Note 49 — Chapter IX · RIO JANEIRO, CAPITAL OF BRAZIL.

The following letter, illustrative of some of the scenes on that occasion, appeared in the ‘Journal do Commercio’:—‘I was expecting my family in this capital, from Rio Grande do Sul, by the steamer Pernambucana, when the melancholy and lamentable shipwreck of this vessel took place; and I must confess my eternal obligation and sincere gratitude for the heroic and brilliant action performed by the very distinguished, valiant, and intrepid mariner, Simon, belonging to the crew of the steamer, who was the only one of them that came forward and contributed, in a manner without example, to the salvation, besides many unhappy individuals who were looking on death as certain, of persons so dear to me as my wife, eight children, and three slaves, who were more than 24 hours on board the steamer after she had struck, without any other resource than Divine Providence, who sent them a protector, the black Simon; so that my loss consisted only of a little daughter, a female slave, and all the baggage.—Rio de Janeiro, 5th Nov., 1853.—Louis Vieira da Costa.’

As a frightful contrast to the conduct of the brave Simon, it appears that even on board the steamer the other sailors broke open the trunks of the passengers, with knife in hand, to get possession of the money they contained; and afterwards committed the most shocking atrocities on shore, such as cutting the fingers off the bodies that had been washed on land for the sake of the rings.