Marianne North: To Brazil, 1872-73

"View from the Sierra of Petropolis, Brazil, with the
Bay of Rio, its Islands and the Sugarloaf Mountain in the
Distance" by Marianne North

After a two months stay in England, Marianne North began to think of carrying out her plan of going to Brazil, to continue the collection of studies of tropical plants which she had begun in Jamaica. She wrote:

"In August 1872 we cast anchor into the beautiful Bay of Rio, which certainly is the most lovely seascape in the world. I know nothing more trying to a shy person than landing for the first time among a strange people and language, I always dread it, but I soon felt myself at home in Rio, and in a few days had a large airy room and dressing room at the top of the hotel, with views from the windows which in every changing mood of the weather were a real pleasure to study. 

I went by mule car every day to the famous Botanical Gardens, about four miles off, a never-ending delight to me; and, as the good Austrian director allowed me to keep my easel and other things at his house, I felt quite at home there, and for some time worked every day and all day under its shady avenues, only returning at sunset to dine and rest. 

Of course my first work was to attempt to make a sketch of the great avenue of royal palms which has been so often described. It is half a mile long at least, and the trees are 100 feet high, though only thirty years old. After a fortnight's daily work there the weather became cloudy, and I brought home flowers of fish to work at, my landlord kindly letting me go with him any morning I liked to the wonderful market, where the oddest fish were to be found, and where boatloads of oranges were landed and sold all day long on the quayside.

I spent some days in walking and sketching on the hills behind the city. In this neighbourhood I saw many curious sights. One day six monkeys with long tails and gray whiskers were chattering in one tree, and allowed me to come up close underneath and watch their games through my opera glass. The most awkward of all animals, the sloth, also spent his dull life on the branches, slowly eating up the young shoots and hugging them with his hooked feet, preferring to hang and sleep head downwards.

I also had a letter from my father's old friend to the Emperor, who kindly gave me a special appointment in the morning, and spent more than an hour examining my paintings and talking them over, telling me the names and qualities of different plants which I did not know myself. He then took the whole mass (no small weight) in his arms, and carried them in to show the Empress, telling me to follow. She was also very kind with a sweet, gentle manner.

I wandered and wondered at everything, and people were extremely curious to know why I was travelling alone and painting. Did the Government pay my expenses? I certainly could not pay them myself, I was too shabbily dressed for that! I told them when I got home I hoped to paint a picture and sell it for so much money that I would pay all my expenses...and that they understood."

[After a year of travel and painting throughout the country, Marianne returned to England, landing at Southampton on the 14th of September.]

To be continued

(Excerpts from "A Vision of Eden: The Life and Work of Marianne North" by Marianne North.)