Journal Of A Voyage To Brazil Part 9

[Ill.u.s.tration]

_Pernambuco, September 22. 1821._--At nine o'clock the commodore of this place, whose office is a combination of port-admiral and commissioner, came on board with the harbour-master, and the s.h.i.+p was guided by the latter to the anchorage, which is about three miles from the town, in eight fathoms water. The roadstead is quite open, and we find here a very heavy swell. It is not wonderful that our guns were neither answered nor noticed last night. Mr. Dance, having been sent on sh.o.r.e with official letters to the governor and the acting English consul, found the place in a state of siege, and brought back with him Colonel Patronhe, the governor's aide-de-camp, who gave us the following account of the present state of Pernambuco:

Besides the disposition to revolution, which we were aware had long existed in every part of Brazil, there was, also, a jealousy between the Portuguese and Brazilians, which recent events had increased in no small degree. On the 29th of August, about 600 men of the militia and other native forces had taken possession of the Villa of Goyana, one of the princ.i.p.al places in this captaincy, and had forcibly entered the town-house, where they had declared the government of Luiz do Rego to be at an end. They proceeded to elect a temporary provisional government for Goyana, to act until the capital of the province should be in a condition to establish a const.i.tutional junta; and in order to accelerate that event, they had collected forces of every kind, and among them several companies of the Cacadores who had deserted from Luiz do Rego; with these troops, such as they are, they had marched towards Pernambuco, and last night they had attacked the two main points of Olinda, to the north, in four different places, and Affogados to the south. They were, however, repulsed by the royal troops, under the governor, with the loss of fourteen killed and thirty-five prisoners, while the royalists had two killed, and seven wounded. This morning the alarm of the town's people was increased by finding several armed men concealed in the belfreys of the churches, whither also they had conveyed several stands of arms. Luiz do Rego is a soldier, and attached to the royal cause. He served long with the English army in Portugal and Spain, and, if I mistake not, distinguished himself at the siege of St.

Sebastian's. He is rather a severe man, and, especially among the soldiers, more feared than loved.--Great part of the regiment of Cacadores has left him to join the patriots, and formed the most efficient corps in the attack last night. The towns-people have been formed into a militia, tolerably armed and trained. The town is pretty well supplied with mandioc flour, jerked beef, and salt fish; but the besiegers prevent all fresh provisions from coming in. All shops are shut, and all food scarce and dear. Most people who have property of value, in plate or jewels, have packed it up, and lodged it in the houses of the English merchants. Many persons with their wives and families have left their homes in the out-skirts of the town, and have taken refuge with the English. The latter, who, for the most part, sleep, at least, in country houses in the neighbourhood, called sitios, have left them, and remain altogether at their counting-houses in the port: every thing, in short, is alarm and uncertainty.

_23d._--The night pa.s.sed quietly, and so indeed did the day. Many messages have pa.s.sed between us and the land, but I could not go on sh.o.r.e: we have excellent oranges, and tolerable vegetables from the town, and have been quite enough amused in observing the curious little boats, canoes, catamarans and jangadas, that have been sailing, and paddling, and rowing round the s.h.i.+p. The jangada resembles nothing I have ever seen before; six or eight logs are made fast together by two transverse beams; at one end there is a raised seat, on which a man places himself to steer, for they are furnished with a sort of rudder; sometimes the seat is large enough to admit of two sitters, another bench at the foot of a mast, immense for the size of the raft, holds clothes and provisions, or an upright pole is fixed in one of the logs, to which these things are suspended, and a large triangular sail of cotton cloth completes the jangada, in which the hardy Brazilian sailor ventures to sea, the waves constantly was.h.i.+ng over it, and carries cargoes of cotton or other goods, or, in case of necessity, letters and despatches, hundreds of miles in safety.

About three o'clock a large canoe with two patriot officers came along side, to ascertain if we were really English; if we had come, as was reported, to a.s.sist the royalists, or if we would a.s.sist them: so apt are men, under the influence of strong feeling themselves, to doubt of perfect indifference in others, that I question much whether they believed in the strict neutrality we profess. They left us, however, without betraying any particular anxiety, and made a very circuitous pa.s.sage home, in order to avoid the Recife cruizer, which was looking out for straggling boats or vessels of any description belonging to the patriots.

_Monday the 24th._--Col. Patronhe arrived early this morning, to request that the English packet might put into Lisbon with the Government despatches. We felt glad that the strict rules of service prevented the captain from giving any such order to the master of the packet. It would be at once a breach of that neutrality we profess to observe, and, in my opinion, an aiding of the worst cause. The colonel, adverting to the town being in a state of siege, and the uncertainty of the next attack as to time and place, advised me strongly to stay altogether on board; but I had never seen a town in a state of siege, and therefore resolved to go ash.o.r.e. Accordingly, Mr. Dance, being the only officer on board who speaks either Portuguese or French, was commissioned to accompany me; and I took two mids.h.i.+pmen, Grey and Langford, also to call on Madame do Rego.

The name of Pernambuco, which is that of the captains.h.i.+p, is now generally applied to the capital, which consists of two parts; 1st, the city of Olinda, which was founded by the Portuguese, under Duarte Coelho Pedreiro, about 1530 or 1540, and, as its name implies, on a beautiful spot, where moderate, but abrupt hills, a fine river, and thick wood, combine to charm the eye; but the approach to it by sea must always have been difficult, if not dangerous: and, 2nd, the town of Recife de Pernambuco, or the Reef of Pernambuco, built by the Dutch, under Maurice of Na.s.sau, and by them called Maurice Town. It is a singular spot, well fitted for trade; it is situated upon several sand banks, divided by salt water creeks and the mouth of two fresh water rivers, connected by three bridges, and divided into as many parts; Recife, properly so called, where are the castles of defence, and the dock-yard, and the traders; Sant Antonio, where are the government house, the two princ.i.p.al churches, one for the white and one for the black population; and Boa Vista, where the richer merchants, or more idle inhabitants, live among their gardens, and where convents, churches, and the bishop's palace, give an air of importance to the very neat town around them.

All this I knew before I landed, and thought I was pretty well prepared for Pernambuco. But no previous knowledge could do away the wonder with which one must enter that very extraordinary port. From the s.h.i.+p, which is anch.o.r.ed three miles from the town, we see that vessels lie within a reef on which the sea is perpetually breaking, but till I was actually within that reef, I had not the least idea of the nature of the harbour: the swell going ash.o.r.e would have seemed tremendous, had we not been prepared for it, and made our pa.s.sage of three miles a very long one. We approached the sandy beach between Recife and Olinda so nearly, that I thought we were going to land there; when coming abreast of a tower on a rock, where the sea was breaking violently, we turned short round, and found ourselves within a marvellous natural break-water, heard the surf das.h.i.+ng without, and saw the spray, but we ourselves were sailing along smoothly and calmly, as if in a mill-pond. The rock of which the reef is formed, is said to be coral; but it is so coated with barnacle and limpet above barnacle and limpet, that I can see nothing but the remainder of these sh.e.l.ls for many feet down, and as deep into the rock as our hammers will break. It extends from a good way to the northward of Paraiba to Olinda, where it sinks under water, and then rises abruptly at Recife, and runs on to Cape St. Augustine, where it is interrupted by the bold granite head, that shoots through it into the ocean: it then reappears, and continues, interruptedly, towards the south. The breadth of the harbour here between the reef and the main land varies from a few fathoms to three quarters of a mile; the water is deep close to the rock, and there the vessels often moor. There is a bar at the entrance of the harbour, over which there is, in ordinary tides, sixteen feet water, so that s.h.i.+ps of considerable burden lie here.[43]

His Majesty's brig Alacrity lay some time within the reef; and two feet more water on the bar, would have enabled the Doris to have entered, though, as far as I have seen, there would be no room to turn about if she wished to go out again. The reef is certainly one of the wonders of the world; it is scarcely sixteen feet broad at top. It slopes off more rapidly than the Plymouth break-water, to a great depth on the outside, and is perpendicular within, to many fathoms. Here and there, a few inequalities at the top must formerly have annoyed the harbour in high tides or strong winds, but Count Maurice remedied this, by laying huge blocks of granite into the faulty places, and has thus rendered the top level, and the harbour safe at all times. The Count had intended to build warehouses along the reef, but his removal from the government prevented his doing so. A small fort near the entrance defends it, and indeed always must, so narrow and sudden is the pa.s.sage. Near it, a light-house is in a fair way of being soon finished, at the very extremity of the reef, and these are the only two buildings on this extraordinary line of rock. We rowed up the harbour among vessels of all nations, with the town on one side, and the reef on the other, until we came to one of the wide creeks, over which the Dutch built a fine stone bridge, now in decay. We were a a good deal struck with the beauty of the scene; the buildings are pretty large, and white; the land low and sandy, spotted with bright green tufts of gra.s.s, and adorned with palm-trees. A few years ago a violent flood nearly destroyed the greater part of the centre of the bridge, yet the arches still serve to support light wooden galleries on each side of it, and the houses and gateways are still standing at either end. We landed pretty near the bridge, and were received by Colonel Patronhe, who apologised for the governor, who could not come to receive us, as he was in the council room.[44] The colonel conducted us to the government house, a very handsome building, with a square in front, and a tower, and we entered what had evidently been a splendid hall. The gilding and painting still remained on some parts of the ceiling and walls; but now it is occupied by horses standing ready saddled; soldiers armed, and ready to mount at a moment's warning; every thing on the alert; guns in front with lighted matches by them, and an air of bustle and importance among the soldiers, that excites a sort of sympathetic curiosity as to their possible and immediate destination. On going up stairs we found almost as much confusion: for the governor has. .h.i.therto lived in the very out-skirts of the town, and has but just come to the house in Sant Antonio, which was formerly the Jesuits' college, partly to be in the centre of business, and partly to secure his family, in case of accident, as the besiegers'

out-posts are very near his former residence. I found Madame do Rego an agreeable, rather pretty woman, and speaking English like a native: for this she accounted, by informing me that her mother, the Viscondeca do Rio Seco, was an Irish woman. Nothing could be kinder and more flattering than her manner, and that of General do Rego's two daughters, whose air and manner are those of really well-bred women, and one of them is very handsome. After sitting some little time, refreshments were brought in, and shortly after, the governor himself appeared; a fine military-looking man. He appeared ill, being still suffering from the effects of a wound, he received some months ago, while walking through the town with a friend. It has since been ascertained, that the instigator of the crime was a certain Ouvidor (judge) whom he had displaced shortly after he a.s.sumed the government. The a.s.sa.s.sin fired twice; Luiz do Rego received several shots and slugs in his body, but the most severe wound was in his left arm. His friend's life was for some time despaired of, but both are now nearly well. At the time the crime was committed, the perpetrator was seized more than once by some of the bye-standers; but as often, a baker's basket was pushed in between him and whoever seized him; he threw away his pistols and escaped.[45]

[Note 43: In 1816, under the governor, Monte Negro, the harbour was cleared and deepened, and particularly the bar.]

[Note 44: The council or junta of provisional government consisted of ten members, of which Luiz do Rego was the head; they were drawing up an address to the inhabitants of Recife, a.s.suring them of safety and protection; exulting in the advantage gained in the night, and a.s.serting that there were plenty of provisions within the town; and encouraging them in the name of the king and cortes, to defend the city against the insurgents, who were of course branded with the names of enemies to the king and country.]

[Note 45: Luiz do Rego was not the first governor of Pernambuco who had been shot at. In 1710, when Sebastian de Castro, in conformity to his orders from Lisbon, had erected a pillar, and declared Recife a town, San Antonio da Recife, the Olindrians shot him on his walk to Boa Vista, in four places. The Ouvidor was one of the conspirators. The bishop had a share in this unchristian action. The object of the people of Olinda and of the a.s.sa.s.sin's party was, to confine Recife to its own parish, extending only to the Affogados on one side, and Fort Brun on the other.]

Having paid our visit, we proceeded to walk about the town. The streets are paved partly with blueish pebbles from the beach, partly with red or grey granite. The houses are three or four stories high, built of a whitish stone, and all are white-washed, with door-posts and window-frames of brown stone. The ground floor consists of shops, or lodging for the negroes, and stables: the floor above is generally appropriated to counting-houses and ware-rooms; and the dwelling-house still higher, the kitchen being universally at the top, by which means the lower part of the house is kept cool, I was surprised to find it so possible to walk out without inconvenience from the heat, so near the equator; but the constant sea-breeze, which sets in here every day at ten o'clock, preserves a temperature, under which it is at all times possible to take exercise. The hot time of day is from eight, when the land breeze fails, to ten. As we were to pa.s.s the stone bridge on our way back to the boat, which was ordered to meet us at the point of Recife, because the receding tide would have left it dry in the creek where we landed; we left it on one hand, and walked through Sant Antonio towards Boa Vista. When we came to the wooden bridge, 350 paces long, connecting it with Sant Antonio, we found that it had been cut through the middle, and is only now pa.s.sable by means of two planks easily withdrawn, in case the besiegers should get possession of Boa Vista.

Nothing can be prettier of its kind than the fresh green landscape, with its broad river winding through it, which is seen on each hand from the bridge, and the white buildings of the treasury and mint, the convents, and private houses, most of which have gardens. The verdure is delightful to an English eye; and I doubt not that the flat meadows, and slowly-flowing water, were particularly attractive to the Dutch founders of Recife. We walked back by the stone bridge, 280 paces long, as we intended; in vain did we look for shops; not one was open, the shopkeepers being all on military duty. They form the militia, and, as many of them are from Europe, and as they all expect to be plundered should the country Brazilians take the town by force, they are most zealous in their attendance as soldiers.

At each end of every street we found a light gun, and at the heads of the bridges two, with lighted matches by them, and at each post we were challenged by the guard. At the end of the stone bridge, at the ponte dos tres pontes[46], next to Recife, the guards are more numerous and strict. In this quarter, the chief riches of the place are lodged, and that is the point most easily defended. It is very nearly surrounded with water, the houses are high, strongly built, and close together, the streets being very narrow, and the strong gateways at each end of the bridge might secure time to demolish it entirely, and thus render that part of the town secure, except by the sand bank communicating with Olinda, and that is guarded by two considerable forts.

[Note 46: A little fort which defends the entrance to Recife.]

We had hardly gone fifty paces into Recife, when we were absolutely sickened by the first sight of a slave-market. It was the first time either the boys or I had been in a slave-country; and, however strong and poignant the feelings may be at home, when imagination pictures slavery, they are nothing compared to the staggering sight of a slave-market. It was thinly stocked, owing to the circ.u.mstances of the town; which cause most of the owners of new slaves to keep them closely shut up in the depots. Yet about fifty young creatures, boys and girls, with all the appearance of disease and famine consequent upon scanty food and long confinement in unwholesome places, were sitting and lying about among the filthiest animals in the streets. The sight sent us home to the s.h.i.+p with the heart-ache: and resolution, "not loud but deep,"

that nothing in our power should be considered too little, or too great, that can tend to abolish or to alleviate slavery.

_27th._--I went on sh.o.r.e to-day to spend a few days with Miss S., the only English lady in the town. She is now living in her brother's town-house, where the office and warehouses are, because the country-house is within reach of the patriots. I do long to walk or ride out to the tempting green hills beyond the town; but as that cannot be, I must content myself with what is within the lines. To-day, as we were coming in from Boa Vista, we met a family of Certanejos, who had brought provisions into the town some days ago, returning home to the Certam, or wild country of the interior. These Certanejos are a hardy, active set of men, mostly agriculturists. They bring corn and pulse, bacon and sweetmeats, to the sea-coast, hides and tallow also at times. But the sugar, cotton, and coffee, which form the staple exports of Pernambuco, require the warmer, richer lands, nearer the coast. Cotton is, however, brought from the Certam, but it is a precarious crop, depending entirely on the quant.i.ty of rain in the season; and it sometimes does not rain in the Certam for two years. The party we met formed a very picturesque groupe, the men clad in leather from head to foot, of which their light jerkin and close pantaloons are fitted as closely as the clothing on the Egina marbles, and have something of the same effect: the small round hat is in the form of Mercury's petasus; and the shoes and gaiters of the greater number are excellently adapted to defend the legs and feet in riding through the thickets. The colour of all this is a fine tan brown. I was vexed that the woman of the party wore a dress evidently of French fas.h.i.+on: it spoiled the unity of the groupe. She was mounted behind the princ.i.p.al man, on one of the small active horses of the country; several sumpter horses followed, laden with household goods and other things in exchange for their provisions: cloths, both woollen and cotton, coa.r.s.e crockery, and other manufactured articles, especially knives, are what they chiefly take in barter; though I saw some furniture, with pretensions to elegance, among the stuff of the family I met. After the horses came a groupe of men, some walking and keeping pace with the amble of the beasts; others riding and carrying the children; the procession being closed by a very stout good-looking man, smoking as he went along, and distinguished by a pair of green baize trowsers.

In the evening we rode out; whether it was because we had been so many weeks on board s.h.i.+p, and without horse-exercise, or because of the peculiar sweetness and freshness of evening after the sultry tropical day we had just pa.s.sed, I know not, but I never enjoyed an hour in the open air so much. We rode out of the town by some pretty country-houses, called _sitios_, to one of the out-posts at Mondego, which was formerly the governor's residence. The tamarind, the silk-cotton tree[47], and the palm, shaded us, and a thousand elegant shrubs adorned the garden walls. It is impossible to describe the fresh delicious feel of such an evening, giving repose and health after the fiery day. We were very sorry when obliged to return home; but the sun was gone, there was no moon, and we were afraid that the guards at the various posts of defence might stop us. As we came back, we were challenged at every station; but the words, _amigos ingresos_ were our pa.s.sport, and we got to Recife just as the evening hymn was singing, harshly and unmusically enough, by the negroes and mulattoes in the streets; but yet every thing that unites men in one common sentiment is interesting. The church doors were open, the altars illuminated, and the very slave felt that he was addressing the same Deity, by the same privilege with his master. It is an evening I can never forget.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Note 47: Bombex pentandrium. _Jaquin._]

_28th._--This morning before breakfast, looking from the balcony of Mr.

S.'s house, I saw a white woman, or rather fiend, beating a young negress, and twisting her arms cruelly while the poor creature screamed in agony, till our gentlemen interfered. Good G.o.d! that such a traffic, such a practice as that of slavery, should exist. Near the house there are two or three depots of slaves, all young; in one, I saw an infant of about two years old, for sale. Provisions are now so scarce that no bit of animal food ever seasons the paste of mandioc flour, which is the sustenance of slaves: and even of this, these poor children, by their projecting bones and hollow cheeks, show that they seldom get a sufficiency. Now, money also is so scarce, that a purchaser is not easily found, and one pang is added to slavery: the unavailing wish of finding a master! Scores of these poor creatures are seen at different corners of the streets, in all the listlessness of despair--and if an infant attempts to crawl from among them, in search of infantile amus.e.m.e.nt, a look of pity is all the sympathy he excites. Are the patriots wrong? They have put arms into the hands of the _new_ negroes, while the recollection of their own country, and of the slave-s.h.i.+p, and of the slave-market, is fresh in their memory.

I walked to-day to the market-place, where there is but little;--beef scarce and dear, no mutton, a little poultry, and a few pigs, disgusting, because they feed in the streets where every thing is thrown, and where they and the dogs are the only scavengers. The blockade is so strict, that even the vegetables from the gentlemen's private gardens, two miles from the out-posts, are detained. No milk is to be had, bread of American flour is at least twice as dear as in England, and the cakes of mandioc baked with cocoa nut juice, too dear for the common people to afford a sufficiency even of them. Fire-wood is extravagantly high, charcoal scarce. The negroes keep the markets: a few on their own account, more on that of their masters. The dress of the free negroes is like that of the creole Portuguese; a linen jacket and trowsers, or on days of ceremony one of cloth, and a straw hat, furnish forth either a black or a white gentleman. The women, in-doors, wear a kind of frock which leaves the bosom much exposed. When they walk out they wear either a cloak or mantle; this cloak is often of the gayest colours; shoes also, which are the mark of freedom, are to be seen of every hue, but black. Gold chains for the neck and arms, and gold ear-rings, with a flower in the hair, complete a Pernambucan woman's dress. The new negroes, men and women, have nothing but a cloth round their loins. When they are bought, it is usual to give the women a s.h.i.+ft and petticoat, and the men at least trowsers, but this is very often omitted.

Yesterday the motley head-dresses of the Portuguese inhabitants were seen to great advantage, in a sally through the streets, made by a kind of supplementary militia to enforce the closing of all shop-doors, and the shutting up of all slaves, on an alarm that the enemy was attacking the town to the southward. The officer leading the party was indeed dressed _en militaire_, with a drawn sword in one hand, and a pistol in the other. Then followed a company that Falstaff would hardly have enlisted, armed in a suitable manner, with such caps and hats as became the variety of trades to which the wearers belonged, the rear being brought up by a most singular figure, with a small drum-shaped black cap on the very top of a stiff pale head, a long oil-skin cloak, and in his left hand a huge Toledo ready drawn, which he carried upright. The militia are better dressed, and are now employed in regular turn of duty with the royal troops, who are going over to the patriots daily.

Calling at the palace this forenoon, we learned that a hundred Indians are expected in the town, by way of a.s.sistance to the garrison. They wear their aboriginal dress, and are armed with slings, bows, and arrows. We are told their ideas of government consist in believing that implicit obedience is due both to king and priests. Brandy is the bribe for which they will do any thing; a dram of that liquor and a handful of mandioc flour being all the food they require when they come down to the port.

This evening, as there are no horses to be hired here, we borrowed some from our English and French friends, and rode to Olinda by the long sandy isthmus, which connects it with Recife. This is the isthmus fortified with a palisade, by Sir John Lancaster, during his stay at Recife, which he plundered.[48] The beach is defended by two castles, sufficiently strong when their situation is considered; on one side a furious surf breaking at their base, on the other a deep estuary and flat ground beyond, so that they cannot be commanded. The sand is partially covered by shrubs; one is very splendid with thick leaves and purple bell-shaped flowers; many are like those of the eastern world; many are quite new to me. I was surprised at the extreme beauty of Olinda, or rather of its remains, for it is now in a melancholy state of ruin. All the richer inhabitants have long settled in the lower town.

The revenues of the bishopric being now claimed by the crown, and the monasteries suppressed for the most part, even the fact.i.tious splendour caused by the ecclesiastical courts and inhabitants is no more. The very college where the youths received some sort of education, however imperfect, is nearly ruined[49], and there is scarcely a house of any size standing.

[Note 48: See Introduction, p. 20.]

[Note 49: This was the Jesuits' college founded under the administration of the admirable father n.o.brega, and his companion De Gram. Here at eighteen years' old the celebrated Viera read lectures on rhetoric, and composed those commentaries on some of the cla.s.sics, which were unfortunately lost in the course of the civil wars.]

Olinda is placed on a few small hills, whose sides are in some directions broken down, so as to present the most abrupt and picturesque rock-scenery. These are embosomed in dark woods that seem coeval with the land itself: tufts of slender palms, here and there the broad head of an ancient mango, or the gigantic arms of the wide spreading silk-cotton tree, rise from out the rest in the near ground, and break the line of forest: amidst these, the convents, the cathedral, the bishop's palace, and the churches of n.o.ble, though not elegant architecture, are placed in stations which a Claude or a Poussin might have chosen for them; some stand on the steep sides of rocks, some on lawns that slope gently to the sea-sh.o.r.e: their colour is grey or pale yellow, with reddish tiles, except here and there where a dome is adorned with porcelain tiles of white and blue. Just as we reached the highest point of the town, looking across the woody bason round which the hills are grouped, the smoke from one of the out-posts caught our sight. The soldiers were standing or lying around, and their arms piled by them: they were just shadowed by tall trees behind, between whose trunks the scattered rays of the setting sun shed such a partial light as Salvator Rosa himself would not have disdained. These same soldiers, however, circ.u.mscribed our ride: we had intended to return by the inland road, but were not allowed to pa.s.s into it, as part, at least, lies without the posts, therefore we were obliged to return by the way we came.

At the spot where the present guard is placed, and where indeed a strong guard is peculiarly necessary, the river Bibiriba falls into the aestuary, which was formerly the port of Olinda. A dam is built across with flood-gates which are occasionally opened; and on the dam there is a very pretty open arcade, where the neighbouring inhabitants were accustomed in peaceable times to go in the evening, and eat, drink, and dance. It is from this dam that all the good water used in Recife is daily conveyed in water-canoes, which come under the dam called the Varadouro, and are filled from twenty-three pipes, led so as to fill the canoes at once, without farther trouble. We saw seven-and-twenty of these little boats laden, paddle down the creek with the tide towards the town. A single oar used rather as rudder than paddle guides the tank to the middle of the stream, where it floats to its destination.

The sun was low, long before we reached even the first of the two castles on our way back to the fort. The dogs had already begun their work of abomination. I saw one drag the arm of a negro from beneath the few inches of sand, which his master had caused to be thrown over his remains. It is on this beach that the measure of the insults dealt to the poor negroes is filled. When the negro dies, his fellow-slaves lay him on a plank, carry him to the beach, where beneath high-water mark they hoe a little sand over him; but to the new negro even this mark of humanity is denied. He is tied to a pole, carried out in the evening and dropped upon the beach, where it is just possible the surf may bear him away. These things sent us home sad and spiritless, notwithstanding the agreeable scenes we had been riding among.

_29th_. The feast of St. Michael's has drawn out the Portuguese gentlewomen, of whom we had not yet seen one walking in the streets. The favourite dress seems to be black, with white shoes and white or coloured ribbons and flowers in the hair, with a mantle of lace or gauze, either black or white. We have seen a few priests too for the first time. I think the edict desiring them to keep within their convent walls, is in consequence of their being among the fomentors of the spirit of independence. The appropriation of so much of the church revenue by the court of Lisbon is of course unpopular among the clergy of the country; and it is not difficult for them to represent, what indeed is truth, to the people, that the drawing of so much treasure from the country to support Lisbon, which can neither govern nor protect them now, is a rational ground of complaint. It is said, that the morals of the clergy here are most depraved. This is probably true. Men cut off by vows like those of the Roman clergy, from the active charities of social life, have only the resources of science and literature against their pa.s.sions and vices. But here the very names of literature and science are almost unknown. The college and library of Olinda are in decay. There is not one bookseller in Pernambuco, and the population of its different parishes amounts to 70,000 souls! A tolerably well written newspaper, of which I have not been able to procure the first number, was set up in March, under the t.i.tle of "Aurora Pernambucana," with the following motto from Camoens:

Depois da procellosa tempestade, Nocturna sombra e sibilante vento, Tras a manha serena e claridade, Esperanca de porto e salvamiente:

alluding to the arrival of the news of the revolution in Portugal, on the 26th of that month, and the swearing of the governor, magistrates, &c. to adhere to the const.i.tution as established by the Cortes. I am sorry to say that this only paper has been discontinued for the two last months, the editor having, as it seems, become a secretary of government, and having no longer time to superintend the press.[50]

[Note 50: Not only has this paper been continued since, but others are now published in Recife.]

_30th._--Last night the patriot troops attacked the line of defence at Olinda for four hours, but I do not believe there was any loss on either side. This morning a Portuguese frigate, the Don Pedro, with troops from Bahia, arrived. The reinforcement of 350 men, partly European, partly Bahian, has put the inhabitants, from the governor downwards, into the highest spirits; so that for once we see Pernambuco active, and cheerful, and alive. Men and women are out in their gayest habits, and the military are running and riding in all directions, not a little pleased to have some to relieve them in their constant watch and ward.

Among other things which I learned by looking on, while the elders of families were engaged in the streets with the new-comers, was that the young Pernambucans are as dexterous in the use of signs as the Turkish lovers themselves, and that often a courts.h.i.+p is carried on in this way, and a marriage settled, without the parties having ever heard each other's voices. However, the general mode is for parents to settle their children's nuptials, without consulting any thing but pecuniary convenience.

This day several of the officers and mids.h.i.+pmen of the Doris accompanied us to dine at the governor's, at half-past four o'clock. Our welcome was most cordial. His excellency took one end of the table, and an aide-de-camp the other: I was seated between M. and Madame do Rego. He seemed happy to talk of his old English friends of the Peninsula, with many of whom I am acquainted; and she had a thousand enquiries to make about England, whither she is very anxious to go. They apologised for having so little plate, but their handsome services were packed up in an English store-house, together with her excellency's jewels and other precious things. The cookery was a mixture of Portuguese and French.

After the soup, a dish was handed round of boiled lean beef, slices of fat salt pork, and sausages, and with this dish, rice boiled with oil and sweet herbs. Roast beef was presented, in compliment to the English, very little roasted. Salads, and fish of various kinds, were dressed in a peculiar manner; poultry and other things in the French fas.h.i.+on.

The dessert was served on another table. Besides our European dessert of fruit, cakes, and wine, all the puddings, pies, and tarts, formed part of it. It was decorated with flowers, and there was a profusion of sugar-plums of every kind. The company rose from the dining-table, and adjourned to the other, which Madame do Rego told me should have been spread in a separate apartment; but they have so recently taken possession of their house, that they have not one yet fitted up for the purpose. The governor and his guests proposed many toasts alternately--The King of England, the King of Portugal, the navy of England, the King of France[51], Luis do Rego, and the captaincy of Pernambuco, &c.--When we all rose at once from table; some of the company went on board s.h.i.+p, but most adjourned to the drawing-room, a comfortable apartment, furnished with blue satin damask, where we were joined by the French naval officers of His Most Christian Majesty's s.h.i.+p Sappho, and several ladies and gentlemen of the city. We had some excellent music. Madame do Rego has an admirable voice, and there were several good singers and players on the piano. It was a more pleasant, polished evening than I had expected to pa.s.s in Pernambuco, especially now in a state of siege.

[Note 51: Mr. Laine, the very pleasing and gentlemanlike French consul, was present.]

_Wednesday, 3d October._--I went on board on Monday, and, provokingly enough, the patriots chose that very night to make an attack upon the out-post of the Affogadas, so I did not see the governor, at the head of his troops, march out to meet them; nor did I hear the national hymn sung by the regiments as they filed along on their return from a successful sally.[52] Yesterday, nothing occurred worth noting; we had the consul and British merchants on board to dinner, and the day pa.s.sed as such days usually do.

[Note 52: Since writing my Journal, I have seen the official account of this attack on the Villa of the Aff.a.gados. It was a well planned expedition; but the raw troops were easily driven out of the villa of which they had already possessed themselves, by throwing a bridge over a branch of the Capabaribe, by the veteran soldiers of Do Rego.

The same morning, i.e. that of the 1st of October, the provisional junta of Pernambuco had addressed that of the patriots of Goyana, offering peace, saying, that as their avowed object was the dismissal of L. do Rego, he was ready to withdraw himself; that he had twice offered the council of Recife to do so, and had besides sent to the Cortes to beg they would appoint a successor, and allow him to retire; that his motive for this was the desire of peace, and of procuring the tranquillity of the province, so disturbed by these civil broils. They tell the patriots also, that the Don Pedro is arrived, and a.s.sure them that the troops brought by the frigate shall be employed only in the defence of Recife.

They also intimate, that they are sure of a.s.sistance from the French and English frigates then there, such a.s.sistance having been offered, on the ground of the English and French property in the place. Now I know that no such a.s.sistance was offered by the English frigate. It was asked; but a strict neutrality had been enjoined by the government, all interference was refused, and no more was offered than _personal_ protection to either English, French, or Portuguese; and of course protection for English property being the purpose for which the frigate was there, was understood by all parties.]

Having learned that the patriots have refused to allow the linen belonging to the s.h.i.+p, which had been sent to the country to be washed, to return to the town, it was determined that we should send to their head-quarters, and remonstrate against this very inconvenient mode of annoying the port. I obtained leave to accompany the messengers, and accordingly we all went on sh.o.r.e immediately after breakfast. Our first business was to procure pa.s.sports, and to learn the countersigns; after which Capt. Graham, with Col. Cottar, the governor's princ.i.p.al aide-de-camp, rode with us to the out-posts, where we left them, with an intention of returning to dine at Mr. Stewart's, to meet Luis do Rego's family. Our party consisted of M. Caumont, to act as interpreter, Mr.

Dance, bearing the letter, my cousin Mr. Glennie as my cavalier, and myself. It was the first time we had had an opportunity of pa.s.sing the lines, and we felt like school-boys who had stolen beyond bounds, and well we might; the scenery was fresh and lovely, and the day as fine as possible.

Pernambuco is not a walled town, but broad rapid rivers and aestuaries surround it, and it is only approachable by the roads and causeways; the banks thrown up across these, for present defence, are such as might stop the Brazilian cavalry for a few minutes, or afford cover for musketry; but their best defence is the swamp at the mouth of the Capabaribe, which is flooded at high water, and which extends nearly to the Bibiribi. At the edge of the swamp there is a wooden palisade, where we left the last post of the royalists, and took leave of our friends, who had accompanied us so far. After riding across the marsh, which by the by is very fit for rice ground, and is surrounded by cocoa-nut and tamarind trees, we came to the main stream of the Capabaribe, a deep, broad, and very rapid river; its sides are steep, and the water beautifully clear[53]: its banks are studded with country-houses, and adorned with groves and gardens, for the present abandoned by their owners, who have taken refuge in Recife.

[Note 53: The Capabaribe has a course of about fifty leagues, but is only navigable to about six miles from the sea, on account of rapids and falls in the upper part; it has two mouths, one at Recife, and the other at Os Affogados. Chor. Braz.]

The hedges on each side of the road are woven of palm-leaves, and where not quite new, are covered with all splendid creeping plants; the common and winged pa.s.sion-flower, white, blue, and yellow clematis, jasmine, china-rose, and many others, both gay and sweet. The ditches, too, were full of colour, but we rode too fast to stay to collect plants; and I could only promise myself, at some future time, to gather one that appeared like a bog bean, but its colour bright purple.