86 POLITICAL STATE OF BRAZIL. 



many are captured by British cruisers, yet it is said that more than 

 one half of the vessels escape, and smuggle the slaves into the small 

 rivers and harbours, bribing the collectors, who permit them to be 

 landed. After landing, the slaves are driven into the woods, where 

 they are secreted until they are sold to the planters in the interior. 



The slaves do not increase, as procreation is prevented as much 

 as possible. The two sexes are generally locked up at night in 

 separate apartments. The number of slaves imported into Rio and 

 Bahia previous to the prohibition of the slave trade in 1830, was 

 about forty thousand a year for the former, and ten thousand for the 

 latter, as follows : 



RIO. BAHIA. 



1828 . . 41,913 . . . 8,860 



1829 . . 40,015 . . . 12,808 



1830 half year 29,777 • . . 8,588 



About one-third of these were lost by death, leaving two-thirds as 

 an accession to the labour of the country. 



The number annually imported since 1830, contrary to law, is 

 estimated at seven to ten thousand. 



In speaking of the apprehension of a rise of the blacks in the pro- 

 vinces, the well-informed seemed to entertain no kind of fear of such an 

 event. I was told that Bahia was the only point at which insurrections 

 were ever likely to occur, and this was from the prevalence of the 

 Mina slaves, who are very intelligent, and capable of forming organized 

 bodies, which they occasionally have done. The slaves of the other 

 provinces are of a mixed character, incapable of any organization, and 

 from having been taken from different tribes on the coast, they are 

 more or less hostile to each other, and would be opposed to any such 

 union. 



The Brazilians have great respect for foreigners who are not 

 Portuguese. The latter are detested. They have a strong bias in 

 favour of the United States and the American government generally. 

 They think the time is approaching which will unite the people of this 

 continent in a distinct national policy, in contra-distinction to that of 

 Europe, and in rivalry to it. They are vain of their own country and 

 its institutions, and firmly believe that a high destiny awaits Brazil. 

 The government, in its political relations with other countries, is 

 seemingly confiding and liberal. 



The population of the empire, taking the last returns of the members 

 of the Chamber of Deputies as a guide, is estimated at five millions. 

 No census has yet been taken, but it is thought to exceed this number. 

 The scrutiny formerly exercised by the government into their domestic 



