One of the most disagreeable things in Rio Janeiro is the total absence of sewers.  In a heavy shower, every street becomes a regular stream, which it is impossible to pass on foot; in order to traverse them, it is requisite to be carried over by negroes.  At such times, all intercourse generally ceases, the streets are deserted, parties are put off, and even the payment of bills of exchange deferred.  It is very seldom that people will hire a carriage, for it is an absurd custom here, to pay as much for a short drive, as if the carriage were required for the whole day; in both cases the charge is six milreis (13s.) The carriages are half-covered ones, with seats for two, and are drawn by a pair of mules, on one of which the driver rides.  Carriages and horses like the English are very seldom to be met with.

As regards the arts and sciences, I may mention the Academy of Fine Arts, the Museum, Theatre, etc.  In the Academy of Fine Arts is something of everything, and not much of anything—­a few figures and busts, most in plaster, a few architectural plans and pencil drawings, and a collection of very old oil paintings.  It really seemed to me as if some private picture gallery had been carefully weeded of all the rubbish in it, which had then been put here out of the way.  Most of the oil paintings are so injured, that it is scarcely possible to make out what they are intended to represent, which, after all, is no great loss.  The only thing respectable about them is their venerable antiquity.  A startling contrast is produced by the copies of them made by the students.  If the colours in the old pictures are faded, in the modern ones they blaze with a superfluity of vividness; red, yellow, green, etc., are there in all their force; such a thing as mixing, softening, or blending them, has evidently never been thought of.  Even at the present moment, I really am at a loss to determine whether the worthy students intended to found a new school for colouring, or whether they merely desired to make up in the copies for the damage time had done the originals.

There were as many blacks and mulattoes among the students as whites, but the number of them altogether was inconsiderable.

Music, especially singing and the pianoforte, is almost in a more degraded position than painting.  In every family the young ladies play and sing; but of tact, style, arrangement, time, etc., the innocent creatures have not the remotest idea, so that the easiest and most taking melodies are often not recognisable.  The sacred music is a shade better, although even the arrangements of the Imperial Chapel itself are susceptible of many improvements.  The military bands are certainly the best, and these are generally composed of negroes and mulattoes.