34 PRAYA GRANDE. thousand feet in height, rising in the centre, like a pinnacle against the sky; and you will have some conception of the magnificence of the scene. At the city the bay is three miles wide. The opposite shore on the north is called Praya Grande. It is less wild and lofty in its general features, but equally rich in the varied beauty of hill and dell, and wood and lawn-of plantation in all the luxuriance of artificial improvement, and mountain forest standing in perennial verdure, undisturbed, as for ages, by the inroads of civilization. This section, except in the charm which the evidences of taste and improvement seen in the church tower and villa, and wide spreading plantation throw over it, is strikingly like the central and more beautiful parts of Oahu, on which we have so often gazed together with untiring admiration. In much less time than I have taken to give you this outline, we ran up the bay into all the hurry and bustle of a busy port, amidst boats of every size and description, and dropt anchor inside the British and French squadrons, in a range with the U. S. ship Vandalia, the only American man-of-war at present here. As we passed her, she gave us the customary salute to a flag ship, which we returned, as we rounded to, with the appointed number of guns. It was now too late for the morning service, and we had no worship till evening prayers. Most of the afternoon was spent by the officers of the Guerriere and Vandalia in an interchange of visits. The only indulgence I allowed myself, was that of gazing occasionally on the magnificent panorama around me. MOLE AND LANDING. 35 There may be scenery in the world that equals, but there scarce can be any that surpasses it. As a whole, it is sublime, while every distinct section would in itself make a picture; and whether viewed in mass or in detail, exceeds in beauty and variety every thing I have before seen. LETTER VI.. OPENING OF THE IMPERIAL CORTES. Mole and Landing.—Brazilian Boat.—Mr. Tudor.-Imperial Chapel.-Senate House and Hall.—The Throne and Coronation Robes. — Don Pedro and his Equipage. — Marquis de Aracaty. U. S. Ship Guerriere, Rio de Janeiro, AFTER Scribbling the preceding letter on Monday morning, I prepared to visit the shore. The day was lowering and threatened rain, and Mr. Wilson, our purser, and myself had scarce proceeded half way to the city before it began pouring in torrents. The landing is on an inclined plane of massive granite, leading to the water from a fine mole of the same material, and affording a convenient footing, in stepping from the boat, at any state of the tide. The mole, with a principal fountain of the city in the centre, forms the front of a large uninclosed square, and from the view of the bay and shipping it presents, is a favourite promenade and evening lounge of the citizens. The palace lines two of the remaining sides of the square, and a row of private dwellings, shops, and cafés, constitutes the fourth.. 36 BRAZILIAN BOAT. The rain was so excessive that we made little observation as we hurried across it to the American Consulate, in a narrow street leading from the farther side. The chief object with me was to place in the hands of Mr. Tudor, our diplomatist at the court of Brazil, several packets which had been committed to my keeping, with a charge to deliver them in person. Learning that his residence was at the Praya do Flamengo, three miles distant, I began to fear, as the clouds continued to deluge the city, that I should be obliged to return to the Guerriere without seeing him. After two or three hours, however, the rain began in some degree to abate; and unwilling to withhold a moment from one who for seven years had been separated from his home and country, the joy of perusing large communications from his dearest friends, I took a boat, at the advice of the gentlemen of the Consulate, in preference to a carriage, with directions to be rowed to Flamengo. The boat, such as ply in great numbers about the harbour and across the ferry to Praya Grande, was furnished with a wooden canopy over the stern, and oiled curtains to keep off the rain. owner, a fine looking Brazilian, Beneath this, the with bare neck, chest, and feet, and a high crowned grass hat, sat beside me smoking his cigar; while four stout, muscular negroes, clad in loose drawers only, pulled the oars. The manner of rowing is different from any I have seen. After every stroke, which is long and slow, the rowers rise entirely from their seats, and throw themselves forward as they lift the oar from the water; and then in a measured and uniform mo tion, accompanied with a monotonous cry, drop again into their seats, and as they pull, brace themselves almost at full length against a foot-board at the bottom: they then rise together again, and repeat the same movement. The manner seems both indolent and laborious, but the motion produced is as rapid apparently as that by our method of using the oar. Mr. Tudor met me with the warmth of a brother. Though personally unknown, through the kindness of our friend, Mrs. Stewart, a sister to whom he is devotedly attached, we have long, both by name and character, been mutually acquainted; and coming to him as I now did, a kind of open letter from the bosom of his family, our first salutations were those of well-known friends, and we were at once seated beside each other in all the confidence of intimate companions. An hour was gone before I could attempt leaving him; and on rising then for the purpose, he would not permit me to move, though a seal on any of his letters had not yet been broken, till I had accepted the hospitality of his house during our stop at Rio, and had been shown to apartments in readiness to receive me. Arrangements previously made have caused me thus far to sleep on board ship; but after to-night, I shall lodge and spend my time altogether at Flamengo. Yesterday, Commodore Thompson and a small party were at dinner there. Before leaving, Mr. Tudor informed me that the Cortes, or imperial legislature, was to be opened by the emperor in person to-day; and that a card for a seat in the diplomatic 38 IMPERIAL CHAPEL. tribune had been furnished me by the Marquis of Lisboa, from the Department of State. Grateful for the opportunity that would thus be afforded for witnessing the ceremony, I readily made an appointment to meet him at the American Consulate at twelve o'clock this morning. I landed at an early hour, and perceiving the imperial chapel open, crossed the square to it. Grand mass was performing; and the Archbishop of Bahia, the Bishop of Rio de Janeiro, and other dignitaries of the church, cardinals, canons, and abbots, were present. Many of the deputies to the Cortes, in rich court dresses, were also there, scattered among the priesthood and other worshippers. The chapel is small, but rich in gilding and ornamental architecture. The paintings in general are inferior; and one of the images, at least, objectionable on other grounds than those found in the second commandment. The building was erected, I am told, in performance of a vow of the late empress. There being no heir after eighteen months' marriage, a promise was made to the Virgin that if one were granted, a chapel to her honour should be immediately founded; and on the birth of the present young queen of Portugal, late Princess Royal of Brazil, she was called Doña Maria de Gloria, the Lady of Glory, after the Virgin; and this chapel built. The first image at the entrance on your right bears an unhappy allusion to the circumstances of the case. The music, by a full orchestra embracing the most distinguished performers of the opera, was ad |