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PROVINCE OF RIO DE JANEIRO. 



St. Maria of Marica was created a town by a law of the 26th May, 1814, 

 with a civil jurisdiction, administered by two ordinary judges, (juizes ordinarios,) 

 one of orphans, three magistrates, ( vereadores,) an alcayde, a procurator of 

 council, and two almotaces, or regulators of the market. It is small, but well 

 situated, near the mouth of the little river Itapitiu, upon the margin of the 

 lake from which it is named, and which well supplies it with fish. The church 

 here, of Our Lady of Amparo, is the best in the province, with the exception 

 of some in the metropolis, from whence it is distant about twenty-five miles to 

 the eastward, and near thirty west of Cape Frio. The inhabitants cultivate 

 sugar, mandioca, feijao, Indian corn, and some coffee. 



The district of Cape Frio, named from the promontory where the coast 

 changes its direction, is limited on the north, by the river Maccah6, which 

 separates it from the district of Goytacazes, is washed on the east and south by 

 the ocean, and comprises twelve leagues of territory, from north to south, and 

 ten in the widest part from east to west. The country is generally uneven, 

 and the valleys and plains, situated between mountains more or less elevated, 

 are extremely deficient in good water. It produces mandioca, Indian corn, 

 rice, vegetables, and sugar. Cattle, inconsiderable in number, are of a small 

 size. Banana and orange trees, so abundant in various parts of the province, 

 are here exceedingly rare, owing to the negligence of the inhabitants. The 

 produce of indigo, which was formerly considerable, is at present trifling, 

 although this district is well adapted for it. Cochineal was once an important 

 branch of commerce ; but the avaricious propensity of several individuals 

 induced them to adulterate it by the addition of farinha. The govern- 

 ment took a certain quantity of it, and paid the best price : but, discover- 

 ing the fraud, declined having any more of it. The merchants of the capital 

 followed this example, and at last the cultivation of it was totally abandoned. 

 To the productions of the district already mentioned must be added, that of 

 timber, which, with management and industry, would form one of the most 

 lucrative and important. The woods are very extensive, abounding in an 

 innumerable variety of trees, well adapted for the purposes of building, cabinet 

 work, &c. Three qualities of the Brazil wood are met with here, of which that 

 denominated mirim is esteemed the best. The rivers St. Joao and Maccah6 

 afford navigation for conveying those fine timbers to the coast. Besides the 

 two last-mentioned rivers, there is the Una, which enters the ocean seven miles 

 south of the first. In front of its embouchure is situated the small island of 

 Branca. 



