ART. XII.-Notes on Rio De Janeiro, and the Southern parts of Brazil, taken during a Residence of Ten Years in that Country, from 1808 to 1818. By JOHN LUCCOCK. London: Leigh, 1820. 4to. Pp. 639. From an English Journal.

We fell in with this volume somewhat accidentally, as it does not seem to have had the advantage of that publicity, now so generally obtained through the medium of newspapers and literary journals; but we were induced, by the attractive nature of its title, to look into it; and, we can freely say, we think it replete with matter so curious and important, and to be so ably written, as to give it a well-founded claim to our best offices. Its author visited the country, which he describes, in the capacity of a merchant. Though he is a man of no pretensions, he shows himself to be possessed of very various knowledge, remarkable candour, much good sense, and genuine British feelings; and to these qualifications he seems to have added a talent for observation, with an industry disposing him to record whatever came under his notice. As his business led him to make several journies into the interior of the country, and to have intercourse with men of very different characters and conditions, he was enabled to collect a mass of materials, descriptive of the geography, the agriculture, the commerce, the social and the political state of Brazil-of all which, the volume before us is the result and is arranged according to the order of the time when its miscellaneous information was collected. It is far from being of equal value-many of the details are rather too minute-and the style, though in general perspicuous and pure, is not unfrequently marked by a tinge of affectation. But, most assuredly, the work is highly creditable to its author, and much of what it communicates, especially respecting the improvements made in St. Sebastian, the capital, since the court became resident there, is peculiarly interesting.

Our author describes the streets of that city as straight and narrow, paved in the middle with granite, but without raised or separate foot-paths. The houses are constructed of stone, with some attention to uniformity, and are generally two or three stories in height, the ground floor being commonly used as a shop or a warehouse, and the upper stories accommodating families. In 1808, when Mr. Luccock's Notes commenced, the projections called jealousies, constructed so as to allow persons to look downwards into the street, without being seen themselves, jutted out from the upper windows, and gave a heavy suspicious appearance to the houses, besides rendering the streets dull, and indicating that the inhabitants had little sociability. A few months after the arrival of our author, an order was issued by the regent to cut them down to modern balconies; and the ostensible reason for the change was a wish to make an improvement in the appearance of the city, corresponding with its advancement in the scale of privileges and importance; but "the real cause, it was reported,"

says Mr. Luccock, "was an apprehension that, sooner or later these jealousies might become ambuscades for assassins, who, unseen and unsuspected, might from thence discharge a fatal bullet."-"Be this as it may," he continues, the regent, by a stroke of his pen, has done more to promote the health and comfort of Rio, than could have been effected by the suggestions of foreigners, backed with all the force of reason, in a whole century."

In the outskirts of the town, the streets were unpaved, the houses of one floor, low, small, and dirty; and the doors and windows were of lattice-work, opening outward to the annoyance of passengers. The retail shops were chiefly on the Rua Da-Qui-Tandi, the wholesale warehouses nearer the water; and this distinction, of such consequence to foreign traders, together with the crowd of people in the streets, inspired Mr. Luccock with hopes of finding at St. Sebastian a good market for British commodities. He estimated the number of the inhabitants, at this time, at sixty thousand, of whom one-third were white people or mulattoes; and he arranges the whole into the following classes; 1000 connected with the court; 1000 in public offices; 1000 resident in the city, but drawing their revenue from lands or ships; 700 priests; 500 lawyers; 200 medical men; 40 regular merchants; 2000 retailers; 4000 clerks, apprentices, and commercial servants; 1250 mechanics; 100 vintners, commonly called venda-keepers; 300 fishermen; 1000 soldiers of the line; 1000 sailors belonging to the port; 1000 free negroes; 12,000 slaves; 4000 females at the head of families, and about 29,000 children. This last number, he notices, is small, but it seems that few children comparatively are born in Rio; many are carried off in infancy by improper treatment; the children of slaves are placed in the same list with their parents, as belonging to the same class; and, "it is painful to add, that means of the vilest nature are often employed to prevent the birth of children, and that infanticide is by no means uncommon."

Beef is one of the most important articles of food in this city; but the sale of it being a monopoly, there is only one slaughterhouse, which, with the carts used to convey the meat to the licensed shops, is disgustingly filthy. Carne-secca, beef, cut into flitches and dried in the sun, is in common use in the city. Mutton is in small request, the people alleging, perhaps jestingly, though quoting Scripture, that it is not proper food for Christians, and for the same reason, a fortiori, we presume, lamb is never eaten by them. The veal used is obtained from animals of a year old. Pork is eaten with avidity; but as the swine devour many of the reptiles with which the country abounds, their flesh is not palatable, and perhaps not very wholesome. Fish is equally various and abundant, and most kinds of European poultry are exposed to sale. Wheat-flour bread is used; but the powder called Farinha, the produce of the Mandioca or Cassava root, is, in Brazil, the staff of life. It is eaten with orange juice, or gravy; and the negroes give it a slight boiling. Our culinary vegetables thrive

well, and are much valued; and those called Feijam, different sorts of kidney beans, are as common in Brazil as potatoes with us. Fruits, both those which thrive in Europe, and many peculiar to the country, are abundant, and are either eaten raw or made into sweetmeats. The cultivation of the grape was prohibited, to prevent interference with the staple produce of Portugal; and the wines in common use are the poorest sorts yielded by the vineyards of Portugal and Spain. Milk, butter, and cheese are scarce, and of inferior quality." The butter in use was generally Irish, and its state may be conjectured, without much danger of material error."

The reflection of the sun's rays from the surrounding rocks makes the heat of Rio extremely intense. Mr. Luccock has seen Fahrenheit's thermometer in the sun at 130o, and 960 in the shade. The sea breeze, which is a great comfort in these parched regions, begins about eleven o'clock, and continues to blow till sun-set; then a sultry state of air, with a heavy dew, ensues; after which the land breeze rises and blows till morning. The dry season breaks up towards the end of September with thunder and lightning, and the heaviest rains fall in November. An eruption, called the prickly heat, bilious complaints, fevers, elephantiasis, and small-pox, are the most common diseases, but perhaps filthiness and vice contribute more to their formation than the climate.

"Our countrymen who carry good looks to Brazil, seldom fail soon to lose them; but there is more change in appearance than in reality. Where they have been indisposed, their ailments were not, in general, to be ascribed to the climate, or to the sickliness of the country. If they arrived in health, they were at first little affected by the heat, used more exertion, and required less indulgence, than the natives. They partook more of the common lassitude in the second or third year, and then appeared to need the repose of the afternoon, as much as those who had been accustomed to it from their birth. The more important effects of change of climate appeared to depend greatly on constitution, previous habits, and on the modes of living, which were adopted. With their utmost care, however, many of them fell into bilious complaints, which they might probably have escaped at home, and suffered from them more than the old inhabitants."

The author has a long chapter on the public buildings, institutions, &c. of the city, from which we shall content ourselves by taking three extracts, one of them descriptive of the funerals in Rio, and the others strongly expressive of the degrading influence of superstition, all of them, therefore, unpleasant to be sure, but quite characteristic.

"The body was conveyed through the streets in a sort of open litter, or rather tray, covered with black velvet, ornamented with gold lace, and furnished, like European coffins, with eight handles.

The tray or bier is about two feet and a half wide, six long, and from six to eight inches deep, so that the body, when laid upon the back, is fully exposed to view. As in this warm climate, the muscles do not become rigid, and as funerals take place within a few hours of the last scene of life, the corpse, as it is carried along, either by the hand or on men's shoulders, has a considerable degree of motion, which greatly resembles what might be expected from a living subject in the lowest state of debility. It is conveyed, also, not with that slow and solemn pace, and orderly procession, which seem best to agree with deep-rooted sorrow, but in an indecent hurry, a sort of half-run, attended with loud talking, and a coarse air of joy. The shattered remains of man are decked out in all the gaudy trappings of a gala-day; the face painted, the hair powdered, the head adorned with a wreath of flowers or a metallic crown; the finery being limited only by the ability of surviving friends to procure it."-" At the church-door the corpse was laid down, and continued for some time exposed to public view. It had not acquired that cadaverous appearance which dead bodies usually assume with us; for, indeed, disease is here so rapid in its operation, and interment so quickly follows death, as to prevent it. This exposure of the body, in a country where assassination is much too common, appeared to me an excellent custom; it gave the surrounding multitude an opportunity of ascertaining whether the deceased came to his end by a natural process, or by violence -unless poison might have been so administered as to excite no suspicion, or a wound might be concealed under the gaudy array. At all events, it renders the concealment of murder more difficult than it otherwise would be. In due time, the priests receive the body, perform over it the rites of the church, and deliver it to those who are charged with the ultimate ceremonies. By these men I saw a body, the dress and ornaments of which were unusually rich, entirely stripped of them; and the work was done so coolly as to demonstrate that the men either had a right to do so, or had been long accustomed to do it. In general, the trappings are only cut or torn from the bier to which they have been fastened, in order to keep the corpse from rolling over; it is then tumbled into the grave, which, for white people, is always within some sacred building; a quantity of quicklime and earth are thrown in, and the whole beaten down with huge wooden stampers. This last circumstance appeared to me more inhuman and shocking than any I had ever witnessed at an interment, and I even thought it not many degrees short of cannibalism itself."

The corpses of the poorer people, especially the blacks, Mr. Luccock says, were treated with much less ceremony; but he gives us to understand, that in subsequent years, along with sundry other improvements, "the common harshness of the proceedings at funerals was much softened."

The next quotation relates to a figure in the Royal Chapel, and of the use to which it is applied.

"The orchestra is well supplied, and the music admirable; but its effect is not a little counteracted by a circumstance which has often excited the risible faculties of heretics. Directly in front, and below the railing of the orchestra, is a well carved figure, much like what in England is called a Saracen's Head. The face expresses wonder, rage, and consternation, or rather a sort of suppressed ferocity. Its eyes are large and glaring, and fixed so directly upon the small crucifix, which stands on the altar, than no one can mistake their object. The mouth is coarse and open, containing a concealed pipe, which communicates with the organ. In the more pathetic parts of the mass, and particularly at the elevation of the Host, the key of this pipe is touched, and the head utters a dismal groan, expressive of the horror which infidels must feel on such an occasion. Whatever may be thought of the conceit, such mummery cannot be Christian worship."

To this we add the description of a painting in the convent of St. Bento, the principal one in Rio.

"In the anti-room, at the entrance of the convent, is a curious painting. It represents the tree of life, round and expansive, with firm roots, a strong stem, and branches full of foliage. It is, at once, in flower and fruit; the former a sort of rose, not unlike the flower of the tree which produces the celebrated Brazil wood, and probably intended to represent it; the fruit is of a most unusual description, a Benedictine monk, in the full habit of the order, seated in the midst of the flower. The countenances and figures seem to be drawn from the life, and are well done. A man who has no reverence for monks, may smile at the strange conceit; yet the picture is so designed and executed that it is almost impossible not to mix some feelings of admiration, at the sight of it, with those of contempt. It brings to mind the history of the order, its wealth, and ease, and its unrivalled influence over Brazilian affairs."

Persons leaving the city on business sometimes place their daughters in one of the Recolhimentos, or religious houses for families; husbands, who suspect they do not possess the entire hearts of their wives, send them thither, when they go from home; some women, whose characters are known to be bad, are confined there by way of punishment; and, again, females of rank and character often choose to live in these houses during the absence of their husbands. Thus the Recolhimentos "present a strange jumble of age, character, and purpose, young and old, the innocent and the corrupted, female schools and magdalene hospi

tals."

The arrival of the Royal Family of Portugal in Brazil, is stated to have occasioned universal regret among the people. The viceroy had been accustomed to receive the most profound homage from all classes of society; even the distant shadow of his equipage in the streets made them uncover their heads and bow the

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