CHAPTER XXI.

BAHIA AND ITS INDUSTRIES.--RIO JANEIRO.--THE BAY AND THE CITY.--SIGHTS OF THE CAPITAL.--EMPEROR DOM PEDRO II.

Bahia was the next city visited by the youthful travellers. For two days the steamer kept near the coast of Brazil, which presented a more picturesque appearance than near the mouth of the Amazon. There was a background of hills filling the western horizon, and occasional headlands jutting into the sea; in several places the hills rose to the dignity of mountains, and formed an agreeable contrast to the stretches of sandy beach, backed by low forests, which extend much of the way from Para to Pernambuco.

Bahia takes its name from the Bay of All Saints (Bahia de Todos os Santos), on which it stands. It is a magnificent sheet of water, thirty-seven miles long from north to south, and twenty-seven from east to west, and its depth varies from eight to forty fathoms. It has two entrances from the south, and is an admirable shelter for ships of all possible tonnage.

The bay also gives its name to a province with an area of two hundred thousand square miles; the province of Bahia contains some of the richest land of Brazil, especially along the coast, where there are many plantations, and a liberal sprinkling of towns and villages. Sugar, tobacco, rice, cotton, and coffee are the principal products; the coffee is inferior to that of Rio, but the tobacco is good enough to be made into "Havana" cigars and sold as such in England and the United States.

Diamonds were discovered in the province of Bahia in 1844, and since that time their fame has spread through the world. The celebrated diamond "Star of the South" came from the mines of Brazil, and in the few years following the discovery the yield was so great as to seriously disturb the diamond market of Europe, and cause a heavy decline in the prices of the gems. At present the product has greatly diminished.

The steamer entered the bay and anchored in front of the city, which is beautifully situated, partly on a series of hills, and partly at their base. The old, and business, portion is near the water; its streets are narrow, and the buildings are four or five stories high, very solidly built of stone. The great business street is the Praya, which runs for about four miles along the water front, and contains, among other public edifices, a church built of stone imported from Europe in the ships that came out in ballast to carry away the produce of Brazil.

Altogether there are about sixty churches in Bahia, and some of them are among the finest on the South American continent. Bahia was the first settlement of Europeans in Brazil, and a flourishing city before Rio Janeiro was known to the world. The bay was discovered by Americus Vespucius in 1503, and the city was founded seven years later. From 1549 until 1763 it was the capital of the Portuguese possessions in South America; in the last-named year the honor was transferred to Rio Janeiro, and the city has suffered a great deal during the various political commotions to which Brazil has been subject.

The population of more than one hundred and fifty thousand is as variously composed as that of Para or Pernambuco. The whites, blacks, and mixed races are about equally divided; among the former there are many English and German merchants, the Germans predominating. The foreign commerce is chiefly with England and Germany, but there is a considerable trade with the United States, in which the Brazilian exports vastly exceed the importations.

"We were saved the exertion of walking to the upper town," said Fred, in his note-book, "as there is a steam elevator which performs the work much more cheaply than human muscle could do it. From the top of the hill, about four hundred feet above the bay, we had a magnificent view that we will never forget.

"In front was the ocean, with the deep blue of the tropics, and its horizon line, which seemed rising to meet the sky. The bay was dotted with sails and row-boats; out on the ocean there was here and there a stipple of white which told of a sail, or a stream of smoke denoting the course of a steamer; on either side of our position were streets and squares of handsome houses, standing in rows and groups of palm or other trees of the equatorial regions; and in the background of the picture was a setting of everlasting hills, interspersed with bits and patches of prairie or undulating ground. We have nowhere seen a prettier spot than this, and endorse the assertion of previous visitors that Bahia is one of the most picturesque cities of the South American continent.

"When we landed we were pestered by pedlers who wanted to sell the famous feather-flowers of Brazil, and this reminded us that Bahia is the centre of the industry. After we had enjoyed the view from the upper part of the city we engaged a carriage and drove to the convent where the finest of these flowers are made. Formerly the convent had a monopoly of the business, and derived a handsome revenue from the work of the nuns; but of late years there have been many rivals, and the convent trade has not been as prosperous as of yore.

"You never saw anything more perfect than these imitations of natural flowers. Put a cluster of them side by side with a bouquet of genuine flowers and you will have to guess 'which is which.' It would be nothing more than a guess so far as the eye is concerned, as the imitation is perfect in color, shape, size--in everything but smell. Here are lilies, budding, half-opened, or in full bloom; hyacinths with their delicate purple; orange-flowers that seem just crystallized from the snow; violets shrinking in their modest hue of blue; roses, in all the colors for which the rose is famed, and in all conditions of growth and bloom; together with buds and blooms and blossoms of many and many a flower unfamiliar to our eyes.

"They showed us admirable collections of humming-birds flying among leaves and flowers. The birds were the natural bodies, carefully preserved, and so poised in their positions as to present the appearance of life; the flowers and leaves were formed of the feathers of other birds, and simulated to perfection the growth of the forest. One collection embraced nearly five hundred humming-birds of all colors and combinations of colors, but we were told that it did not include all the varieties of humming-bird in South America.

"We bought several dollars' worth of these flowers, and it was well that our time was limited, or we might have been tempted to spend more money than we could afford. The feather-flowers are made by the nuns in the convent; they have the natural flowers before them, or carefully drawn and tinted representations upon paper, to serve as models. Practice makes perfect in this as in everything else, but I imagine that those who achieve success in the work must have a natural aptitude for the selection of colors. We were assured that all the colors of the feathers were natural, though we have our suspicions that the establishment makes use of dyes. Whether our suspicions are correct or not it is certain that the birds of South America are blessed with brilliant plumage.

"There is a fine market-house at Bahia, which we visited, and another which may be called 'the open market,' on the shore of the bay. Most of the frequenters of the latter market were negroes and other people of very dark complexions; there were a few planters on horseback, and from the way they remained close to their steeds when not sitting upon them we inferred that it would compromise their dignity to appear as pedestrians. Many of the negroes carried burdens on their heads; those who rolled casks or moved heavy bales acted as though they would prefer to transport them in the other fashion, but a barrel is too unwieldy to be carried on the summit of the skull.

"Most of the heavy work of Bahia is performed by negroes, as at Para or Pernambuco, and the effort to domesticate Chinese coolies has not been successful. The planters complain that since the decree of emancipation they cannot get as much work out of the negroes as formerly. This is more than probable, as the slaves were treated with great cruelty; a Brazilian slave-owner was a type of all that was barbarous, though there were doubtless many owners who treated their human property with kindness. To judge by the faces of some of the planters we have seen, I would not like to be in their power, and incur their displeasure. There is little compassion visible in the hard lines of their features.

"Modern modes of travel have not abolished the sedan chair, which flourishes in Bahia, Rio Janeiro, and other cities of Brazil. It is less comfortable than the sedan chair of Hong Kong and Canton, but preferable to the palanquin or the _dhoolie_ of India. Like the Chinese chair or the Indian palkee, it is slung on a pole, and carried by porters; the latter are generally a couple of stalwart negroes, who make the best porters in the world, especially where the climate is as warm as that of Bahia. Every respectable citizen must have his sedan; the vehicle is richly decorated, according to the taste and wealth of the owner, and when it is no longer serviceable it is sold for public use. Not infrequently a public sedan bears the crest of a private citizen; the decayed and faded curtains, and the general air of dilapidation pervading the concern, tell very plainly what has been its former state. Some of the porters are arrayed in solemn black, including dress coats and stiff hats, and their appearance has a suggestion of the grotesque. But it is the fashion of the country, and we do not propose to interfere with it.

"Evening found us back on the steamer, and at sunset we passed through the southern entrance of the bay and were once more on the ocean. Our prow was turned to Rio, eight hundred miles away, and we steamed gayly along on our course. Sometimes we kept far out to sea, to avoid dangerous reefs, on which many a ship has gone to pieces, and at others we swept close in shore, and had fine views of the land. The hills grow in size as we increase our distance from the equator, and after a time the mountains of the coast range fill the western horizon. With our glasses we can distinguish many houses and villages, and are not surprised to learn that the region is a fertile one.

"The coasting steamers make half a dozen stoppages on the way from Bahia to Rio, but we do not halt. None of the way ports are of great consequence, but if the country behind them could be developed to its proper capacity there would be a heavy business at places now unknown to the commercial world. Some of the mountain slopes may be difficult of cultivation on account of their dryness, but there is a vast area of country that only waits the work of the colonist to enable it to produce abundantly."

Four days from Bahia brought the steamer in sight of "The Sugar-Loaf," the sharply conical peak nearly two thousand feet high which is the landmark of the magnificent bay of Rio Janeiro, pronounced by many visitors the finest in the world. Some there are who claim pre-eminence for the Bay of Naples; others, but they are few in number, who have entered Avatcha Bay, in Kamtchatka, say it surpasses the Bay of Rio; and others again give preference to the Bay of Yokohama, in Japan. Among our three friends there were no less than three opinions: Naples, Avatcha, and Yokohama had each an advocate, but all agreed in giving the second honor to Rio. With this honor it must remain content.

Its general shape is that of a triangle, and it is nearly a hundred miles in circumference. There is but a single entrance, and that a narrow one, so that a ship once inside is in water as smooth as that of a lake. It is set in mountains whose sides are thickly covered with foliage, and its surface is studded with islands, nearly a hundred in all. The name of the bay, "Rio de Janeiro," was given under the supposition that it was not a bay, but the mouth of a large river. There is no stream of consequence entering the ocean at this point, and the "River of January" exists only in the imagination.

Not wholly in the imagination, however, as it belongs to the city which is the capital of Brazil, and has a population of three hundred thousand; to the municipality containing the city, and having an area of five hundred and forty square miles; and to the province containing city and municipality, with an area of eighteen thousand square miles, and a population of a million and a quarter, of many races, colors, and kinds. In the bay, city, municipality, and province we have Rio de Janeiro four times over. Perhaps in some future day the empire will cease to be known as Brazil, and adopt the name of its capital.

The larger islands in the bay are occupied, and cultivated wherever possible; many of them are fortified, and several are surmounted by churches or chapels. The entrance to the bay is only two thousand feet wide, and defended by forts, one at the base of the Sugar Loaf and the other nearly opposite. Together they would make it very tropical for a hostile fleet, and just inside the entrance is another fort, which is intended to take care of anything that escapes the outer defences.

As the steamer came to her anchorage she was surrounded by a swarm of boats, which kept at a respectful distance until the arrival of the health officer, without whose authority there could be no communication between ship and shore. If the doctor and the youths had been unaware of their latitude the merchandise of the boats would have told them, without the aid of the hot sun in the sky overhead. There were monkeys and parrots in great abundance; an assortment of snakes and other creeping things; bananas, pineapples, and other tropical fruits; yams, sweet potatoes, mandioca root, and other "garden truck" of the country; tobacco and cigars in all conditions of badness; and other merchandise only to be designated by native names. The boatmen kept up an incessant talk, mingled with many gesticulations, and the half-hour spent in waiting for the health officer was by no means lost.

By and by that official came, the ship was pronounced "clean," and the passengers were free to land. From the anchorage the city does not present an imposing appearance, as it is only partially visible; portions of it are screened by the hills, which break its front and divide it into several quarters. In consequence of these hills it straggles over a considerable area, and is really made up of a series of suburbs; from the centre of the city to Botofago is a good three miles, and it is the same distance the other way to another suburb or district of equal importance. Like our Washington, it is a city of magnificent distances; in order to see it all at once you must climb the hills in the rear, and look at the metropolis nestling at your feet. Only till you do this can you realize its greatness.

Rio was evidently built with a view to permanence. At least Frank and Fred thought so, as they landed at the piers of solid granite, with steps leading down to the water and facilitating debarkation at every stage of the tide. Near the landing-place was a market, where they found groups of negroes waiting for work, or possibly waiting to avoid having work to do. There were heaps of fruit and vegetables, similar to what they had seen in Para and Pernambuco, and the same chatter and commotion prevailed among the venders and their patrons.

We depended upon Fred for an account of the visit to Bahia, and will ask Frank to tell us about Rio de Janeiro.

"From the landing-place we went first to the hotel," said Frank, "under the guidance of a runner, who had met us at the steamer. We went without our baggage, which was taken directly from the ship to the custom-house. Nobody is in a hurry in this country; we knew there would be a delay in bringing the trunks and bags from the steamer, and that we could utilize it by securing our quarters. We made all arrangements for our stay, and then went to the custom-house, which we reached just as Manuel arrived with our impedimenta.

"The officials were polite but slow. We managed to get the attention of one of them, who promised to 'expediate' our business; as he took at least an hour for accomplishing what might have been done in five or ten minutes, I shudder to think what would have been our fate without any 'expedition.' Porters were ready to seize upon the parcels as they were released from the custom-house, and it was a comical spectacle that Manuel presented as he marched at the front of a column of scantily-dressed negroes, each of whom bore some part of our personal effects on his head.

"Down to a few years ago nearly all the transportation of Rio was conducted in this way. Coffee, sugar, and other merchandise was placed on the heads of negroes, who trotted nimbly along, carrying sacks weighing one hundred and sixty pounds as though they were only a tenth of that amount. Articles that were too much for one man were slung on poles, or balanced on the heads of two, four, or possibly eight or ten porters; it was no uncommon sight to see a piano or a large box poised on the heads of four or six men, and the stranger could not help thinking what might be the result if one of the number should make a misstep and fall to the ground.

"The negroes had almost a monopoly of the carrying trade, and when carts were introduced there was very nearly a riot in consequence. Danger was averted by placing a limit to the number of carts, and a continuance of the old system without a reduction of prices. The business of transportation still requires a great deal of head-work on the part of the negroes, and there is no likelihood that they will be altogether superseded. We met several groups of coffee-carriers, each with a sack on his head, and near the landing-place was a line of coal-carriers with their appropriate burdens.

"Many of the trucks and carts are drawn by hand, and consequently the mule and the negro may be regarded as rivals in this department of labor. But there seems to be perfect friendship between them, if I may judge by a scene I witnessed of a mule and a negro lying down together, and the negro using the mule as a pillow.

"The leader of a gang of coffee-carriers has a rattle in his hand, and keeps time with it for his followers. They step to the music, and aid it by a low, monotonous chant, in words quite unintelligible to our ears. Sometimes the rattle gives place to a small flag, which is waved in unison with the step; the men who propel carts or trucks have no use for flags or rattles, though sometimes they stick a flag in front of the vehicle as an indication of ownership.

"All things considered, I have never seen a city where so many things were carried on the head as in Rio Janeiro. Pedlers of dry-goods go from house to house, followed by negroes bearing boxes or bales of the finery which they offer for sale; the practice saves the ladies the trouble of going to the shops when they want to buy anything, and enables the dealers to work off a great many things that would not be easy to dispose of otherwise. Before we had fairly landed at the hotel we were besieged by pedlers, and forcibly reminded of our experience at Singapore, Calcutta, and other cities of Asia.

"Fruit and poultry are borne on the heads of the market men and women, the former in open baskets and the latter in covered ones. We met a poultry dealer with a huge basket on his head, and at least a dozen chickens were craning their necks out of the spaces between the slats. He was farther weighted with a goose and a couple of turkeys swinging at his side, and I have no doubt he would have added another dozen of chickens without hesitation.

"Water-carriers balance casks and buckets on their heads; cooks, chambermaids, and servants of all kinds and descriptions follow the universal custom; and it would be interesting to know what Mr. Darwin thinks of the development of species under such circumstances. The skull of the Brazilian porter a thousand years hence ought to be not less than an inch in thickness, and have a resisting power equal to that of a mortar shell.

"Sedan chairs abound, but they are less numerous than formerly, as a good many people now indulge in carriages who once relied upon chairs for their locomotion. They are of the same model as the chairs of Bahia, and the bearers have a kindred complexion and dress. For public conveyances there are carriages, omnibuses, and street cars; the street railways of Rio Janeiro are patronized by everybody, and it is said that the original company has made a dividend of three hundred per cent. every year on the amount of capital invested! The concession was obtained by some New-Yorkers, and the Brazilians have been much chagrined at the ease with which they allowed the foreigners to take possession of such an excellent bonanza as this.

"The omnibus is here called a gondola, and we have been told how the name originated. It may not be true, but you know the old Italian proverb, '_Si non e vero e ben trovato._'

"An omnibus company had a monopoly of the business indicated by its name; the government and people were much dissatisfied with the way its business was conducted, as the vehicles were small, dirty, and insufficient in number, and the fares were very high. The government could not break its word by giving privileges to another company, and the monopolists felt secure.

"But an enterprising genius suggested that a company could be licensed to run gondolas in the streets of Rio, and the hint was taken at once. The gondola company placed its vehicles in operation, and, though the old company protested, the protests were of no avail. Who shall say hereafter that there's nothing in a name?

"While I've been writing the foregoing, Fred has been looking up the history of the city, and is prepared to tell you about it. I will rest a while and let him have the floor."

"Rio is a younger city than Bahia," wrote Fred, "as it was not permanently settled until 1555. There were two temporary settlements previous to this--in 1531 and 1552--but they lasted only a short time, the first being abandoned in less than four months after its formation.

"The first settlers were French Huguenots, who prospered so well that the king of Portugal ordered them driven out in ten years from the founding of the colony. The governor of Bahia executed the order, and established a Portuguese colony in place of the French one.

"The Huguenots got along very well with the natives, but the Portuguese were constantly at war with them; the history of the first hundred years of the colony is full of bloodshed, not only in conflicts with the Indians, but in quarrels among the settlers. Assassinations were frequent, and on several occasions it seemed as though the local dissensions would bring the colonization of the country to an end.

"In 1763 Rio was made the viceregal capital, much to the annoyance of the inhabitants of Bahia, which had hitherto held the honor. The transfer of the capital was a piece of good fortune for Rio, which it has maintained without interruption. Its glory was increased in 1808, when the Prince-Regent of Portugal arrived with the intention of making his home in Brazil until the declaration of a general peace in Europe.

"The residence of the royal family at Rio was the occasion of public rejoicing, and the people readily surrendered their houses for the accommodation of the sovereign and the retainers of his court. After the declaration of peace, and the return of the king to Europe, their loyalty cooled very materially, and in 1821 came the revolution, which made Brazil independent of Portugal.

"In 1822, the son of the King of Portugal was declared Emperor of Brazil, with the title of Dom Pedro I. The present occupant of the throne, Dom Pedro II., is the son of the first Emperor of Brazil, and ranks among the enlightened rulers of the nineteenth century. The country is indebted to him for much of its material progress; it is no fault of the emperor that Brazil is not yet in a foremost position among the nations of the globe.

"We had a glimpse of the emperor to-day, as he drove rapidly along the principal street of the city, about four o'clock in the afternoon. He was born in 1825, and is therefore well along in years, as you can see by his full beard, which is of almost snowy whiteness. He has a keen, sharp, commanding eye, and an expression that proclaims him 'every inch a king.' We had a glance only, and then he was out of our sight, but we cannot soon forget the impression it left behind. He was in civilian dress, and if we had looked for his crown and sceptre we should have looked in vain. He is said to maintain comparatively little of the pomp and vanity of an imperial court, and would like to banish them altogether, if it were possible and judicious to do so.

"He is probably the most industrious imperial ruler in the world, as he devotes from twelve to fifteen hours daily to official work in one form or another. He examines state papers, sits with the officers of his cabinet, listens to reports and suggestions, visits schools, hospitals, and other public institutions, is present at ceremonials, entertains strangers, and can talk well on almost any topic of the day. He has a taste for music, science, and geography, and can discuss the last new opera, the researches of Darwin, or the explorations of Stanley, with intelligence and discrimination.

"You may remember his visit to the United States at the time of our Centennial; how rapidly he moved from place to place, and with what interest he went on sight-seeing expeditions. The officers of his staff who accompanied him were exhausted by their exertions, while the emperor was always fresh, and ready for something new. He avoided public demonstrations wherever he could do so without giving offence, and devoted his limited stay of four months to an inspection of the country, and a study of its institutions. From America he went to Europe for a longer tour. His return to Rio was the occasion of great rejoicing, and the demonstrations were as sincere as they were elaborate."