Voyage of the Liberdade | Page 4

of the storm, levelling all before it, and sending the
would-be waves flying across in sheets--sailor sheets, so to
speak--lends a wild and fearful aspect; but there is no dread of a
lee-shore in the sailor's heart at these times, for the gale is from off the
land, as indicated by the name it bears.
After the gale was a calm; following which came desirable winds, that
carried us at last to the port we sought--Montevideo; where we cast
anchor on the 5th of May, and made preparations, after the customs'
visit, for discharging the cargo, which was finally taken into lighters
from alongside to the piers, and thence to the warehouses, where ends
the ship's responsibility to the owner of the goods. But not till then
ceases the ship's liability, or the captain's care of the merchandise

placed in his trust. Clearly the captain has cares on sea and on land.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] The white foam at the bows produced by fast sailing is, by sailors,
called "a bone in her mouth."
CHAPTER II
Montevideo--Beggars--Antonina for maté--Antonina to Buenos
Aires--The bombelia.
Montevideo, sister city to Buenos Aires, is the fairer of the two to look
upon from the sea, having a loftier situation, and, like Buenos Aires,
boasts of many fine mansions, comely women, liberal schools, and a
cemetery of great splendour.
It is at Montevideo that the "beggar a-horse-back" becomes a verity
(horses are cheap); galloping up to you the whining beggar will implore
you, saying: "For the love of Christ, friend, give me a coin to buy bread
with."
From "the Mont" we went to Antonina, in Brazil, for a cargo of maté, a
sort of tea, which, prepared as a drink, is wholesome and refreshing. It
is partaken of by the natives in a highly sociable manner, through a
tube which is thrust into the steaming beverage in a silver urn or a
calabash, whichever may happen to be at hand when "drouthy neebors
neebors meet"; then all sip and sip in bliss from the same tube, which is
passed from mouth to mouth. No matter how many mouths there may
be, the bombelia, as it is called, must reach them all. It may have to be
replenished to make the drink go around, and several times, too, when
the company is large. This is done with but little loss of time. By
thrusting into the urn or gourd a spoonful of the herb, and two
spoonfuls of sugar to a pint of water, which is poured, boiling, over it,
the drink is made. But to give it some fancied extra flavour, a live coal
(carbo vegetable) is plunged into the potion to the bottom. Then it is
again passed around, beginning where it left off. Happy is he, if a
stranger, who gets the first sip at the tube, but the initiated have no

prejudices. While in that country I frequently joined in the social
rounds at maté, and finally rejoiced in a bombelia of my own.
The people at Antonina (in fact all the people we saw in Brazil) were
kind, extremely hospitable, and polite; living in thrift generally, their
wants were but few beyond their resources. The mountain scenery,
viewed from the harbour of Antonina, is something to gloat over; I
have seen no place in the world more truly grand and pleasing. The
climate, too, is perfect and healthy. The only doctor of the place, when
we were there, wore a coat out at the elbows, for lack of patronage. A
desirable port is Antonina.
We had musical entertainments on board, at this place. To see the
display of beautiful white teeth by these Brazilian sweet singers was
good to the soul of a sea-tossed mariner. One nymph sang for the
writer's benefit a song at which they all laughed very much. Being in
native dialect, I did not understand it, but of course laughed with the
rest, at which they were convulsed; from this, I supposed it to be at my
expense. I enjoyed that, too, as much, or more, than I would have
relished areytos in my favour.
With maté we came to Buenos Aires, where the process of discharging
the cargo was the same as at Montevideo--into lighters. But at Buenos
Aires, we lay four times the distance from the shore, about four miles.
The herb, or herva maté, is packed into barrels, boxes, and into
bullock-hide sacks, which are sewed up with stout hide thongs. The
contents, pressed in tightly when the hide is green and elastic, becomes
as hard as a cannon-ball by the contraction which follows when it dries.
The first load of the soroes, so-called, that came off to the bark at the
port of loading, was espied on the way by little Garfield. Piled in the