CHAP. xxv. BRASIL. 



pounds, or five hundred and eighty-three thousand 

 six hundred and eighty ounces, which, when 

 valued at sixteen dollars to 



the ounce, make < v 9,338,880 dollars, 

 to which adding the silver 



as before estimated ^.< 7,280,000 dollars, 

 showing the whole product 



to be . . ' "'. < 16,618,880 dollars, 



or in sterling money ; . ' 3,462,266 pounds, 

 or on the average of the 



twenty years 'S : V 173,1 13 pounds. 



The produce of gold in Brasil has for many 

 years been declining. The process of that de- 

 clension from 1752 to 1795 is to be seen in the 

 Appendix, No. 8, when during that period it fell 

 off more than one half in the province of Minas 

 Geras, which was then and still is the chief 

 source of gold. Since that period we have been 

 able to collect no statistical reports of the amount 

 of the gold obtained, though, from the relations 

 of the most intelligent travellers who have visited 

 Brasil, there has been a continued decrease in the 

 product. 



W. C. von Eschwege, a scientific German, who 

 paid much attention to the gold washings, states 

 the amount of gold yielded by Minas Geras as 

 three-fourths of that in all the provinces, and affirms 

 that, when he visited Brasil, the whole amount of 

 the duty of one-fifth was three hundred and 



