[square buildings, similar to our English summerhouses. The walls of the one are covered with paintings, representing views of the harbour, and of the whale fishery, which was carried on within it till the increased number of ships annually resorting thither, so terrified these animals, that they have at length wholly forsaken it. The ceiling is of shell-work, forming various designs, and the cornice, which is of the same material, exhibits several species of fish peculiar to the coast of Brazil, well executed, and displaying their natural shades and colours.

The ceiling of the other building is composed of devices wrought in feathers, and the cornices are decorated with representations of some of the most beautiful tropical birds, elegantly arrayed in their natural plumage. The walls are covered with several large paintings, which, though extremely ill executed, yet display the chief productions from which the country derives its opulence. They include views of the gold and diamond mines, of the method in which they are wrought, and in which the precious materials are separated from the earth in which they were originally imbedded. They likewise represent the culture of the sugarcane, with the various processes for extracting its juice, and granulating it into sugar; the mode of collecting the small animals which produce the cochineal, and from which the rich and brilliant dye is prepared; the culture of the manioc, with the means employed in making cassava and tapioca; they also depict the culture and preparation of coffee, rice, and indigo. In this garden, which is termed the passao publico, are exhibited spectacles for the entertainment of the people; and its object to promote the health and pleasure of the inhabitants is expressed on two granitic columns, on one of which is engraven the words, A saude do Rio; and on the other, O amor do publico.

The profit to the Portuguese at Janeiro, from the cochineal, is inconsiderable, owing to an error in the preparation. Twice or thrice a week, the slaves appropriated to this employment go among the cactus plants, and pick off carefully, with a bamboo twig shaped somewhat into the form of a pen, every full-grown insect they can find, with many not yet arrived to their perfect state; the consequence of which is, that the plants are never half stocked with insects, many of the females being destroyed before they had deposited their young. The natives of Mexico pursue a method very different. As soon as the periodical rains are over, and the weather is warmer, as well as drier, they fix, on the prickles of the cactus leaves, small

parcels of the finest moss, serving as nests to contain, each, ten or a dozen full-grown female insects: these, in the course of a few days, bring forth an innumerable tribe of young, spreading themselves over the leaves and branches of the plant, till they become attached to those spots which they find most favourable for supplying nutritious juice; where, soon acquiring their full growth, they re main motionless, and then are gathered off for use; a sufficient number being always left for the production of new broods. The insects are soon converted into cochineal by a process which, though simple, seems extremely cruel. The insects, which were collected in a wooden bowl, are thickly spread upon a flat dish of earthenware, and placed alive over a charcoal fire, where they are slowly roasted until the downy covering disappears, and the aqueous juices of the animal are totally evaporated. During this operation the insects are constantly stirred about with a tin ladle; and sometimes water is sprinkled upon them, to prevent absolute torrefaction, which would destroy the colour, and reduce them to a coal; but a little habit teaches when to remove them from the fire. They then appear like so many dark round reddish grains, and take the name of cochineal, preserving so little of the original form of the insect, that this precious dye was long known and sought in Europe, before naturalists had determined whether it was an animal, vegetable, or mineral substance. The garden at Janeiro does not annually produce above thirty pounds weight of this commodity; though by proper treatment, from the same number of plants, ten times the quantity might be obtained. At Marica and Saquarima, both places contiguous to cape Frio, are considerable plantations of the cactus, which are propagated easily from cuttings set into the earth during the cold and rainy season, though they afterwards thrive least where excluded from the sun. The insects breed and are collected in dry weather, from October until March. The preparation of cochineal is encouraged by the trade being laid open, which had formerly been a monopoly of the

crown.

In Janeiro, not only science, but literature of every kind, is neglected; as a proof of which, it is only necessary to mention, that in this large and opulent city there are but two or three booksellers' shops, and that these contain little besides a few obsolete works on theology and medicine. Neither do we meet with any cabinets of natural history. There is, however, a professed collector of birds and insects; but among his collection, are]

[few articles that may not be found in the cabinets of Europe. Though literature and science are yet in their infancy in this extensive country, the native powers of the human mind have of late begun to unfold themselves.

2. Population. The population of Janeiro is computed at 43,000 souls, of which 40,000 are blacks, including such as have been emancipated, and the remaining 3000, whites. Few of the native Brazilians are to be found in this city; some of their children have been taken into Portuguese families, but they constantly evince a desire to return to the habits of savage life. These people are seldom employed except as boat-rowers, in which capacity they display uncommon dexterity. They appear to entertain an hereditary antipathy to the conquerors of their country, and shun, as much as possible, the settlements of the Portuguese. A considerable part of the coast, between Janeiro and Bahia, is still inhabited by them, which prevents a regular communication, by land, between these districts, since they attack individuals without remorse, whenever they find them scattered or unprotected.

Ease and comfort are displayed in the external appearance of the inhabitants of Janeiro; their houses are large, commodious, and some of them superbly furnished.

Most of the menial offices are performed by slaves, who, in this capital, have little appearance of wretchedness, when compared with those upon the plantations, who suffer under cruel and severe task-masters. They appear to possess a gay and lively temper, and are extremely fond of dancing and music. It is very common to see the black drivers of hackney carriages at Janeiro, in the intervals of employment, amusing themselves by playing on some musical instrument, most commonly a guitar. All classes of society, indeed, in this city, display an unbounded propensity to mirth and pleasure; nor does their religion, though abounding in ceremonies, impart any thing like gloom or austerity to their manners.

There are at this period three religious establishments for men, and two for women, in this capital; but neither the holy fathers, nor the nuns, manifest the smallest tendency to run into any self-denying excess of devotion. The ladies, in particular, appear without hesitation, or restraint, at the grates, and converse freely with those strangers whom curiosity may lead to visit their convents.

3. Commerce and agriculture. —Janeiro, as might be expected from its commercial undertakings, has been greatly improved and enlarged within these last few years. Its population has

VOL. II.

also proportionally increased, and every thing indicates the thriving condition of the place. The shops are filled not only with such British manufactures as contribute to the comfort of the inhabitants, but also with those that administer to their luxury or pride. The markets are well stored with provisions, and the magazines with merchandise of every kind. The city is gradually extending, by the erection of public and private buildings; and the merchants and tradesmen of every description appear to be busily employed.

Besides the manufacture of cochineal, which we mentioned, when speaking of the botanical garden, there is a very considerable one, of a different kind, carried on within the harbour, belonging to an exclusive company, which pays onefifth of its profits to the crown. The fat or blubber of the large black whale, (balena physalus), which formerly frequented this harbour, but which is now caught near the island of St. Catherine, and on other parts of the coast, is here converted into oil. The whalebone, which is prepared from the cartilages of the jaw of this animal, is also cleansed and separated here, before being shipped for Europe. The whale-fishery, as well as that of the cazelote, (physeter cotodon), which is at present chiefly confined to the bar of the island of St. Catherine, and the bay of All Saints, might be extended with much profit and advantage to all the coast, as well as to the high seas of Brazil and cape Verde. The Dutch found the whale-fishery extremely profitable. In 1697, they gained by it more than 2,000,000 of florins; and though, in other years, it was not equally productive, yet on the whole it yielded them a very large re

venue.

Other nations also avail themselves of the whales of those seas. The white whale (physeter macrocephalus) affords a still more lucrative branch of commerce. It is no unusual thing for an English whaler, from the S. seas, to put in at Janeiro for refreshments, having on board 69 whales, each worth at an average 2001. Sometimes a single whale is of such an enormous size as to fetch 1000l.

Other species of fish, frequenting the shores of Brazil, might likewise be converted to use, such as the hippopotamus, or sea-horse of Angola. From the mermaid, (trichechus manatus), might be extracted great quantities of a coarse kind of oil, fit for burning and other purposes. The disagreeable smell of this oil might be corrected at a small expence, by repeated washing.

Were the Portuguese government in Brazil to extend their fisheries on the coasts of the Azores]

T T

[and Madeira, and to establish a regular fishery at cape Verde, similar to those of other nations, they might not only supply a sufficiency of dry fish for internal consumption, but likewise have large quantities to exchange with their neighbours for articles of which they stand in need.

Notwithstanding the discouragements, jealousies, and exactions of the mother country, a spirit of enterprise appears to have been gradually gaining ground for these few last years in Brazil. Even the inveterate prejudices of the Portuguese nobles against trade have, in a great measure, great measure, yielded to the increasing liberality of the times; and several of them are now concerned in the different manufactures lately established in Janeiro. One gentleman of high rank has erected a ricework in this city, in which he employs near 100 slaves, in preparing the grain for use. There is nothing in the method employed in this work particularly deserving of attention, except the use of siliceous sand, the small sharp angles of which materially assist in freeing the grain from the husks which adhere to it. The sand is afterwards separated from the grain by means of sieves, sufficiently wide to suffer it to pass through, while they retain the rice.

The mechanical arts have not yet attained much perfection in Janeiro, though more attention daily begins to be paid to such pursuits. The cornmill, in general use here, is of a very simple construction. One which is erected on a stream near the town consists of a wheel, only a few feet in diameter, placed horizontally below the current of the water, which falls from a considerable height into hollows, obliquely cut out in the superior rim of the wheel, and impel it to a rapid rotatory motion, while its upright shaft, passing through the centre of an immoveable mill-stone above the wheel, but of a narrow diameter, is fixed to a smaller mill-stone, which being forced round with the motion of the wheel and dependent shaft, bruises between it and the stone underneath the grain, which is insinuated between them from a hopper.

But whatever may be the rising prosperity, or increasing riches of Janeiro, it is with pain that we behold this city disgraced by an establishment originating in the sufferings and misfortunes of an unoffending race of our fellow-men. We speak of the warehouses erected at Val Longo, not far from the town, for the reception of slaves, who are imported chiefly from Angola and Benguela, on the African coast. Here these unfortunate beings are prepared for market, like so many herds of cattle. Every art is employed that cupidity can

invent to conceal their defects, and render them sleek and saleable: they are washed, anointed, and fattened like stalled bullocks. About 5000 of these wretched beings, amounting to nearly a fourth of the number annually imported into Brazil, are every year sold in the market of Janeiro.

Agriculture, as might have been expected, has made little progress in this country. In the vicinity of Janeiro, the soil is chiefly cultivated for raising vegetables for the whites, and rice, manioc, maize, &c. for the blacks. The roads are so extremely bad as only to be passable for carriages a few miles beyond the city. The neighbouring forests abound in trees, many of which are unknown to botanists, and which might prove of great value in the construction of ships, houses, and for other purposes. Palms and mastic wood, as well as mango and guoyava trees, are here also extremely common; and besides the dyeing woods already known, there are many others, which, on being submitted to a chemical examination, yield lakes of different colours: from one was extracted, in the chemical laboratory of Ajuda, near Lisbon, a beautiful rose colour that is more permanent than that of the Brazil wood. To the w. of the city, at the extremity of an extensive forest, is situated the rich and fertile valley of Tijouca. It is surrounded on all sides by lofty mountains, excepting towards the s. where, through a small opening, is admitted a branch or arm of the sea. But the principal ornament of this delightful spot is a clear stream, which, falling down a steep and broad granite rock, forms a magnificent cascade, whence it meanders through the valley beneath. The temperature, on account of its confined situation, is extremely hot and oppressive; and the heat is augmented by the reflection of the sun's rays from the sides of the mountains, which are in many places bare and rocky. In the plantations of Tijouca we meet with indigo, manioc, coffee, cocoa, or chocolate trees, sugar-canes, plantains, and orange and lime trees, all growing promiscuously in the greatest luxuriance, though coffee and indigo appear to be the chief objects of attention.

Several districts in the government of Janeiro produce cotton, sugar, coffee, cocoa, rice, pepper, and tobacco, in great abundance. That of Rio Grande yields plenty of excellent wheat, which is also found to grow in other parts of Brazil, with an increase far beyond what is known in Europe. The vine likewise attains to great perfection in this climate; but the grape is not suffered to be pressed, lest it might interfere with the sale of the]

[Portugal wines. The ipecacuanha plant, the root of which has been so long used as a valuable article in medicine, grows in great profusion near St. Catharine's, in the government of Rio, as well as a variety of other medicinal plants, some of which have been exported to Europe, while others are but very little known.

The commodities from the captainships of St. Vicente, Espiritu Santo, and Porto Seguro, are transmitted to Janeiro, and thence shipped for Europe. These exports consist chiefly of gold, diamonds, precious stones of various kinds, tobacco, indigo, coffee, rice, cocoa, maize, sugar, honey, wax, balsam capivi, ipecacuanha, cinnamon, long pepper, ginger, dyeing woods, cochineal, ambergris, wood for inlaying and other purposes, various rich drugs, and perfumes. Besides these, they also export hides, train-oil, and whale

bone.

Among the articles sent from Portugal in return, the following are the principal; woollens, linens, stuffs, gold and silver lace, dried fish, hams, sausages, haggesses, pilchards, cheese, butter, biscuits, cakes, wine, oil, vinegar, vermicelli, macaroni, bay leaves, walnuts, peeled chesnuts, dried plumbs, olives, onions, garlic, rosemary, and glass ware of every kind, manufactured at Marinha. The duties which the agents of the Portuguese government levied on the importation of goods from Lisbon and Oporto, at Rio de Janeiro, were 12 per cent. upon the value of each article. The chief duties paid at Lisbon on the commodities of the Brazils were as follows: on gold, one per cent.; coffee, eight per cent.; sugar, rice, and skins, ten per cent.; indigo, 12 per cent.; and on rum, four dollars on every pipe of 180 gallons. Brazil wood and timber fit for ship-building were claimed as the property of the crown. One-fifth of the gold extracted from the mines was also exacted by the government; and when any diamonds happen to be found in a gold mine, it was no longer suffered to be wrought for that metal, all diamond mines being seized as exclusively be longing to the crown.

4. Mines, diamond and others. - Formerly Bahia de Todos Santos, or the bay of All Saints, was the principal seat of the government, and chief mart of the commerce of Brazil; but the discovery of the gold and diamond mines, within a short distance of Rio de Janeiro, and communicating directly with it, has given a decided superiority to the latter. The manner in which the former of these were discovered, is differently related; but the most common account is, that the Indians on the back of the Portuguese settlements

were observed to make use of gold for their fishhooks; and inquiry being made as to their manner of procuring this metal, it appeared that considerable quantities of it were annually washed from the mountains, and left among the gravel and sand that remained in the valleys, after the running off or evaporation of the water.

From the time of this discovery, considerable quantities of gold were imported into Europe from Brazil; and these imports have gradually augmented, since new mines have been wrought in many of the other provinces.

The extraction of this precious metal is neither very laborious, nor attended with the smallest danger, in this part of the New World. The purest sort is generally found near the surface of the soil, though it is sometimes necessary to dig for it to the depth of three or four fathoms. It is usually incumbent on a bed of sandy earth, termed by the natives saibro.

Though for the most part the veins that are regular, and run in the same direction, are the richest, it has been observed that those spaces, the surface of which was most spangled with crystals, were those which furnished the greatest plenty of gold. It is found in larger pieces on the mountains and barren or stony rocks than in the valleys or on the banks of rivers. But in whatever place it may have been gathered, it is of 234 carats on coming out of the mine, unless it be mixed with sulphur, silver, iron, or mercury; a circumstance that rarely occurs, except at Goyas and Araès.

Every man who discovered a mine was obliged to give notice of it to the government. If it was conceived to be of little consequence by those persons appointed to examine into its value, it was always given up to the public: but if, on the contrary, it was found to be a rich vein, the government never failed to reserve a portion of it for themselves. Another share was given to the commandant; a third to the intendant; and two shares were awarded to the discoverers: the remainder was divided amongst the miners of the district, in proportion to their circumstances, which were determined by the number of their slaves. The disputes to which this species of property gave rise, fell under the cognizance of the intendant, with the right of appeal from his decrees to the supreme court established at Lisbon, under the title of Council d'Outremer.

It is said that a slender vein of this metal runs through the whole country, at about 24 feet from the surface; but it is too thin and poor to answer the expence of digging. Gold is always however to be collected in the beds of rivers which have?

[pursued the same course for a considerable time; and therefore to be able to divert a stream from its usual channel is esteemed an infallible source of gain.

The employment of searching the bottoms of rivers and torrents, and washing the gold from the mud and sand, is principally performed by slaves, who are chiefly Negroes, of whom the Portuguese keep great numbers for that purpose. By a particular regulation, these slaves are obliged to furnish their master every day with the eighth part of an ounce of gold; and it by their industry or good fortune they collect a larger quantity, the surplus is considered as their own property, and they are allowed to dispose of it as they think fit: by which means some Negroes have, it is said, purchased slaves of their own, and lived in great splendour; their original master having no other demand upon them than the daily supply of an eighth of an ounce, which amounts to about nine shillings sterling; the Portuguese ounce being somewhat lighter than our troy ounce.

The proprietors of the mines paid to the king of Portugal, as above-mentioned, a fifth part of the gold which they extracted by operations more or less successful; and this fifth of the gold obtained from all the mines in Brazil was estimated, at an average, to amount annually to about 300,000l. sterling consequently the whole capital must be nearly 1,500,000l. sterling. If we add to this the gold exchanged with the Spaniards for silver, and what was privately brought to Europe without paying the duty, which amounted to 500,0007. more, the annual produce of the Brazilian mines was about 2,000,000l. sterling; an immense sum to be found in a country which a few years ago was not known to produce a single grain.

Among the many impediments thrown in the way of trade, may be ranked the prohibition which prevented the people of Brazil from working up the gold of their own mines. Even the tools and instruments used by the artificers for such purposes, were seized and confiscated by the strong hand of arbitrary power.

It was only about the beginning of the last century that diamonds made a part of the exports from Brazil to Europe. These valuable stones are, like the gold, found frequently in the beds of rivers and torrents. Before they were supposed to be of any value, they were often perceived in washing the gold, and were consequently thrown away with the sand and gravel; and numbers of large stones, that would have enriched the possessors, passed unregarded through the hands of several persons wholly ignorant of their nature. Antonio

Rodrigues Banha suspected the value of them, and communicated his idea to Pedro d'Almeida, the governor of the country. Some of these brilliant pebbles were sent to the court of Lisbon, which, in 1750, commissioned D'Acunha, their minister in Holland, to have them examined. After repeated experiments, the artists pronounced them to be very fine diamonds.

The diamonds found in the different districts of Brazil are naturally set in a matrix of iron mineral, like those brought from the mines of Golconda and Visapour. Those found in the rivers appear to have been forced thither by currents from the adjacent mountains, where veins of them have been traced, and where they might be obtained at less trouble and expence than in the rivers.

The value of these precious stones having been ascertained, the Portuguese were eager to collect them; and in 1731, 1146 ounces were brought to the mother country by the fleet from Rio de Janeiro. This immense influx considerably lessened the price of diamonds in the European market, and induced the Portuguese government to take such measures as they deemed adequate to restore them to their original value. With this view, they conferred the exclusive right of searching for diamonds on a few wealthy associates; and in order even to restrain the avidity of the company itself, it was stipulated that it should employ no more than 600 slaves in that business. It has since been permitted to increase their number at pleasure, paying 4s. 2d. per day for each miner.

In order to ensure the business of the chartered company, the gold mines which were worked in the neighbourhood were in general shut up; and those who had founded their expectations of fortune upon this frequently deceitful basis, were compelled to turn their activity into some other channel. The other citizens were allowed to remain on their estates; but capital punishments were decreed by the law against those persons who should encroach upon the exclusive rights granted to the company. Since the sovereign has succeeded to the company, all the citizens are suffered to search for diamonds, but under the restriction of delivering them to the agents of the crown, at the price which it has stipulated, and on paying 20 per cent. upon this sum.

The diamonds sent from the New to the Old World were inclosed in a casket with three locks, the keys of which were separately put into the hands of the chief members of administration; and those keys were deposited in another casket, to which was affixed the viceroy's seal. While the exclusive privilege subsisted, this precious deposit,]