150 



NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



prepared for sale in large quantities. Other fishes of the Plata, besides this, 

 produce much oil ; we laid in a stock from them, and found it to burn well. 



Having passed a very anxious night in effecting our escape from 

 confinement, Colonia, often called St. Sacramento, greeted us very 

 pleasantly, at the hour when a bright sun was rising on the river. My 

 pleasure in beholding it did not arise merely from its natural scenery, nor 

 from the feeling of newly-recovered liberty ; it presented itself as the 

 theatre of many military exploits, the subject of diplomatic negotiations, 

 and as likely to become a point of great importance in the new situation 

 of Brazil. The Government of that country looks to it with an anxious 

 eye, as commanding, in a great measure,^some of the noblest rivers in 

 the world ; as the place, whence the revolutionary spirit of the other 

 side of the Plata may be controuled ; and as a point of essential concern 

 in their designs on the Western territory, which they no longer hesitate 

 to call the Capitania of Parana. No pains have lately been spared by 

 them to get possession of what the Spaniards call the Banda Oriental • 

 for this purpose they have intrigued with the Patriots, and negotiated 

 with the Court of Spain. The project was at length effected, by the 

 cession of the territory, in exchange for Oliven^a, and the hand of a 

 Princess ; but as Monte Video, the key of the whole district, was in the 

 power of the Insurgents, and as it was probable that Europe would not 

 quietly behold the dismemberment of the country, both parties armed, 

 and proceeded to seize what they reckoned their respective portions. 

 The town of St. Philip surrendered to the Brazilian arms ; while at 

 Ohven9a, Ferdinand met with effectual resistance, from the quarter the 

 most likely to oppose his views, and thus obtained only a part of his 

 equivalent, a wife. The feeble Monarch, having endeavoured, without 

 fnuch effect, to interest the Congress of Sovereigns in his cause, 

 now sees himself the dupe of wiser heads, the despised ruler of nominal 

 possessions. 



The territory, which Brazil has recently acquired, cannot be less 

 than seventy thousand square miles, possessing from nature all the 



