CITY OF RIO AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD.

Landing at the Largo do Paco, or palace square, my first favourable
impressions of the city of Rio de Janeiro were somewhat lessened by the
stench arising from offal on the beach, and the vicinity of the market,
under the conjoined influence of a perfect calm and a temperature of 90
degrees in the shade. The palace, now used by the emperor only on court
days, has two sides of the large irregular square in which it is
situated, occupied by shops and other private buildings. Close by is the
market, which the stranger, especially if a naturalist, will do well to
visit. The variety of fruits and vegetables is great, that of fish
scarcely less so. On the muddy shore in the background, the fishing
canoes are drawn up on their arrival to discharge their cargoes, chiefly
at this time consisting of a kind of sprat and an anchovy with a broad
lateral silvery band. Baskets of land crabs covered with black slimy mud,
of handsome Lupeae, and the large well-flavoured prawns, called
Cameroons, are scattered about, and even small sharks (Zygaenae, etc.)
and cuttlefish are exposed for sale.

The streets, which, with few exceptions, are very narrow, are paved with
large rough stones--they have usually a gutter in the centre, and
occasionally a narrow pavement on each side. For building purposes,
unhewn granite is chiefly used, the walls being afterwards smoothed over
with a layer of plaster, whitewashed, and margined with yellow or blue.
The two principal streets are the Rua Direita, the widest in the city,
and the principal scene of commercial transactions, and the narrow Rua do
Ouvidor, filled with shops, many of which equal in the richness and
variety of their goods the most splendid establishments of European
capitals. Of these the most tempting, and the most dangerous to enter
with a well-filled purse, is the famous feather-flower manufactory of