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Brazil the land of contrasts.—Appearance of the city of Rio and its environs.—Excursion to the Peak of Corcovado, and the Tejuca Waterfalls.—Germans in Rio.—Brazilian literary men.—Assacú (Hura Brasiliensis).—Snake-bite as an antidote against leprosy.—Public Institutions.—Negroes of the Mozambique coast.—The House of Misericordia.—Lunatic Asylum.—Botanical Garden.—Public instruction.—Historico-Geographical institution.—Palæstra Scientifica.—Military Academy.—Library.—Conservatory of Music.—Sanitary Police.—Yellow Fever and Cholera.—Water Party on the bay.—Chamber of Deputies.—Petropolis.—Condition of the Slave population.—Prospects of German emigration.—Suitability of Brazil as a market for German commerce.—Natural products, and exchange of manufactures.—Audience of the Emperor and Empress.—Extravagant waste of powder for salvoes.—Songs of the sailors.—Departure from Rio.—Retrospect.—South-east Trades.—Cape Pigeons.—Albatrosses.—Cape Tormentoso.—A Storm at the Cape.—Various Methods of measuring the height of waves.—Arrival in Simon's Bay.

Brazil—situated on the ocean-highway to the South Seas and the shores of India, endowed by nature, over the greater portion of her territory, with a salubrious climate, and a soil of tropical fertility, very nearly as large as Europe, and ten times the size of France, and yet containing not above 8,000,000 souls—has, far beyond all other States of South America, concentrated on herself, during more than half a century, the interest of the naturalist, as well as of the political economist—of the merchant as well as of the emigrant. Indeed, we may say that there are few countries, beyond the limits of Europe, which in certain parts have already been more thoroughly explored than the Brazilian Empire, while at the same time it can boast the possession of a rich and valuable stock of literature, treating of its history, since its discovery by the Portuguese Admiral, Pedro Alvarez Cabral, on the 22nd of April, 1500, down to the present time.

After so brief a sojourn as ours, we can hardly offer more to the reader than a short sketch of our own few experiences, and some remarks regarding the alterations which took place in the appearance of the city and in its social and political condition, since the period when Martius and Spix, Rugendas, Prince Neuwied, Helmreichen, Natterer, Pohl, d'Orbigny, Wilkes, Castelnau, Burmeister, and others visited Brazil, and so accurately delineated it both by pen and pencil.37

The magnificent scenery of the Bay of Rio de Janeiro still continues to possess the same absorbing interest for the new comer, wherever it has not suffered by the expansion of the rapidly-increasing city, or the axe of the emigrant settler; it is but little one can add to or alter in the picturesque description which travellers, alive to its natural beauties, had already given, half a century ago, of the wonderful haven of the Brazilian metropolis! Very different, however, is the impression, when the stranger, on disembarking, sets foot on the new world, and has to make his way through narrow, steep, filthy streets, greeted by yelling crowds of blacks and whites, poor negro slaves, and wealthy planters, into the interior of this bustling port. An entirely altered state of affairs has sprung up since the separation of Brazil from Portugal, and he who has not seen Rio within the last ten years would hardly recognize the capital of the Brazilian empire. Along with the most conspicuous deficiencies, in numerous particulars, one finds such institutions as are not to be met with, in a similarly flourishing condition, in any other State of South America, or among the republics of the Isthmus. But Brazil is emphatically "The Land of Contrasts."

When the traveller, stepping on shore from the anchorage for ships of war, (which is a little to the south of that for merchant vessels), has forced his way through the swarms of human beings at the landing stage, and in front of the hotel Pharoux, he finds himself on the Largo do Paço, or Palace Square. Here on his left rises the singular-looking Imperial Residence, and on his right, close to the shore, the Market Hall. A dense bustling crowd throngs the streets, while numerous vehicles, some drawn by horses, others by mules, as also omnibuses of all colours and dimensions, and crammed within and without, dash swiftly about, emulating the din and confusion of European capitals. Turning now to the right, into the Rua Direita, and thence a little further into the Rua do Ouvidor, the two most elegant but none the less most-neglected streets of Rio, there dazzles the eye, in the splendid, richly-decorated shops and arcades, the same profuse luxury as in Regent Street, or on the Boulevards. But how disagreeable the contrast with those cities, presented by the pools of stagnant water, which occur even in the most-frequented streets!

The city proper presents the figure of a square of about one mile and three quarters each way, between the sea beach and the Campo da Santa Anna, and is divided with tolerable regularity by narrow streets built at right angles to each other. Except the most important public buildings, such as the National Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Military Academy, the Naval Arsenal, the Custom House, the Market Hall, the Imperial Palace, the Chamber of Deputies, and several of the churches, only shops and mercantile counting-houses are to be met with.

From the city stretch the suburbs like long tentacles in every direction, on one side along the beach as far as St. Christoph, the winter palace of the emperor, and, in the opposite direction, as far as the charming Cove of Botafogo, while backwards they extend to the valleys leading to the Corcovado, to the suburbs of Larangeiras, Catumbý Grande, and in the direction of the Tejuca mountains, as far as Engenho Velho, and Andarahý. Elegant little villas, frequently built in the strangest and most bizarre style of architecture, alternate in these suburbs with ordinary dwelling-houses, all having most beautifully laid-out gardens. The merchant, the manufacturer, in fact every individual in easy circumstances, remain in the city only long enough to transact daily business. Each has his residence in the suburbs, where his family lives, to whose quiet circle he returns every evening. Among these suburbs, those of Caminho Novo and Catete, along the road leading to the charming cove of Botafogo, are more specially the diplomatic quarter, and the residence of the moneyed aristocracy of the capital.

Amid so much that calls for censure in Rio Janeiro, and of which the æsthetic perceptions of the visitor will apprize him in the course of a stroll in any part of the city, there are two improvements which deserve grateful acknowledgment. The first of these consists in the lighting of the city by gas (prepared from English coal), which had been introduced shortly before our arrival, and is now extended to the extreme outskirts of the suburbs; the second is the magnificent aqueduct, which provides every quarter of Rio with a lavish supply of excellent drinking-water. However ugly Rio may look in the daytime, the gas at night gives it a magnificent and splendid appearance, particularly from the harbour. When, the evening after our arrival, we gazed out upon the brilliantly-illuminated city that lay before us, we could not help thinking there must be some festive occasion for such a flood of light, ignorant as we then were of what we learned afterwards, that Rio is as fairy-looking by night as it appears gloomy by day.

Not less surprising, and forming a strong contrast with the deficiencies and requirements in other particulars, are the stately fountains that adorn the squares. Close by the corner of each street, gushes out through metal cocks, a stream of clear, fresh spring-water, which has been conveyed by the great aqueduct a distance of 10 or 12 English miles from the slopes of the neighbouring Carioca or Tejuca mountain-chains. The water supply has been in existence for 120 years, but the present immense reservoir and various improvements in it have been introduced by the Brazilian Government. With the exception of the Croton aqueduct, near New York, which supplies that city with 40,000,000 gallons daily, we do not remember to have seen in any part of the world a similar work of such magnitude.

The dreary, uncomfortable feeling left by the city, gives way to most enjoyable impressions so soon as one emerges from the suburbs of Rio, and seeks compensation for the absence of the appliances of European civilization in the eternal grace and majesty of Nature. Walks may be taken in every direction, each opening up a fresh point of view, while, if the visitor take horse or mule, he may in the course of an hour or two transport himself into the very midst of the most extraordinary features of tropical vegetation.

Among the most charming of these is a ride to the rocky peak called Corcovado, 2300 feet high, the road to which runs through magnificent shady forests. On the highest pinnacle of this rocky cone, which rises rather abruptly on the side of the valleys of Clementi and Broca, a parapet has been erected within these few years, so that the traveller can gaze over the delightful panorama below with as much, or even more, comfort and security, than from the Righi or the great Winterberg in the Saxon Switzerland. In the south and south-east rise the two stern-looking mountains, Gavia and Dos Irmaos, both of considerable height, and encircled by the mirror-like lagoon, Rodrigo das Freitas, near which stands out, clothed in the most luxuriant verdure, a part of the botanical garden; thereafter follows the beautiful valley of Clementi and Broca, with the splendid Lunatic Asylum and the fort of Praya Vermelha; beyond which is the smiling cove of Botafogo, and the singular Sugar Loaf, which forms such a characteristic feature of the entrance of Rio harbour; close beside the latter is the fort of San Juan; and lastly, facing the entrance of the bay, that of Santa Cruz, the strongest in the empire. At our feet lay stretched out the city itself, with the beautiful valleys of Larangeiras, Engenho Velho, and Catumbý Grande. On the other side of the bay, just opposite Rio, is Praya Grande, the capital of the province, and in the background the lofty, spectre-like mountain-chain of the Organos—so called from the rocky peaks projecting like so many organ-pipes. What a wondrous prospect! It is scarcely possible to have, from a single point of view, a grander or more varied natural picture. We lingered here more than an hour, and tore ourselves away with reluctance from all those glories which Nature has shed with so profuse a hand over this enchanting landscape.

One of our companions was the veteran Brazilian naturalist, the venerable Dom Antonio Ildefonso Gomez, who passed several years in Europe when a young man, and had, together with Humboldt, once attended the lectures of Cuvier at Paris. M. Auguste de St. Hilaire, during his visit to Rio, spent several months at Dom Ildefonso's hospitable abode. Although now a septuagenarian, the old physician is uncommonly hale in person, full of his pristine enthusiasm, indefatigable in the pursuit of knowledge, and able to pass an entire day on the back of his mule, so that he can ride to the most distant consultations without betraying any symptoms of exhaustion. He had brought with him a number of large oranges, some cheese and bread, and a bottle of excellent port wine, so that there was no want of wherewithal to recruit our strength; and there, on the summit of the Corcovado, our hearts swelling with rapture as the eye ranged over the marvellous landscape that lay unrolled at our feet, we drank to the prosperity of Brazil. Dom Ildefonso, a warm friend to all foreigners, remarked that within forty years Brazil will probably be more German than Brazilian or Portuguese, and expressed a hope it might be so, as only by that means, so far as his observation went, could his beloved native land hope for a prosperous future.

We returned through most charming forest scenery by way of Larangeiras and Andarahý. Throughout the entire distance we rode amidst the most exquisite specimens of tropical vegetation, palms, ebony trees, bignonias, plantains, mangoes, papayas, and bread-fruit trees, mingling with which we could discern the various trees and shrubs of the Northern Hemisphere, and occasionally strange plants from China, Japan, and Australia, which had been planted here by the enterprising hand of foreign settlers.

Not less charming is the excursion to the Falls of the Tejuca, to which a broad road leads through blooming flower-gardens, and past delicious country seats, extending far into the mountains, and surrounded and overshadowed by a wall as it were of verdure, consisting of the flowers of Bignonia bella, intermingling with the shining leaves of the gigantic Bougainvillea. The coral tree (Erythrina coralliflora), the indigenous magnolia, the fan-shaped urania, numerous species of palms, and lofty, carefully-tended screw-pines, plantains with gigantic fruits, bread-fruit trees, eugenias, casuarinas, and melon trees—such are the blooming odoriferous attractions that here adorn garden and field. Ever threading his way among such charming plantations, the traveller finally reaches the path which, hemmed in between two mountain ridges of moderate height, leads direct to the Tejuca mountains, while to the right branch off numerous narrow paths conducting to the various adjoining eminences, from which a view can be obtained of the small cascade. The tropical richness and profusion of vegetation, has here crowded together upon a few square feet of soil hundreds of plants of all kinds. They strike into the soil, or struggle upwards to the light, or give out roots from the stems or branches, and all twine and tangle with each other to such an extent that often in these tufts and thickets one sees the top of a fern, without being able to distinguish any part of its stem, or a passion-flower without any visible stalk or leaves, all suspended in mid-air, like so many elegant festoons.

A short distance from this singular, thoroughly tropical landscape, is the second, known as the Great Cascade, which, however, owes its special attractions rather to the character of the surrounding vegetation than to the volume of water. The trees here grow on a sort of amphitheatre of rocks, all of colossal size, and the most widely different forms, no two of the same species adjoining each other, their stems and branches adorned with the most beautiful parasites and the blood-red leaves of innumerable creepers, which in their lavish luxuriance now stretch like garlands from tree to tree, now hang perpendicularly down from the very highest branch of the tree like a network of green lace, till they sweep along the ground.

The water welling out from the granite rock, rushes into the abyss below after traversing a rocky declivity, somewhat resembling a sloping terrace of about twenty fathoms wide. Its track is indicated by the irregularly-shaped blocks piled upon each other, some of which at a little distance below, their huge wide ridges enclosed by retaining walls, serve as spots in which to dry in the sun the ripe berries of the coffee plant, which in many parts hereabout forms an almost impervious forest.

As we prosecute our wanderings further, we finally emerge upon the green hills of the vicinity, and obtain a charming glimpse of the ocean; we have now arrived in front of the gigantic outline of the Gavia, and directly facing us lies the salt-marsh, known as Tejuca-Lake, in the midst of which rises an island, thickly overgrown with mango-trees, standing on their distorted hundredfold roots; melancholy-looking examples of the inactivity and absence of all attention of the Brazilian authorities, who permit such a hot-bed of poisonous miasma to remain in the immediate vicinity of the city, and leave these plants unchecked to carry on their pestiferous vital processes!

Returning from such a delightful excursion to Rio de Janeiro, the stranger feels doubly uncomfortable and lonely in the dreary and sombre city. The Brazilians are in general neither very social nor hospitable, and only, after many years' acquaintance, is a familiar intercourse formed with strangers.

In this respect they bear a strong resemblance to the Spanish-Americans, whom they also greatly resemble in many of their habits of life. Foreigners settled in Rio spend their evenings generally at their country seats, some distance from the town, so that the occasional visitor is deprived of the social intercourse that might otherwise be so accessible. We met with a most hospitable reception at the houses of the Austrian Minister, Chevalier de Sonnleithner, and our Consul-General, as well as from some German families, and also from the "Germania," a Club founded by twelve Germans as far back as 1821. This Society numbers now about 200 members, and is well supplied with German newspapers and periodicals, besides possessing a well-selected library of several thousand volumes, and a reading-room, with restaurant, smoking, billiard, and dancing-rooms attached. Of the various nationalities represented at Rio, the Germans are the most respected by the Brazilians. They are about 3000 in number, and as the majority are Protestants they have their own church, founded by three Germans in 1827, which now numbers 600 members, and has an annual income of 5000 milreis.38 The community is under the protection of the Supreme Ecclesiastical Council in Berlin, and accordingly, as often as public worship is joined in, prayers are offered up for the King of Prussia, as head of the church. Despite its existence for more than thirty years, the position occupied by the Evangelical church with reference to the State, has never been accurately defined, so that differences are constantly occurring. In connection with the congregation are a school, and a society for aiding distressed Germans, which numbers 200 associates, and has an annual income of from 6000 to 7000 milreis (£600 to £700). The objects of the association are the advance of money, pensions, payment of passage-money for transport, assistance to unemployed or sick German workmen, education of orphan children, and so forth. The German choral union had given a concert in aid of this humane society, which alone had realized 3100 milreis (above £300)!

It is not alone, however, as merchants, engineers, and artisans, that the Germans in Rio occupy a conspicuous position; they likewise contribute their mite to the advancement of art and science. For example, the most important literary enterprise in the empire is in German hands, viz. the printing and bookselling business of the brothers Laemmert. Their publications embrace two hundred and fifty works, chiefly of Portuguese (not Brazilian) authors, original or translated, treating of Brazilian legislation, history, medicine, public instruction, poetry, popular literature, works on religion, novels, romances, kalendars, and theatrical pieces. One publication due to the founder of the firm, Mr. C. Laemmert, a Bavarian by birth, has already proved of immense utility, the "Almanak administrativo, mercantil, e industrial," compiled by himself, first published in the year 1843. From a most defective little pamphlet at its start, this periodical publication has, in the course of time, become developed into an elegant, simply-classified octavo volume, 1400 pages thick, which, compiled carefully and kept constantly corrected to the latest moment, despite the most disheartening material difficulties, gives a very interesting insight into the entire internal organization of the empire, and at the same time supplies the most authentic information as to the scientific, commercial, and industrial activity of the city and province of Rio. Even more important as a medium for the diffusion of useful knowledge among the masses is a sort of popular kalendar, which is published in duodecimo form, under the title of "Folinhas" (Leaves), and for 320 reis (about 7½d. English), gives upon 360 pages an immense amount of useful information. Of this publication 80,000 copies were sold throughout the empire in the year 1857. There are very few works of importance written by native authors, as they devote their energies chiefly to periodical literature. Of daily and monthly publications there are abundance, both in Rio and in the provinces, but they have only an ephemeral existence. The press enjoys the most unbounded freedom, and probably in very few continental cities would such language be tolerated as that of the Courier du Brésil, edited by a French refugee. If the influence of journalism in Brazil is as yet insignificant, it is in consequence of the prevailing ignorance, as four-fifths of the population are unable to read or write, and the papers published are consequently only in the hands of the upper classes.

While we found but few opportunities of intercourse with Brazilian families, the public authorities received and treated us in the most obliging and distinguished manner. In this respect, we were particularly indebted to Dr. de Lagos, Dr. Schüch de Capanema, Dr. F. de Paulo Candido, and Dom M. de Portoalegre.

These gentlemen took especial pains to make our stay in Rio as instructive as useful, and likewise gave us in reply to various scientific queries the most valuable information and practical hints. Thus, for example, we were favoured by Dr. de Lagos with the following particulars respecting the alleged efficacy of the milky sap of the assacú tree (Hura Brasiliensis), and of the bite of the rattlesnake as antidotes in cases of Elephantiasis, as also regarding the "Curaré," that celebrated poison with which the Indians of Brazil tip their arrows.

The assacú had long been employed as a remedy for the frightful malady known as Elephantiasis Græcorum, and its use was occasionally followed by the happiest results, without any attempt having been made thoroughly to investigate the specific action of the juice, although, like that of so many other Brazilian plants, it would probably surrender, if scientifically analyzed, the therapeutical energies which enable it to overcome occasionally the most obstinate cases of disease. The assacú is a tree growing in the northern provinces of Pará, on making an incision into which there exudes a resinous sap, of a brownish or reddish-white colour, which coagulates, and gradually hardens. This inspissated substance is of a dark brown, rather resembling gum than resin, and readily soluble in water. When dissolved, it regains the colour and odour of the sap as it first trickles from the tree. A committee of physicians of Pará long ago presented to the Brazilian Government a memorandum as to the practical efficacy and peculiarities of the assacú in cases of the above malady, according to which it appears, that the symptoms of the patient improve in the most marvellous manner from the very first day on which the remedy is used; the illness seems to be suddenly arrested, or, at all events to make but very slight progress. The milky sap is exhibited internally, in the form of pills, and a decoction of the bark is also administered by way of a beverage for the patient—externally an infusion of the bark is used for bathing purposes. Some of those affected, to whom this remedy was applied, felt a sensation as of formication, immediately on taking it, while others experienced a feeling as though they had been submitted to a series of shocks of electricity, only weaker and more equable.

It is a well-established fact that in many parts of South America, a popular belief prevails that the bite of the deadly Cobra de cascavel, or rattlesnake, heals Elephantiasis, or pustular leprosy, in which disease, as is well known, the legs and feet of those attacked are covered with a scurf resembling the cuticle of the elephant. However, instances of the practical application of so terrible a remedy, which seems to be almost more dreadful than the disease it professes to cure, are in all probability of rare occurrence, and are therefore doubly important when, as in the case detailed to us, they occurred under the very eyes of a man of science, and are related by the observer himself.

A native, named Marianno José Machado, from Rio Pardo, in the province of southern Rio Grande, fifty years of age, had long been afflicted with morphea (Elephantiasis Græcorum), and had already passed four years in the Lazarus Hospital at Rio, when one day, worn out with his loathsome malady, he resolved as a last chance of being delivered from his dread disease, to submit to the bite of a rattlesnake. All the warnings and representations of the physicians, who entertained well-founded doubts as to the remedial efficacy of so dangerous a remedy, were disregarded. Marianno betook himself to a house in the Rua da Imperatriz, the occupant of which possessed a living rattlesnake, and there in the presence of numerous witnesses declared, signing at the same time a document to the same effect, that what he was about to do he did of his own free will, without any influence on the part of strangers, and that he assumed to himself the entire responsibility of his own deed. Marianno was of middling stature and athletic build; his entire skin was covered with rugosities, but without any appearance of ulceration, while his face was frightfully disfigured. The points of his fingers, moreover, had entirely lost their form, the skin readily peeling off from them.

The daring sufferer opened the box in which lay the deadly reptile, and roughly seized it; but it at first attempted to escape, as though it too was disgusted at the horrible object before it. When, however, it felt itself once more squeezed, the snake turned round in self-defence, and bit the man on the finger. Marianno was sensible neither of the puncture of the teeth, nor of the instantaneous activity of the injected poison, but it became ere long apparent that he had been bitten, from the blood making its appearance, coupled with a slight swelling of the hand. Several physicians watched by the bedside of the sufferer; almost every half-hour the observed results were circumstantially reported. When, however, the symptoms rapidly became worse, antidotes were applied, and every effort made to save the patient. Nevertheless, the result of the experiment was as anticipated—within twenty-four hours after the bite of the rattlesnake Marianno was a corpse.

Several members of the medical society of Vienna laid great stress on our procuring a considerable quantity of the celebrated poison, "curaré," used in South America for tipping arrows, with the view of instituting fresh experiments—similar to those already made, so as to elucidate its chemical and physiological properties. As the curaré is not to be procured in Rio, but comes thither from the northern province of Pará, where the natives procure it from the sap of the Strychnos toxifera, Dr. de Lagos promised he would take care to procure some, so as to transmit samples direct to the Vienna savans, and at the same time gave us much information as to the latest researches touching this substance, with whose remarkable properties Alexander v. Humboldt had made the scientific world acquainted, more than half-a-century previously, in his classic "Travels through the Equatorial Countries."

One special peculiarity of the curaré consists in the fact that, like most other organic poisons, it is only active when absorbed into the circulating system, and proves entirely innoxious, nay in some cases even beneficial, when introduced into the body by other means.

The more the faculty became acquainted with the terrific activity, and invariably fatal results of this poison, the more zealously did science bestir itself to discover some means of neutralizing the operation of the curaré. Quite recently the preparations of iodine-natron, when administered in certain proportions, have been recognized as antidotes; dissolved with the curaré they seem entirely to obviate its evil effects. Careful observation and a gradual acquaintance with the properties of the curaré, have further led to the conclusion that it may be regarded as a remedy in certain cases, and it has actually been administered with good results to animals affected with tetanic convulsions. May it be reserved to the physicians of our native country, to elicit from the quantity of this subtle and singular poison, which they may expect to receive through the kindness of Dr. de Lagos, such results as shall make its remedial properties available for man, instead of leaving its baleful energies as at present solely directed to the destruction of organic life!

In the company of our Brazilian friends, already mentioned, we also visited the most interesting of the public charities and educational institutions of Rio.

On the occasion of a visit we paid to the in part newly-erected Casa de Correçâo, which is managed on what is known as the Auburn system, we were shown three Mozambique negroes, who, in 1852, had been smuggled in a "slaver" from the east coast of Africa into Brazil, there to be sold as slaves, despite the interdicts against the introduction of slaves, then actually in force. The vessel was, however, captured by the Brazilian cruisers, and the negroes forthwith restored to liberty, when, in their own interest, and with the view of preventing their being a second time sold into bondage, they were removed to a quarter of the prison away from the rest, and specially set apart for what are called "free Africans," where they had been carefully educated and instructed in various handicrafts, all at the expense of the State. As a vocabulary of the idioms spoken by the Mozambique negroes, was an especial desideratum of the class of philosophic history in our Imperial Academy of Sciences, and there seemed to be but little prospect of our expedition visiting the eastern coast of Africa, we gladly availed ourselves of this unexpected opportunity to compile the wished-for vocabulary, in which Professor Portoalegre, Director of the Academy of Fine Arts, materially assisted us. Two of these negroes, Camillo and Ventura, were born in Quillimani, and belonged to the Mananpi race; the third, Jeremias, was born about sixty days' journey from the coast, of the Maqua race, and spoke a dialect of the Mozambique idiom. Ventura, a youth of, at the outside, seventeen years of age, related that he could perfectly remember having been stolen one night from his parents in Quillimani, when he was brought to a slave-dealer named Jones, after which he was shipped off in a wretched leaky vessel to the coast of Brazil. On our asking these three swarthy fellow-labourers, hearty of aspect and neatly clothed, who had been so carefully tended by the State, and earned, one as a house-servant, the other two as stonemasons, thirty milreis (£3 3s.) a month, whether they did not feel themselves better off in Rio than in their own home—they, with one accord, answered that they longed to return to Quillimani, where it is hardly requisite to work above six months, and the rest of the year may be consumed in a genuine "dolce far niente" existence, instead of being compelled, as in Rio, to work the whole year round!

In spite of long-continued efforts, the vocabulary turned out much less complete than we wished, in consequence of the limited capacity of these negroes. We did not content ourselves, however, with merely transcribing the answers to our questions, but also endeavoured to obtain a more accurate idea of the precise meaning attached to each, by repeating each of the words of the Mozambique language, and translating into it from the questions put in Portuguese. This method seemed to be the most effectual for ensuring the correctness of the pronunciation, so as to permit of its being afterwards reduced to writing. In the arrangement of the vocabulary, we availed ourselves of what is known as Gallatin's method, as it appeared to us more complete and comprehensive than that sent to our academy by the celebrated naturalist and traveller, Dr. Martius, of Munich, with a request that it should have his list of Latin words translated into the various languages hitherto unknown, or such idioms as have been as yet but little examined and investigated.

The race, to which these three negroes belonged, seems to have been already converted to Christianity. At least, they all had Christian names, but could give us no information either as to certain heathenish rites in their own country, or concerning an idol of carved ivory which we showed them, brought from the east coast of Africa, and the method of worshipping it.

Two of the most elegant edifices of Rio Janeiro, worthy indeed of being placed side by side with the largest charitable establishments in Europe, are the immense palace-like Hospital of the Santa Casa da Misericordia, in which between 8000 and 9000 patients are received and treated annually, and the really splendid Lunatic Asylum (Asylo dos Alienados), in the cove of Botafogo. The latter institution, founded in 1841, which, whether as regards the tastefulness of its architecture or its munificent endowment, can hardly be rivalled anywhere, owes its existence to one of the most estimable benefactors of his native country, Don José Clemente Pereira, Minister of the Interior at the time of its erection. This genial, benevolent soul, deeply acquainted with the human heart and its weaknesses, hit, as we were told, upon the following eminently original and ingenious method of raising the sums required. All grades of the various Brazilian orders, as well as the titles of Baron, Count, and Marquis, were put up for sale at fixed prices, the proceeds resulting from which purposes were applied to the erection and endowment of the asylum! And thus arose, at the south end of the cove of Botafogo, a splendid palatial edifice—a monument less of humanity and love of our afflicted neighbours, than of the vanity and frailty of poor human nature, the tributes to which erected it. Unfortunately, in this establishment, mere succour is all in all, and the cure seems entirely lost sight of, the sanative treatment of the patients lagging far behind their careful supervision; in short, it being rather a place for the safe confinement than the recovery of those deprived of their reason.

One of the most instructive examples of how little the inhabitants of Rio make use of the natural capabilities of the site of their capital, is incontestably furnished by a piece of ground immediately adjoining the Lunatic Asylum, which has been dignified with the name of the Botanic Garden. With the exception of a very fine alley of hundreds of graceful king-palms (Oreodoxa regia), which present a magnificent spectacle, growing as they do with such admirable regularity as to appear rather artificial columns than planted trees, the eye encounters nothing but uncultivated land, abounding with the commonest vegetation, alternating with badly-selected nursery plantations, although both in the climate and the soil every facility is at hand for enabling this garden to be made a means of representing the vegetation of every zone of the globe. Even a large tea plantation, for the cultivation of which 10,000 Chinese were imported at the cost of Government, and from which, if the experiment had proved successful, the most important results might have been anticipated, stood there uncared-for and untended, a melancholy witness of how things are inaugurated in Brazil, and then suffered to fall through. When we enquired how long the garden had been laid out, our guide, a witty Portuguese, replied with a sarcastic smile; "Since the beginning of the world!" In that part of the garden which adjoins the Lagune, called Rodrigo das Freitas, stands a common mud hovel, with broken windows, and doors hanging by the hinges. This was pointed out to us by a labourer as the spot at which the Emperor alights and reposes when he visits the Botanical Garden.

Singular to say, Brazil possesses no regular university! The jealousy with which any one city invested with certain privileges and prerogatives is regarded by the rest, is the reason that induced the Government to separate the medical and juridical classes, so that each of the four chief cities of the Empire benefits by the presence of a certain portion of the students. Thus the medical schools are in Rio Janeiro and Bahia, while those of jurisprudence are held in St. Paul and Pernambuco. The entire number of students attending these establishments amounted of late years, on an average, to upwards of a thousand. Great prominence has been assigned by Government, especially of late, to the extension of public instruction. In March, 1857, there were throughout Brazil, 2452 schools, (765 private, and 1687 public,) in which instruction was given to 82,243 children of both sexes.39 A school of industry, having for its object the instruction of able-bodied persons, was opened in 1856, and classes for teaching natural philosophy and political administrative science, are in process of being introduced. Amongst the scientific establishments of the country, the Historico-Geographical Institute occupies the first place, the meetings of which are generally attended by the Emperor as honorary president. This institution, which occupies in Brazil about the same position as the Academy of Sciences in Vienna, directs its special attention to the publication of old documents and manuscripts relating to the history of Brazil and the aboriginal population; but investigations relating to natural history are also included in its domain of enquiry. The sittings are held every alternate Friday. The naturalists of the Novara attended one of these meetings, which took place in one of the wings of the palace. At half-past 6 p. m., the Emperor entered the hall, in plain clothes, attended by two chamberlains. All the gentlemen present approached one after the other and respectfully kissed the hand of their sovereign. On this occasion we remarked that even ladies, when presented to the head of the State, were accustomed to kiss his hand. The Imperial Honorary President, whose simple apparel was relieved only by the star of some order worn on the breast, took his seat at the upper end of a long, wide table, covered with green cloth. The associates, with the exception of the Vice-President and Secretaries, seemed to have no fixed seats, but sat in the order of their arrival. During the sitting there was the most marked absence of ceremony, and the business was transacted in the freest and easiest manner.

The proceedings were uninteresting, the greatest portion of the time being occupied in reading over the minutes of the last sitting, and replying to certain strictures upon the incapacity of land-surveyors in Brazil. Sir Robert Schomburgk had, in one of his works published in 1843, upon the subject of New Guinea, made some disparaging observations as to the method of admeasurement pursued in Brazil, and one member of the society, Dr. Schüch de Capanema, seemed to consider it his duty in his double capacity as a Brazilian and an engineer, to protest—somewhat tardily it must be owned!—against these, according to his opinion, unjust remarks. After the discussion was over, a manuscript was next brought forward concerning some of the native tribes; His Majesty expressed a wish to have this treatise read. The secretary accordingly made the attempt, but the writing was so illegible, that he was obliged to abandon the task. At the conclusion of the meeting, which lasted upwards of three hours, His Majesty conversed very affably with the Austrian gentlemen, and presented each with a copy of a national poem, "Conferaçao dos Tamoyos," by a native poet, Gonçalves de Magalhaes, and recently printed at His Majesty's expense, which relates the wars of the Tamoyos with the Portuguese residents of San Vincente—the last struggle of that heroic Indian race, the founding of Rio, and the subjugation of the entire force, under Nictheroy, by the Portuguese.

The Palæstra Scientifica is a branch of this institution, the members being chiefly naturalists. The gentlemen of the Novara Expedition were invited to one of the meetings, which was inaugurated by the secretary reading aloud an ancient manuscript upon the natural resources of various provinces in Brazil, according to explorations, which had been undertaken in 1798, by the directions and at the cost of the then Portuguese Government. There was also read a memoir upon the culture of linseed, formerly carried on in the province of St. Catharina, which, however, is now entirely discontinued. Dr. Schüch presented to the Society vocabularies of the Croado and Puris languages, compiled by M. R. F. de Senestes, a retired Belgian ship captain, now resident at Minas, who had long traded with these two Indian races. Dr. Schüch also exhibited a pigment, or dye-stuff, extracted from the wood of the Ipé-tree, a species of bignonia, extensively used in the manufacture of axles. State Councillor and Senator Candido Baptista de Oliveira, [formerly Minister and Ambassador at St. Petersburg, and at that time publisher and editor of the Rivista Brasileira (Brazilian Review)], brought forward some meteorological tables, and explained his new method for measuring altitudes. The proceedings are usually conducted in the Portuguese language; but out of courtesy to the foreigners, French was principally spoken, and the President kindly proposed that Dr. Schüch de Capanema, who is thoroughly versed in German, should translate into that idiom the proceedings as carried on in Portuguese. At the close of the sitting, the commander of our Expedition and the various members of the scientific commission were named associates of the Palæstra Scientifica.

This society had projected an expedition to explore the western provinces of the empire, and some of their members were appointed to draw up the plan for carrying it out. The arrangements for the enterprise were on the grandest scale. The requisite books and scientific apparatus were ordered from London, Paris, Vienna, and Berlin. Every branch of science had its representative—an astronomer, botanist, zoologist, ethnologist, &c., were to accompany the Expedition; each section had a number of assistants, the astronomical as many even as nine. When we arrived in Rio, the printed instructions for the use of the members were just being distributed; and it was asserted that nothing but the non-arrival of the instruments from Europe prevented the departure of the Expedition. In short, the preparations which were made in the year 1857, justified the hope that a most brilliant success would be the result of an undertaking got up on so expensive a scale. The only pity is, that up till now—more than three years later—the Expedition has had but little result, and, according to the latest intelligence from Rio, some of the members in the north-east of the province of Cearà cannot proceed any further for want of money (por falta de dinhero), and expect new funds in order to continue their explorations and their efforts in search of the wild tribes (em busca das tribus selvaticas!) in the interior of Maranhao.

There is, generally speaking, in Brazil, as in all other South-American States peopled by the Roman race, much of good-will, and still more vanity, to follow in the wake of northern European civilization in everything pertaining to progress and investigation; but there is wanting that energy, that perseverance so characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon race, which are essential conditions in successfully carrying out any undertaking, however zealously entered upon. This probably is the reason why in Brazil so many things in science and social life are begun and never brought to a conclusion; there is nowhere more talk about what is to be done, than at Rio de Janeiro. Thus, for example, the Museum of Natural History at the Campo Santa Anna, is an elegant building, with magnificent apartments, and large elegantly fitted cases—which, however, contain as yet but few objects of natural history, even those being most unsystematically arranged.

Another educational institution—the Military Academy—founded under John VI., in 1810, for the instruction of the engineers and officers of the various scientific corps, has, since then, undergone nine reforms, and was just about to undergo another one! In this establishment the highly objectionable practice still exists, of making every pupil acquainted with the chapter and verse of the subjects of examination twenty-four hours before it takes place.

The Public Library, though little more than begun at the period of our visit, already comprised 86,000 volumes, and is annually increased by an addition of five or six hundred. This institution was, in 1856, visited by 3407 readers, who perused 7717 volumes, mostly in Portuguese and French, consisting of 238 on theology, 1046 on political economy, 2879 on natural science, 153 on the fine arts, 1083 on history, and 2318 on belles-lettres, which furnishes a very fair criterion for estimating the education of those availing themselves of these advantages.

Another institution, which is an evidence of the efforts now making by the Brazilians to gratify their national vanity, is the Conservatorio da Musica, a newly-established institution for the promotion of the opera lyrica nacional, the number of pupils attending which averages 100. A custom has lately prevailed of sending one or two of the most gifted of these annually to Europe to complete their musical studies. During a four years' residence there, each pupil has a stipend from the Imperial exchequer of 3000 francs per annum; and in the event of obtaining a prize abroad, he receives a gratuity of 1000 francs; his compositions, however, in that case become the property of the parent institution. By this means the Brazilians hope to render themselves entirely independent of foreign musical talent. "Why should we annually pay hundreds of thousands of francs to foreign singers and concert-givers?" said a Brazilian to us one day in all earnestness. "We shall soon have our own artists—Brazilian Thalbergs, Grisis, and Lablaches!" Confessedly the inhabitants of the United States have been vain enough in all conscience; but when we consider the wonderful advances made by that active, energetic people, and contemplate their surpassing qualities, such a national foible is readily overlooked. In Brazil, on the contrary, the contempt affected for everything foreign, the fretful impatience to become emancipated from the smallest resemblance to European customs, is exceedingly childish and even ludicrous in a country which can hardly yet be said to be able to stand alone, since the pressure of circumstances is daily making them more and more dependent on other countries, and where it is necessary to import from abroad not merely the evidences of high culture, but the very first necessaries of life, even to obtaining supplies of foreign labour. This overweening self-esteem has rather increased, since it has become the fashion of young Brazilians, of the better classes, to visit Europe for the completion of their studies, as will, perhaps, be best illustrated by the following laughable anecdote:—A young Brazilian, the son of a German father and a native lady, who had but recently returned from Europe, overheard one of his friends asking another if he could tell of what country he thought the fresh arrival to be, at the same time indicating the youth, who just came from the academy of Freiberg. "There can be no doubt on that point," was the reply; "the blue eyes, light hair, and fair complexion, distinctly indicate that the gentleman is a German." "God forbid!" (Deu m'en guarda!) exclaimed the young gentleman, who seemed as it were ashamed of his foreign descent, and to feel even more indignation than a full-blood Brazilian at such a mortifying imputation.

Among the various institutions recently established in Rio, the introduction of which is intended to be made available in promoting the physical well-being of the people, the foremost place must indisputably be assigned to the Board of Health (Junta Central de Hygiena Publica). It owes its origin to the appearance of the yellow fever and the cholera, which had never been known before in the country. The former broke out on the 29th December, 1850, having been introduced by vessels that had cleared from Bahia, at which port it had been raging for some weeks. The ravages of this pestilence were fearful in Rio; out of a population of 250,000 souls, as many as 120,000 were attacked, and upwards of 5000 fell a sacrifice to the disease.

The first case of cholera occurred a few years later, on the 15th of July, 1855; and during the months in which it prevailed, nearly the same number (to be more precise, 4826) of the inhabitants of the capital were carried off. The fatal cases throughout the empire from this epidemic during the eighteen months between May, 1855, and December, 1856, are said to have amounted to the enormous number of 107,093! Dr. Francisco de Paulo Candido, one of the most eminent physicians of Rio, and the principal member of the Board of Health, states, in a report to the Government, relative to the statistics of the cholera throughout the empire, that he had observed, during the prevalence of the epidemic, three phenomena, which seemed to stand in a certain relation to its appearance, increase, and decrease, viz., the almost entire disappearance of the ozon in July and following months, when the disease was on the increase; the gradual increase of that atmospheric agent, in proportion to the decrease of the disorder; and lastly, the influence exercised by humidity and sudden changes in temperature on the intensity of the disease. Dr. Candido has added to his highly instructive report some meteorological tables and a graphical representation of the presence and absence of ozon in the atmosphere, which will be published, in its proper place, in the medical section of the present work.

The consequence of the ravages of these two scourges was, that a variety of other measures for securing the public health were inaugurated by the newly-established Board of Health. Among others, a hospital was set on foot in a charming part of the Cove of Jurujuba,40 at the eastern extremity of the Bay of Rio, expressly for the reception of patients afflicted with yellow fever or cholera. Every morning since that attack, (and during the unhealthy season several times a day), a small Government steamer, fitted up for the purpose, plies round the bay, to take up any cases that may happen to occur on board the ships arriving, and convey them hither free of charge. Two medical men on board the steamer commence the treatment, by applying the necessary remedies, during the passage from the ship to the hospital. Any vessel at anchor in the bay with an epidemic on board, has, according to arrangement, simply to hoist a flag on the mainmast, whereupon the Government steamer immediately embarks the sick persons. In order more effectually to keep from all contact with the population of the town, such shipboard patients as are labouring under infectious complaints, another hospital has been established on the Island of Marica, situated beyond the bar.

In consequence of these recent epidemic attacks, much greater attention than formerly has of late been paid to the cleanliness of the capital of the Brazilian empire, though a great deal has yet to be done in this respect. Rio used to be, without exception, the dirtiest city in the world. As there were neither gutters nor sewers, all impurities accumulated during the twenty-four hours used, towards evening, to be carried by negroes on their heads, in pails and casks, to the bay, and, singularly enough, emptied in the immediate vicinity of the Imperial palace, whereby several quarters of the city, particularly in the hot season, were rendered entirely uninhabitable. The execution of proper drainage and sewerage works in a city such as Rio, which lies on a flat and is densely built near the water, must be at all times attended with a very large expenditure of money. But who would boggle at any amount for an object which concerns the bodily health, not merely of the present, but of all succeeding generations? At the period of our visit, the Government had entered into a contract with Messrs. Joaquim Pereira de Lima and J. F. Russell, by which, in consideration of a lease for ninety years of certain taxes specially levied, the two contractors have undertaken to introduce into the capital of Brazil a system of harbour and street purification, similar to that which has long been in general use throughout England. There had also been lately started a Companhia Reformadora, having for object the widening and beautifying of certain streets, and the improvement of the paving. One must have lived in Rio, where each street and open square is a hotbed of fever and sickness, to be able aright to estimate the importance of the two last-named associations.

A war steamer was, by the command of H.M. the Emperor of Brazil, placed at our disposal, to afford us an opportunity of viewing more closely the most beautiful points in the magnificent bay of Rio. There were on board with us the Captain of the Port, Dom Francisco de Perura Pinto, the captains of the Brazilian men-of-war lying in the harbour, as also several members of the Historico-Geographical Institute. A military band enlivened the party by playing national airs during the day. We first visited the south-east part of the bay at the villages of San Domingo and Ponta da Armacao, opposite to Ponta da Aréa, whence steamers, for navigating the bay and adjoining coast, are run by an English company, which employs 667 hands, (of whom 298 are foreigners, 207 natives, and 162 negro slaves). Except a part of the funds advanced by native capitalists, the whole undertaking is carried out by foreigners. England furnishes the engineers and machinery, whilst the requisite timber is brought from Norway and North America. The value of the labour employed during 1856 amounted to nearly £90,000.—We proceeded hence past the islands of Salinas and Honorio, and between the island of Baretto and the eastern shore of the bay, as far as the luxuriant island of Paquetá, on the lovely shores of which we landed. It has a circumference of five miles, and is inhabited by 16,000 persons, who convert shells into chalk; nearly all the houses on shore are chalk-kilns. During the dry season this island is the favourite Sunday resort of the fluminenses, as the Rio de Janeirians delight to call themselves. From this sweet spot the steamer carried us to the north side of the bay. In the back-ground, the Organos mountains now appeared in all the majesty of their imposing outline, whilst on one of the projecting ridges, the church San Francisco de Croara forms an extremely picturesque object.

ISLAND OF PAQUITÀ, BAY OF RIO.

The more the northern portion of the bay is approached, the more romantic becomes the panorama of the mountains: from this point stand out in their full grandeur the Serra da Estrella, the Serra da Tinguá (which is currently believed to be the highest mountain, not merely on the bay, but in Brazil), then the deep valley of Santa Cruz, next to which the mountain-chains of Suaratyba, and the Serra de Iguassoú, rise majestically, melting away into the charming Tejuca chain, the Gavia, and the world-renowned Corcovado, whilst the Sugar Loaf, that gigantic guardian at the entrance of the harbour, splendidly terminates this magnificent amphitheatre.

We passed the largest of the islands in the bay, the Ilha do Governador, which has a circumference of upwards of seven miles, and is inhabited by about a hundred persons chiefly employed in the chalk-kilns, sail-cloth and soap manufactories; and touched at some wild spots that promised a harvest for our naturalists. Here and there, from the deep blue waters, sprang up islands of the most luxuriant vegetation, like tropical idylls of rock and forest, such as the eye marvels to rest upon, but the pen refuses to describe. Indelibly impressed on our minds remains in this respect the lovely islet of Catalán, with its beautiful flowers and palms.

On approaching the capital, towards the east of the bay, passing the island Bom Jesus, with a magnificent Franciscan monastery, and the Ponta do Cajù, with charming country seats, a forest of masts, strikes the eye in bold contrast with the Sugar Loaf in the east, and the Morro de Viracao and the fort Pico in the west, which covers the position of Santa Cruz. Unfortunately we went down, just at this point, to a splendid banquet, etiquette requiring that we should exchange the quarter-deck for the state-room; for in Brazil also, upon such occasions, meals and speechifying play an important part, and greatly prejudice the special object of travel—the enjoyment of nature.

We were not yet done, however, with our excursion. Again we turned towards the beautiful Cove of Jurujuba, where on the shore lay pretty little cottages embowered in the richest foliage, while, through a deep depression, appeared the masts of ships which were still on the bosom of the ocean outside, on the point of entering the harbour. As the vessel steamed in, the scenery changed character at every moment, like a fairy landscape, full of the loveliest, most enchanting glimpses of the surrounding country. At Jurujuba, we landed to visit the Hospital Maritimo de S. Isabel, erected in 1853, for the reception of sailors in ill-health of all nations and creeds. It proved of immense utility during the prevalence of epidemics. In the five years of its existence at the period of our visit, there had been admitted nearly 6000 cases of yellow fever.41 For the excellent management of this fine hospital the utmost credit is due to the physicians in charge, Dr. Bento Maria da Costa, and Dr. José Teixeira da Souza.

The ground immediately surrounding the hospital has been reclaimed by the hand of man, and transformed into a garden, in which flourish, in solitary majesty, the shady Aleurites triloba and the Anda Gomesii, growing in avenues or other regular groups, after all wild vegetation had been cut down. But at the first step beyond, the foot of the wanderer through these solitudes strikes into paths leading through the richest, densest forest scenery Casuarinas (Anacardium occidentale), with its luscious pear-shaped fruits, the Indian mango-tree, the various species of Eugenia, so rich in ethereal oil, the Figuera Branca (ficus doliaria), the canoe-tree, a gigantic species of Bombax, protected by sharp spines, and other lofty forest-children, reach to the very buildings; while, amid the dense underwood that grows unchecked, and a few paces distant only from the dwellings of man, lurk dangerously poisonous snakes, who find here a secure haunt. Within our own experience, as one of the botanists of the Expedition was placing a ladder against a primæval forest tree, the progenitor of numberless scions, he stumbled upon a poisonous Jacaraca, ready to defend from intrusion his accustomed resting-place.

At the north-west entrance of Jurujuba Cove, rises a lofty island, with the appropriate name of Bom Viajem ("a happy voyage"), with its church of the Virgin of the same name, situate on the extreme summit, 400 feet in height. As, during our visit to the hospital, the twilight had crept stealthily on, we returned without further stoppage to Rio; when the company, landing at the usual landing-place of the arsenal, separated, full of the most pleasing impressions, arising from the beautiful scenery enjoyed during the day, and a deep sense of gratitude for the noble hospitality shown us by our amiable hosts.

Another favour was conferred by Drs. de Lagos and Schüch, who formed a fishing-party on a grand scale, which was greatly enjoyed by all, though the gun proved more profitable to our naturalists than rod, line, or net.

As the number of days at our disposal in Rio Janeiro began to diminish, we applied ourselves to seeing the utmost possible with the smallest sacrifice of time. The morning after our excursion on board the Santa Cruz, we attended a sitting of the Chamber of Deputies. The hall, oval in shape, is plainly, but comfortably fitted up. The members sit on benches in a semicircle. Opposite the president stand tables for the ministers of state; at the upper and lower end of the hall are galleries for the public, and one is specially assigned to the diplomatic body. Each member speaks from his place. Their language is very free and their behaviour still more so—they sometimes carry this so far as not to allow a speaker to proceed; and in screaming, brawling, and violence, they excel even certain members of the late French Chamber of Deputies. There are said to be some very able speakers amongst the Brazilians. The subject of debate was a petition presented to the House for an inquiry into the conduct of a late minister of justice, who was accused of having tyrannically dismissed a government officer in the province of Maranhao. The subject had created great interest in the public mind, and the galleries were crowded to suffocation; we did not remain till the conclusion of the debate, but the minister is said to have justified the proceeding by proving that the officer had allowed himself to be bribed.

On the same day we made an excursion to the Serra da Estrella and Petropolis, a place which has of late excited so much attention in the public journals, since the question of German emigration to Brazil, with its accompaniments of agitations by the Brazilian recruiting agents, began to assume its present remarkable proportions. Though the distance from Rio to Petropolis may be accomplished in four hours, yet three different vehicles are required:—in the first place, a steamer from Rio to the railway-station on the opposite side of the bay, then the railway to Fragosa, and lastly, a carriage to the final destination over an excellent road which runs through the mountains to Petropolis.

This fine work, which was opened in 1848, is unfortunately the only one of its kind in the whole empire,42 as are likewise the five miles of railway between Mauá and Fragosa; and yet how highly important would railway communication prove from the metropolis to the northern provinces, by means of which the excessive cost of carriage by mules might be so considerably reduced, benefiting alike the landowner and the merchant! As an illustration, the fact may be mentioned, that the cost of transit for an arroba (32 lbs.) of coffee from the coffee district of Vassouras to Rio, a distance of about 50 miles, amounts to from 700 to 800 reis (about 1s. 8d.). The trouble and expense connected with this miserable mode of conveyance, so much enhance the price of some kinds of natural produce, that it does not pay to transport them to the harbour of the capital. Several companies have latterly been projected, and money subscribed for constructing railways in the various provinces of the empire, and a few of these are already under weigh, as, for example, that of Dom Pedro Segundo, which will put the richest provinces in direct communication with Rio, and for which the amount of money required has been entirely subscribed. But in this, as in all other Brazilian enterprises, energy is wanting to make these good intentions bear fruit; and so long as there is not a greater admixture of foreign go-a-head-ativeness in the country, much must remain confined to the mere expression of patriotic wishes. And in this connection, foreign immigration, of which we shall treat further on, will prove of immense importance.

The journey by carriage through the Sierra from Fragosa to Petropolis is extremely beautiful. He who is not fortunate enough to enter deeper into the interior, at least obtains here an idea of what constitutes a primæval Brazilian forest. The wonders of tropical vegetation, as manifested not only by vastness of form but also by gorgeous and rank luxuriance, strike the eye at first-sight almost the same way as an overpowering chorus affects the ear. It requires time to collect the thoughts, so as to be able to appreciate and enjoy thoroughly the extraordinary beauties that impress the wondering mind.

If the eye of the astonished traveller has been but in the most cursory manner directed to the vegetable phenomena that surround him, it must have rested on a climbing plant, which constitutes one of the chief marvels of the native woods. This singular creeper is the Cipo matador, a climbing plant of a very peculiar aspect, at once the most powerful and most destructive of all the Cipo tribe. It twines round the stems of lofty trees, which its flattened coils gradually constrict with almost life-like cruelty! Its aërial roots run out from all parts and embrace the tree like artificial clamps, forming in some places complete rings, and in others growing into the very bark. The tree, in consequence of this parasitic embrace, dies away by degrees, whilst its destroyer continues to grow gaily on the corpse of its victim, and spreads its leafy crown until it falls and perishes simultaneously with the support that had hitherto upheld it. To what profound reflections does the contemplation of this spectacle give rise! Involuntarily our thoughts fly from the wild Brazilian forest to the plains of civilization—to the modern society where, likewise, many a noble human nature is slowly undermined by a treacherous Cipo matador of flesh and blood, till too surely he falls prone on the ground!

Petropolis is, on account of its more temperate and healthy climate, a favourite residence of the wealthy Rio de Janeirians, and during the hot season, when the sultriness of the air, if not something worse, renders life almost unendurable, Petropolis is said to have the appearance of a European spa. It is at the same time the summer residence of the Emperor, and the only place in Brazil where an electric telegraph—uniting it with Rio de Janeiro—has been established. The town contains about 7000 inhabitants; the streets, when completed, will be broad and handsome—but only one has as yet been finished, the others being merely marked out, while even among the clean and neat houses already erected, there are frequent and wide gaps.

The German colony, planned by a German engineer, Julius Friedr. Köhler, is at a little distance from Petropolis. The first colonists who arrived on the 30th of July, 1845, came mostly from Baden and the Rhenish provinces. The Government granted to each family a cottage, with a slice of forest near it, a cow, a dozen of chickens, and about £5 in money. Such at least was the information given us at Petropolis. Köhler soon afterwards met with a sad end at a newly-formed shooting ground. Many an emigrant family perished in misery; others, however, overcame the difficulties that beset them at the commencement; more emigrants arrived, and now one may walk, within a few hours, through the Rhine and Mosel valleys, Nassau, Darmstadt, Ingelheim, Bingen, the Palatinate and Switzerland, as the emigrants, in fond commemoration of their native homes, call their small settlements, which run some distance through the mountain valleys. The German origin of these settlements displays itself distinctly in the cleanliness and neatness of their log cabins, the affability of the people, the heartiness of their greeting, the fair hair, curly heads, and beautiful blue eyes of the children, as well as the language and music which is now and then heard.

Petropolis is, however, not an agricultural colony in the real sense of the word, the majority of the 2500 Germans settled there obtaining a livelihood as artizans and labourers. The Government has done much to promote the growth of the colony, by making roads, and establishing schools. Still the people never become agriculturists, on account of the sterility of the soil; but as the road to the province of Minas Geraes runs through the place, the settlement will always retain some importance. For the cargoes of coffee which are conveyed by mules from the interior to the harbour, Petropolis is the last station, and will remain so for a long time yet, for the large outlay required renders it unlikely that the projected railway will soon be completed.

Several attempts have been made to establish similar German colonies in various provinces of the empire, but, unfortunately, with as yet even less success than in the Serra da Estrella. However, the activity of the Brazilian emigration agents has much increased in different German ports; for the remarkable words of the Emperor, with which he opened the Chambers in May, 1854, at Rio—"The necessity of a settled industrious population becomes more and more urgent,"—have become since then even more significant; in fact, the result of the endeavours on the part of the Government to increase the amount of labour by immigration, is now a question of life or death for the empire. Every disinterested person feels that, without an increase of labour, productive activity is impossible; nay, some even apprehend a considerable decrease in the producing capabilities of the country, in consequence of the effect to be anticipated in Brazil from the abolition of the slave-trade by the interference of England. Up to the year 1851, the importation of negro slaves continued undiminished, notwithstanding the treaty with England of 1826, in which the abolition of the slave-trade forms one of the conditions on which the recognition of the Brazilian crown by the Government of Her Britannic Majesty was made specially contingent. According to a statement of the Foreign Office, there were from 1842 to 1851 (despite the treaty) 325,615 negroes sold as slaves in Brazil, so that the amount of the slave population is now upwards of 2,000,000 souls.

The condition of the black population in this country is materially different from that of the United States and the West Indies. The colour of the skin, which renders the life of even free and prosperous negroes almost intolerable in the northern states of America, where they are subject to so many humiliations, makes in Brazil no difference whatever. The question here is not whether white or black, but whether free or a slave. Free negroes may here occupy the highest places in the State, and even exercise a certain influence on the destiny of the white inhabitants. Slaves also are treated here with more humanity and less prejudice than in any other country visited by me, on which the curse of slavery yet rests; yet it must be confessed, without hesitation, that slavery, as beheld in Brazil, seems even a greater misfortune to the white population than to the black; for neither agriculture nor industry can thrive in a country where labour is not considered, as in free States, an honourable occupation—but rather as a disgrace—in consequence of its being performed by slaves. Not merely the blacks, who have no interest in being industrious, but their masters also are lazy, and approaching ruin becomes more and more certain. Free labour alone, by obtaining the upper hand in the country, can remedy these things. Slave labour cannot long compete with it. The intelligence, activity, and perseverance of 100,000 free white labourers will promote the prosperity and the happiness of Brazil, much more than the compulsory labour of two millions of negroes in bondage.

In consequence of repeated and energetic remonstrances on the part of the British Government, the slave-trade has now ceased in Brazil, and "one of the grandest monuments of our century," as the celebrated declaration by the Congress of Vienna termed the entire suppression of the slave-trade,43 may be considered by this circumstance approaching its termination.

As the Government became convinced that there was not the least hope of reaping any advantage from civilizing the aboriginal tribes, it had recourse to free immigration, and promoted it in every way.44 It endeavoured, particularly in the warmer northern provinces, to replace the deficiency of negroes by Chinese Coolies, who were imported from different parts of China; but they could not stand the climate, and were not found capable of advantageously replacing the negro in his various and often very heavy labour. This partially arose from the indiscriminate selection of the immigrants, as the agents, when they could not obtain able-bodied men, did not scruple to make up their cargo with whatever came to hand.

The Government pays, therefore, the utmost attention to European immigration; it has agents in Portugal, France, Italy, Belgium, and especially in Germany; and endeavours to organize associations that have for their object the settlement of industrious labourers in the country, and to support colonies already in existence, till they are in a position to maintain themselves. In Brazil, the conviction is pretty general, that only an emigration en masse of white labour can save this splendid country from ruin, though there are individuals who entertain a different opinion, and think—perhaps not altogether without reason—that the energy and industry of European settlers might eventually—considering the indolent and careless disposition of their countrymen—prove destructive to the national element!

The most striking proof of how thoroughly in earnest the leading members of the Brazilian Government are in their efforts to procure an immigration of foreign labour, may be found in the report of the Commission upon the new tariff, in which the following passage occurs, illustrative of the advantages which may be expected to be reaped from European emigration on a large scale:—"'These foreign labourers arrive here poor, and depart from the country laden with our gold and silver, and, like blood-suckers, absorb our natural riches!' is the remark of those who are ignorant of the true interests of Brazil. For to whom are we indebted for our capital, for the industry and commerce which we have? To whom belong those manufactories which the people want to protect, and in whose favour so much is said? Why, to foreigners! Foreign hands and foreign capital cultivate our soil, expand our trade and commerce, and promote the arts. The results of their labour remain, though they may themselves quit the country! Foreigners man our ships, build our manufactories, and supply them with hands; foreigners buy our produce and carry it to distant markets; foreigners render our forests and rivers productive; they work our mines, uncover the metallic wealth of our country, and educate our children! Capital, practical science, instruments, and machines, with which we perform our labours, belong mostly to foreigners; and, consequently, these blood-suckers are just the very men who render our land productive, preserving, instead of, as some erroneously imagine, depriving us of our vitality. The money which they take back to their homes is amply replaced by the treasures they leave behind in the product of their labour, and in the branches of industry which they have introduced or improved."45

More explicitly and discerningly it was hardly possible for Government to speak, and to enumerate the glorious results which the country may expect from the introduction of foreign industry and foreign activity, although such an official avowal could not fail to wound the national pride of the Brazilians.

Notwithstanding this strong language of the Government, and all the enticements and zealous activity of the Brazilian agents in the various ports of Europe, the emigration to that country, in 1856, amounted to only 13,800 souls.46 Among this number there were but 628 agriculturists, all the others coming merely with the view of obtaining a livelihood in the capital as artizans and labourers. There are probably in all the Brazilian agricultural colonies, at this moment, not more than 40,000 emigrants settled, that is to say, about as many as emigrate in the course of three months to the United States!

The number of Germans emigrating to Brazil is strikingly small, when compared with the total annual emigration from that country. Of 61,413 individuals, who, in 1856, embarked from Hamburg and Bremen, only 1822 went to Brazil. The cause of this may be that, simultaneously with the large promises held out by the agents, warning voices were heard depicting in the most gloomy colours the terrible trials that await the unfortunate immigrant on his touching Brazilian soil.47 Of late such excellent works have been published concerning Brazil, that we may advise all who take a special interest in the condition of that empire to study these works, the more so as the views therein expressed exactly coincide with our own impressions.48

So long as the unoccupied lands are not surveyed, laid out in lots, and sold at a small rate to the settler, as, for instance, in the United States; so long as the immigrant is unable to improve for himself his own plot of ground, but must remain a mere field-labourer, working for some foreign master, according to the iniquitous Parceria, or half-profits system;49 so long as the expense of transport of the emigrant is to be worked off by future payments out of his labour, so long must every friend of humanity strongly dissuade the emigrant from proceeding to the great South American Empire.

For Brazil, beautiful, fertile, and abounding in undeveloped natural wealth, two alternatives are alone open at present—either ruin to the producing power of the population through deficiency of industrial power, or the throwing open the land to foreign emigration by means of the most extensive concessions. The longer this is deferred, the more oppressively will the want of manual labour manifest itself; and the more advantages will foreign emigration secure.

Once, however, these important stipulations are conceded, the German emigrants may forthwith bend their steps to the coasts of Brazil, where the glorious dawn of a magnificent future is surely breaking for them. While, in the United States, the problem to be solved by the German emigrants seems to be, to mingle German industry, German capacity, and German knowledge, with the keen spirit of enterprise and restless energy of the Anglo-Saxon race, and gradually to assimilate with it—on the other hand, in the South American continent, it appears as though the German element were about gradually to gain the upperhand of the Latin stock, and permanently to conquer for German industry and German commerce, one of the fairest countries on the globe with the weapons of peace—the spade and plough.

Brazil is, however, of great interest to Germany not merely on account of the prospects she holds out for its overflowing population. A market, teeming with the most important colonial products, with an area50 of 3,956,800 English square miles, and an annual consumption of nearly £10,000,000, must in the highest degree attract the attention and excite the most favourable anticipations of a country such as Germany, the majority of whose inhabitants are engaged in manufactures.

The chief article of Brazilian trade at present is coffee, the production of which, in consequence of the great profit of late years derived from it, has increased so much, that it has superseded the cultivation of all other produce; thus, notwithstanding the fertility and capability of the ground, even the commonest necessaries of life, as, for instance, potatoes, must be imported from abroad, the majority of the rural population being engaged in labour for the foreign market, and only very few for home consumption. This is the principal cause of the enormous prices which, even the most indispensable necessaries have reached in Rio de Janeiro.

Brazil grows annually, in the provinces of Rio, Bahia, and Santa Catharina, 5,190,000 quintals of coffee, consequently more than three-fifths of the entire amount produced on the whole earth, and of this the province of Rio de Janeiro alone yields two-thirds.

The most important objects of export, besides coffee, are sugar, rice, cotton, hides, and dried meat, together with dye and cabinet woods. The progressive decrease of late years in these articles may probably be ascribed to the want of sufficient labour, as well as to the great extent to which the culture of coffee has been carried.

Although the trade carried on between Brazil and Europe, and its great importance, will form the object of a special work, we cannot help noticing in this place as a very interesting fact, that among the importations, that of wheat-flour holds a very conspicuous place, above 300,000 barrels of 200 lbs. each being annually consumed, of which seventeen twentieths are supplied by the United States, two twentieths from Trieste and Fiume, and the remaining one twentieth from Lisbon and Valparaiso. The flour from Trieste, by reason of its whiteness and superior quality, commands a high price, so as to necessitate its being mixed in baking with that from Baltimore. We were told it occasionally happens, that the best quality of the much-appreciated Trieste or Fontana flour reaches the price, altogether unapproachable by the finest American flour, of 64 to 66 shillings the barrel.

As in the interior of the country the flour chiefly used is that called Mandioca, prepared from the root of Jatropha Manihot, it follows that the chief consumer of wheaten flour is Rio itself, the monthly consumption amounting to upwards of 16,500 barrels. The reason for the small sale of the Austrian manufactures in Brazil must be sought for, not so much in the deficient supplies of the articles required, as in the circumstance that the Austrian manufacturers have not hitherto found it much their interest to study the Brazilian market, so as to make the requisite alterations in the method of producing their fabrics, and thus render them suitable for that purpose. What little of our Austrian manufactures is at present exported for Brazilian consumption, seems at present to follow the, to all appearance, much less natural route northwards, and instead of proceeding from Trieste direct, is exported from Bremen or Hamburg as fabrics of Northern Germany.

During our stay at Rio, Commodore Wüllerstorf, accompanied by Captain Pöck, and one of the members of the scientific commission, had the honour of being presented to the Emperor and Empress of Brazil, at a private audience. The reception took place at the winter residence of St. Christoph. It is an old unsightly building, and still unfinished, the central part especially having been for some years in a ruinous condition. The Emperor seems not to be partial to display, and a very characteristic anecdote in this respect, which does him great credit, is very generally reported. On the occasion of a visit to the splendid lunatic asylum of Botafogo, one of the ministers remarked to His Majesty that the inmates of the establishment were better and more elegantly lodged than himself. "It will always afford me great pleasure," was the reply, "to know that these unfortunate people are better provided for than I am."

At the entrance of the palace at St. Christoph, the gentlemen of the Expedition were received by an ecclesiastic, who led them into an exceedingly plain ante-chamber, the furniture of which seemed to belong to bygone centuries. Several of the ministers of state, whose servants carried large portfolios, exchanged compliments with the Austrian minister, and entered the contiguous apartments. Chamberlains and domestics of the court looked stealthily at the strangers, and disappeared as rapidly as they had come. It seemed as though these presentations were of infrequent occurrence. At last, about half-past 6 p. m. the door opened, when His Majesty and the ministers walked through the room into the hall of audience, into which the gentlemen of the Expedition were soon afterwards conducted by a chamberlain. The Austrian minister presented each separately to His Majesty Dom Pedro II., who is the son of an Austrian Archduchess, and received the gentlemen in the uniform of an admiral, surrounded by all his ministers. He is a fine-looking man, of some 30 years of age, of stately appearance, but with a voice somewhat too thin for so robust a person. The portrait on the Brazilian coinage is remarkably like. The conversation was carried on in French; it is said, however, that the Emperor speaks German fluently. He conversed very affably and graciously with every one, and had something agreeable to say to each, expressing much interest in the Novara Expedition. After several questions, the Emperor wished us success on our future voyage, and retired, upon which the audience was at an end.

After the members of the Expedition had remained a short space in a corner of the audience chamber, they were conducted through a narrow boarded passage to the apartments of the Empress. In the ante-chamber we again encountered the Emperor, who had exchanged his admiral's uniform for plain clothes, and now stood before us in the undress black frock he usually wears.

We were now ushered into the small and very plainly furnished reception-room of the Empress, in which there was nothing to attract attention except a couple of highly-finished portraits. Her Majesty, a sister of the late King Ferdinand II. of Naples, and of Queen Maria Christina of Spain, was in mourning owing to a death in the family. She was only attended by one lady in waiting, and received us with infinite grace. She is rather short in stature, and although still young, looks aged; in conversation she becomes however very animated, and thereby gains in gracefulness; her favourite theme was Italy, on which she dwelt with childlike fondness. Speaking of Naples, its charming bay, of the Vesuvius, and the lovely walk of Santa Lucia, near the sea, the tone of her voice became involuntarily more lively. Notwithstanding the tropical splendour, and an Imperial throne, the Princess seems to have a great longing for her native land. Alas! even an imperial crown is no protection against the yearning for home!

During our stay here, the anniversary came round of the birth of our gracious Emperor, which was celebrated in the most festive manner. From early dawn the frigate appeared decked out in her gayest flags, which was similarly responded to by the English and French ships of war in the harbour. At 8 a. m., with the customary salutes of the ensign, a salute of twenty-one guns was fired, as also at mid-day and sunset. At 11 a. m., the crew were paraded and divine service was performed, to which our resident envoy and his family were invited, together with the acting Consul-General, the captain of an Austrian vessel, and a few Austrians who happened to be at that time in Rio. After service, the foreign guests and several officers of the staff were entertained by the commodore at breakfast. In the evening there was a banquet at the hotel of the envoy, at which were present several notabilities of the empire of Brazil, among others, Viscount Maranguapè, minister of foreign affairs, and the Senator Viscount de Uruguay. In the garden of the club the frigate's band of music played chiefly German and Austrian pieces, which awoke in the bosoms of many the most tender recollections.

The frequent arrival of men of war in the bay of Rio gives rise to an almost continual firing; each vessel entering fires a royal salute, which is answered by the fortress and the other ships of war in the harbour. During our stay we discharged not less than 432 salvos, while all the men of war together fired at least 1500 salvos, thus making, within three weeks, about 5250 rounds of gunpowder, used merely in salutes.

The 31st of August had been fixed as the date of our departure. During the latter days of our stay, there had been frequent collations on board to make some return to those who had shown us attention. Several of the sick, one midshipman and two sailors, had to be left behind in hospital, where they received the most careful treatment, while Dr. Avé Robert Lallemant, who, by the kind recommendation of Humboldt, had been permitted by the Archduke to accompany the Expedition with the rank of surgeon of corvette, for the purpose of prosecuting his studies of yellow fever, was, at his own request, put ashore at Rio, whence he afterwards undertook the journey through Southern Brazil already alluded to.

The night previous, three sailors had deserted from a boat sent on shore to bring back some officers. The system of kidnapping, as is well known, flourishes in Rio, and many a ship is said to have lost, in this way, from thirty to forty men. The crimps, who make their living by this traffic in man, entice young and robust sailors to desert by means of all imaginable allurements and promises, making advances in money, and leading them into a dissolute life, in order that, when afterwards they find themselves in a desperate state, and without resources, they may be sold by the scoundrels to the captains of vessels, as sailors, or, what is worse, as white slaves, to the planters in the interior. This abominable trade is said to be carried on, on a great scale, by an Italian, in Catumbý Grande, and though the Brazilian police is perfectly cognizant of the haunts of the fellow, yet it seems not to be powerful enough to put a stop to the nuisance.

These incidents did not, however, interfere with our departure at the specified hour, when we were towed out by the tug steamer Perseverancia, which we had hired for £25. Almost every large ship on leaving Rio is towed clear of the bay, so as to avoid having to tack between the islands, or perhaps have to anchor, so that the tug, which belongs to a private individual, and accompanied us eastward as far as the island of Razza, must be a source of considerable profit.

On 31st August, at six a. m., we bade farewell to the splendid harbour of Rio. We had fortunately reached Rio after the visit of the yellow fever, but the almost continual rainy weather had spoiled many an excursion, and deprived us of the opportunity of more closely examining the environs of the city. Nor were we more successful in making ourselves at home here, notwithstanding the kind reception with which we were favoured by the Government and some private individuals. There is, in short, a great want of sociability, and we may add, almost utter indifference to scientific pursuits, which indeed appeal in vain to the great majority of the Brazilian population. Of course there are numerous and agreeable exceptions; but slavery, the mixture of races, the egotism and indolence of the wealthier classes, are all reasons why a European, just arrived, cannot feel himself comfortable. The white Brazilians bear, in some respects, a strong resemblance to the Italians, but they are deficient in their pleasing, insinuating demeanour, in their cheerful humour, quickness of perception, and lively imagination. They occupy a lower scale in social culture, without depth of thought or feeling, and seem almost incapable of persevering activity. This perceptible deficiency of hearty, energetic temperament, in addition to the confused intermingling of other foreign nations, which seem to regard the country as booty, to be abandoned so soon as success has crowned their labours, imparts to each new arrival a feeling of depression, which, so far from being weakened, is yet more keenly felt by those who have lived some time in the country, so that not merely among foreigners recently arrived, but with those also who have spent years at Rio, the desire to leave these shores becomes rather increased than diminished by a longer acquaintance.

PLATE III.—FROM RIO DI JANEIRO TO THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

At nine a. m., we cast off from the tug, not far from the little island of Razza, with its lighthouse, and spread our sails to the breeze, which gradually freshened, but blew from the N.E., which was foul for our course. However, we could still derive some advantage from even this as it was our intention to steer southerly from Rio, so as to be able to make almost exclusively a great circle course to the Cape of Good Hope, after we should have got further south than the Antarctic limit of the S.E. trades.

The near termination of the winter quarter in this southern hemisphere, the approximation of the sun towards the south pole, and the consequent tendency of the zones of wind and currents of air to pursue the same direction, gave us reason to hope, that when approaching the limits of the trades, we should find a change of wind, which should shorten the voyage, or at all events keep us clear of storms.

In the open ocean, where there are no hills or extraordinary conformations of land to break the uniformity of the earth's surface, and where the expanse of water is unbroken by any extensive group of islands, the disturbances in the atmospheric belt must necessarily be much less strongly marked than where continents are interposed, or in the narrow seas. The winds themselves, under such circumstances, display even in their shifts a certain amount of regularity, which is usually dependent upon the universal laws of nature.

Once any one is so fortunate as to comprehend the latter in all their extent, so as to be cognisant of their results, it becomes a mere question of the study of local conditions in order to be able to declare how these universal laws operate, and to elucidate by the most simple explanations many of the phenomena of nature that have till now baffled science. Thus, when a wind hitherto steady shifts its direction, there must necessarily be, certain active causes for its doing so; if these causes perpetually recur in well-marked periodical intervals, the change of the wind must follow a definite law. Under certain circumstances the direction of the wind is well-defined; as, for instance, at certain seasons in the open ocean it remains always the same, or changes with a certain regularity, whence it becomes apparent that the causes must remain unchanging, and the recurrence of the phenomenon must accordingly admit of explanation.

We know, for example, that in the case of hurricanes—those most terrific exemplifications of the tendency of the atmosphere to move in circles—the wind does not blow in straight lines, but rather in curves described round a central point, which again is not immovable, but has a regular progression along a definite curve. In that curved plane, however, which has been termed a cyclone, the wind always blows in one and the same direction, and in the Northern Hemisphere runs counter to the motion of a watch-hand, while in the Southern Hemisphere it, on the contrary, follows that motion.

These facts once granted as accounting for such phenomena, it follows as a natural consequence of the general principles laid down, that they hold good in minor cases, and must remain of the same efficacy, whether it be a hurricane or a dust-whirl which may be under consideration.

So, too, in conformity with those laws, light winds may be found subject to a variation in direction of a similar nature, such as may not perhaps be fully exemplified in every case, but simply serve to indicate the tendency of the wind to follow the same general direction as the hurricanes themselves.

The importance of ascertaining such curvilinearity in the direction of the winds will be especially manifest at the limits within which the regular winds prevail, and when they must necessarily become intermingled with other regular currents of the atmosphere.

Accordingly, as we neared the limit of the S.E. Trades, which always extend somewhat further south, as the sun's southern declination increases, we had to traverse regions where necessarily we encountered variable winds, owing to the increased area of the Trades. There are also found occasional spots at which a more rarefied atmosphere seems to fill the surrounding space, when there is seen a similar process to that in the case of hurricanes, first visible perhaps in the higher strata, but afterwards extending to those which are lower.

The winds, then, shifted with much regularity, and with them the atmospheric pressure, just as in the case of cyclones, except that neither the wind nor the sea ever presented the characteristics of a tempest. The wind, which began to blow from the North-East, drew gradually to North, thence West and South, and returned to S.E., after short intervals of calm. We could thus perceive, on referring to the ship's log, that the entire cycle was completed in five or six days; so that it became quite possible, by examining the central direction of the daily variation, to foretell the wind which must be blowing twelve hours later, when, upon taking into consideration the path described by such central direction from day to day, it appeared that the wind described very nearly a parabolic curve.

Even the aspect of the heavens, and the state of the weather, were only one degree less regular in their alternations than the hurricanes. With the S.E. wind, the sky was bright, but as soon as it began to veer round, towards afternoon, a few white belts of cirrhous clouds began to appear in the western heavens, constituting a well-marked division of the vault of the sky from one side quite to the other. As it drew still further round, and neared the line of centres, the weather grew foul, a driving scud covered the heavens, and a succession of splendid rainbows were seen, till the ship had reached the nearest spot to the storm-centre when there were sharp squalls of wind, accompanied by heavy showers of rain. The lower strata of clouds, mere vapour, drove before the wind, while those above moved in a directly contrary direction, generally that of the forthcoming wind. The atmospheric pressure, which at first would be considerable, gradually decreased as we approached the central line; as we drew away from that centre the barometer rose again, the weather improved, and the sky under the influence of southerly winds once more cleared.

Unfortunately it is not practicable with a single ship to ascertain whether the veering of the wind follows an exact curve, as we can only say what is the direction at the spot where the observation has been made, and it is impossible to determine what it may be at other points. But it is at all events certain that the shifts of wind are amenable to the same general laws as hurricanes. A number of ships sent out for the special purpose of this branch of investigation, could render immense services to science and navigation, and achieve most interesting results.

We availed ourselves of these general laws to traverse the ocean as speedily as possible, in order to reach early our next anchorage, and in so doing we experienced altogether three well-marked cycles of wind at short intervals. We cannot afford space to prosecute all the interesting consequences that result from these phenomena of nature, such investigations being more properly reserved for the meteorological section of the scientific portion of this work. Here, however, the facilities for observation of a sea-faring life have been directed towards an object of inquiry, which must prove of immense utility in navigation and commerce. And, perhaps, even landsmen may not find it uninteresting, that even that proverbially fickle element, air, obeys certain fixed laws, a more accurate acquaintance with which must be of the utmost importance to the denizen of terra firma, as well as those "that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters."

On this passage from the American to the African coasts, we were continually accompanied by our winged friends, the sea-birds, which, notwithstanding the unkind treatment they received at the hands of the zoological sportsmen, followed us with the utmost pertinacity, probably attracted by the numerous fragments of provisions thrown overboard.

The Cape pigeons (Procellaria sp.), those prettily-marked sea-birds, about the size of doves, the albatrosses, (Diomedea sp.) the largest of the ocean feathered tribe, with their quiet majestic flight, stormy petrels of all sorts and sizes, from the smallest swallow to the largest of its kind; all these winged inhabitants of the sea's surface followed the frigate in motley groups, and seemed never to weary in their active search for food.

Sometimes they alighted, rested on the surface of the water, and were left far behind; but they collected again with great rapidity as soon as anything eatable appeared, and overtook the frigate in a swift flight from the remotest point of the horizon. This singular attachment to ships very probably arises from their being accustomed to follow whalers, from which such a large quantity of garbage is thrown overboard, very much affected by these aërial parasites, whence they learn to expect from all vessels their favourite food.

They possess a remarkable capacity for remembering the exact time when they are likely to receive a large quantity of eatables from on board. Every day, about noon, the vicinity of the ship became animated, and towards one o'clock, after the crew had finished dinner, these lively creatures were close behind, and even fought for the pieces of tow with which the coppers had been cleansed. The boldest amongst them was the Cape pigeon, which pounced, with the utmost avidity, upon the dainty morsels thrown overboard, raising a loud scream, swimming round its prey, diving for sinking fragments, or snatching from each other those they had secured. Then came the black and brown-spotted and white albatrosses. As soon as one of these colossal birds appeared on the scene of strife, the uproar of the screaming pigeons at once became still; they kept themselves at a respectful distance from the voracious albatross, which quietly consumed its lion's share. In a few moments, yet greater numbers of these assembled, of which the black ones (Phœbetria fuliginosa), like the large petrels, are extremely shy, and rarely approach the ship within gun-shot. The other large-sized petrels acted similarly, the brown spectacled-petrel, so named from two singular-looking black rings round the eyes, being the most numerous. Along with these were several small Mother Carey's Chickens, and flights of other winged creatures swarming over the sea. The darker the sky, the more agitated the sea, the more actively do the Cape pigeons tumble and toss behind the ship; it appears that in rough stormy weather they see less distinctly and find food with difficulty, in consequence of which they are in a famished state. Only under these circumstances, and when the ship is moving slowly, can they be caught with a line. To angle for birds may appear rather odd to the reader, and yet it is common enough in the Southern Ocean, amusing the sailor, and providing the zoologist with means of obtaining these birds alive. For this purpose, however, circumstances must be comparatively favourable; that is to say, the weather must be rough, the sea agitated, and the ship making but little headway. When the sky is serene, and the sea calm, even the Cape pigeons do not think it worth their while to throw a glance at the bait; and if the ship is moving fast, they have not speed enough to catch it, because they only swim, and the ship outspeeds them. The line, moreover, must be of tolerable length, so as, in the event of any bird evincing a desire to snap, to allow as much to be paid out as is necessary to leave the bait precisely in the same spot, without towing it through the water. It sometimes also occurs, particularly after sunset, that these birds, continually following in the wake of the ship, do not see the line, strike against it, and entangle themselves so that they may be easily drawn on board. The scream of the storm-pigeon when caught, makes it betray its fate even before those on board have an idea that it has been captured.

For the albatross, it is of course necessary to use a stronger hook, which it is best to attach to a copper wire, because this being thinner than line, is not so readily perceived. In order that the whole apparatus may swim on the surface of the water, a few cork floats are also made fast.

When an albatross has hooked itself, the full strength of a man is requisite to draw it on board, for the bird, in its despair, dives and keeps its wings spread under water, so that the resistance is very considerable, and frequently even the strongest lines are broken. This cannot be wondered at when their size is considered, as they measure from 10 to 14 feet across the extended wings, while their weight amounts to from 10 to 18 lbs.

Arrived on deck, none of these sea-birds are able to fly away; they move very clumsily on their webbed feet, and can only rise after a slanting spring, which, however, they cannot accomplish on firm ground; if in the water these birds want to rise into the air whilst swimming, they flutter their outspread wings for a little, and use their webbed feet in a kind of rowing motion, in order to acquire the requisite impetus. The albatross defends itself with its bill, which is often four to five inches long, and care must be taken to avoid being wounded in catching them. We also remarked that the Cape pigeons, in their rage at being captured, vomited up a slimy greasy substance.

The latter bird was of course new to us, and afforded us much amusement. Many were knocked over with the fowling-piece, especially when, in their inquisitiveness, they came too near the boats, which, as often as our rate of progress admitted, were launched with the view of adding to our collection of objects of natural history.

In shooting an albatross large shot must be used, as, at a distance of 15 or 20 feet, small shot do not penetrate the feathers and the down of the bird. What is most remarkable as regards these birds is the numerous parasites that live upon their bodies. It is most extraordinary how certain of these birds (as for instance, the Puffins and Procellariæ) are infested by insects, their plumage sometimes swarming with small specimens of Crustaceæ.

On the 26th of September, the famous Table Mountain of the Cape was visible, after we had, the evening previous, at a distance of fourteen miles, sighted the lighthouse of Table Bay.

The twenty-six days of our voyage hither had flown quickly past, and we were still able vividly to recall the impressions made by Brazil, and the scenes we had gone through in mid-ocean, as the southernmost point of Africa came in sight with its characteristic hills, and our eyes and our thoughts were directed to another quarter of the globe. On the one hand, excited with the prospect of new scenery, and on the other, anxious to complete our elaborate observations upon Brazil, so as to be able to send them home from the Cape, we found ourselves in a frame of mind which kept us alternately hard at the desk, or drove us on deck to admire the remarkable outline of Cape Colony. We did not, at the present season, think it advisable to run right into the bay, so as to anchor near Cape Town, but resolved to double the Cape, and proceed to Simon's Bay, the usual anchorage for ships-of-war. We were, however, sadly disappointed in the hope of soon reaching it, as the south-east wind freshened so much that on the 27th it had become a gale, which forced us out to sea again. The world-known swell off the Cape began under the ever-increasing wind to run high, and we were soon involved in one of those famous Cape storms which justified the Portuguese in calling the promontory of South Africa, "Cabo Tormentoso," or the Cape of Storm.51

The wind and spray roared and lashed through the rigging: higher and higher rose the huge mountains of water, with their white crests, that tossed the ship like a plaything from side to side. The waves foamed in through the port-holes on the gun-deck, while masts, cordage, timbers, every part of the ship groaned and creaked, a perfect medley of sights and sounds, including woful destruction of crockery, and the heavy rolling of erratic cannon-shot that had broken loose from the rack, and were rushing about the deck—above all which was heard the shrill whistle of the pipe of the boatswain's mate. The scene fairly baffled all powers of description, and must have been eminently impressive for those who for the first time experienced what is meant by "a gale at sea," especially at night, when the moon, struggling through the flying vapours, lit up the appalling scene with a livid supernatural tint.

On the afternoon of the 28th the gale reached its highest point, and raged fearfully for some hours. The frigate proved herself, in this turbulence of the waters, to be thoroughly seaworthy. At the same time the sun shone brilliantly, the sky was clear and beautiful, and only here and there some feathery clouds were to be seen. There was a curious sense of dualism in this serenity of the sky, in contrast with the fury and agitation of the waves. Gradually the wind chopped round towards the east, which gave some hope that the gale would abate, but, nevertheless, the ship was tossed about worse than ever.

The waves, like gigantic ridges, mounted, according to measurement, to the height of from 30 to 35 feet above the mean level of the sea, and occasioned that terrible rolling of the ship, and those fearful lurches, which, once experienced, are not readily forgotten.

Hitherto the altitude of a wave has been generally measured merely by the eye, so that the result depended too much on the accuracy of individual observation to admit of its being exactly ascertained; and it is for this reason that the statements relative to the maximum height of the ocean wave are so various that they cannot be considered reliable, for whilst some observers estimate them to be from 60 to 70 feet, others reckon them only at from 30 to 40 feet.

On board the Novara the following method of admeasurement was adopted: we first determined, by a chronometer, the time that a wave takes to pass from one end of the ship to the other, whereby the velocity of the progressive motion of the wave could be calculated in relation to the ship's course and speed, regard being had to the direction and velocity of the ship against it. With this velocity ascertained, we were in a position to determine and fix the average distance between two consecutive waves. Lastly, the height of the wave was ascertained from the angle at which the frigate rose and fell in the line of its keel, by the influence of each successive wave and by means of the ascertained distance from the trough of the sea to the crest of the wave. Though this method, likewise, has many difficulties and deficiencies, yet it appears well suited to make correct comparisons between the different waves; and, under certain favourable conditions, it yields so accurate a result, that at any rate it is to be preferred to mere guess-work, besides that the experiment itself is susceptible of many improvements. It seems safe to assume that waves scarcely ever attain an elevation of more than 40 or 45 feet.

The gale had driven us a long distance out, and only after great trouble did we again near the land. On the 1st of October the Cape came once more in sight; we tacked, in order to get into the wide gulf termed False Bay, by which in some respects the peninsula of the Cape is formed, being separated only by a low sandy plain from the Atlantic. Whittle's rock renders tacking in its neighbourhood in so far more difficult, as the existing charts of the bay are not sufficiently exact to be implicitly relied on. Buoys have often been fixed in that quarter, but every new gale carried them away again; so that the position of the rock is not indicated. An English pilot now came on board, who brought papers, and intelligence that a number of letters were waiting for us. Our impatience became stronger when towards evening the light breeze entirely ceased, and we thereby were forced to bring up at a distance of a mile and a half from the actual anchorage. About the same time an officer arrived from the British line-of-battle-ship Boscawen, under the flag of Rear-Admiral Grey, in order to serve as a guide should no pilot have boarded us.

On the 2nd of October, at 7 a. m., the anchor was let go in Simon's Bay, a spacious but gloomy-looking sheet of water. Here ships ride much more secure than in Table Bay, from which, in a stiff westerly or north-westerly breeze, vessels are often forced to run out to sea to avoid being driven on shore. The communication with the land is thus sometimes interrupted for days. From Simon's Bay to Table Bay, round the Cape the distance is forty miles, whilst by land the journey to the capital of the colony is, with good horses, performed in three hours.

CABO TORMENTOSO.

37. Before we left Europe, the wish was repeatedly expressed to us that, during our stay in Rio, more accurate information should be obtained as to the fate of numerous scientific works and collections, by several German naturalists who died in Brazil in recent times, such as Frederick Sello, Dr. Müller (a companion of Castelnau), Dr. Engler, and others. Unfortunately, we can only give the little consolatory intelligence that, with the exception of the scientific memoranda left behind by Dr. Engler, chiefly relating to Itù in the province of St. Paul, there was nothing further to be hoped for. The collections have all been dispersed through want of care, and the manuscripts nearly all destroyed through ignorance of their value.

38. One milreis = 1000 reis = about 2s. English. The Brazilian milreis is of this small value as compared with that of the Portuguese (3 to 7), in consequence of its being represented by paper-money of fluctuating value, which gradually became so depreciated that Government, when regulating the value in 1846, were not in a position to restore it to its par value of 3s. 4d. sterling.

39. Among the higher class of educational institutions, the College of Pedro Segundo ranks foremost, and is at present attended by about 900 students.

40. Pronounced Shooru-shooba.

41. In the year 1856, 2452 patients were received into the hospital at Jurujuba Cove, of whom 175 died, 2195 were dismissed cured, and 82 remained under treatment. By comparison with former years, the number of sick seemed to have fallen off 13 per cent., while the expenses of management had increased 9 per cent.

42. This road is to be continued from Petropolis as far as Parahyba; and in various other directions also the building of roads for commercial traffic is being fostered by Government. The Brazilian Government are at the same time turning their attention to improving the existing means of transport by importing dromedaries for use. As it withstands variation of temperature, and thrives on almost any kind of nourishment, the dromedary is certain to do well, especially in the northern provinces, and will prove exceedingly serviceable in the transport of the products of that section of the country. The great heat and drought which prevail in Maranhao, Piauhy, Matto Grosso, and that direction generally, is eminently suitable to the dromedary, which does not thrive in hot damp weather. It is calculated that a dromedary, which can carry an average weight of 700 pounds, (being six times what a horse, and four times what a mule will carry on his back), costs, in his own country, from £12 to £16; and after paying cost of transport to Brazil, will be worth £48. With the introduction of the "ship of the desert," that of the date-palm must go hand in hand, as that fruit constitutes the chief food of the dromedary, and will probably simultaneously effect a great change in the articles of consumption by the lower orders.

43. Déclaration des puissances sur l'abolition de la traite des nègres, du 8 Février, 1815. L. Neumann, Recueil des traités et conventions conclus par l'Autriche (Leipzig, 1856. Vol. II., p. 502).

44. It may be useful, however, on many accounts to observe, that the Brazilian Government take considerable pains to adapt this doomed race for a civilized mode of existence. A law of 19th September, 1855, assigned an annual sum of £6000 for the proper execution of this humane project. In order to remedy the very marked deficiency of suitable missionaries, the Government, through its representative in Paris, invited a number of Catholic priests from France—men, whose rearing and zeal for their faith had effected such marvels among the Indians of Canada. But the aborigines of Brazil seem hopelessly degraded, and are destined, after having filled their appointed place in the history of nations, to make room for a more energetically endowed race.

45. Of the sixty-four manufactories and workshops, twenty-eight belong to foreigners; and there is not a single industrial establishment in which foreigners are not employed, either as managers, engineers, or labourers.

46. Namely: 9159 Portuguese, 1822 Germans, and 2819 of other nations.

47. Among these, the opposition of the late Consul-General for Brazil at Dresden, Mr. John Sturz, deserves special mention, as, despite the threats of losing his appointment, that gentleman was incessantly occupied in exposing the iniquities of the Parceria system (see post), and recommending the immigrant, so long as such a slavish system continued, to refrain from turning his steps towards Brazil. Mr. Sturz had recently the enviable misfortune of being sacrificed to his own strong sense of justice, and dismissed from all employment by the Brazilian administration, though not without carrying with him the respect and admiration of every friend of humanity. An excellent and circumstantial description of the present condition of the German colonies in southern Brazil will be found in Dr. Avé Lallemant's attractive "Travels through Southern Brazil in 1858." (Leipzig, 1859.)

48. H. Handelmann's "History of Brazil" (Berlin, 1860), a remarkably profound and instructive work, devotes a special section (p. 933) to the subject of German emigration, and gives a very copious and complete insight into the various missions and works since 1819 to the present day, which treat of German emigration and colonization.

49. The modern Brazilian system of Parceria may be shortly stated as that by which a planter engages in Europe such of the poorer classes as are desirous of emigrating, and has them transported at his own cost to Brazil, where they are engaged as farmers, with half profits, upon the coffee and sugar plantations, and contracting to reimburse him, by their personal services and labour, for the outlay he has been at for their transport, maintenance, instruction, &c. Until all these have been repaid by the improvement in the rent or productive powers of the land, they must remain, as working out their emancipation from the lord of the soil, veritable "adscripti glebæ." After that has been attained they are free people, and may leave if they please, or may sink into the rank of "unattached labourers," which implies their assigning half of the net produce of the land to the ground landlord, the remaining half being their remuneration for labour. Proprietorship in the soil is never attainable by these farmers on half profits, inasmuch as the Parceria system can only exist where the soil is already exclusively vested in a planting aristocracy. (See Handelmann, etc., p. 568).

50. According to the computation of the Historico-Geographical Institute of Brazil.

51. "Through such mad seas the daring Gama fought, Incessant toiling round the stormy Cape." (Lord Strangford's Camoens.)