The following text is a translation of a French manuscript named Relachê du Vaisseau L'Arc-en-ciel à Rio de Janeiro, 1748, which is in Biblioteca da Ajuda (Ajuda Library) in Lisbon. It is an anonymous report and relates the stay of the French ship L'Arc-en-ciel in Rio de Janeiro harbour. Such report, a curious document for the history of our customs, has a description of Guanabara bay and Rio de Janeiro city, a brief analysis of the character of the Portuguese people in Brazil, a prolife of Governor Dom Fernando Freire and some considerations of the situation of local harbour and on the provisions available in that region.
Rio de Janeiro; travellers; Brazil as a colony; french in Brazil; travel narratives; navigation