TRAVELS IN BRAZIL, 



125 



NOTES TO CHAPTER IV* 



Note 1. 



The Dyer's Lichen was first exported from the islands of 

 the Archipelago to Venice, Genoa, France, and England^ 

 for the use of the dyers. Towards the commencement of 

 the last century it was discovered in the Canary Islands, 

 and was soon placed among the regalia of the Spanish 

 crown. This excited the attention of the Portuguese, who 

 collected it without restriction in the Cape de Verd Islands, 

 Madeira, Porto Santo, and the Azores. In the year 1730, 

 the Jesuits asked of King John V. the privilege of collects 

 ing the Hervinha secea ; but the crown took the advantage 

 into its own hands, and farmed the right of collecting it, 

 At a later period the Lichen was ceded to the mercantile 

 company of Gram Para and Maranhdo • and, lastly, in 

 the year 1790, the government again took this branch of 

 commerce under its own care, because it had declined 

 considerably under the bad management of the company. 

 At present the exportation is small ; but more considerable, 

 however, from the Cape de Verd Isles. (See I. Da Silva 

 Feijo, in the Memm^ias economical da Acad, de Lishoa^ 

 vol. V. 1815, p. 143.) 



