1838.] THE SUBURBS OF RIO. 4.9 



half hidden by thick screens of mangrove bushes, or peeping 

 out from behind hedges of laurels and myrtles, or rows of 

 quaintly clipped arbor vitas, constitute the chief attraction 

 as you progress towards the interior. There are, likewise, 

 fields of corn and sugar cane in the champaign country, and 

 on the slopes of the hills are the coffee plantations, present- 

 ing, in the season, a constant succession of ephemeral white 

 blossoms. Wild roses, tufts of sweet scented marjoram, and 

 different varieties of cacti, spring up by the wayside, and, 

 ever and anon, 



" The white Cainella rears 

 Its innocent and tranquil eye." 



Further on, are bosky dingles and leafy coverts, from 

 whence the shrill chirp of the cicada is heard long after the 

 dense forests that limit the view in the west are overspread 

 with the sober hue of the passing day. 



(8.) Pedro Alvares Cabral is generally regarded as the 

 discoverer of Brazil. He visited the country in 1500, when 

 on his way to the East Indies, where he had been sent with 

 a fleet by King Emanuel, of Portugal. Previous to this 

 time, however, a Spanish mariner, by the name of Lepe, had 

 penetrated as far south as the Brazilian strand, and two other 

 Castilian navigators had landed and taken formal possession 

 of the territory for the crown of Castile, — but the claims of 

 Spain were subsequently relinquished by the treaty of 

 Tordesillas. Cabral first gave it the name of Santa Cruz, 

 afterwards changed, by his sovereign, to Brazil, in allusion 

 to the Brazil-wood found in the country, which, in turn, 

 derived its name from the Portuguese braza, a live coal or 

 fire, referring to the brilliant red color of this important 

 dyeing material. 



For several years after its separation from Portugal, Brazil 

 was subject to internal political dissensions and commotions ; 

 but since the abdication of Pedro I, in 1831, it has been 

 tolerably quiet, and has steadily improved in commerce and 

 advanced in refinement. The government is a limited mon« 



