174 Vot/a(/e of the Novara. 



favourable anticipations of a country such as Germany, the 

 majority of whose inhabitants are engaged in manufactures. 



The chief article of Brazilian trade at present is coffee, 

 the production of which, in consequence of tlie great profit of 

 late years derived from it, has increased so much, that it has 

 superseded the cultivation of all other produce ; thus, notwith- 

 standing the fertility and capability of the ground, even 

 the commonest necessaries of life, as, for instance, potatoes, 

 must be imported from abroad, the majority of the rural 

 population being engaged in labour for the foreign market, and 

 only very few for home consumption. This is the principal 

 cause of the enormous prices which, even the most indis- 

 pensable necessaries have reached in Rio de Janeiro. 



Brazil grows annually, in the provinces of Rio, Bahia, and 

 Santa Catharina, 5,190,000 quintals of coffee, consequently 

 more than three-fifths of the entire amount produced on the 

 whole earth, and of this the province of Rio de Janeiro 

 alone yields two-thirds. 



The most important objects of export, besides coffee, are 

 sugar, rice, cotton, hides, and dried meat, together with 

 dye and cabinet woods. The progressive decrease of late years 

 in these articles may probably be ascribed to the want of 

 sufficient labour, as well as to the great extent to which 

 the culture of coffee has been carried. 



Although the trade carried on between Brazil and Europe, 

 and its great importance, will form the object of a special 

 work, we cannot help noticing in this place as a very inte- 



