PROVINCE OF BAHIA. 



341 



obtained. TJie reader is already aware, from the statement of the productions 

 of the province, that sugar, tobacco, and cotton, are the principal objects afforded 

 to the merchant for the home shipments ; and as eight-ninths of the cotton, 

 some sugar, and tobacco, come to England, we will offer a few remarks rela- 

 tive to the quality and quantity of each article. 



The crop of sugar in the year 1816 amounted to thirty thousand cases, 

 averaging about forty arrobas each case ; and the shipments between the 1 st of 

 October, 1817, and the same date in 1818, comprised twenty-six thousand one 

 hundred and thirty-three packages, consisting of the denomination of branco 

 and bruno (white and brown.) The new sugars begin to arrive here in the 

 months of December and January, and some few in November. The most desi- 

 rable months for purchasing sugar are from January to May, comprehending the 

 summer season, when it is in an arid state, and the grain thereby improved ; 

 during the rainy months the sugar becomes succulent, and the grain inferior ; in 

 the early part of the first season also, the higher numbers of whites and browns 

 are more abundant, the latter arrivals consisting of the lower numbers of both. 

 The sugars are submitted to the inspection of the establishment before 

 mentioned, and divided into the following numbers, according to quality, colour, 

 and grain. 



White — The lowest quality is termed Branco baixa. 



Second Branco dez No. 10. 



Third Branco onze 1 1 . 



Fourth Branco doze 12. 



Brown — The lowest quality is termed Muscovado brumo. 



Second Muscovado redondo. 



Third Muscovado maixo. 



In addition to the above, a few boxes of whites are made of a superior quality, 

 and rated as high as quinze, or fifteen. The best sugar in this market is pro- 

 duced in the Reconcave, arising, as has been before observed, from the excellent 

 adaptation of its soil to the culture of the cane. These and others, coming from 

 the interior to the bay, are denominated dentros, and are not generally so 

 white as those termed foras, which come from without the bay, and are pro- 

 duced along* the coast. The foras are much softer in grain, but, from their 

 superiority in colour over the dentros, they obtain a preference in some markets ; 

 but not for Hamburgh or those places where sugar is used for refining. 



An average crop of tobacco may be estimated at six hundred thousand arrobas • 

 but in some years it almost fails, as in 1817, arising from the continued dry 



