The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1892-08-28
THE GREAr ooRAL REEF

!
the shore along the entire sea-front of tL
town and TWO or three miles beyond leav
ing the haroor INSIDE of it as smooth as
duck pond. The entrance to the harbor II
through natural break in the reef, no
more than two hundred feet wide, which
also forms the mouth OF The river that runs
| through the middle of Pernambuco. Yes
sells OF 800 tons may readily enter, Du
larger ones must remain In tue ofIiag, two
miles from land. Tne ships inslde-men
of-war, steamers and saillng berks-srs
drawn up, according to port regulation
three or four aDreust in two regular
linss, one line just within the reef
the other next the jetty, thus
leaving a central space between them clear
for traf1c. Near the surface of the water
the curious recife (reef is at least fifty
feet in width, but being barely above water
level at highest tide, a brick wall mas
been built upon part of it five feat aigh
and ten feet wide. In tins wall large
cannon have been sunk at regular inter
vais TO which vessels may moor, and
against the barrier the long, measured
| swellS OF the ocean roll malectically and
! break in ceaseiess clouds of t1eecy foam. Al
the northern end OF the reef are two enorm.
Gus forts not more IMAM half mile apart,
| their brick tops bristlng with guns, and al
the other extremity below the town is an.
esque group of buildings and round towers
belonging to the revenue department.
PECULIABITIEs OF. PERNAMBUco.
Our steamer slowly rounded the reef
amid q crowd of lateen-sailed jangadas,
catamarans and other local craft that dot
the outer waves and block the narrow en-
trance, past the fierce forts and tue white
pharo that seemed 10 spring up out OF the
a in N
line OF ships at anchor like an cid soldier
on the eve of battle. While waiting the
arrival of the health boat, we have ample
time and opportunity, from the vantage
ground of anchorage so near to the Hat
lying city. 10 get general idea of its dis
tinguishing peculiarities. We observe at
glance that IL differs greatly from any
other Brazilian city, by no means SO pic
turesQue as Bahia or Rio de JanelrU, but
with a much more modern. pros
porous ana progressive air. Every
where are traces of the Drief
Dutch occupancy in its earlier history,
especially in the narrow crooked streets of
the older central portion, with their
churches of Flemish architecture anu tall
narrow houses There are ugly, many
stored mansions, built by Count Moritz of
Nassau and his followers, exactly like
those to be seen to-day in Holland but
seldom found in the tropics, where going
up long flights of stairs is doubly laborious
on account of the heat. The whole sea
front of the city is e cemented cut-stone
wall, lined with qlays and wharves and
tall warehouses. Beyond the town at one
end are great groves OF cocoa palms; and at
the other, Olinda presents rich mosaic of
White towers, vermillion roofs and emerald
verdure. Every where are palms and
clumps of banana ana tall bamboo; and
right through the center oil the town runs
great river, The BeDeribe, crossed by
many handsome bridges of stone and iron
and covered with small ships which have
brought dried beef from the Argentine Re
public and dried fish from Newfoundland,
aud will take back cargoes OF sugar.
NAMES FOR DIFFERENT LOCALITIES.
Closer acquaintance with Pernanibuco
shows US that It's newer portion has wide,
clean streets lined with editic9s ike those
one sees in the smaller cities OF the United
States, and several public buildings that
are models OF beauty and goou arrange
ment ana would be creditaoIe anywhere.
But the name Pernam0uc one never hears
here. The business part facing the har-
Dor Is called Rscife, whether from the "a
nous reef that fronts it or the coral rocks
that form its foundation and extend back
for miles ! do not know. and 1t is so
marked on many maps. This is the old
Dutch portion, of narrow winding streets
OF the big. square, yellow walled custom
house, with broad, high towers at its
corners; of cotton firms and sugar VI are
houses and banks and hotels and
commercial associations; of steyedores
pie and curio vendors; anu as
at Bahia, it las one long, crowded
street, running close TO the water, with a
little plaza in the middle of II, whose
benches under the trees are always filed
with loiterers. The name s'Rscife'i Is 30
firmly fixed upon this section that native
would hardly know what you were talking
about should you speak OF it as Perram-
buco, So, too, the middle district aud the
other SIDE OF the river is universally known
as San Antonio and the more aristocratic
residence portion farther on as Boa Vista
In the San Antonio section are the ashio a.
able shops, the presidents house, the the
aires, aud public buildings, and library
and scuool of arts, and the widest streets,
with their double lines of horse Car trncas
THE SUGAR BUSINESS.
The city has in the neghorhood Of l39. 600
and is the third in commercial
importance in Brazil. II is the greatest
sugar market of South America, second
only to Cuba in the world. It's exporta-
TONS often reaching l,50B, eco tons
in a year. But most OF the sugar
sent from Pernambuco is of low grade and
must be reieed in England OF the United
States before going into the market for
There is no mistaking the
chief industry of the city the instant one
sets foot on shore, for sugar is seen and
smelled at every step; on the lighters GO
ing out to ships in the harbor, in great
where negroes are handling
huge sacks of it, on the backs of pack
horses coming in droyes from the country,
heape on OK carts which everywhere
block the streets, here there ana every
where. Even the pavements are sticky
with melting sugar oozing from casks and
bales and barrels; the very air is redolent
with it, and the people are fat and sleek as
only those can be whose diet contains
plenty of saccharine matter.
THE SUGAR AND COTTON EXCHANGE,
here called the "Commercial Associationn
8 one of the first things that attracts the