SALVADOR, ST. or BAHIA, a large and wealthy city of Brazil, situated at the entrance of All Saint's Bay. The city consists of two parts, one built on low ground near the shore, and consisting of streets filled with store houses, &c., the other on a high hill, which is inhabited by all the principal people. The streets are very narrow, ill-paved, and dirty, especially the backs of them, which are the receptacles for the most intolerable filth. The principal squares are, the Royal Square, contiguous to the palace, and the square of the Jesuits. The governor's palace, an old and paltry building, occupies one side of the Royal Square; and the mint and public offices the opposite side. The court-house stands on the third side, and the senate hall and the prison occupy the fourth side. The build ings of the city are ill-constructed, and rapidly decay ing. The houses have all latticed windows and balco nies. The principal public buildings are the churches. The cathedral, which is on a great scale, is falling into decay. The college, and archiepiscopal palace adjoin ing to it, which are finely situated on a summit of the hill, are kept in good repair. The handsomest struc ture in St. Salvador is the great church of the ex-Je suits. It is built wholly of marble, brought over from Europe at a great expense; and its interior decorations correspond with its external magnificence. The rails of the altar are of brass, and the wood work is inlaid with tortoise shell; and the chancel, side aisles, altars, and recesses, are covered with a profusion of gildings, paintings, and images. The college and monastery contiguous to the church, have been recent ly fitted up as an hospital. The books and MSS. be longing to the college are heaped together in a very neglected state.
The Franciscan church and monastery are very large edifices. The monastery is two stories high, and the rooms of the monks open into corridors, which front a spacious quadrangular court, with a fountain in the centre, the walls of the court being ornamented with European blue tiles in compartments containing historical compositions.
Adjoining these buildings is another for the bro thers of the Franciscans, who may prefer a secluded life in their old age. It has a curious stucco front, and a handsome cemetery, having two rows of arched vaults three tiers deep, each vault being the receptacle of a single coffin. The vaults are white-washed, and between the two rows is a broad space paved with marble, with a drapery figure of religion at the end of it. This cemetery is kept very clean, and is ventilated
by windows in the roof.
The church of the Carmelites is a more handsome, as well as a more modern building than that of the Franciscans, and the adjacent monastery is unusually rich. The buildings of the Benedictines are inferior to those described. There are many other churches, chapels, monasteries and convents, which, though worth visiting, are scarcely worth describing. The principal parish churches are those of the Concession, Pillar, and St. Peter within the city, and those of St. Antonio and Victoria without the city.
The prison, which stands in one of the sides of the royal square, is a spacious building. In the dungeons in its lowest division, there is a passage by trap doors from a grated room above. In the first story there is a central apartment surrounded with a number of dark cells, about six feet square, which have no windows, but are furnished with a heavy chain fastened to a ring. There are commonly 200 persons in the prison. Adjoining to it is a small hospital. On the beach, there are a custom-house, a dock-yard, magazines for stores and wharfs.
The city is protected by several forts, the principal of which is that of Do Mar, built on a rock in the inner bay about half a mile from the shore. It mounts about 40 guns, and holds a garrison of 500 men.
On the extreme point of the peninsula is the ancient fort and lighthouse of St. Antonio, Do Barro, and the bay near the bar is defended on the one side by the small fort of Sta Maria, and on the other by the circu lar battery of St. Diego. At the end of the city to wards the sea is an eighteen gun battery in pretty good condition. The dock-yard is defended by the bulwark battery of St. Philips, mounting about thirty cannon. Besides some other small batteries, the city is protected by three forts on the land side, and the fortification of St. Pedro. There are about 5000 in fantry in the city.
Beside the governor's dock-yard, there are several private ones, where many merchant vessels are built.
The principal trade of St. Salvador, which is very considerable, consists in linen, cloths, silk and thread stockings, hats, grain and flour, wines, bottles, and bacon, all of which it imports; exporting in return, gold, tobacco, sugar, Brazil wood, skins, balsam of capivi, ipecacuanha. Population about 100,000, of whom about 30,000 are whites, 30,000 mulattoes, and 40,000 negroes. West long. 38° 32' 30." lat. 12° 58' S.