1822.] 
months he may reap bread-roots to the 
value of about 1,000 pounds. After 
three years his coffee-trees will begin 
to bear; and, in the fourth year, they 
will at least yield him one pound of 
coffee per tree, which is worth about 
half a florin a pound, so that he will 
then begin to draw a revenue of 
1,500 pounds. In the fifth year, if he 
has continued to add about 20,000 
coffee-trees a-year, he may calculate 
that, within five or six years, his coffee- 
plantation will yicld to him from 25 to 
3 or 4,000/, clear profit ; and thus in a 
few years double his capital, and be- 
come a rich and independent man. 
Many have objected that persons, 
advanced to the age of forty or fifty 
years, would be too old for such an 
undertaking; to such an assertion I an- 
swer by the following fact : 
Dr. Lezesne, one of the few who es- 
caped the fury of the revolution at St. 
Domingo, with the wrecks of his for- 
tune settled with his family in Rio 
Janeiro. Here, instead of purchasing 
land, he took the copyhold (fief) of an 
uncultivated track of land in the vici- 
nity of the metropolis, for which he 
pays an annual ground-rent of about a 
hundred dollars. 
His first step was to buy forty 
slaves, who, at about 200 dol- 
lars each, cost him about , 
With these, and some labourers, he 
eleared the ground, and, pro- 
fiting by the timber, he erect- 
ed dwelling-houses, outhouses 
&c. for about : . 
He then immediately began sowing 
coffee and planting as many 
young coffee-trees as he could 
procure from the vicinity. Be- 
sides these, he planted only a 
few banana-trees, sending for 
thenecessary provisionstotown. 
The keeping of the forty slaves at 
five pence a day amounted 
per annum to about 
Clothing for do. about . 
Keeping of his family, about . 
For the purchase of tools, mules, 
&c. in the first year 
Second year. 
£1800 
2 
1500 
Keeping of negroes . . £300 
Ditto of his family. 100 
Clothing, tools, &c. 110 
Warehouses and sundries 440 
950 
Third year ditto 950 
Together, therefore, in sterling mo- 
*mey,about . . : 
Present State of Brazil ; 
by Baron Langsdorf. 15 
Thus, within a few years, with 
thirty-eight slaves, two of the number 
having died, this gentleman planted 
above 100,000 coffce-trees; whichnow, 
in the fourth year after the first planta- 
tion, yield, in the average, at least one 
pound of coffee each. These 100,000 
pounds sold at about 10d. a pound; now 
produce about 4166/. annually, being 
a clear profit from a capital of about 
5000 guineas. 
Dr. Lezesne was the first who intro- 
duced the cultivation of this article in 
the Brazils, the demand for which has 
kept pace with the increase of the pro- 
duce. And this gentleman has proved, 
by his example, that it is the most pro- 
fitable article for cultivation in that 
country. 
Considering the great extent of the 
country, the variety of its soil, fertility, 
climate, and produce, it is impossible to 
form a correct scale of the prices of the 
first necessaries of life. One of the 
capital can only serve those who wish 
to settle in it, and will be of no use to 
the colonist, who should leave the ex- 
pensive metropolis as soon as possible. 
A negro man or woman costs be- 
tween 40 and 50/.; daily expense for 
the keeping of a negro, from 5d. to 7d. 
That of an European, at least from 10d. 
to 14d. 32 lb. of bacon cost 12s. some- 
times much more, according to the sup- 
ply from the interior. A bag of men- 
dioca-flour, 7s. to 8s. A bag of dry 
beans, of a good quality, 21s. to 245, 
according to the season, before or after 
harvest-time. A bag of maize, 5s. to 
vs. A bag of maize-flour, or grotts, 
7s. to 8s. Beef, and this very bad, 
about 4d. a-pound. Wheaten flour, 
which with corn is imported from 
abroad, varies frequently in price. 
In the average the pound ‘costs from 
3d. to 4d. Rich people only eat. 
bread; in the ‘country: it is little 
known. An egg 2d. to 24d. A fowl 
2s. 6d. to3s. Potatoes, 11s. to 17s. the 
hundred-weight. Salt butter, which is 
imported from Holland. Ireland, and 
France, at an average 1s. 8d. a pound. 
Beef, salted and dried in the air, 
which is cured in the southern parts of 
Brazil, and constitutes the principal 
food of the labouring classes, from 8¢, 
to Ils. the arroba (321b.) But, in 
this article too, the price fluctuates ac- 
cording to the supply and exportation, 
A head of white cabbage, 4d. to 5d. 
A bottle of wine, 10d. to 14d. A hot- 
tle of English porter, 13d. to 17d. A 
draught- 
