BRAZIL.

In presenting an account of this extensive and important country, we shall, first, give a brief historical sketch of the progressive discovery of its coasts and interior, of its gradual settlement, and of the auspices under which its social institutions have developed themselves; secondly, a condensed view of its physical geography, meteorology, and natural products; and, thirdly, a similar view of its inhabitants, their form of government, moral and intellectual culture, and agricultural, manufacturing, and commercial industry.

I. History.— Brazil was discovered in 1499, by Vincent Yáñez Pinçon, a companion of Columbus. He descried the land near Cape St Augustine, and sailed along the coast as far as the river Amazons, whence he proceeded to the mouth of the Orinoco. He made no settlement, but took possession of the country in the name of the Spanish government, and carried home, as specimens of its natural productions, some drugs, gems, and Brazil wood. Next year the Portuguese commander, Pedro Alvarez Cabral, appointed by his monarch to follow the course of Vasco de Gama in the east, was driven, by adverse winds, so far from his track, that he reached the Brazilian coast, and anchored in Porto Seguro (lat. 16° S.) on Good Friday. On Easter-day an altar was erected, mass celebrated in presence of the natives, the country declared an apanage of Portugal, and a stone cross erected in commemoration of the event. Cabral dispatched a small vessel to Lisbon, to announce his discovery, and, without forming any settlement, proceeded to India.

On the arrival of the news in Portugal, Emanuel invited Amerigo Vespucci to enter his service, and dispatched him with three vessels to explore the country. This navigator’s first voyage was unsuccessful; but in a second he discovered a safe port, the site of which is not accurately known, to which he gave the name of All-Saints. He remained there five months, and maintained a friendly intercourse with the natives. Some of the party travelled forty leagues into the interior. Vespucci erected a small fort, and leaving twelve men, with guns and provisions, to garrison it, embarked for Portugal; having loaded his two ships with Brazil wood, monkeys, and parrots.

The poor and barbarous tribes of Brazil, and their country, the mineral riches of which were not immediately discovered, offered but few attractions to a government into the coffers of which the wealth of India and Africa was flowing. Vespucci’s settlement was neglected. For nearly thirty years the kings of Portugal paid no further attention to their newly-acquired territory, than what consisted in combating the attempts of the Spaniards to occupy it, and dispersing the private adventurers from France, who sought its shores for the purposes of commerce. The colonization of Brazil was prosecuted, however, by subjects of the Portuguese monarchy, who traded thither chiefly for Brazil wood. It was convenient for these traders to have agents living among the natives; and adventurers were found who were willing to take up their abode with them. The government also sought to make criminals of some use to the state, by placing them in a situation where they could do little harm to society, and might help to uphold the dominion of their nation. The utter want of any legal check upon these earliest European settlers, combined with the ferocious characters of many of them, and the hardening influence of their feuds with the native cannibals,, were anything but favourable to the morals of the infant empire.

The first attempt on the part of a Portuguese monarch to introduce an organized government into his dominions, was made by Joam III. He adopted a plan which had been found to succeed well in Madeira and the Azores; dividing the country into hereditary captaincies, and granting them to such persons as were willing to undertake their settlement, with unlimited powers of jurisdiction, both civil and criminal. Each captaincy extended along fifty leagues of coast. The boundaries towards the interior were undefined.

The first settlement made under this new system was that of S. Vincente. Martini Affonso de Sousa, having obtained a grant, fitted out a considerable armament, and proceeded to explore the country in person. He began to survey the coast about Rio Janeiro, to which he gave that name because he discovered it on the first of January 1531. He proceeded south as far as La Plata, naming the places he surveyed on the way from the days on which the respective discoveries were made. He fixed upon an island, in latitude 24⅜° south, called by the natives Guaibe, for his settlement. The Goagnazes, or prevailing tribe of Indians in that neighbourhood, as soon as they discovered the intentions of the new comers to fix themselves permanently there, collected for the purpose of expelling them. Fortunately, however, a shipwrecked Portuguese, who had lived many years under the protection of the principal chief, was successful in concluding a [7:5:189]treaty of perpetual alliance between his countrymen and the natives. The good understanding thus happily established was long preserved. Finding the spot chosen for the new town inconvenient, the colonists removed to the adjoining island of S. Vincente, from which the captaincy derived its name. An unsuccessful expedition was made into the interior in search of mines. Nevertheless the colony prospered. Cattle and the sugar-cane were at an early period introduced from Madeira, and here the other captaincies supplied themselves with both. The founder of the colony was soon removed from the active superintendence of its progress, by being appointed governor-general of India; but on his return to Portugal he watched over its welfare, sending out supplies and settlers, and leaving it at his death in a flourishing condition to his son.

Pero Lopes de Sousa received the grant of a captaincy, and set sail from Portugal at the same time as his brother, the founder of S. Vincente. He chose to have his fifty leagues in two allotments. That to which he gave the name of S. Amaro adjoined S. Vincente, the two towns being only three leagues asunder. The other division lay much nearer to the line between Paraiba and Pernambuco. He experienced considerable difficulty in founding this second colony, from the strenuous opposition of a neighbouring tribe, the Petiguares; but at length he succeeded in clearing his lands of them; and not long afterwards he perished by shipwreck. The extreme proximity of his first settlement at S. Amaro to his brother’s at S. Vincente was at first advantageous to both; but the former coming after his death into the hands of strangers, their interfering and contested boundaries gave rise to much trouble and litigation.

Rio Janeiro was not settled till a later period; and for a considerable time the nearest captaincy to S. Amaro, sailing along the coast northwards, was that of Espirito Santo. It was founded by Vasco Fernandes Coutinho, who .having acquired a large fortune in India, sunk it in this scheme of colonization. He carried with him no less than 1 sixty fidalgos. They named their town by anticipation, Our Lady of the Victors; but it cost them some hard fighting with the Goagnazes to justify the title. Having defeated these savages, the colonists carried on the building with spirit, planted canes, and established four sugar-works; and Coutinho seeing every thing prosperous, returned to Lisbon to enlist more colonists, and to make preparations for an expedition into the interior in search of mines.

Pedro de Campo Tourinho, a nobleman and excellent i navigator, received a grant of the adjoining captaincy of Porto Seguro. This, it will be remembered, is the spot where Cabral first took possession of Brazil. Tourinho and his associates fortified themselves on the place where the capital of the presidency still stands. The Tupino-quins at first offered some opposition; but having made peace, they observed it faithfully, notwithstanding that the oppression of the Portuguese obliged them to forsake the country. In this guilt Tourinho is not implicated. That he had influence enough with the natives to induce many of them to collect and settle in villages, is a proof that he dealt justly by them. Sugar-works were established, and considerable quantities of the produce exported to the mother-country. It was found impossible, by reason of an endemic disorder, to rear kine in the province; but horses, asses, and goats, succeeded.

Jonge de Fignuredo, Escrivam da Fazenda, was the first donatory of the captaincy of the isles. His office preventing him from taking possession in person, he deputed the task to Francisco Romeiro, a Castilian. The 1upinoquins, the most tractable of the Brazilian tribes, made peace with the settlers, and the colony was founded without a struggle. The son of the original proprietor sold the captaincy to Lucas Geraldes, who expended considerable wealth in improving it; and, in a short time, eight or nine sugar-works were established.

The coast from the Rio Francisco to the bay of Bahia was granted to Francisco Pereira Coutinho; and the bay itself, with all its creeks, was afterwards added to the grant. When Coutinho formed his establishment, where Villa Velha now stands, he found a noble Portuguese living in the neighbourhood, who, having been shipwrecked, had, by means of his fire-arms, raised himself to the rank of chief among the natives. He was surrounded by a patriarchal establishment of wives and children; and to him most of the distinguished families of Bahia still trace their lineage. The regard entertained by the natives for Caramaru (so he was called by them) induced them to extend a hospitable welcome to his countrymen; and for a time every thing went on well. Coutinho had, however, learned in India to be an oppressor, and the Tupinambas were the fiercest and most powerful of the native tribes. The Portuguese were obliged to abandon their settlement; but several of them returned at a later period, along with Caramaru, and thus a European community was established in the district.

A factory had, some time before the period at which these captaincies were established, been planted at Pernambuco. A ship from Marseilles took it, and left seventy men in it as a garrison; but being captured on her return, and carried into Lisbon, immediate measures were taken for re-occupying the place. The captaincy of Pernambuco was granted to Don Duarte Coelho Pereiro as the reward of his services in India. It extended along the coast from the Rio St Francisco, northward to the Rio de Juraza. Duarte sailed with his wife and children, and many of his kinsmen, to take possession of his new colony, and landed in the port of Pernambuco. To the town which was there founded he gave the name of Olinda. The Cabetes, who possessed the soil, were fierce and pertinacious; and, assisted by the French, who traded to that coast, Coelho had to gain by inches what was granted him by leagues. The Portuguese managed, however, to beat off their enemies; and, having entered into an alliance with the To-bayanes, followed up their success. After this triumph the colony continued, with the exception of a brief interval, to enjoy peace, and to prosper during the life of its founder.

Attempts were made about this time to establish two other captaincies, but without success. Pedro de Goes obtained a grant of the territory between the captaincies of S. Vincente and Espirito Santo; but his means were too feeble to enable him to make head against the aborigines, and the colony was broken up after a painful struggle of seven years. Joam de Barros, the historian, obtained the captaincy of Maranhao. For the sake of increasing his capital, he divided his grant with Fernan Alvares de Andrada and Aires da Cunha. They projected a scheme of conquest and colonization upon a large scale. Nine hundred men, of whom one hundred and thirteen were horsemen, embarked in ten ships under the command of Aires da Cunha. But the vessels were wrecked upon some shoals about one hundred leagues to the south of Maranhao; and the few survivors, after suffering immense hardships, escaped to the nearest settlements, and the undertaking.was abandoned.

By these adventurers, the whole line of Brazilian coast, from the mouth of La Plata to the mouth of the Amazons, had become studded at intervals with Portuguese settlements, in all of which law and justice were administered, however inadequately. Sufficient capital was in consequence attracted, between the year 1531, in which De [7:5:190]Sousa founded the first captaincy, and the year 1548, to these colonies, to render them an object of importance to the mother country. Their organization, however, both in regard to their means of defence against external aggression and internal violence, was extremely defective. Portugal was distant, and the inhabited portions of each captaincy were too far asunder to be able to afford reciprocal assistance. They were surrounded by, and intermingled with, large tribes of savages. Behind them the Spaniards, who had an establishment at Assumption, had penetrated almost to the sources of the waters of Paraguay, and had succeeded in establishing a communication with Peru. Orellana, on the other hand, setting out from Peru, had crossed the mountains and sailed down the Amazons. Nor had the French abandoned their hopes of effecting an establishment on the coast. But the internal mismanagement of the Portuguese settlements was even worse than the inadequacy of their defensive force. The governor of every captaincy exercised uncontrolled authority; the property, honour, and lives of the colonists, were at the mercy of these feudal chieftains; and the people groaned under their oppression. If Portugal wished to preserve and profit by her colonies, it was evident that measures must be taken to ameliorate their institutions.

The obvious remedy for these evils was to concentrate the executive power, to render the petty chiefs amenable to one tribunal, and to confide the management of the defensive force to one hand. In order to this the powers of the several captains were revoked, whilst their property in their grants was reserved to them. A governor-general was appointed, with full powers, civil and criminal. The judicial and financial functions in each province were vested in the Ouvidor, whose authority in the college of finance was second only to that of the governor. In levying the dues of the crown, he was assisted by the Juiz de Fora. Every colonist was enrolled either in the Milicias or Or-denanzas. The former were obliged to serve beyond the boundaries of the province, the latter only at home. The Milicias were commanded by Coroneis, the Ordenanzas by Capitaes Mores. Both were immediately under the governor. The chief cities received municipal constitutions, as in Portugal. Thome de Sousa was the first person nominated to the important post of governor-general. He was instructed to build a strong city in Bahia, and to establish there the seat of his government. In pursuance of his commission, he arrived at Bahia in April 1549, with a fleet of six vessels, on board of which were three hundred and twenty persons in the king’s pay, four hundred convicts, and as many free colonists as swelled the number of adventurers to one thousand. Care had been taken for the spiritual wants of the provinces, by associating six Jesuits to the expedition.

Old Caramaru, who still survived, rendered the governor essential service, by gaining for his countrymen the good will of the natives. The new city was established where Bahia still stands. Within four months one hundred houses were built, and surrounded by a mud wall. Sugar plantations were laid out in the vicinity. During the four years of Sousa’s government, there were sent out at different times supplies of all kinds; female orphans of noble families, who were given in marriage to the officers, and portioned from the royal estates; and orphan boys to be educated by the Jesuits. The capital rose rapidly in importance, and the captaincies learned to regard it as a common head and centre of wealth. The governor visited them, inspected their fortifications, and regulated the administration of justice. Meanwhile the Jesuits undertook the moral and religious culture of the natives, and of the scarcely less savage colonists. Strong opposition was at first experienced from the gross ignorance of the Indians, and the depravity of the Portuguese, fostered by the licentious encouragement of some abandoned priests who had found their way to Brazil. Over these persons the Jesuits had no authority; and it was not until the arrival of the first bishop of Brazil in 1552 that any thing like an efficient check was imposed upon them. Next year Sousa was succeeded by Duarte da Costa, who brought with him a reinforcement of Jesuits, at the head of whom was Luis de Gran, appointed, with Nobrega the chief of the first mission, joint provincial of Brazil.

Nobrega’s first act was one which has exercised the most beneficial influence over the social system of Brazil, namely, the establishment of a college on the then unreclaimed plains of Piratininga. The spot selected by him for the site of this establishment is on the ridge of the Serra do Mar, ten leagues from the sea, and thirteen from S. Vincente. It was named S. Paulo, and has been at once the source whence knowledge and civilization have been diffused through Brazil, and the nucleus of a colony of its manliest and hardiest citizens, which has sent out successive swarms of hardy adventurers to people the interior. The mode of education pursued by the Jesuits at S. Paulo was the same as that observed in all their other missions. Their good intentions were in part frustrated by the opposition of Duarte the governor; and it was not until 1558, when Mem de Sa was sent out to supersede him, that their enlightened projects were allowed free scope. This great man, comprehending better than his predecessor the system of these missionaries, went hand in hand with the ecclesiastics, during the whole of his government.

It has been observed above that Rio Janeiro was not colonized at the time when the rest of the coast was portioned out into captaincies. It was first occupied by French settlers. Nicholas Durand de Villegagnon, a bold and skilful seaman, having visited Brazil, saw at once the advantages which might accrue to his country from a settlement there. In order to secure the interest of Coligny, he gave out that his projected colony was intended to serve as a place of refuge for the persecuted Huguenots. Under the patronage of that admiral, he arrived at Rio Janeiro in 1558, with a train of numerous and respectable colonists. As soon, however, as he thought his power secure, he threw off the mask, and began to harass and oppress the Huguenots by every means he could devise. Many of them were forced by his tyranny to return to France; and ten thousand Protestants, ready to embark for the new colony, were deterred by their representations. Villegagnon, finding his force much diminished in consequence of his treachery, sailed for France in quest of recruits; and during his absence the Portuguese governor, by order of his court, attacked and dispersed the settlement. For some years the French kept up a kind of bush warfare; but in 1567 the Portuguese succeeded in establishing a settlement at Rio.

Mem de Sa continued to hold the’reins of government in Brazil upon terms of the best understanding with the clergy, and to the great advantage of the colonies, for fourteen years. On the expiration of his power, which was nearly contemporary with that of his life, an attempt was made to divide Brazil into two governments; but, this having failed, the territory was re-united in 1578, the year in which Diego Laurenço da Viega was appointed governor. At this time the colonies, although not yet independent of supplies from the mother country, were in a flourishing condition; but the usurpation of the crown of Portugal by Philip II. changed the aspect of affairs. Brazil, believed to be inferior to the Spanish possessions in mines, was considered of importance merely as an outpost to prevent the intrusion of foreign nations. It was consequently abandoned to comparative neglect for the period intervening [7:5:191]between 1578 and 1640, during which it continued an appanage of Spain. The population increased; and domestic enterprise and foreign invasion called forth the energies of the people; but, as far as the legislature was concerned, nothing was done.

No sooner had Brazil passed under the Spanish crown, than English adventurers directed their hostile enterprises against its shores. In 1586 Witherington plundered Bahia; in 1591 Cavendish burned S. Vincente; in 1595 Lancaster took Olinda. These exploits were the transient operations of freebooters. In 1612 the French attempted to found a permanent colony in the island of Marajô, where they succeeded in maintaining themselves till 1618. This attempt led to the erection of Maranhao and Para into a separate Estado. But it was on the part of the Dutch that the most skilful and pertinacious efforts were made for securing a footing in Brazil; and they alone of all the rivals of the Portuguese have left traces of their presence in the national spirit and institutions of Brazil.

The very imperfect constitution of the United Provinces was the cause why many of the executive functions were delegated to companies of mercantile adventurers. Among the offices properly appertaining to the government, the maintenance and defence of the Spice Islands had been intrusted to the East India Company. The success of that body suggested the establishment of a West India Company. Its charter secured to it a monopoly of the trade to America and the opposite coast of Africa, between the tropic of Cancer and the Cape of Good Hope. The company was taken bound to render an account of its proceedings every sixth year.

This body dispatched, in 1624, a fleet against Bahia. The town yielded almost without a struggle. The Dutch governor fortified his new acquisition; and his proclamation offering toleration and protection to all, collected around him a multitude of Indians, Negroes, and Jews. The fleet soon after sailed; a squadron being detached against Angola, with the intention of taking possession of that colony, in order to secure a supply of slaves. The Portuguese, in the meamvhile, who had fled at first in the hope of eluding what they conceived to be merely an incursion of pirates, began to collect for the purpose of expelling the permanent intruders; and the weakening of the Dutch force by the departure of the fleet inspired them with fresh courage. The descendants of Caramaru formed a link between the aborigines and the Portuguese which existed in no other part of Brazil. The consequence was, the hearty co-operation of all the natives against the invaders. The Dutch were obliged to capitulate in May 1625. The honours bestowed upon the Indian chiefs for their assistance in this war broke down in a great measure the barrier between the two tribes; and there is at this day a greater admixture of their blood among the better classes in Bahia than is to be found elsewhere in Brazil.

For some years the Dutch confined themselves to depredations upon the marine of Spain and Portugal. In 1630 they attempted again to effect a settlement; and Ulmda yielded after a feeble resistance. They were unable, however, to extend their power beyond the limits of the town, until the arrival of Count Maurice of Nassau in 1630. His first step was to introduce a regular govern-nent among his countrymen; his second, to send to the A r> lcan coast 0ne °f bis officers, who took possession of a I ortuguese settlement, and thus secured a supply of s aves. Nassau suffered repulses in several of his expédiions, and particularly in that which he undertook against a ιιa. Nevertheless, in the course of four years, the li- ∏uted period of his government, he succeeded in con-ming the Dutch supremacy along the coast of Brazil, from the mouth of the S. Francisco to Maranhao. He expended the revenues of the country, the booty obtained from the Portuguese, and a great part of his private fortune, in fortifying the mouths of rivers, building bridges to facilitate mercantile intercourse, and beautifying and repairing towns. He strictly observed the Dutch policy of tolerating all religions. He promoted the amalgamation of the different races, and sought to conciliate the Portuguese by the confidence he reposed in them. His object was to found a great empire; but this was a project at variance with the wishes of his employers,—an association of merchants, who were dissatisfied because the wealth which they expected to see flowing into their coffers was expended in promoting the permanent interests of a distant country. Count Maurice was recalled in 1644. His successors possessed neither his political nor military talents, and had to contend with more energetic enemies.

In 1640, the revolution which placed the house of Braganza on the throne of Portugal restored Brazil to masters more inclined to promote its interests, and assert its possession, than the Spaniards. It was indeed high time that some exertion should be made. The northern provinces had fallen into the power of Holland; the southern, peopled in a great measure by the hardy descendants of the successive colonists, who had issued on all sides from the central establishment of S. Paulo, had learned, from their habits of unaided and successful enterprise, to court independence. Adventurers had penetrated into those central mountains where the diamond is found. They had ascended the waters of the Paraguay to their sources. They had extended their limits southwards till they reached the Spanish settlements on La Plata. They had reduced to slavery numerous tribes of the natives. They were rich in cattle, and had commenced the discovery of the mines. While yet nominally subject to the crown of Spain, they had not scrupled on more than one occasion to wage war on their own account against the settlements of that country. When, therefore, the inhabitants of S. Paulo saw themselves about to be transferred, as a dependency of Portugal, from one master to another, they conceived the idea of erecting their country into an independent state. But their attempt was frustrated by Amador Bueno de Ri-biero, the person they had selected for their king. When the people shouted “Long live King Amador,” he cried out “Long live Joam IV.,” and took refuge in a convent. The multitude, left without a leader, acquiesced, and this important province was secured to the house of Braġanza.

Rio and Santos, although both evinced a desire of independence, followed the example of the Paulistas. Bahia, as capital of the Brazilian states, felt that its ascendancy depended upon the union with Portugal. The government, thus left in quiet possession of the rest of Brazil, had time to concentrate its attention upon the Dutch conquests. The crown of Portugal was, however, much too weak to adopt energetic measures. The tyranny of the successors of Nassau, by alienating the minds of the Portuguese and natives, drove them to revolt, before any steps were taken in the mother country for the re-conquest of its colonies. Joam Ferdinand Vieyra, a native of Madeira, organized the insurrection which broke out in 1645. This insurrection gave birth to one of those wars in which a whole nation, destitute of pecuniary resources, military organization, and skilful leaders, is opposed to a handful of soldiers advantageously posted and well officered. But brute force is unable to contend with scientific valour, whilst the want of numbers prevents the intruders from reaching the enemy they always repulse. The struggle degenerates into unceasing skirmishes and massacres, conducting to no result. Vieyra, who had the sense to see this, repaired to the court of Portugal, and discovering the weakness and poverty of the ex[7:5:192]ecutive, suggested the establishment of a company similar to that which in Holland had proved so successful. His plan, notwithstanding the opposition of the priests, was approved of, and in 1649 the Brazil Company of Portugal sent out its first fleet. The additional impetus communicated by this new engine to the exertions of the Portuguese colonists and their Indian allies, turned the scale against the Dutch; and, after a most sanguinary war, Vieyra was enabled in 1654 to present the keys of Olinda to the royal commander, and to restore to his monarch the undivided empire of Brazil.

From the date of the expulsion of the Dutch down to that of the flight of the house of Braganza from French oppression, Brazil suffered comparatively little from domestic broils or foreign invasion. The approach of foreign traders was prohibited, while the tenths and regalities reserved by the crown drained the country of a great proportion of its wealth. The authority of the governors was despotic in its abuse, but limited in its corrective power; the administration of justice was slovenly in the extreme; the pay of all functionaries, civil, ecclesiastic, and military, was so parsimonious as to render peculation inevitable; and yet, in spite of all these disadvantages, the wealth and happiness of the people continued silently and steadily to increase. The reason was, that they were left in a great measure to themselves, and had an ample field within their own land for the exertion of their industry.

We have already adverted to the important part which the inhabitants of the captaincy of S. Paulo have played in the history of Brazil. The establishment of the Jesuit college had attracted to its neighbourhood a number of settlers from S. Vincente. The Indians of the district were of mild dispositions, and frequent intermarriages took place between them and the Europeans. A race of men sprung from this mixture, native to the soil, hardy and enterprising, wearing but lightly the bonds which attached them to the mother country. The first object of inquiry with the colonists was, whether the land of which they had taken possession were rich in metals. Gold was found, but not in sufficient quantities to reward the labour bestowed in search of it. The Portuguese next devoted their energies to excursions against the more remote Indian tribes, with a view to obtaining slaves. Traces of gold having been observed in the mountain ranges north of S. Paulo, successive bands of adventurers attempted to penetrate the wilderness. The spirit of enterprise was thus nourished and confirmed. From the year 1629 the Paulistas repeatedly attacked the settlements of the Jesuits in Paraguay, although both provinces were nominally subject to the crown of Spain, and carried away numbers of the natives into captivity. Other bands penetrated into Minas, and, still farther northward and westward, into Goyaz and Cujaba, in search of gold.

At first the gold-searchers, like the slave-hunters, undertook temporary expeditions, with the view, doubtless, of returning laden with booty, and settling in their native homes. By degrees, however, as the distance of the newly-discovered mines increased, and establishments for working them became necessary, new colonies were founded. Different associations of adventurers penetrated, in the years 1693, 1694, and 1695, into the district of Minas Geraes, which had been explored by the Paulistas at least twenty years before. In the beginning of the eighteenth century five of its principal settlements were elevated by royal charter to the privileges of Villas. In 1720 the district was separated from S. Paulo, of which it had previously been esteemed a dependency, and placed under the control of a governor-general. In 1670 the gold-searchers penetrated into Goyaz; but it was not till the commencement of the next century that, encouraged by the discovery of the mines of Cujaba, in the province of Matto Grosso, a permanent colony was settled there.

The first attempt to regulate by legislative enactments the industry of the miners of Brazil was made as early as 1618 by Philip III. According to his code of regulations, the privileges of the discoverer were that he should have one mine of eighty Portuguese varas by forty, and a second allotment of sixty by thirty upon the same vein. A hundred and twenty varas were to intervene between the portions. Any adventurer might claim a mine, but he could only have one of the same extent as the discoverer’s first portion. No one except the discoverer might have more than one original grant within the distance of a league and a half; but the purchase of another person’s allotment within that distance was allowed. Mines might be sought for and worked upon private property because they belonged to the king, but the owner of the land had a right to indemnification. Mining adventurers were entitled to turn their cattle into the lands of the conselho, and even into private property, without the owner’s permission, upon paying the value of the pasturage. No man engaged in mining could be arrested for debt, or have a distress levied upon such capital as he had employed in the work. Mines might only be granted to such persons as possessed the means of peopling and working them. A grant was forfeited if not taken possession of within sixty days. The executive and judicial functions within the mining districts were vested in a provedor and his secretary, those of the fiscal in a treasurer. None of these officials could hold a share in a mine, or trade in its produce, under penalty of loss of office and confiscation of property. The provedor or his secretary measured out the allotments; received and inspected the samples of metal from new mines; registered the grants, with the holder’s oath to pay his fifths regularly and faithfully; and decided finally in all disputes to the amount of fifty milrees, with the reservation only of the right of appeal to the Provedοτ ĩĩôr da Peal Fazenda to any amount. The treasurer received the royal fifths, and superintended the weighing, registering, refining, and stamping of all the gold. The king’s share was deposited in a chest under three locks, the keys of which were kept by the provedor, secretary, and treasurer. A yearly account was returned of all the discoveries and produce.

For many years these laws were little more than a dead letter. The Paulistas were wholly engrossed with their expeditions in quest of slaves; the government and the colonists of the other captaincies, with the Dutch and other wars. Some few gipsy-like establishments were scattered thinly throughout the gold country. By degrees the desire of gain induced the more powerful and wealthy colonists to solicit large grants. No attention was paid to the restriction of the number that might be conferred on each individual; and the consequence was, that men of influence monopolized the mines, and were obliged either to sublet them to those they had forestalled, or to leave them unopened. It was found necessary in 1702 to alter the existing laws.

The whole ordinary civil and military authority was vested in the superintendent (Guarda Alor). The appointment of the treasurer belonged to this officer. Both were allowed a limited number of deputies. At first the salaries of all these officers were levied upon the miners, but subsequently the privilege of mining was conceded to them in lieu of a salary. No second grant was made to any person until he had worked the first. The allotments were regulated by the number of slaves which the miner employed. Besides its fifths, the crown reserved an allotment, selected after the adventurer had taken his first grant and before he had chosen his second. If an adventurer[7:5:193] did not begin to work his ground within forty days, a third part of it, upon information of the lapse, was assigned to the informer, and the other two thirds reverted to the crown. Cattle were allowed to be imported into the mining districts from Bahia, but no persons were allowed to enter except the^ drovers. They were required to notify their arrival, the number of their cattle, and the prices they obtained. Any person might carry gold-dust from the mines to Bahia to purchase cattle, but not till he had paid his fifths and provided himself with a certificate. These regulations were inforced by strong penalties, in order to prevent frauds upon the revenue. Slaves, and all other goods except cattle, were only allowed to be introduced from Rio, and that either by the way of S. Paulo or Taboate. No idle persons were allowed to remain about the mines; no goldsmith was tolerated there, nor any settler possessed of a slave capable of exercising this craft.

The same infatuated passion for mining speculations which had characterized the Spanish settlers in South America, now began to actuate the Portuguese. Adventurers crowded to the scene of action from all the captaincies; not mere “landless resolutes” alone, but men of substance also. Labourers and capital were drained off to the mining districts. The Engenhos were either abandoned or left half-cultivated, from the inability of the proprietors to offer for slaves the ruinous prices paid by the adventurers of the mines. Brazil, which had hitherto in a great measure supplied Europe with sugar, sank before the competition of the French and English, who had no mines to distract their attention. Commerce of every kind declined along with this staple commodity. The court endeavoured for a time to counteract this course of enterprise, but in vain.

Anew source of wealth for Brazil, had it been properly managed, but, as matters have turned out, merely a new source of injudicious restriction, was now about to be opened up. Some adventurers who had prosecuted the business of gold-washing northwards from Villa de Principe in the captaincy of Minas, made a discovery of diamonds about the year 1710. The value of these minerals was not known till several years after, when an Ouvidor of the Comarca of Serro Frio, in which they were found, who had seen unpolished diamonds at Goa, ascertained what they were. In 1730 the discovery was announced for the first time to that government, which immediately declared the diamonds regalia. A further search showed that the district was equally rich in other gems. In 1741 its limits were described with greater precision, and the liberty to collect diamonds farmed upon a lease of four years to two influential inhabitants, at the rate of 230,000 rees for every ncgro, with permission to employ six hundred. At every renewal of the lease a high rent was exacted, and the tenants indemnified themselves by conducting their operations in the most wasteful manner.

While the population of Brazil, and the cultivation of its natural products, continued thus to increase, the moral and intellectual culture of its inhabitants was left in a great measure to chance. There was a hierarchical establishment, but one altogether inadequate to the extent of the territory. There were schools, but “few and far between.” The colonists, thinly spread over what appeared an illimitable region, were most of them alike beyond the reach of instruction and of the arm of the law. The restrictions upon the free exercise of industry, introduced with a view to benefit the royal treasury, were little calculated to reconcile men to legal restraints which they scarcely knew in any other form. They grew up, therefore, with those robust and healthy sentiments engendered by the absence of false teachers; but at the same time they became habituated to a repugnance to legal ordinances, accustomed to give full scope to all their passions, and encouraged by their sense of ascendancy over the Indians to habits of violence and oppression.

From the first moment of their landing in Brazil, the Jesuits had constituted themselves the protectors of the oppressed natives. But they were strenuously opposed by the interested colonists, and by hedge priests, who lent their countenance to the infamous traffic in human beings, as they would have pandered to any other vice, in order to retain their ascendancy over the minds of the settlers. The Jesuits were not however easily dismayed, and, by dint of the most persevering exertions, they at last elicited from government an explicit confirmation of the freedom of the natives. The next step of these venerable fathers was to collect their red children, as in all their other missions, into aldeas, over which officials of their order exercised both spiritual and temporal authority. Their intentions were pious and noble, but their plan was erroneous. They attempted to teach the most recondite dogmas of the Christian faith, before either the hearts or heads of their pupils were sufficiently awakened to comprehend them. They taught observance to the rules of external decorum, without inculcating those more essential principles which are independent of all form. By depriving the Indians of the power of managing their own affairs, they effectually stifled within them the germs of human thought and action. It is only by free action, right or wrong, and the consciousness of its consequences, that man can be awakened into intellectual life. The Indian of the aldeas was little better than a puppet, and, when separated from his tutors, he soon sunk back into hopeless and irreclaimable barbarism.

The persecution of the Indians was yet more efficaciously put a stop to by the sacrifice of an equally innocent and yet more injured race. The Portuguese establishments on the coast of Africa have ever been more extensive, and their slave dealings better organized, than those of any other nation. By this means an immense number of negroes were annually imported into Brazil, and being found more active and serviceable as labourers than the native tribes, the latter were in a great measure left to enjoy their savage independence. The Jesuits, like Las Casas, professed a limited philanthropy, and, satisfied with securing their own clients, winked at the oppression of the blacks.

The Portuguese government, under the administration of Carvalho afterwards Marquis of Pombal, attempted to extend to Brazil the effects of that bold spirit of innovation which directed all his actions. The motives which instigate man’s conduct are of such a mingled nature, and so inextricably intertwined, that the question in how far this minister was actuated in his first step by regard to the public good, and how far by private pique, is of no easy solution. Luckily, it is of little importance, in a sketch of a nation’s history, where individuals tell merely as counters.

Carvalho had experienced great resistance to his plans of reform at home from the Jesuits; and his brother, when appointed governor of Maranhao, experienced a resistance no less strenuous on their part to some measures of his government. This was enough to determine the proud minister to lessen the power of the order. With his sanction, the Jesuits and other regulars were deprived of all temporal authority over their aldeas in the state of Maranhao and Para. These, being twenty-eight in number, were converted by the edict of the governor into nine townlets, eighteen towns, and one city. The towns were to be governed by juizes ordinarios, to fill which offices a preference was given to Indians. The aldeas independent of towns were to be governed by their respective chiefs.
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The lands adjacent to the towns and hamlets were divided among the Indians, and declared heritable property.

To these regulations of his brother, the minister superadded some enactments intended to supply the loss of the Jesuits as teachers. The task of religious instruction was delegated to the bishop. Till such time as the Indians should be sufficiently advanced in civilization to manage their own affairs, a director was appointed to reside in each settlement; a man of integrity and zeal, and conversant with the native tongues. He possessed no coercive jurisdiction, but, when he observed remissness on the part of the native authorities in the administration of the laws, might complain to the governor. He was expected to explain to the Indians the advantages of industry and sobriety, to instruct them in the simpler arts and manufactures, and to recommend the adoption of the amenities of civilized life. Above all, these functionaries were directed to combat the prejudice, that there existed a natural inferiority in the Indian character, and to promote, as far as in them lay, intermarriages between the white and red races. As a reward for the directors, they were to have a sixth part of all that the Indians reared, excepting what was specially appropriated for their own consumption.

These ordinances, originally promulgated for Maranhao and Para, were ratified in Lisbon, and extended to the whole of Brazil. But the good which they might have done was neutralized in a great measure by some compulsory services still left binding upon the Indians, and by listlessness on the part of the white inhabitants in carrying them into effect. No good understanding could subsist between an ambitious order and the minister who had so openly braved them. Carvalho felt his new arrangements insecure as long as a Jesuit remained in Brazil. First of all, he sought to render the order suspected of being accessary to some partial revolts among the Indian troops on the Rio Negro. But it was the confession of one of the leaders of the conspiracy against the life of the king of Portugal, when put to the torture, that some Jesuits were implicated in the undertaking, that finally delivered them into his hands. In 1760 they were expelled from Brazil, under circumstances of the most unmitigated cruelty.

Pombal’s next measure attracted more attention than his plans for the improvement of the Indians. The Brazilian Company, founded by Vieyra, which so materially contributed to preserve its South American possessions to Portugal, had been abolished, in 1721, by Joam V. Such instruments, however, were calculated to win the confidence of a bold spirit like that of Pombal. In 1755 he established a chartered company, with a capital of 1,200,000 cru-sados, in 1200 shares, to trade exclusively with Maranhao and Para. In 1759 a similar company was chartered for Paraiba and Pernambuco. Remonstrances were made on the part of the Board of Public Good, and the British factory at Lisbon; but the members of the former body were punished, and those of the latter were disregarded. Encouraged by success, the minister established an exclusive company for the whale fishery, and bestowed upon it the monopoly of furnishing Brazil with salt. This company had its head-quarters in the island of S. Catthaina. Some time after these arrangements, an extension of the facility of intercourse was granted, and Portuguese subjects, instead of being restricted to the annual fleets, were allowed to trade in single ships to Bahia and the Rio.

The arrangements of Pombal extended also to the interior of the country. The claims of the original donatories in the respective captaincies were indefinite and oppressive in the highest degree. Other ministers had from time to time bought up some of these rights; Carvalho extinguished them at once, indemnifying the holders. With all his power, however, he durst not interfere in be half of such new Christians (converted Jews) as were accused of adhering in private to their ancestral faith; but he prohibited, under strict penalties, light and malicious denunciations. He strengthened and enforced the regulations in the mining districts. Observing the profuse mode in which the treasures of the diamond district were lavished, he moved the king to take the management of it into his own hands. In 1772 an ordinance was issued, in which Pombal, as prime minister, reserved to himself the management of this district. The details of business were discharged by three directors in Lisbon, and three administrators in Brazil. At the head of the latter was placed an intendant-general, who, as the representative of majesty, exercised an unlimited power within his jurisdiction. He controlled the working of the diamond mines; he stood at the head of the judicial and police establishments; and he was authorized to punish every inhabitant convicted of having jewels in his possession with banishment and confiscation of goods, and even upon mere suspicion to order any individual to quit the district.

The policy of many of Pombal’s measures is more than questionable. His encouragement of monopolies, and his preference of the interests of the crown to those of the state, as evinced in the regulations of the mining and diamond districts, do not admit of defence. But the extirpation of the Jesuits, and the admission of all races to equal rights in the eye of the law—the abolition of feudal privileges, and of certain restrictions upon commerce, with the livelier spirit which he knew how to infuse even into his monopolies—powerfully co-operated towards the development of the capabilities of Brazil. The spirit of improvement must have been already awake in the bosoms of the people, otherwise even his legislative energies must have been expended in vain. Still the merit abides with him of having firmly organized the powers of the land, and marshalled their way. And yet when, upon the death of his king and patron in 1777, court intrigue forced him from his high station, his successor was lauded to the skies for concluding a treaty of limits, in which Pombal’s chivalrous bravery had rendered Spain glad to acquiesce, whilst he who had done so much for his country’s institutions was reviled on all hands. The first epoch of Brazilian constitutional history is the struggle of the isolated captaincies to establish themselves on the coast. The second is their union under one common head, and under established laws, by the appointment of a governor-general. The third is the amended organization of the extensive empire - by Pombal. The fourth, to which we are now about to turn, has just been accomplished, leaving Brazil to start free and energetic on a new and untried career.

The thirty years which succeed Pombal’s retirement from active life present scarcely any marked feature for the historian to depict. The mining districts continued to be enlarged, especially in the direction of Matto Grosso. The companies of Maranhao and Pernambuco were abolished, but the impulse which they had given to national industry remained. Cotton, the growth of which they had promoted at Maranhao, was introduced into Pernambuco, and cultivated so successfully as to become in a short time the main article of export. Roads were opened throughout the country, to facilitate internal intercourse. Removed from all communication with the rest of the world, except through the mother country, Brazil remained unaffected by the first thirteen years of the great revolutionary war, except in as far as regard some slight disputes respecting the limits of French and Portuguese Guiana. Indirectly, however, even this isolated country had participated in the impulsion which had passed, like electricity along the links of a chain, from nation to nation.
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With time and industry came wealth; with wealth came the feeling of importance, followed by an investigating spirit; and then succeeded, under every disadvantage, bold inquiry and assertion of rights. Latterly too the exclusion of foreigners had not been so strictly enforced. The ports of Brazil were still closed against foreign traders; but the entrance of men of war, and such merchant ships as could find no other harbours to refit in, gradually introduced a tolerated freedom of intercourse.

The prince regent of Portugal, afterwards Joam VI., driven from the mother country by the invasion of the French, landed at Bahia on the 21st of January 1808. The royal family was received with enthusiasm; but it was at that time in search of a secure asylum from a power which the monarchs of the continent of Europe began to believe reached everywhere; and Bahia, easily assailed from the sea, might at any time, by a very small land force, be cut off from all supplies by land. The harbour of Rio, on the other hand, is easily defended, and has at all times an easy communication with the interior. Towards Rio, therefore, the royal fugitives shaped their way, and arrived there on the 7th of March.

The first care of the regent was to introduce into Brazil the same state arrangements which had existed in Portugal. In the course of the year 1808 he organized the dezem-bargodo paço (council of state), conselho dajustica (ministerial council of justice), conselho da fazenda (ministerial council of justice), nιeza da consciencia (consistorial tribunaD. The relaçao (court of appeaD of Rio Janeiro was erected into a supplicaçao (supreme court of appeaD for the whole country; a royal treasury, mint, and register were erected; a supreme board of police for the whole of Brazil was instituted; the boundaries of the captaincies were ascertained with greater precision; the powers of the provincial governors, and the jurisdiction of the provincial courts, were defined with greater strictness; and the collection of the royal tenths was subjected to a revised system.

This increased energy and precision of the organization of the executive would of itself have conferred an inestimable benefit upon the country; but the arrival of the royal family brought yet more important advantages in its train. On the 18th of February 1808 a carta regia threw open to foreigners a free commercial intercourse with all the harbours of Brazil. On the 12th of October the same year the regent sanctioned the statutes of a bank which had, some years before, been established at Rio, and conferred upon it, with extensive privileges, the title of Banca do Brasil. This institution, in addition to its private mercantile functions, discharged those of farming many of the rcgalia. It was also in the practice of advancing large sums to the state, sometimes in consideration of valuable deposits, sometimes upon the assignment of taxes not yet due. Foreign merchants caused more than one run to be made upon the bank, with a view to try its stability; but its connection with the mint enabling it to meet every emergency, it maintained a high degree of credit, at least with the subjects of the state of Brazil. The increased activity which a multitude of new customers, and an increased circulating medium, imparted to the trade of Rio, added a new stimulus to the industry of the whole nation. In a short time the government was enabled to reduce many of its impositions one half. Immense numbers of English artizans and ship-builders, Swedish iron-founders, German engineers, and French artists and manufacturers, sought fortunes in the new land of promise, and diffused, both by example and precept, industry and ingenuity throughout the kingdom.

In the beginning of 1809 French Guiana was taken possession of by the Brazilian troops, and the territories of the state thus extended on the north to the limits they still maintain.

Towards the end of the year 1811 a royal decree assigned 120,000 crusadoes per annum, to be taken from the customs of Bahia, Pernambuco, and λIaranhao, for forty years, to the Portuguese who had suffered during the French war. This most unjust appropriation of the state revenue naturally excited discontent in these powerful provinces. It happened also that the salaries of many officers, both civil and military, remained at this time unpaid; a circumstance which had been made in more than one district a pretext for exactions. Some disputes had taken place between the Brazilians and English respecting the slave-trade; and the former, already disposed to suspect their own government, viewed with a jealous eye the British establishment at Rio. In order to avert or allay the gathering storm, an edict was issued on the 16th of December 1815, raising Brazil to the dignity of an independent kingdom, and placing it on an equal footing with Portugal and the Algarves. The national pride was flattered, and for some time nothing else was heard of but addresses of thanks and congratulations, with feasts and rejoicing in every district.

In 1817 the discontents of the northern provinces, which had for a while been hushed, broke out into open insurrection in Pernambuco. The people of Recife entertained some democratical notions, Avhich might, perhaps, by a curious observer, be traced to the period of the Dutch government. They remembered, with no small degree of pride, that it was mainly their own endeavours that had driven out these foreigners; they were jealous of Rio’s monopoly of the advantages of a royal residence; but, above all, they were averse to the payment of taxes for the support of a luxurious court. A regular plan of insurrection was formed; troops were raised and disciplined; and fortifications were begun in one or two places. By the loyalty of the neighbouring provinces, and the promptitude of the royal troops, this premature revolt was easily suppressed; but the cruel punishments of the leaders served to diffuse the spirit of disaffection more widely throughout the north. The war in which Brazil had been involved towards the frontiers of Buenos Ayres, by obliging the government to call out the milicias of S. Paulo, had, by involving these hardy countrymen in a quarrel respecting the merits of which they knew little and cared less, excited among them no small degree of discontent.

In November 1820 the news of the revolution in Portugal reached Brazil. A kindred spirit spread at once throughout all the provinces. Para took the lead. On the first day of the year 1821, the infantry declared for the constitution; the cavalry and artillery joined them; a provisional government was appointed; and all this was done in the name of the king, and without bloodshed. On the 10th of February the troops rose in Bahia. A few lives were lost; but ultimately, both troops and people, in the presence of the governor, solemnly declared their adherence to the constitution which should be formed by the Cortes. A governing junta was appointed, which speedily received addresses of adhesion from all the towns and villages in the neighbourhood. The ferment was perhaps greater in Rio than anywhere else, from the more determined opposition offered to all constitutional projects by the king and the court party. On the 18th of February, however, a conviction of the folly of resistance induced the king to recognise a junta of his Brazilian subjects, appointed to take into consideration such parts of the constitution as might be applicable to Brazil. A mutual distrust continued to exist, which might have led to the most fatal consequences but for the promptitude of the prince Dorn Pedro. In the morning of the 26th, every thing threatened immediate bloodshed, when he presented himself[7:5:196] to the citizens with a list of a new ministry, and voluntarily took the oath to the new constitution. His conduct on this occasion afterwards received the express sanction of the king, who resolved, however, to return to Lisbon; a resolution which he carried into effect by sailing on the 24th of March ensuing.

Before going on board, he appointed Dom Pedro regent in his absence. He addressed the troops, recommending to them fidelity to the crown and the constitution, and promising an increase of pay to all. This was a cruel mockery of the regent; for he had left nothing in the treasury wherewith that prince could fulfil the promise. Nor was this the full extent of the evil. Immense sums were carried out of the country by the Portuguese who followed the king to Lisbon. The well-grounded belief that the coffers of the bank had been emptied by the king, gave a shock to its credit which it has not yet recovered. A large amount of specie had been taken up for government bills, on the treasuries of Pernambuco, Bahia, and Maranhao, which had disclaimed the superiority of the government at Rio. The prince was thus left, with an empty treasury, to rule over a people which felt itself beggared by the dishonesty of government, at a moment when, even without this conviction, sufficient seeds of civil commotion were everywhere scattered abroad.

Dorn Pedro acted in this trying emergency, in conjunction with the junta of Rio, like a man of sense and spirit. He remitted some of the most oppressive imposts upon the trade of the interior, particularly the duties on salt. Something was done towards improving the condition of the schools, hospitals, and barracks. Books were allowed to be imported duty free. The junta published an exhortation to tranquillity, obedience, and a patient waiting till the result of the deliberations of the Cortes, now joined by their own deputies, should be known. At the same time they invited all persons to send in statistical notices and plans for improvements.

The circumstance, however, which contributed perhaps more than any other to strengthen Dom Pedro’s hands, and uphold his power, was one which wore at first a threatening aspect. At S. Paulo, the regiment of caçadores, discontented at not receiving the promised augmentation of pay, took up arms in a tumultuous manner on the 3d of June, and threatened not to lay them down again until they received it. They were with difficulty restrained from proceeding to extremities, owing to the presence of mind exhibited by their captain. A strong excitement, however, continued to agitate, not only the troops, but the people. The magistrates and principal inhabitants took advantage of the occasion furnished by the assembly of the militia, on account of a festival on the 21st. They were kept together, and assembled in the great square before the town-house. The great bell of the Camara was tolled, and when the people had assembled, the cry was raised of “Viva el Re, Viva el Constitucao, Viva o Principe Regente,” and a provisional junta demanded. This request was re-echoed by the crowd, and complied with by the magistrates. From that moment all remained quiet in the city, and the most important province of Brazil declared for the prince.

The remainder of the year was spent in organising provisional juntas in the different capitals. On the 19th of September an edict was addressed to all these bodies, enjoining them to communicate directly with the Cortes at Lisbon. It was fondly hoped that the Cortes would admit Brazil to all the privileges of an integral part of the nation, with independent courts, civil and criminal. The Cortes were, however, too much afraid of losing a rich colonial dependency, to entertain such a thought. They passed decrees for the election of separate governments in every province of the Brazils; and for the appointment of a military commander in each, who should be independent of the provincial government, and accountable only to the Cortes for his conduct. The prince was ordered to return to Lisbon as soon as these governments were established. These decrees reached Rio Janeiro before the end of December 1821, and excited universal indignation.

The junta of S. Paulo were the first to move. On the 24th of December they applied to the regent, requesting him to remain among them. The prince answered that he had transmitted their address to the king. On the 7th of January 1822, the Camara of Rio and the wealthiest inhabitants addressed his royal highness on the danger to be apprehended in the event of his obeying the Cortes. With apparent hesitation he promised to delay his departure till the ultimatum of the Cortes should arrive. A movement was threatened on the part of the Portuguese troops in Rio; but prompt measures being taken with them, they were obliged to embark for Europe. Not long after, the junta and inhabitants of Pernambuco obliged the Portuguese troops stationed in that city to embark for Lisbon. Madeira de Mello continued to hold Bahia with 1500 European troops and some militia for Portugal; and Monte Video was kept possession of in the king’s name by General Lecor. All the rest of Brazil was in the hands of the independents. Thus circumstanced, Dorn Pedro accepted the title of prince regent and perpetual defender of the Brazils, and convoked a general assembly of the states, consisting of one hundred deputies, nominated by parochial electors chosen by the people. The avowed purpose of collecting such a body was, that it might deliberate in public session upon the precise terms on which Brazil was to remain united to Portugal, examine whether the constitution of Lisbon were adapted to Brazil, and suggest necessary emendations. It was also provided, that as soon as the constitution should be agreed on, the council of representatives should assume legislative functions, determine the seat of Brazilian sovereignty, and communicate the resolutions of Brazil to the Cortes of Portugal. On the meeting of the council, the prince informed them of the anxiety manifested in all quarters for the convocation of a general constitutional legislative assembly; and when they declared their acquiescence, a decree was issued to that effect. The independence of Brazil was proclaimed on the lst of August; and on the 12th of October, his birth-day, Dorn Pedro was installed constitutional emperor and perpetual defender of Brazil.

The Cortes having intimated sufficiently their resolution to retain Brazil, two decrees were issued by the emperor on the 11th of December; the first laying an embargo on all vessels bound to the Portuguese territories in Europe; the other sequestrating all goods belonging to Portuguese subjects, with one or two trifling exceptions. On the 11th of January 1823, another decree was issued, encouraging Brazilian subjects to take out letters of marque against Portugal. Meanwhile Madeira, who had been reinforced from Portugal, began to infest the neighbourhood of Bahia with hostile attacks. But on the 2lst of March, Lord Cochrane hoisted his flag on board the Pedro Primeiro. On the 2d of July, Bahia surrendered, and the Portuguese fleet put to sea, but was followed and destroyed by the Brazilian admiral. In the course of the year Monte Video surrendered, and the independence of Brazil was established, although not recognized by the mother country till near the close of 1825.

The interior of the new empire was far from presenting an equally satisfactory picture. The proclamation of the emperor had been received with hearty good will by all, as the readiest step to independence. With regard, however, [7:5:197]to the organization of the state, there prevailed a marked difference of opinion. The republican party was very strong, particularly in the northern and central provinces. There was a yet more numerous body which ardently desired a constitutional monarchy. But there were also a few, formidable chiefly as including among their number some of the most practised intriguers of the court, and several military leaders, whose views favoured a despotic government. A false step on the part of the ministers, who were firm constitutionalists, at the first opening of congress, and the inopportune illness of the emperor, threw such a power into the hands of the democratic party, that a new ministry was chosen. The assembly next proceeded to discuss the propriety of conceding to the emperor an absolute veto. It was resolved by a considerable majority that such a veto was inexpedient. The emperor, however, declared his resolution not to acquiesce in this determination. The assembly prepared some obnoxious deerees in order to put his resolution to the test, and he began to caress the military. The strong language of the journals on the one hand, and the violent proceedings of some European officers on the other, brought the matter to a speedy termination. On the 12th of November, while the assembly was sitting, news arrived that two columns of military were approaching the city; and immediately afterwards a military officer brought an imperial rescript dissolving the congress. This body quietly dissolved, but several of the leading members of the constitutional and republican parties were immediately arrested.

Dorn Pedro found himself in an awkward predicament. The annual revenue only covered two thirds of the expenditure. The local revenues of all the different provinces were likewise inadequate to cover the local expenditure. Attempts had been made to supply the deficiencies by forced loans and donations, and even by sequestrations; means which are soon exhausted, and always create hostility. Several of the ministers resigned in disgust at the emperor’s proceedings. It was with difficulty that others were found to supply their places, and even they soon followed the example of their predecessors. Disturbances broke out in several of the provinces, and were suppressed with the greatest difficulty. Pedro soon gave l way to the storm, and promulgated on the 11th of December the project of a constitution, which for a time pacified the country.

The history of Brazil from this period down to the moment of Dorn Pedro’s abdication is only interesting as displaying the growing intelligence and business talents of her statesmen, and the incapacity of her emperor. He plunged into wars without forethought, and retreated from them without having attained his object. He took no one decided step towards arranging the finances or consolidating the institutions of the country. Without comprehending or respecting the rights of his subjects, he aimed at being popular; destitute of military talents, he coveted military glory; no politician, he aspired to despotic power. His conduct was vacillating, his actions were inconsequential and ineffective. The safety of the empire demanded his removal on the ground of incompetence. What may be the future fate of Brazil it is impossible to predict with certainty. The predilections of a strong party in favour of republican institutions, an infant prince, and the absence of a privileged aristocracy, are strong indications, i II. Physical Geography, &c.—Brazil extends, in its greatest length, from the sources of the Rio Branco, near the fifth degree of north latitude, to. the sources of the 1 Ybicui, near the thirty-first degree of south latitude. In its utmost breadth it extends from Cape St Augustine, in the thirty-fifth degree of west longitude, computing from

Greenwich, to the river Javary, about the seventy-third. From the embouchure of the Rio Grande in the south, to that of the Wiapoc, between the fourth and fifth degrees of north latitude, the Atlantic Ocean forms the eastern boundary of Brazil. This portion of its outline is of an irregular crescent form, extending in a curved line from the fifty-third degree of west longitude, at the thirty-third degree of south latitude, to the thirty-fifth, betwixt the ninth and tenth; and then retrograding more abruptly to the fifty-second degree of west longitude, between the fourth and fifth degrees of north latitude. The inland frontier of Brazil may be thus traced :—First, turning to the north, we start from that point in the Javary which crosses obliquely the seventy-third degree of west longitude; we descend the stream to its junction with the Amazons; follow the downward course of that river to the point where it receives the waters of the Yupura; ascend the latter till we reach the degree of longitude in which the Javary and Amazons mingle their waters; from that point cross the country to the Fall of Corocobi on the Rio Negro; and thence pursue the line of the summits of the Cordillera, dividing the waters of the Essequibo from the tributaries of the Amazons, till we arrive at the sources of the Wiapoc, which we descend till we reach the ocean. Returning to our starting place, we follow a line extending due east from the Javary to a point exactly mid-way between the spot at which the conjoined waters of the Guapore and Mamore receive the name of Madeira, and that stream’s confluence with the Amazons; ascend the Madeira and Guapore to its source; cross the mountains by a line running north and south; strike the waters of the Paraguay at the mouth of the Juaru; and descend to the station of Nova Coimbra. From this point the boundary line pursues a zig-zag course, determined by the currents of a number of minor streams, which it alternately ascends and descends, keeping in the main the direction of south-south-east until it reach the ocean at the neutral ground of Minio Merin.

The territory comprised within these boundaries may be roughly estimated at little Jess than two millions of square miles. A considerable portion has never yet been explored; and respecting the whole our information is often vague and unsatisfactory. Even the line of coast has not been laid down with any degree of certainty; and the Portuguese maps are in this respect utterly unworthy of attention. They have been republished for centuries without revision or amendment; and we have no information respecting the observations and calculations upon which they were based. The English charts are better, being the accumulated experience of practical seamen, who had a deep stake in rendering them as accurate as possible. In general, however, they are anonymous; and the well-known difficulty of determining the latitude and longitude by observations made on board of ship alone still more diminishes our confidence in them. Some French charts lately published, bearing to be the results of a special exploratory expedition, have only tended to increase our uncertainty 7 , by their wide deviation from all former authorities. When we turn to the interior of the land, matters are still worse. Distances and localities are in general assumed upon the authority of the conjectures of travellers provided with no more accurate instrument than a compass, or of the rude estimates of the inhabitants of European or Indian descent; and there are numerous districts regarding which we are entirely destitute of even these meagre and inaecurate sources of information.

The natural conformation points out two great divisions of the territory of Brazil; the valley of the Amazons to the north, and the hill country 7 to the south. The physical structure of each of these districts is necessarily dependent[7:5:198] upon the other, and their respective characters can only be properly comprehended by mutual reference. It will better enable us, however, to comprehend both, if we at first view them apart: and in attempting a sketch of each, we shall commence with that of which less is yet known than of the other, but which is in all probability doomed one day to make a prominent figure in history; we mean the valley of the Amazons.

The immense course of the river Amazons, from Tabatinga, where it enters the confines of Brazil, to the ocean, deducting its windings, extends, when we pursue the course of the main channel, to 401^- leagues, of twenty to a degree, or, when we deflect to the estuary of Para, separated from the former by the island Marajô, or St John’s, to 506⅜. The breadth of the stream at Tabatinga is given by Condamine as between 800 or 900 toises; at Obydos, 106 leagues from the sea, and where the tide ceases to be perceived, Martius assigns to it the breadth of 869 fathoms. The greatest breadth of the river is about six leagues. Tabatinga is elevated above the level of the ocean 634 Parisian feet. The direction of the river is almost parallel with the equator, from which its mean distance may be between one and two degrees. Its principal confluents during this portion of its course are, from the south, the Tocantins flowing into the estuary of Para, the Xingu, the Topajoz, and the Madeira; from the north, the Rio Negro and the Yapura.

The Tocantins joins the estuary of Para at the distance of thirty-three leagues from the ocean, and at an elevation of 189 Parisian feet above its level. The Xingu falls into the Amazons 45 leagues from its northern or main junction with the ocean, and 347 feet above its level, at which place it is about a league in breadth. The Tapajoz joins the Amazons ninety-two leagues above the main entrance into the ocean, at an elevation of 404 feet above the level of the sea. No observation is recorded of the exact elevation of the point where the Madeira mingles its waters with those of the Amazons, but Spix estimates it at 509 feet. Its distance from the ocean in a direct line is nearly 180 leagues. Its breadth varies, according to the season, from 930 to 1000 fathoms; its depth in the middle of the stream from twenty-three to twenty-seven fathoms, and at the shore from five to ten.

The courses of these four rivers are nearly parallel, flowing in the direction of south-south-east. During the greater part of their course they have little perceptible fall. A kind of natural terrace, however, extending in the direction of south-west and north-east, intersects the course of all at an oblique angle. This sinking of the land forms in each a system of cataracts, dividing their course into an upper and lower valley; and the same phenomenon is visible in all the parallel minor streams which flow between them. On the Tocantins these cataracts occur a little to the northward of the fourth degree of south latitude; on the Xingu, to the southward of this line; on the Tapajoz they occur rather to the southward of the fifth degree; and on the Madeira also to the southward of the eighth. The course of the Madeira from its source to the cataracts is 172 leagues, thence to the plain 325. The bed of its waters above the cataracts is estimated at 150 feet higher than that below. The character of the ground remains much the same, being low, and intersected by innumerable canals and lakes; its principal eastern branch only, which inclines towards a serra, retains any characteristics of a clear mountain stream. The extent of the Tocantins, from the lowest cataract to its embouchure, is about sixty leagues in a direct line. The high land even approaches somewhat nearer to the Amazons along the eastern bank of this tributary. The main branch of the Tocantins, that to the east, descends from the high mountain lands of the north. The more westerly feeders seem to drain off the accumulated waters of high-lying morasses, similar to those which swell the stream of the Madeira. Of the Xingu and , Tapajoz above the cataracts almost nothing is known; but every circumstance connected with them seems to indicate a terrain, similar to that which gives birth to the Madeira and the western tributaries of the Tocantins.

We now turn to the north side of the great basin of the Amazons. The Rio Negro joins the main stream at a distance of 197 leagues from the ocean, and at an elevation of 522 feet above its level. The principal mouth of the Yapura is at the distance of 326 leagues from the ocean, and the elevation of 571 feet. The course of these two rivers is nearly parallel, both flowing from west-north-west to cast-south-east. The Yapura enters the Brazilian territory immediately beneath the Falls of Cupati. The river flows from these falls to the Amazons, an extent of 100 leagues in a direct line, and its fall is estimated at 200 feet. The Rio Negro extends from the frontier fort of S. Carlos, near the junction of the Cassiquiari, which carries a portion of the waters of the Orinoco to the Amazons, to Barra do Rio Negro, a distance of at least 200 leagues. The elevation of the last-mentioned situation above the level-of the sea is, as we have already mentioned, 522 feet; while that of S. Carlos is 762. The alternate widening and narrowing of the river, as well as its very unequal depth and varying rapidity, lead naturally to the conclusion that it has been formed in the course of ages by the progressive widening of their connecting streams, giving to a system of inland lakes the appearance of one continuous river. The Rio Negro joins the Amazons at an angle so obtuse as to admit of our viewing them in a general way as one continuous line, 397 leagues in length, cutting the equator obliquely towards its western extremity. Parallel to this, at a mean distance of four degrees of longitude, extend the various serras composing the mountain land of Upper Guiana. The flat land which everywhere forms the banks of the lower Amazons and its confluents extends to the base of these hills, which rise at once with considerable abruptness. This territory is intersected by a number of streams of minor consequence, falling partly into the Rio Negro and partly into the Amazons. The most important of these, the Rio Brancas, flows from north to south, and joins the former.

In describing the superficies of the valley of the Amazons, we have found it most expedient to stretch out the streams as the veins upon which the reader was to fancy the superficies of the leaf extended. In turning to the southern and mountainous district of Brazil it will be necessary to call the mountain ranges to our assistance.

If the reader, then, will cast his eye upon a good map of Brazil, he will find, in latitude 19° to 21° south, the mountains of Itacolumi, 5710 English feet above the level of the sea, and of Itambi, 6900. These, and their connecting range, may be considered as the nucleus of the mountain formation of Brazil. Towards the north, and parallel to the coast, extends the Serra do Mar, under the varying names of the Serra dos Esmeraldos, Serra do Frios, &c. Towards the south-west a similar, or rather the same chain (the Mantiqueira), stretches, throwing out spurs on either side, till it gradually subsides into the high plain on the eastern side of the Paranna, near its mouth. By means of the Serra dos Vertentes the Itacolumi connects with the system known under the names of Montes Pyreneos, Serra do Sijada, and Serra do Anam-buhy, extending in the direction of west-south-west to the banks of the Paraguay, a little above where it receives the waters of the Paranna. That part of the latter chain termed Montes Pyreneos extends towards the north to the sources of the Tocantins. An important arm of this [7:5:199]latter, the Itiapamba, but of which little is yet known, runs out to the north-east, and loses itself in the northern seaboard provinces of Brazil. To the west extends the Serra Geral. To the south and the west, in the provinces of S. Paulo and Matto Grosso, these mountains attain an elevation considerably above the level of a high and extensive inland plain. To the north-east, in Minas Geraes and Goyaz, they rise from an infinitely lower level above the sea. Nevertheless, while those mountains which have for their base the high inland plains of Piratininga and Matto Grosso seldom attain a higher elevation than 1900 Parisian feet above the sea, the average height of the Montes Pyreneos is 3900. From the Serra dos Vertentes, in latitude twenty degrees south, flow the streams which combine to form the Rio Francisco; at first in the direction of north, afterwards curving towards the east, till it reach the ocean in latitude eleven degrees south. On the southern declivity of the same Serra arise the highest sources of the Paranna. They flow at first in the direction of due west, receiving numerous tributaries to the north from the Montes Pyreneos, &c., to the south from the Serra do Mantiqueira. Having reached the base of the Scrra do Sijada, in longitude fifty-three degrees west, and latitude twenty degrees south, the Paranna assumes a southeasterly direction, and, still receiving numerous tributaries from the two mountain ridges which bound its valley, joins the Paraguay in latitude twenty-seven south, and longitude fifty-eight west. From the south-eastern declivity of the Mantiqueira descends the Uruguay to the estuary of La Plata. From the eastern side of the same ridge, and its northern continuation the Serra do Mar, a number of minor streams flow into the ocean. To the northward of the Serra dos Vertentes, the western streams of the Serra do Mar and the eastern of the Serra do Sijada flow into the Rio Francisco. From the southern declivity of the Serra Geral, and from the western side of the Serra do Anambaty, flow the confluents of the Paraguay. From the northern side of the Serra Geral, and from the central and eastern branches of the Montes Pyrcneos, descend the four great tributaries of the Amazons, which join that inland ocean from the south, and the streams that intersect the coast of Brazil between Para and the mouth of the Rio Francisco.

The great constituent of all the mountain ranges of Brazil is granite; the maritime ridge seems exclusively composed of it. The soil on the shore consists of clay, covered in many places with a rich mould, resting on a bed of granite, mixed with amphibole, felspar, quartz, and mica. In the high inland plains of Piratininga we find on the surface a red vegetable earth impregnated with oxide of iron; beneath this a layer of fine argil, intersected with veins of sand; and, thirdly, an alluvial stratum containing a great quantity of iron, resting on mouldering granite, quartz, and mica. A mass of solid granite supports the whole. Between Rio Janeiro and Villa Rica the soil consists of a strong clay, and the rocks are composed of granite. The mountains in Minas Geraes are composed of ferruginous quartz, granite, or argillaceous schistus. Beds of limestone have bccn found near Soro-caba, near Sahara in Minas Geraes, and in the gold mines near S. Rita. The immense central plateau of Matto Grosso has never been sufficiently explored; but from the nature of its mineral products there is every reason to believe that the granitic formation prevails there also. The Itiapamba, the great chain on the northern coast, consists chiefly of granite. The northern coast from Maranhao to Olinda is bounded by a reef of coral, in many places resembling an artificial mole. It is employed by the inhabitants in building their houses. The valley of the Amazons has been so little explored, and its impene trable woods and luxuriant vegetation throw so many difficulties in the way of the geologist, that a long time must yet elapse ere we can hope for satisfactory intelligence. ( As far as the observations of Spix and Martius extend, its geognostical relations are sufficiently simple. All along the banks of the main stream, and of its tributaries, as long as they continue in the plain, only two mountain rocks are discovered,—the variegated and the green sandstone. Sometimes the sandstone appears in the form of a composite breccia, containing iron; sometimes of a finegrained crumbling red; sometimes of a hard white stone; but the former is the more prevalent. Beds of marl, clays of different colours, and porcelain clay, occur frequently. On the Tapajoz gypsum occurs in one place. To the south this sandstone formation is bounded by the granitic ridges of the Itiapamba, Montes Pyreneos, and Serra Geral. On the northern ridge of the first-mentioned chain a transition limestone is interposed between the granite and the sandstone. To the north the sandstone is bounded by the gneiss and granite of the Parimé range; to the westward, on the rivers Negro and Yapura, a quartz rock of slaty structure is the basis on which it rests. The western and south-∙western limits of the sandstone of the Amazons are imperfectly known.

The metallic and mineral products which occur in the geological formations above described are various. Iron is found in vast quantities in the high plains of S. Paulo and in Minas Geraes. Entire hills are composed of brown ironstone and magnetic ironstone. In the latter province a secondary ironstone fills whole valleys, and spreads like a mantle over many of the hills. In Goyaz and Matto Grosso whole districts are covered with formations rich in iron ore. Gold is next, in the extent of country through which it occurs, to iron. It is found in grains intermingled with the latter metal almost wherever it is worked. The chief scene of the exertions of goldminers has hitherto been in the district of Minas Geraes, among the central mountains, and at the sources of the Paraguay. It is certain, however, that the gold country extends to S. Paulo on the south, and to the mountains among which the Tocantins arises on the north. The soil where the gold is found is ferruginous and deep in many places, resting on rocks of gneiss and granite. The gold rests on a stratum of cascalho or gravel, incumbent on the solid rock. It occurs sometimes in grains, sometimes in crystals, and occasionally in large masses. Lead and zinc have been found on the banks of the Rio Abaité, a tributary of the Rio Francisco; chrome and manganese in Pa-raò’peba; platina in other rivers; quicksilver, arsenic, bismuth, and antimony, in the neighbourhood of Villa Rica; and copper in Minas Novas. The diamond occurs in greatest abundance in a district of the Serra do Frio, sixtccn leagues from north to south, and eight from east to west, known by the designation of the diamond district. The little that is known of the territory of Matto Grosso, and the sources of the Tocantins, induces a strong belief that this gem is likewise to be found there. It is found in a stratum, of variable thickness, of rounded quartz-ore pebbles, cemented by an earthy matter. They arc found along the banks of rivers, and in cavities and water-courses on the loftiest mountains. They occur in immense beds. Haüy disregards the distinctions supposed to exist, in the hardness and form of the crystal, between the diamonds of Brazil and those of the East Indies. Lapidaries and jewellers continue to believe that the oriental diamonds have a finer water. Topazes occur in nearly the same localities as the diamond. They are found among a conglomerate of friable earthy talc, quartz, and crystals of specular iron ore; and they are of many colours, yellow, white, blue, aqua-marine, &c. The chrysoberyl, [7:5:200]ruby, amethyst, and green tourmaline, have been found in the Serra dos Êsmeraldos. Martius states that coal appears in the mountain district, but does not specify any locality. He explicitly asserts that none occurs in the valley of the Amazons. Vast quantities of culinary salt effloresce from the soil during the dry season in the upper districts of the Paraguay. Saltpetre is likewise said to be a product of the province, but upon questionable authority. In the upper district of the Rio San Francisco immense deposites of marl occur, strongly impregnated with this latter salt; so strongly, indeed, that the wells and rivulets contain a perceptible solution of it. In the neighbourhood of Arrayal are some caves which yield annually about 2250 cwts. of saltpetre. In Piauhy quantities of alum have been found efflorescing from the sandstone. The only fossil remains of animated beings occurring in Brazil of which we have any authentic account are found in these caves. Martius and Dollinger maintained that they correspond in every respect with the Megalonyx of Cuvier. They are scattered about in a fine greasy earth, which covers the limestone to the depth of eight inches. Bones, supposed to have formed part of a mammoth, have been found in Minas Geraes; and similar remains have been discovered in Bahia, near the Rio So-litre, and in Pernambuco. Bones resembling those of the megatherium, found in Paraguay, and now in the cabinet of natural history at Madrid, are said to have been seen near the Rio de Contas. We are not aware that any volcanic appearances have been observed in Brazil, unless the vague stories of hills where subterranean noises are at times heard may be supposed to indicate something of the kind.

A country so extensive as Brazil, and so diversified in its surface, necessarily exhibits a considerable variety of atmospheric phenomena. The greater portion lies within the tropics, and has consequently the periodical interchange of wet and dry seasons. The narrow valleys, exposed to great heats, and surrounded by lofty mountains, have the vapours forced down upon them, and have a moist atmosphere. The high plains of the interior, the extensive level region of the northern coast, and the summits of the mountains, are comparatively dry. The wide valley of the Amazons, with its “boundless contiguity of shade,” and “lakes, and ocean streams,” is most subject to moisture. At Rio Janeiro, nearly on the level of the sea, and in lat. 22. 50. S. the thermometer of Reaumur indicates, on an average, during the months of September, October, and November, a mean temperature of 20° 49'. The highest observed by Spix and Martius was 23° 49', the lowest 15° 49'. The rainy season lasts from October to March, and is heaviest in February. In September the hygrometer stands on an average at 49°, in October at 76°, in November at 85°. Owing to the proximity of the mountains, and the cooler atmosphere at their summits, the mists generally settle around their brows with considerable density towards evening. At Cachoeira, in the neighbourhood of Bahia, about the thirteenth degree of south latitude, and only six Parisian feet above the level of the sea, the thermometer of Reaumur gave, in February 1819, between six and seven in the morning, 17° to 19°, mid-day 25°, sunset 21° 23'. In Bahia itself the temperature at sunset is said to vary in the rainy season (September to March) from 17° to 18° Reaumur; in the dry months from 16° to 17°. The cloudless mid-day sun causes an extraordinary heat in the town; the sea breezes render the mornings and evenings cool; but the nights are warmer. At Oeyras, the capital of Piauhy, in about seven degrees of south latitude, and 779 feet above the level of the sea, the thermometer of Reaumur varies in the warm months at mid-day from 29° to 30°. Martius found it vary during the day as follows :—morning 23° 35', mid-day 24° to 25°, evening 23° 3 O'. He does not mention in what month this was. The driest months are July, August, and September. The south wind prevails during these months. The climate is healthy. Throughout the course of the Amazons the mean temperature is 22° of Reaumur; the lowest being 13°, and the highest 38°. Thunder storms are frequent and violent in the highest degree. We have no observations with the hygrometer. S. Paulo, situated in lat. 23. 33. S., is 1200 feet above the level of the ocean; and having a westerly declination of the surface of the ground, is consequently shielded from the sea breezes. The average temperature is 22° to 23° of the centigrade thermometer. The rainy season commences in November, and lasts till April. The greatest quantity of rain falls in January. Hoar frost is sometimes seen in the cold months. The prevalent winds are affected by the place of the sun: when he is in the northern signs, south-south-west and south-east winds prevail; when he is in the southern they are more variable. Villa Rica is situated in lat. 20. 27. S. about 3760 English feet above the level of the sea. It is overshadowed by the huge mountain Itacolumi, the summit of which is 5710 feet above the sea, and surrounded by mountains on all sides. Here the average indications of the thermometer are, morning 12° Reaumur, mid-day 23°, evening 16°, midnight 14°. When the thermometer stood at 16° Reaumur on the summit of Itacolumi, it was found to be at 22° in Villa Rica. The temperature is agreeable enough to the sense, but the thunder-storms are frequent and violent The wind among the mountain ranges is very variable, but cooling, from whatever direction it happens to blow. The cold weather in the months of June and July has frequently been known to affect the fruits. Respecting the temperature and other skyey influences of the high inland plateau of Matto Grosso we are entirely in the dark; but the Russian expedition under Langsdorff in 1826-29 must have made many important observations, although they have not yet been given to the public. Meteors are extremely frequent in the middle regions of the atmosphere in Brazil. Martius and Spix describe an immense mass of meteoric iron which they examined on their route from Bahia to Oeyras. Its estimated weight is about 17,300 Parisian pounds, it measures from 31 to 32 cubic feet, is extremely hard, and occasionally’ crystallized, and breaks in some places with a shelly impression.

Except on the loftiest mountains, and on the wide ser∙. taos, the vegetation of Brazil is luxuriant beyond description. -In the mountain passes in the neighbourhood of the sea shore, the conjoint effects of heat and moisture produce a superfluity of vegetable life, which man’s utmost efforts cannot restrain. Trees split for paling in the neighbourhood of Rio Janeiro send forth shoots and branches immediately, and this whether the position of the fragments be that in which they originally’ grew, or inverted. On the banks of the Amazons the loftiest trees destroy’ each other by their proximity, and are bound together by’ rich and multiform hanas. In the province of Maranhao, the roots, grasses, and other plants, extending from the shores of pools, weave themselves in time into a kind of vegetable bridge, along which the passenger treads, unaware that he has left the firm earth, until the jaws of a cayman protrude through the herbage before him. The vegetable productions of Brazil have a strong analogy with those of Guiana. The most common are the composite?, legumina, euphorbia, rubiace(e, αroides, and ferns of the most varied forms. The vegetation of the valleys differs from that of the campos, as it again does from that which occurs in the sertaos. Along the coast, the mangles are the most numerous and prominent spe∙
[7:5:201]

cies. The most marked peculiarity of this class of plants is, that the seeds begin to shoot before they drop from the parent plant, and that the drooping branches strike roots into the soil. They are never found inland except where the surface is scarcely elevated above the level of the sea. They flourish from Rio Grande do Sul to Maranhao, converting the land into a morass wherever they are allowed to flourish unmolested. Immediately behind them numerous families of palms raise their graceful heads. The underwood in the neighbourhood of Rio Janeiro consists principally of crotons. Every large river of Brazil has its own appropriate form of vegetable life, giving a peculiar character to its banks. The vegetation of the Amazons may be divided into three classes: I. that which we find on the islands; 2. the vegetation upon the banks overflowed at regular intervals by the stream; 3. that which stands high and dry. The difference between them consists in the character of the bark and the species of the plants. Brushwood and herbage are nowhere to be seen: every thing tends to the gigantic in size. The most various forms group awkwardly together, crossed and intertwined with leaves. The preponderance of trees with feathery foliage, and with glossy, fleshy leaves, lends alternately a tender and a luxuriant character to the scene, which is in every other respect painful from its monotony. Representatives of the most estranged natural families grow side by side. It is only on the islands, where the willow and some other plants are found in numbers, that we are reminded of the monotony of our northern vegetation. Cocoa trees and the vanilla, capsicum frutescens and different kinds of pepper, the cinnamon tree and Brazilian cassia, abound. The flora of all the tributaries of the Amazons is similar to what we have described, until the traveller ascends above the falls, and finds himself in another region. The sources of the Madeira alone offer a partial exception, retaining a vegetation indicative of extensive plains, lakes, and morasses. The vegetation of the southern campos (corresponding to the North American prairies) is widely different. On the plains of the southern provinces we find scattered about strong tufts of greyish-green and hairy grasses, springing from the red clay. Mingled with these are numerous herbaceous flowers, of the most varied colours and elegant forms. At intervals small groves of trees, seldom exceeding twenty feet in height, so distant that the individual form of each is easily recognised, with spreading fantastic branches and pale green leaves, break the monotony of the scene. Solitary myrtles, numerous varieties of pleasing fruits, and now and then a cactus, add to the variety. A similar vegetation, but with a richer variety of plants, occurs in the diamond district. On the western declivity of the Serra do Mar, and along the upper banks of the Rio San Francisco, extends a wooded country, but of a character entirely different from that which is found in the valleys below. The name Catingas is applied to the forests in both of the above-mentioned districts, although their characters are entirely dissimilar. The term merely expresses that they cast their leaves during the dry season, and push them forth when the rains return. àLalvoe, eupliorbiaceae, mimosoe, and such like, are the prevailing types on the Rio Francisco; cactuses, palms, and ferns, abound on the Serra do Mar. In this latter district the Ipecacuan flourishes best. It is, however, in the glowing steppes of Pernambuco that we find the cactus predominant. In the valley of the Paraguay the most striking feature is presented by the water plants, which in one river are sufficiently strong to impede the navigation of a stream both deep and broad.

The jaguar, the tapir, the pécari, the agouti, and many other animals, are common to Brazil with the rest of the South American continent. The simiae are numerous, and the simia apella and the simia cedipus (the smallest known species of ape) are indigenous to the country. The simia jacchus has never been seen elsewhere. There are several varieties of bats, of which the vespertilia sorcinus and the vampire bat are the most dangerous. Two species of sloth, the Eradypus tridactylus and didactylus, are not uncommon. The Brazilian birds are celebrated for the beauty of their plumage. “Red, blue, and green parrots,” says Malte-Brun, “frequent the tops of trees. The galinaceous jacus, the hoccos, and different kinds of pigeons, haunt the woods. The oriols resort to the orange groves; and their sentinels, stationed at a distance, announce with a screaming noise the approach of man. Chattering manakins mislead the hunter; and the metallic tones of the uraponga resound through the forest like the strokes of a hammer on an anvil. The toucan (Anser Americanus) is prized for its feathers, which are of a lemon and bright red colour, with transversal stripes reaching to the extremities of the wings. The different species of humming birds are more numerous in Brazil than in any other country of America. One sort is called by the people the Gnanthe engera or winged flower.” The gayest butterflies flutter through the air, the blue shining Menelaus, the Adonis, the Nestor, and the Laertes. More than ten species of wild bees have been observed in the woods; and the greater number produce honcy. The cactus coccinellifer, and the insect peculiar to it, are found in the province of S. Paulo. Ants are numerous and destructive, particularly in the southern provinces. Snakes, of which the sucuru is the most venomous, are frequent in moist places. Lizards and caymans abound. The quantity of turtle in the Amazons and its principal tributaries is almost incredible. The waters swarm with fish, of which the only one entitled to notice in a sketch like this is the paranha, the tyrant of the fresh waters, which divides with the cayman the terror and hatred of the inhabitants.

III. Statistics.— In the first division of this sketch we have pointed out how Brazil was gradually discovered and peopled. In the second we have attempted to describe the character of the land, and its natural products. It only remains to show the present number, condition, and character of its inhabitants, and how far they have availed themselves of the natural wealth which has been placed at their disposal. In the prosecution of this object w e shall endeavour to exhibit a view, 1. Of the amount and distribution of the population of Brazil, according to the latest authorities; 2. Of its social constitution, political, judicial, ecclesiastical, and military; 3. Of the character of its citizens in regard to their capacities of taste and intellect, and to their moral power; 4. Of the state of national industry and wealth in agriculture, manufactures, and trade foreign and domestic.

1. The latest authentic accounts of the population of any province of Brazil which have been received only reach to the year 1823; and the notices of the population at different periods are too scanty, and too indifferently authenticated, to admit of our deducing from them a ratio of increase by means of which we might estimate the present probable number of inhabitants. Besides, the circumstances of the different provinces vary too much to warrant an extension of the estimated ratio to those respecting which the data are defective or imperfect. For these reasons we are under the necessity of stating, with more particularity than we should otherwise have done, the data which we are really possessed of.

From the province of S. Paulo w e possess authenticated lists of the population in the years 1808, 1813, 1S14, and 1815. For the last of these years we have the numbers of white, black, and copper-coloured inhabitants; of males and females; of the births, deaths, and marriages [7:5:202]within the year, specifically stated. The round numbers are, in 1808, 200,478; in 1813, 209,219; in 1814, 211,928; and in 1815, 215,021. In 1815 this sum total was made up of the following parts :—
[table]

This population of 215,021 souls was scattered over a territory nearly of a square form, extending from twenty to twenty-seven degrees of south latitude, and from forty-six to fifty-five of west longitude. This extent gives an average of less than one inhabitant to each square mile. But 59,139 souls, or nearly one third of the whole, inhabit one city and three market-towns; a fact which affects the average density of the population. The number of births in 1815 was 10,106, of marriages 3120, and of deaths 4636. The deaths were to the whole population in a ratio of one to 46 ’ 38; the births were in a ratio of one to 2L28; and the deaths were to the births in a ratio of one to 2∙18. According to this proportion the population ought to double itself in little more than twenty-one years. But the real increase from 1808 to 1815 is, as nearly as may be, seven per cent.; and, according to this proportion, the population ought to double itself in less than sixteen years. Making allowance for the influx of emigrants from Europe, and the increase of manufactures, this latter ratio is probably nearer the truth. We have therefore for S. Paulo, at the close of 1831, a population of 430,042; but owing to the establishment of manufactures, and the influx of settlers, it is probably even more numerous.

The province of Minas Geraes is nearly 400 miles in length from north to south, and 280 in medium breadth. It lies due north of S. Paulo, more inland, equally elevated, and with a more uneven surface. Its population in 1808 was as follows :—
[table]

An estimate of the population of the same province in 1820 makes it amount to 456,675 freemen and 165,210 slaves; in all, 621,885. This statement is not however sufficiently authenticated. It is worthy of remark, that in 1808 Minas contained, with only the double of the population of S. Paulo, three and a half times as many black slaves, and nine times as many free negroes. The disproportion betwixt the numbers of male and female slaves is yet more glaring than in the last-mentioned province. The population of’ Minas is also less stationary. The Comarca of Villa Rica, which was held to contain only 72,209 inhabitants in 1813, is said to have had 78,618 as early as 1776. It may be remarked, however, that of late years agricultural and manufacturing industry have borne more healthy proportions to gold finding. Could we trust in the accuracy of the return of 1820, the population of Minas must have doubled since 1808, and must now amount to about 860,000 souls.

The population of Bahia amounted in 1823 to 592,908

souls, who were thus distributed over a surface of 84,000 square miles :—
[table]

The great superiority of numbers m the Comarca da Bahia is mainly owing to the number of negroes employed in the four hundred engenhos (sugar factories) within the reconcave, or valley surrounding the great inland sea, upon which the city stands. By referring to the table given above of the population of S. Paulo, the reader will see that there is a marked excess of male above female negro slaves; a proportion which also obtains in other provinces of Brazil. This fact, and the hard labour to which the class in question is condemned, forbid us to assume an equally speedy increase of their numbers with that of the other inhabitants. It is only in Sergippe d’el Rey that we have anv data for guessing· at the real increase.
[table]

or a little more than one third of the original population. Assuming the same ratio of increase to have held throughout the province since 1823, it would give us, for 1831, 790,544 souls.

We possess a return for Pernambuco in the year 1823, of 234,000 inhabitants. Subjoined to this return arc lists of the population of the northern sea-board provinces, Alagoas, Paraiba, Rio Grando do Norte, and Seara. These districts are extremely similar in their physical characteristics. The total of their inhabitants in 1823 was 654,800; while the number resident in Seara was 140,000. According to the parish registers, the same province, in 1813, contained 131,140; giving an increase of 8860, or something more than one fifteenth, during ten years. Other but less trust-worthy accounts make the population double in twenty-five years.

The two provinces of Para and Rio Negro include the whole basin of the Amazons. In 1820, a priest, resident at Para, who had bestowed great pains on the subject, stated the result of his investigations to Drs Spix and Martius as 83,510 for both captaincies. Of these he attributed 68,190 to Para, and 15,320 to Rio Negro. A return, in like manner including both provinces, was presented to the same gentlemen in 1823, representing their united population as 173,125. It appears that the wild Indians are reckoned here, and that they had been omitted in the return of 1820. In 1814 the population of Rio Negro was stated, in a very distinct and articulate report, to amount to 15,235 souls, being only 85 short of the sum attributed to it in 1820. This is in some degree accounted for by the fact that Martius, in the latter year, found the population in more than one district much decreased below what it had been six years before. Of the total population of Rio Negro 11,435 were Indians. Upon such data no calculations of [7:5:203]the probable increase are admissible. The following table enumerates the latest returns of every province from which any have been made, stating at the same time the authority upon which they are here given.
[table]

The total of these sums amounts to 2,809,803. It must, however, be taken into account that some of the returns are of an old date; that for three provinces there are none at all; and that in the cases of Rio Janeiro and Rio Grande do Sul only the inhabitants of the capital and suburbs are enumerated. We are therefore entitled to assume that in 1820, the medium year, the population of Brazil would probably have been underrated if estimated at 3,000,000. The time in which the population of Brazil doubles itself appears to vary in different provinces from fifteen to thirty years. The circumstances of the last ten years are such as to entitle us to believe that the inhabitants of that empire are now little short of 5,000,000.

This population is composed of the descendants of the aborigines, of negroes, and of persons of European descent. Here, as everywhere else, the copper-coloured race gives way before the other two. It is calculated that, on an average, 50,000 negroes arc annually imported into Brazil. The great disproportion, however, between the numbers of males and females, noticed above, and the natural tendency of human beings to multiply slowly in a state of slavery, seem to prevent any thing like a corresponding increase of numbers. By means of the numerous immigrations from Europe, the white race has hitherto been able to keep its ground. Of all the crosses between the different races, the mulatto seems to take most kindly with the soil and climate of Brazil. In S. Paulo in 1815 the total of white persons was 115,103; of negroes, 44,591; of Indians, 55,327. In the city of Rio Janeiro in 1817 a native Indian was a rarity; of 110,000 inhabitants it was estimated that two thirds were negroes. In Minas in 1808 the number of Europeans was 106,684; of persons of mixed blood, 145,393; of negroes, 180,972. The united population of Gram Para and Rio Negro amounted in 1820 to 83,510 souls. Of these, 50,000 were, according to a rude estimate, Indians. In 1814 Rio Negro alone contained 15,235 inhabitants, of whom 11,435 were Indians, 3,071 free whites and negroes, and 729 slaves without distinction of colour. The law of Brazil admits the distinction between freeman and slave; but once free, every individual without regard to colour, is equal in the eye of the law.

2. As nothing has a greater share in impressing upon a nation its peculiar character than the form of its government, it will be necessary to make ourselves masters of the social institutions of Brazil, before we can attempt to judge of its citizens either in their moral or economical relations. Brazil is a constitutional monarchy, without a privileged aristocracy. In such a state the monarch can only act in consonance with the laws. It will therefore be advisable, in the first place, to give some idea of the representative legislature, which is thus endowed with the power of regulating his actions.

The legislative power is vested in the general assembly, consisting of two chambers, that of deputies and that of senators. The deputies and senators arc nominated by indirect election; the body of qualified citizens choosing the electors in parochial assemblies, and the latter nominating the provincial representatives. The existing provinces, enumerated above under the head of population, may be subdivided, and each portion erected into a province whenever the increased number of inhabitants justifies such a step. The qualification for an elector is an annual income of 200 milrees; that of a deputy an income of 400. Minors, military officers, priests, monks, servants, and paupers, are incapable of voting; naturalized foreigners, and persons not professing the religion of the state, are incapable of being elected. The deputies arc elected for four years, in each of which there must be a session of four months, opening on the 3d of May. The senators are elected for life. Every province has a number of senators, equal to half its number of deputies; but they arc nominated in triple lists, from which the emperor selects one third at his pleasure. A senator must be forty years of age, and possess a clear annual income of 800 milrees. The salary of a senator is one half more than that of a deputy. Each house nominates its own officers. When the two houses sit in general assembly, the president of the senate presides, and the senators and deputies sit promiscuously. They assemble in this way to take the oath of the emperor; to elect a regent; to nominate a tutor to the emperor when minor; on the death of an emperor, to institute an inquiry into the administration which has just concluded, and to reform abuses; and to select a new dynasty, in case the old has become extinct. They sit apart, and proceed by way of bill, when they make laws, interpret, or suspend them; they determine the public charges, and assess the direct contributions; fix the ordinary and extraordinary forces by sea and land, on the report of the government; authorize the contraction of loans by government; regulate the administration of national domains, and decree their alienation; create and suppress public employments; control weights and measures, and the standard of exchange. The chamber of deputies has the initiative in taxes, in recruiting, and in the choice of a new dynasty. The senate has the exclusive privilege of taking cognizance of offences committed by members of the royal family, counsellors of state, senators, and deputies, during the time of session; of enforcing the responsibility of secretaries and counsellors of state; of convoking the assembly, in case the emperor fail to do so within two months after the period fixed by law; and also of calling it together on the death of the emperor. The assembly, in addition to its legislative powers, is likewise entitled to act as the emperor’s great council of state.

In accordance with the counsels given and the laws [7:5:204]enacted by this body, the emperor exercises the supreme executive functions of the state. This he does through the instrumentality of his ministers, who are responsible for treason, corruption, abuse of power, acts contrary to the liberty, security, or property of subjects, and waste of public property. From this responsibility they cannot escape upon the plea of orders from the emperor. The executive functions are, the convocation of the general assembly; the nomination of bishops, governors of towns and provinces, commanders by sea and land, and ambassadors; the formation of alliances and the initiative of foreign negociations; the declaration of peace and war; the granting letters of naturalization, &c. The ministers are, secretaries of state, of transmarine affairs and marine, and of foreign affairs; a head of the treasury, with a grand and second treasurer, a director of the bank, and a fiscal; a head of the board of trade; a president of the consistorial board; a commander in chief, and a head of police, with his lieutenant. To these is adjoined a council of state, composed of ten members nominated by the emperor, and having the imperial prince, if of age, for president. With these counsellors and assistants the sovereign manages the national affairs. Matters of local economy and municipal police are regulated in the provinces by presidents nominated by the sovereign, and removable at pleasure, checked by elective chambers of districts; in the cities and towns, by councils of management elected by the inhabitants.

The financial arrangements of Brazil fall under two heads, the general and national, administered by the head of the treasury and his subordinates, under the control of the chambers; and the local, exercised by the provincial authorities, under the corresponding check of “the councils general of the provinces” and the municipal councils. The general assembly controls the management of those revenues which, formerly appertaining to the crown, are now termed national; it determines the annual expenditure, and assesses those taxes which are necessary in addition to the income from the domains and regalia. The customs payable on goods passing from one province to another have been remitted. All exports of Brazilian produce pay a duty of two per cent. Imports from Portugal and England pay a duty of fifteen per cent. Foreign wines pay thrice the duty laid upon those of home growth; and foreign brandies twice and a half. All other merchandise pays a duty of twenty-four per cent. Slaves pay an additional duty, the half of which is deposited in the bank to form a fund to aid in settling colonies of Europeans. The direct taxes are, dizimo, a tenth levied upon all products of agriculture, pasturage, and the fisheries; subsidio nacional, an import upon fresh meat, hides, brandies, and cotton cloth prepared within the land; a capitation tax for the bank of Brazil from every merchant and tradesman; a tax upon official incomes, &c. These are collected into the treasury, partly by the agency of salaried officials, but more frequently by means of the Bank. This institution farms most of the regalia; and, in the matter of customs and imposts, it is in the habit of making advances upon the pledge of the yet unliquidated duties. The financial arrangements of the provinces are those of the state in miniature. The repeal of all duties payed upon the transit of merchandise from one province to another; the immense sums surreptitiously carried off by the greedy court of Joam VI. when he fled from Rio; and, above all, the commotions of the last ten years, co-operating with the inefficiency of the late head of the government, threw the finances of Brazil into a state of derangement from which they have not yet recovered. In September 1823 the state debt amounted to 30,500,000 cruzadoes. The estimated ordinary revenue for the half year, 1,767,000 milrees, was less than the expenditure by the sum of 900,000. The local revenues were also equally deficient. The annual deficit of Minas Geraes amounted to 60,000 milrees; that of Goyaz to nearly 20,000; that of Matto Grosso to 10,544; that of S. Catharina to 34,870; and so of the rest. The charges thrown upon the treasury by these deficiencies amounted to 280,000 milrees yearly. Recourse has been had to forced loans and contributions, to donations, sequestrations, and, finally, to a foreign loan; but the difficulties still remain unsubdued.

There are in Brazil justices of the peace, elected at the same time and in the same manner as the deputies. Without previously attempting a reconciliation with his adversary before one of these, no person is entitled to bring a cause into court. Trial by jury is the constitutional form in all courts of the first instance, both in civil and in criminal cases. There arc courts of appeal in the principal cities. In Rio there is in addition a supreme tribunal of justice, in which judges, selected from the other courts, preside according to their seniority. The duties of this tribunal are to permit or refuse the revision of causes proposed to be submitted to the courts of appeal; to inquire into abuses committed by its own officers or those of other courts, of persons connected with the diplomatic body, and of the presidents of the provinces; and to investigate and decide on disputes respecting the jurisdiction of the provincial courts. In the courts of the first instance, which are twenty-four in number, one in each comarca of the empire, a judge entitled Ouvidor presides. Appeals lie from these to the courts of the second instance, at Para, Maranhao, Pernambuco, Goyaz, and Bahia, whose decisions are reviewable by the Pelaçao of Bahia; Rio Janeiro, Minas Geraes, Matto Grosso, and S. Paulo, are reviewable by that of Rio. All judges are responsible for abuses of power, and for corruption, but can only be displaced in consequence of a sentence. In an imperfectly settled country, and where some traces of the feudal character of its first organization may yet be found in the language of the laws and the intermingling boundaries of districts, disputes regarding jurisdiction are of too frequent occurrence. The body of the law has been transplanted from Portugal, occasionally modified by new relations or later enactments, but, in the main, a scarcely coalescing mixture of the Roman and canon law, with enactments the native growth of the mother country.

The Catholic Apostolic Roman religion is the religion of the empire. All other religions arc tolerated, and allowed a domestic celebration of their rites, but without any external form of temple. The church of Rome being in its leading characteristics the same throughout the world, a particular description may be here dispensed with. There is one archbishopric in Brazil, that of Bahia. Its suffragans are the bishoprics of Rio Janeiro and Pernambuco. Maranhao, on account of the difficult navigation between that town and Bahia, had its bishopric subjected to the archiepiscopal jurisdiction of Lisbon. It is now independent. The diocese of Para was so from the first. The district originally subjected to the bishop of Rio Janeiro has subsequently been subdivided, in order to erect the additional dioceses of S. Paulo and Mariana, and the prelacies of Goyaz and Matto Grosso. The whole of Brazil is subdivided into parishes, to each of which one or more officiating priests are attached. Government has expended little money on the clergy, but this omission has been abundantly supplied by legacies and donations from individuals. There are several cloisters of Franciscans and Dominicans, and an immense number of Hermits.

Among the ministers of the empire, we have mentioned a head of the literary department. One of the most∣ important taxes imposed by government is the subsidio [7:5:205]literario, an impost for the maintenance of teachers, upon every ox killed in the shambles; upon rum, and in some provinces upon the salted provisions brought from the interior. In every villa (market-town) there is a “Latin school,” an institution for teaching the elements of language and an acquaintance with the classics. In S. Paulo, Bahia, and Maranhao, we find gymnasia, with somewhat higher pretensions. In every episcopal seat there is a theological seminary, in which candidates for orders are obliged to pass a certain number of years in the study of philosophy and divinity. In 1827 two schools of law were instituted, one at S. Paulo and one at Pernambuco. The course lasts five years. The first two are devoted to prelections on the law of nature and of nations, and an analysis of the constitution; during the third and fourth, the laws of Brazil, maritime and mercantile law, are the subject of study; during the fifth, political economy and finance. For such as wish it, there is a course of canon law during the second year. Rio de Janeiro possesses a lyceum and an aula de cirurgia. In the former of these are taught Latin, Greek, French and English, rhetoric, geography, mathematics, philosophy, and theology. In the latter, the students are bound to attend, during the first year, anatomy, chemistry, and pharmacy; during the second, the same, with the addition of physiology; during the third, pathology, therapeutics, and the practice of medicine; during the fourth., surgery and midwifery; during the fifth, clinical surgery. The students have admission to the military hospital, and such as choose may attend the lectures on botany and natural history, the botanical garden, and the museum. There is also in the capital a military and a commercial academy. In addition to the public institutions for the promotion of education here enumerated, schools of mutual instruction have of late years been founded in most towns and cities by private individuals.

6. The constitution of Brazil recognises the necessity of a permanent naval and military force, but without determining its amount. It can only be assembled by legitimate command, and is under the executive power. Officers of the army and navy cannot be deprived of their commissions but by the sentence of a competent tribunal. In 1826 the regular army was estimated by General Miller at from 15,000 and 16,000 men. Of these, 3500, consisting partly of foreigners, were stationed in the capital; and the rest were dispersed throughout the provinces. Thus, in S. Paulo there might be a regiment of dragoons and one of infantry, in detachments on the coast, at the capital of the province, and at the custom-houses on the frontier, ln Bahia the troops of the line generally amounted to upwards of 3000 men, infantry, artillery, and cavalry. In 1823 the Brazilian navy consisted of one line of battle ship carrying seventy-eight guns; three frigates carrying forty-four, thirty-eight, and thirty-two; two corvettes carrying thirty-two and twenty-two; two schooners carrying twenty and sixteen; a fire-ship and a gun-boat. Besides the regular troops, every Brazilian capable of bearing arms is enrolled either in the milicias or the ordenanzas. The former are commanded by chiefs of their own appointment (coroneis) having under them a major from the regular army, appointed by government; they are subject to military law, and liable to serve, in case of need, beyond the limits of the province; they receive no pay. The orde-ηαηzαs are commanded by capitâes móres; they are only liable to serve in case of invasion; and they discharge in a great measure the duties of a local police. General Miller speaks slightingly of the regular troops of Brazil; and here we believe him to be in the right. Its milicias and orde~ nanzas he regards with the supercilious contempt natural to a military man; and here we believe him to be in the wrong.

3. It is obvious, from the insufficient establishments for general education, that the intellectual development of individuals must be achieved in a great measure by unaided exertion. In the more thinly inhabited districts devotion to such pursuits must not be expected in men exclusively occupied in procuring subsistence and securing self-defence. Even where the population is more dense, a lazy feeling of animal comfort represses the exertions of the majority. It is among the more aspiring class, who aim at the learned professions or state employment, and who are consequently obliged to cultivate their minds, that we must look for that attachment to intellectual pursuits which is rarely acquired except from habit. In the theological seminaries established at the seat of each bishop, little more is inculcated than a knowledge of the classics, an outworn scholastic system of losic, and a knowledge of the routine duties of a priest. This is a system of tuition only calculated to deaden the mental faculties. The school of medicine in Rio Janeiro, from the attention bestowed upon practical surgery and anatomy, has done more to awaken the mind; but this is only one bright spot in a realm of darkness. The number of situations under government requiring a certain knowledge of practical mathematics and natural history, rendered necessary by the system of working the mines so long pursued, has been more efficient in diffusing throughout the empire a knowledge of and a taste for these kindred pursuits. The number of foreign engineers and naturalists encouraged to settle in Brazil has rendered the natives in some measure acquainted with all that has been of late achieved in Europe in the mathematical and experimental sciences. Late events have forced upon the inhabitants a number of political questions, which, coming home to every man’s business and bosom, have excited the whole community'. As yet, however, the intellect of Brazil seems to be rather in the process of awakening to a consciousness of its existence, than capable of effecting any thing. Printing presses are everywhere sought after. In 1823, Rio alone had thirteen political journals, the other towns and provinces in proportion. Several attempts had been made to establish periodical publications devoted to geographical and natural science. New libraries were founded, and the old ones extended and better arranged. But nothing new has yet been produced in Brazil beyond the contribution of additional facts in mineralogy, botany r , and astronomy. The power of systematic and independent thinking has not yet shown itself.

In the matter of taste, the Brazilians have only added one poet to the literature of the Portuguese language. Gonzaga was at one time ouvidor in the Comarca of S. Joao d’cl Rey in Minas Geraes; but having taken part in an attempt to revolutionize the province about the commencement of the French Revolution, he was banished to Angola, where he afterwards died. His poems are all lyrical. A collection of them has been published under the title “Marilia de Dircea ;” and many more are preserved by popular tradition. They are characterized by delicacy of fancy and diction, and tenderness of feeling. Everywhere in Brazil a strong native taste for music evinces itself. The native tribes, in contradistinction to the negroes, who evince feeling only for melody, are deeply sensible of the charms of harmony. Among all classes, however, the guitar and song form the principal evening’s amusement. Spix and Martius found this to hold good among the courtiers of Rio de Janeiro, among the sturdy Paulistas, on the Sertâos of Minas, and in the mercantile Bahia. The simplicity of the national instrument is unfavourable to the culture of a high order of music. In Rio, however, much was done under the patronage of Dorn Pedro for the cultivation of the science, and not without effect.
[7:5:206]

An academy of the fine arts has likewise been established in that capital for many years; but its ill success seems to betray a want of feeling for the beauties of painting and sculpture. The drama, which calls into requisition all these arts, is at a very low ebb. The actors are chiefly vagabond mestizzoes; and the decorations of the stage are on a par with the performers. In art and literature, as in science, those Brazilians who are enlightened enough to find pleasure in such pursuits, rely entirely upon the productions of other countries, principally those of France and England. The sensibility to imaginative pleasure exists, but the power of producing the objects which excite it is wanting.

We have prefixed these brief sketches of the progress of the Brazilians in knowledge and art to that of their moral condition, because the state of the latter is mainly dependent upon them. Only where wealth and a complicated state of society have developed the intellectual powers and refined the sentiments, can any thing approaching to elevated and consistent goodness be found. Within the limits of Brazil, and even without having recourse to her savage population, may be discovered specimens of every stage of moral development. In the populous cities on the coast, and in the seats of local government in the interior, there are men entitled to rank with the educated classes of any country in Europe. More enlightened minds, with greater power of self-denial and endurance, have been displayed nowhere than in the course of the Brazilian revolutions. The mass of the people, however, is entirely destitute of education, unrefined, and the creature of impulse. The continuance of the slave-trade tends yet more surely to harden their minds. The larger towns present the same spectacles of brutal excess in animal enjoyment among a certain class that we find in Europe. Murders are more frequent. The most elevated class of the population, in respect to the general diffusion of the sense of moral obligation, is to be found in S. Paulo and in Minas Geraes. The source of the superiority of the former has been adverted to in our historical sketch. In the latter, it may fairly be attributed to the prevalence cf that sect which still persists in expecting the return of king Sebastian. Whenever a sect adopts as one of its first principles a high standard of self-control, we may be sure that the effect will be to ennoble the majority of its disciples. The scattered population towards the interior frontier presents not unfrequently specimens of the most daring defiance of every dictate of religion,'reason, or human feeling.

The branch of national industry includes, agriculture, manufactures, and fisheries, or production; commerce, foreign and domestic, or distribution.

4. In Rio Grande, the most southerly province of the empire, the soil is principally in pasture, and the chief occupation of the inhabitants the feeding of cattle. The animals are of a large size, and the herds are numerous. They are allowed to wander at large under the superintendence of a few half wild Creoles and Negroes. There are no dairy establishments. Butter and cheese are only made on particular occasions, and even milk for coffee is not always to be had. The quantity of wheat grown in the province is considerable, but farming is carried on in a slovenly manner. The grain is dirty, and apt to ferment. The island of S. Catharina, immediately to the north, has been cleared of its timber for the purpose of shipbuilding, and is almost entirely under cultivation. The agricultural produce of the island in 1812 is stated in an official paper to have been :—Mandiocca meal, 388,361 alqueires; maize, 16,968 ditto; garlic, 16,506 ditto; onions, 10,472; wheat, 3365 ditto; rice, 18,723 quintals; coffee, J2,592 ditto; cotton, 2270 ditto; flax, 1798 ditto; mo lasses, 7118 pipas; sugar, 712 quintals; ox-hides, 35,900. The wheat, it will be observed, bears but a very small proportion to those products which are most successfully cultivated within the tropics. What is commonly called in England colonial produce, begins here to be the staple, and continues so along the whole coast of Brazil, until we reach the equator. The province of S. Paulo is most densely inhabited, and consequently best cultivated along the coast. This is the reason why, with the finest and most extensive pastoral country in Brazil, the value of its cattle in 1814 did not amount to one fifth of the whole agricultural produce of the province. Coffee either does not succeed, or is not a favourite object of cultivation; for the quantity produced by this province is less than that which is grown in S. Catharina. Sugar has begun to improve, and continues to do so as we move northward. The produce of the sugar plantations of S. Paulo in 1814 was 122,993 arrobas of sugar, and 233 pipas of rum, independently of an immense quantity of sugar syrup prepared for home consumption. The quantity of mandiocca raised in the same year was 111,460 alqueires; of maize, 723,989 ditto; of rice, 120,860; while of wheaten flour there was only 5050 arrobas. The colonial produce, in addition to sugar, was, cotton, 54,222 arrobas; tobacco, 9596 ditto; coffee, 4867 ditto; castor-oil, 179 canada. The most important agricultural products in the province of Rio Janeiro are sugar, coffee, and cotton. The first mentioned is cultivated most extensively between the mountains, and in the warm and moist district. In the neighbourhood of the capital itself we find the greatest quantity of sugar plantations. In 1817, 60,000 arrobas of sugar were exported from Rio, but whether it was all produced within the province, does not appear. The coffee of Rio Janeiro is esteemed the best in Brazil. This is owing to the instructions and example of Lesesne, an intelligent gentleman of St Domingo, who, driven from home by the revolution in that island, commenced a plantation in the neighbourhood of Rio, and, through the superior demand occasioned by the excellence of his berries, stimulated his neighbours to follow his example. Rio produced 299,000 arrobas of sugar in 1817, and 470,846 in 1820; an immense increase in quantity, independently of the improvement in quality. We have no exact accounts of the quantity of cotton annually collected in this province. It is said to yield a less lasting cloth than the cotton raised in the more elevated and drier districts of the country. Some attempts made to introduce the tea plant in the neighbourhood of Rio have failed, apparently from want of perseverance. The trees look healthy and luxuriant; and a slight tinge of earthiness, which is perceptible in the flavour of the decoction of the leaf, is attributed by naturalists solely to the want of a sufficiently long acclimatization. A quantity of tobacco is raised in the islands of the bay of Rio; and, together with what is brought from Espirito Santo, it may amount, one year with another, to 30,000 quintals. Of the agriculture of the province just named, and its neighbour Porto Seguro, the preceding sentence contains all the information we have been able to collect. The chief agricultural product of Bahia is sugar, and the most luxuriant growth of its sugar canes is in the Reconcave in the immediate neighbourhood of the city. The surface of the ground in its original state is covered with marshy hollows, which, when drained of their superfluous waters, are found filled with a light alluvial earth, most favourable to the growth of the sugar cane. This gift the skill of the Bahian planters has turned to the best advantage. Tobacco was wont to come next to sugar in the Reconcave; at present it is most extensively cultivated in the neighbourhood of Cachoeira, though even there a falling off has been observed. There [7:5:207]is proportionally little coffee raised in Bahia, and that little in the Comarca dos Ilheos, the rudest and most wretched district of the province. The fruit is much inferior to that of Rio, probably on account of the slovenly manner in which it is gathered and dried. Rice returns from two to three hundred times the seed. In the year 1817 the sugar raised in Bahia was estimated at 1,200,000 arrobas, the tobacco at 660,000, the coffee at 10,000, the rice at 18,000. Maize thrives here, but its cultivation is much neglected. An enterprising Swiss in 1817 set the example of forming artificial meadows in the neighbourhood of the city; and they are said by eye-witnesses to have equalled the best in England. The high price of fodder secured him an ample reward. The chief difficulty he encountered arose from the poisonous snakes which swarm in all marshy places. All kinds of European fruits and vegetables succeed in the Reconcave, but are more exposed to the depredations of ants, snails, and birds, than native plants. The chief products of Pernambuco are vanilla, cocoa, rice, sugar, and cotton. The quality of the last-mentioned article grown in this province was at one time esteemed as the best in the world. Of late years it has much deteriorated, from neglect in the gathering and cleaning. Notwithstanding, the quantity exported in 1829 amounted to no less than 80,000 bags. In the interior of this province grazing is carried on to such an extent as has procured for it the title of the Switzerland of Brazil. The staple commodities of Seara are cotton and sugar. The other provinces along the coast, including Maranhao, exhibit nothing different in their agricultural products from those last described; on the shore the sugar-cane, farther inland cotton, and in the interior cattle. The produce of Gram Para presents nothing materially differing; that of Rio Negro, consisting chiefly of natural produce, scarcely comes under the head of agriculture. The provinces respecting the agriculture of which we have now to speak are the three great inland districts, Minas Geraes, Goyaz, and Matto Grosso. Of the last, too little is known to entitle us to say any thing. The agriculture of Goyaz is trifling, and almost identical in character with that of the interior of S. Paulo. The southern portion of Minas consists chiefly of pasture lands. Some attempts have been made to introduce oats, barley, and wheat; but these cerealia were found to run uniformly to straw, and their ears to ripen unequally. In the northern comarcas cotton has been cultivated with great success. In point of quality that of Minas Novas is esteemed second to none but that of Pernambuco. There seems, however, to be a great waste of surface in the mode of culture generally adopted. The land is first cleared for the plantation by burning, which is effected during the dry months. In January a number of holes are made in the earth about two or three feet apart, and five or six seeds are dropped into each and covered lightly with earth. The harvest occurs in the September of the second year. In the course of two years fresh ground is chosen and the same process repeated. The cotton-grower allows as long an interval as he can afford to elapse before he returns to a spot which has already been cultivated. This superficial view of the agriculture of Brazil argues a country of the most exuberant fertility, in which are not reared many products of the earth that might succeed; while the limited number produced, with the exception of coffee in Rio, and sugar in Bahia, are cultivated in a rude and slovenly manner. Cacao, ginger, various kinds of pepper, tobacco, and indigo, all of which experience has shown to be suited to the soil and climate, are neglected. Oxen, horses, and mules, are rather the gift of nature than the reward of assiduous attention.

Except a few rude manufactures for family use, this branch of national industry is in Brazil confined to mining operations, the smelting of metals, the polishing of precious stones, the manufacture of salt, ship-building, tanning and dressing hides, and the making of oil. In regard to the first mentioned, it may be observed that one most important mineral, coal, has hitherto only been discovered at two places in Brazil, Bahia and Rio Grande. At both, however, the smallness of the quantity and the situation of the veins has rendered working it with advantage impossible. On this account it has been necessary to employ charcoal in obtaining the metals from the ores; and hence everywhere in the neighbourhood of mines charring is a business which employs a good many hands. The wasteful manner in which the operation has hitherto been carried on is already beginning to be felt even in the immense forests of Brazil. Of late, however, scientific foresters have been encouraged by government to emigrate from Europe.

The diamond washings, with the exception of -a few, of which but little is known, are confined to the diamond district in Minas Geraes, and are still conducted on the ill-judged system of a government monopoly. The cascalhao, mentioned above, is dug up and removed to a convenient place for washing. As much is raised during the rainy months as is expected to give employment to the slaves for the other six. It is deposited in heaps of from five to fifteen tons. A shed is erected in the form of a parallelogram twenty-five or thirty yards long and about fifteen wide, composed of upright posts supporting a thatched roof. A stream of water is conveyed down the middle of the area of this shed, covered with strong planks, on which the cascalhao is laid two or three feet thick. On one side of the canal is a flooring of planks from four to five yards long, imbedded in clay, extending the whole length of the shed, and having a slope from the canal of three or four inches to a yard. This flooring is divided into twenty compartments or troughs, each of about three feet in width, by means of planks set on edge. The upper end of each trough communicates with the canal. Three overseers take their scats at equal distances on high chairs placed on the heaps of cascalhao, on the side of the canal opposite to the troughs. As soon as they are seated a negro enters into each compartment, provided with a short handled rake, with which he draws to him fifty or eighty lbs. of cascalhao. He then lets in water upon this, and keeps stirring it with his rake until the earthy particles are washed off; upon which, throwing out the largest stones, he carefully examines the rest for diamonds. As soon as he finds one he rises and holds it out between his finger and thumb; an overseer receives it from him, and deposits it in a bowl half full· of water, suspended from the centre of the structure. At the close of the day’s labour the diamonds obtained are taken from this deposit and delivered to the principal overseer, who weighs and registers them. On an average the mines yield 20,000 carats annually. The establishment is burdened with a load of debt incurred to foreigners for advances of money at the time that government first took it in hand. It is calculated that the diamonds cost government 33s. 9d. per carat. The washings give employment and support to a population of about 6000. The trade in gems which have not been deemed of sufficient importance to be claimed as regalia, centres in Minas Novas. The dealers in precious stones have their residence for the most part in Chapada. The greater part are sent in a state of nature to Bahia and Rio Janeiro; some, however, are polished, rudely enough, in the neighbourhood.

The gold country extends over Minas Geraes, Goyaz, Matto Grosso, and part of S. Paulo. In all these districts the winning of this metal is pursued in a manner exactly similar. It is found either in the beds of rivers, or in veins, at times [7:5:208] twenty fleet under the surface, at times close under the roots of the grass. Like diamonds, it is found intermingled with casgalhao. This mass, with the auriferous particles, is removed from its site to a convenient place for washing. Where water of a sufficiently high level can be obtained, the ground is cut into slips twenty or thirty feet wide, two or three broad, and one deep. Near the bottom is a trench two or three feet deep. On these steps the cascalhao is deposited, and on each stand six or eight negroes, keeping it in motion with shovels as the water flows gently upon it from above, until the whole is reduced to liquid mud and washed down. In the trench the particles of gold, from their weight, quickly precipitate. Other negroes are busy clearing away the stones and removing the surface mud. After five days’ washing the precipitate is carried to some convenient stream. Here each negro is provided with a bowl of a funnel shape, about two feet wide at the mouth, and five or six inches deep. Standing in the stream, he takes about six lbs. of the sediment into his bowl, admits regulated portions of water, and keeps moving the sediment until the gold deposit itself at the sides and bottom øf the vessel. He then rinces the bowl in a larger vessel of clean water, and begins again. This operation occupies about five minutes. When the particles of gold in the sediment are very minute, troughs similar to those employed in diamond-washing, but longer and narrower, are constructed. On their bottoms are stretched hides, tanned with the hair on, or pieces of rough baize. The water containing the sediment is conveyed down these, and the gold precipitating in the course is entangled in the rough surface. Every half hour the hides are carried to a neighbouring tank, stretched over it, dipped, and beaten repeatedly. The gold is found at the bottom of these reservoirs mingled with esmeril, from which it is separated by the aid of mercury. The whole business is carried on in a most cumbrous, inartificial, and wasteful manner. The gold thus procured is brought to the nearest mint, where the crown’s fifths arc deducted, and the rest refined and melted. The deliverer may either have his gold in the form of an ingot with the public stamp, or he may have a receipt for it, which entitles him to receive the amount from any mint in Brazil. This business gives employment to the great bulk of the population in Minas Geraes, in Matto Grosso, and in Goyaz. The amount of metal obtained we have no means of ascertaining with any degree of exactness. Minas alone, it has been calculated, yields, in the form of royal fifths, no less than 150 arrobas. The annual produce of Matto Grosso has been estimated at twenty arrobas. When the fifths were first imposed (in 1753) in Goyaz, they yielded annually a sum of L.67,155; but since that period the quantity of gold obtained has been gradually diminishing.

The iron of Brazil has hitherto been almost entirely neglected, although no country is richer in this invaluable metal. In 1817-20 there were, as far as we have been able to learn, only the following iron-works in the empire: 1. That of Ypanema, in the province of S. Paulo. The immense deposit of magnetic iron ore in this neighbourhood was long worked in an unsatisfactory manner. In 1810 a company of Swedish miners and founders settled there, and erected two small refining furnaces. In 1807 they produced yearly 4000 arrobas of iron, which was manufactured on the spot into horses’ shoes, nails, locks, and other articles. A larger establishment, with two smelting and several refining furnaces, and bellows moved by water, had been built at that time, but was waiting for workmen from Germany. Nothing more has been learned of its fate. 2. To the north-west of Antonio Pereira, near the centre of Minas, Eschwege erected a small iron foundery in 1816, and intrusted the management of it to a German overseer. The daily produce was in 1818 two arrobas. It was worked up on the spot into hatchets, knives, bill-hooks, horse-shoes, and nails. 3. At Gaspar Soares, in the same province, a foundery on a large scale was erected in 1812 at the king’s expense. ‘ It consisted of one smelting and two refining furnaces. The first mentioned had never been used, and the other two were lying idle when visited by Spix and Martius. The ore is excellent, and a canal might be dug at comparatively little expense, to the navigable portion of the Rio Doce. There were several furnaces in the province belonging to private individuals, and a considerable quantity of iron was brought from Rio, but still the supply was deficient.

The most important salt country in Brazil commences; at the Rio de Śalitre, a tributary of the Rio de S. Francisco, about six leagues from Joazeiro. At this place an artificial hollow extends along the river for the space of 60,000 square feet, and a fine, soft, ochre-coloured earth forms the bottom of the trough. The annual floods melt the saline particles contained in this mould; and when the river falls, a salt pool is left. The heat of the sun then evaporates the water, and the surface is left covered with hollow quadrangular pyramids of the salt. The soil is of a similar conformation along the bed of the S. Francisco for an extent of nearly two degrees of longitude, and everywhere nearly thirty leagues in breadth. Hollows, such as we have described, natural or artificial, are scattered over the whole extent. These are the salt-mines of the country. The greater number belong to the wealthy landholders on the Rio de S. Francisco; but many, especially on the western side, are yet unappropriated, and may be worked by any one. At certain seasons this district is visited by immense multitudes, some coming from very great distances. The earth is dug up to the depth of an inch, and deposited in wooden troughs; then water is poured upon it, which absorbs the salt. The earth is allowed to subside, upon which the water impregnated with salt is drawn off into another trough, and left to crystallize in the heat of the sun. The salt is packed in four-cornered bags of cow-hide, each containing from thirty to forty lbs. A plate of salt is valued at from twenty to forty rees; a sack at from 300 to 400. The annual produce of the salines exceeds 35,000 sacks. Salines nearly as productive are found at the sources of the Paraguay, in Matto Grosso; and considerable quantities of salt are manufactured on the shores of the northern provinces. Between the salt district and the hills saltpetre occurs in great quantities. Fifteen leagues above the Rio de Salitrc, large caves are found in the limestonerock, filled with black earth, which sometimes contains three fourths of its weight in saltpetre. This is washed out, and the water heated to a certain degree, in order that it may deposit the culinary salt; the saltpetre is then left to crystallize. A similar process is followed at Formigas, near the source of the S. Francisco.

Ship-building is diligently pursued at more than one sta-í tion along the coast. The port of S. Francisco is the most' southerly point at which the construction of vessels is carried on to any extent. Vessels of large size, and a number of small craft for coasters, arc built here. The demand for ship-carpenters is always brisk. To the north of Bahia, on account of the reef, the ships built are generally of a small tonnage. Laranjeiras, Itapicurù, and Villa do Conde, build vessels capable of holding from 4000 to 8000 arrobas of lading. Pcrnambuco fits out a great number of small craft. The royal docks at Bahia are small, and few ships of war are built there; but such as are have the character of surpassing even the East Indian vessels in durability. Merchant ships are for the most part built at Tapagipe, about a league and a half to the north-east of the city. We have [7:5:209]no trust-worthy account of the probable amount of capital invested in ship-building.

The whale-fishing is here in its appropriate place. The stations of this fishery are S. Catharina, Itaparica, and Bahia. It is only pursued in small boats near the shore. The pans in which the blubber is boiled are small, and heated by common stoves. The receivers are extremely apt to collect dust and dirt of all kinds. Throughout Brazil, not above 100 fish, great and small, are taken in the course of a year. Each yields, on an average, from fourteen to eighteen pipas (150 gallons English each) of train oil; and the value of this oil, together with the whalebone, may amount to L.150. On the islands of the Solimoes (Upper Amazons) a considerable quantity of oil is yearly collected from the eggs of the turtle, which are dug up, broken in the boats, and left till the light oil separates and swims on the top. It is boiled and separated from the impurities, when it assumes the colour and consistence of lard. This product is deposited in earthen pots containing fifty or sixty pounds each. Of these more than 8000 are yearly prepared on the Amazons. The Madeira yields 1000. The drying and salting of fish is carried on to a considerable extent along the seacoast, on the Amazons, and upon a large lake near the salines on the Rio de Francisco. A coarse kind of woollen cloth for home consumption is manufactured at S. Paulo. Hats are made at S. Joâo d’el Rey. There is an establishment for the manufacture of arras in the town of S. Paulo; a powder-mill in the neighbourhood of Rio, and one of less importance in Minas. A coarse cotton cloth is woven in Goyaz, Maranhao, and Sergippe d’el Rey, used to clothe the slaves, or form bags for packing cotton. In S. Paulo, Goyaz, and Para, tanning is carried on to a small extent.

Nothing serves better to convey a just notion of the state of trade in a nation than a knowledge of the state of its circulating medium, and the means of communication between one place and another. The sums of gold, annually paid into the Brazilian treasury under the designation of fifths, might afford ample materials for a metallic currency. The great quantities of bullion, however, annually shipped for Europe, for the East Indian and China trade, have counteracted the tendency of this arrangement. The amount of metallic currency even in Rio it has been found impossible to ascertain with any degree of accuracy, the drains occurring at such irregular intervals. Interest has been known to rise at once from twelve per cent., the average rate, to twenty or even twenty-two per cent. In Minas, the proprietors of the mines are in the habit of allowing their gold to remain at the mint, and take a receipt in exchange, which circulates freely through the whole of Brazil. The metallic currency in Minas Novas in 1818 did not amount to 80,000. At the salines on the Rio Francisco salt is used as a medium of exchange. In the interior the primitive mode of barter is still of frequent occurrence. Previous to 1808 a bank issuing notes was established in Rio by a company of the wealthiest merchants and capitalists. As the institution grew in wealth, it ventured to establish an insurance company, and to farm several of the regalia. Officers of state in the different provinces now began to deposit a part of their salaries in the bank, and rich landed proprie«· tors their monied capital. In 1808 the bank was erected by royal charter into the bank of Brazil. Since that time it has taken the active share in financial arrangements, to which we have already alluded. The sums of money abstracted by the king when he quitted the country in 1821, and several underhand transactions, are believed to have materially shattered the funds of the bank; its notes nevertheless retain their credit, and circulate in every province of Brazil.

The intercourse between place and place in Brazil is effected in three different manners; along the coast by small coasting craft, drawing about ten feet of water; on the rivers by boats manned on Tin average with twelve rowers and a steersman, besides the supercargo; towards the embouchures of the rivers larger vessels are in use; on the dry land, along roads, or rather tracks, by means of troops of mules, for, except in Rio and the immediate vicinity, there are nowheel-carriages in Brazil. From Minas Novas to Rio Janeiro there are twelve troops, each of forty mules, with their negro attendants and guiding arriero, continually on the road, engaged in carrying cotton, and bringing back European produce in exchange. From S. Joâo d’el Rey there, are four such troops annually; and from other places the number is in proportion to the frequency of their intercourse. Merchants who do not choose to wait the appointed period, and travellers of all kinds who carry baggage along with them, must form a troop more or less numerous, according to their wants. The difficulty thus thrown in the way of the transport of many articles of commerce may easily be conceived. Even river carriage, on account of the numerous falls on most of the streams, is scarcely more convenient.

Brazil being as yet a young country, dependent for most necessaries of manufacturing produce, and for all the luxuries of civilized life, upon other countries, the tendency of its internal trade is in a great measure determined by its foreign commerce. The ports, which, from favourable situation, convenience, and the quantity of capital accumulated in their neighbourhood, monopolize in a great measure the external trade of Brazil, arc Rio Janeiro, Bahia, Recife the capital of Pernambuco, Maranhao, and Para.

Rio Janeiro, in addition to its own produce, draws its articles of consumpt and export from the southern provinces of Rio Grande, S. Catharina, and S. Paulo, from Minas Geraes, and from Porto Seguro. The raw produce of the former, wheat, hides (an annual average of 300,000), unrefined tallow, horns, horse-hair, and charque or jerked beef, are imported coastwise, giving employment to a hundred sail of coasters, which make the voyage thrice in the year, and carry in return rum, sugar, tobacco, cotton, and European goods of all descriptions, particularly English. The produce of S. Catharina, exclusively agricultural, has been enumerated above. Two thirds of the whole are exported, chiefly to Rio Janeiro. This trade gave employment in 1812 to 152 vessels, three-masters, brigs, smacks, &c. In 1813 the value of the goods exported from the province of S. Paulo was L.166,735. Of these, to the value of upwards of L.134,000 found their way by land-carriage to Rio Janeiro. The returns from that city in wine, beer, iron and hardware, glass and stoneware, tea, &c. were valued at L.161,670. The' cotton trade from Minas Novas to Rio Janeiro gives constant employment to twelve troops of mules, each mule carrying-eight arrobas, valued at L.l. 15s. the arroba. Great numbers of precious stones are exported from Minas Novas to Rio. The greater part of the gold melted in Minas Geraes finds its way to Rio: the exact sum cannot be ascertained, but merchants trading to the East Indies have been known to export bullion to the value of L.800,000 in one year. S. Joâo d’el Rey (still within Minas Geraes) supplies Rio with mules, cattle, poultry, gold, lard, cheese, hats, and some cotton cloth, and receives in return woollen and cotton cloths from England and Portugal, hardware, wine, porter, &c. From Porto Seguro, Rio draws tobacco and fish, but to what amount we have no means of ascertaining. The following table shows the amount and value of the most important articles exported from Rio Janeiro in 1817.
[7:5:210]
[table]

Besides these weightier articles, Rio de Janeiro exports considerable quantities of horns, horse-hair, and hides, train-oil, ipecacuanha, and dye-woods. The value of these minor articles may amount, one year with another, to L.400,000. The returns from Portugal and her colonies are made in wine, oil, vinegar, dried fish, hams, olives, brandy, leather, drugs, cloths, books, musical instruments, paper, gun-powder, earthenware, ropes, canvass, tar, pitch, steel, and shoes. Those from London, Liverpool, and the British colonies, consist of cotton and fine woollen cloths, porcelain and earthenware, iron, lead, copper, tin, anchors, cables, gun-powder, porter, cheese, salt-butter, and spirituous liquors. East India goods are imported direct or from Gibraltar. France sends articles of elegance and luxury, furniture, silks, books, liqueurs, paintings, mirrors, hats, oil, &c. Holland sends beer, glass, linen, and hol- 1ands; North -America grain, soap, spermaceti candles, biscuit, tar, leather, deals, potash, and coarse furniture. The northern nations of Europe send their staple wares. From Africa are imported gold dust, ivory, pepper, ebony, and slaves, the latter at an yearly average of upwards of 20,000. We have been unable to obtain exact lists of these returns; but their variety, and the value of the exports, indicate sufficiently the state of the foreign trade of Rio.

Bahia, as a depot of home productions for the foreign trade, is perhaps of yet greater importance than Rio Janeiro. Three great roads lead to the interior; that over Conquista and Rio Pardo to Minas Geracs, that across the Rio de Contas to Matto Grosso and Goyaz, and that through Joazeiro to the interior of Pernambuco and Piauhy. By the first come the cattle from Rio Grande do Sul; raw produce and live stock from S. Paulo to the value of L.6090; live stock, saltpetre, a small sum of gold, and cotton equal in quantity to that carried to Rio de Janeiro, from Minas Geraes. By the second come gold and precious stones from Goyaz and Matto Grosso, but to what amount we are unable to say. The latter province sends in addition deals, hides raw and tanned, brandy, mandiocca, lard, and live stock, to the value of L.9000 per annum. From Pernambuco and Piauhy the imports consist of cotton and cattle. The animal food consumed in Bahia, or exported, is collected from the interior of Brazil, in a circuit extending from Rio Grande do Sul to Piauhy. Cotton is imported from a narrower range, including Minas, Pernambuco, and Piauhy. The returns are made in negroes, wine, and foreign merchandise. The products of the coast are brought in boats to Bahia from a distance of thirty leagues on either side. The foreign trade is in some measure worthy the centre of such an immense district. In 1817, 2000 trading vessels visited Bahia, deducting coasters. The following table shows the principal exports in 1817, and their value.
[table]

The returns are essentially the same as at Rio. The proportion of European, North American, and African articles is greater; that of East Indian less. On an average, 12,000 negro slaves are annually imported into Bahia.

Recife has been styled by some the most important trading place in Brazil after Rio and Bahia; unfortunately our information respecting its trade is too meagre to enable us to judge. Of its home trade, we merely know that it is furnished with salt from the salines of Rio de Salitre, and that from its port is exported the cotton of Paraiba, Rio Grande de Norte, and Seara, in addition to that of Pernambuco. The average number of ships employed in the trade to North America and Europe is 150. The exports consist of cotton, sugar, molasses, rum, hides of goats and oxen, tobacco, cocoa-nuts, ipecacuanha, dyewoods, and Brazil-wood. The amount of cotton annually exported is 80,000 bags. The sugar of Pernambuco is nearly equal in quality to that of Bahia.

Respecting the intercourse between this city and the; interior, or the less important towns on the coast, we have no means of judging. It appears that a brisk intercourse is kept up by means of small-craft ÇSumacas e Lanchas de Cabotagem') with the harbours Vianna, Guimaraes, Tury-assu, and Tutaia, within the province. Cotton is the staple of Maranhao; and Cachias, in the interior, is the centre of the cotton cultivation. The medium annual value of the exports from Maranhao between 1815 and 1820 amounted to L.770,151; of imports to L.710,295. In 1821 the value of the total exports amounted only to L.32l,17l. The most important articles were cotton to the value of L.239,654, and rice to the value of L.54,191. The whole was exported to Lisbon, Porte, Vianna, Figuei-ras, Liverpool, Havre de Grace, Rouen, and the United States of North America. Liverpool’s share of the cotton alone is valued at L.150,165. The imports for the same year are valued at L.333,153. The principal article is flour, 54,793 arrobas from North America, 17,048 from Liverpool, and 9318 from different ports in Brazil. In the course of the year 200 foreign vessels entered the port, and 192 cleared out; 161 Brazilian vessels entered, and 157 cleared out. These numbers are exclusive of the small coasting vessels sailing from harbours within the province.

Para boasts of a greater variety of articles of export than any other city of Brazil, and with justice, for it reckons no less than forty. These are, in addition to what is called colonial produce, balsam of capaiva, sarsaparilla, Indian rubber, a variety of spices, and timber of different kinds. Of late horses have been added to the list, which are exported to the English colonies. The above articles, however, are the collective wealth of the Spanish provinces on the Upper Amazons, of the Rio Negro, and of the provinces of Goyaz and Matto Grosso. Para being the only harbour possessed by the country which is watered by the Amazons and its tributaries, it receives its superfluities, and sends the conveniences of Europe in return. In 1819 the value of the goods exported to Portugal was L.113,179, of those imported in return L.74,776. In the same year goods were exported to England to the value of L.73,871, and imported thence to the amount of L.76,660.

Brazilian Weights: 1 arroba = 32^ lbs. English; 1 quintal = 129∙L lbs. English.— Measures, Dry: 1 alqueire = ⅛ bush. English; 1 maio = 17-∣∙ bush. English. Liquid: 1 canada = 2 galls. English; 1 pipa =120 galls. English. Longitudinal: 5 varas = 6 yds. English; 27 cova-das = 20 yds. English.

Southey’s History of Brazil, 3 vols. 4to; Travels of Spix and Martius in Brazil, 3 vols. 4to; Mawe’s Travels in Brazil, 1 vol. 8vo; Henderson’s History of Brazil, 1 vol. 4to; Memoirs of General Miller, 2 vols. 8vo; Malte-Brun, article Brazil,· Rheinisches Museum, 1828.