Tmporfation of JFJieat. 175 



resting fact, that among the importations, that of wheat-flour 

 holds a very conspicuous place, above 300,000 barrels of 

 200 lbs. each being annually consumed, of which seventeen 

 twentieths are supplied by the United States, two twentieths 

 from Trieste and Fiume, and the remaining one twentieth 

 from Lisbon and Valparaiso. The flour from Trieste, by rea- 

 son of its whiteness and superior quality, commands a high 

 price, so as to necessitate its being mixed in baking with 

 that from Baltimore. We were told it occasionally happens, 

 that the best quality of the much-appreciated Trieste or Fon- 

 tana flour reaches the price, altogether unapproachable by the 

 finest American flour, of 64 to QQ shillings the barrel. 



As in the interior of the country the flour chiefly used is that 

 called Mandioca, prepared from the root of Jatropha Manihot^ 

 it follows that the chief consumer of wheaten flour is Rio itself, 

 the monthly consumption amounting to upwards of 16,500 

 barrels. The reason for the small sale of the Austrian manu- 

 factures in Brazil must be sought for, not so much in the 

 deficient supplies of the articles required, as in the circum- 

 stance that the Austrian manufacturers have not hitherto found 

 it much their interest to study the Brazilian market, so as to 

 make the requisite alterations in the method of producing their 

 fabrics, and thus render them suitable for that purpose. AVhat 

 little of our Austrian manufactures is at present exported for 

 Brazilian consumption, seems at present to follow the, to all 

 appearance, much less natural route northwards, and instead of 

 proceeding from Trieste direct, is exported from Bremen or 

 Hamburg as fabrics of Northern Germany. 



