POLITICAL STATE. OF BRAZIL. 87 



affairs, it is said, caused them to conceal the actual number of persons 

 in their families. Of the above number, about two millions are slaves. 

 No estimate has been made of the proportion which free blacks, 

 mulattoes, or Indians bear to the whites or to each other. The relative 

 number of slaves varies much in the different provinces ; it is largest in 

 Rio de Janeiro and the Minas Geraes. The population of Rio in 1810 

 was estimated at forty thousand, in 1838 it was two hundred and fifty 

 thousand. In Appendix XXI. will be found a statement of the popula- 

 tion that may be considered semi-official. 



The national debt of Brazil amounts to one hundred million milrees, 

 or sixty million dollars. The revenue was about sixteen millions of 

 dollars for 1838. It is derived principally from exports and imports. 

 A statement of the quantities of produce exported in the above year, 

 will be found in Appendix XXII. I was not able to obtain those of the 

 imports. The expenditures of the government are fixed by law at 

 about the same sum. All appropriations are specific. 



The imports amounted to over twenty millions of dollars. The 

 amount of exports is variously stated. Coffee is the great staple, and 

 more than one hundred and twenty millions of pounds were exported 

 in 1838. It is derived from the central provinces, and the exports of 

 it have more than doubled within the last ten years. The exports of 

 the southern provinces are mostly confined to hides and tallow ; those of 

 the northern, to sugar, cotton, and tobacco. 



The trade with the United States has greatly increased. Within the 

 last few years, from one hundred and sixty to one hundred and seventy 

 American vessels take and bring cargoes to and from the United 

 States, and some foreign vessels are engaged in the same trade. The 

 consumption of American flour in Rio and the neighbouring country, 

 has been during the same year, about one hundred and twenty thousand 

 barrels. 



The state of this country and the southern republics, renders it 

 highly necessary that a suitable naval force should be employed on 

 this coast for the protection of our increasing trade. 



The currency of the country is in paper and copper. Gold and 

 silver coins are articles of traffic, and fluctuate in value : few or none 

 of these are in circulation. The bank issues notes of milrees, which 

 also fluctuate. The usual value of a milree is from sixty to seventy 

 cents. One thousand five hundred ries are equal to a dollar. 



Printed books of all kinds are allowed to be brought into the country. 

 Those of foreign origin are not under censorship. 



The great drawback to the facility of business is the number of 

 holidays on which the custom-house is closed, and all business 



