The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1892-05-01
A VERY QUEER CITY
Repulsiye and Charming, Disap-
pointing and Delightful.
THE SCENES IN RIO DE JANEIRo
tublic Buildings and Commercial Houses
National Printing 0ffice-The Fash
ionable Promenade.

tOnable Promenade.
Rio DE JENERIo, March Especial cor
respoadeuce to The SUNDAY HERALD. If
ever there was city of contradictions-at
once repulslve and charming, disappoint-
ing and delightful-it is this vile-smeling
cid furnace, which the early Portuguese
dubbed saint Sebastian of the River Of
January" Even its atmosphere is con-
Trajectory. On days when everything
visibly steams and you feel yourself dis
diving in preparation, you are amazed to
find that the thermometer registers less
than it often does in New York-here sell
dom raising above S. degrees Far. But
there IS a humidity in the air that kills all
oxygen and gives to every object animate
and inanimate, clammy, sticky moisture,
SO that you expect to wake up some morn
ing and find yourself covered ali over with
green mold and fungi, like the walls and
tree trunks An Algerian sirocco is not so
oppressive as any day here between the
months Of October and Mayor the
African wind is only an occasional
misery, seldom lasting more than
three days at q time, while here
it is continuous, worse, if possible,
by night than by day. until you envy Shad-
rack, Aieshach and Abe6nago, for it was
dry heat they suffered, and Biblical his
tory tells Us that they came out of it un-
harmed-which is a good deal more than
can be said of you after week in Rio. 1t
is not easy to describe this queer old town,
because there is nothing elsewhere to
which one can compare it. Its Hispano-
Portuguese origin is everywhere apparent
suggesting a mixture of Barcelona, Sc
vile, Cadiz-seasoned with
DASH OF GAUDINEss
borrowed from its numerous wealthy citi-
zens OF African descent, and q tropical
warmth OF color entirely its own. And
then the mountains close by, with their
precipitous sides and eccentric vsgaries of
form-none of them being straight, but all
leaning in one direction or another, as if a
mighty wind had blown them awrY, give a
sort of crazy appearance to the country,
which Is enhanced by the billowing clouds
that roll about the peaks and through the
vast valleys and gorges between them, eX-
hihiting the strange and beautiful effects
Of cloud and moisture peculiar to tropical
landscapes and never met in colder eli
Il
twisted courses, repeat the plan of city
building which the Moors brought into the
Iberian peninsula, with saraceuic in
SEPARATIONS in the way of tiled
roofs, projecting balconies, narrow
windows, arched door ways and elaborate
stucco-all clothed in a very Joseph's coat
of many colors. 1t even eXcels Cadiz IN the
Kaleidoscope hues of its roofs and walls
Tor the pale pinks, yellows and blues of the
AndRluslan seaport, intensified in Brazil
TO Rlaring reds, greens, puppies and orange
Amid the brown or snowy months thai
make up so large proportion of the north
ern year, nothing could be more absurd
than this system Of architecture and decor
alton; but under tropical skies they seen
to be the natural products of the sun anc
soil, as appropriate to their surrounding:
as the palm trees that tower above and
THE BLossoMING VINES
that riot over them. No regular censu.
has ever been taken of Rio, but it is be
lieved that about three hundred and fifty
thousand people are crowded within the
narrow crescent-shaped space between the
mountains and the sea. Hemmed in by
granite wall on one side and deep W alter or
the other, the city can never grow any
wider, and so it has stretched out at bott
ends, struggling ten or twelve mile.
around the prodigious harbor, which, by
the way is exactly in the shape of a pear
the narrow entrance representing the
stem CT the fruit Most of the trees arr
extremely narrow, generally not more
than ten feet wide, paved with Belgian
blocks, with an open central drain to whict
they slope, and with three-f oot-wide SIDE
walks on level with the street. Canton
and others of the great Chinese cities, havi
streets as wide as those of Rio Janeiro
The houses, many of them quite hidden b,
the towering palms that line some of these
cow-path streets, are no two alike, anC
range from two TO four stories in height
One of their curious features is the absenc
of the veranda, which in the minds of globt
trotters, have become intimately as sociate,
with ideas of hot weather. In lieu of tn,
yeranda the better houses show in theI
upper stories broad, deep notches-each
sort of open-air parlor, tinted as delicatell
as a ladies' boudoir, often elaborated,
frescoed, furnished with rattan and can
sofas, chairs and tables, embellished wit
statuary, and fioored with Talavera tiles
Some of these cool posts of Observable,
have narrow windows of colored glass Sc
in their sides, surrounded by wealth of
GLIDING, CARVING AND COLOR,
and the effect is particularly unique, espec
iaily when the outer walls of the house ar
faced with blue aud yellow tiles, as
frequently the case. The best houses Ii
along the waters edge, notably on that par
of the bay known as Botafogo: and on tn
slopes of the surrounding mountains som
of The most charming homes in the worl
are TO be seen, for when the yellow feve
season approaches, every body who ca
afford it seeks refuge on the heights Tn
business houses are crowded into the lowe
portion of the town, into damp and gloom
allevways. so narrow that carts and car
riaces are forbidden 10 enter them durip
ehe busy hours Of the day, and at any tim