A history of the Brazil : $b comprising its geography, commerce, colonization, aboriginal inhabitants, &c. &c. &c.Henderson, James
History
A history of the Brazil : $b comprising its geography, commerce, colonization, aboriginal inhabitants, &c. &c. &c.
Henderson, James
Brazil; Brazil -- History -- To 1822
There are three principal roads leading from this city, none of which
are adapted to the use of a carriage for more than six or seven miles.
The first, leading to the southward, after passing the public gardens
and the Lapa, proceeds, for a short distance, along the banks of the
bay, commanding a view of its entrance, which is soon interrupted by
the Gloria Hill, behind which the road passes, and continues in a
parallel line with the Pria Flemingo, which is adorned with several
neat houses, many of them occupied by English merchants. The Hon. Mr.
Thornton had taken up a temporary residence in one of them. After
crossing a small bridge at the Cateta, the road conducts, for about a
mile and a half, betwixt luxuriant and verdant hedges, to the beach
or Pria of Bota-fogo, which is a fine bay, shut in by picturesque
promontories and headlands, leaving only a narrow channel for the
ingress and egress of its waters. This beach is edged with some of the
neatest and most elegant houses in the vicinity of Rio de Janeiro,
many of them occupied by fidalgos, and others by English merchants;
one of which, in the possession of Mr. Harrison, exhibits all the
beauty, elegance, and comfort of an English villa. Bye-roads lead from
hence to the Pria Vermelha, to the royal powder manufactory, and the
botanical garden already mentioned. In many parts the Cateta road is
in a very bad state of repair, and the holes and hollow places form
pools of water after the least fall of rain. The other two roads lead
to the north of the city, both branching from the Campo St. Anna, and
again communicate in passing Matta Porcas. The first and principal one
proceeds from the right of the Campo, and continues for about a mile
and a half, to the wooden bridge of St. Diogo, across a marshy flat,
which eight or ten years ago was impassable, and is now denominated the
Cidade Nova, of which it may in time constitute a portion. The road
of the Cidade Nova, being the daily route of the royal family, is kept
in pretty good order, as well as the whole road as far as the palace
of Christovao, which at Matta Porcas turns to the right, and continues
for about two miles along a level, with amphitheatres of various and
picturesque mountains in every direction. After crossing the third
brook, by a small bridge, the way to the palace turns to the left,
when a handsome entrance is discovered, not in unison with the palace,
but consisting of a wall and iron palisades, extending about thirty
yards on each side of it, without any contiguous lodge or building.
From hence the road sweeps to the left, up a gentle acclivity, to
the eminence upon which the palace stands, fronted by a square, not
embellished with shrubs and grass-plots, but of deep sand, which is
entered by the left corner, and not by the grand entrance, composed of
the elegant gates, a counterpart of those at Sion House, and sent as a
present to his Majesty by the Duke of Northumberland. They are placed
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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