196 TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



when the king, before his departure, took consider- 

 able sums out of the bank, for which he deposited 

 a part of the crown diamonds, which in the sequel 

 were taken back to Europe, and, as it is affirmed, 

 extensive embezzlements, appear greatly to have 

 shaken the foundations of the establishment. 



The amount of the current coin at Rio cannot 

 be precisely determined ; the less so, because im- 

 mense sums are sometimes exported, the withdraw- 

 ing of which from circulation, is often long and 

 generally felt. The ships bound to India and 

 China, as we have already observed, take, for the 

 most part, ready money, either Spanish piasters, or 

 Portuguese gold, which suddenly causes so great 

 a scarcity of money, that not only the value of 

 gold rises extremely in exchange, but the interest 

 on bills runs up to twenty or twenty-two per cent. 

 In such conjunctures, several months frequently 

 pass before the want of currency ceases to be felt. 

 The operations of the mint too, which purchases 

 Spanish dollars, and recoining them as pieces of 

 three pataccas, issues them again l60 rees higher, 

 appears sometimes to produce a temporary scarcity 

 in Rio. The rate of interest usual among the 

 merchants for open accounts, but not for bill trans- 

 actions, is twelve per cent. This is in proportion 

 to the price of daily labour, which for a hired 

 negro is 160 to 240 rees, and for a European la- 

 bourer from one to two Spanish dollars. 



Neither the state of trade as we have described 

 it, nor the custom-house duties, are disadvantage- 



