The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1892-09-04

y 20 go out in a car
riaEe If you wish, for-unlike Bahia with
its steep streets and sedan chsirs-there
are penty OF public vehicles to be hired in
Pernamhuco; but by far the better way,
in accordance with the good old rule OF
doing as the Romans do when in Rome. is to
20 by rail The exceedingly narrow gauge
road was built and equipped by English
contractors, rs he who runs may read in Its
Queer little locomotives and square boxes
Of cars that look like q boys toy train
rather than one designed for actual use
The unballasted road is a 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 scenic point Of
view that one is inclined TO make it again
and again.
Between the city proper and suburban
0llEda long, narrow sand bank inter-
Genes, with the Beberibe river on one
sde--the same that cuts Pernambuco in
twain-and the harbor on the other. On
the ocean side. hardly g quarter OF mile
from the railway, stretches the famous
recife, OF coral reef-a natural parapet
which at highest tide IL marked only by o
line Of feecy spray as the pillows dash
against it. At low tide, however. it looks
like massive wall of masonery, TO which
one may 90 out in a row boat or iangsda
and enjoy the novelty of q promenade in the
midst OF the sea. q la Peter. The nearly
level top 10 about ten feet across, the ex-
ternal rocks dark brown in color and thick
~ coated with shells Of many species. il
you have nerve enough and are not in
clined to Brightness in the upper story, !"
you may walk away out 20 the old round
lowered fort at its northern extremity,
where q natural break in the reef admits
vessels to harbor. The queer, btick-topped
fortress, which bristles all over with guns
like an excited hedge hog, was built In the
early days Of the Dutch occupancy of Per-
nambuco. Its foundation blocks, of hewn
stone imported from Europe, are placed
lengthwise to the sea and bound together
by heavy bands of iron.
Having passed the fort, the car track
runs through e low, swampy level filed
with dense thickets Of bamboo and wild
banana, bordered by groves OF cocoa palm
and mango trees and Occupled-Rs TO hu-
mans-only by negroes aud very poor half
breeds Their dilapidated huts OF mud
plastereG bamboo are q sight TT for the
Worlds fair; and having inspected the in
terror of one you have seen them ali.
There is floor of natural earth, 6 ceiling
of snake hRrboring thatch, filthy rubbish
piled in every corner, and nothing what
ever in the Dne Of furniture beyond few
cooking pots, dried COW skin spread upon
the ground in lieu of q table, and dirty
hammocks. which serve for beds and chairs.
But the walls are profusely adorned with
highly colored prints Of virgins and saints,
III l. A -
rounded by rude crosses and other emblems
of religion; and invariably the place IL
sWarned with naked babies, scrawny cats,
lcng-legged fowls and the hideo1s, no hair
dogs OF the country, which look decidedly
more like over-grown links of sausage or
animated sections Of stove pipes-of dull.
red color, with a few bristles standing
erect at either end-than any canine
species.
Olinda occupies several low, green hills
grouped close together auu clothed with
lnxrriant vegetation, sloping gently to the
Atlantic on one hgnd and to limitless plains
on the other. Every hill is topped by q
church or q convent-there are at least a
dozen churches and half that number OF
converts within stones throw almost Of
one another-sll embowered like the COM
Portable villas that stretch away for miles
toward the interior. amid q very riot of
frnitRge. fragrance and bloom. The houses
are pretty much alike, large, square, two
STORED. the outer walls washed white as
snow, rooted with dark-red tiles and
broken out all over with perfect rash of
eelonzias, or latticed balconies-the same
old Dutch style of architecture which used
to be SO common in Rio de Janerio at the
time of King Joss' arrival, but now seldom
seen at the metropolis. because that wary
monarch. seeing how the geloDziss might
afford snug places OF concealment for the
caf.. -hn fhrapf arad hic al MOI m
ordered them all pulled down. Some of the
domes and cupolas of Olinda's churches
and conventional institutions are covered
with Dutch titles. others with imported
marble no whittier than the stuccc ed walls,
and few are decorated with bits of earth
enware Of many coiors laid on in regularly
irregular, crRzy-quilt sort of Mosaic
There is an old chapel of Italian friars
which has its whole facade and bell tower
covered vita this stucco, which, viewed
from distance aud glitpering in the sun
shine looks like costly enamel but shows
coarse and tawdry at near approach.
Upon the highest hill stands q Theological
seminary, which is said to have an annual
average of 200 students There was law
school here IN those early days when Olin-
da,s aristocrattc denizens locked down with
contempt upon this commercial neiehbor-
hood OF the port; but when tickle fashion
turned her back upon the former, the
the once despised recife.
When local fashion deserted this beauti-
full suburb she took up her abode at the
other extremity of the recife--out toward
Caxanga, pretty little hamlet eight miles
from port. reached by another narrow
guage railway and completely hidden from
the approaching travellers view by val
ley fnllot orange groves and fig trees. Its
dwellings are like the rest in these parts,
souare. tWo-storied. many windowed white
walled or coated with vari-colored tiles; all
are surrounded by beautiful gardens and
orchards Of bread fruit, tamarind. guava
pome-grauite and Brazil nut trees, and
every villa has its extensive aviary--for
tbe Dutch Brazilian is fond of pet song
birds as his neighbor, the Portuguese Brazil
ians is fond of monkeys and parrots and
The African Brazilian of n0-bair dogs and
ecrawny cats The estates are separated
from one another by rank hedges-the
only fencing in vogue here-and the
grounds are decorated in fanciful ways
for example, by glass globes Of various
coiors. always placed three in group like
& pawn brokers' sign. and by shrubs trim
med in unnatural shapes, while the
statuary. as rule. IL all crowded upon the
yeranda as If the owner were afraid to
leave them out on account OF thieves.
The finest house IN Laxanga is owned by
en- ex-glave trader; and when emRncipa-
ton was declared, against his violent oppo-
1ition, some waggish neighbor offered con-
ISOLATION Dv coming in the night and paint
ing ali the statues black, so that when he
frat looked out in the morning he was
astonished TO behold the yeranda crowded
with negroes--au his own. despite emanci-
patton. Tho new reservoir and water
works for the city, built by an English
company. are situated near Caxan9R,in the
midst o. pretty scenery. eThe water is