ia32.J The Diamond Dix/.ricl of the Serro. do Frio. 423 



about ninety-two leagues to N.W. of Serro do Frio. The history of 

 its discovery is romantic : three Brazilians, Ant de Souza, Jose Felix 

 Gomes, and Thomas de Souza, were sentenced, for some supposed mis- 

 demeanour, to perpetual banishment in the wildest part of the Interior. 

 Their sentence was a cruel one ; but the region of their exile was the 

 richest in the world ; every river rolled over a bed of gold, every valley 

 contained inexhaustible mines of diamonds. A suspicion of this kind 

 enabled these unfortunate men to support the horrors of their fate ; 

 they were constantly sustained by the golden hope of discovering some 

 rich mine, that would produce a reversion of their hard sentence. Thus 

 they wandered about, for nearly six years, in quest of mines ; but 

 fortune was at last propitious. An excessive draught had laid dry the 

 bed of the river Abaite, and here, while working for gold, they dis- 

 covered a diamond of nearly an ounce in weight. Overwhelmed with 

 joy at this providential discovery, they resolved to proceed, at all 

 hazards, to Villa Rica, and trust to the mercy of the crown. The 

 governor, on beholding the magnitude and lustre of the gem, could 

 scarcely credit the evidence of his senses. He immediately appointed 

 a commission of the officers of the Diamond District to report on its 

 nature ; and on their pronouncing it a real diamond, it was immediately 

 dispatched to Lisbon. It is needless to add that the sentence of the 

 three " condamnados" was immediately reversed. 



This celebrated diamond has been estimated by Rome de 1'Isle at the 

 enormous sum of three hundred millions sterling. It is uncut, but the 

 late King of Portugal, who had a passion for precious stones, had a 

 hole bored through it, in order to wear it suspended about his neck on 

 gala days. No sovereign possessed so fine a collection of diamonds as 

 this prince. 



The average annual produce of these mines since their first disco- 

 very, is estimated at 25,000 to 30,000 carats, and the expense of the 

 works from 20,000 to 25,000 sterling ; but it is supposed that dia- 

 monds to the amount of nearly 3,000,000 have been extracted by the 

 contrabandistas, whose illicit trade the most vigilant measures of the 

 government have been unable to check. Nothing can give a stronger 

 idea of the jealous vigilance with which this district was watched, than 

 the code of regulations, drawn up in the fiercest spirit of eastern des- 

 potism, by the celebrated Minister Pombal, in the year 1775. Accord- 

 ing to this " regimento," no person, however exalted his rank, could 

 enter the District without the permission of the Intendente General. 

 All persons who possessed no ostensible vocation were compelled 

 to leave it ; and should they return, the offender was banished for life 

 to the coast of Africa. But all this, and the organization of a corps of 

 cavalry, the officers and men of which were acquainted with every inch 

 of the country, was ineffectual in preventing smuggling. Such was the 

 "appas 1 ' of gain, that the very government employes were more 

 extensively engaged in it than any others. Indeed, the venality of the 

 public functionaries in Brazil completely neutralizes all the efforts of 

 the government ; probably not more than one half of the revenue finds 

 its way into the government coffers. Some years ago, while residing at 

 one of the northern ports, an English vessel arrived with a cargo of 

 gunpowder the article was, at the time, a strict monopoly of the 

 crown ; but notwithstanding the severe penalties attached to an illicit 

 trade, the whole cargo was landed landed under the eyes, and by the 



