American Republican and Baltimore daily clipper. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1844-1846, 1845-01-29
Correspondence of the American Republican. ]

PERNAMBUCo, Dec. 10, 1914.
Island Of 81. Pmh's-PernmnLuco and its Har-
tor-Scenery and mired Popuiation-.Nouel
Fishing Boats-Horsemen ,cHh their Burdens
Their Customs and Habits The Negroes
Strangely constructed Dwellings,, Sc.
MEssIEURs, -Presuming that slight sketch
from 'foreign parts" (if one can so term this
Southern Continent, bearing name in common
with ourselves,) and being really at leisure,
and vastly communicative withal, /, like unto
faithful Dogberry, find myself inclined to "be-
stow all my tediousness on you" and your
readers To abate some portion of that COM
modify, however, and emitting the oft-told
tale, of scapes and perils on the bosom of the
profound and vastly deep; of the dread won
ders of the "hell of waters,'
"Who, in the visitation of the winds,
Take the rufian pillows by the tops,
Curling their monstrous heads, and hanging them
With deaf'nng clamors in the slippery clouds;'
of passing over, without comment, the perfect
loneliness of a moenless and balmy night, when
the stars steal gently forth, and as not cloud
obscures the expansc, above and all around, the
''tioor of heaven being thickly inlaid with pa
tines of bright gold, d" which, as they move, are
cheered III their wonted path by the murmur
Of old Ocean himself; of those fantastic mes
sengers, the ever-changing clouds, whose fam
tastic forms are reared against the horizon,
"a vapor, sometimes like bearor lion,
tOwrr'd citadel, pendent rock,
fOrk'd mountain, or blue promontory,
With trees upont, that nod unto the world"
| might expatlate, | say, on these varied
themes, and with great pleasure to myself,
too, but am fearful they would not exactly har-
monise with the working-day propensities of
Us Yankees, (being abroad, of course | am
ranked as one,) although | verify believe that
with all the tendency Of our down-east friends
TO prefer the useful to the ornamental they
are generally as liberal, and in all scientific ac-
quirements in advance of their Southern breth-
ren Previous to my saying, imagine me then
in the city of Pernambuco allow me to note,
that on our passage ont we kept far enough
to the Westward to make the little Island of
st. Paul's, lying near the line, which, though
laid down in the charts, has never been desert
bed, if even visited $50 competent navigators
assert,) although lying in the very path of so
many outward and homeward bound craft
We also deserted the Island of Fernando de
Noronha, now occupied by the Brazilian Go.
vernment as receptacle for criminals; and
while at Pernambuco transport arrived there
from the Island, having some 80 or 40 passen-
gers on board, whose term OF service and of
Punishment had expired. was informed how
ever, that although having thus compiled with
the precepts Of the laws, they would be press
ed into the military service Of the country, wiL
he nil he, which, Judging from the specimen
presented on this occasion to my observation,
should consider by no means in an efficient
state, the greater proportion of them, indeed,
forming an apt commentary on Jack Falstaf s
description of his celebrated troop, with the
addition (and to an Americans eye by no
means pleasant one, that fully one-half were
blacks; or rather, should say, of all sorts of
hues and shades. ST. Pauls is in lat. 55 ~,
lon. % l3 W., and Fernando de Noronha in 8
SIS S., Ion. 80 Is w. On fine morning, then,
on board of a fine-sailing vessel, and with a
flowing SEA and wind that follows fast, ina
CINE yourself, or me, nearing the city Of Per-
nambuco, whose buildings, white and cleaning
in the distance, seem to rise out of the sea,
while on the one hand stands boldly forth, ele-
waited far above the beach, the churches and
towers of the ruined town of Oliuda, some
three miles from Pernambuco, towards which,
in semcrcle, the beach sweeps gradually and
gracefully; and on the other, is lost amid the
deep green verdure of the distant hills. Ma
ture has been the great architect of this city,
and 1 question if there is a more siDguarly-
formed harbor in the world. Placed directly
on the coast, and fronting the mighty Atlantic,
whose clamorng surges sweep the shore, yet
has Nature placed a barrier more effectral than
the efforts of the most scientific could have at
tanned. Some 200 yards from, and fronting
the town, running parallel with it, and much
beyond it's present extent, there is a reef from
60 to 100 feet in WIDTH perfectly level, over
which the sea is forced at flood tide, and which
serves as the breakwater for the inner harbor,
and where vessels drawing ! 3 and Is feet wa
ter, can lie in security; the roadstead is the
open Ocean, and ships of heavy draught of
water are compelled to anchor there.
Every one, nearly, has heard of Pernambu-
CO, and yet it is my belief that to even the great
mass OF Americans, it is perfect terra incog-
nita, save to few of the mercantile communi-
ty, and sea-iaring men; | plead guilty myself,
to entire ignorance gifts resources, extent, po-
puaton, &c, indeed to all save that of It's geo