.530 



ANNUAL REGISTER, is 12. 



Pulse and vegetables of all kinds 

 are very abundant, and the fish- 

 tnarket is not ill supplied. Turtles 

 are frequently caught, as well as a 

 great variety of fish ; here are 

 Sundance of very fine large 

 prawns. The oysters and muscles, 

 though not equal to ours, are very 

 tolerable. 



Owing to its low situation, and 

 the general filthiness of its streets, 

 Rio de Janeiro cannot be called 

 healthful. Improvements are now 

 making which will in part remedy 

 these evils ; but other causes tend 

 to increase the insalubrity of the 

 air, and to spread contagious dis- 

 tempers, the principal of which 

 are the large nn porta tions of ne- 

 groes from Africa, who commonly 

 land in a sickly state, the conse- 

 quence of close confinement during 

 u hot voyage. It is much to be 

 regretted that the city was not 

 originally built on the plan of 

 those in the Netherlands, with 

 canals for brigs and small vessels, 

 which might then have been un- 

 loaded at the doors of the ware- 

 houses: such an improvement 

 would have al»o greatly tended to 

 the cleanliness and salubrity of the 

 town. 



The police is by no means ill 

 regulated; and, from the attention 

 which has been paid to it since 

 the arrival of the court, there is 

 every hope that it will be placed 

 on a footing equally respectable 

 with that of any European capital. 

 The prisons are loathsome, and 

 require the benevolent genius of a 

 Howard to reform them altogether. 

 One great step in favour of hu- 

 manity has been gained : the in- 

 quisition has been abolished, and 

 with it the spirit of persecution, 

 so that no one can now be offended 

 for his religious tenets, unless he 



openly insult the established re- 

 ligion. 



This city is the chief mart of 

 Brazil, and especially of the pro- 

 vinces of Minas Geraes, St. Paul's, 

 Goyazes, Cuyaba, and Corritiva. 

 The mining districts, being most 

 populous, require the greatest pro- 

 portion of consumable goods, and 

 in return send the most valuable 

 articles of commerce, hence in- 

 numerable troops of mules are 

 continually travelling to and from 

 those districts ; their common 

 burden is about three cwt. each, 

 which they carry to the almost 

 incredible distance of 1,500 or 

 2,000 miles. Their homeward 

 freight consists chiefly of salt for 

 the consumption of the cattle, and 

 iron for the working of the mines. 



No colonial port in the world J 

 is so well situated for general com- \ 

 merce as Rio de Janeiro. It en- 

 joys, beyond any other, an equal 

 convenience of intercourse with 

 Europe, America, Africa, the East 

 Indies, and the South Sea islands, 

 and seems formed by nature as a 

 grand link to connect the trade of 

 those great portions of the globe. 

 Commanding al>o, as the capital 

 of a rich and extensive territory, 

 resources of immense amount and 

 value, it seemed to require only 

 the presence of an efficient go- 

 vernment to give it political im- 

 portance, and this advantage it 'nas 

 now gained by becoming the chosen 

 residence of the court of Portugal, 

 The benefits resulting from this 

 great event had but just begun to 

 display themselves at the period to 

 which this narrative refers, and the 

 connnercial relations of Rio de 

 Janeiro, though -considerably aug- 

 mented, were still but in tb«flr 

 germ. I shall proceed to state 

 them according to the best in- 



iformiltion 



