RIO DE JANEIRO AS IT IS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1794, 25 September 1888, Page 4

RIO DE JANEIRO AS IT IS.

Mr George Butler, of Pleasant Point, who is’now on a visit to England, sends, in a letter written to a friend in Timaru, a very interesting account of the above town. r J he followingare a few extracts from the letter writer sighted the mainlaind nekr the entrance to the harbor At early morning on May 25th, 'i hey were soon passing between a beautiful, but small, island called Banza, about five miles from the mouth of the harbor, and the rugged and somewhat mountainous . shore. This island

seemed to boast of a lighthouse and a

few other buildings in connection therewith. As they passed down the harbor, which is some seven or eight miles in length/ they observed several mountains, varying in height, from the Sugar Loaf, a conical peak some 1200 ft high, with a flat top, to T a, another conical peak 3362 ft in height. Bio is said to be the finest harbor in the world, and able to accommodate the navies of all the nations. The writer, however, was impressed with the strength of its foitifications, there being thirteen forts in all, withalarge number of guns, and fairly well manned. Some of the forts run out into the harbor to the right and left; •there, at various elevations, are

situated on the small .islands in the harbor, the whole commanding the entrance, and having been built during the present century. In addition to • goodly number of merchant vessels lying in the harbor, there were some six or seven • Brazilian gunboats and one English gunboat. ( Their vessel anchored about two miles froth shore, for convenience of coaling, and soon had two large boat-loads of We] sh coal alongside. The writer was struck with the large number of men employed to dp a. small amount of work. On one of.these open coal boats he counted no less than 50 men at work. There were plenty of small boats to take them] ashore, at the rate of Is per head" Having got a hint as to the (williness of the. natives, the occupants :of the writer’s boat, eight in all, agre'ed to pay the same rate for their return, and not to pay until then. * iheir /f precaution stood them in goo A,stead, as others who neglected it five shillings per head to return. On one of the small islands in the harbor a new OAstomhouse was being' erected very near the shore, with extensive and very good buildings. On another, about 500 yards from the shore, was erected a marine. school, said to contain nearly 800 boys, with fairly commodious buildings. There was also

on another island, some distance off, a yellow fever hospital. When the steamer arrivedit was market day, and the patty loon found /they were truly “ strangers in a strange land,” Portuguese is the language chiefly spoken at Bio, and nob one of the party understood a word of it, Four of them had decided to remain to-

getter for the day, and they had wandered over the market for over an hour before anyone: able to speak English. The market was a medley of articles, very little like European. The principal gbods were fruit and vegetables, which were most uninvitingly arranged, hardly separated from ihe surrounding rubbish with which the floor was strewn This, together with the fact that the various vendors were darkies of various and ’ wpmen—some of whom seemed too; invite a customer to purchase, while others, hatless and shoeless, and clad in the very scantiest of jdothihg, iyere lying fast asleep among 'their various wares —prevented the visitors from purchasing,; The party, however, were fortunate'enough to secure the services of a young'German to be their guide for the dayV t He had been ( there about two months, and understood the < language ' eyen . better than he did English, and knew ,the value of money and goods.; Having been to an ex-change,-and; obtained-some Brazilian money,-they desired him to conduct them to a cleaner' part of the town : and to a resturant. Hbre they managed to get a meal with difficulty, the host being an Italian, and not one of the half dozen waiters understanding; a word of English,, . “ Jardin Botanica” was next visited, a most inviting rand interesting place/whbre the flora ! arM the palms of various kinds, with num : bers of other trees and ,shrubs, were looking their best after, the recent rains./ The town itself contains about 360,000 inhabitants, ;or, including other places' around it,' abotit 500,000. The number : iof police’ is large' 1 the standard of height (being lower than that prevailing Tn , the" English force. No provi sipn, ismade by, the Government I for primary.' education, but the people are fairly taiijght, but very credulous and lazy in all their movements.* These remarks apply more to the Brazilians, but the writer adds that ;dyery.’ v (couhtyy'; contributes its quota ’to ! the'population, with the result jthat it can siS I ,there,'(everyhueand colour, and half-dressed and also those, most, gorgeously :; attired. The religion jof the people generally is Roman. Catholic. There are about 70 churches belonging to this denomination, ’and one Episcopalian Church. latter' service is conducted once a day. The streets are extremely narrbw, .many being only twelve or thirteen feet wide, while some are

frou^,eighteen to twenty feet wide, but *Lov«r that width. They are ill-paved and dirty in the

extreme, abounding with portions of decayed and decaying fruits and vegetables most offensive to the olfactory organs. The sanitary arrangements are most defective. In some of the narrow streets the only water table is down the centre of the street, a most objectionable arrangement when riding in any way is desirable. Yery few horses are used, mules being the beasts of burden, and also for tramcars, carriages, or carts. While riding in one of the former the party passed the largest hospital in the place. There are three, two of them being more reserved or private. The one in question is three storeys in height. The writer counted twentyfour windows on each side of the main entrance in the lower or basement storey, and they seemed to correspond in number with the two stories above. A distressed seaman (a cook) who had spent three weeks in that hospital, and was sent to England in the writer’s vessel by the British Consul, said that there were many hundreds in at that time, and that they were divided into large wards. The doctor and nurses came round about 8 a.m. Only the chief nurse could speak English, and so he had to remain until the next day without exchanging a word. Nurses brought rouud coffee and bread, both of excellent quolity, about 9 a.m., and tea and bread at 4 p.m. If he ate it, well and good, and if ,ho couldn’t no notice was taken of him. There were some other native articles provided, but were too repulsive for a European, and so were left untouched. The name of the hospital was ‘ Miseracordia,” and the cook above mentioned had as a companion in suffering an Italian, apparently recovering and walking about. After being out a very few days he was said v to have died suddenly. Having been informed that the dead from the hospital were not buried in the ordinary way (except when claimed by relatives or friends, and by them interred), 'but taken by night in a boat and put into a large hole at the head of the bay or harbor, and covered with quicklime, the cook and a friend of his left their lodgings towards evening to ascertain, if possible, what was going to be done with the body. Towards dusk a boat came in sight, manned by five men—four oarsmen and a steerer, and landed in front of the hospital, which is only separated by a little more than the width of the road from the landing place. Taking a shell out of the boat, they entered the hospital and soon returned with the shell laden, which they put into the boat, and pulling away were soon lost to sight, As the name on the boat was the same as that of the hospital the friends were quite satisfied 'as to the modus opevandi of burying as practised at Rio hospital. When the yellow fever breaks out it makes great ravages among the population. Large numbers are taken to the island hospital and but few ever return, but that is hardly to be wondered at when the surroundings are considered. While passing through the streets, the writer’s attention was frequently drawn to a peculiar, octagonal-shaped building about large enough to hold one man, standing out on the street, and Curiously and gaudily decorated, and surmounted by flags. These were lottery stalls commissioned by the Government to sell ticket. At that time the Government were offering about £2OOO, to be drawn for when a sufficient quantity of tickets had been sold. After spending some seven or eight hours ashore, the party were glad to get on board the Ruapehu at about 9 p.m., when Messrs Payne gave a magnificent display of -fireworks from the stern of the vessel, firing off nearly £3OO worth in an hour and a-half as advertisement to the Bio de Janeiroans with whom they desired to do business. The latter are said to indulge in fireworks to, a greater extent than any other nation.