The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1892-08-07
A CURIOUS OLD TOWN
Ancient San Salvador as 1t APP
pears Today.
SIGHTS OF A BRAZILIAN CITY
Excursions by Tram car-Ths Market Square
and Its Attractions-Nolable
Institutions.

Special Correspondence.
BAnIA, Brazil. June %. 1892.
The only way to enjoy life in this broil
ing climate is to initiate the lark and the
natives in the matter of early rising. At
the first peep OF dawn an attendant, who
never dreams OF rapplng on the lockless
door, thrusts inside your mosquito netting
the usual desayuno (irst breakfast), which
is merely crusty loaf Of bread the size of
your 1st innocent Of butter, aud cup Of
strong black coffee without milk or sugar.
The best way 70 get general idea Of this
queer old town is TO spend day on the
street cars. There are three main lines of
tramway, besides several branches, and all
the cars start from the plaza that fronts
our hotel Having partsken OF desayuno,
we go forth refreshed at what to US seems
an unearthly hour. but find the whole city
astir. So inviting is this plaza in the cool
of the morning-set on the edge Of a bluff
four hundred feet above the breezy Allan
tic-that we are fam tc tsrry awhile,
though every one Of its stone benches is al
ready pre-empted by an odoriferous African
whose greasy hide leaks perspiration like
sieve. Observe how the raising sun
shoots his first arrows into the tops of the
palms and mango trees, then gilds the
strange growths clustered at their feet and
the green lawn that slopes in terraces down
the hillside The enormous five story
hotel, with its crowded restaurant and
noisy billiard room and band OF music,
looks a great deal more attractive ct this
distance, by daylight, than when one is in
side Of II, trying vainly to sleep in the 'sma
hours amid ceRseless racket and confusion.
Early as IL is, long line OF porters with
with their curtained palanquins have col
lected near The main entrance and every
BODY who energies ks greeted by cries Of
Have a chair, seniors" "This is the best
sedan, senhora."
NOTABLE INSTITUTIONS.
Next to the hotel are Bahia,s two news
paper offices, in such friendly juxtaposition
that il is difficult TO tell where one begins
and the other ends although the rival edi-
tors are said TO be such bitter enemies that
they occasionally indulge in pistol practice
with one another's heads for target Just
beyond is one Of the city's most notable in
stituUions-the old Jesuit college. which
contains the public library. In charming
oblong room overlooking the ocean, whose
windows admit all the breezes that are
blowing and whose ceiling yet CLOVIS with
softly brilliant colors painted by monks
more than two centuries ago, are some
thirty thousand volumes. The books are
mostly in French and Portuguese, but there
are few large ana very costly medical
works in the Russian language (prnted
Ia St. Petersburg, and others in Ger
man devoted TO the doings of "rhe
Dutch in Brazil" Ia the early morning,
the long reading table in the center of the
department is generally crowded by the
college students, but at othsr times is
quite deserted, and its dim recesses have
furnished US q pleasant retiring place on
many hot afternoons when the noisy hotel
hal
is medical school and IL also has q fine /
collection OF books. Adjoining the college |
Is an extensive military hospital in charge /
OF the sisters Of mercy; and the dead /
house is conveniently near for the dispo- |
sition Of the mistakes of fedgeling doctors /
who here acquire experience
On another side Of the plaza is Bahia's |
only theatre, huge rude build |
ing which looks outside like a
mammoth stable; but the interior
II quite respectable, as we learned last
night lly rOiop to hear .sDong Juauita y for
perhaps he ninetieth time-that Spanish
opera Of which the natives never
tire. There are four tiers Of boxes /
with a larger and more handsomely
decorated one in the center for
the president now governor) Of the pro-
vince. Its great foyer is adorned with
paintings by Brazilian masters, and from
IL one may step out into a marble-paved
ported which commands a wide view of
bay and ocean. Directly in front Of the
theatre lie a marble statue Of Columbus,
who is here called ChristofRo Colon, and
around him are ranged half dozen water
basins, from which negroes are all day ILL
ing their little casks.
TRAMwAY JOURNEY.
First let US take the tram that runs al
most due south along the edge Of the cliff,
over q well-paved road, which is lined by
some Of Bahia's finest residences. The
cGSds OF quaint architecture are all embow-
cred In bloom; here Glove and cinnamon
and breRd-frult trees flourish TO perfection
and pepper trees beautlfy the landscape
with their long, pendant clusters of rose
pink berries; the laca and cocoanut palm
daunt their green plumes above an infinite
variety Of tropical vegetation. In little
more Than half an hour we reach that
fashionable seaside resort known as Rio
NirmelhO, where most Of the foreigners
live in cottages clustered around the light
house and the big hotel. The beach at
this point is literally covered with a queer
kind Of fishing craft, which are more like
the cGtamarans OF Bengal than any other
style OF boat have ever heard of. Each
is composed Of six plsnks lashed to-
Fether with a high bench on top for
the fisherman to sit upon, G frame for the
slipping Of a mast and locker for holding
small cargo A craft OF this kind win
ride any surf, and those who use it are not
at all dismayed by a drenching for their
entire costume Is confined TO q breech-
ciout BY following winding pathway
back or the hotel Ton foot, OF coursel we
ascend Nictoris Hill passing on the way
the American and English cemeteries. The
former is the only burial ground ia all
South America which belongs exclusively
to our countrymen, and II looks sadly neg
lected, as there is no fund for keeping it
up, and few Americans hereabouts to at
tend to IT.
have never seen a more delightful place
than Victoria Hill, with its shaded wake |
and beautiful gardens. As the name indi- /
Gates. it Is the English quarter Of
Bahia, though many wealthy Ger
mans and BraZiiens reside in the neigh i
borhood. The weed-grown walls of sew
eral fortihcations add historical interest,
and nothing can be finer than the ocean /
view, broken by the green island of Itapa-
RIGA. Atuthe edge Of the cliff is a marble /
paved terrace, with tile covered and she'll |
ornemented benches, urns and statuary /
and ladies and gentlemen promenade here
on certain afternoons TO the music Of mill
tsry bands. Another tramway line leads 1
from the central plaza OF the upper town
down into portion Of the old San Saliva
dor where the streets are SO narrow that
there IS barely room for the car 10 pass
and when il comes rafting along pedes-
trians have to dodge inside the shop doors
This part Of Bahia is now occupied almost
exclusively by negroes, and dirt, poverty
and sQualor reign. On this trip there are
but TWO things worth getting out of the
car for-an old Jesuit church at the foot
of the bluff and the open air market. The
former is built entirely Of white mar
BILE, brought from Lisbon. and ike
sll of Bshia's sixty seven churches.
is very interesting by rea-
son Of its peculiar architecture
and ornaments. Some OF them are square.
two or three are round and number are