4 



TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



progress of this colony ; before a century had 

 elapsed, we find the Paulistas already engaged in 

 daring enterprises. Sometimes, after the mother 

 country had become subject to Spain, inflamed 

 with zeal for Portuguese independence and freedom, 

 they boldly carried the war into distant Spanish 

 provinces 5 sometimes, impelled by thirst for gold, 

 they explored in all directions the wildernesses of 

 the interior, and by their fortunate discoveries, 

 exercised a decisive influence over the whole 

 colony, and even the mother country itself. 



The consequence of these events was on the 

 one hand, a freer development of civil relations; 

 and, on the other hand, internal family feuds arising 

 from it, very nearly resembling those in the little 

 republics of Italy in the middle ages, and a ran- 

 corous external contest, particularly with the 

 rival colony of Taubate ; and thus, in the period 

 of a hundred and fifty years, we see all the elements 

 of history gradually unfolded. In this respect 

 S. Paulo is distinguished above all other cities of 

 Brazil, and here, more than in any other place, 

 we find the present connected with the past. The 

 Paulista is sensible of this, and says, not without 

 pride, that his native city has a history of its own, 

 which, though it goes only a few centuries back, 

 is intimately connected with that of his neighbours. 

 It is this circumstance especially, which ought 

 to soften and correct the judgment which people 

 are used to pass to the disadvantage of the cha- 



