August 5th, 1838. Sunday.
Although it was Sunday and the weather was not particularly favorable, I went ashore with some Englishmen because I didn't know whether I would be offered the opportunity more than once. Br. Teichelmann had to stay behind for the sake of the service. But I had every reason to regret that day, firstly because of the bad weather, and secondly because of the company, which was not the most desired, and to which I was chained all day long because I had to go on board with them again or put up with an expensive crossing. In the French inn, where we had an expensive lunch, I met a German tailor who, among other things, told me the good news that a German pastor was in the place. This news made me somewhat reconciled with the almost lost day, and I went back on board with my company around eight o'clock; During the crossing we were almost run over by a steamboat due to the fault of the clumsy Negroes.

August 6th, 1838.
Teichelmann and I went to the shore early, looked for ( 033 ) the tailor mentioned and had him take us to Pastor Dr. Neumann. He is a young man, maybe 30 years old, who used to be a Licentiat [academic degree, with teaching permission] in Berlin and has been here for a year. Br. Teichelmann had already seen him in Berlin and I had at least heard of him often, so it didn't take long for us to become familiar with him. After a pleasant conversation of a few hours, he suggested that we take a short excursion to [a] nearby hill or mountain, from which one [had] a wonderful view over the city, the harbor and the Organ Mountains(042) stretching towards the north-east.

According to his statement, the population of Rio amounts to around 150,000 souls, of which a good two thirds are Negro slaves and quite a few Europeans. He presented the fate of the former as much more tolerable than was imagined in Europe; in particular, he was very much against the English actions against slavery. On one of the following days we visited one of the two slave ships that lay in the harbor, on which 238 Negroes were crowded together, although the ship was not half as large as ours. When they had left there were 251 on board and it may have had even more beforehand, since nothing is more likely than that several had died due to the narrow space and poor food.

The ages of the people ranged from 10 to 30, with a few possibly older.

( 034 ) The number of men was far greater than that of women, with the latter only being around 30. Some of the faces, it is true, looked very ugly, sluggish and stupid, but the majority showed a liveliness and alertness that I have no hesitation in saying that these blacks are capable of the same education as the whites. If my job had not required me to go further, I would have happily devoted myself to cultivating the spirit of these black people. The fate of these people had only recently been decided by Brazilian justice, namely that they should be free. Very often I have been told that if the legitimacy or validity of the catch of such a vessel