G8 



BRAZIL WOOD BREAD. 



Pedro maiie use of language which offended and 

 alarmed the liberal party, and revolutionary move- 

 ments were soon perceptible. Pisiurkmres began 

 April 3, and continued for several days; many per- 

 sons were killed; the troops joined in the insurrec- 

 tion ; and on the Sth April, the emperor abdicated in 

 favour of his infant son don Pedro II., and embarked 

 on board a .British ship of war. Ket\\ < en him and 

 his brother Miguel nn unnatural struggle for domina- 

 tion in Portugal at present goes on. (See Portugal.) 

 The principal causes of the last Brazilian revolution 

 are said to have been the British loan and its dilapi- 

 dations, the war of the south, the yoke of the Portu- 

 guese party, and the luxury and immorality of the court. 



The national debt of B. is considerable, including 

 the British loan of 3,200,000. The principal 

 ecclesiastical dignitaries are an archbishop, who re- 

 sides at Bahia, and sixteen bishops, of the Roman 

 Catholic, the established religion. In all the large 

 towns, the government supports elementary and high 

 schools. In the former, the system of mutual instruc- 

 tion is introduced. In Bahia and Rio Janeiro, there 

 are institutions for teaching surgery, medicine, engi- 

 neering, and law, and for imparting commercial in- 

 formation. Rio has an academy for the instruction 

 of officers intended for the naval service; also an 

 observatory. This city and Bahia, also, contain 

 academies for the promotion of the fine arts, public 

 libraries, &c. In 18<i6, 300 young Brazilians were 

 pursuing their studies in France. The army con- 

 sisted, in 1824, of 30,000 regular troops, and 50,000 

 militia, besides a regiment of free Negroes. The 

 navy, in 1826, consisted of 96 ships, including one 

 ship of the line and four frigates. The revenue of 

 B. has been lately estimated, by the minister of 

 finances, at about 16,290,000 dollars. Of this sum, 

 about 7,200,000 dollars are all which come into the 

 hands of the general government for the supply of 

 the general expenses. The remainder is consumed 

 in the internal administration of the provinces in which 

 it is collected. The whole estimate, however, is 

 vague, and not much to be depended on. Notwith- 

 standing the many natural resources of B., it must 

 long remain weak, in a political view ; for its incon- 

 siderable population is too unequal in its advantages 

 and too divided in its views. 1,800,000 are Negro 

 slaves, ignorant and barbarous; the Indians are of 

 no advantage to the industry of the country. They 

 live, for the most part, retired in the wilderness. 

 The Mulattoes seem to combine in themselves the 

 vices of the savage and the European. Both sexes 

 give themselves up, without shame, to the impulses 

 of their passions, and their cruelty to their slaves is 

 often horrible. The Europeans and the Creoles form, 

 to some extent, the aristocracy of the country. Most 

 of them are planters or miners, or overseers in the 

 colonies, and, in this way, are scattered far over the 

 country, with little communication with each other, 

 without knowledge and education. The most culti- 

 vated persons are found in the maritime cities. But, 

 even in Rio, the merchants, according to Mathison, 

 are men of very little information. They take no 

 interest in any thing but what immediately concerns 

 their business. The clergy, Mathison found so dis.-o- 

 lute, that he was ashamed to give a description of 

 their morals. See the Corografia Brazilica of Manoel 

 Ayres de Cazal, Rio Janeiro, 1817, 2 vols. 4to; 

 Southey's History of Brazil, London, 181 8, 2 vols. 4to ; 

 Walsh's Travels in Brazil, London, 1830. 



BRAZIL WOOD. It has been commonly supposed 

 that this wood derived its name from the country in 

 which it is principally produced. But Dr Bancroft 

 has conclusively shown that woods yielding a red dye 

 were called Brazil woods long previously to the dis- 

 covery of America ; and that the early voyagers gave 



the name of Brazil to that part of that continent lo 

 which it is still applied, from their having ascertained 

 that it abounded in such woods. It is found in the 

 greatest abundance, and is of the best quality, in i he 

 province of Pernambuco, where it is cidled Pao da 

 liainAa, or Queen's wood ; but it is also found in 

 many other parts of the western hemisphere, and in 

 the East Indies. The tree is large, crooked, and 

 knotty ; the leaves are of a beautiful red, and exhale. 

 an agreeable odour. Its botanical name is Ceesalphiin 

 Brasiletto ; but it is called by the natives ibiripitanga. 

 Notwithstanding its apparent bulk, the bark is so 

 thick, that a tree as large as a man's body with the 

 bark, will not be so thick as the leg when peeled. 

 When cut into chips, it loses the pale colour it beiore. 

 had, and becomes red ; and when chewed, has it 

 sweet taste. It is used for various purposes by cabinet- 

 makers, and admits of a beautiful varnish : but its 

 principal use is in dyeing red ; and though the colour 

 is liable to decay, yet, by mixing with it alum and 

 tartar, it is easily made permanent; there is also 

 made of it, by means of acids, a sort of liquid lake or 

 carmine, for painting in miniature. Brazil wood has 

 been for many years past a royal monopoly ; its ex- 

 portation, except on account of government, being 

 prohibited under the severest penalties. Owing to 

 the improvident manner in which it has been cut 

 down by the goveniment agents, it is now rarely 

 found within several leagues of the coast. Indeed, 

 we are assured that many of the planters have pri- 

 vately cut down the trees on their estates, and used 

 the timber as fire-wood, that they might not expose 

 themselves to annoyance from the arbitrary and vexa- 

 tious proceedings of these functionaries. The quan- 

 tity of Brazil wood imported into this country is but 

 inconsiderable. Its price in the London market, ex- 

 clusive of the duty (5 per ton), varies from 25 to 

 40 per ton. 



BREACH ; the aperture or passage made in the wall 

 of any fortified place, by the ordnance of the besieg- 

 ers, for the purpose of entering the fortress. They 

 should be made where there is the least defence, that 

 is, in the front or face of the bastions. In order to 

 divide the resistance of the besieged, breaches are 

 commonly made at once in the faces of the attacked 

 bastions, and in the ravelin. This is effected by 

 battering, and, at such places as the cannon do not 

 reach, by the. aid of mines. Breach Battery. (See 

 Battery.) The breach is called practicable, if it is 

 large enough to afford some hope of success in case 

 of an assault. This is generally considered to be the 

 case if it allows a passage to fourteen men abreast. 

 Frequently, however, a breach of much less extent, 

 even of half that width, may be entered. 



BREAD. In the earliest antiquity, we find the flour 

 or meal of grain used as food. The inconvenience 

 attending the use of the grain in its natural state. 

 and, perhaps, the accidental observation, that, when 

 bruised, and softened in water, it formed a paste, 

 and, when dried again, a more compact, mealy sub- 

 stance, led, by degrees, to the artificial preparation of 

 bread. Easy as it seems to us, it must have been a 

 long time before it was completely successful. The 

 grain was first bruised between stones, and, from the 

 meal mixed with milk and water, a dry, tough, and 

 indigestible paste was made into balls. This is yet 

 the chief food of the caravans in the deserts of North- 

 ern Africa. The Carthaginians, also, ate no bread, 

 and hence were called, in derision, by the Romans, 

 pultiphagi (pottage-eaters). After many attempts, 

 or, perhaps, accidentally, it was observed that, by 

 bringing the paste into a state of fermentation, its 

 tenacity is almost entirely destroyed, and the mass 

 becomes bread ; porous, agreeable to the taste, diges- 

 tible, and, consequently, healthy. 



