234 



STAY AT MORRO d'aRARA, 



the plantations is exported by sea. A German ship-carpenter Hves 

 here ; he was brought hither by an Enghsh vessel which was wrecked, 

 and now exercises his profession : he came immediately to visit us ; 

 but he speaks his native language very imperfectly : in this country 

 he was considered as an Englishman. 



The owners of the vessels (^/aricAas j are the richest and most respec- 

 table inhabitants here. M. Bernardo da Motta is distinguished 

 among them by his beneficent disposition and integrity. Possessing 

 a knowledge of many of the disorders of the country, and consider- 

 able experience, which he has gradually acquired, he exerts himself 

 to be serviceable to his sick countrymen by his advice, and by sup- 

 plying them with approved remedies. In the hot climate of Brazil 

 the inhabitants are subject to numerous diseases, and especially to 

 various cutaneous disorders, and obstinate fevers, which, when pro- 

 perly treated by able physicians or surgeons, are indeed seldom dan- 

 gerous, but of which many persons die here for want of the necessary 

 assistance or from improper treatment. M. da Motta has endeavoured 

 at Vicoza to remedy this evil as much as possible ; and though he 

 does not possess any profound medical attainments, yet experience 

 has taught him many excellent practical modes of treatment; and 

 from the modesty with which he tries, and adopts every thing 

 good and useful that is communicated to him by others, his know- 

 ledge and the sphere of his beneficial exertions are continually in- 

 creasing. 



The greatest kindness that the king could confer on his subjects in 

 Brazil, would be the appointment of able physicians and surgeons in 

 the different parts of the country, and the establishment of good 

 public schools, in order gradually to dispel from among the common 

 people the rude ignorance and the blind superstition, which occasion 

 and diffuse so much misery and mischief. Such schools are wholly 

 wanting. Arrogant ecclesiastics, who are deficient either in energy 



