ST. LUIZ. 



269 



to the mouth of the river Itapicuru ; at this is 

 stationed a canoe, for the purpose of conveying 

 people from one shore to the other. Another 

 horse-path also leads to the village and chapel 

 of St.Joze. 



The importance of the province has increased 

 very rapidly. Previous to the last sixty years 

 no cotton was exported, and I heard that when 

 the first parcel was about to be shipped, a pe- 

 tition was made by several of the inhabitants to 

 the Camara or municipality, requesting that the 

 exportation might not be permitted, for other- 

 wise they feared that there would be a w r ant of 

 the article for the consumption of the country ; 

 this of course was not attended to, and now the 

 number of bags exported annually is between 

 forty and fifty thousand, averaging about 180lbs. 

 weight each. * The quantity of rice grown 



* I have just in time received the following statement of 



the exportation of cotton from Maranham, from the year 



1809 to 1815: 



Vessels. 



1809. To Great Britain in 51 - 



To other parts - 



- 29 



1810. To Great Britain - 37 



To other parts - - 19 



1811. To Great Britain - 36 



To other parts - - 19 



1812. To Great Britain - 29 



To other parts - - 29 



1813. To Great Britain - 35 



To other parts - - 27 



Bags. 



- 55,835 



- 21,006 



- 40,684- 



- 11,793 



- 48,705 



- 6,053 



- 35,767 



- 4,803 



- 50,072 



- 10,101 



