MUCURI, VI9OZA, CARAVELLAS, &C. 235 



or inclination to labour for the instruction and education of the peo- 

 ple, actively contribute, on the contrary, to repress sound reason and 

 the exercise of the understanding, and to impede the progress of in- 

 tellectual improvement. With all their rudeness, the common people 

 have a great degree of self-conceit and pride, combined with a total 

 ignorance of the state of the rest of the world ; which is probably 

 chiefly to be ascribed to the pernicious system of entire exclusion 

 from foreign intercourse, which Portugal formerly pursued with re- 

 gard to Brazil. A stranger is here considered as a wonder, or as 

 something only half-human. While he deplores this darkness, the 

 friend of humanity must rejoice in the hopes which the present more 

 enlightened government authorise us to entertain. 



The river Peruipe, which is moderately broad, forms before it falls 

 into the sea two branches, of which the Barra Velha is stated to lie 

 in the latitude of 18". Its banks are not inhabited far up, and the 

 military station of Caparica has been established there against the 

 savages. Before its mouth there are sand banks, which render the 

 navigation unsafe. During our stay here, a boat laden with flour 

 was wrecked on them, and four men perished. The celebrated rocky 

 islands called the Abrolhos, which are the terror of navigators, lie 

 nearly between Caravellas and Vicoza, only a few miles from the 

 coast : fishermen sail thither with their boats, stay several days or 

 even weeks, and catch abundance of fish and sea-turtles. These 

 islands are overgrown with low bushes, in which many sea-fowl build 

 their nests, especially the grapiras (halieus forjicatus. ) 



The country round Vipoza has fine extensive forests, which at this 

 time were partly inundated by the frequent rains. Noble trees 

 spread a refreshing shade ; in particular we found here many cocoa- 

 palms, the species of which known to the inhabitants, may be seen 

 in the annexed list. In the country on the Mucuri and the Peruipe, 

 the following species of palms are known, all of which have the ex- 



