Robert Walsh, an Irish clergyman, was appointed Chaplain of the British embassy in Rio de Janeiro, and wrote his Notices of Brazil during his two year stay there. Walsh describes his voyage, the recent history of Brazilian independence and the society of nineteenth-century Rio de Janeiro, with its large slave population. He contrasts the slaves working on the docks with the free black Brazilians that he sees, and notes the degrading nature of slavery. He also describes the life of the city docks, including taunts and fighting between the slaves and Irish migrants.