DISCOVERY OF BRAZIL. 35 
may not be familiar to every reader, male and 
female,—for I hope to have many of the latter, 
—I will preface the narration of my residence 
here with the following notices. 
This great empire in South America, called 
Brazil, from a wood which grows there in 
great abundance, resembling in colour a red- 
hot coal, (in the Portuguese “ Brasa,”) is one 
of the richest and most fertile countries in the 
world. It was accidentally discovered in the 
year 1500, by a Portuguese named Cabral, 
who with a fleet bound for the East Indies, 
was thrown on these shores. 
The riches of the country being at first un- 
known, it was used as a place of banishment 
for criminals ; but subsequently, when the con- 
victs began to cultivate the sugar-cane, and 
the gold and diamond mines were discovered, 
Brazil acquired a higher value in the eyes of 
the Portuguese government. 
A Viceroy was therefore sent out, with the 
strongest injunctions to close the Brazilian 
ports against all foreign powers, in order to 
preserve to Portugal the exclusive trade in the 
diamonds and other precious stones with which 
