September the grear Road o f Rio de Janeiro. The city, which is large,
£— p----< and makes a handfome appearance, is governed by the"?
Thurldayij. ~T. r
Viceroy of Brazil, who is perhaps, in fa<5t, as abfolute a
fovereign as any upon earth. When I vifited him, he received
me in great form ; above ftxty officers were drawn up
before the palace, as well as a captain’s guard, whojvere
men o f a good appearance, and extremely well clothed*: his.
Excellency, with a number o f perfons o f the firft diftindtion,
belonging to the place, met me at the head of the flairs,
upon which fifteen guns were fired from the neareft port;
we then entered the roomofftate, and after converfing about
»quarter of an hour in French, I took my leave, and was
difmiffed with the fame form that had been ufed at my reception.
He offered to return my vifit at a houfe which I
had hired on ffiore, but this I declined, and foon after he returned
it on board.
The people in my own fliip, who had as much freffi meat
and greens as they could eat every day, were very healthy,
ffmt there being many fick on board the Tamar,-1 procured a
place for them on ffiore, where they foon recovered. I alfo
engaged a number o f Portuguefe caulkers, as the feams o f
both the ffiips were very open, who, after having worked
fome time, rendered them perfectly tight.
While we lay here, Lord Clive, in the Kent Indiaman,
came to the port. This ffiip had failed from England a
month before us, and had not touched any where, yet ffie
came in a month after u s } fo that her paflage was juft two
months longer than ours, notwithftanding the time we loft
in waiting for the Tamar, which, though the Dolphin was
by no means a good failer, failed fo much worfe, that we
feldom fpread more than half our canvas. The Kent had
many o f her people down in the feurvy.
7 On
OnTuefday the i6th o f October, we weighed anchor, being > 764.
impatient to get to fea, for the heat here was intolerable; , otl"t>gr- _
but we lay four or five days above the bar, waiting for the T“ef!hy ,6‘
land breeze to carry us out, for there is no getting out with
the fea breeze, and the entrance between the two firft forts
is fo narrow, and io great a fea breaks in upon them, that it
was not without much danger and difficulty we got out at
laft, and i f we had followed the advice o f the Portuguefe
pilot, we had certainly loft the ffiip. As this narrative is
publiffied for the advantage o f future navigators, particularly
thofe of our own nation, it is alfo neceffary I ffiouldob-
ferve, that the Portuguefe here, carrying on a great trade,
make it their bufinefs to attend every time a boat comes on
ffiore, and pradtife every artifice in their power to entice
away the crew.- i f other methods do not fucceed, they make
them drunk, rand immediately fend them up the country,
taking effectual care to prevent their return, till the ffiip to
which they belong has left the place; by this pra&ice I loft
five o f my men, and the Tamar nine: mine I never recovered,
but the Tamar had the good fortune to learn where
her’ s were detained, and by fending out a party in the night,
furprifed them, and brought them back.
C H A P .