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ing , suddenly fired a shot across our bows , a measure which , causing us to fancy her a Brazilian man-of-war , brought us to , in order to speak with her , whilst , at the same time , we hoisted our ensign and pendant . But no sooner was the latter floating at the masthead , than our companion veered in the greatest hurry , and went off
towards the land , close hauled , and going to windward visibly . Suspecting her true character , we at once made sail in chase , casting loose our guns , and preparing for a shot ; but she beat us hollow , going through the water at double our rate , and getting a far more weatherly position . When near the land , she tacked , and ran dut
again , giving us an opportunity for a passing shot or two from our long gun , and her fore-topmast broke off short , but this did not seem to diminish her speed , and as we had no chance of overhauling her , we bore up on our own course , sighted Cape Erie , rounded it , and the next day ran into the magnificent harbour , on whose shores stands the capital of Brazil , my first landing at which city must be reserved for another chapter .
CHAPTER II . The harbour of Bio de Janeiro is generally acknowledged the most beautiful , though not the most commodious , in the world . There are too many reefs and shallow parts of it to suit all vessels , and the entrance is narrow and somewhat inconvenient to strangers . The Pump , however , was so thoroughly accustomed to it , that she
could almost have found her way in without helmsman or pilot ; and though a somewhat stupid , blundering vessel , yet , like a donkey , under the exterior cloak of doltishness , seemed to conceal a wonderful amount of sagacity . I could have thought her at times a reasoning being , and frequently expected to see her keep her course without wind or steerage .
Arrived in Bio , I had to take farewell of the Pump , and her funny commander . My baggage went over the side into a neat little wherry , rowed by four negroes , who were the property of Mr . Darkle , my future master . Despite their slavery , they seemed possessed of much gaiety , and rowed away towards the shore , singing and joking to me in an unknown tongue . Eor though I
had learned some Portuguese both on my way out , and before leaving England , I was not yet sufficiently familiar with it to understand the slang jokes of the natives . At the shore , I took my way to Mr . Darkle ' s store , my trunks being borne before me on the heads of the rowers ; for the head of a negro is the strongest part of him , as you would judge from his habit of butting , in which he
perfectly equals a ram , with the exception of not having visible horns . The negro porters go about with loaded baskets on their heads , while large casks are borne on a pole , running along the shoulders of a party of men . Mr . Darkle ' s shop was in the Rue Directa , which is the largest and cleanest street in the town . What business he carried on you would not guess ; it would be hard to find an English trade that
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Untitled Article
ing , suddenly fired a shot across our bows , a measure which , causing us to fancy her a Brazilian man-of-war , brought us to , in order to speak with her , whilst , at the same time , we hoisted our ensign and pendant . But no sooner was the latter floating at the masthead , than our companion veered in the greatest hurry , and went off
towards the land , close hauled , and going to windward visibly . Suspecting her true character , we at once made sail in chase , casting loose our guns , and preparing for a shot ; but she beat us hollow , going through the water at double our rate , and getting a far more weatherly position . When near the land , she tacked , and ran dut
again , giving us an opportunity for a passing shot or two from our long gun , and her fore-topmast broke off short , but this did not seem to diminish her speed , and as we had no chance of overhauling her , we bore up on our own course , sighted Cape Erie , rounded it , and the next day ran into the magnificent harbour , on whose shores stands the capital of Brazil , my first landing at which city must be reserved for another chapter .
CHAPTER II . The harbour of Bio de Janeiro is generally acknowledged the most beautiful , though not the most commodious , in the world . There are too many reefs and shallow parts of it to suit all vessels , and the entrance is narrow and somewhat inconvenient to strangers . The Pump , however , was so thoroughly accustomed to it , that she
could almost have found her way in without helmsman or pilot ; and though a somewhat stupid , blundering vessel , yet , like a donkey , under the exterior cloak of doltishness , seemed to conceal a wonderful amount of sagacity . I could have thought her at times a reasoning being , and frequently expected to see her keep her course without wind or steerage .
Arrived in Bio , I had to take farewell of the Pump , and her funny commander . My baggage went over the side into a neat little wherry , rowed by four negroes , who were the property of Mr . Darkle , my future master . Despite their slavery , they seemed possessed of much gaiety , and rowed away towards the shore , singing and joking to me in an unknown tongue . Eor though I
had learned some Portuguese both on my way out , and before leaving England , I was not yet sufficiently familiar with it to understand the slang jokes of the natives . At the shore , I took my way to Mr . Darkle ' s store , my trunks being borne before me on the heads of the rowers ; for the head of a negro is the strongest part of him , as you would judge from his habit of butting , in which he
perfectly equals a ram , with the exception of not having visible horns . The negro porters go about with loaded baskets on their heads , while large casks are borne on a pole , running along the shoulders of a party of men . Mr . Darkle ' s shop was in the Rue Directa , which is the largest and cleanest street in the town . What business he carried on you would not guess ; it would be hard to find an English trade that