TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 14o 



taken for Indians, are niulattoes of various tints. 

 The first native American that we saw was a boy of 

 the cannibal race of the Botocudos, in Minas Geraes ; 

 he was in the house of our friepd, M. Von Langs- 

 dorff! The Conde da Barca, formerly minister of 

 state, had, it seems, appHed to the district com- 

 mander of the Indians, in Minas Geraes, for an 

 Indian scull, for our celebrated countryman, Pro- 

 fessor Blumenbach ; but the commandant not 

 having an opportunity to obtain such a dead spe- 

 cimen, sent the count two living Botocudos, who 

 had been taken in a sudden attack by his soldiers. 

 M. Von LangsdorfF obtained one of them, to 

 whom he soon became much attached, and who 

 served him not only as a living cabinet piece, but 

 as a collector of objects of natural history. 



Before the arrival of the king, the whole popula- 

 tion of Rio consisted of fifty thousand souls, and 

 the number of the blacks, and people of colour, 

 considerably exceeded that of the white inhabitants. 

 In the year I8I7, on the other hand, the city and 

 its dependencies contained above a hundred and 

 ten thousand inhabitants. It may be considered 

 as certain, that since the year 1808, four and 

 twenty thousand Portuguese have gradually ar- 

 rived here from Europe. This great afflux of 

 Portuguese, to which must be added a considerable 

 number of English, French, Dutch, Germans, and 

 Italians, who, after the opening of the port, 

 settled here, some as merchants, others as me- 

 chanics, could not fail, setting aside every other 



