lake on the north side of the town. Rio Grande, or St. Pedro, near the southern extremity of Brazil, in latitude 32° south, is a new flourishing town. The port is dangerous, the water being shoal, and a violent sea always running; notwithstanding which a great trade is carried on to all parts of Brazil. The population within the town, and a circle of twenty leagues round it, is estimated at 100,000. Villa Rica, containing 20,000 population, forms the capital of Minas Geraes, in the vicinity of the gold mines, 250 miles south of Rio Janeiro. Tejuco, the capital of the diamond district, is near the source of the Jigitonhonha, a branch of the Rio Grande, 200 miles north of Villa Rica. Cuiaba, on a river of the same name, ninety-six leagues from its confluence with the Paraguay, is the most western of the Brazilian mining districts. Para, the capital of the province of the same name, is seated on the river Tocantins, and contains 10,000 inhabitants. Maranham, or St. Luis de Maranham, has a convenient harbour, and contains 15,000 inhabitants. It is seated in longitude 43° 37' west, on an island of the same name, at the mouths of three small rivers, which discharge themselves on the northern coast. Santos, the

storehouse of the capitania of St. Paul, and containing 7000 population, is a place of considerable commerce, seated on the coast, west-south-west of Rio Janeiro. St. Paul, the chief town of the capitania of the same name, is in the vicinity of the gold mines, about forty miles from Santos.

135. The internal means of communication, not only with respect to the towns already stated, but through every part of this district, will be found under the article BRAZIL.

136. The commerce of Brazil, though formerly subjected by the Portuguese government to all the restraints of the colonial system, was, on the emigration of the court to Rio Janeiro, thrown open to Great Britain, on the condition of our merchants paying a duty of fifteen per cent. British manufactures are now imported together with oil, wine, brandy, linens, and cottons from Portugal. From the United States are imported flour, salted provisions, naval stores, and household furniture. The exports are gold and diamonds, wheat, horn, hair, and tallow; together with cotton, coffee, tobacco, sugar, and Brazil wood.

137. In 1820 the exports of British manufacture amounted to £1,860,000, and in 1821 to £2,230,000. The imports of 1820 were £950,000 and in 1821 amounted to £1,300,000. Threefifths of the exports are sent to the capital. The returns are chiefly made in diamonds and precious stones, gold, coffee, tobacco, cotton, sugar, &c. The chief sources of the revenue are the customs inward and outward, the fifth on gold, duties on negroes, that on importation paid by the seiler, that on further sale by the purchaser, and similar impositions, and amount to the annual sum of £2,500,000.

138. The community is divided into two classes, the Brazilians and the Portuguese, who mingle little in society. 'Marriages,' says a late author, 'at least such as I had an opportunity of witnessing, were attended by few. The bride first went into the confessional, and then approached the altar where the intended husband was waiting for her. Their right hands being then bound firmly together by a gold band, the prayers commenced; and at their termination the hands were loosed, and the ceremony was complete.' Marriages are formed when the parties are very young. Mothers are often seen not more than thirteen years old; indeed the youth of the women extends from ten to twenty-five years. Their funerals take place at night, when the body, being taken into the church, is exposed in full dress, and decorated with jewels; but after service is performed it is carried into the vault, stripped of its richest habits, some quick-lime is laid in the coffin, which is then locked, and the key given to the nearest relation. It is then put into a niche in the wall, and the friends retire.

139. Literature is at a low ebb. Since the late changes the press has been freed from many shackles; hundreds of political pamphlets have appeared, and a gazette is published twice a week. The Conde de Linhares, prime minister in 1810, caused the catechisms and vocabularies of the tongues of the indigenous tribes to be examined by the Jesuits; and a reprint to be made of their Lingua Geral. This tongue is understood by all the tribes, and considered to be the Tupinamba. The plan for writing an account of the medicinal plants in Brazil has been abandoned. The public museum has been enriched by various minerals; and the emperor has lately added a gallery of paintings, and proposed to establish an university in Brazil, but without success; it is, however, at last to be put in execution. In the absence of an university there formerly existed a large school, which has been since converted into a military hospital. The number of small schools is considerable; and Bell's system is adopted in one establishment with success.

140. The religion of Brazil is the Roman Catholic, and festivals are extremely numerous. The processions are splendid, and angels are personified by handsome young females dressed up with wings, and high-heeled shoes, and supported by fathers. There are two convents for women, of whom the number is very limited. Every person carries about with him the Maos d'Azebiche, a composition which is formed into small hands or some other charm. 'My mule

driver,' says a late traveller, 'had suspended about his neck a small piece of magnetic iron, which was to make him an object of attraction to all fair ladies and successful with them.' Witches are common; and so uncontrolled is the deleterious influence of superstition, that not many years ago a young woman, among the Indians of Marogogippe, was burnt alive on the suspicion of having set evil eyes on a sick person. By the treaty of 1810 toleration was granted to people of different persuasions, with the restriction that all meeting-houses were to be in external appearance like a private house. The conduct of the clergy is extremely reprehensible. 'One of them a Padre Canto,' says the traveller above alluded to, had four mulatto sons, who, following the mother, were slaves. He sold two of them; and the others performed the pleasing and filial act of carrying their father about the town in a sedan chair.

141. We subjoin an historical sketch of Brazil from the most approved authorities. Martin Behem is said to have first visited the coast in 1484; but the honour of having first seen this coast is more generally attributed to Pedro Alvarez Cabral, who in a voyage to the East Indies, with a Portuguese squadron, struck out to sea to avoid the storms of the Cape of Good Hope, and steering southward fell in with the South American continent, and anchored in Puerto Seguro Bay; landing with a body of troops, he took possession of the country in the name of his sovereign; which, in token of the cross which he erected, was called Santa Cruz, but afterwards changed by king Emanuel to Brazil from the red wood produced there. The Portuguese sent their convicts there, and received in return cargoes of parrots and dye-woods. In 1548 those of the Jews who had taken refuge in Portugal, were persecuted by the inquisition, and banished to Brazil, and commenced the cultivation of the sugar-cane. A colony was formed; and de Souza, a wise and able man, was the first governor; by building St. Salvador he formed a central rallying point for the colony, but found increasing difficulties in his enterprize till the Jesuits insinuating themselves among the savages, gained their affections by presents and by kindness, and brought them to look favourably towards the Portuguese. The prosperity of Brazil excited the envy of many of the states of Europe. The Dutch in 1624 detached a powerful squadron under their admiral Willekens, who landed on the coast of St. Salvador, and took possession of the town in the name of the United Provinces. He published a manifesto, allowing liberty of conscience to all who were willing to swear fidelity to the republic of Holland; and, having plundered the people of St. Salvador of their wealth, retired to Europe, leaving Colonel Van Dort as governor. The Spaniards next sent out a powerful fleet manned with 12,000 soldiers and marines under Frederic de Toledo, who compelled the Dutch to surrender. In 1630 the Dutch despatched Admiral Henery Louk with forty-six men-of-war to attempt the entire conquest of Brazil. This commander, after reducing Pernambuco, retired to Europe leaving behind him troops which re

and as they are made of wood the bird cannot escape by diving. The South American ostrich (nandu) is met with in the pampas; it is about half the size of the African species, and the plumage in point of value far inferior. It is said that several females lay eggs of a yellowish colour in one nest, and that they are hatched by the male. There are two kinds of partridges in the pampas found in great abundance, the smaller is similar to the quail of Europe. Waterfowls are numerous on the banks of the rivers. A late traveller observes, 'there did not seem to me any great variety of insects:' the musquito is common, and fleas abound; they appear to live in the grass, as Dobrizhoffer says; for on lying down in some places the body becomes covered with them. Reptiles are not common. Bones of the megatherium have been discovered in the vicinity of Buenos Ayres: the Marquis of Loretto when viceroy, sent home in 1789 the first and perhaps the most perfect specimen of this enormous animal. It was discovered while making some excavations in the bank of the river Luzdu, fifteen leagues from Buenos Ayres, and is now in the cabinet of Madrid; a tooth of the same animal has within the last few years been found sixteen leagues farther in the same direction. Horses and mares are chiefly reared for their hides. The number of horned cattle and the cheapness of meat are objects of astonishment to all travellers. The whole ox may be bought for less than five dollars, and of these the hide is worth three dollars and a half.

147. The country is very rich in minerals, and a short time ago there were no fewer than seventy-three mines in actual operation, viz. thirty of gold, twenty-seven of silver, seven of copper, two of tin, and seven of lead. The richest of these are the celebrated mines of Potosi, discovered in 1545, and which from that period to 1803 yielded £237,358,334 sterling, or nearly £1,000,000 annually. The extensive plains lying between the Paraguay and the mountains, and watered by the Pilcomayo, the Vermejo, the Salado, and the Dulce abound with salt.

148. The Paraguay is the principal river of this country. It runs in the very centre of South America; and, after a course of more than 2000 miles, enters the ocean between Cape Santa Maria on the north, and Cape St. Antonio on the south. Its principal tributaries are the Parana and the Uruguay from the east; and the Pilcomayo, the Vermejo, the Salado, the Tercera, and the Saladillo from the west. From the junction of the Parana to the junction of the Uruguay, it is usually called Parana river; and from the junction of the Uruguay to the ocean, the Rio de la Plata is navigable for large vessels as far as Assumption a little above the mouth of the Pilcomayo, and nearly 1000 miles from the ocean; and for small craft to the eighteenth degree of south latitude. A little above this parallel it overflows its banks during the rainy season, and

spreads over the flat country, forming an immense lake, called Lake Xarayes, about 330 miles long and 120 broad.

149. The Parana rises in the mountains of Brazil, in the province of Minas Geraes, and after a course of about 1000 miles joins the Paraguay at Corrientes. In latitude 24° is the fall of the Itu, formed by a collection of rocks rising from the bed of the river in separate masses, and leaving channels for the passage of the water. Boats pass down with difficulty, and are drawn up by ropes. The Uruguay rises on the declivity of the Brazilian Andes, in the province of Rio Grande near the parallel of 28° south latitude, and pursues a westerly course of more than 1000 miles. For 200 miles from its mouth it is navigable, but higher up the navigation is interrupted by rapids and falls. The Rio Negro is an eastern branch of this river, and joins it fifty-four miles from its mouth. The Pilcomayo rises in the Andes in the parallel of 20o north latitude, and flows east through a mountainous country 600 miles, and afterwards turning south-east tra verses a level country for more than 400 miles and in 25° south latitude discharges itself into the Paraguay.

150. The Vermejo, rising near the source of the preceding river, flows south-east and joins the Paraguay in 27° south latitude. The Salado is difficult of navigation, and discharges itself at Santa Fé, in 31° 41′ south latitude, after a southeast course of 800 miles. The Saladillo, which after a course of several hundred miles joins the Plata, about fifty miles from Cape Antonio, may be considered as a continuation of the Rio Quinto. The Rio Dulce rises on the mountains of the interior, and flows parallel with the Salado, and loses itself about 100 miles northwest of Santa Fé in the salt-banks of Povonzos. 150. In the northern part of the country, the Mamore and other head streams of the Madera, rise on the north side of the Andes, of Chiquitos, and pass into Peru. Lake Titicaca opens a fine sheet of water 240 miles in circumference between two ridges of the Andes; it is so deep as to be navigated by the largest vessels, and contains several islands, one of which was the residence of Manco Capac, the first of the incas, and the founder of the Peruvian monarchy.

151. The climate of this country is various. The heat during summer is oppressive on the plains, whilst in the more elevated regions the air is cold and healthy. The north winds inevitably bring heat, and have the effect of the Sirocco on the feelings. The south-west winds, called pamperos from their blowing over the immense pampas in the south, are remarkably dry; and during their prevalence putrefaction scarcely goes on at all.

152. The civil divisions, as they existed in 1810, consisted of eleven provinces, one commandery, eight intendancies, and two audiences. The intendancies are as follow:

153. Many of the people of this territory perished in the revolution, and since that event they have greatly diminished, owing to the political changes which have occurred, and the large armies which have gone forth to assist other countries to throw off the Spanish yoke.

154. The following account of the chief towns is taken from an American author.-Buenos Ayres, the capital, seated on the south west bank of the Rio de la Plata, 180 miles from its mouth, where the river is thirty miles wide. Its population has been estimated at 62,000. Monte Video stands on the north shore of the Plata, 120 miles east of the preceding, and occupies the whole of a peninsula projecting southward from the main land. Its population has been

variously stated from 10,000 to 20,000. Potosi, famous for its rich silver mines, lies in the Andes, in 20° 26′ south latitude. Its population is estimated at 100,000. Assumption stands on the east bank of the Paraguay, 977 miles from the sea, and a little above the mouth of the Pilcomayo. Its population is 7000. Corrientes, below the confluence of the Parana and the Paraguay, contains five thousand. Santa Fé, at the mouth of the Salado, has six thousand. Cordova, seated on the river Primero, which loses itself in one of the salt lakes, has also six thousand. Santiago del Estero lies north of

457,000

the preceding, on the west bank of the Dulce. Mendoza, at the foot of the eastern declivity of the Andes, contains twenty-one thousand. St. Juan, north of the above, contains nineteen thousand. Rioja lies farther to the north. Tucuman lies on the Dulce, upwards of 100 miles above Santiago del Estero. Salta, on a branch of the Vermejo, contains 9000 inhabitants; La Plata, or Chiquisica, sixty miles east of Potosi, fourteen thousand; Charcas or Chayanta, north of Potosi, thirty thousand; and La Paz, near the south-east extremity of Titicaca Lake twenty thousand.

At

155. The manufactures of this part of South America are few and unimportant. The commerce under the old government was a monopoly in the hands of the Spanish merchants. present the export and import trade is chiefly in the hands of the British. The exports are hides, beef, tallow, furs, peltry, and mules; together with gold and silver from the mines of Potosi. The imports are principally British manufactures, with some articles from the United States, &c. Exports and Imports have been estimated by an American author at 10,000,000 dollars per annum. The following tables may tend to elucidate this branch of the geography of these provinces, and the importance of the trade to the British territories.