side of a
handsome square: the palace itself fills up another; a third has private
houses, built uniformly with the palace, besides the fish-market; and
the fourth is open to the sea. The water-edge is faced with a handsome
granite pier and steps, the blocks of which are bolted with copper. In
the centre of the pier there is a fountain, supplied from the aqueduct
of Albuquerque; and altogether the appearance of the palace square is
extremely handsome. We went thence into a street behind it, and saw the
front of the senate-house, which is connected with the palace, and the
cemetery of the Carmelite church, which is a prettier thing than
church-yards usually are. In the centre of a small quadrangle there is a
cross, and by it a young cypress tree: all around there are flowers, and
sweet herbs, and porcelain vases, containing roses and aloes placed on
little pedestals and on a broad low wall that surrounds the square. I
looked at first in vain for graves; at length I observed on these low
walls, and on the higher ones in the outer circle, indications of
arches, each being numbered. These are the places for the dead, who are
walled up there with quick-lime; and, at a certain period, the bones and
ashes are removed to make room for others. At the time of removal, if
the dead has a friend who wishes it, the remains are collected in urns
or other receptacles, and placed in a building appropriated for them, or
where the friend pleases; otherwise they go to the common receptacle,
and perish totally by the addition of more quick-lime. This is, I doubt
not, the wholesomest way of disposing of the dead; and, even to the
sense, is better than the horrid burials at Bahia, where they must
infect the air. But there seems to me so little feeling in thus getting
rid at once of the remains of that which has once been dear to us, that
I went away in disgust.

[Illustration]

[Note 80: The nickname of the inhabitants of Rio is Carioca, from
this fountain.]

The city of Rio is more like an European city than either Bahia or
Pernambuco; the houses are three or four stories high, with projecting
roofs, and tolerably handsome. The streets are narrow, few being wider
than that of the Corso at Rome, to which one or two bear a resemblance
in their general air, and especially on days of festivals, when the
windows and balconies are decorated with crimson, yellow, or green
damask hangings. There are two very handsome squares, besides that of
the