{"id":"01KG8AMFZ086WYPQJ27FFH9028","cid":"bafkreicaaq6zjqlbn7ub244eebhuwvbyxzifdpkp3hgm2ohsy4ianu6dmm","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":8984,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.274Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":8915,"text":"CHAPTER LVI.\r\nA SHORE EMPEROR ON BOARD A MAN-OF-WAR.\r\n\r\n\r\nWhile we lay in Rio, we sometimes had company from shore; but an\r\nunforeseen honour awaited us. One day, the young Emperor, Don Pedro\r\nII., and suite—making a circuit of the harbour, and visiting all the\r\nmen-of-war in rotation—at last condescendingly visited the Neversink.\r\n\r\nHe came in a splendid barge, rowed by thirty African slaves, who, after\r\nthe Brazilian manner, in concert rose upright to their oars at every\r\nstroke; then sank backward again to their seats with a simultaneous\r\ngroan.\r\n\r\nHe reclined under a canopy of yellow silk, looped with tassels of\r\ngreen, the national colours. At the stern waved the Brazilian flag,\r\nbearing a large diamond figure in the centre, emblematical, perhaps, of\r\nthe mines of precious stones in the interior; or, it may be, a\r\nmagnified portrait of the famous “Portuguese diamond” itself, which was\r\nfound in Brazil, in the district of Tejuco, on the banks of the Rio\r\nBelmonte.\r\n\r\nWe gave them a grand salute, which almost made the ship’s live-oak\r\n_knees_ knock together with the tremendous concussions. We manned the\r\nyards, and went through a long ceremonial of paying the Emperor homage.\r\nRepublicans are often more courteous to royalty than royalists\r\nthemselves. But doubtless this springs from a noble magnanimity.\r\n\r\nAt the gangway, the Emperor was received by our Commodore in person,\r\narrayed in his most resplendent coat and finest French epaulets. His\r\nservant had devoted himself to polishing every button that morning with\r\nrotten-stone and rags—your sea air is a sworn foe to metallic glosses;\r\nwhence it comes that the swords of sea-officers have, of late, so\r\nrusted in their scabbards that they are with difficulty drawn.\r\n\r\nIt was a fine sight to see this Emperor and Commodore complimenting\r\neach other. Both were _chapeaux-de-bras_, and both continually waved\r\nthem. By instinct, the Emperor knew that the venerable personage before\r\nhim was as much a monarch afloat as he himself was ashore. Did not our\r\nCommodore carry the sword of state by his side? For though not borne\r\nbefore him, it must have been a sword of state, since it looked far to\r\nlustrous to have been his fighting sword. _That_ was naught but a\r\nlimber steel blade, with a plain, serviceable handle, like the handle\r\nof a slaughter-house knife.\r\n\r\nWho ever saw a star when the noon sun was in sight? But you seldom see\r\na king without satellites. In the suite of the youthful Emperor came a\r\nprincely train; so brilliant with gems, that they seemed just emerged\r\nfrom the mines of the Rio Belmonte.\r\n\r\nYou have seen cones of crystallised salt? Just so flashed these\r\nPortuguese Barons, Marquises, Viscounts, and Counts. Were it not for\r\ntheir titles, and being seen in the train of their lord, you would have\r\nsworn they were eldest sons of jewelers all, who had run away with\r\ntheir fathers’ cases on their backs.\r\n\r\nContrasted with these lamp-lustres of Barons of Brazil, how waned the\r\ngold lace of our barons of the frigate, the officers of the gun-room!\r\nand compared with the long, jewel-hilted rapiers of the Marquises, the\r\nlittle dirks of our cadets of noble houses—the middies—looked like\r\ngilded tenpenny nails in their girdles.\r\n\r\nBut there they stood! Commodore and Emperor, Lieutenants and Marquises,\r\nmiddies and pages! The brazen band on the poop struck up; the marine\r\nguard presented arms; and high aloft, looking down on this scene, all\r\n_the people_ vigorously hurraed. A top-man next me on the\r\nmain-royal-yard removed his hat, and diligently manipulated his head in\r\nhonour of the event; but he was so far out of sight in the clouds, that\r\nthis ceremony went for nothing.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJSTQMCZ33BW4WW1W3HZ9","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMFZ39PPTT7FGX3RCKDBW","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:38.880Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:50.341Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}