TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 189 



ment of his commercial affairs in person ; for the 

 more retired his native place is, the earlier he has 

 accustomed himself to disregard long journeys from 

 it. A man who undertakes almost weekly a journey 

 of five or six miles* on horseback to attend mass at 

 church, or to visit his neighbours, does not fear to 

 travel several hundred miles, if it is necessary, to 

 exchange the harvest of one or several years for the 

 valuable productions of foreign countries. 



The exportation of the articles of commerce, pro- 

 duced in the country itself, to the ports of Europe, 

 was the first foundation of the prosperity of Rio de 

 Janeiro. The forwarding of goods imported fi'om 

 Europe, to the smaller ports, and into the interior, 

 is indeed likewise a fertile source from which the" 

 capital annually derives large sums ; but it bears 

 no proportion to the mass of colonial produce which 

 Rio sends beyond sea. The three most important 

 articles of agriculture are sugar, coffee, and cotton. 

 The first is particularly cultivated in those districts 

 of the capitania, which lie to the south and east of 

 the mountain chain (Serra do Mar), and nearer to 

 the sea (Beiramar), that is, in the districts of Ilha 

 Grande, Cabo Frio and Goytacazes. The two 

 districts of Paraiba-Nova, and Canta-Gallo, lying 

 beyond the mountain chain, are not so favourable 

 to the cultivation of this article, which marks, as it 



* It is stated in a subsequent note, that Portuguese or Bra- 

 zilian miles, 18 to a degree, are meant : one of these may there- 

 fore be taken as equal to four English miles. Trans. 



