14 



TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



the natural style of the text and the melody ; they 

 are perfectly in the popular taste, and sometimes 

 indicate a truly lyrical talent in the poets, most of 

 whom are anonymous. Slighted love, the torments . 

 of jealousy, and the pangs of absence, are the sub- 

 jects of their muse; and a. poetical allusion to na- 

 ture gives to these effusions a peculiar relief^ which 

 appears the more pleasing and true to a European, 

 the more he feels himself placed in a poetical mood 

 by the riches and tranquil enjoyment which nature 

 breathes around. 



The whole province of S. Paulo is a land pecu- 

 liarly adapted for the breeding of cattle. It pos- 

 sesses the most extensive plains, on which all kinds 

 of cattle, but particularly oxen, horses, and mules, 

 thrive exceedingly welL If we reckon that of the 

 17,500 square miles which the capitania contains, 

 only 5000, or two seventh parts of the whole 

 surface, are covered with wood, and 12,500 square 

 miles with meadows and pastures, there would be 

 for a family of five persons tVo% of a square mile of 

 wood which inay be used for agriculture, and -fo%~o 

 of a square mile of pasture proper for cattle. As 

 soon as the province shall be more peopled, par- 

 ticularly in the interior, the productions of agri- 

 culture and of the herds will be brought to a 

 suitable proportion ; at present, especially along 

 the coast, and in places which are adapted to the 

 sugar-cane and other colonial articles, where the 

 population is the most numerous, the produce of ' 



