292 TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



sported by thousands about the mouhtain streams 

 illumined by the sun, 



On the third day, after we had left Bananal, 

 and passed the river, and the little place Barreiro, 

 we reached S. Anna das Areas, a pretty consider- 

 able town, which had lately been raised by the king- 

 to the rank of a villa. The government endeavours, 

 in general, to favour the union of several colonists 

 by conferring such titles and the privileges con- 

 nected with them ; in which it is actuated by the 

 double principle, that by living closer together the 

 colonists gain in civilisation, and regard for their 

 duties as citizens ; and the state, by the increased 

 facility in the administration, the collection of the 

 taxes, and the regulation of the militia. In every 

 country which, with a great extent, possesses but a 

 small population, it is certainly more to the in- 

 terest of the government to improve some parts by 

 augmenting the population, and encouraging in- 

 dustry, and raising them to the necessary degree 

 of social and civil relations, than to suffer the mass 

 of inhabitants to scatter themselves over the whole 

 face of the country, and allow each individual to 

 lead a life, which, being remote from all protection 

 and all observance of the laws, without the bene- 

 ficent influence of society, cannot promote mo- 

 rality, the social virtues, nor cultivation. The 

 tendency of the measures of the Portuguese go- 

 vernment has, in this respect, a resemblance to the 

 system of military colonisation in Russia, though 



