, 1888-11-02
THE BRAZILIAN CAPITAL.
SOME OF THE PECULIAR cHARAC-
TERISTICS OF RIO JANElRo.

City-women and Children in the Bal
comics Suburban ResIdenc Public
Gardens-In the Market.
The business portion of Rio is on the
level plateau, where it widens out most
between the hills and the water. Here
the buildings -RFeeleseiy eFewdedtoGether,
dingy and unattractive, and the streets
generally very narrow, some of them so
narrow vehicles cannot pass in them, and
they are allowed to traverse them only in
one direction. The Rua d'Ouvidor is the
principal shopping street, and one of the
most narrow. The wares are artistically
arranged in the windows and the shops
themselves have a very attractive appear
ance. Stone is abundant in the neighbor-
ing hills and easily quarried. All the
streets are paved with it, and it makes an
excellent pavement, so that pedestrians do
not conflne themselves to the narrow side
walks, which are often entirely INSTRUCTED
by merchandise.
The buildings are generally two stories
high-sometimes three, with a rallied bal
cony along the second story front. The
upper floors are used as residences and Of
fees, and in many cases are as densely
peopled with the human herd as the tene-
ments of our large cities. Glazed doors or
hinged windows, call them which you
WILL, open upon the balconies and are
nearly always open. At any time you
may see some one in nearly every balcony,
but toward sunset women and children
gather there en- masse to gaze at those
passing in the street below and to display
their toilets. Until then they are en- des-
habille. They could not be expected to
take the trouble to 'dress up" and then
not be seen, and they cannot go out for a
walk. Social usage forbids that.
PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
Some of the public buildings are mas
sive, strongly built structures, but they
display little architectural taste. They
are constructed of stone, covered with
cement and ornamented with a rude sort
of stucco work, in which predominates
statuary, in excellence about on a par
with the rude plaster images we see of
fered for sale at times in our streets.
Among the finest edifices | may mention
the new custom house and postofIice and
the theatre. The latter has a plain eXte-
rior, and the yellow wash with blue trim
mings does not enhance its appearance.
Its interior may be very fine, but as 1 did
not enter it | cannot say. The old palace
is a dingy, old fashioned building, very
fine in its day probably, but no longer
used as the imperial residence. Various
government Offices are there located at
present. The emperor occupies a more
modern mansion further from the bust
ness center.
The suburban residences are the finest,
and though they present an appearance
very different from anything to which we
are accustomed, they are well suited to
the climate and satisfy all the demands of
comfort and luxury. They are generally
box shaped, two stories high, excessively
ornamental in front and plain upon the
other sides. An abundance of large win
dows, always open, enables those passing
to see into them almost as well as if the
fronts were removed entirely. The Bra
zilians do not object to being seen. The
ladies will stand in their balconies, or
wide verandas, and return the boldest
stare without flinching. They appear to
regard it rather as complimentary than
rude. The grounds about the houses are
hastily laid out and abundantly planted
with the richest of tropical flowers, fruits,
ferns and palms.
The houses that border the road skirt
ing the brow of the hills, and on the
lower sides, are often quite peculiar in ap-
pearance. The hillsides are very steep,
and the gardens are upon narrow terraces,
supported by stone walls. The houses
have n single story in front, but a number
below it i'll rear, depending upon the in
clinatiOn. Six or seven is by no means
unusual, and in one case | counted ten.
Steep us these hillsides are winding path
ways ascend them here and there, form
erly the only means of reaching the sum
init. Now, however, the ascent has been
facilitated in one place by an elevator, and
in another by an inclined railway, on
which cars are run by "a cable and a
stationary engine.
THE PUBLIC GARDENS.
Here and there, scattered through the
city, are public gardens, well cared for
and beautiful, with their eXuberant vege-
%tation, s%tatuary, fountains, artificial grot-
toes, and other attractions. Bands of
music play in some of them daily, and
they are popular resorts. In one of these,
in the heart of the city, is an excellent
equestrian statue in bronze of Dom Pedro
l, the first emperor of Brazil. On its four
faces are beautiful aIlegorical figures rep
%resenting the four great rivers of the en-
pire.
One of the most interesting places for a
stranger to visit is the market. The
building, or rather group of buildings,
covers n large area, and as usual with
such places, is unpretentious and without
attractions; but the variety, quantity and
excellence of the provisions and fruits
there offered for sale is remarkable, and
a sight worth seeing. In the early morn
ing the open space adjoining is filed with
people, some selling and some buying.
There the country people bring their
wares and sell them directly.
Large baskets of fruit, vegetables, poul-
try, etc, are brought into town on the
backs of donkeys or mules, or carried on
the shoulder suspended from each end of
a long pole. Often two pigs or sheep, or
a number of fowls are tied together and
thrown over the shoulder, but more fire.
quently all these things are carried in
baskets.
l saw great heaps of very large, nice
looking oysters which the Brazilians think
very fine; but they are rank and far in
ferior in flavor to those upon our own
coast. In the market stalls one may pur-
chase almost anything he desires, from a
cup of coffee or a spool of thread to a
horse or a blanket. Each has its particu-
lar line of goods, those of the same class