82 



NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



the upper ranks ; and more men than are sufficient to garrison 

 them. 



On the whole it appears to me that, in case of emerg-ency, about 

 seven thousand men might be brought together in twenty-four hours ; but 

 it could not be done without great exertion. Nor would the most active 

 pains be sufficient perfectly to accomplish their junction, within so short 

 a period ; for the force must be collected on the different sides of a piece 

 of water two miles broad, without any adequate means of passing it. 

 Nor is the ground about Rio well adapted to the manoeuvres of cavalry, 

 while an invading army could have no force of the kind, and would take 

 advantage of positions. 



There seems also an extreme want of the necessaries of war ; a great 

 deficiency of small arms is most manifest, and no pieces of light artillery, 

 fit for the field, are to be seen. The heavy ones at the forts, where there 

 is far from being a piece for every embrasure, are old and rusty, and 

 some of them have not been scaled for years. Of those which show 

 themselves as effective, many a one rests its muzzle upon the wall, while 

 the breech is supported by two cross-sticks. There is no powder but 

 what is collected from British vessels ; no lead, consequently no musket- 

 balls, nor any surplus of iron-shot. When a gun is fired in terrorem, on 

 any occasion, the ball is always made of clay. The men, miserably 

 equipped for the drill and parade, as before observed, are worse furnished 

 for service ; they have no great coats, blankets, knapsacks, canteens, nor 

 tents, nor even shoes, nor the common articles of linen. They are 

 altogether without soldier-like appearance, or military habits. In the 

 field they would become sickly, without being harrassed, and die without 

 a conflict ; while, shut up in the forts, they must starve, for the 

 magazines are unfurnished. 



The defences of Rio frown formidably in the eyes of a person unac- 

 quainted with their real state. A vessel, entering the harbour, first 

 meets with the two curtains, or traverses, which have been mentioned 

 before. They are constructed of stone, to the South of the harbour, and 

 the East and West of its entrance ; and are intended to defend a narrow 



