The Portland daily press., 1886-12-01
AT PORTO cRANDE.
a Leaf from a Midshipman's Log.
U. S. S. JUNIATA,
LAT. 16o o.; LONG. 26o 3S
Saafonaha,. 90 1909 >

Midshipmen being little kings on the fore
castle are considered to be rival though infe-
rior monarchs, so we have only to pay trib-
ute of beer or wine. Before this letter is
finished we will have crossed, so | will re-
serve the tale of Neptunes visit until it
comes off; but as he is so old that his habits
have settled down into great regularity l
could give you now all the thrilling details.
When we entered the harbor of Porto
Grande the Almirante Barroso, the Brazilian
corvette which brought the Prince to Amer
lean. was lying in the harbor. She had left
Newport some time after we sailed from New
York. but as she did in eighteen days what
our ship required forty days to do, she had
some spare time, enough to run all around
the coast and islands. We anchored just out
side of her, and she sent boat with an Of
ficer to pay the respects Of her commander to
ours. Then the captain of the port and the
health officer visited us and as we had clean
bill Of health we were admitted to "Pra-
tique" right away. PratiQue is the permits
sion of the health officer to communicate
with the shore; if that is not given to ship
she is quarantined.
Porto Grande, as seen from ship in the
harbor, is a neat looking place but the whole
town looks hardly larger than hennery in
comparison with the tremendous hills and
mountains rising Immediately behind and
on each side Of it. But to look at the little
town makes one feel cooler, for the houses
are built to keep out only the sun. The wind,
the strong northeast trades blowing in
squalls down the mountain ravines and val
leys, is given a free gangway through the
houses, and as for rain, they do not have it
except at long intervals, and no particular
pains are taken to keep it out. One would
think that, since the place is entirely sup
ported by the coal interest, and since large
quantity of coal is loaded and unloaded ev-
cry day, the town would have a thick coat
ing of coal dust all the time. But such is
not the fact, for the town itself is cleaner
than great part of its population. These
are all blacks of various shades of color and
various degrees of nudity. While young the
boys spend their time in diving for pennies
thrown for them from the decks of the visit
sharks IN the least, and the shark, however
rayenous he may be, does not like the little
fellows, probably because he shares the gen.
eral prejudice against the colored race. But
after the native has outgrown the diving age
he seems to think that he has had the use of
enough water to last him all his life, so he
quietly abstains, and as the years roll on he
greatly facilitates his ultimate conversion in
to dust. Prior to the age of ten it is not
considered de rigeur for the native young
gentlemen to array themselves at all, and af-
ter that age each man dresses according to
his ideas of comfort rather than of anything
else. But envy them their cool costume in
this terribly hot climate. and wish l had
never heard of the foolish custom that re-
quires a civilized man to wear collar that
can't be.hired to stand up. The women,
however, are generally fully clothed, though
their knees are bare and they are innocent
OF shoes and stockings. In place of head
gear they can generally be seen with some
burden or bundle poised on their heads and
so steady and even is their walk that the
bundle never falls off. think that these
semi-savages really have more graceful
carriage than most of our American girls, and
! could suggest that young ladies who want
to acquire graceful walk should practice
for an hour day in carrying some object, a
saucer filed with water for instance, on their
heads. do not suppose they would wish to
be seen on the streets thus accoutred, but in
Porto Grande they have no foolish aversion
to such bonnet. As for the mental labor
suggested by this head gear. they do not
mind that, because all the hardest labor is
done by the women and girls, while the gen.
tlemen negroes lie in the shade and expend a
vast quantity of brains in keeping their pipes
lighted. But the women, having to do mems
work, smoke their pipes as necessarily as
their models. Yet they bring up their chill
dren to a high state of education, especially
in the languages, for did not run across
native child who did not know enough Eng
fish to say "Give me a penny" and with a
remarkably good accent, too.
When we first went ashore, almost as soon
as the aKchor touched bottom, we went in a
party the better to guard against extortion
and other little customs of the country. As
soon as we landed on the coal docks our par
ty was augmented by about fifty little mig
gers, all of whom wanted penny and some
Of whom wanted to earn it by guiding us
about the town. And always, whenever l
went ashore alone, / had three or four little
naked fellows running along in my wake and
pointing out everything of Interest. gener-
ally paid no attention to the little fellows,
and gave them the idea that was deaf and
dumb; and finally, when had gotten tired
of them, would throw twenty rel piece
about as large as our old-fashioned one cent
piece. but twice as heavy as far as | could,
and that would send them all scampering
after it.
The chief place of interest in most Span
ish and Portuguese towns is the market, but
here 1t does not amount to much. In large,
oblong, iron-railed enclosure sit number of
negro women and old men, each behind
very meagre stock of Iipe or unripe bananas,
oranges, mangoeS, peanuts or cOcOanutS.
Some will sit all day with the tropical sun
pouring down upon them, and will try to sell
their son has got for them by diving to the
bottom of the bay. where coal has been
dropped piece by piece from some vessel
while loading coal from lighters. The fish
market is in one corner, and there is some
excitement there at certain times of day, for
the chief food of the islanders, so they have
a.greatldeal of noise and crowding whenever
the fish market opens.
The police duty is done by negro troops in
Portuguese uniform. AS an example of their
efficiency, one of our seamen went ashore
and Onfd r11r wi xuif nxrrA -
Australian emigrants, he was perfectly safe
from the muskets and bayonets of the brave
soldiers. When the emigrant steamer left
the harbor, they swooped down upon our
man and sent him off to the ship. 1 have
seen corporal stand carelessly leaning
against the corner of a house while fight
was going on right under his nose, and the
combatants were on the point of using
knives
Owing to some prejudice against these is
lands they are included in an old naval reg
ulation requiring that no intercourse be held
with the shore after sunset while lying in
the waters off the coast of Africa, and in
those of the Cape Verde Islands. The order
is unjust to brand this clean little town with
the odium Of infection, because it has no
swamps and all the breeZes can bring is the
salt of the Atlantic, which certainly is not
unhealthy. But since this regulation is in
force, all officers must return to the ship by
shutdown, and had to give up the ascent of
big mountain peak opposite the town, for
when / was three-quarters of the way up
found that had just time to go down the
two thousand feet of mountain path and
rocky wilderness and then trudge for two or
three miles to the boat before sunset. |
gained a little on my reckoning, for when /
finally abandoned my hold on a large but
loose rock that had been clinging to in
strategic wrestle to endeavor to climb over
it without dislodging it, and rolling with it
down the side of the mountain, when | final
ly decided to abandon it / started to walk
carefully down the steep side. But found
that although FdciHs deScensus dUernO it Is
much more dangerous thad reoocdre grddltm.
The places where had clambered up on my
hands and knees looked to me, as | Stood up
and started to go down, as if | must be
thrown heels over head from each projecting
rsck. So adopted the manner Of the noun
tain goat and jumped down from rock AS
each stone slipped from under my feet was
on my way to another. Before | had got
more than just started l was tearing along
at great pace, so fast that l could hardly
change my course or jump aside if any rock
sharper than usual came in my way. won
dered IL should ever be able to stop with
cut going through the troublesome prelimi-
nary of breaking my neck. But all Of a
sudden / struck comparatively smooth
pathway down the mountain. tried to stop
by bringing both feet down together in a
kind of running jump, but that had no effect
in stopping me because all l did was to