Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1889-04-26
Dome Department.
BAHIA, BRAZIL.
HOW 1T IMPREssEs A veRMoNTER.

BAHIA, BRAZIL, Mar. 20, 1889.
You have probably concluded before
this that have forgotten my promise to
send you a few lines from this land of
perpetual summer. Not so, however.
AS proof, here are the promised lines.
The fact is, have felt in no mood to
write, at least up to within a week or
two. Why, do you ask? Well, because
to say because is so convenient, you
know-because the first day of my arri-
val took a severe cold that chung to me
with wonderful tenacity up to two
weeks ago and made me feel Just as mis-
cradle as it is possible to feel. So it
seemed to me. However, it has gone now.
Some one else has it, presume.
But where shall begin and what shall
| tell about?
There is so much that might be said of
a place like this that is altogether curl
Gus and new to one meyer having visited
the country, that to know just what to
say and how to say it in one short letter
is difficult.
OF my trip from New York need say
nothing, as it was very much like the
others have had in another direction,
differing from the others to Venezuela
only in the greater length of time occu-
pied in making it, Nine days after leav-
ing New York we struck the Venezuelan
coast, while 26 days passed before we
sighted the city of Bahia. We entered
the magnificent bay of All Saints, on
which the city is situated, early on the
morning of the 23d of December last.
The dOmes and towers, churches and
white-waled buildings of the city, stand
ing upon the bluff overlooking the bay
presented a charmingly picturesque APP
pearance; while the circular fort some
distance from the shore and guarding the
entrance to the harbOr, with the curvins
line of whitewashed houses, warehouse:
and arsenals extending along the sandy
beach some four or five miles, make more
prominent the bluff and add a greater pic
turesqueness to the scene that greets the
eye in the early morning as the shil
steams slowly up the bay. A lovely view
it certainly is, and was especially so thu
morning we entered, as rain had fallel
the night before on the dark-green foliage
giving it a richer and a darker green
covering the hillside here and there
through which the red-tiled houses wer
visible-the whole an exhibition of love
illness and scenic beauty SURPRISING any
thing of the kind had ever seen before.
The city, then, is, as you may under
stand, divided into what is called tn
lower and upper town. The lower tow
is built along the bay, extending back t
the foot of the bluff, ranging in widt
4 from twenty to one hundred twenty O
thirty rods. In this lower town the chic
business of the place is done. Here ar
some very large warehouses, said to b
the largest in South America.
The streets are narrow, crooked, filthy
full of business and of negroes. Thes
: negroes are lying about in various att
= tudes upon the sidewalks, on carts {
barrels or coiled up in corners like snake
All the work of loading and unloadin
\ the ships that come from and go to a
= parts of the world is done by these n
n groes, men and women, but mostly mel
Almost everything that is moved fro
place to place, cargo, merchandise, {
anything movable, is carried on the heat
x of negroes. Five or six. generally 81,
\ will carry piano, for instance, from oil
III end of the city to the other on their head
I keeping step and humming some old n
u gro refrain as they go. Everything, OF
- might say from needle to a street ca
j Is carried in this way. The physical d
VI velopment Of some Of these negroes
VI simply wonderful. Some magnitfice
H specimens of negro women are seen-taI
Z well-formed, powerful, marvel to Il
passer-by.
There are many alleys, lanes and OF
j boulevard for carriages from the lower
X the upper town. But most people wi
have 100 reis-equiyalent to about fl
II cents-to spare, prefer to go up in the
III evator. This elevator was built by
y English company some Is years ago. II
~ distance it passes over in moving fro
. the lower to the upper town is about 3
feet. On leaving the elevator at the t.
of the bluff one can take street car al
= 20 to the outward limit of the city
y the bluff over some three and half mil'
then down an inclined plane by cable c
@ and along the sea shore some one ano
half miles further, till what is called
u Barra or bar near the lighthouse
:. reached-and all for Is cents. This
| quite cheap considering the prices of Of
| er things here and by far the most enjc
| able thing in the whole city.
On seeing the street cart is call
bond here-you are struck with the 81
ilarity it bears to the bob-tail car of NJ
| York and you wonder ii it isn't one