WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 299 



with no literature, but with a beautiful and complex language, or 

 they become and continue a subjected and servile race, like the 

 negroes or the Malays. 



I came across, in Brazil, white men (the descendants of the 

 Portuguese), negroes, and a few tame Indians ; all of them 

 Christians, living together under parallel conditions. Of the 

 three races, though the whites are the most civilized, the negroes 

 are physically the finest race and the most prolific. I met with 

 some mulattoes, who were not only very intelligent, but also most 

 scientific, and especially skilled in modern languages. 



Weights and Measures. 



In Rio de Janeiro, and in other places which are more or 

 less connected with foreign countries, the kilogrammetric and 

 litric systems obtain ; but up country, as I have repeatedly men- 

 tioned, the old weights and measures are still in force. For 

 small weights the kilogram and its divisions are used, but for 

 larger quantities the aroba is employed. In measures of capacity, 

 the litre is occasionally used, but in general the other measures, 

 which are detailed in the table below. In the stores, cloths and 

 other products are measured by metres ; but distances are always 

 described in leagues, half leagues or quarter leagues. In land 

 measurement, alqueires, bragas, and palmas are in use.* 



LONG MEASURE. 



z Palma = 9 Inches. 



I Covado = o'66 Metres = 2 Feet 2| Inches. 



I Braga = 2*20 „ = 7 j» 2J „ 



I Legoa, or Legna = 6, 666 '66 Metres = 4 Miles 246 Yards. 



* I am indebted to Mr. George Maunders, C.E., of Ouro Preto, for notes 

 from which I have compiled most of these tables. 



