Lewis H. Paine to Frederick Douglass, August 30, 1853
For Frederick Douglass' Paper
RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug. 30, 1853.
I am to-day confined to the house by pain,
and will try to comply with your request.—I left New York on the 21st of March, and
arrived here on the 8th of May. The voy-
age was of very great advantage ot me. I
felt nothing of my complaints after the first
twenty days. On arriving to this port, the
stranger is completely overwhelmed with the
scenery. Nothing like it exists in the world.
There seems to be nothing but hills and
mountains of all sizes and heights. The
most striking peculiarity is their conical fig-
ure; they rise up several thousand feet, and
are exeedingly small in diameter, and look
like enormous hay-stacks; up and down the
coast, as far as the eye can reach; they are to
be seen. This is the finest harbor, probably,
in the world. All the fleets in the world can
safely ride at anchor. All vessels are spoken
at the lower fort, and are compelled to re-
port where, and how long from port, name,
&c., at the upper fort. They are obliged to
anchor and receive the port physician and
officers, and deliver up their papers, and all
passengers their passports. The city looks
very small on entering the harbor; and, in
fact, you cannot get into a position to see a
great portion of it. It is built around, be-
tween, and on so many hills, that it is hid
from view. It contains about 300,000 souls.
The streets are very narrow, horridly dirty,
and all in a line, from the edges to the cen-
tre, in which there is a small gutter or chan-
nel intended to drain the streets; but, in
fact, it proves but a collector of all the filth
and foul water, which lies there till it be-
comes of the consistency of thin pudding,
and of a stench which rivals that of the
Augean Stables, and would do honor to any
place that exceeds five times the Five Points
of New York, in its plainest days of filth
and stench. But when it rains, or rather
pours, (for it never rains here,) everything
is drowned out. A large portion of the
houses are several feet deep with water; and
the hills are washed till the mud is several
feet deep in the streets. The houses are
built of stone, and plastered on the outside,
so that they present the appearance of old
stores, or forts, or something of that nature.
This is an old city, and most of the houses
look very old. The doors and windows are
very heavy and strong, and all barred. The
houses are of all attitudes. The roofs are
of all forms and figures; and, in fact, I have
often thought that this must be the country
of Pythagoras and Euclid; and from whence
they got their ideas of geometry. All houses
are covered with tiles; and as you cast your
eyes over the city, it reminds you of an old,
deserted brick-yard. The houses have little
finish or polish, and poorly furnished. No
carpets on account of heat. I have never
seen a door in Rio with a handle or latch;
but they have a lock which will defy the
sturdy strokes of a sledge-hammer. All the
lower stories of the houses are used for
stores; and the family live up, with a passage
which would call to mind the corridor leading
to some old prison-house; it leads from the
street, and is dark and dreary. The beds
are excellent for the country—all mattresses;
but the pillows, or rather the bolster, for
they have no pillows, but a long thing which
looks like an enormous Bologna sausage, and
is covered with red leather, and of about the
pliability of the soft side of a white oak log.
It is perfectly straight and round, and about
fifteen feet long; and when I first saw them,
I mistook them for articles of defence, in
case the lodger should be attacked in the
night. There is not such a thing in all Rio
as a privy. Stools are used in every house;
and at night, between 8 and 10, and as to the
unlucky night who is caught in the streets,
for his olfactory nerves will be saluted most
repugnantly with every nauseous, disgusting,
filthy, sickening, uncomparable and unbear-
able smell that ever entered the nose of man;
for that is the stated time for the stools to
carry out and empty into the bog, all stools.
This country has that course which seems to
have settled like an Egyptian over the conti-
nent of America; and in its Briarian arms,
crush out the purest and finest principles of
man, viz.: the universal brotherhood of man.
The slave-trade has been stopped, and rigor-
ous measures are taken, at the desire of the
Emperor, to have the laws enforced. The
U. S. frigate, Jamestown, is stationed here,
for the purposes of watching for slaves; and
I am credibly informed, that a large num-
ber of my countrymen are engaged in this
inhuman, horrid traffic. Oh! what a burn-
ing shame; it is a wonder that their tongue
does not split to its root, when they take the
name of liberty or freedom in their mouth;
with one hand they grasp the goddess of lib-
erty, and with the other they lash the bleed-
ing back of the slave to his grave. But I
am happy to find, though covered with shame
and mortification to confess it, that the slave
is far better, less worked, and not so much
imposed upon, as in the United States. And
when one is free, he is FREE; no one stands
above him, feels above, or is above him. All
who wear shoes are free; this is a sign there
is no mistaking. You find in the army, na-
vy, all public officers, in the legislature, as
ministers in theatres, operas, balls—all pub-
lic places, houses, work-shops, streets, and
all places occupied by colored men, no one
knows or cares about any difference, they
marry among the whites, and are considered
as equals. This is as God intended, and
they can as we well together here, as in heaven.
The people are poorly educated, and a hun-
dred fold behind those of the United States;
their mode of agriculture is very rude, most-
ly done by hand, and poorly done, too.—There is a great want of wood here, and it is
very dear; all that is burned is brought in
from the interior, in small bundles, and tied up;
large quantities are imported from the Unit-
ed States, and the north of Europe. They
raise corn, very good, too; both kinds of po-
tatoes; drink good, most kinds of our vegeta-
bles, and mandioca, from which farina and
topioca is made, oranges, lemons, banannas,
cocoa nuts, figs, and various other South
American fruits, of which I either don't
know, or am unable to pronounce or spell.—I was in the country last week, and had an
opportunity of seeing the above fruits in
large quantities. The roads in the interior
are very poor indeed, and all travel; luggage
is carried on the backs of mules, and it is dif-
ficult to carry loads that exceed 150 lbs., as
they have to balance with one equal on each
side of the mule. The people seem to have
but little spirit or energy, and care for but
little else than get through the world as ea-
sily as possible. This is a Catholic country,
but all religions are tolerated. It has been
justly said, by the poet Southey, in his his-
tory of Brazil, that "every man has his
priest, and every priest his saint," and with
equal truth he might have said, that every
saint has his day, for such a round of holi-
days is probably not found in any other spot;
they have, on these days, very large, and
beautiful, and costly processions, to many of
which the Emperor turns out; so we get a
view of majesty once in a while. The priests
petitioned the Pope to marry, but his holi-
ness refused; they now live in open adultery
with women, and rear families, and probably
there is not an exception in the city, it is
done openly and confessedly. You scarcely
see a woman in the streets, except at, or
about night, with their male relations; they
are kept excluded; even in the house, from
all gentlemen, and all courting is done by or
through the parents; the consequence is,
that a woman is stared out of countenance
if seen in the streets; yet, with all this pre-
tended care, the women are very loose, they
are not half as handsome or intelligent as
the American ladies, and as for usefulness, I
know what they would be worth, except to
[r?]oll out of the windows. The churches are
quite, and some very rich inside, they have
no pews, on each side is a row of seats; the
priets are much respected, all people kneel
when the bishops pass the streets, and all
take their hats off in passing the churches;
but the most of their religion seems to con-
sist in ringing of bells, firing crackers and
rockets, and in processions, and in burning
candles about five feet long, and two inches
in diameter. You can see any number of
church beggars every day in the streets with
a silver rod, which has an image of Christ,
and an old, dirty, greasy, spotted, and wobe-
gone looking silk gown on; and as these men
go up and down the streets, and stand at the
corners bawling and crying, it puts me in
mind of the street pedlars in New York; and
if they happen to see you with any of the
copper coin in your hand, (which, by the
way, weighs about half a pound each, and
is so enormously heavy, that when you
change a silver piece, they would smash your
pocket through,) they will run after you like
one of the news boys of New York, urging
you to buy.
This country is rich in minerals, especially
in gold and diamonds, and rich stores. I
have applied for a patent gold washer, and
have secured machines nearly done, and ex-
pect, long ere this reaches you, to be at the
mines, working with them; the company are
perfectly satisfied with them, and will rent
two mines; and give me a stated salary,
a certain portion of the profits, and pay
all expenses, and if the mines are half as
good as represented, I shall make some-
thing.
Yours,
LEWIS H. PAINE.