{"id":"01KG8AMJWKWZDY5WGF2A2QZT5P","cid":"bafkreigngqn4azuig3ohitcnmi5lzwgbt73pzldewtrglxl6jt5e6ritz4","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":6182,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.271Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":6113,"text":"CHAPTER XXXIX.\r\nTHE FRIGATE IN HARBOUR.—THE BOATS.—GRAND STATE RECEPTION OF THE\r\nCOMMODORE.\r\n\r\n\r\nIn good time we were up with the parallel of Rio de Janeiro, and,\r\nstanding in for the land, the mist soon cleared; and high aloft the\r\nfamed Sugar Loaf pinnacle was seen, our bowsprit pointing for it\r\nstraight as a die.\r\n\r\nAs we glided on toward our anchorage, the bands of the various\r\nmen-of-war in harbour saluted us with national airs, and gallantly\r\nlowered their ensigns. Nothing can exceed the courteous etiquette of\r\nthese ships, of all nations, in greeting their brethren. Of all men,\r\nyour accomplished duellist is generally the most polite.\r\n\r\nWe lay in Rio some weeks, lazily taking in stores and otherwise\r\npreparing for the passage home. But though Rio is one of the most\r\nmagnificent bays in the world; though the city itself contains many\r\nstriking objects; and though much might be said of the Sugar Loaf and\r\nSignal Hill heights; and the little islet of Lucia; and the fortified\r\nIhla Dos Cobras, or Isle of the Snakes (though the only anacondas and\r\nadders now found in the arsenals there are great guns and pistols); and\r\nLord Wood’s Nose—a lofty eminence said by seamen to resemble his\r\nlordship’s conch-shell; and the Prays do Flamingo—a noble tract of\r\nbeach, so called from its having been the resort, in olden times, of\r\nthose gorgeous birds; and the charming Bay of Botofogo, which, spite of\r\nits name, is fragrant as the neighbouring Larangieros, or Valley of the\r\nOranges; and the green Gloria Hill, surmounted by the belfries of the\r\nqueenly Church of Nossa Senora de Gloria; and the iron-gray Benedictine\r\nconvent near by; and the fine drive and promenade, Passeo Publico; and\r\nthe massive arch-over-arch aqueduct, Arcos de Carico; and the Emperor’s\r\nPalace; and the Empress’s Gardens; and the fine Church de Candelaria;\r\nand the gilded throne on wheels, drawn by eight silken, silver-belled\r\nmules, in which, of pleasant evenings, his Imperial Majesty is driven\r\nout of town to his Moorish villa of St. Christova—ay, though much might\r\nbe said of all this, yet must I forbear, if I may, and adhere to my one\r\nproper object, _the world in a man-of-war_.\r\n\r\nBehold, now, the Neversink under a new aspect. With all her batteries,\r\nshe is tranquilly lying in harbour, surrounded by English, French,\r\nDutch, Portuguese, and Brazilian seventy-fours, moored in the\r\ndeep-green water, close under the lee of that oblong, castellated mass\r\nof rock, Ilha Dos Cobras, which, with its port-holes and lofty\r\nflag-staffs, looks like another man-of-war, fast anchored in the way.\r\nBut what is an insular fortress, indeed, but an embattled land-slide\r\ninto the sea from the world Gibraltars and Quebecs? And what a\r\nmain-land fortress but a few decks of a line-of-battle ship\r\ntransplanted ashore? They are all one—all, as King David, men-of-war\r\nfrom their youth.\r\n\r\nAy, behold now the Neversink at her anchors, in many respects\r\npresenting a different appearance from what she presented at sea. Nor\r\nis the routine of life on board the same.\r\n\r\nAt sea there is more to employ the sailors, and less temptation to\r\nviolations of the law. Whereas, in port, unless some particular service\r\nengages them, they lead the laziest of lives, beset by all the\r\nallurements of the shore, though perhaps that shore they may never\r\ntouch.\r\n\r\nUnless you happen to belong to one of the numerous boats, which, in a\r\nman-of-war in harbour, are continually plying to and from the land, you\r\nare mostly thrown upon your own resources to while away the time. Whole\r\ndays frequently pass without your being individually called upon to\r\nlift a finger; for though, in the merchant-service, they make a point\r\nof keeping the men always busy about something or other, yet, to employ\r\nfive hundred sailors when there is nothing definite to be done wholly\r\nsurpasses the ingenuity of any First Lieutenant in the Navy.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJRBSW74J1CDMY5QE20AV","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMDKSJ6CKYGEG0M1V7Q79","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:41.875Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:47.772Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}