64 



BRAZIll 



The foreign trade of the empire for the year 

 1878-79 was of the total value of $183,782,- 

 150, of which $102,029,250 were for exports 

 and $81,752,900 for imports. 



The annexed table exhibits the names and 

 values of the chief staples of export for the 

 year just mentioned: 



Commodities. Values. 



Coffee $56,740,950 



Sugar 10,906,050 



India-rubber 5,48U,400 



Raw cotton 4,953,150 



Tobacco 3,539,850 



Skins 4,176,250 



Mate ( I'araguay tea) 1,357,800 



Gold (ingots and dust) 1,111,150 



Diamonds 472,250 



The imports from Great Britain in 1878 

 were of the value of $27,889,760, against $29,- 

 793,275 in 1877; and the exports from Brazil 

 to Great Britain in 1878 were of the value of 

 $23,252,425, against $31,724,805 in 1877. A 

 marked decrease is here observable ; and, in- 

 deed, the trade between these two countries 

 has been steadily declining since 1874, in which 

 year the imports from, and the exports to, 



Great Britain were of the values of $38,392,- 

 265 and $35,015,650 respectively. 



Of all the articles of production in Brazil, 

 and of all the Brazilian export staples, coffee 

 is by far the most important, and the chief 

 shipping ports for the staple are Rio de Janeiro 

 and Santos. From the following table it will 

 be seen that while the quantity exported from 

 Rio in the year ending June 30, 1880, was 

 nearly 20 per cent, less than in the year imme- 

 diately preceding, it closely approximated the 

 average of the past six years. The Rio aver- 

 age is at present about 173,000 tons,* while 

 that for Santos has risen to 55,000 tons, the 

 exports from the latter port having been, how- 

 ever, considerably above that average in the 

 past two years. The total average shipments 

 of coffee from Brazil for the past five or six 

 years closely approximate 225,000 tons ; but in 

 1878-79 they reached 280,000 tons, and there 

 is every prospect of a crop of 235,000 tons 

 from the Rio district in 1880- ? 81, and as much 

 as 60,000 tons from Santos, or a total approach- 

 ing to 672,000,000 pounds! 



Coffee Shipments from Rio de Janeiro for the Six Years from July 31, 1874, to June 30, 1880. 



It is reported that jute is to become an 

 article of export from Brazil, and that a privi- 

 lege has been granted to the Messrs. Steel for 

 the production of it on waste lands, particu- 

 larly in the vicinity of Rio de Janeiro. Judg- 

 ing from what it has done for East Indian 

 exports, it is fair to presume it will prove a 

 valuable accretion to the Brazilian staples. 



The projected establishment at Rio of a per- 

 manent exhibition for American manufactures 

 was much talked of in the past year. 



The shipping movements at the various ports 

 of the empire in 1878-79 were as follows : 



The Brazilian Government has contracted 

 with Mr. William Darley Bentley for a monthly 



* Of 2,240 pounds each. 



line of mail-steamers between Rio de Janeiro 

 and Halifax, N. S., calling at Bahia, Pernam- 

 buco, Ceara, Maranhao, Para, and St. Thomas, 

 W. I., making the trip from Rio in twenty- 

 nine days, and from Halifax in twenty-eight 

 days, with privilege of calling at Montreal, 

 at the option of the contractor. The vessels 

 are to be of at least eighteen hundred tons 

 burden (gross), with accommodations for forty 

 first-class and one hundred steerage passen- 

 gers. The subsidy is 100,000 milreis cur- 

 rency per annum, and the contract is for ten 

 years. The service is to commence on October 

 1, 1881. In case of the repeal by Canada of 

 the favors of the revenue law of 1879, the 

 Brazilian Government may cancel the contract, 

 giving six months' notice. The contractor was 

 to furnish a guarantee of 10,000 milreis within 

 three months of the date of the contract. 



The Amazon Steam Navigation Company is 

 spoken of as an enterprise highly creditable to 

 Brazil. 



At the end of 1879 there were in the em- 

 pire 1,911 miles of railway, and 4,340 miles of 

 telegraph, with 123 offices, the number of dis- 

 patches having been 232,022. Brazilian progress 



