TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 133 



of our affairs from Messrs. Von Eschwege and Feld- 

 ner, lieutenant-colonels of engineers in the service 

 of the King of Portugal. A residence of several 

 years in Brazil had made them both very well ac- 

 quainted with the interior of the country, and 

 the former happened to be just then at Rio de Ja- 

 neiro, whither he had come on a visit from his 

 garrison at Villa Rica. By the intervention of 

 the Austrian minister, Baron Von Neveu, who in- 

 terested himself in the success of our undertaking 

 with the warmest zeal, and in a truly literary 

 spirit, we soon received a royal safe conduct {jporta- 

 ria), which allowed us to travel through, and to exa- 

 mine at our pleasure the province of Rio de Janeiro, 

 and most strongly recommended us to the assistance 

 of the authorities, in every case where we should 

 stand in need of it.* 



If any person, considering that this is a new con- 

 tinent, discovered only three centuries ago, should 

 fancy that Nature is here still entirely rude, mighty, 

 and unconquered, he would believe, at least here in 

 the capital of Brazil, that he was in some other part 

 of the globe ; so much has the influence of the 

 civilisation of ancient and enlightened Europe ef- 

 faced the character of an American wilderness in this 

 point of the colony, and given it the stamp of higher 

 cultivation. The language, manners, architecture, 

 and the influx of the productions of the industry 



* See Note 1. page 199. 

 K 8 



