PROVINCE OF RIO DE JANEIRO, 



47 



St.Joao Marcos, erected into a town in 1813, is upon the right bank of the small 

 river Araras, a western branch of the Lages, and is seven leagues north of Angra, 

 and nineteen west of the capital. Its church is dedicated to the saint from which 

 it takes its name. Its inhabitants cultivate a prodigious quantity of coffee, which 

 is decidedly esteemed the best in the Brazil ; also some sugar. It is a halting 

 place for the bands of mules, and travellers coming from the province of St. 

 Paulo to the metropolis ; but, like all other towns and places in the Brazil, pos- 

 sesses no inns for the accommodation of the wayfarer, who, if not used to the 

 modes of the country, must cater as well as he can. Proceeding from hence 

 towards St. Paulo, the mountains are of such height, that passes, or ways, are 

 formed only by considerable windings and intricate ascents. 



A little above the passage of the Parahibuna, betwixt the Parahiba and the 

 Preto, is the village of Valen^a, with a hermitage of Our Lady of Glory, (Gloria,) 

 which serves for the devotion of the inhabitants ; consisting of four hordes of 

 Christianized Indians, which are the Puris, who are of a small stature; the Araris, 

 whiter and well made ; the Pittas, and Xumettos. Some unconverted natives 

 dwell amongst them. Upon the northern bank of the Parahiba, at the passage 

 towards the Parahibuna, is the parish of Our Lady of Concei^ao, (Conception,) 

 inhabited by white people. It is much frequented. 



The district of Rio de Janeiro, situated betwixt those of Cape Frio on the 

 east, and Ilha Grande on the south, extends twenty leagues from east to west, 

 and nearly in its centre is the bay of the same name, which receives all the 

 rivers that fertilize this district, with the exception of the Guandu. Its pro- 

 ductions do not materially differ from the others, in the conveyance of which to 

 the capital it, however, enjoys greater facility. 



St. Sebastian, better known by the name of Rio de Janeiro, is the most impor- 

 tant, populous, and commercial city in the Brazil. It was created a bishopric in 

 the year 1776, and the metropolis of this region, in 1763 ; from which period, to 

 the arrival of Queen Donna Maria and the royal family, on the 7th of March, 

 1808, it was governed by seven successive viceroys : these were, the Count da 

 Cunha, the Count d' Azambuja, the Marquis de Lavrodio, Luiz de Vasconcellas 

 e Souza, the Count de Rezende, Fernando Joze de Portugal, (now the Marquis 

 d'Aguiar,) and Count d' Arcos, a nobleman highly esteemed by the people under 

 his jurisdiction, which terminated before its natural expiration, in consequence 

 of the events in Portugal that drove the royal family to their Trans- Atlantic 

 possessions. It is affirmed that this fidalgo undeservedly suffered some per- 

 secution at this period, in consequence of the intrigues or influence which a 

 certain family, who accompanied the court, had over the Prince Regent, (two 



