigrants now coming hither from Europe, or +who have arrived here during the last decade. As additions to the +population, they form a more desirable class, in many respects, than +those who seek homes further north. After the Italians, the Basques are +among the most numerous of the new-comers. There are over fifty thousand +of this people settled in the province of Buenos Ayres alone, readily +adapting themselves to the country. They are a strongly individualized +race, whom no one is liable to mistake for any other. They maintain in a +great measure the picturesque style of dress which prevails in their +native land, no matter what their vocation may be here. As a rule, the +Basques come with their families, bringing some moderate amount of +pecuniary means with them, and at once devote themselves to agricultural +pursuits. They take especially to the department of the dairy, making +butter and cheese of excellent quality, for which they find a ready city +market. They have a natural inclination towards cattle tending, and are +looked upon by the authorities as among the very best of European +emigrants. To promote this immigration to Argentina, a per capita +premium has been paid heretofore by the government, who, indeed, are +still ready to furnish a free passage for responsible emigrants, both of +this and other nationalities. This generous offer has been so shamefully +abused by the beggars, lazzaroni, and criminal classes of Naples and +Sicily, that a check has necessarily been put upon it, particularly as +regards the generally objectionable people of Sicily. + +As a shipping port, Montevideo has a decided advantage over this +Argentine metropolis. Large steamers are obliged to anchor eight or ten +miles, or even more, below the city, on account of the shallowness of +the river at this point. A channel has been opened to facilitate the +approach of vessels of moderate tonnage, but much yet remains to be done +before the experiment will be of any practical advantage. Tugboats land +passengers on the quay, who arrive by the large mail steamers. Vessels +of not over twenty-five hundred tons can lie at the shore and land their +cargoes by means of the limited conveniences of the new dock. One would +think that this want of harbor facilities was an insuperable objection +and impediment in the growth of a great commercial capital, but Buenos +Ayres goes straight onward, progressing in wealth and business, +apparently regardless of such disadvantages. The present aggregate of +its imports, in round numbers, is one hundred million dollars per annum. + +Even to-day, while resting under so serious a financial cloud, with her +credit at the lowest ebb, and so many of her lately wealthy merchants in +bankruptcy, the city has a certain steady, normal growth, which it would +appear that nothing can seriously impair. As we have intimated, the tide +of immigration has been checked, though not entirely stopped, by the +depressed financial and business condition of the country; still, in one +closing month of the last year, October, 1891, over two thousand +passengers arrived by steamship in Argentina, seeking new and permanent +homes. + +When a pampero is blowing, it sometimes forces nearly all of the water +out of the harbor, leaving it high and dry, so to speak, though the +river is thirty miles in width opposite Buenos Ayres. Passengers, +baggage, and freight have in the past often been landed by means of +horse carts, hung on high wheels, and driven out into the water to such +a depth as would float small boats and lighters. Indeed, this was for +many years the common mode of landing freight and passengers at Buenos +Ayres. Two long and narrow piers which have been built partially obviate +the necessity of employing carts, unless the water becomes very low. It +has been said in all seriousness, and we believe it to be true, that the +cost of landing a cargo of merchandise at Buenos Ayres has often been as +great as the freight by vessel from New York, Liverpool, or Boston. + +To construct a suitable harbor here for commercial purposes is a project +attended by almost insurmountable difficulties, but the attempt is +gradually being made. The water in front of the city is not only +shallow, but the bottom is extremely hard, while the increase of depth +down the river is so little that it would involve the dredging of soil +for a distance of ten miles, together with an indefinite width. It is +very doubtful if a channel in such a situation, liable to constant +changes, could be effectually established and maintained at any cost. +The city does not depend upon its foreign commerce alone for business, +having a boundless and productive territory in its rear, of which it +will always be the commercial capital. It is already a great railway +centre, the republic having over seven thousand miles of iron and steel +rails within its borders. Five railways radiate from Buenos Ayres at +this writing, and a sixth is projected. One route has been surveyed with +the idea of connecting this city direct with Valparaiso, the distance +between the two capitals being about nine hundred miles. It is designed +to take advantage of the road already completed to Mendoza, from whence +the addition would cross the Cordilleras at a height of ten thousand +feet, and pass through several tunnels, one of which would be two miles +long. + +It should also be remembered, while on this subject of transportation +facilities, that the Parana River is navigable for light draught +steamers two thousand miles inland from Buenos Ayres, into and through +one of the most productive valleys in the world. From Montevideo to +Point Piedras, the river is uniformly sixty miles wide, and at Buenos +Ayres it has only narrowed to about half this distance. The two main +rivers which form the Plate are the Uruguay and the Parana, which in +turn unite to form the grand estuary called Rio de la Plata. + +The city of Buenos Ayres has about as many miles of tramway as there are +in Boston. The various routes are well managed, and afford an infinite +amount of popular accommodation. This service is carried on by six +different companies. It is not in the hands of one big monopoly, as with +us in Boston. Competition in undoubtedly best for the public good, but +the business can be more advantageously conducted by a single company. +Experience has shown, however, that such a franchise is liable to great +abuse in the hands of a corporation having no rivalry to fear. + +The citizens suffered long and patiently for want of good water for +drinking and domestic purposes. This trouble has been partially obviated +for a considerable time by the establishment of extensive water-works, +but they are not adequate to the demand. The means for obtaining a new +and additional supply are now under consideration. A system of drainage +has also been constructed, which was fully as much of a necessity as the +supply of water, but which, as usual, proves to be insufficient in +capacity to perform the necessary work,--at least it but partially meets +the requirements for which it was designed. People grow hardened by +association with danger, but the importance of good and sufficient +drainage for a capital in which malarial fevers prevail hardly requires +argument. + +Unlike nearly all of the South American cities, Buenos Ayres has no +Plaza Mayor, or public square, as a grand business and pleasure resort, +a central point, par excellence, designed also for the recreation of the +general public. There are, however, several spacious squares, quite +large enough to represent such an idea,--nine or ten of them in fact, +all of which are surrounded by fine buildings. The Plaza Victoria, for +instance, already referred to, is some eight acres in extent, made +brilliant at night by electric lights, which supplement the old style of +gas-burners. The government house, the Palace of Justice, the cathedral, +and other effective buildings front upon the Plaza Victoria. Eight or +ten of the principal streets converge here, and this point is also the +place of departure for several lines of tram-cars. The cathedral is in +the Grecian style, the portico supported by twelve Corinthian columns, +composed of brick, mortar, and stucco, but the general effect is the +same as though each pillar was a monolith. The edifice is capable of +containing eight or ten thousand people at a time, being equal in size +and architectural effect to any ecclesiastical establishment on the +continent. As this cathedral is a very remarkable one in many respects, +we devote more than usual space to its description. It was rebuilt by +the Jesuits in the seventeenth century, but was originally founded in +1580, and is not much inferior to St. Paul's, London, as the following +dimensions will show. It is two hundred and seventy feet long by one +hundred and fifty in width, having an area of forty-five hundred square +rods, and stands next in size to Notre Dame, Paris. The interior of this +immense building, with its twelve side chapels, is dark, dingy, and +dirty, while the want of ventilation renders the air within foul and +offensive. It is only on some rare festal occasions that an audience at +all adequate to occupy its great capacity is seen within its walls. A +hundred persons do not seem like more than a dozen in such a place. Less +than a thousand only serve to emphasize its loneliness. One sees a few +women, but scarcely any men, present on ordinary occasions. The latter +are content to stand about the outer doors and watch the former when +they come from morning mass, or the ordinary Sabbath services. Here, as +in Havana, Seville, and Madrid, the Spanish ladies, who lead a secluded +home life, under a half oriental restraint imposed by custom inherited +from the ancient Moorish rule in continental Spain, do not resent being +stared at when in the streets. Probably this is the main attraction +which draws most of the senors and senoritas to the church services, +though undoubtedly many of them are devout and sincere in the outward +services which they perform. At least, let us give them the benefit of +such a conclusion. + +The national religion of Argentina is that of the Roman Catholic Church, +but the power of the priesthood is strictly confined to ecclesiastical +affairs, as in Uruguay. Absolute religious freedom may be said to exist +here. No religious processions or church parades are permitted in the +public streets. This used to be very different in times past, almost +every other day in the Romish calendar being some saint's day, and it +was the custom to make the most of these occasions by elaborate parades +and gorgeous display. Besides some twenty-four Roman Catholic churches +and chapels, there are a score presided over by Protestants of various +denominations,--Episcopal, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist, and so on. +There is, as we were informed, a large and growing Protestant +constituency in the city. + +It should be mentioned very much to her credit that Buenos Ayres has +supported, since 1872, a series of normal schools, in which regular +courses of three years' training are given to persons desiring to fit +themselves to become school-teachers. To assist those wishing to avail +themselves of these advantages, the government appropriates a certain +sum of money, and those persons who receive this public aid bind +themselves, in consideration of the same, to teach on specific terms in +the free schools for a period of three years. There are quite a number +of North American ladies employed in these schools, throughout the +several districts of Argentina, receiving a liberal compensation +therefor, and commanding a high degree of respect. The University of +Buenos Ayres, with about fifty professors and some eight hundred +students, stands at the head of the national system of education. It was +founded in 1821, having classical, law, medical, and physical +departments. There are also four military schools, two for the army and +two for the navy. + +Buenos Ayres has more daily papers published within its precincts than +either Boston or New York. It has several elegant marble structures +devoted to the banking business, generally holding large capitals, +though the financial condition of several of them at this writing is +simply that of bankruptcy. This applies mainly to the state banks. There +are here an orphanage, a deaf and dumb asylum, four public hospitals, +and two libraries: the National Library containing some seventy thousand +volumes, the Popular Library having fifty thousand. There is also a free +art school, together with public and private schools of all grades. Last +to be named, but by no means least in importance, the city has a number +of fairly good hotels and restaurants, the latter much superior to the +former. Hotels are not only a strong indication of the social refinement +of a people, or of the want of it, but they are of great importance as +regards the commercial prosperity of a large community. Travelers who +are made comfortable in these temporary homes remain longer in a city +than they would otherwise, spend more money there, and are apt to come +again. If, on the contrary, the hotel accommodations are poor, travelers +complain of them, and strangers avoid a city where they are liable to be +rendered needlessly uncomfortable in this respect. Rio Janeiro is a +notable instance in hand, a city whose hotels we conscientiously advise +the traveler to avoid. + +We well remember, at the great caravansary in Calcutta, the only hotel +there of any size or pretension, that a party of five Englishmen and +five Americans, who had come from Madras with the purpose of passing a +fortnight in the former city, shortened their stay one half, simply +because the hotel was so wretchedly kept, the accommodations were so +abominably poor, and the discomforts so numerous. Let us put this idea +in mercenary form. Ten guests, expending at least eight dollars each per +day, curtailed their visit seven days. It is safe to say that they would +have left six hundred dollars more in Calcutta had they been comfortably +lodged, than they did under the circumstances. + +We should not omit to mention the Commercial Exchange, in speaking of +the public buildings of Buenos Ayres. It is a fine, large, modern +structure, admirably adapted to the purpose for which it is designed. +Until within a year, the edifice in Boston applied to the same purpose +would not compare with that of this South American capital. + +There is no dullness or torpor in this city. All is stir and bustle. +Life and business are rampant, and yet, strange to say, no one seems to +be in any special hurry. Everything is done in a leisurely manner. The +number of handsome stores and the elegance of the goods displayed in +them are remarkable, while the annual amount of sales in these +establishments rivals that of some of our most popular New York and +Boston concerns in similar lines of business. One may count forty +first-class jewelry establishments in a short walk about town. There is +hardly a more attractive display in this line either in Paris or London. +Diamonds and precious stones of all descriptions dazzle the eye and +captivate the fancy. The Calle Florida is one of the most fashionable +thoroughfares, and presents in the afterpart of the day a very gay and +striking picture of local life, a large element being composed of +handsome women, attended by gayly dressed nurses, in charge of lovely +children wearing fancy costumes. The young boys affect naval styles, and +their little sisters wear marvelously broad Roman scarfs, and have their +feet encased in dainty buff slippers. What pleasing domestic pictures +they suggest to the eye of a restless wanderer! + +On account of the narrowness of the streets, there is but one line of +rails laid for the tramway service, so that a person goes out of town, +say to Palermo, by one system of streets and returns by another. These +cars move rapidly. A considerable distance is covered in a brief time, +the motive power being small horses. An almost continuous line of cars, +with scarcely a break, is passing any given point from early morning +until night, and the citizens are liberal patrons of them. We saw some +statistics relating to the number of persons carried by the tramways of +this city annually, which were simply amazing, and which would make the +management of the West End Railway of Boston "grow green with jealousy, +or pallid with despair." Of course all this has been temporarily +affected by the present financial crisis. As we have tried to show, +Buenos Ayres is a wonderfully busy city, in which respect it resembles +our own country much more than it does the average capitals of the +south. There is none of the visible languor and spirit of delay which +usually strikes one in tropical centres. People get up in the morning +wide awake, and go promptly to business. There is no closing of the +shops at midday here, as there is in Havana, Santiago, the capital of +Chili, or some of the Mexican cities, so that clerks may absent +themselves for dinner or to enjoy a siesta. A much more convenient +course for both clerks and patrons is adopted, which does not block the +wheels of trade. The idea of closing stores at midday to steal a couple +of hours for eating and sleeping is a bit of Rip Van Winkleism entirely +unworthy of the go-ahead spirit of the nineteenth century. + +The Plaza Retiro is as large as the Plaza Victoria, and occupies the +spot where in old Spanish days the hateful exhibitions of the +bull-fights were given. Indeed, this square was formerly known as the +Plaza de Toros. Many historical interests hang about the locality, +around which the rich merchants of the city have erected some palatial +residences, faced to a certain height with marble on the outside. These +domestic retreats have courtyards constructed one beyond another, +covering a considerable depth, and forming a series of patios, each +appropriated to some special domestic use,--the dining court, the +reception court, and the nursery. In this square, and also in the Plaza +Victoria, there are always plenty of hackney coaches to be found +awaiting hire, and it should be remarked that charges are very +reasonable for this service in Buenos Ayres. + +There are thirteen theatres in the city, and an admirable museum. The +latter, rich in antiquities, is noted for its prehistoric remains of +animals which once lived in the southern part of this continent, but +whose species have long been extinct. This particular museum is +advantageously known to scientists all over the world. The Colon Theatre +is a large, well-equipped, and imposing place of entertainment, as much +so as the Theatre Francaise, Paris, and takes a high position in +representations of the legitimate drama and the production of the better +spectacular plays. This house adopts what is called here the _cazuela_ +in the division of its auditorium, an excellent system, very general in +South American theatres, and we believe, nowhere else. It consists in +giving up the entire second tier of boxes or seats to the exclusive use +of unattended ladies, an arrangement which seemed to us strongly to +recommend itself. To this division of the auditorium there is a separate +entrance from the street, and no gentlemen are admitted under any +pretext whatever. So those who desire to come to the entertainments +quite unattended can do so with perfect propriety, and are safe from all +intrusion in this isolated position. The ladies of this city, when they +appear in public, dress very elegantly, following closely North American +and European styles, while displaying the choicest imported materials +well made up. Perhaps comparisons are invidious, but we feel inclined to +accord precedence in the matter of personal beauty to those of +Montevideo. In dress, however, the ladies of Buenos Ayres certainly +excel them. Each city has its local "Worth," but many dresses are made +in Paris and imported, regardless of expense. + +There may be somewhere a noisier city than Buenos Ayres, as regards +street life in the business section, but London or New York cannot rival +it in this respect. Undoubtedly this is owing in a measure to the fact +that the traffic of so large and busy a metropolis is crowded into such +narrow thoroughfares, barely thirty feet in width, and often less than +that, a portion of which space is taken up by the tramway tracks. The +noisy vehicles which run on these rails make their full share of the +racket and hubbub. Here, as in the cities of Mexico and Puebla, the +drivers of the cars are supplied each with a tin horn, hung about his +neck, or suspended from the car front, upon which he exercises his +lungs, producing ear-piercing and discordant notes. Wheels and hoofs +upon the uneven pavements increase the din, supplemented by shouts and +language more forcible than proper, uttered by enraged teamsters because +of the frequent blocking of the roadway. Add to these dulcet sounds the +cries of itinerant fruit venders, fancy-goods sellers, and the shouts of +persistent newsboys, and one has some idea of the irritating uproar +which rages all day long in the older streets of Buenos Ayres. + +Cows and mares are driven singly or in groups through the streets of +this city, and milked at the customers' doors, so that one is nearly +certain of getting the genuine article in this line, though we were +assured that some roguish dealers carry an india-rubber tube and flat +bag under their clothing from which they slyly extract a portion of +water to "extend" the lacteal fluid. "Is there no honesty extant?" +Adulteration seems to have become an instinct of trade. Asses are still +driven through the streets of Paris, in the early mornings, and the milk +obtained from them is distributed in the same manner, whether with a +slight adulteration of water or not, we are unable to say. It is not +uncommon at Buenos Ayres to see a person served on the street with fresh +milk just drawn from the animal, which he drinks on the spot. A very +refreshing, modest, and nutritious morning tipple. Mares, as before +mentioned, are not used for working or riding in this country, but are +kept solely for breeding purposes and to furnish milk. This article is +considered to be more nourishing for invalids and children than cow's +milk, and is often prescribed as a regular diet by the physicians. + +The grand driving park of the capital, known by the name of Third of +February, is situated at Palermo, some distance from the city proper, +and covers between eight and nine hundred acres. On certain days, +especially on Sundays, a military band gives a public outdoor concert +here, when all the beauty and fashion of the city turn out in gay +equipages to see and to be seen, forming also a grand and spirited +cavalcade of fine horses and carriages. The races take place at Palermo, +and, as in all Roman Catholic countries, on Sundays. + +The neighborhood of Buenos Ayres is generally under good cultivation, +the soil and climate uniting to produce splendid agricultural results. +The suburbs of Flores and Belgrano each present a very pretty group of +quintas and gardens, wherein great skill and refinement of taste is +evinced. The alfalfa, a species of clover used here in a green condition +as fodder for cattle, and which is as rich as the red clover of New +England, to which family of grasses it belongs, grows so rapidly and +ripens so promptly that three crops are often realized from the same +field in a single season. The immediate environs of the city are +occupied by private residences, many of which are very elaborate and +imposing, surrounded by charming gardens and pleasure grounds. Grottoes, +statuary, and fountains abound, while orchards of various fruits are +common, interspersed here and there with picturesque graperies. Some of +the highways are guarded by hedges of cactus,--_agave_,--much more +impenetrable than any artificial fencing. Trees of the eucalyptus family +have heretofore been favorites here, originally imported from Australia, +but they have ceased to be desirable, since it appears that nothing will +grow in their shadow. They seem to exercise a blighting power on other +species of vegetation. Figs, peaches, and oranges grow side by side, +surrounded by other fruits, while the low-lying fields and open meadows +nearest to the river are divided into large squares of three or four +acres each, enameled with the deep green of the thick growing alfalfa, +and other crops varying in color after their kind. Richest of all are +the intensely yellow fields of ripening wheat still farther inland, +whose softly undulating surface, gently yielding to the passing breeze, +produces long, widespread floating ripples of golden light. + +The love of flowers is a passion among all classes of the people, and +their cultivation as a business by experienced individuals gives +profitable employment to many florists, whose grounds are pictures of +accumulated beauty, fragrance, and variety of hues. There is as true +harmony to the eye in such blendings as there is to the ear in perfect +music. The reader may be sure that where the children of Flora so much +abound, bright tinted humming-birds do much more abound, dainty little +living feathered gems, rivaling rubies, sapphires, and emeralds. + +To insure the good health of her large and increasing population, the +system of drainage in Buenos Ayres requires prompt and effectual +treatment. The natural fall of the ground towards the river is hardly +sufficient to second any engineering effort to this end. That typhoid +fever should prevail here to the extent which it does, at nearly all +seasons of the year, is a terrible reflection upon those in authority. +This is a fatal disease which is quite preventable, and in this instance +clearly traceable to obvious causes. Rio Janeiro, with its yellow fever +scourge, is hardly more seriously afflicted than Buenos Ayres with its +typhoid malaria. Indeed, it is contended by some persons living on the +coast that the number of deaths per annum in the two cities arising from +these causes is very nearly equal, taking into account the results of +year after year. Sometimes, unaccountably, Rio escapes the fever for a +twelvemonth, that is to say, some seasons it does not rage as an +epidemic; but we fear, if the truth were fairly expressed, it would be +found that the seeds are there all the while, and that the city of Rio +Janeiro, like that of Vera Cruz on the Gulf of Mexico, is never +absolutely exempt from occasional cases. + +The Argentine Republic contains more than a million square miles, as +already stated; indeed, immensity may be said to be one of its most +manifest characteristics. The plains, the woods, the rivers, are +colossal. To be sure, all of her territory is not, strictly speaking, +available land, suitable for agricultural purposes, any more than is the +case in our own wide-spread country. No other nation equals this +republic in the value of cattle, compared with the number of the +population, not forgetting Australia with its immense sheep and cattle +ranches. It is believed, nevertheless, that the agricultural interest +here, as in Uruguay, is gradually increasing in such ratio that it will +erelong rival the pastoral. The average soil is very similar to that of +our Mississippi valley, yielding a satisfactory succession of crops +without the aid of any artificial enrichment. The pampas have a mellow, +dry soil, the common grass growing in tussocks to the height of three or +four feet, and possessing a perennial vigor which mostly crowds out +other vegetation. A few wild flowers are occasionally seen, and in the +marshy places lilies of several species are to be met with; but taken +all together the flora of the pampas is the poorest of any fertile +district with which we are acquainted. A few half-developed herbs and +trefoils occasionally meet the eye, together with small patches of wild +verbenas of various colors. At long distances from each other one comes +upon areas of tall pampas grass as it is called, so stocky as to be +almost like the bamboo, eight or ten feet high, decked with fleecy, +white plumes. Birds are scarce on the pampas. There is a peculiar +species of hare, besides some animals of the rodent family, resembling +prairie-dogs--_biscachos_--or overgrown rats, together with an +occasional jaguar and puma, found on these plains, as well as that +meanest of all animals, the pestiferous skunk. Animal life, other than +the herds of wild cattle, can hardly be said to abound on the pampas. + +Until a few years since, Buenos Ayres enjoyed the distinction of being +the capital of the province of the same name, as also of the Argentine +Republic; but the present capital of the province of Buenos Ayres, +called La Plata, is situated about forty miles south-east of Buenos +Ayres, with which it is connected by railway. The site of the new +capital was an uninhabited wilderness ten years ago, the foundation +stone of this city having been laid in 1882. To-day La Plata has a +population of about fifty thousand, although over seventy are claimed +for it, a comprehensive system of tramways, broad, well paved streets, +two theatres, thirty public schools, a national college, and six large +hotels. There are many monuments and fountains ornamenting the +thoroughfares, and what is now wanting is a population commensurate with +the grand scale on which the capital is designed. An immense cathedral +is being built, but has only reached a little way above its foundation, +as work upon it has for a while been suspended. If the original plan is +fully carried out, it may be half a century or more in course of +construction. La Plata is suffering from the pecuniary crisis perhaps +more seriously than any other part of the country. The city is lighted +by both electricity and gas, issues five daily newspapers, has a very +complete astronomical observatory, a public library, five railroad +stations, and some very elegant public buildings. Its large +possibilities are by no means improved, however. Of the buildings, the +edifice of the provincial legislature, that of the minister of finance, +and the legislative palace are all worthy of mention. The government +house is a long, low structure, the front view of which is rendered +effective by an added story in the centre, which projects from the line +of the building, and is supported by high columns. The "Palace," as it +is called, forming the residence of the governor of the province, is an +elaborate and pretentious building, three stories in height, with two +flanking domes and a dominating one in the centre. Of course La Plata +has gained its start and rapid growth from the prestige of being the +provincial capital, but it is now slowly developing a legitimate growth +on a sound business basis, and though it can hardly be expected to ever +equal Buenos Ayres in population and commercial importance, it +nevertheless promises to be a prosperous city in the distant future; its +citizens already call it the "Washington" of South America. A close +observer could not but notice that many houses were unoccupied, and the +streets seemed half deserted. + +While the most of our maps and geographies remain pretty much as they +were a score of years ago, and a majority of the kingdoms of the Old +World have changed scarcely at all, the Argentine Republic has been +steadily growing in population, progressing rapidly in intelligence, +constantly extending its commercial relations, and marching all the +while towards the front rank of modern civilization. A detailed +statement of its extraordinary development during the last twenty years, +in commerce, railway connections, schools, agriculture, and general +wealth, would surprise the most intelligent reader. It is believed by +experienced and conservative people, particularly those conversant with +the South American republics, that Buenos Ayres will be the first city +south of the equator in commercial rank and population, within a quarter +of a century. The increase of this republic in population during the +last two decades has been over one hundred and fifty per cent., a +rapidity of growth almost without precedent. The increase of population +in our own country, during the same period, was less than eighty per +cent. Twenty-four lines of magnificent steamships connect the Argentine +Republic with Europe, and twice that number of vessels sail back and +forth each month of the year, while its railway system embraces over six +thousand miles of road in operation, besides one or two yet incomplete +routes, though the opening of its first line was so late as thirty-four +years ago. Add to this her system of inland river navigation, covering +thousands of miles, which has been so systematized as to fully +supplement the remarkable railway facilities. + +That Argentina rests at the present moment, as we have constantly +intimated, under a financial cloud is only too well known to every one. +It is a crisis brought about by an overhaste in the development of the +country, especially in railroad enterprises. _Festina lente_ is a good +sound maxim, which the people of this republic have quite disregarded, +and for which they and their creditors are suffering accordingly. It is +seldom that any newly developed country escapes the maladies attendant +upon too rapid growth, but this is a sort of illness pretty sure to +remedy itself in due time, and rarely impedes the proper development of +maturer years. If this republic has been unduly extravagant, and +borrowed too much money in advancing her material interests, she has at +least something to show for it. The funds have not been foolishly +expended in sustaining worse than useless hordes of armed men, nor in +the profitless support of royal puppets. + +Nations no less than individuals are liable to financial failure, but +with her grand and inexhaustible native resources, backed by the energy +of her adopted citizens, this republic is as sure as anything mortal can +be to soon recover from her present business depression, and to astonish +the world at large by the rapidity of her financial recuperation. Her +present annual crop of wool exceeds all former record in amount, and is +authoritatively estimated at over thirty million dollars in value. To +this large industrial product is to be added her prolific harvest of +maize and wheat, together with an almost fabulous amount of valuable +hides. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + City of Rosario.--Its Population.--A Pretentious + Church.--Ocean Experiences.--Morbid Fancies.--Strait of + Magellan.--A Great Discoverer.--Local + Characteristics.--Patagonians and Fuegians.--Giant + Kelp.--Unique Mail Box.--Punta Arenas.--An Ex-Penal + Colony.--The Albatross.--Natives.--A Naked + People.--Whales.--Sea-Birds.--Glaciers.--Mount Sarmiento.--A + Singular Story. + + +The route to Rosario is rather monotonous by railway, taking the +traveler through a very flat but fertile region, over prairies which are +virtually treeless, not unlike long reaches of country through which the +Canadian Pacific Railroad passes between Banff, in the Rocky Mountains, +and Port Arthur, on Lake Superior. The monotonous scenery is varied only +by a sight of occasional herds of cattle, feeding upon the rich grass, +with here and there a mounted herdsman, and the numberless telegraph +poles which line the track. It is at least a seven hours' journey from +Buenos Ayres to Rosario. Occasionally a marshy reach of soil is +encountered where large aquatic birds are seen, such as flamingoes, +storks, cranes, herons, and the like. + +Rosario, in the province of Santa Fe, is the second city in point of +population and importance in the Argentine Republic. It is a young and +promising capital, hardly yet fairly launched upon its voyage of +prosperity, but so far it has been singularly favored by various +circumstances. The place is arranged in the usual crisscross manner as +regards the streets of this country, which, unfortunately, are too +narrow for even its present limited business. In place of twenty-four +feet they should have been laid out at least double that width, in the +light of all experience has developed in these South American cities. +This new town is situated a little less than three hundred miles by +water from Buenos Ayres, and about two hundred by land, railroad and +steamboat connection being regularly maintained between them. The site +is admirably chosen on the banks of the Parana River, fifty or sixty +feet above its level, and it is destined to become, eventually, a great +commercial centre. In 1854 it was only a large village, containing some +four thousand people. It is the natural seaport, not only of the rich +province of Cordova, but also of the more inland districts, Mendoza, San +Luis, Tucuman, Salta, and Jujuy, the first named having a population of +half a million. Owing to the height of the river's banks, merchandise is +loaded by "shutes," being thus conducted at once from the warehouses to +the hatches of the vessels. Already a number of foreign steamships may +be seen almost any day lying at anchor opposite the town, while the +railway communications in various directions have all of their +transportation capacity fully employed. One of these lines reaches +almost across the continent to Mendoza, at the eastern slope of the +Andes, west from Rosario. Other roads run both north and south from +here. The foreign and domestic trade of the place is second only to that +of Buenos Ayres. Vessels drawing fifteen feet of water ascend the river +to this point. As a shipping port, Rosario has to a certain extent +special advantages even over the larger city, being two or three hundred +miles nearer the merchandise producing points. + +There is already a population of some seventy-five thousand here, and, +as we have intimated, the city is growing rapidly. Wharves, docks, and +warehouses are in course of construction, and can hardly be finished +fast enough to meet the demand for their use. There are a few +substantial and handsome dwellings being erected, and many of a more +ordinary class, in the finishing of which many a cargo of New England +lumber is consumed. Some of the public buildings are imposing in size +and architectural design, wisely constructed in anticipation of the +future size of the city, whose rapid growth is only equaled by St. Paul +in Brazil. The tramway, gas, and telephone have been successfully +introduced. There is certainly no lack of enterprise evinced in all +legitimate business directions, while attention is being very properly +and promptly turned towards perfecting a carefully devised educational +system of free schools, primary and progressive. When the founders of a +new city begin in this intelligent fashion, we may be very sure that +they are moving in the right direction, and that permanency, together +with abundant present success, is sure to be the sequence. + +On one side of the Plaza Mayor of Rosario stands a very pretentious +church, not yet quite completed, but as the towers and dome are finished +it makes a prominent feature from a long way off, as one approaches the +town. In the centre of this square is a marble shaft surmounted by a +figure representing Victory, and at the base are four statues of +Argentine historic characters. This square is adorned with a double row +of handsome acacias. As regards amusements, so far as is visible, +theatricals seem to take the lead, the place having two theatres, both +of which appear to be enjoying a thriving business. + +When a new city is started in South America upon a site so well +selected, and after so thoroughly substantial a plan, the result is no +problem. The influx of European immigrants promptly supplies the +necessary laborers and artisans, quite as fast, indeed, as they are +required, while the ordinary growth and development of inland resources +tax the local business capacity, enterprise, and capital to their +utmost. Rosario needs to perfect a careful and thorough system of +drainage. Fevers are at present alarmingly prevalent, arising from +causes which judicious attention and sanitary means would easily +obviate. + +We will not weary the reader by protracted delay at this point, having +still a long voyage before us. + +Embarking at Montevideo, our way is southward over a broad and lonely +track of ocean. If we can summon a degree of philosophy to our aid, it +is fortunate. Without genial companions, surrounded by strangers, and +thrown entirely upon ourselves, mental resort often fails us, life +appears sombre, the wide, wide ocean almost appalling. One of the +inevitable trials of a long sea voyage is the wakeful hours which will +occasionally visit the most experienced traveler,--midnight hours, when +the weary brain becomes preternaturally active, the imagination +oversensitive and weird in its erratic conceptions, while forebodings of +evil which never happens are apt to fill the mind with morbid anxieties. +The very silence of the surroundings is impressive, interrupted only by +the regular throbbing of the great, tireless engine, and the dashing +waters chafing along the iron hull close beside the wakeful dreamer. +Separated by thousands of miles from home, all communication cut off +with friends and the world at large, while watching the dreary ocean, +day after day, week after week, we imagine endless misfortunes that may +have come to dear ones on shore. However limited may be the world of +reality, that of the imagination is boundless, and sometimes one +realizes years of wretched anxiety in the space of a few overwrought +hours. It is such moments of passive misery which beget wrinkles and +white hairs. Action is the only relief, and one hastens to the deck for +a change of scene and thoughts. After experiencing such a night, how +glad and glorious seems the sun rising out of the wide waste of waters, +how bright and glowing the smile he casts upon the long lazy swell of +the South Atlantic, as if pointedly to rebuke the overwrought fancy, and +reassure the aching heart! + +Be we never so dreary, the great ship speeds on its course, heeding us +not; its busy motor, like heart-beats, throbs with undisturbed +uniformity, forcing the vessel onward despite the joy or sorrow of those +it carries within its capacious hull. + +The Strait of Magellan, which divides South America from the mysterious +island group which is known as Terra del Fuego, and connects the +Atlantic with the Pacific Ocean by a most intricate water-way, is +considerably less than four hundred miles in length, and of various +widths. De Lesseps, with his successful Suez Canal and his deplorable +Panama failure, is quite distanced by the hand of Nature in this line of +business. It would require about ten thousand Suez Canals to make a +Magellan Strait, and then it would be but a very sorry imitation. It +will be remembered that the Portuguese navigator who discovered this +remarkable passage, and for whom it is justly named, first passed +through it in November, 1520, finally emerging into the waters of the +new sea, upon which he was the first to sail, and which he named Mar +Pacifico. Doubtless it seemed "pacific" to him after his rude experience +in the South Atlantic, but the author has known as rough weather in this +misnamed ocean as he has ever encountered in any part of the globe. + +One can well conceive of the elation and surprise of Magellan, upon +emerging from the intricate passage through which he had been struggling +to make his way for so many weary days. What a sensation of satisfaction +and triumph must the courageous and persevering navigator have +experienced at the discovery he had made! What mattered all his weary +hours of watching, of self-abnegation, of cold and hunger, of incessant +battling with the raging sea? Henceforth to him royal censure or royal +largess mattered little. His name would descend to all future +generations as the great discoverer of this almost limitless ocean. + +The passage leading to the strait on the Atlantic or eastern end is +about twenty miles across, Cape Vergens being on the starboard side, and +Cape Espiritu Santo--or Cape Holy Ghost--on the port. The entrance on +the western or Pacific end is marked by Cape Pillar, Desolation Land, +where the scenery is far more rugged and mountainous, the cape +terminating in two cliffs, shaped so much like artificial towers as to +be quite deceptive at a short distance. The narrowest part of the strait +is about one mile in width, known to mariners as Crooked Reach. A +passage through this great natural canal is an experience similar, in +some respects, to that of sailing in the inland sea of Alaska, between +Victoria and Glacier Bay, bringing into view dense forests, immense +glaciers, abrupt mountain peaks, and snow-covered summits, the whole +shrouded in the same solitude and silence, varied by the occasional +flight of sea-birds or the appearance of seals and porpoises from below +the deep waters. So irregular in its course is this passage between the +two great oceans, so changeable are its currents, so impeded by +dangerous rocks and hidden shoals, so beset with squalls and sudden +storms, that sailing vessels are forced to double the ever-dreaded Cape +Horn rather than take the Magellan route. A United States man-of-war, a +sailing ship, was once over two months in making the passage through the +strait, and Magellan tells us that he was thirty-seven days in passing +from ocean to ocean, though using all ordinary dispatch. Within a +fortnight of the writing of these notes, a European mail steamship was +lost here by striking upon a sunken rock. Fortunately, owing to the +proximity of the shore and moderate weather prevailing, the crew and +passengers were all saved. + +Winter lingers, and the days are short in this latitude. A sailing ship +would be compelled to find anchorage nightly, and some days would +perhaps be driven back in a few hours a distance which it had required a +week to make in her proper direction. Steamships usually accomplish the +run in from thirty to forty hours, there being many reaches where it is +necessary to run only at half speed. If heavy fogs and bad weather +prevail, they often lay by during the night, and also in snow-storms, +which occur not infrequently. The sky is seldom clear for many hours +together, and the sun's warmth is rarely felt, the rain falling almost +daily. Even in the summer of this high southern latitude the nights are +cold and gloomy, ice nearly always forming. It must be admitted that +this region, of itself, is not calculated to attract the most inveterate +wanderer. One is not surprised when reading the rather startling +narrations of the old navigators who made the passage of the strait, +encountering the constantly varying winds, and having canvas only to +depend upon. The marvel is that, with their primitive means, they should +have accomplished so much. There are no lighthouses in this passage from +ocean to ocean, though it has been pretty well surveyed and buoyed in +late years, thanks to the liberality of the English naval service, by +whom this was done. There is, in fact, a dearth of lighthouses on the +entire coast of South America, especially on the west side of the +continent. We can recall but three between Montevideo and Valparaiso, a +distance, by way of the strait, of fully two thousand miles. The +lighthouses we refer to are at Punta Arenas, Punta Galesa, near +Valdivia, and that which marks the port of Concepcion, at Talcahuano. +The Strait of Magellan is only fit as an abiding-place for seals, +waterfowl, and otters; humanity can hardly find congenial foothold here. + +The natives of Patagonia, who live on the northern side of the strait, +are called horse Indians, because they make such constant use of the +wild horses; they do not move in any direction without them. Those on +the Fuegian side are called canoe Indians, as the canoe forms their +universal and indeed only mode of transportation. The former are a +rather large, tall race of people, the men averaging about six feet in +height; the latter are smaller in physical development, and are less +civilized than the Indians of Patagonia, which, to be sure, is saying +very little for the latter, who are really a low type of nomads. The +Fuegians are believed to still practice cannibalism. One writer tells us +that criminals and prisoners of war are thus disposed of, and that the +last crew of shipwrecked seamen who fell into their hands were roasted +and eaten by them. Their hostile purposes are well understood, for +whenever they dare to exercise such a spirit they are sure to do so. +They cautiously send out a boat or two to passing vessels, with whom a +little trading is attempted, the main body of natives keeping well out +of sight; but in case of any mishap to a ship, or if a small party land +and are unable to defend themselves, they will appear in swarms from +various hiding-places, swooping down upon their victims like vultures in +the desert. The officers of the yacht Sunbeam, as recounted by Lady +Brassey, found it necessary to turn her steam-pipes full force upon the +swarming natives, who were doubtless preparing to make an effort to +capture the yacht and her crew, hoping to overcome them by mere force of +numbers. They were, however, so frightened and utterly astonished by the +means of defense adopted by Lord Brassey that they threw themselves, one +and all, into the sea, and sought the shore pell-mell. Humboldt, in his +day, ranked these Fuegians among the lowest specimens of humanity he had +ever met, and they certainly do not seem to have improved much in the +mean time. One is at a loss to understand why the Patagonians should +have impressed the early navigators with the idea that they were a +people of gigantic size. There is no evidence to-day of their being, or +ever having been, taller or larger than the average New Englander. +Half-naked savages, standing six feet high, naturally impress one as +being taller than Europeans clad in the conventional style of civilized +people. + +The waters of Magellan are very dark, deep, and sullen in aspect, with +insufficient room in many places to manage a ship properly under canvas +alone. In their depth and darkness these waters also resemble those of +Alaska's inland sea. The shores are quite bold, and the rocks below the +surface are mostly indicated by giant kelp--_Fucus giganteus_--growing +over them, a kind provision of nature in behalf of safe navigation. It +will not answer, however, to depend solely upon this indication; the +many rocks in the strait are by no means all so designated, nor are they +all buoyed. Sea-kelp is very plentiful in this region, and serves many +useful purposes. It forms a nourishing food for the Fuegians under +certain circumstances, when their usual supply is scarce. They dry it +and prepare it in a rude way suited to their unsophisticated palates. It +also forms a portion of the support of the seals and sea-otters; these +creatures feed freely upon its more delicate and tender shoots. It is +wonderful how it can exist and thrive among such breakers as it +constantly encounters in these restless waters, which are churned into +mounds of foam in squally weather; but it does grow in great luxuriance, +rising oftentimes two hundred feet and more from the bottom of the sea. +It is curious to watch its abundant growth and its peculiar habits. If +the wind and tide are in the same direction, the plant lies smooth upon +the water; but if the wind is against the tide, the leaves curl up, +causing a ripple on the surface, like a school of small fish. A specimen +of giant kelp was secured from alongside of the ship, broken off at +arm's length below the surface of the water. It was heavy and full of +parasites. Upon shaking it, myriads of marine insects, shells, tiny +crabs, sea-eggs, and star-fish fell upon the deck. All of these were of +the smallest species, some almost invisible to the naked eye, but how +wonderful they appeared under the microscope, which developed hundreds +of forms of life infinitesimal in size! + +At a prominent point of the main channel is a strong box made fast by a +chain, which always used to be opened by the masters of passing ships, +either to deposit or to take away letters, as the case might be, each +shipmaster undertaking the free delivery of all letters whose address +was within the line of his subsequent course. In the whaleship service, +especially during times now long past, this arrangement has been of +great service, and there is no instance on record where the purpose of +this self-sustaining post-office was disregarded. In these days of fast +and regular post-office service, the "Magellan mail," as it was called, +is of no practical account. + +There are several fairly good harbors in the strait, but the only white +settlement was originally a penal colony founded by the Chilian +government, though it no longer serves for that purpose, the convicts +having risen some years since, and overpowered the garrison. A large +portion of the Patagonian shore is well wooded, besides which an +available coal deposit has been found and worked to fair advantage. +Steamships, which were formerly obliged to go to the Falkland Islands, +in the Atlantic, five hundred miles from the mouth of the strait, when +running short of fuel, can now get their supply in an exigency at Punta +Arenas--"Sandy Point." It is situated in the eastern section of the +strait, about a hundred and twenty-five miles from the entrance. We do +not mean to convey the idea that this is a regular coaling station, +though it may some time become so. The town consists of straggling, +low-built log-houses, and a few framed ones, reminding one of Port Said +at the Mediterranean end of the Suez Canal, with its heterogeneous +population. That of Sandy Point is made up of all nationalities, +strongly tinctured with ex-convicts, and deserters from the Chilian army +and navy. English is the language most commonly spoken, though the place +is Chilian territory. It contains some twelve or fifteen hundred +inhabitants, and is the most southerly town on the globe, as well as the +most undesirable one in which to live, if one may express an opinion +upon such brief acquaintance. + +We made no attempt to go on shore at Punta Arenas. A rain-storm was at +its height while the ship lay off the town, and when it rains in these +latitudes, it attends exclusively to the business in hand. The water +comes down like Niagara, until finally, when the clouds have entirely +emptied themselves, it stops. Jupiter Pluvius is master of the +situation, when he asserts himself, and there is no one who can dispute +his authority. Umbrellas and waterproofs are of no more use as a +protection during the downpour, than they would be to a person who had +fallen overboard in water forty fathoms deep. One of our passengers came +on deck with a life preserver about his body, solemnly declaring that if +this sort of thing continued much longer, the article would be +absolutely necessary in order to keep afloat. + +During the season the Patagonians bring into Punta Arenas the result of +their hunting in the shape of seal and otter skins, together with +guanaco, and silver-fox skins, which are gathered by local traders and +shipped to Europe. Occasionally a few sea-otter skins of rare value are +obtained from here, fully equal, we were told, to anything taken in +Alaskan waters. We have said that Punta Arenas is the most southerly +town on the globe. The next nearest town to the Antarctic circle is the +Bluff, so called,--also known as Campbelltown,--in the extreme south of +New Zealand, where the author has eaten of the famous oysters indigenous +there. + +Two sorts of supplies are to be obtained by navigators of the strait, +namely, fuel and good drinking water. Sometimes a valuable skin robe may +be purchased of the Patagonian Indians. It is called a guanaco-skin +cloak, and made from the skin of the young deer. To obtain these skins +of a uniform fineness of texture, the fawns are killed when but eight or +ten days old; the available product got from each one is so small as +hardly to exceed twice the size of one's hand. These are sewn together +with infinite care and neatness by the Indian women, who use the fine +sinews taken from ostriches' legs for thread. One of these guanaco-skin +cloaks represents a vast amount of labor, and a hundred fawns must die +to supply the raw material. Only chiefs of tribes can afford to wear +them. Strangers who are willing to pay a price commensurate with their +real cost and value may occasionally buy such an article as we describe, +but these cloaks are rare. One was brought on board ship and shown to +us, the price of which was twelve hundred dollars, nor do we think it +was an excessive valuation. It was worth the amount as a rare curiosity +for some art museum. + +That monarch bird of Antarctic regions, the albatross, frequents both +ends of the strait, and sometimes accompanies steamships during the +passage, together with cape-pigeons, gulls, and other marine birds, +though as a rule the albatross is little seen except on the broad +expanse of the ocean. A bird called the steamer-duck, also nicknamed by +sailors the paddle-wheel duck, was pointed out to us by our captain. It +is so called from its mode of propelling itself through the water, +scooting over the surface of the strait while using both wings and legs, +and creating considerable disturbance of the water, like a side-wheeler. +The wings are too small to give it power of flight through the air. The +steamer-duck is a large bird, nearly the size of the domestic goose; +after its fashion, it moves with astonishing velocity, considerably +faster than the average speed of a steamship. But we were speaking a +moment since of the albatross, which is a feathered cannibal, and shows +some truly wolfish traits. When one of its own species, a member of the +same flock even, is wounded and drops helpless to the surface of the +sea, its comrades swoop down upon it, and tearing the body to pieces +with their powerful bills, devour the flesh ravenously. This was +witnessed near the Arctic circle, between Hobart, in Tasmania, and the +Bluff, in New Zealand, a few years ago, when some English sportsmen +succeeded in wounding one of these mammoth birds from the deck of the +steamship Zealandia. The only other known bird of our day which measures +from eleven to twelve feet between the tips of the extended wings is the +South American condor. + +The sea hereabouts abounds in fish, which constitute the largest portion +of the food supply of the few Indians who live near the coast of either +shore. The Fuegians dwell in the rudest shelters possible, nothing +approaching the form of a house. The frailest shelter, covered with +sea-lion's skins, suffices to keep them from the inclemencies of the +weather. With the exception of an animal skin of some sort, having the +fur on, secured over one shoulder on the side exposed to the wind, the +canoe Indians wear no clothing. We were told that several of these +natives, while quite young, were taken to England by advice of the +missionaries and taught to read and write, being also kindly instructed +in civilized manners and customs, which they gladly adopted for the time +being; but upon returning to their native land, in every instance they +rapidly lapsed into a condition of semi-savagery. It had been hoped they +would act as a civilizing medium with their former friends, after +returning among them, but this proved fallacious, and was a great +disappointment to the well-meaning philanthropists. This same +experience, as is well known, has been the result of similar experiments +with natives of Africa and the South Sea Islands. The author is +conversant with a striking illustration of this character in connection +with an Australian Indian youth, which occurred in Queensland, and which +was both interesting and very romantic in its development. It simply +went to prove that hereditary instincts cannot be easily eradicated, and +that not one, but many generations are necessary to banish savage +proclivities which are inherited from a long line of ancestors. + +Gold is found to some extent in the beds of the streams in +Patagonia,--free gold, washed from the disintegrated rocks. Natives +sometimes bring small quantities of the gold dust into Punta Arenas, +with which to purchase tobacco and other articles. Many heedless and +unprincipled individuals sell them intoxicants, to obtain which these +Indians will part with anything they possess, after they have once +become familiar with the taste and effect of the captivating poison. + +Not far from Cape Forward, near the middle of the strait, which is the +most southerly portion of the American continent, three native boats +were seen during our passage. The steamer was slowed for a few moments +to give us a brief opportunity to see the savage occupants. These three +frail, ill-built canoes were tossed high and low by the swell of the +Pacific, which set to the eastward through the strait. Each boat +contained a man, a couple of women, and one or two children, the latter +entirely naked, the others nearly so. They were Fuegians, raising their +hands and voices to attract our attention, asking for food and tobacco, +to which appeal a generous response was made. Their broad faces, high +cheek-bones, low foreheads, and flat noses, their faces and necks +screened by coarse black hair, did not challenge our admiration, however +much we were exercised by pity for human beings in so desolate a +condition. They certainly possessed two redeeming features,--brilliant +eyes and teeth of dazzling whiteness. The fruit thrown to them seemed +best to suit the ideas and palates of the children, who devoured +oranges, skin and all; but the gift of clothing which was made to the +parents was laid aside for future consideration, though there are +probably no "ole clo'" merchants in Terra del Fuego. The men ate hard +sea biscuit and slices of cold corned beef ravenously. The plump, +well-rounded shoulders and limbs of the women showed them to be in far +better physical condition than the men, whose bodies consisted of little +besides skin and bones. They were copper colored, and the skin of the +women shone in the bright sunlight which prevailed for the moment, as +though they had been varnished. If their faces had been as well formed +as their bodies, they would have been models of natural beauty. How +these people could remain so nearly naked with apparent comfort, while +we found overcoats quite necessary, was a problem difficult to solve +satisfactorily. + +"They were born so," said our first officer. "As you go through life +with your face and hands exposed, so they go with their entire bodies. +It is a mere matter of habit,--habit from babyhood to maturity." + +All of which is perfectly reasonable. It was observed that on the bottom +of their boats was a layer of flat stones, and on these, just amidship, +was spread a low, smouldering fire of dried vines and small twigs, +designed to temper the atmosphere about them. So frail were the boats +that one of the occupants was kept constantly baling out water. + +It is impossible to form any intelligent estimate as to how many of +these aborigines there are in and about the strait. They find food, like +the canvas-back ducks, in the wild celery, adding shell-fish and dried +berberries, and are a strictly nomadic people. After exhausting the +products of one vicinity, for the time being, they move on, but return +to the locality at a proper time, when nature has recuperated herself +and furnished a fresh supply of vegetable growth and edible shell-fish. +A stranded whale is a godsend to these savages, upon the putrid flesh of +which they live and fatten until all has disappeared. In their primitive +way they hunt this leviathan, but want of proper facilities renders them +rarely successful. Occasionally they manage to plant a spear in some +vital spot, deep enough to be effectual, so that the whale, after diving +to the depths of the sea, finally comes to the surface, near the place +where he was wounded, to thrash about and to die. Even then, unless it +is at a favorable point, the large body is liable to be swept away by +the strong tide setting through the strait, so that the natives seldom +secure a carcass by these means. + +Not long since one of the European mail steamers, on approaching the +Atlantic end of the strait, sighted an object which was at first thought +to be a sunken rock. If this was its character, it was all important to +obtain the exact location. A boat was lowered and pulled to the object, +when it was found to be the carcass of a dead whale, in which was a +stout wooden spear which had fatally wounded the creature. Securely +attached to the spear, by means of a rope made of animal sinews, there +were a couple of inflated bladders. The spear was evidently a Fuegian +weapon, and though it had finally cost the whale his life, the dead body +had been carried by the current far beyond the reach of those who had +caused the fatal wound. The discovery showed the crude manner in which +these savages seek to possess themselves of a whale occasionally and +thus to appease their barbaric appetites. They could not pursue one in +their frail boats, but the creature is sometimes found sleeping on the +surface of the sea, which is the Fuegian opportunity for approaching it +noiselessly, and for planting a spear in some vital part of the huge +body. Whales, when thus attacked, do not show fight, but their instinct +leads them to dive at once. + +A few whales were observed within the strait during our passage, some so +near as to show that they had no fear of the ship. It was curious to +watch them. There was a baby whale among the rest, five or six feet in +length, which kept very close to its dam; it suddenly disappeared once +while we were watching the school, though only to rise again to the +surface of the sea and emit a tiny fountain of spray from its diminutive +blow-hole. In passing a small inlet which formed a calm, sheltered piece +of water, still as an inland lake, there were seen upon its tranquil +bosom a few white geese, quietly floating, while close at hand upon some +rocks, a half score of awkward penguins were also observed, with their +ludicrous dummy wings, and their bodies supported in a half standing, +half sitting position. + +Ducks seem to be very abundant in the strait, but geese are scarce. An +occasional cormorant is caught sight of, with its distended pouch +bearing witness to its proverbial voracity. All the birds one sees in +these far away regions have each some peculiar adaptability to the +climate, the locality, or to both. The penguin never makes the mistake +of seeking our northern shores, nor is the albatross often seen north of +the fortieth degree of south latitude. True, were the former to +emigrate, he would have to swim the whole distance, but the latter is so +marvelously strong of wing that it has been said of him, he might +breakfast, if he chose, at the Cape of Good Hope, and dine on the coast +of Newfoundland. + +Terra del Fuego,--"Land of Fire,"--which makes the southern side of the +strait, opposite Patagonia, is composed of a very large group of islands +washed by the Atlantic on the east side and the Pacific on the west, +trending towards the southeast for about two hundred miles from the +strait, and terminating at Cape Horn. The largest of these islands is +East Terra del Fuego, which measures from east to west between three and +four hundred miles. One can only speak vaguely of detail, as this is +still a _terra incognita_. These islands do indeed form "a land of +desolation," as Captain Cook appropriately named them, sparsely +inhabited to be sure, but hardly fit for human beings. They are deeply +indented and cut up by arms of the sea, and composed mostly of sterile +mountains, whose tops are covered with perpetual snow. When the +mountains are not too much exposed to the ocean storms on the west +coast, they are scantily covered with a species of hardy, wind-distorted +trees from the water's edge upward to the snow line, which is here about +two thousand feet above the sea. In sheltered areas this growth is dense +and forest-like, especially nearest to the sea; in others it is +interspersed by bald and blanched patches of barren rocks. In some open +places, where they have worn themselves a broad path, the glaciers come +down to the water, discharging sections of ice constantly into the deep +sea, crowded forward and downward by the immense but slow-moving mass +behind,--a frozen river,--thus illustrating the habit of the +iceberg-producing glaciers of the far north. + +One never approaches this subject without recalling the lamented Agassiz +and his absorbing theories relating to it. + +The author has seen huge glaciers in Scandinavia and in Switzerland, +forming natural exhibitions of great interest; each country has +peculiarities in this respect. In the last-named country, for instance, +there is no example where a glacier descends lower than thirty-five +hundred feet above the sea level, while in Norway the only one of which +he can speak from personal observation has before it a large terminal +moraine, thus losing the capacity for that most striking performance, +the discharge of icebergs. The best example of this interesting +operation of nature which we have ever witnessed, and probably the most +effective in the world, is that of the Muir glacier in Alaska, where an +immense frozen river comes boldly down from the Arctic regions to the +sea level, with a sheer height at its terminus of over two hundred feet. +From this unique facade, nearly two miles in width, the constant +tumbling of icebergs into the sea is accompanied by a noise like a salvo +of cannon. This glacier, it should be remembered, also extends to the +bottom of the bay, where it enters it two hundred feet below the surface +of the water, thus giving it a height, or perhaps we should say a depth +and height combined, of fully four hundred feet. Icebergs are discharged +from the submerged portion continually, and float to the surface, thus +repeating the process below the water which is all the while going on +above it, and visible upon the perpendicular surface. Nothing which we +have seen in the Canadian Selkirks, in Switzerland, Norway, or +elsewhere, equals in size, grandeur, or clearly defined glacial action, +the famous Muir glacier of Alaska. + +The most remarkable peak to be seen in passing through the Strait of +Magellan is Mount Sarmiento, which is inexpressibly grand in its +proportions, dominating the borders of Cockburn's Channel near the +Pacific end of the great water-way. It is about seven thousand feet in +height, a spotless cone of snow, being in form extremely abrupt and +pointed. This frosty monarch sends down from its upper regions a score +or more of narrow, sky-blue glaciers to the sea through openings in the +dusky forest. Darwin was especially impressed by the sight of these when +he explored this region, and speaks of them as looking like so many +Niagaras, but they are only miniature glaciers after all. One sees in +the Pyrenees and the St. Gothard Pass similar cascades flowing down from +the mountains towards the valleys, except that in the one instance the +crystal waters are liquid, in the other they are quite congealed. The +group or range of which Sarmiento is the apex is very generally shrouded +in mist, and is visited by frequent rain, snow, and hail storms. We were +fortunate to see it under a momentary glow of warm sunshine, when the +sky was deepest blue, and the ermine cloak of the mountain was spangled +with frost gems. + +It would seem that such exposure to the elements in a frigid climate, +and such deprivations as must be constantly endured by the barbarous +natives who inhabit these bleak regions, must surely shorten their +lives, and perhaps it does so, though "the survival of the fittest," who +grow up to maturity, is in such numbers that one is a little puzzled in +considering the matter. A singular instance touching upon this point +came indirectly to the writer's knowledge. + +It appears that four Fuegian women, one of whom was about forty years of +age, and the others respectively about twenty, twenty-five, and thirty, +were picked up adrift in the strait a few years ago. It was believed +that they had escaped from some threatened tribal cruelty, but upon this +subject they would reveal nothing. These fugitives were kindly taken in +hand by philanthropic people at Sandy Point, and entertained with true +Christian hospitality. When first discovered they were, as usual, quite +naked, but were promptly clothed and properly housed. No more work was +required of them than they chose voluntarily to perform; in short, they +were most kindly treated, and though the best of care was taken of them +in a hygienic sense, they all gradually faded, and died of consumption +in less than two years. They seemed to be contented, were grateful and +cheerful, but clothing and a warm house to live in, odd as it may seem, +killed them! They were born to a free, open air and exposed daily life, +and their apparently sturdy constitutions required such a mode of +living. Civilized habits, strange to say, proved fatal to these wild +children of the rough Fuegian coast. + + + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + The Land of Fire.--Cape Horn.--In the Open Pacific.--Fellow + Passengers.--Large Sea-Bird.--An Interesting Invalid.--A + Weary Captive.--A Broken-Hearted Mother.--Study of the + Heavens.--The Moon.--Chilian Civil War.--Concepcion.--A + Growing City.--Commercial Importance.--Cultivating City + Gardens on a New Plan.--Important Coal Mines.--Delicious + Fruits. + + +Magellan named this extreme southern land, of which we have been +speaking, "the Land of Fire," because of the numerous fires which he, +from his ships, saw on the shore at night, and which were then supposed +by the discoverers to be of a volcanic character. The fact probably was +that the Indians did not fail to recognize the need of artificial heat, +especially at night, though they had not sufficient genius to teach them +to construct garments suitable to protect them from the inclemency of +the weather. These fires were kindled in the open air, but the natives +camped close about them, sleeping within their influence. + +Cape Horn, the extreme point of South America, on the outermost island +of the Fuegian group, is a lofty, steep black rock, with a pointed +summit, which has stood there for ages, like a watchful sentinel at his +post. Two thirds of Patagonia and Terra del Fuego--the western +part--belong to Chili, and the balance of both--the eastern +part--belongs to the Argentine Republic. A recently consummated treaty +between these two nationalities has fixed upon this final division of +territory, and thus settled a question which has long been a source of +dispute and ill feeling between them. This division makes Cape Horn +belong to Chili, not a specially desirable possession, to be sure, but +it is an indelible landmark. + +The sail along the coast northward after leaving the Pacific mouth of +the strait affords very little variety of scenery; the dull hue of the +barren shore is without change of color for hundreds of miles, until the +eye becomes weary of watching it, as we speed onward through the long, +indolent ocean swell. Arid hills and small indentures form the coast +line, but as we get further northward, this dreary sameness is varied by +the appearance of an occasional small settlement, forming a group of +dwellings of a rude character, possibly a mining region or a fishing +hamlet, connected with some business locality further inland. Sometimes +a green valley is descried, which makes a verdant gulch opening quite +down to the sea. + +This dense monotony becomes more and more tedious, until one longs to +get somewhere, anywhere, away from it. + +In the dearth of scenic interest, we fall to studying the various +passengers traveling between the Pacific ports, a great variety of +nationalities being represented. Among those of the second-class was a +handsome Italian boy, with marvelous eyes of jet and a profusion of long +black hair. He had a small organ hung about his neck, and carried an +intelligent monkey with him. The boy and his monkey joined in the +performance of certain simple, amusing tricks to elicit money from the +lookers-on. Both boy and monkey were happy in the result achieved, the +former in liberal cash receipts, the latter in being fed liberally with +cakes and bonbons. The capacity of monkeys for the rapid consumption of +palatable dainties is one of the unsolved mysteries of nature. + +Schools of porpoises played about the hull of the ship, and clouds of +sea-birds at times wheeled about the topmasts, or followed in the ship's +wake watching for refuse from the cook's department. Occasionally the +head of a large, deep-water turtle would appear for a moment above the +surface, twisting its awkward neck to watch the course of the steamer, +while shoreward the mottled surface of the gently undulating waves +betrayed the presence of myriads of small fish, over which hovered +predatory birds of the gull tribe. Now and again one would swoop swiftly +downward to secure a victim to its appetite. Few albatrosses were seen +after leaving the Pacific mouth of the strait. They are lovers of the +stormy Antarctic region, with the tempestuous atmosphere of which their +great power of wing enables them to cope successfully. The author has +seen one of these birds off the southern coast of New Zealand which +spread eleven feet from tip to tip of its extended wings. It was caught +with a floating bait by one of the seamen and drawn on board ship, where +it was measured, but not until a long contest of strength had taken +place between men and bird. The albatross was slightly wounded in the +mouth and throat by the process of catching him with a baited hook. But +they are hardy creatures, and unless injured in some vital part pay +little heed to a small wound. After this bird had been examined, it was +liberated, and resumed its graceful flight about the ship as though +nothing unusual had happened. + +An invalid girl of Spanish birth, who was perhaps sixteen years of age, +very tenderly cared for by her mother, was propped up daily in a +reclining seat upon deck, where she might find amusement in watching the +sea and distant shore, while inhaling the saline tonic of the +atmosphere. Poor child, how her large, dark eyes, pallid lips, and +painful respiration appealed to one's sympathy! It required no +professional knowledge to divine her approaching fate. She was really in +the last stages of consumption, and was on her way to a popular +sanitarium near the coast, hoping against reason that the change might +prove restorative and of radical benefit. It was pleasant to observe how +promptly every one on board strove to add to her comfort by simple +attentions and services, and how the choicest bits from the table were +secured to tempt her capricious appetite. The grateful mother's eyes +were often suffused with tears, carefully hidden from the gentle +invalid. Her maternal heart was too full for the utterance even of +thanks. + +"Ah," said she to us in a low tone of voice, "she is the last of my +three children, two boys and this girl. The two boys faded away just +like this. Do you think there is any hope for her, senor?" + +"Why not, senora? We should never cease to hope. The land breeze and the +springs where you are going may do wonders." + +Heaven forgive us. The child's fate was only too plainly to be read in +her attenuated form, and the dull action of her almost congested lungs. + +One day a small, weary sea-bird, newly out of its nest, flew on board +our ship quite exhausted, and being easily secured, was given to the +young girl to pet. It soon became quite at home in her lap, eating small +bread crumbs and little bits of meat from her fingers. Confidence being +thus established between them, the little half-fledged creature would +not willingly leave its new-found benefactress. It seemed to be a +providential occurrence, affording considerable diversion to the sick +one. For a while, at least, she was aroused from the listlessness which +is so very significant in consumption, and her whole heart went out to +the confiding little waif. It was a pretty sight to see the bird nestle +contentedly close to her bosom, the pale-faced girl scarcely less +fragile than the little feathered stranger she had adopted. No one +thought that Death was hovering so very near, yet the third night after +the bird flew on board the young girl lay in her shroud, with an ivory +crucifix, typical of the Romish faith, in one hand, and the other +resting upon the inanimate bird she had befriended, which had also +breathed its last. + +Attempted consolation to a freshly bleeding heart is almost always +premature, and there are few, very few, human beings competent to offer +it effectually under the best circumstances. The sad-eyed mother +listened to a few well-meant words of this character, but slowly shook +her head and made no reply. Time only could assuage the keenness of her +sorrow. By and by she spoke, with her eyes still resting upon that pale, +dead face, where nothing but a wonderful peace and serenity were now +expressed. + +"Have birds souls, do you think?" she asked, in a low, trembling voice. + +"Possibly," was the reply; "but why do you ask?" + +"Because," she continued, speaking very slowly, "that tiny creature and +my darling died almost at the same moment, and if so, her spirit would +have company on its way to the good God." + +The unconscious poetry of the thought, so quietly expressed by the +sorrowing mother, as she sat beside the corpse with folded hands and +burning eyes, which could not find the relief of tears, was very +touching. + +The motor of the big ship throbbed on, the routine of duty continued +unchanged, passengers ate, drank, and were merry, the sea-birds wheeled +about us uttering their sharp contentious cries, and we pressed forward +through the opposing wind and tide, as though nothing had happened. Only +a mother's loving heart was broken. Only a soul gone to its God. Surely +such sweet innocence must be welcome in heaven. But ah! the great +mystery of it all! + +Most intelligent people will agree with us that no study known to +science can compare with astronomy for absorbing interest. At sea one +finds ample time, convenience, and incentive to study the sky, populous +with countless hosts of constellations. Especially is it interesting to +watch the numerous phases of the moon, beginning with her advent as a +delicate crescent of pale light in the eastern sky, after the sun has +set, and continuing to the period when she becomes full. Each succeeding +night it is found that she has moved farther and farther westward, +until, arriving at the full, she rises nearly at the same time that the +sun sets. From the period of full moon, the disc of light diminishes +nightly until the last quarter is reached, and the moon is then seen +high over the ship's topmast head, before day breaks in the east. Thus +she goes on waning, all the while drawing closer to the sun, until +finally she becomes absorbed in his light. The interesting process +completed, she again comes into view at twilight in the west, in her +exquisite crescent form, once more to pass through a similar series of +changes. + +The superstition of sailors touching the moonlight is curious. No +foremast hand will sleep where it shines directly upon him. They are +voluble in relating many instances of comrades rendered melancholy-mad +by so doing. "They talk about the moon making the ebb and flow of the +tide," said an able seaman to the author. "There's lots of queer things +about the moon, but _that's_ d--d nonsense, saving your honor's +presence." Thus Jack eagerly absorbs superstitious ideas, and ignores +natural phenomena. No humble class of men are so intelligent in a +general way, and yet at the same time so universally superstitious, as +those who go down to the sea in ships. + +In coming on to the west coast it is natural, perhaps, for the reader to +expect us to refer briefly to the late civil war in Chili, but we have +not attempted in these notes to depict the local political condition of +any of the states of South America. In the past they have most of them +shown themselves as changeable as the wind, and remarks which would +depict the status of to-day might be quite unsuited to that of +to-morrow. The average reader is sufficiently familiar with the struggle +so lately ended in Chili. One party was led by the late President +Balmaceda, in opposition to the other, known as the Congressional party. +That which brought about this open warfare was the refusal of Congress +any longer to recognize the president on account of his high-handed, +illegal, and venal official conduct. A line will illustrate the cause of +the outbreak. It was the Constitution of the country as against a +Dictatorship. The President of the Chilian Republic, like the President +of the United States, has a personal authority such as nowadays is +wielded by few constitutional monarchs. Balmaceda proved to be a tyrant +of the first water, abusing the power of his position to condemn to +death those who opposed him, without even the semblance of a trial. He +succeeded in attaching most of the regular army to his cause by profuse +promises and the free use of money, while the navy went almost bodily +over to the side of Congress. The contest assumed revolutionary +proportions, and many battles were fought. As a casual observer, the +author heartily coincided with the Congressional party, and rejoices at +their wholesale triumph. + +The suicidal act which ended Balmaceda's life was no heroic resort, but +the deed of a coward fearing to face the consequences of his murderous +career. It is not the man who has been actuated by high and noble +sentiments who cuts his throat or blows out his brains. Such is the act +of the cunning fraud who realizes that he has not only totally failed in +his object, but that his true character is known to the world. Suicide +has been declared to be the final display of egoism, and it certainly +leaves the world with one less thoroughly selfish character. The +disappearance of such an individual may produce a momentary ripple on +the surface of time, but it fails to leave any permanent mark. + +Nearly three hundred miles south of Santiago, capital of Chili, on the +Pacific coast, is situated the city of Concepcion. It stands on the +right bank of the river Biobio, six or seven miles from its mouth, and +contains about twenty-five thousand inhabitants. The people seem to be +exceptionally active and enterprising, though at this writing suffering +from the effects of the late civil war. It is the third city in point of +size and importance in the republic, and dates from over three hundred +years ago. It will be remembered also that it once held the place now +occupied by Santiago as capital of the country. The city is built in the +valley of Mocha, under the coast range of hills, and is justly famed, +like Puebla in Mexico, for its pretty women and beautiful flowers. It is +a clean and thrifty town, with handsome shops, a charming plaza, and an +attractive alameda. This latter deserves special mention. It is a mile +long, and beautified with several rows of tall Lombardy poplars, the +sight of which carried us to another hemisphere, where those lovely +Italian plains stretch away from the environs of Milan towards the +foothills of the neighboring Alps and the more distant Apennines. Great +things are prognosticated for Concepcion in the near future by its +friends, and it is already the principal town of southern Chili. The +streets are well paved, and lined by handsome business blocks, together +with pleasant dwelling-houses, built low, to avoid the effect of +earthquakes, the universal material being sun-dried bricks, finished +externally in stucco. The facades are painted in harlequin variety of +colors, yellow, blue, and peach-blossom prevailing. The town has really +more the appearance of a northern than a southern city, and has long +been connected with Valparaiso by railway. + +Some of the most extensive coal mines on this part of the continent have +been discovered in this vicinity, and are being worked on a large scale. +In fact, Coronal, not far away, is the great coaling station on the +Chilian coast for steamships bound to Europe or Panama. One would +suppose that this coal mining must be quite profitable, as we were told +that twenty-five and even thirty dollars per ton was realized for it +delivered at the nearest tide-water. The port of Concepcion is some +seven miles from the city, where the river Biobio flows into the ocean +at Talcahuano,--pronounced Tal-ca-wha'no,--a small town on Concepcion +Bay possessing an excellent harbor. There are here a large marine dock, +an arsenal, and a seaman's hospital. Close by the shore is a spacious +and convenient railway station. The bay is some six miles wide by seven +in length. There is a resident population of nearly four thousand, who +form an extremely active community. The majority of the houses are of a +very humble character and, like those of Concepcion, are built of adobe. + +Spanish capitals in the West Indies and South America were originally +placed, like Concepcion, some distance from the coast, to render them +more secure against the attack of pirates and lawless sea-rovers, who +might land from their vessels, burn a town on the seashore, after +robbing it of all valuables, and easily make good their escape; whereas +to march inland and attack a town far from their base, or to proceed up +a shallow river in boats for such a purpose, was a far more difficult, +if not indeed an impossible thing to do. Thus Callao is the harbor of +Lima; Valparaiso, of Santiago; and Talcahuano, of Concepcion. The +situation of the last named capital is admirable, at the head of the +bay, which affords one of the best harbors on the west coast of the +continent. When the transcontinental railway from Buenos Ayres, on the +Atlantic side, is finished, surmounting the passes of the +Andes,--already "a foregone conclusion,"--it will have its termination +here at Talcahuano, which must then become a great shipping point for +New Zealand and Australia. Half a dozen lines of European mail steamers +already touch here regularly. The river is too shallow to admit of +vessels drawing more than a few feet of water ascending it so far as +Concepcion, but Talcahuano is all sufficient as a port. + +Few places have been so frequently devastated by fire, flood, and +earthquakes, or so often ravaged by war, as has this interesting city. +In the early days the Araucanian Indians put the settlers to the sword +again and again. This was the bravest of all the native Indian tribes of +South America, and is still an unconquered people. The city was laid in +ruins so late as 1835 by an earthquake, though no special signs of this +destructive visitor are to be seen here to-day. Still, one cannot but +feel that with such possibilities hanging over the locality, there must +be few people willing to expend freely of their means for substantial +building purposes, or to make Concepcion a permanent place of abode. +Human nature adapts itself to all exigencies, however, and the place +grows rapidly, notwithstanding the discouraging circumstances which we +have named. It is not the native but the foreign element of the +population which is doing so much for this region. Were the mingled +native race to be left to themselves, there would be few signs of +progress evinced; they would rapidly lapse into a condition of +semi-barbarism. The Chilian proper is a very poor creature as regards +morals, intelligence, or true manhood; his instincts are brutal and his +aims predaceous. + +Like all South American cities, Concepcion is laid out by rule and +compass, the fairly broad streets crossing each other at right angles. +There is a large and costly cathedral, but a wholesome fear of +earthquakes has caused it to be left without the usual twin towers, +which gives it an unfinished appearance. The place also contains other +churches, a well-appointed theatre, two hospitals, and several edifices +devoted to charitable purposes. Opposite the cathedral stands the +Intendencia, a large and handsome government house. Telephones and +electric lights have long been adopted, and the telegraph poles do much +abound. In these foreign places, so far away from home, to see the +streets lined, as they are with us, by big, tall poles, holding aloft a +maze of wires, is very suggestive; but where can one go that they are +not? It is curious to realize that we can step into an office close at +hand and promptly communicate with any part of the world. We may have +sailed over the ocean many thousands of miles, and have consumed months +to reach the spot where we stand, but electricity, like thought, +annihilates space, and will take our message instantly to its +destination, though it be at the farthest end of the globe. These +marvelous facilities are no longer confined to populous centres. +Electricity not only bears our messages to the uttermost parts of the +world, but it propels the tramway cars in Rome, Boston, and Munich, +while it also lights the streets of New York, Auckland in New Zealand, +as well as of London and Honolulu. + +The importance of Concepcion is manifest from the fact that several new +railway connections terminating here have lately been accomplished; but +the important event already referred to, of the transcontinental +railway, will finally insure her commercial greatness. The town is +surrounded by a widespread, fertile country, abounding in both mineral +and agricultural wealth, equal to, if not surpassing, any other province +in Chili. The city was financially strong before the late civil war, and +has still some very wealthy residents. The principal bank of Concepcion, +with a capital of one million dollars, paid a dividend to its +stockholders in 1890 of sixteen per cent. on the previous year's +business. The cathedral and government house, already spoken of, front +on the plaza, a large open square ornamented with statuary, trees, and +flowers, the latter kept in most exquisite order and constant bloom by +means of a singular and original device. It seems that each separate +plot of these grounds is owned or cared for by a different family of the +citizens, and that a spirit of emulation is thus excited by the effort +of the several parties to make their special plot excel in its beauty +and fragrance. This keeps the whole plaza in a lovely condition, and +makes it the pride of the city. + +Society and business circles are mostly composed of foreigners, the +German element largely predominating. The native, or humbler classes, as +we have already intimated, are a wretchedly low people. They "wake" +their dead before burial, much after the style which prevails in +Ireland, except that the process is more exaggerated in manner. Drinking +and debauchery characterize these occasions, which are continued often +for three days at a time, or so long as the means for indulgence in +excess last. In case of youthful deaths, the child's cheeks are painted +red, and the head is crowned in a fantastic manner, the body being +dressed and placed in a sitting position, thus forming a strange and +hideous sight. Such treatment of a corpse could only be tolerated by a +barbarous people. In the environs of the town, Lazarus jostles Dives. +There are here many hovels, as well as a better class of residences. +Some of them are wretchedly poor, built of mud and bamboo, the +inhabitants half-naked and wholly starved, if one may judge by their +appearance. On Saturday, which in Spanish towns and cities is called +"poor day," the streets of Concepcion are full of either assumed or real +mendicants. The Spanish race is one of chronic beggars,--they seem born +so. Scarcely less of a nuisance than the beggars are the army of +half-starved, mongrel, neglected dogs, that throng in the streets of the +city, rivaling Constantinople. + +It should be mentioned that Concepcion has a good system of tramway +service, and that the cars have attached to them a class of neat, +pretty, and modest girls for conductors, who wear natty straw hats, snow +white aprons, and are supplied with a leather cash bag hung by a strap +about the neck. It seems rather incongruous that while so many evidences +of real progress abound in this city, water, the prime necessity of +life, should be peddled about the streets by the bucketful. Now is the +time to perfect a system of drainage, and to introduce an adequate +supply of good water, from easily available sources. + +The inexhaustible coal fields already mentioned, which are situated but +a few miles away, must prove to be a lasting source of prosperity to +Concepcion. They are far more important and valuable, all things +considered, than a gold or silver mine near at hand would be. Indeed, it +is found in the long run that the latter kind of mineral discoveries do +not always tend to the material benefit of the community in which they +are found. The earth produces far more profitable crops than gold and +precious stones, even when considered in the most mercenary light. The +business prospects of Concepcion, as we have pointed out in detail, are +exceedingly promising. That the city is destined eventually to rival +Valparaiso seems more than probable, and yet there is another side to +this favorable aspect thus presented, which it is not wise to ignore. +True, the climate is equable and healthy, but that great drawback, the +liability to earthquakes and tidal waves, still remains, like a dark, +portending shadow. In spite of this startling possibility there is +something of a "boom" already instituted, at this writing, as to the +prices of land in and about both the port and city of Concepcion. It is +a fact that people will soon become calloused and heedless of almost any +familiar danger. Jack turns in and quickly falls to sleep, when the +watch below is called and relieves him from the deck, though the ship is +in the midst of cyclone latitudes, and while a half-gale is blowing. The +people of Torre del Grecco, at the base of the volcano, do not sleep any +less soundly to-day because Pompeii was utterly destroyed by Vesuvius +eighteen or nineteen centuries ago. The earthquake of 1835 first shook +Talcahuano nearly to pieces, and then completed its destruction by a +tidal wave which swept what remained of it into the sea. + +It goes without saying that most of the fruits and staple products of +the tropics are to be found both at Concepcion and at the port of +Talcahuano. Each place we visit seems to have some specialty in this +line. Here, it is the watermelon. Favored by the soil and the climate, +this fruit is developed to its maximum in weight, richness of flavor, +and general perfection. They are sold cheap enough everywhere. A centavo +will buy a large ripe one. Street carts and donkeys are laden with them, +and so are the decks of all outgoing vessels. It is both food and drink +to the poor peons, who consume the fruit in quantities strongly +suggestive of cholera, dropsy, or some other dreadful illness. Any one +accustomed to travel in our Southern States, in the right season of the +year, will have observed how voraciously the negro population, young and +old, eat of the cheap, ripe crop of watermelons; but these South +American peons have a capacity for storage and digestion of this really +wholesome article, beyond all comparison. A child not more than ten +years of age will devour the ripe portion of a large melon in a few +minutes, and no ill effects seem to follow. An adult eats two at a meal +which would weigh, we are afraid to say how much, but they are +considerably larger than the average melons which are brought to New +England from the South. After all, the watermelon is healthful food, +though it is more filling than nourishing. It will be remembered that +the famous fasting individual, Dr. Tanner, after eating nothing for +forty days and forty nights, took for his first article of nourishment, +at the close of this time of fasting, half a watermelon, and that he +retained and digested it successfully. + + + + + CHAPTER XV. + + Valparaiso.--Principal South American Port of the + Pacific.--A Good Harbor.--Tallest Mountain on this + Continent.--The Newspaper Press.--Warlike Aspect.--Girls as + Car Conductors.--Chilian Exports.--Foreign + Merchants.--Effects of Civil War.--Gambling in Private + Houses.--Immigration.--Culture of the + Grape.--Agriculture.--Island of Juan Fernandez. + + +Valparaiso--"Vale of Paradise"--was thus fancifully named because of its +assumed loveliness. True, it is beautifully situated, and is a fine city +of its class, located in an admirable semicircular bay, not upon one, +but upon many hills, backed by a crescent-shaped mountain range. But +when one compares its harbor to that of Naples, or Sydney in Australia, +for picturesqueness of scenery, as is often done, it only provokes +invidious remarks. The matchless harbor of Rio Janeiro, on the eastern +coast of the continent, already fully described in these pages, is far +more charming in general effect and in all of its surroundings, not to +mention that it is more than twenty times as large. Valparaiso is the +principal seaport of Chili, and indeed, for the present, it is the main +port of the entire west coast of South America. By consulting the map it +will be readily seen that Chili must ever be a maritime nation, +depending more upon an effective navy than an army. The possession of +the national ships of war by the Congressional party in the revolution +so lately terminated gave them virtual control of the cities along the +coast, at the outbreak of the emeute, and this means they employed +against the Presidential party with the most ruthless effect. They did +not hesitate to savagely cannonade and shell a city, though two thirds +of the occupants were their own friends and supporters, provided it was +held ostensibly, and for the time being only, by the supporters of +Balmaceda. The outrageous bombardment of Iquique is an instance in +illustration of this charge. The Chilian delights to be cruel; it is his +instinct to destroy and to plunder. He is by nature boastful, +passionate, and headstrong. This disposition seems to be born in the +race, is in fact a matter of heredity, fostered by bull-fights and +kindred entertainments. But the country must now pay for the enormous +destruction of property of which the directors of the civil war have +been guilty. The European powers have already begun to send in their +demands for damages done to their non-combatant merchants. England comes +first with a bill calling for payment of sixty million dollars. Spain, +Italy, and Germany will follow. It is estimated that a hundred million +dollars will be required to settle these foreign demands. Chili must +pay. There is no avoiding it. Reckless destruction will be found to be +rather an expensive amusement in future for these South Americans. Their +outrageous and murderous treatment of citizens of the United States who +land upon their shore is also like to cost them a heavy sum in way of +penalty. The present is a good opportunity to teach them a salutary +lesson. The Chilians will not be in a hurry to repeat crimes which they +find entail sure and swift punishment. + +A majority of the population of Chili lives, as a rule, within a few +miles of the sea, and her coast line extends from Cape Horn northward +over two thousand miles to the borders of Bolivia and Peru. With this +extraordinary length, she has an average width of hardly more than a +hundred miles, bordered on the east by the western slope of the Andes, +whose eastern side belongs to the Argentine Republic, and on the west by +the Pacific Ocean. The present estimated area of the republic is about +two hundred and twenty thousand square miles, containing a population of +considerably less than three millions, though its capacious territory +could be so divided as to make twenty-five states as large as +Massachusetts. Sixteen hundred miles of steam railroads render the +principal sections of Chili accessible to one another. The coast line +has from time to time been undergoing decided changes through volcanic +action. In 1822, after a visible commotion, the shore was permanently +raised three feet at Valparaiso, and four feet at Quintere. This change +extended over an area of a hundred thousand miles. Another but lesser +elevation took place in the same region in 1835. + +There seems to be no accounting for the vagaries of a land subject to +volcanic influences. + +The harbor of Valparaiso is well protected on the east, south, and west, +but it is open to the north, from which direction come very heavy winds +and seas during a couple of months in the winter season, often causing +serious casualties among the shipping which may chance to be anchored in +the harbor. A "norther" is as much dreaded here as it is at Vera Cruz +and along the Gulf of Mexico generally. + +The entrance to the harbor is on its north side, and is a mile in width, +more or less. The flags of nearly all nations are seen here, though the +Stars and Stripes are less frequently to be met with than others. The +city lies at the base of the closely surrounding hills, up whose sides +and in the ravines the dwelling-houses have been constructed, tier above +tier. Over all, further inland, looms the frosted head of grand old +Aconcagua, twenty-two thousand feet and more in height, believed to be +the tallest mountain in the western hemisphere. This mighty member of +the Andean Cordillera is said to be ninety miles away, but it is so +lofty and dominant, as seen through the clear atmosphere, that it +appears almost within cannon range. At this writing the harbor presents +quite a warlike aspect. English, American, French, German, and Chilian +men-of-war are anchored here, looking after their several national +interests, as affected by the civil war. The bugle calls of the several +ships, the morning and evening guns, the display of naval bunting, +together with the flitting hither and thither of well-manned boats, all +unite to form a gay and suggestive scene. The Chilian cruisers in the +hands of the revolutionists would not hesitate to batter down any +government buildings on the coast, destroying incidentally the domestic +residences and merchandise of non-combatants, were they not restrained +by the presence of foreign flags and guns. When Balmaceda undertook by a +proclamation to shut up the ports of Chili, and declared them blockaded, +he was told by the several naval commanders on the coast that he could +not establish a paper blockade, and that if the merchant ships of their +several countries were in any way interfered with, he would have to +fight somebody else besides the revolutionists. The ports were therefore +kept as open to legitimate commerce as they ever were. + +The author was disappointed at not being able to reach Santiago, the +capital of Chili, which is situated at the foot of the western slope of +the Andes, nearly two thousand feet above tide-water. It is connected +with Valparaiso by railway, and under ordinary circumstances can be +reached in eight hours. The difficulties caused by the civil war, and +the suspicion with which all foreigners were regarded, proved impossible +to surmount without a protracted effort, and submitting to any amount of +red tape. Santiago was founded by one of Pizarro's captains, in 1541, +and now contains about two hundred thousand inhabitants. There are some +Americans and many English resident in Santiago, together with Germans +and Frenchmen, the foreigners being mostly merchants. We were told of +two familiar statues which are to be seen in a public square of the +city, in front of the post-office. One represents George Washington, the +other Abraham Lincoln, both of which were stolen from Lima during the +late conflict between Chili and Peru. + +But this is a digression. Let us once more return to the commercial port +of Valparaiso. + +A considerable portion of this city has been reclaimed from the sea, and +still more land suitable for the erection of business warehouses near +the shore is being added to this part of the town. Local enterprise, +however, is pretty much suspended for the time being, owing to the +disturbed condition of political affairs. The mountains near at hand +supply ample stone and soil for the purpose of extending the area of +this business portion of the town. Sixty or seventy years ago, the city +contained only a single street, on the edge of the harbor; to-day it has +all the appearance and belongings of a great commercial capital, and a +population of a hundred and thirty thousand. Except Rio Janeiro and +Buenos Ayres, we saw nowhere thoroughfares more full of energetic life +and business activity. The main avenue is the Calle Victoria, which runs +round the entire water front, occupied by the banks, hotels, insurance +offices, and the best shops in the town. + +There are four large daily newspapers published in Valparaiso, whose +united circulation exceeds thirty thousand copies. "El Mercurio" has the +eminent respectability of age, having been published regularly for a +period of half a century. The facility for news-gathering is very good, +as this city is connected with the world at large by submarine cable, +but no such detailed and complete summary of intelligence is attempted +as our North American journals exhibit daily. While on this subject, we +may add that there are no newspapers in Europe, or elsewhere, which will +compare with those of the United States in the average ability and +journalistic merit which characterizes them. We do not say this in a +boastful spirit, but simply make the statement as an incontrovertible +fact. + +Some of the business structures along the harbor front of Valparaiso are +fine edifices architecturally, and many of the retail stores will +compare favorably with the average of ours in Washington Street, Boston. +The elegant class of goods displayed in some of these establishments +shows that the population is an habitually extravagant and free-living +one. We were told, by way of illustration, that millionaires were as +plenty as blackberries before the late civil war, while many wealthy +men, foreseeing the catastrophe which was about to occur, shrewdly +prepared for it, and by careful management saved their property intact. +Many of the private houses on Victoria Street are spacious, elegant, and +costly, the occupants living in regal style, to support which must cost +a very heavy annual outlay. It appears that President Balmaceda +discovered, during the late struggle, where and how to lay his hands +upon the resources of a few of these citizens, and that such he +completely impoverished, under one pretext and another, using their +property to support his armed minions, and to swell the aggregate of +funds which he sent for deposit in his own name to Europe. One or two +cases of this sort were related to us in which the citizens were not +only made to give up the whole of their private property, but were +finally imprisoned and sentenced to death upon a charge of treason, +without even the semblance of a trial! + +It is no marvel, to those who know the facts of his career, that a man +who was guilty of such crimes, when at last brought to bay, finding +himself betrayed and deserted by his pretended friends, should have +blown out his own brains. The posthumous papers which he left, and +wherein he tries to pose as a martyr, are simply a ludicrous failure. +Jose Manuel Balmaceda was in the fifty-second year of his age when he +committed suicide, and was at the time hiding for fear of the infuriated +citizens of Santiago, who would certainly have hanged the would-be +dictator without the least hesitation or formality, if they could have +got possession of his person. + +The tramway-cars of Valparaiso are of the two-story pattern, like those +of Copenhagen and New Orleans, also found in many of the European +cities. They have as conductors, like Concepcion, very pretty half-breed +girls, who appear to thoroughly understand their business, and to +fulfill its requirements to universal satisfaction. If an intoxicated or +unruly person appears on the cars, the conductress does not attempt +personally to eject him. She has only to hold up her hand, and the +nearest policeman, of whom there are always a goodly number about, jumps +on to the car and settles the matter in short order. Girls were thus +first employed in order that the men who ordinarily fill these places +might be drafted into the army, during the late war between Chili and +Peru, and as the system proved to be a complete success, it has been +continued ever since. The fare charged on these tram-cars is five cents +for each inside passenger, and half that sum for the outside; and, as in +Paris, when the seats are all full, a little sign is shown upon the car, +signifying that no more persons will be admitted, none being allowed to +stand. The same rule is enforced in London, and the thought suggested +itself as to whether our West End Railway Company of Boston might not +take an important hint therefrom. + +The ladies and gentlemen of the city are a well dressed class, the +former adopting Parisian costumes, and the gentlemen wearing a full +dress of dark broadcloth, with tall stove-pipe hats. The women of the +more common class wear the national "manta," and the men the "poncha." +The former is a dark, soft shawl which covers in part the head and face +of the wearer. The latter is a long, striped shawl, with a slit cut in +the centre, through which the head of the wearer is thrust. Nothing +could be more simple in construction than both of these garments, and +yet they are somehow very picturesque. + +As we have already intimated, it is soon learned, upon landing at any +port of the commercial world, what the staple products of the +neighborhood are, by simply noting the visible merchandise made ready +for shipment. Here we have sugar, wool, and cotton prevailing over all +other articles. Guano and nitrate, which also form specialties here, are +represented, though the supply of the former is pretty much exhausted. +The nitrate trade is controlled by an Englishman of large fortune, +Colonel North, known here as the "Nitrate King." This valuable +fertilizer is the deposit of the nitrate of soda in the beds of lakes +long since dried up, the waters of which originally contained in +solution large quantities of this material. These lakes in olden times +received the flow of a great water-shed, and having no outlet, save by +evaporation, accumulated and precipitated at the bottom the chemical +elements flowing into them from the surrounding country. The article is +now dug up and put through a certain process, then shipped to foreign +countries as a fertilizer, believed to put new heart into exhausted +soil. England consumes an immense quantity of it annually, and many +ships are regularly employed in its transportation. + +The custom house, situated near the landing at Valparaiso, is a somewhat +remarkable structure, having a long, low facade surmounted by tall, +handsome towers. This is eminently the business part of the town, and is +called "El Puerto." The larger share of the residences of the merchants +and well-to-do citizens is situated on the hillsides, to reach which it +is necessary to ascend long flights of steps. At certain points +elevators are also supplied by which access is gained to the upper +portions of the town, after the fashion already described at Bahia, on +the east coast. + +The majority of people doing business in Valparaiso are English, and +English is the almost universal language. Even the names upon the city +signs are suggestive in this direction. Among the public houses are the +"Queen's Arms," the "Royal Oak," the "Red Lion," and so on. Besides an +English school, there are three churches belonging to that nationality. +There are numerous free schools, both of a primary and advanced +character, an elaborately organized college, two or three theatres, and +the usual charitable establishments, including a public library. The +principal part of the city is lighted by electricity, and the telephone +is in general use. A special effort has lately been made to promote the +education of the rising generation in Chili, and we know of no field +where the endeavor would be more opportune. Such an effort is never out +of place, but here it is imperatively called for. The almost universal +ignorance of the common people of Chili is deplorable, and little +improvement can be hoped for as regards their moral or physical +condition, except through the means of educating the youth of the +country. A commissioner-general of education was appointed some time +ago, who has already visited Europe and North America to study the best +modern methods adopted in the public schools. This is a tangible +evidence of improvement which speaks for itself, and is a great stride +of this people in the right direction. Of course the late political +crisis will greatly retard the hoped-for results, just as it will put +Chili back some years in her national progress, whatever may be the +final outcome in other respects. + +Gambling is a prevailing national trait in this country, by no means +confined to any one class of the community. The street gamin plays for +copper centavos, while the pretentious caballero does the same for gold +coins. It is quite common in family circles, held to be very +aristocratic, to see the gaming table laid out every evening, as +regularly as the table upon which the meals are served. Money in large +sums is lost and won with assumed indifference in these private circles, +whole fortunes being sometimes sacrificed at a single sitting. Gambling +seems to be held exempt from the censure of either church or state, +since both officials and priests indulge in all sorts of games of +chance. There are the usual public lotteries always going on to tempt +the poorer classes of the people, and to capture their hard-earned +wages. + +One virtue must be freely accorded to the business centre of this city, +namely, that of cleanliness, in which respect it is far in advance of +most of the capitals on the east coast of South America. Being the first +seaport of any importance in the South Pacific, it is naturally a place +of call for European bound steamers coming from New Zealand and +Australia, as well as those sailing from Panama and San Francisco. In +view of the fact that six hundred and fifty thousand people emigrate +from Europe annually, seeking new homes in foreign lands, the Chilian +government, in common with some others of the South American states, has +for several years past held forth the liberal inducement of substantial +aid to all bona fide settlers from foreign countries. Each newcomer who +is the head of a family is given two hundred acres of available land, +together with lumber and other materials for building a comfortable +dwelling-house, also a cart, a plough, and a reasonable amount of seed +for planting. Besides these favors which we have enumerated, some other +important considerations are offered. Only a small number, comparatively +speaking, of emigrants have availed themselves of such liberal terms, +and these have been mostly Germans. If such an offer were properly +promulgated and laid before the poor peasantry of Ireland and Spain and +Italy, it would seem as though many of those people would hasten to +accept it in the hope of bettering their condition in life. Whether such +a result would follow emigration would of course depend upon many other +things besides the liberality of the offer of the Chilian government. +The Germans form a good class of emigrants, perhaps the best, often +bringing with them considerable pecuniary means, together with habits of +industry. The late civil war has put a stop to emigration for a period +at least, and will interfere with its success for some time to come, if +indeed Chili ever assumes quite so favorable a condition as she has +sacrificed. + +There are some districts, including Limache and Pauquehue, where grape +culture has been brought to great perfection, and where it is conducted +on a very large scale. Wine-making is thus taking its place as one of +the prosperous industries of the country. The amount of the native +product consumed at home is very large, and a regular system of exports +to other South American ports has been established. All of the most +important modes of culture, such as have been proven most successful in +France and California, have been carefully adopted here. Tramways are +laid to intersect the various parts of these extensive vineyards, to aid +in the gathering and transportation of the ripe fruit, while the +appliances for expressing the juice of the grape are equally well +systematized. One vineyard, belonging to the Consino family, near +Santiago, covers some two hundred acres, closely planted with selected +vines from France, Switzerland, and California, the purpose being to +retain permanently such grades as are found best adapted to the soil and +the climate of Chili. The white wines are the most popular here, but red +Burgundy brands are produced with good success. The vines are trained on +triple lines of wires, stretched between iron posts, presenting an +appearance of great uniformity, the long rows being planted about three +or four feet apart. Every arrangement for artificial irrigation is +provided, it being an absolute necessity in this district of Chili. +Trenches are cut along the rows of vines, through which the water, from +ample reservoirs, is permitted to flow at certain intervals; +particularly when the grape begins to swell and ripen. The fruit is not +trodden here, as it is in Italy, but is thoroughly expressed by means of +proper machinery. + +Geographically, Chili is, as we have intimated, a long, narrow country, +lying south of Peru and Bolivia, ribbon-like in form, and divided into +nineteen provinces. It has been considerably enlarged by conquest from +both of the nationalities just named; including the important territory +of Terapaca. The name "Chili" signifies snow, with which the tops of +most of the mountain ranges upon the eastern border are always covered. +Still, extending as she does, from latitude 24 deg. south to Cape Horn, she +embraces every sort of climate, from burning heat to glacial frosts, +while nearly everything that grows can be produced upon her soil. Though +she has less than three million inhabitants, still her territory exceeds +that of any European nationality except Russia. The manifest difference +between the aggregate of her population and that of her square miles +does not speak very favorably for the healthful character of the +climate. There is no use in attempting to disguise the fact that Chili +has rather a hard time of it, with sweeping epidemics, frequent +earthquakes, and devouring tidal waves. The country contains thirty +volcanoes, none of which are permanently active, but all of which have +their periods of eruption, and most of which exhibit their dangerous +nature by emitting sulphurous smoke and ashes. The unhygienic condition +of life among her native races accounts for the large death-rate +prevailing at all times, and especially among the peon children, thus +preventing a natural increase in the population. Unless a liberal +immigration can be induced, Chili must annually decrease in population. +As regards the foreign whites and the educated natives who indulge in no +extravagant excesses, living with a reasonable regard for hygiene, +doubtless Chili is as healthy as most countries, but there is still to +be remembered the erratic exhibitions of nature, a possibility always +hanging like the sword of Damocles over this region. A whole town may, +without the least warning, vanish from the face of the earth in the +space of five minutes, or be left a mass of ruins. + +It is in the districts of the north that the rich mines and the nitrate +fields are found, but the central portion of the country, and +particularly towards the south, is the section where the greatest +agricultural results are realized, and which will continue to yield in +abundance after the mineral wealth shall have become quite exhausted. +The southern portion of the country embraces Patagonia, which has lately +been divided between Chili and the Argentine Republic. In short, Chili +is no exception to the rule that agriculture, and not mining products, +is the true and permanent reliance of any country. + +A little less than four hundred miles off the shore of Valparaiso, on +the same line of latitude, is the memorable island of Juan Fernandez. It +is politically an unimportant dependence of Chili, though of late years +it has indirectly been made the means of producing some income for the +national treasury. There was a period in which Chili maintained a penal +colony here, but the convicts mutinied, and massacred the officers who +had charge of them. These convicts succeeded in getting away from the +island on passing ships. No attempt has been made since that time to +reestablish a penal colony on this island. To-day the place is occupied +by thriving vegetable gardeners, and raisers of stock. Every intelligent +youth will remember the island as the spot where De Foe laid the scene +of his popular and fascinating story of "Robinson Crusoe." The island is +about twenty miles long by ten broad, and is covered with dense tropical +verdure, gentle hills, sheltered valleys, and thrifty woods. Juan +Fernandez resembles the Azores in the North Atlantic. Though generally +spoken of in the singular, there are actually three islands here, +forming a small, compact group, known as Inward Island, Outward Island, +and Great Island. Many intelligent people think that the story of +Robinson Crusoe is a pure fabrication, but this is not so. De Foe +availed himself of an actual occurrence, and put it into readable form, +adding a few romantic episodes to season the story for the taste of the +million. It was in a measure truth, which he stamped with the image of +his own genius. Occasionally some enthusiastic admirer of De Foe comes +thousands of miles out of the beaten track of travel to visit this group +of islands, by the way of Valparaiso. Grapes, figs, and other tropical +fruits abound at Juan Fernandez. It is said that several thousand people +might be easily supported by the natural resources of these islands, and +the abundance of fish which fill the neighboring waters. An English +naval commander stopped here in 1741, to recruit his ships' crews, and +to repair some damages. While here he caused various seeds to be planted +for the advantage of any mariners who might follow. The benefit of this +Christian act has been realized by many seamen since that date. Fruits, +grain, and vegetables are now produced by spontaneous fertility +annually, which were not before to be found here. The English commander +also left goats and swine to run wild, and to multiply, and these +animals are numerous there to-day. + +Juan Fernandez has one tall peak, nearly three thousand feet high, which +the pilots point out long before the rest of the island is seen. It was +from this lofty lookout that Alexander Selkirk was wont to watch daily +in the hope of sighting some passing ship, by which he might be released +from his imprisonment. There are about one hundred residents upon the +group to-day, it having been leased by the Chilian government as a stock +ranch for the breeding of goats and cattle, as well as for the raising +of vegetables for the market of Valparaiso. There are said to be thirty +thousand horned cattle, and many sheep, upon these islands. Occasional +excursion parties are made up at Valparaiso to visit the group by +steamboat, for the purpose of shooting seals and mountain goats. Stories +are told of Juan Fernandez having been formerly made the headquarters of +pirates who came from thence to ravage the towns on the coast of the +continent, and it is believed by the credulous that much of the +ill-gotten wealth of the buccaneers still remains hidden there. In +search of this supposititious treasure, expeditions have been fitted out +in past years at Valparaiso, and many an acre of ground has been vainly +dug over in seeking for piratical gold, supposed to be buried there. +Some of the shrewd stock raisers of Juan Fernandez are ready, for a +consideration, to point out to seekers the most probable places where +such treasures might have been buried. + + + + + CHAPTER XVI. + + The Port of Callao.--A Submerged City.--Peruvian Exports.--A + Dirty and Unwholesome Town.--Cinchona Bark.--The Andes.--The + Llama.--A National Dance.--City of Lima.--An Old and + Interesting Capital.--Want of Rain.--Pizarro and His + Crimes.--A Grand Cathedral.--Chilian Soldiers.--Costly + Churches of Peru.--Roman Catholic Influence.--Desecration of + the Sabbath. + + +The passage northward from Valparaiso to Callao occupies about four days +by the steamers which do not stop at intermediate ports. We entered the +harbor in the early morning while a soft veil of mist enshrouded the +bay, but as the sun fairly shone upon the view, this aerial screen +rapidly disappeared, revealing Callao just in front of us, making the +foreground of a pleasing and vivid picture, the middle distance filled +by the ancient city of Lima, and the far background by alpine ranges. +Callao is an ill-built though important town, with a population of about +thirty thousand, and serves as the port for Lima, the capital of Peru. +It has a good harbor, well protected by the island of San Lorenzo, +which, with the small island of El Fronton, and the Palminos reef, forms +a protection against the constant swell of the ocean. There are nearly +always one or two ships of war belonging to foreign nations in the +harbor, and large steamships from the north or the south. The sailing +distance from Panama is fifteen hundred miles. The Callao of to-day is +comparatively modern. Old Callao formerly stood on a tongue of land +opposite San Lorenzo, but in 1746 an earthquake submerged it and drowned +some five thousand of the inhabitants, foundered a score of ships, and +stranded a Spanish man-of-war. In calm weather one can row a boat over +the spot where the old city stood, and see the ruins far down in the +deep waters. The present city has twice been near to sharing the same +fate: once in 1825, and again in 1868. It is, therefore, not assuming +too much to say that Callao may at any time disappear in the most +summary fashion. The sunken ruins in the harbor are a melancholy and +suggestive sight, the duplicate of which we do not believe can be found +elsewhere on the globe. Though seismic disturbances are of such frequent +occurrence, and are so destructive on the west coast of South America, +they are hardly known on the Atlantic or eastern side of the continent. +That they are frequently coincident with volcanic disturbances indicates +that there is an intimate connection between them, but yet earthquakes +often occur in regions where volcanoes do not exist. This was the case, +not long since, as most of our readers will remember, in South Carolina. +It has been noticed by careful observers that animals become uneasy on +the eve of such an event, which would seem to show that earthquakes +sometimes owe their origin to extraordinary atmospheric conditions. + +San Lorenzo is about six miles from Callao, and is four miles long by +one in width. It is utterly barren, presenting a mass of brownish gray +color, eleven hundred feet high, at whose base there is ever a broad, +snow white ruffle, caused by the never-ceasing ocean swell breaking into +foam. An English smelting company has established extensive works near +the shore of the island, for the reduction of silver and copper ores. +The approach to Callao from the sea affords a fine view of the +undulating shore, backed by the snowy Cordilleras, the shabby buildings +of the town, with the dismantled castle of San Felipe forming the +foreground. In landing one must be cautious: there is always +considerable swell in the harbor. + +The staple products of this region are represented by packages of +merchandise prepared for shipment, and which are the first to attract +one's attention upon landing, such as cinchona bark from the native +forests, piles of wheat in bulk, hides, quantities of crude salt, sugar +packed in dried banana leaves, bales of alpaca wool, and, most +suggestive of all, some heavy bags of silver ore. Little is being done +in mining at present, though the field for this industry is large. The +difficulty of transportation is one of the great drawbacks, yet Peru has +over a thousand miles of railways in her rather limited area. Gold, +platinum, silver, and copper are all found in paying quantities. Coal +and petroleum also exist here, in various inland districts. The guano +deposits, which have yielded so much wealth to Peru in the past, are +practically exhausted, while the nitrate-producing province of Tarapaca +has been stolen by Chili, to which it now belongs. It is thought that +the nitrate deposits can be profitably worked for fifty years to come. + +A crowd of the lazy, ragged population were loafing about the landing, +watching the strangers as they came on shore at the wet and slippery +stone steps. + +It is very plain that the great importance of Callao has departed, +though there is still an appearance of business activity. Not long ago, +a hundred vessels at a time might be seen at anchor inside of San +Lorenzo; now, a score of good-sized ships are all one can count. This is +owing to various causes: an unreasonable high tariff is one of them, +exorbitant port charges is another, and the general depression of +business on the west coast is felt quite as strongly here as at any of +the ports. Like Santos, on the other side of the continent, Callao is +ever an unhealthy resort, where a great mortality prevails in the fever +season. The absence of good drainage and inattention to hygienic rules +will in part account for the bad repute that the port has among the +shipping masters who frequent the coast. The streets are particularly +malodorous about the water front. The dirty vultures seem to be depended +upon to remove offensive garbage. + +A certain remarkable occurrence sometimes takes place in this harbor, +which, so far as the writer knows, is without precedent elsewhere. A +ship may come in from sea and anchor at about sunset, in good order and +condition, everything being white and clean on board, but when her +captain comes on deck the next morning, he may find that his ship has +been painted, inside and out, a dark chocolate color during the night, +the atmosphere at the same time being impregnated with a peculiar odor, +arising from this "paint," or whatever it may be, which clings +tenaciously to every object, wood or iron. While it is damp and freshly +deposited, it can be removed like fresh paint, but if it is permitted to +dry, it is as difficult to remove as ordinary dried paint would be. No +one can tell the origin of this nuisance, but most seamen whose business +brings them to Callao have been through this experience. Of course it +must be an atmospheric deposit, but from whence? It has never been known +to occur upon the neighboring land, but only in the harbor. Scientists +have given the matter their attention, and have concluded that it may be +caused by sulphurous gases produced in the earth below the water, which +rise to the surface and disseminate themselves in the surrounding +atmosphere. + +From any elevated point in the city one may enjoy a delightful view, the +main features of which are the Andes on the land side, and seaward, the +broad heaving bosom of the Pacific. The corrugated peaks of the former, +clad in white, seem like restless phantoms marching through the sky. +Over the latter, long lines of inky blackness trail behind northern or +southern bound steamers, while here and there a tall, full-rigged ship +recalls the older modes of navigation. + +The smoother water inside of San Lorenzo is alive with small boats, some +under sails, some propelled by oars, shooting in and out among the +shipping which lie at anchor before the town. A pair of large whales +assisted at this scene for our special benefit, just inside the harbor's +mouth. It must have been only play on their part,--leviathans at +play,--but they threw up the sea in such clouds of spray with their +broad tails, as to make it appear like a battle-royal seen from a mile +away. + +We mentioned the fact of seeing cinchona bark in bales ready for +shipping. Of all the products of South America, gold, silver, and +precious stones included, the most valuable is the drug which is called +quinine, made from the bark of the cinchona tree. There is no other one +article known to the materia medica which has been used in such large +quantities or with such unvarying success by suffering humanity. It was +first introduced into Europe from Peru, and was then known as Peruvian +bark. It was supposed at that time to be found only in this section of +the continent; but subsequently it was discovered to abound in all the +forests along the course of the Andes, and especially on their western +slope. So large has been its export that it was found the source of +supply was rapidly becoming exhausted, until local governments awoke to +the importance of the matter, and protected by law the trees which +produce it. These are no longer ruthlessly cut down to die, when +yielding their valuable harvest, but only a certain quantity of the +desirable bark is taken from each tree annually, so that nature replaces +the portion which had been removed, by covering the trunk with a fresh +growth. The cinchona tree, having been transplanted from South America, +is now successfully cultivated in the islands of the Malacca Straits, +Ceylon, India, and other tropical regions. + +The tree which produces this valuable febrifuge belongs to the same +family as the coffee plant. In appearance it is very like our native +beech tree, having remarkably white wood. + +The llama is found nearly all over South America, and is often seen as a +beast of burden at Callao, taking the place here which the donkey or +burro fills in Mexico. It has been described as having the head and neck +of a camel, the body of a deer, the wool of a sheep, and the neigh of a +horse. We do not agree with those who pronounce the llama an awkward +creature. True, the body is a little ungainly, but the head, the +graceful pose, the pointed, delicate ears, and the large, lustrous eyes +are absolutely handsome. It can carry a burden weighing one hundred +pounds over hard mountain roads, day after day, while living upon very +scanty food. It is slow in its movements, patient when well treated, and +particularly sure-footed. It is of a very gentle disposition, but when +it finds the weight placed upon its back too heavy, like the Egyptian +camel, it immediately lies down and will not rise until the load is +lightened. The llama, or "mountain camel," as it has been aptly called, +is the only domesticated native animal. The horse, ox, hog, and sheep +are all importations which were entirely unknown here four centuries +ago. The llama has two notable peculiarities: when angry it will +expectorate at its enemy, and when hurt will shed tears. The +expectoration is of an acrid, semi-poisonous nature, and if it strikes +the eyes will, it is said, blind them. The llama, guanaco, alpaca, and +vicuna were the four sheep of the Incas, the wool of the first clothing +the common people; the second, the nobles; the third, the royal +governors; and the fourth the Incas. The first two are domesticated, +guanacos and vicunas are wild, though they all belong to the same +family. + +The manners and customs of any people new to the traveler are always an +interesting study, but in nothing are they more strongly individualized +than in the pursuit of amusements. A favorite dance, known here as the +_zama cueca_, is often witnessed out-of-doors in retired corners of the +plaza or the alameda, as well as elsewhere. It requires two performers, +and is generally danced by a male and female, being not unlike the +Parisian cancan, both in the movement and the purpose of the expression. +The two dancers stand opposite each other, each having a pocket +handkerchief in the right hand, while the music begins at first a dull, +monotonous air, which rapidly rises and falls in cadence. The dancers +approach each other, swaying their bodies gracefully, and using their +limbs nimbly; now they pass each other, turning in the act to +coquettishly wave the handkerchief about their heads, and also to snap +it towards each other's faces. Thus they advance and retreat several +times, whipping at each other's faces, while throwing their bodies into +peculiar attitudes. Again they resume the first movement of advance and +retreat, one assuming coyness, the other ardor, and thus continue, +until, as a sort of climax, they fall into each other's arms with a peal +of hearty laughter. A guitar is the usual accompanying instrument, the +player uttering the while a shrill impromptu chant. When a male dancer +joins in this street performance, as is sometimes the case, it is apt to +be a little coarse and vulgar. + +There is very little in Callao to detain us, and one is quite ready to +hasten on to Lima, the capital of Peru, hoping to escape the stench and +universal dirtiness of the port. + +The city of Lima has at this writing about one hundred and sixty +thousand inhabitants, and is situated six miles from Callao, its +shipping port, with which it is connected by two rival railways. These +roads are constructed upon an up-grade the whole distance, but the rise +is so gradual as to be almost imperceptible, though Lima is over five +hundred feet higher than Callao. The capital, which is clearly visible +from the water as we enter the harbor, presents from that distance, and +even from a much nearer point of view, a most pleasing picture, being +favorably situated on elevated ground, with its many spires and domes +standing forth in bold relief. It has, when seen from such a distance, a +certain oriental appearance, charming to the eye of a stranger. But it +is deceptive; it is indeed distance which lends enchantment in this +case, for upon arriving within its precincts one is rudely undeceived. +The apparently grand array of architecture on near inspection proves to +be flimsy and poor in detail: everything is bamboo frame and plaster; no +edifice is solid above the basement. Still, one can easily imagine how +attractive the place must have been in those viceregal days, the period +of its false glory and prosperity. The capital stands almost at the very +foot of the Cordillera which forms the coast range, and is built upon +both sides of the Rimac, over which stretches a substantial stone bridge +of six arches, very old and very homely, but all the more interesting +because it is so venerable. The width of the river at this point is over +five hundred feet. In the winter season it is a very moderate stream, +but when the summer sun asserts itself, the snow upon the neighboring +mountains yields to its warmth, and the Rio Rimac then becomes an alpine +torrent. It is like the Arno at Florence, which at certain seasons has +the form of a river without the circulation. The anecdote is told here +of a Yankee visitor to Lima who was being shown over the city by a +patriotic citizen, and who on coming to this spot remarked to his +chaperon: "You ought either to buy a river or sell this bridge." + +At the entrance of this ancient structure stands a lofty and very +effective archway, with two tall towers, and a clock in a central +elevation. Prominent over the arched entrance to the roadway is the +motto _Dios y La Patria_,--"God and Country." Nothing in Lima is of +more interest than this hoary, unique, moss-grown bridge. + +One pauses before the crumbling yet still substantial old structure to +recall the vivid scenes which must have been enacted in the long, long +past upon its roadway. Here madly contending parties have spilled each +other's blood, hundreds of gaudy church processions have crossed these +arches, bitter civil and foreign wars have raged about the bridge, dark +conspiracies have been whispered and ripened here, solitary murders +committed in the darkness of night, and lifeless bodies thrown from its +parapet; but the dumb witness still remains intact, having endured more +than three hundred years of use and abuse. + +It is not necessary to unpack one's waterproof or umbrella in Lima. It +never rains here, any more than it does in the region of Aden, at the +mouth of the Red Sea. All vegetable growth is more or less dependent +upon artificial irrigation, and in the environs where this is +judiciously applied the orange and lemon trees are heavy with golden +fruit, forming a rich contrast with the deep green of the luxuriant +plantain, the thick, lance-like agave, and the prolific banana. The city +and its environs would be as poorly off without the water of the Rimac +as would the Egyptians if deprived of the annual overflow of the +fertilizing Nile. Though the river is so inconsiderable at certain +seasons, still it does supply a certain quantity of water always, which +is improved to the utmost. Dews some times prevail at night, so heavy as +to be of partial benefit, giving to vegetation a breath of moisture, and +taking away the dead dryness of the atmosphere. This, however favorable +for vegetation, is considered unwholesome for humanity. The flowers and +shrubbery of the plaza droop for want of water, and are only preserved +by great care on the part of those in charge of them. In some of the +private gardens the pashinba palm-tree is seen, very peculiar in its +growth, being mounted as it were upon stilts, formed by the exposed +straight roots which radiate, like a series of props, to support the +tall trunk. At its apex is a singular, spear-like stem, pointing +straight skyward, without leaf or branch, just beneath which are the +graceful, long, curved palm leaves, exquisite in proportions, bending +like ostrich feathers. At first sight this tree looks like an artificial +production, in which nature has taken no part. Lying only twelve degrees +south of the equator, Lima has a tropical climate, but being also close +to the foothills of the Andes, she is near to a temperate district, so +that her market yields the fruits and vegetables of two zones. + +Pizarro, the ambitious and intrepid conqueror of Peru, here established +his capital in 1535, and here ended his days in 1541, dying at the hands +of the assassin, the natural and retributive end of a life of gross +bigotry, sensuality, recklessness, and almost unparalleled cruelty. In a +narrow street,--the Callejon de Petateron,--leading out of the Plaza +Mayor, a house is pointed out as being the one in which Pizarro was +assassinated. Both Pizarro in Peru and Cortez in Mexico owed their +phenomenal success to exceptional circumstances, namely, to the civil +wars which prevailed among the native tribes of the countries they +invaded. By shrewdly directing these intestine troubles so as to aid +their own purposes, each commander in his special field achieved +complete victory over races which, thus disunited and pitted against +each other, fell an easy prey to the cunning invaders. Neither of these +adventurers had sufficient strength to contend against a united and +determined people. Such an enemy on his own ground would have swept the +handful of Spaniards led by Pizarro from the face of the earth by mere +force of numbers. + +Soon after its foundation, Lima became the most luxurious and profligate +of the viceregal courts of Spain, and so continued until its declaration +of independence, and final separation from the mother country. The most +worthless and restless spirits about the throne of Spain were favored in +a desire to join Pizarro in the New World. The home government, while +purging itself of so undesirable an element, added to the recklessness +and utter immorality which reigned in the atmosphere of Lima. +Forty-three successive viceroys ruled Peru during the Spanish occupancy. +The nefarious Inquisition, steeped in the blood of helpless and innocent +natives, was active here long after its decadence in Madrid, while the +local churches, convents, and monasteries accumulated untold wealth by a +system of arbitrary taxation, and iniquitous extortion exercised towards +the native race. What better could have been expected from Pizarro than +to inaugurate and foster such a state of affairs? Under the influence of +designing priests and lascivious monks, he was as clay in the potter's +hands, being originally only an illiterate swineherd, one who could +neither read nor write. The state documents put forth during his +viceregency, still preserved and to be seen in the archives of Lima, +show that he could only affix his mark, not even attempting to write his +own name. Though Charles V. finally indorsed and ennobled him with the +title of Marques de la Conquista, and appointed him viceroy of the +conquered country, he was still and ever the illegitimate, low-bred hind +of Truxillo in continental Spain. The palace of this man, who, with the +exception of Cortez, was the greatest human butcher of the age in which +he lived, is still used for government offices, while the senate +occupies the council chamber of the old Inquisition building, infamous +for the bloody work done within its walls. H. Willis Baxley, M. D., the +admirable author, writes on the spot as follows: "When the apologists of +Pizarro attempt to shield his crimes, and excuse his acts of cruelty by +his religious zeal and holy purpose of extending the dominion of the +cross, they may well be answered that the religion was unworthy of +adoption which required for its extension that the wife of the Inca +Manco, then a prisoner in Pizarro's power, should be 'stripped naked, +bound to a tree, and in presence of the camp be scourged with rods, and +then shot to death with arrows!' This cold-blooded brutality, and to a +woman, should brand his name with eternal infamy." + +As we have intimated, Lima, like Constantinople, looks at its best from +a distance, viewed so that the full and combined effect of its many +domes and spires can be taken in as a whole; but whether near to it or +far from it, few places in South America possess more poetical and +historical interest. Its past story reads like an Arabian Nights' tale. +Though the city is by no means what it has been, and wears an +unmistakable air of decayed greatness, and though foreign invaders and +civil wars have done their worst, Lima is still an extremely attractive +metropolis. Even the vandalism of the late Chilian invaders, who +outraged all the laws of civilized warfare (if there is any such thing +as civilized warfare), regardless of the rights of non-combatants, could +not obliterate her natural attractions and historical associations. The +Chilian soldiers destroyed solely for the sake of destroying, mutilated +statuary and works of art generally, besides burning historical +treasures and libraries; and yet these Chilians claim to be the highest +type of modern civilization on the southern continent. They strove to +ruin whatever they could not steal and carry away with them from Peru, +and, almost incredible to record, they wantonly killed the elephant in +the zooelogical garden of Lima, and purloined the small animals. Noble, +chivalrous Chilians! The rank and file of these people are the very +embodiment of ignorance and brutality. The Chilian soldier carries, as a +regular weapon, a curved knife called a _curvos_, with which he cuts the +throats of his enemies. At close quarters, instead of fighting +man-fashion, as nearly all other nations do, he springs like a fierce +bull-dog at his opponent's throat, and with his curvos cuts it from ear +to ear. After a battle, bands of these fiends in human shape go over the +field, seeking out the wounded who are still alive, deliberately cutting +their throats, and robbing their bodies of all valuables. It is Chilian +tactics to take no prisoners, give no quarter. These brave soldiers +would have burned Lima to the ground after gaining possession, had it +not been for the interference of the foreign ministers, who had national +men-of-war at Callao with which to back their arguments. These +guerrillas--for that is just about what the Chilian soldiers are--knew +full well that if even a small European battalion of disciplined men +were landed and brought against them, they would simply be swept from +the face of the earth. + +Lima is laid out with the streets in rectangular form, the central point +being the Plaza Mayor, in the shape of a quadrangle, each side of which +is five hundred feet in length. On the north side of this admirably +arranged square stand the buildings occupied as government offices, +together with the bishop's palace, and the cathedral overshadowed by its +two lofty towers. The corner-stone of this edifice was laid by Pizarro +with great ceremony. The spires, although presenting such an effective +appearance, are constructed of the most frail material, such as bricks, +stucco, and bamboo frames, but still, as a whole, they are undeniably +imposing. In this dry climate they are, perhaps, enduring also. Like the +facade of the church of St. Roche, in Paris, this of the Lima cathedral +is marked by bullet-holes commemorating the Chilian invasion. The church +is raised six or eight feet above the level of the plaza, as is usual in +South America, standing upon a marble platform, reached by broad steps, +well calculated to enhance the really graceful proportions, and add to +the effect of its broad, high towers. The interior is quite commonplace, +with the usual tinsel, poor carvings, and wretched oil paintings, +including several grotesque Virgin Marys. These were too poor even for +the Chilians to steal. Beneath the grand altar rest the ashes of +Pizarro, the cruel, ambitious, reckless tool of the Romish Church. The +cathedral was built in 1540, but has undergone complete repairs and +renovations from time to time, being still considered to be one of the +most imposing ecclesiastical edifices in America. Its original cost is +said to have been nine million dollars, to obtain which Pizarro robbed +the Inca temples of all their elaborate gold and silver ornaments. +According to Prescott, the Spaniards took twenty-four thousand, eight +hundred pounds of gold, and eighty-two thousand ounces of silver from a +single Inca temple! Prescott is careful in his statements to warn us of +the unreliability of the Spanish writers, nearly all of whom were Romish +priests. Where figures are concerned they cannot be depended upon for a +moment. They also took special care to cover up the fiendish atrocities +of the Inquisition, and the extortions of the church as exercised +towards the poor, down-trodden native race. + +One's spirits partook of the sombre and austere atmosphere which reigns +at all times in this ancient edifice. It was very lonely. Not a soul was +to be seen during our brief visit to the cathedral at noonday, except a +couple of decrepit old beggars at the entrance, the faint, dull glare of +the burning candles about the altar only serving to deepen the shadows +and emphasize the darkness. + +The area of the Plaza Mayor embraces eight or nine acres of land, and +has often been the theatre of most sanguinary scenes, where hand-to-hand +fights have frequently taken place between insurgent citizens and +soldiers of the ruling power of the day, while many unpopular officials +have been hanged in the towers of the cathedral, from each of which +projects a gibbet! The middle of the plaza is beautified by a bronze +fountain with arboreal and floral surroundings. There was formerly some +statuary here, which the brave Chilians stole and carried away with +them, even purloining the iron benches, which they transported to +Valparaiso and Santiago. The streets running from this square, with the +exception of the Calle de los Mercaderes, have an atmosphere of +antiquity, which contrasts with the people one meets in them. Even the +turkey buzzards, acting as street scavengers, are of an antique species, +looking quite gray and dilapidated, as though they were a hundred years +old. In Vera Cruz the same species of bird, kept for a similar purpose, +have a brightness of feather, and jauntiness withal, quite unlike these +feathered street-cleaners of Lima. The "Street of the Merchants," just +referred to, is the fashionable shopping thoroughfare of Lima, where in +the afternoons the ladies and gentlemen are seen in goodly numbers +promenading in full dress. + +There is here the usual multiplicity of churches, convents, and +nunneries, such as are to be found in all Spanish cities, though the +latter establishments have been partially suppressed. Some of the +churches of Lima are fabulously expensive structures; indeed, the amount +of money squandered on churches and church property in this city is +marvelous. During the late war many articles of gold and silver, +belonging to them, were melted into coin, but some were hidden, and have +once more been restored to their original position in the churches. The +convent and church of San Francisco form one of the most costly groups +of buildings of the sort in America. The ornamental tiles of the +flooring are calculated, not by the square yard, but by the acre. There +are over a hundred Roman Catholic churches in Lima, few of which have +any architectural beauty, but all of which are crowded with vulgar wax +figures, wooden images, and bleeding saints. These churches in several +instances have very striking facades: that of La Merced, for instance; +but they are mere shams, as we have already said,--stucco and plaster; +they would not endure the wear of any other climate for a single decade. + +With all this outside religious show in Lima, there is no corresponding +observance of the sacred character of the Sabbath. It is held rather as +a period of gross license and indulgence, and devoted to bull-fights, +cock-fighting, and drunkenness. The lottery-ticket vender reaps the +greatest harvest on this occasion, and the gambling saloons are all +open. Children pursue their every-day sports with increased ardor, and +the town puts on a gala day aspect. At night the streets are ablaze, the +theatres are crowded, and dissipation of every conceivable sort waxes +fast and furious until long past midnight. The ignorant mass generally +has drifted into observing the rituals of the Romish Church, but there +are many of the native Indians in Peru who cherish a belief of a +millennium in the near future; a time when the true prophet of the sun +will return and restore the grand old Inca dynasty. Just so the Moors of +Tangier hold to the belief that the time will yet come when they will be +restored to the glory of their fathers, and to their beloved Granada; +that the halls of the Alhambra will once more resound to the Moorish +lute, and the grand cathedral of Cordova shall again become a mosque of +the true faith. + +The fact that the bull-ring of Lima will accommodate sixteen thousand +people, and that it is always well filled on Sundays, speaks for itself. +At these sanguinary performances a certain class of women appear in +large numbers and in full dress, entering heartily into the spirit of +the occasion, and waving their handkerchiefs furiously to applaud the +actors in the tragedy, while the exhibitions are characterized by even +more cruelty than at Madrid or Havana. + + + + + CHAPTER XVII. + + A Grand Plaza.--Retribution.--The University of + Lima.--Significance of Ancient + Pottery.--Architecture.--Picturesque Dwelling.--Domestic + Scene.--Destructive Earthquakes.--Spanish Sway.--Women of + Lima.--Street Costumes.--Ancient Bridge of + Lima.--Newspapers.--Pawnbrokers' Shops.--Exports.--An + Ancient Mecca.--Home by Way of Europe. + + +The large square in Lima, known as Plazuela de la Independencia, is +grand in its proportions. One prominent feature is the bronze statue of +Bolivar, the famous South American patriot. It also contains the old +palace of the Inquisition, which looks to-day more like a stable than a +palace. This detestable institution attained to greater scope and power +here than it did even in Mexico. According to its own records, during +its existence in the capital of Peru, fifty-nine persons were publicly +burned alive as heretics, because they would not acknowledge the Roman +Catholic faith, thousands were tortured until in their agony they agreed +to anything, while thousands were publicly scourged to the same end. +Could the truth be fully known as regards the bigoted reign of the +priesthood at the time referred to in Peru, it would form one of the +most startling chapters of modern history. But they were their own +chroniclers, and suppressed everything which might possibly reflect upon +themselves or upon their church. Retribution was slow, but it has come +finally. The former convent of Guadeloupe is now occupied for a worthy +object as a high school; the main portion of the cloisters of San +Francisco have made way for the college of San Marco; that of San Carlos +has supplanted the Jesuits; San Juan de Dios is now occupied as a +railway station; while the once famous and infamous convent of Santa +Catalina serves to-day as the public market. + +The University of Lima was the first seat of education established in +the New World, or, to fix the period more clearly in the average +reader's mind, it dates from about seventy years before the historic +Mayflower reached the shore of New England. The National Library +contains some forty thousand volumes, also a collection of Peruvian +antiquities, besides many objects of natural history, mostly of such +examples as are indigenous to this section. There is one large oil +painting in this building by a native artist named Monteros, the canvas +measuring thirty by twenty feet. The title is "Obsequies of Atahualpa." +This was carried away by the thieving Chilians, but was finally restored +to Peru. It should be mentioned, to their lasting shame, that the books +which they stole at the same time have not been returned. + +The ancient pottery one sees in the collection of Peruvian antiquities +is wonderfully like that to be found in the Boulak Museum at Cairo, in +Egypt, Etruscan and Egyptian patterns prevailing over all other forms, +which strongly suggests a common origin. Besides those which we have +named, there are several other educational and art institutions in the +city, together with three hospitals, two lunatic asylums, a college of +arts, and the National Mint. One hospital, bearing the name of the +Second of May Hospital, is a very large and thoroughly equipped +establishment, occupying a whole square, and having accommodations for +seven hundred patients. There are four theatres, one of which is +conducted by the Chinese after their own peculiar fashion. The outsides +of the dwelling-houses are painted in various brilliant colors, a +practice which is found to prevail all over the southern continent, and +which exhibits an inherent love among the people for warm, bright hues. +The roofs of most houses serve as a depository for hens and chickens, +noisy gamecocks especially asserting themselves before daybreak, +forbidding all ideas of morning naps, unless one is accustomed to the +din. Many of the dwellings are picturesque and attractive, with +overhanging balconies and bay windows, the latter oftentimes finished +very elaborately with handsome wood carvings and open-work lattices. As +to the prevailing style of architecture, it is Spanish and Moorish +combined, each building being constructed about a central patio, which +is often rendered lovely with flowers and statuary, together with small +orange and lemon trees in large painted tubs. + +The abundance of cracks in the walls of the dwellings, both inside and +out, is a significant hint that we are in an earthquake country. A +slight shake is hardly spoken of at all; they come so often as to be +comparatively unheeded. + +In the environs of Lima the houses are built of adobe, rarely over one +story in height, with very thick walls, this style having been found the +best to resist the earthquakes, which must be very serious indeed to +affect a low adobe house with walls two feet and a half thick. About +these residences, which, not to put too fine a point upon the matter, +are really nothing but mud cabins, there is often seen an attractive and +refining feature, namely, small, but exceedingly pretty plots of +cultivated flowers. It is astonishing how perfectly they serve to throw +a flavor of refinement over all things else. The variety and fragrance +of the Lima roses are something long to be remembered, and the people +here seem to have a special love for this most popular of flowers. We +had missed them nearly everywhere else in South America; therefore they +were thrice welcome when they greeted us at Lima. + +There is a dwelling-house in this city belonging to an old and rich +family, which is worth a pilgrimage to see. It is built of stone, +artistically carved, with a square balcony and bay window on each side +of the tall, spacious, and elaborately ornamented doorway. It is clearly +Moorish in type, and must be nearly or quite three hundred years old. +Photographs are found of its facade in the art stores of Lima, and most +visitors bring one away with them as a memento of the place. The house +stands even with the thoroughfare, and is only two stories in height, +but is a beautiful relic of the past. It would be quite in accordance +with the surroundings, were it to be transported to Cairo or Bagdad. + +On the way from the Plaza Mayor to this attractive bit of Morisco +architecture, one gets frequent glimpses of pretty, cool, flower-decked +patios, about which the low picturesque dwellings are erected, and where +domestic life is seen in partial seclusion. An infant is playing on the +marble paved court, watched by a dark Indian nurse. An ermine-colored +cockatoo with a gorgeous yellow plume is gravely eying the child from +its perch. Creeping vines twine about the slim columns which support a +low arcade above the entrance floor. Farther in, a bit of statuary peeps +out from among the greenery, which is growing in high-colored wooden +tubs. The vine, which clings tenaciously to the small columns, is the +passion plant, its flowers seeming almost artificial in their +regularity, brightness, and abundance. A fair senora in diaphanous robes +reclines at ease in a low, pillowed seat, and the senor, cigarette in +mouth, swings leisurely in a hammock. + +It was a pretty, characteristic family picture, of which we should be +glad to possess a photograph. + +Few cities have a more agreeable climate. The range of the thermometer +throughout the year being for the winter season from 68 deg. to 75 deg., and in +the summer from 80 deg. to 88 deg.. The Humboldt current, as it is called, +sweeps along the coast from the Antarctic circle, causing a much lower +temperature here than exists in the same latitude on the other side of +the continent. Lima, it will be remembered, is situated about twelve +degrees from the equatorial line. The climate is of exquisite softness, +beneath a sky serenely blue; every breath is a pleasure, tranquillizing +to both mind and body. Rain is of very rare occurrence, as we have +intimated, but earthquakes are frequent. The most destructive visit of +this sort in modern times was in 1745, which at the same time destroyed +the port of Callao. Though Lima is blessed with such a seemingly equable +climate, for some unexplained reason it is very far from being a healthy +place. The great mortality which prevails here is entirely out of +proportion to the number of inhabitants. There must be some local reason +for this. Even in the days of the Incas, the present site of the city +was deemed to be a spot only fit for criminals; that is to say, a penal +colony was located here, where the earlier Peruvians placed condemned +people, and where a high rate of mortality was not regarded as being +entirely objectionable. The Campo Santo of Lima, in the immediate +environs of the city, is built with tall thick walls containing niches +four ranges high, and recalls those of the city of Mexico. It is not +customary to bury in the ground. Some of the monuments are quite +elaborate, but the place generally has a neglected appearance, and no +attempt seems made to give it a pleasing aspect. It has neither flowers +nor trees. + +The Spaniards, during a sway which lasted over three hundred years, were +terrible taskmasters in Peru, enslaving, crushing, and massacring the +natives, just as they did in Cuba and Mexico. The Indians were looked +upon as little more than beasts of burden, and their lives or well-being +were of no sort of account, except so far as they served the purposes of +the invading hordes of Spaniards. The race which has been produced by +intermarriage and promiscuous intercourse is a very heterogeneous one, +born of aborigines, negroes, mulattoes, Spaniards, and Portuguese. In +religion, as well as in daily life, the habits of the people are +Castilian, whether red, yellow, or black. There is also a considerable +Chinese population, which, however, as a rule, maintains isolation from +other nationalities so far as intermarriage or close intimacy is +concerned. Many of the Chinese keep cheap eating-houses, and always seem +to be industrious and thrifty. They are the outcome of the coolie trade, +by which the Peruvian plantations were for years supplied with +laborers,--slave labor, for that is exactly what it was to all intents +and purposes, call it what we may. But this cruel and unjust system has +long been suppressed. Most of the small shops are kept by Italians, and +the best hotels by Frenchmen. The banking-houses are usually conducted +by Germans, while Americans and Englishmen divide the engineering work, +the construction of railways, with such other progressive enterprises as +require a large share of brains, energy, and capital. + +The women are generally handsome and of the Spanish type, yet they +differ therefrom in some important and very obvious particulars. Their +gypsy complexions, jet black hair and eyes, white, regular teeth, with +full red lips, form a combination very pleasing to the eye. It must be +acknowledged, however, that their complexions are aided by cosmetics. +The features are small and regular, the ears being set particularly +close to the head, which is always a noticeable peculiarity when it +prevails. They are vivacious and mirthful, yet not forward or immodest. +As regards the youthful portion, conventionality prevents all exhibition +of the latter trait. In dress they follow the styles of Boston, New +York, and Paris. As their brothers have been mostly educated in the +cities named, they very generally speak French and English. Many of the +ladies have themselves enjoyed the advantages of English, French, or +North American schools in their girlhood. A certain etiquette as regards +the society of men is very strictly observed here. No gentleman can +associate with a young lady unless she is chaperoned by her mother or a +married sister. From what we know of Spanish and Italian character, we +are not at all surprised at the punctiliousness adhered to in both +countries in this regard. There are very good reasons why such rules are +imperative, not only in South America, but in continental Europe. Like +most of the Spanish women, these of Lima, after the age of twenty-five, +though they are rather short, and of small frames, nearly always develop +into a decided fullness of figure. + +There is a semi-oriental seclusion observed at all times as regards the +sex in this country. They are rarely seen upon the streets, except when +driving, or going and coming from church; but one need not watch very +closely to see many inquisitive eyes peeping from behind the curtained +balconies which overhang the thoroughfares, and to catch occasionally +stolen glances from pretty, coquettish owners, who would be very +hospitable to strangers if they dared. + +Human nature is much the same in Lima as elsewhere. When seen on the +streets, the ladies generally wear the black "manta" drawn close about +the head and shoulders and partially covering the face. The manta is a +shawl and bonnet combined, or rather it takes the place of a bonnet, and +suggests the lace veil so universally worn at Havana, Seville, and +Madrid, also recalling the yashmak worn by the women of the East. The +Lima ladies cover half the face, including one eye; those of Egypt only +cover the lower part of the face, leaving both eyes exposed. + +We are speaking of the better class of the metropolis. Among the more +common people, instances of great personal beauty are frequent. One sees +daily youthful girls on the streets who would be pronounced beautiful +under nearly any circumstances, an inheritance only too often proving a +fatal legacy to the owner, forming a source of temptation in a community +where morals are held of such slight account, except among the more +refined classes, of whom we have been speaking. + +One peculiarity is especially noticeable here among the native race: it +is that the Peruvians seem to be mere lookers-on as regards the business +of life in their country. All of the important trade is, as we have +said, in the hands of foreigners. The English control the shipping +interests, almost entirely, while the skilled machinists are nearly all +Americans, with a few Scotchmen. We repeat this fact as showing the +do-nothing nature of the natives, and also as signifying that for true +progress, indeed, for the growth of civilization in any desirable +direction, emigration from Europe and North America must be depended +upon. + +The heavy alcoves of the old stone bridge at Lima are appropriated by +the fruit women, whose tempting display forms glowing bits of color. The +thoroughfares are crowded by itinerant peddlers of all sorts of +merchandise. Milk-women come from the country, mounted astride of small +horses or donkeys; water carriers trot about on jackasses, sitting +behind their water jars and uttering piercing cries; Chinese food +venders, with articles made from mysterious sources, balance their +baskets at either end of long poles placed across their shoulders; the +lottery-ticket vender, loud voiced and urgent, is ever present; +newspaper boys, after our own fashion, shout "El Pais," or "El +Nacional;" chicken dealers, with baskets full of live birds on their +head and half a dozen hanging from each hand, solicit your patronage; +beggars of both sexes, but mostly lazy, worthless men, feign pitiful +lameness, while importuning every stranger for a centavo; bright, +careless girls and boys rush hither and thither, full of life and +spirit,--black, yellow, brown, and white, all mingling together on an +equal footing. The absence of wheeled vehicles is noticeable, the +tramway-cars gliding rapidly past the pedestrians, while pack-horses and +donkeys transport mostly such merchandise as is not carried on the heads +of men and women. Of the better class of citizens who help to make up +this polyglot community of the metropolis, one very easily distinguishes +the American, French, German, and English; each nationality is somehow +distinctively marked. + +The stock of goods offered for sale in the pawnbrokers' shops, as a +rule, is very significant in foreign cities; here the shelves of these +dealers are full of valuable domestic articles, which the fallen +fortunes of the once rich Lima families have compelled them to part with +from time to time in a struggle to keep the wolf from the door. The +Chilians took all they could readily find of both public and private +property, and though they ruined financially some of the best families, +they did not succeed in getting everything which was portable and +valuable. Heirlooms are offered in these shops for comparatively +trifling sums, such as rich old lace; diamonds; superbly wrought +bracelets in gold, rubies, topazes, and other precious stones, set and +unset; gold and silver spoons and forks of curious designs, and of which +only one set were ever manufactured, intended to fill a special order +and suit the fancy of some rich family. Drinking-cups bearing royal +crests, and others with the arms of noble Castilian families engraved +upon them, are numerous. There are also swords with jeweled hilts, gold +and silver table ornaments, together with antique china, which might +rival the Satsuma of Japan. Curio hunters have secured many, nay, nearly +all, of the very choicest of these domestic relics, which they have +mostly taken to London, where they obtained fabulous prices for them. + +We were told of an enterprising Yankee who invested one thousand dollars +in these articles, took them to England, and promptly realized some +eleven thousand dollars above all his expenses upon the venture. +Returning to Rio Janeiro, on the east coast, he purchased precious +stones with his increased capital, and, strange to say, although he was +by no means an expert, among his gems he secured an old mine diamond of +great value at a low figure, which, having been crudely cut, did not +exhibit its real excellence. Taking the whole of his second purchase to +Paris, he disposed of his gems at a large advance, and finally returned +to New York with a net capital exceeding forty thousand dollars. This +enterprising and successful individual bore the euphonious name of +Smyth,--Smyth with a _y_,--Alfred Smyth. + +The three watering-places, or country villages of Miraflores, Baranco, +and Chorillos, are connected with Lima by railway, and in these resorts +many city merchants have their summer homes, occupying picturesque +ranches. The Chilians sacked and burned these places during the war, but +they have been mostly rebuilt, and are once more in a thriving +condition. + +Peru was celebrated for centuries as the most prolific gold and silver +producing country in the world; her very name has long been the synonym +for riches. Although the product of the precious metals is still +considerable, yet it is quite insignificant compared with the revenue +which she has realized from the export of guano and phosphates. The +former article, as we have already said, has become virtually exhausted, +and the latter source of supply, still immensely prolific and valuable, +has been stolen from her bodily by the Chilians, so that Peru has now to +fall back upon industry and the remaining natural resources of the soil. + +The most remarkable peculiarity in the physical formation of Peru is the +double Cordillera of the Andes, which traverse it from southeast to +northwest, separating the country into three distinct regions, which +differ materially from each other in climate, soil, and vegetation. To +the proximity of the range nearest to the coast is undoubtedly to be +attributed the frequent earthquakes which disturb the shore, whether the +volcanoes are apparently extinct or not. It may be reasonably doubted if +any of the volcanoes are absolutely extinct, in the full sense of the +term. They may be inoperative, so far as can be seen, for an entire +century, and at its close break out in full vigor. In consulting the +authorities upon this subject we find that, since 1570, there have been +sixty-nine destructive earthquakes recorded as having taken place on the +west coast of South America. The most terrible of them was that already +referred to, which destroyed Callao in 1745. It is stated that the +shocks at that time continued with more or less violence for three +consecutive months, and the records of the event further state that +there were two hundred and twenty distinct shocks within the twenty-four +hours following the enormous tidal wave which overwhelmed Callao. At +present, hardly a week passes without decided indications of volcanic +disturbance occurring, but these are of so slight a nature, +comparatively speaking, that but little attention is paid to them by the +native population, though it is true that sensitive strangers often turn +pale at such an event and tremble with fearful anticipations. + +About twenty miles south of Lima, on elevated ground which overlooks the +Pacific, is the prehistoric spot known as Pachacamac, in the valley of +the Lurin River. The name signifies the "Creator of the World," to whom +the city and its temples were originally dedicated. Here, upon the edge +of the desert, once stood the sacred city of a people who preceded the +Incas, and who have left in these interesting, mouldering ruins tokens +of their advanced civilization, as clearly defined as are those of +Thebes, in far away Egypt. Another fact should not be lost sight of in +this connection, that many ancient remains to be found in this +neighborhood evince a higher degree of intelligence, in their +constructive belongings, than do any evidences left to us respecting the +days of the Incas, with whom we are in a measure familiar. The +archaeologists, whose profession it is to carefully weigh even the +slightest tangible evidence which time has spared, long since came to +this conclusion. + +Pachacamac was the Mecca of South America, or at least of the most +civilized portion of it, if we may judge by present appearances, and by +the testimony of history as far back as it reaches. + +The ruins at Pachacamac consist of walls formed of adobe and sun-dried +bricks, some of which can be traced, notwithstanding the many +earthquakes which have shaken the neighborhood. The site of the ruins is +a hilly spot, and the sands have drifted so as to cover them in many +places, just as the Sphinx and the base of the pyramids have been +covered, near Cairo. Specific ruins are designated as having once been +the grand temple of the sun, and others as the house of the sacred +virgins of the sun. It is very obvious that the Incas destroyed a grand +and spacious temple here, which legend tells us was heavily adorned with +silver and gold, to make way for one of their own dedicated to the +worship of the sun. Who this race were and whence they came, with so +considerable a system of civilization, is a theme which has long +absorbed the speculative antiquarian. It is easy enough to construct +theories which may meet the case, but it is difficult to support them +when they are subjected to the cold arguments of reason and the test of +known history. Actual knowledge is a great iconoclast, and smashes the +poetical images of the unreliable historian with a ruthless hand. The +Spanish records relating to the period of early discovery here, as also +of Pizarro's career and the doing of the agents of the Romish Church, +have long since been proven to be absolutely unworthy of belief. + +About the ruins of Pachacamac was once a sacred burial place, where +well-preserved mummies are still to be found, but the great, silent, +ruined city itself does not contain one living inhabitant. The +graveyard--the Campo Santo--remains, as it were, intact, but the proud +city, with its grand temples dedicated to unknown gods, has crumbled to +dust. + +Curiously carved gold and silver vases and ornaments, exhibiting the +exercise of a high degree of artistic skill, have been exhumed in the +vast graveyard surrounding these ruins, whose extent, if judged by the +number of interments which have taken place here, must have been ten +times larger than the present site of Lima, and it must have contained a +population many times larger than that of the present capital of Peru. +In the mouths of the well-preserved mummies found buried here, we are +told that gold coins were found, presumably placed there to pay for +ferriage across the river of death. Here we have a fact also worthy of +note. It thus appears that this people must have had a circulating +medium in the shape of gold coin. As the placing of coin in the mouth of +the deceased was a custom of the ancient Greeks, may it not be that +these people came originally from Greece or from some contiguous +country? + +There are numerous other ancient remains in the neighborhood of Lima, of +which even tradition fails to give any account. Antiquarians find many +clues to special knowledge of the past in the remains which can be +exhumed in places on the coast of Chili and Peru, in the ancient graves +where the nitrous soil has preserved not only the bodies of a former +people, but also their tools, weapons, and domestic utensils. + + * * * * * + +To reach the United States from Callao, the most direct course is to +sail northward fifteen hundred miles to Panama, and cross the isthmus, +again taking ship from the Atlantic side; but the author's family +awaited him in Europe, and as the Pacific mail service exactly met his +requirements, he sailed southward, touching at several of the ports +already visited, crossing the Atlantic by way of the Canary and Cape de +Verde Islands to Lisbon, thence to Southampton and to London. Joining +his family, he crossed the Atlantic from Liverpool to Boston, after an +absence of seven months, traveling in all of this equatorial journey +some thirty thousand miles without any serious mishap, and having +acquired a largely augmented fund of pleasurable memories. + + + + + By Maturin M. Ballou. + + + EQUATORIAL AMERICA. Descriptive of a Visit to St. Thomas, + Martinique, Barbadoes, and the Principal Capitals of + South America. A New Book. Crown 8vo, $1.50. + + AZTEC LAND. Crown 8vo, $1.50. + + THE NEW ELDORADO. A Summer Journey to Alaska. Crown 8vo, + $1.50. + + ALASKA. The New Eldorado. A Summer Journey to Alaska. + _Tourist's Edition_, with 4 maps. 16mo, $1.00. + + DUE WEST; or, ROUND THE WORLD IN TEN MONTHS. Crown 8vo, + $1.50. + + DUE SOUTH; or, CUBA PAST AND PRESENT. Crown 8vo, $1.50. + + UNDER THE SOUTHERN CROSS; or, TRAVELS IN AUSTRALASIA. Crown + 8vo, $1.50. + + DUE NORTH; or, GLIMPSES OF SCANDINAVIA AND RUSSIA. Crown + 8vo, $1.50. + + GENIUS IN SUNSHINE AND SHADOW. Crown 8vo, $1.50. + + EDGE-TOOLS OF SPEECH. Selected and edited by Mr. BALLOU. + 8vo, $3.50. + + A TREASURY OF THOUGHT. An Encyclopedia of Quotations. 8vo, + full gilt, $3.50. + + PEARLS OF THOUGHT. 16mo, full gilt, $1.25. + + NOTABLE THOUGHTS ABOUT WOMEN. Crown 8vo, $1.50. + + + HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & COMPANY, + BOSTON AND NEW YORK. + + + + + Transcriber's Notes: + + List of books by Maturin M. Ballou was moved from the first page + to the end of the book. + + Obsolete and alternate spellings of words were not changed. + + Alterations to the text: + changed 'Hurricances' to 'Hurricanes' in Chapter I summary. + changed 'salter' to 'saltier' ... water is saltier than ... + removed hyphen from Ant-illes ... in those days the Antilles!... + changed 'adode' to 'adobe' ... adobe and sun-dried bricks ... + + Changes made for consistency with remaining text: + added period after 'Private Gardens' in Chapter V summary. + added hyphen to 'well appointed' + ... commodious, and well-appointed ship,... + ... large and well-appointed opera house ... + removed hyphen from 'mail-boat' + ... as a mail boat running between ... + removed hyphen from 'sailing-vessel' + ... individuality about sailing vessels which ... + removed hyphen from 'fruit-tree' + ... the fruit trees are perennial,... + removed hyphen from 'light-green' + ... round, light green berry ... + removed hyphen from 'well-known' + ... his well known reason ... + ... This well known port ... + removed hyphen from 'summer-houses' + ... pretty summer houses and ... + added hyphen to 'mossgrown' + ... which are gray and moss-grown,... + ... the moss-grown, crumbling ... + removed hyphen from 'bee-hive' + ... formed an immense human beehive ... + added hyphen to 'well arranged' + ... white stone, well-arranged, and is ... + removed hyphen from 'tail-fin' + ... tip of the tail fin,... + removed hyphen from 'so called' + ... from the so called cross ... + added hyphen to 'well equipped' + ... upon well-equipped railroads ... + removed hyphen from 'copper-colored' + ... but their brown or copper colored skins ... + added hyphen to 'waterway' + ... this unequaled water-way,... + added hyphen to 'low lying' + ... all the low-lying tropical lands ... + removed hyphen from 'house-fronts' + ... The house fronts in the various sections ... + added hyphen to 'sea birds' + ... myriads of sea-birds, whose sharp cries ... + added hyphen to 'curious shaped' + ... curious-shaped coasting craft ... + added hyphen to 'sky line' + ... breaks the sky-line in front of ... + added hyphen to 'far reaching' + ... the far-reaching shores ... + removed hyphen from 'deep-green' + ... with its deep green foliage ... + removed hyphen from 'yellow-ochre' + ... by the yellow ochre walls ... + removed hyphen from 'tide-wate' + ... feet above tide water.... + ... the nearest tide water ... + removed hyphen from 'well-organized' + ... any well organized education establishment ... + added hyphen to 'fancy goods' + ... many of the fancy-goods stores ... + added hyphen to 'stovepipe' + ... with tall, stove-pipe hats ... + added hyphen to 'never failing' + ... the lottery with never-failing regularity ... + removed hyphen from 'well-wooded' + ... among the well wooded hills ... + removed hyphen from 'well-paved' + ... drainage and well paved streets ... + ... broad, well paved streets,... + added hyphen to 'half naked' + ... the inhabitants half-naked and wholly starved... + deleted hyphen in 'snow-white' + ... natty straw hats, snow white aprons,... + ... a broad snow white ruffle ... + removed hyphen from 'well-dressed' + ... are a well dressed class ... + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Equatorial America, by Maturin M. 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