84 



PROVINCE OF RIO DE JANEIRO. 



time towns. At Pernambuco for instance, cotton pays six hundred reas per 

 arobe. White sugar sixty reas per arobe, and brown sugar thirty reas, which, 

 upon the average price of those articles when I left that city, was from six to 

 ten per cent. And at Rio a duty of two per cent, at the market price was, in 

 1819, laid, generally, upon all produce exported. Coffee previously paid eighty 

 reas per arobe, at a fixed price of two milreas and a half per arobe ; and the 

 price in 1819 being about four milreas and two hundred reas, the government 

 collected the two per cent, upon the difference betwixt the two milreas and a 

 half and the current value, which created some perplexity in levying the tax 

 upon that article ; and as eighty reas upon the fixed price is about two per cent, 

 it would obviate this difficulty by repealing that law, and allowing the two per 

 cent, to apply to the market price of coffee as well as other articles. The only 

 advantage to be obtained by the government, by continuing this mode, w ould be 

 in the event of coffee falling in value below two milreas and a half. 



The government retain the diamond district of Serro Frio under their own 

 management, and it is extraordinary that, during the last fifty years, it has 

 been so conducted, that this important branch of revenue has been unproduc- 

 tive, and the establishment is considered to be embarrassed. The company, 

 who had it by contract some years previous to its reverting to the government, 

 acquired considerable wealth, partly, however, by intrigue, as their engage- 

 ment bound them to a fixed number of negroes, and by bribery they introduced 

 a great many more to work the grounds, consisting of twelve or fourteen hun- 

 dred square miles. 



Tijuco is the residence of the governor of the diamond works, which are, 

 and have been some years, under the jurisdiction of Senhor Camara. The mode 

 pursued of hiring all negroes, and making all purchases for the establishment 

 upon the spot, will tend to preclude its ever becoming lucrative in the hands of 

 the government All persons who hold situations under the governor are 

 allowed the privilege of supplying a certain number of negroes, and the eager- 

 ness, intrigue, and influence, exercised by all classes, to get their negroes em- 

 ployed, is a strong testimony of some ulterior object, beyond the mere wages 

 which can be thus acquired, and no doubt exists that an illicit traffic in dia- 

 monds, through this medium, is carried on to an immense extent. The royal 

 family have the selection of the finest diamonds ; and it is said that the King 

 possesses the best collection of gems in the world, worth upwards of two mil- 

 lions sterling. The diamonds are conveyed to Rio from Tijuco, a distance of 



