American Republican and Baltimore daily clipper. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1844-1846, 1845-04-26
SOUTH AMERICAN CORRESPONDENCE
RIO DE JINElRo. February 10. lS4s

SOUTH AMERICAN CORRESPONDENCE.
RIO DE JANElRo, February 10, l6gs.
Here may be viewed, displayed in all form.
and of every degree of perfection fine pine-ap-
pies, backed by baskets of large shrimp: ripe
and unripe oranges, some Just torn apparently
tlom Their native stems, others displaying their
golden coats to view, set off by lots of found
eFs ana huge uncouth looking monsters of the
deep, with .npronounceable names; delicious
bananas, of ponderous size, repose side by with
strings OF crabs half smothered in mud; fine
guavas are rtS-d-riS to large king fish; lettuce,
peas, carrots and garden stufls, beside bags of
charcoal; beans, asparagus, and peppers, are III
J3NtapostlOn TO guinea pigs and faggots OF
wood; fowls with long ancies and queer looking
tarkies, are jumbed together with French
pears and American apples, (the one only so
cents, the other 2! 10 % cents each;) cabbages
and pumpkins DIETER than the down-easters
can grow cocoa nuts, watermelons, Italian
apples, Lima beans, mandioCa root, green corn,
taploca, tarlnha, fresh mown grass green STU
gar cane, and lar greener parrots, plated straw,
calus, cake women, crlpples, monkeys, aliEa-
tors, loungers are all mixed and huddlcd to-
gether in most admired disorder, the scene be-
ing diversified by numbers Of peddlers, who are
Industriously engaged in praising and vending
their wares, which, like such merchandise in
al counties, has been manufactured for the
same purpose that Pindar's razors were said to
have been. 1t is strange too, though entirely
IN character, to observe on what puerile toys
and useless knick-knacks u rough looking ma
tive will eXpend his money; it being frequent
occurrence to see them earnestly laughing re-
speeding the price of a guitar or a banlo-al-
though ii is not at all unlikely few mibreis are
his sole earthly wealth To add to the noise
and cpt,F,, a 10 tna ,ft nc
scene, the surf comes rolling in strongly, Coz
Ia Maryland, fright smart,") giving ample
employment to the hands and tongues of the
owners of boats, their vocferations atiording
no little addition to the hum and murmur OIL
the throng. This spot is also subjected to a
nuisance resulting from the domestic habits Of
the population, most offensive to our notions Of
decency; the senses are greeted in more ways
than one with sights peculiarly disgusting; con-
structed as the dwellings are, it would be diff.
cult to abolish the present filthy practice, al
though if they did not lack one of the five
senses lamentably, much might be accomplish
ed by rendering it less public.
All kinds of meats, butter, potatoes, etc. are
sold from the shops, never from the markets.
need scarcely inform you that that oeaginous
compound, butter, is ofshocking bad quality and
very dear; tits not TO be had, indeed, of tolera-
BILE flavor, at any price, the climate rendering
it an impossbilty of being kept either firm OF
sweet at least so say the natives, though
learn that one ofthe ''universal nation" is about
TO test the fact, by sending out some of Yankee
invention. Should he succeed, he will be am.
ply remunerated; the article now used on the
best tables is so inferior and unpalatable, that
q dealer in your market would be ashamed tc
offer it for culinary purposes; the Irish manu-
featured commands the highest price Nut
ton is the best of all their meats; the beef, pork
etc, are perfectly execrable, i'll each and every
respect. The beef is dark looking, tough anC
unpalatabe; have no doubt all of Pharaoh:
kline have made their escape hither, and as fo
his grunting lordship, the hog, hereafter | an
a Jew for his sake. The shops, alias stores
that retail provisions and family necessares
present queer looking objects to the eye. They
are generally some lG front and 25 IN depth
crammed with rolls of pork, stuffed into rough
uncouth looking baskets; layers of jerked bee
piled to the ceiling, emitting an aroma Of nc
delicate kind; ranked tobacco, ropes of onions
piles of pumpkins, hampers of potatoes ant
piles Of country cheese; collectively, these
things create an atmosphere trying to the nerve:
of stranger, especially as they djoin eacf
other, those pursuing the same kind Of bust
ness being located in single street. had like
to have omitted Goldfish in the list ofagreeable'
above enumerated, and only recur TO it TO Oh
serve how strange it is that after all the expe
rience gained on the subject, that the Yankee:
continue to export their fish so indifierently
cured, that they do not command nearly ar
eqnal price to those of Englisll export.
Ice can be had, but it is an expensive luxury
not as we have been used to look on it, almos
an indispensable article of domestic use. The
water commonly used on shpboard is superior
to that Of Rio, which certainly should not bt
the case; were proper means used, an ample
supply, both pure and cool, could undoubtedly
be procured from some Of the many mountains
around; as it is that from the fountains is quite
warm and of an indifferent taste, being drawn
from cisterns. The Brazilians do not regarC
triies of this sort, combining themselves to Q
very moderate use of the pure beverage, botf
internally and externally, their potations con
sisting generally of all kinds of light wines o
Spain, Sicily, Portugal, France, and those o
Oporto, which are so low in price as to be at
tainable by nearly all classes; great quantities
are accordingly consumed, by both masters ant
slaves 1t is a fertile source of remark, wher
speaking of the propensities of the inhabltant
OF England, or of our own country, for writer
to assert that the natives Of France, Spain, Por
tugal, &c. are much more temperate in the us
of wines and liquors than the Anglo-Saxol
race. think this is a decided error, so far a
the Brazilians are concerned. can safely sa
that it is not the case, and if true of other lands
that these people initiate not their llustriou
progenitors; for, although they ale not in tn
habit of Longing about places of public resort
nor is intoxicatlon, publicly, SO frequent, we
they are in private gross feeders and extremel