Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-09-03

L NJ
1890 for, unlike Bahia with
.&A:lNs its steep streets and
| sedan chairs, there are
plenty Of public vehicles to be hired in Per-
nambuco, but by far the better way, in accord
ance with the good old rule of doing as the
Romans do when in Rome, is to go by rail. The
exceedingly narrow gauge road was built and
equipped by English contractors. as he who
runs may read in its queer little locomotives
and the square boxes Of cars that look like
boys toy train rather than one de-
signed for actual use. The unballasted road
Is succession of sharp grades and sudden
curves, over which you are yanked and bumped
| in the springless coaches, amid heat dust. feas
and perspiring fellow sufferers, yet the short
| trip pays so well in a scenic point of view
that one Is inclined to make il again and again.
| between the city proper and suburban Olinda
| long narrow sand bank iptervenes, with the
Beberibe river on one side (the same that cuts
Pernambuco in twain and the harbor on the
| other. On the ocean side, hardly a quarter of a
mile from the railway, stretches the famous
reciie. or coral reef-a natural parapet which
| AT highest tide Is marked only by line Of heecy
spray as the pillows dash against it, At low
| tlde, however, 1T looks like a massive wall Of
masonry, TO which one may 60 out In row.
| boat or langada and enjoy the novelty of q
| promenade in the midst of the sea, Ia Peter.
The nearly level top Is about ten feet across,
| the external rocks dark brown in color and
thickly coated with shells of many species.
II you have nerve enough and are not in
chned to "lightness in the upper story
| you may walk away out to the old round
lowered fort at Its northern extremity where
natural break in the reef admits We .sels to the
haroor; The queer, brick-topped fortress,
which bristles all over with guns like An excited
hedgehog, was built in the early days of the
Dutch occupancy of Pernambuco. Its founda-
uon blocks " hewn stone imported from Eu-
rope are placed lengthwise to the sea and bound
together by heavy bands Of iron.
HUTs OF THE NEGROES
Having passed the fort the car track runs
through low, swampy level, filled with dense
thickets Of bamboo and wild banana, bordered
by groves OF cocoa palm and mango trees and
occupied-as to humans by negroes and
very poor half breeds. Their dilapidated huts
OF mud-plastered bamboo are a sight fit for the
worlds fair. and, having inspected the
interior OF one, you have them
all. There is floor of natural earth
ceiling OF snake-harboring thatch. filthy rub
Dish piled IN every corner and nothing whatever
III the line OF furniture beyond a few cooking
pots a dried COW skim spread upon the ground
IN lieu of table. and dirty hammock
which serve for beds and chairs But the
walls are profusely adorned with highly colored
prints OF virgins and saints. attired in all the
hues OF the rainbow, surrounded by rude crosses
the place is swarmed with naked babies,
scrawny cats. long-legged fowls and the hideous.
ho-hair dogs OF the country, which look de-
cidediy more like overgrown links of sausage or
animated sections OF stoyepipe-o: a dull red
color. with n few bristles standing erect at
either end-than any canine species.
oLISDA THE BEAUTIFUL
Olinda occupies several low, green hills
grouped close together and clothed with
N X ant 81
lantlc on one hand and to limtless ylans on the
other. Every hill is topped by church or a
convent. There are at least dozen churches
and half that number of converts within "a
stones throw" almost OF one another all en-
powered, like the comfortable villas that stretch
away for miles toward the interior, amid a very
riot OF frultage fragrance and bloom. The
houses are pretty much alike, large. square,
two-storied, the outer walls washed white as
snow, rooted with dark red tiles and broken out
all over with perfect rash Of gelonzias or lat
ticed balconies, the same old Dutch style of
architecture which used to be 80 common in
Pic de Janerio at the time of King Joas' arrival,
but now seldom seen at the metrop-
oils, because that wary monarch, see
ing how the gelonzias might afford snug
places OF concealment for the assassins who
threatened his royal person. ordered them all
pulled down. Some OF the domes and cupolas
Of Olinda's churches and conventual fnsti-
buttons are covered with Dutch tiles.
others with imported marble no whittier
than the succeed walls, and a
few are quantity decorated with bits OF earthen-
ware, OF many colOrs, laid on in regularly ir-
regular crazy-quilt sort of mosaic. There is an
old chapel Of Italian friars which has its whole
facade and bell tower covered with this singular
stucco. which, viewed from a distance and
gfittering in the sunshine, looks like
near approach. Upon tine highest hill
stands theological seminary. which is said to
have an annual average Of 200 students. There
was law school here in those early DAYS
when Olindas aristocratic denizens looked
down with contempt upon this commercial
neighborhood Of the port, but when fckle
fashion turned her back upon the former the
school went too and 10 now fourishing in the
once despised recife.
THE PRETTY HAMLET OF cAxANGA.
When local fashion deserted this beautiful
suburb she took up her abode at the other ex-
tremity ef''Recife" out toward Caxanga, q
pretty little hamlet eight miles from the port
reached by another narrow-gaugc railway and
completely hidden from the approaching trav-
eier view by valley full of orange groves and
fig trees. Its dwellings are like the rest in these
parts, square, two-storied, many Widowed,
white-walled or coated with vari-colored
tiles; all are surrounded by beautiful
gardens and orchards Of bread fruit,
tamarind, guava, pomegranate and Brazil
aviary-for the Dutch Brazilian is fond of pet
song birds as his neighbor, the Portuguese Bra
lillian, is Of monkeys and parrots and the
African-Brazilian Of no-hair dogs and scrawny
cats. The estates are separated from one
another by rank hedges-the only fenc-
ing in vogue here-and the grounds
are decorated in fanciful ways; for example,
by glass globes Of various colors always placed
three in group like q pawnbroker's sign, and
by shrubs trimmed in unnatural shapes, while
the statuAry, ~ q rule, 10 all crowded upon the
veranda, as il the owner we're afraid to leave
them out on account of thieves. The finest
house in Caxsnga is owned by An ex-slave
trader. and when emancipation was declared,
against his violent opposition, some waggish
neighbor offered consolation by coming In the
night and painting all the statues black % that
when he first looked out in the morning he
was astonished to behold the veranda crowded
With negroes-all his own, despite emancipa-
| ton.
The new reservoir and water works for the
city, built by an English company, are situated
| near Caxanga, in the midst OF pretty scenery.
The water 6 brought to the pumping works
| from Q small lake half q mile away, where, In
order 10 get q suitable pressure for the houses
| Of Pernambuco, it is pumped into huge reser-
voir Of massive masonry on top Of . neighbor-
ing hill, whence 1t fows to the city through an
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