A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 12 by Robert Kerr

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This promise was performed, and on the next morning, the 14th, I went on
shore, and obtained leave of the viceroy to purchase provisions and
refreshments for the ship, provided I would employ one of their own
people as a factor, but not otherwise. I made some objections to this,
but he insisted upon it as the custom of the place. I objected also
against the pulling a soldier into the boat every time she went between
the ship and the shore; but he told me, that this was done by the
express orders of his court, with which he could in no case dispense. I
then requested, that the gentlemen whom I had on board might reside on
shore during our stay, and that Mr Banks might go up the country to
gather plants; but this he absolutely refused. I judged from his extreme
caution, and the severity of these restrictions, that he suspected we
were come to trade; I therefore took some pains to convince him of the
contrary. I told him, that we were bound to the southward, by the order
of his Britannic majesty, to observe a transit of the planet Venus over
the sun, an astronomical phenomenon of great importance to navigation.
Of the transit of Venus, however, he could form no other conception,
than that it was the passing of the north star through the south pole;
for these are the very words of his interpreter, who was a Swede, and
spoke English very well. I did not think it necessary to ask permission
for the gentlemen to come on shore during the day, or that, when I was
on shore myself, I might be at liberty, taking for granted that nothing
was intended to the contrary; but in this I was unfortunately mistaken.
As soon as I took leave of his excellency, I found an officer who had
orders to attend me wherever I went: Of this I desired an explanation,
and was told that it was meant as a compliment; I earnestly desired to
be excused from accepting such an honour, but the good viceroy would by
no means suffer it to be dispensed with.[73]

[Footnote 73: Mr Barrow notices the extreme jealousy and circumspection
of the government, as to strangers. None, he says, is permitted to walk
the streets in the day time, unless a soldier attend him. Bad
governments are usually fearful, and often expose their weakness by the
very means they employ to conceal it. On this principle, admitting its
truth, the policy of the Portuguese in general forfeits all claim to
admiration. What changes have been wrought in it, since the
transatlantic emigration of the royal family, remain to be
elucidated.--E.]

With this officer, therefore, I returned on board, about twelve o'clock,
where I was impatiently expected by Mr Banks and Dr Solander, who made
no doubt but that a fair account of us having been given by the officers
who had been on board the evening before in their paper called a
Practica, and every scruple of the viceroy removed in my conference with
his excellency, they should immediately be at liberty to go on shore,
and dispose of themselves as they pleased. Their disappointment at
receiving my report may easily be conceived; and it was still increased
by an account, that it had been resolved, not only to prevent their
residing on shore, and going up the country, but even their leaving the
ship; orders having been given, that no person except the captain, and
such common sailors as were required to be upon duty, should be
permitted to land; and that probably there was a particular view to the
passengers in this prohibition, as they were reported to be gentlemen
sent abroad to make observations and discoveries, and were uncommonly
qualified for that purpose. In the evening, however, Mr Banks and Dr
Solander dressed themselves, and attempted to go on shore, in order to
make a visit to the viceroy; but they were stopped by the guard-boat
which had come off with our pinnace, and which kept hovering round the
ship all the while she lay here, for that purpose; the officer on board
saying, that he had particular orders, which he could not disobey, to
suffer no passenger, nor any officer, except the captain, to pass the
boat. After much expostulation to no purpose, they were obliged, with
whatever reluctance and mortification, to return on board. I then went
on shore myself, but found the viceroy inflexible; he had one answer
ready for every thing I could say, That the restrictions under which he
had laid us, were in obedience to the king of Portugal's commands, and
therefore indispensable.

In this situation I determined, rather than be made a prisoner in my own
boat, to go on shore no more; for the officer who, under pretence or a
compliment, attended me when I was ashore, insisted also upon going with
me to and from the ship: But still imagining, that the scrupulous
vigilance of the viceroy must proceed from some, mistaken notion about
us, which might more easily be removed by writing than in conversation,
I drew up a memorial, and Mr Banks drew up another, which we sent on
shore. These memorials were both answered, but by no means to our
satisfaction; we therefore replied: In consequence of which, several
other papers were interchanged between us and the viceroy, but still
without effect. However, as I thought some degree of force, on the part
of the viceroy, to enforce these restrictions, necessary to justify my
acquiescence in them to the Admiralty, I gave orders to my lieutenant,
Mr Hicks, when I sent him with our last reply on Sunday the 20th, in the
evening, not to suffer a guard to be put into his boat. When the officer
on board the guard-boat found that Mr Hicks was determined to obey my
orders, he did not proceed to force, but attended him to the
landing-place, and reported the matter to the viceroy. Upon this his
excellency refused to receive the memorial, and ordered Mr Hicks to
return to the ship; when he came back to the boat, he found that a guard
had been put on board in his absence, but he absolutely refused to
return till the soldier was removed: The officer then proceeded to
enforce the viceroy's orders; he seized all the boat's crew, and sent
them under an armed force to prison, putting Mr Hicks at the same time
into one of their own boats, and sending him under a guard back to the
ship. As soon as he had reported these particulars, I wrote again to the
viceroy, demanding my boat and crew, and in my letter inclosed the
memorial which he had refused to receive from Mr Hicks: These papers I
sent by a petty officer, that I might wave the dispute about a guard,
against which I had never objected except when there was a commissioned
officer on board the boat. The petty officer was permitted to go on
shore with his guard, and, having delivered his letter, was told that an
answer would be sent the next day.

About eight o'clock this evening it began to blow very hard in sudden
gusts from the south, and our long-boat coming on board just at this
time with four pipes of rum, the rope which was thrown to her from the
ship, and which, was taken hold of by the people on board, unfortunately
broke, and the boat, which had come to the ship before the wind, went
adrift to windward of her, with a small skiff of Mr Banks's that was
fastened to her stern. This was a great misfortune, as, the pinnace
being detained on shore, we had no boat on board but a four-oared yawl:
The yawl, however, was immediately manned and sent to her assistance;
but, notwithstanding the utmost effort of the people in both boats, they
were very soon out of sight: Far indeed we could not see at that time in
the evening, but the distance was enough to convince us that they were
not under command, which gave us great uneasiness, as we knew they must
drive directly upon a reef of rocks which ran out just to leeward of
where we lay: After waiting some hours in the utmost anxiety, we gave
them over for lost, but about three o'clock the next morning had the
satisfaction to see all the people come on board in the yawl. From them
we learnt, that the long-boat having filled with water, they had brought
her to a grappling and left her; and that, having fallen in with the
reef of rocks in their return to the ship, they had been obliged to cut
Mr Banks's little boat adrift. As the loss of our long-boat, which we
had now too much reason to apprehend, would have been an unspeakable
disadvantage to us, considering the nature of our expedition, I sent
another letter to the viceroy, as soon as I thought he could be seen,
acquainting him with our misfortune, and, requesting the assistance of a
boat from the shore for the recovery of our own; I also renewed my
demand that the pinnace and her crew should be no longer detained: After
some delay, his excellency thought fit to comply both with my request
and demand; and the same day we happily recovered both the long-boat and
the skiff, with the rum, but every thing else that was on board was
lost. On the 23d, the viceroy, in his answer to my remonstrance against
seizing my men and detaining the boat, acknowledged that I had been
treated with some incivility, but said that the resistance of my
officers, to what he had declared to be the king's orders, made it
absolutely necessary; he also expressed some doubts whether the
Endeavour, considering her structure and other circumstances, was in the
service of his majesty, though I had before shewed him my commission: To
this I answered in writing, That to remove all scruples, I was ready to
produce my commission again. His excellency's scruples however still
remained, and in his reply to my letter he not only expressed them in
still plainer terms, but accused my people of smuggling. This charge, I
am confident, was without the least foundation in truth. Mr Banks's
servants had indeed found means to go on shore on the 22d at day-break,
and stay till it was dark in the evening, but they brought on board only
plants and insects, having been sent for no other purpose. And I had the
greatest reason to believe that not a single article was smuggled by any
of our people who were admitted on shore, though many artful means were
used to tempt them, even by the very officers that were under his
excellency's roof, which made the charge still more injurious and
provoking. I have indeed some reason to suspect that one poor fellow
bought a single bottle of rum with some of the clothes upon his back;
and in my answer I requested of his excellency, that, if such an attempt
at illicit trade should be repeated, he would without scruple order the
offender to be taken into custody. And thus ended our altercation, both
by conference and writing, with the viceroy of Rio de Janeiro.

A friar in the town having requested the assistance of our surgeon, Dr
Solander easily got admittance in that character on the 25th, and
received many marks of civility from the people. On the 26th, before
day-break, Mr Banks also found means to elude the vigilance of the
people in the guard-boat, and got on shore; he did not however go into
the town, for the principal objects of his curiosity were to be found in
the fields: to him also the people behaved with great civility, many of
them invited him to their houses, and he bought a porker and some other
things of them for the ship's company; the porker, which was by no means
lean, cost him eleven shillings, and he paid something less than two for
a Muscovy duck.

On the 27th, when the boats returned from watering, the people told us
there was a report in town, that search was making after some persons
who had been on shore from the ship without the viceroy's permission;
these persons we conjectured to be Dr Solander and Mr Banks, and
therefore they determined to go on shore no more.

On the first of December, having got our water and other necessaries on
board, I sent to the viceroy for a pilot to carry us to sea, who came
off to us; but the wind preventing us from getting out, we took on board
a plentiful supply of fresh beef, yams, and greens for the ship's
company. On the 2d, a Spanish packet arrived, with letters from Buenos
Ayres for Spain, commanded by Don Antonio de Monte Negro y Velasco, who
with great politeness offered to take our letters to Europe: I accepted
the favour, and gave him a packet for the secretary of the Admiralty,
containing copies of all the papers that had passed between me and the
viceroy; leaving also duplicates with the viceroy, to be by him
forwarded to Lisbon.

On Monday the 5th, it being a dead calm, we weighed anchor and towed
down the bay; but, to our great astonishment, when we got abreast of
Santa Cruz, the principal fortification, two shot were fired at us. We
immediately cast anchor, and sent to the fort to enquire the reason of
what had happened: Our people brought us word, That the commandant had
received no order from the viceroy to let us pass; and that, without
such an order, no vessel was ever suffered to go below the fort. It was
now, therefore, become necessary, that we should send to the viceroy, to
enquire why the necessary order had not been given, as he had notice of
our departure, and had thought fit to write me a polite letter, wishing,
me a good voyage. Our messenger soon returned with an account, that the
order had been written some days, but by an unaccountable negligence not
sent.

We did not get under sail till the 7th; and when we had passed the fort,
the pilot desired to be discharged. As soon as he was dismissed, we were
left by our guard-boat, which had hovered about us from the first hour
of our being in this place to the last: And Mr Banks, having been
prevented from going ashore at Rio de Janeiro, availed himself of her
departure to examine the neighbouring islands, where, particularly on
one in the mouth of the harbour called Raza, he gathered many species of
plants, and caught a variety of insects.

It is remarkable, that, during the last three or four days of our
staying in this harbour, the air was loaded with butterflies: They were
chiefly of one sort, but in such numbers that thousands were in view in
every direction, and the greatest part of them above our mast-head.

We lay here from the 14th of November to the 7th of December, something
more than three weeks, during which time Mr Monkhouse, our surgeon, was
on shore every day to buy our provisions; Dr Solander was on shore once;
I was several times on shore myself, and Mr Banks also found means to
get into the country, notwithstanding the watch that was set over us. I
shall, therefore, with the intelligence obtained from these gentlemen,
and my own observations, give some account of the town, and the country
adjacent.

Rio de Janeiro, or the river of Januarius, was probably so called from
its having been discovered on the feast-day of that saint; and the town,
which is the capital of the Portuguese dominions in America, derives its
name from the river, which indeed is rather an arm of the sea, for it
did not appear to receive any considerable stream of fresh water: It
stands on a plain, close to the shore, on the west side of the bay, at
the foot of several high mountains which rise behind it. It is neither
ill designed nor ill built; the houses, in general, are of stone, and
two stories high; every house having, after the manner of the
Portuguese, a little balcony before its windows, and a lattice of wood
before the balcony. I computed its circuit to be about three miles; for
it appears to be equal in size to the largest country towns in England,
Bristol and Liverpool not excepted; the streets are straight, and of a
convenient breadth, intersecting each other at right angles; the greater
part, however, lie in a line with the citadel called St Sebastian, which
stands on the top of a hill which commands the town.

It is supplied with water from the neighbouring hills, by an aqueduct,
which is raised upon two stories of arches, and is said at some places
to be at a great height from the ground, from which the water is
conveyed by pipes into a fountain in the great square that exactly
fronts the viceroy's palace. At this fountain great numbers of people
are continually waiting for their turn to draw water; and the soldiers,
who are posted at the governor's door, find it very difficult to
maintain any regularity among them. The water at this fountain however
is so bad, that we, who had been two months at sea, confined to that in
our casks, which was almost always foul, could not drink it with
pleasure. Water of a better quality is led into some other part of the
town, but I could not learn by what means.

The churches are very fine, and there is more religions parade in this
place than in any of the popish countries in Europe; there is a
procession of some parish every day, with various insignia, all splendid
and costly in the highest degree: They beg money, and say prayers in
great form, at the corner of every street.

While we lay here, one of the churches was rebuilding; and to defray the
expence, the parish to which it belonged had leave to beg in procession
through the whole city once it week, by which very considerable sums
were collected. At this ceremony, which was performed by night, all the
boys of a certain age were obliged to assist, the sons of gentlemen not
being excused. Each of these boys was dressed in a black cassock, with a
short red cloak, hanging about as low as the waist, and carried in his
hand a pole about six or seven feet long, at the end of which was tied a
lantern: the number of lanterns was generally above two hundred, and the
light they gave was so great, that the people who saw it from the cabin
windows thought the town had been on fire.

The inhabitants, however, may pay their devotions at the shrine of any
saint in the calendar, without waiting till there is a procession; for
before almost every house there is a little cupboard, furnished with a
glass window, in which one of these tutelary powers is waiting to be
gracious; and to prevent his being out of mind, by being out of sight, a
lamp is kept constantly burning before the window of his tabernacle in
the night. The people indeed are by no means remiss in their devotions,
for before these saints they pray and sing hymns with such vehemence,
that in the night they were very distinctly heard on board the ship,
though she lay at the distance of at least half a mile from the town.

The government here, as to its form, is mixed; it is notwithstanding
very despotic in fact. It consists of the viceroy, the governor of the
town, and a council, the number of which I could not learn: Without the
consent of this council, in which the viceroy has a casting vote, no
judicial act should be performed; yet both the viceroy and governor
frequently commit persons to prison at their own pleasure, and sometimes
send them to Lisbon, without acquainting their friends or family with
what is laid to their charge, or where they may be found.

To restrain the people from travelling into the country, and getting
into any district where gold or diamonds may be found, of both which
there is much more than the government can otherwise secure, certain
bounds are prescribed them, at the discretion of the viceroy, sometimes
at a few, and sometimes at many miles distance from the city. On the
verge of these limits a guard constantly patroles, and whoever is found
beyond it, is immediately seized and thrown into prison: And if a man
is, upon any pretence, taken up by the guard without the limits, he will
be sent to prison, though it should appear that he did not know their
extent.

The inhabitants, which are very numerous, consist of Portuguese,
negroes, and Indians, the original natives of the country. The township
of Rio, which, as I was told, is but a small part of the capitanea, or
province, is said to contain 37,000 white persons, and 629,000 blacks,
many of whom are free; making together 666,000, in the proportion of
seventeen to one. The Indians, who are employed to do the king's work in
this neighbourhood, can scarcely be considered as inhabitants; their
residence is at a distance, from whence they come by turns to their
task, which they are obliged to perform for a small pay. The guard-boat
was constantly rowed by these people, who are of a light copper colour,
and have long black hair.[74]

[Footnote 74: Mr Barrow says, that it is with some difficulty so many as
twelve Brazilians can be obtained to row the governor's barge on certain
solemn occasions. The Portuguese apostles who went over to this country
in order to convert the inhabitants to their faith, commenced their
labours by endeavouring to reduce them as fast as possible to the
condition of slaves, as if no other promised a suitable foundation for
the fabric of superstition. These incorrigible and misguided pagans, it
should seem however, disliked the process, preferring liberty and error,
darkness and death, to the whips, the chains, and torches, so kindly
held out to them by their zealous visitants. The consequence was plain
and summary: These wretched creatures were soon almost totally
extirpated, so that it became necessary to procure other beings to
cultivate the soil: And who so proper a substitute, as the black
crispy-hailed animals of the opposite continent? These, according to Mr
Barrow, have been comparatively well treated; but, not-withstanding, he
says, it requires an importation of no less than 20,000 negroes
annually, to supply the loss of those who are worked out in the service
of the very devout Portuguese! In Cook's time, it is likely, from what
he mentions afterwards as to the number of negroes imported, that things
were even worse then than they are now. It is scarcely conceivable
indeed, that any people so closely connected with Europe as the lords of
Brazil, should not have acquired humanity, or at least improved in its
notions of good policy, in half a century.--E.]

The military establishment here consists of twelve regiments of regular
troops, six of which are Portuguese, and six Creoles; and twelve other
regiments of provincial militia. To the regulars the inhabitants behave
with the utmost humility and submission; and I was told, that if any of
them should neglect to take off his hat upon meeting an officer, he
would immediately be knocked down. These haughty severities render the
people extremely civil to any stranger who has the appearance of a
gentleman. But the subordination of the officers themselves to the
viceroy is enforced with circumstances equally mortifying, for they are
obliged to attend in his hall three times every day to ask his commands;
the answer constantly is, "There is nothing new." I have been told, that
this servile attendance is exacted to prevent their going into the
country; and if so, it effectually answers the purpose.

It is, I believe, universally allowed, that the women, both of the
Spanish and Portuguese settlements in South America, make less
difficulty of granting personal favours, than those of any other
civilized country in the world. Of the ladies of this town, some have
formed so unfavourable an opinion as to declare, that they did not
believe there was a modest one among them. This censure is certainly too
general; but what Dr Solander saw of them when he was on shore, gave him
no very exalted idea of their chastity: He told me, that as soon as it
was dark, one or more of them appeared in every window, and
distinguished those whom they liked, among the gentlemen that walked
past them, by giving them nosegays; that he, and two gentlemen who were
with him, received so many of these favours, that, at the end of their
walk, which was not a long one, they threw whole hatfuls of them away.
Great allowance must certainly be made for local customs; that which in
one country would be an indecent familiarity, is a mere act of general
courtesy in another; of the fact, therefore, which I have related, I
shall say nothing, but that I am confident it is true.[75]

[Footnote 75: Mr Barrow allows the existence of the fact here stated,
but is decidedly of opinion in favour of the sex implicated by it. In
his judgment, it is merely a harmless remnant of their earlier days. If
so, and far be it from the writer to think otherwise, it betokens the
innocency of fancy much more than the effrontery of licentiousness.
Besides, there is reason to think, that dissoluteness in the particular
now alluded to, among a civilized and luxurious people, seeks
concealment in its gratification, as congenial to its excessive and
morbid sensibility. The opposite to this condition is to be found in
some of the earlier stages of society, where the climate and fertility
of the soil are naturally suitable,--as at Otaheite, when first known to
Europeans. If, however, the terrifying pages of Juvenal may be allowed
authority, there is too much ground for apprehension, that the extremity
of animal indulgence is also one of the fearful symptoms of national
corruption in its lethalio stage. But even this indignant and most
exaltedly moral poet, in his relation of the infamous actions of noble
and royal prostitutes, does not fail to imply the advantages they sought
in deception and secrecy--the night-hood, the yellow veil, and the
cunning artifices of proficient mothers.--E.]