We
found the people of one profession or trade dwelling together in one,
two, or as many streets as were necessary for their numbers to occupy.
Thus, for instance, the apothecaries resided in the principal street, or
Rua Direita, as it was named; one or more streets were assigned to the
jewellers; and a whole district appeared to be occupied by the mercers.
By this regulation the labour of traversing from one street to another,
in search of any article which the purchaser might wish to have a choice
of, was avoided*. Most of the articles were from Europe, and were sold at
a high price.
[* The same useful regulation is observed at Aleppo.]
Houses here were built, after the fashion of the mother-country, with a
small wooden balcony over the entrance; but to the eye of one accustomed
to the cheerful appearance of glass windows, a certain sombre cast seemed
to pervade even their best and widest streets, the light being conveyed
through window-frames of close lattice-work. Some of these, indeed, being
decorated on the outside with paint and some gilding, rather improved the
look of the houses to which they belonged.
The winter, we were informed, was the only season in which the
inhabitants could make excursions into the country; for when the sun came
to the southward of the Line, the rain, as they most energetically
assured us, descended for between two and three months rather in seas
than in torrents.
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