NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



This is the Northern extremity of the bay, and the little town situated 

 on it is the port of a thickly inhabited and well cultivated region, a place 

 of great resort. 



To the river of Mage, the low coast is covered with flags and mangue ; 

 the stream is broad, though not navigable but at high water. The town 

 is well situated on the verge of the solid ground, four miles from the 

 bay. It has several streets regularly arranged j many houses of A 

 superior cast, a good fish market, and an excellent church ; altogether 

 it is one of the most considerable places in the neighbourhood of the 

 Capital. We attended vespers, and heard the service performed in a 

 very slovenly manner. Commercial affairs seem to be differently managed, 

 the exports are large, and the scene at the hour of business, highly inter- 

 esting. Among other more important productions, the black, or best 

 sort of Ipecacuanha is procured here. The name of this drug is evidently 

 of Tupi origin, and partly derived, I believe, from Aipe, a word denoting 

 a large class of plants, whose roots, after suitable preparation, are eaten, 

 though certainly in their natural state poisonous* 



While often recording the common hospitality of the country, 

 it would be ungrateful to pass unnoticed the peculiar civility experienced 

 at this place. At my first visit to the town, I was in company with an 

 English Professor of Medicine and Chemistry. We ordered a fowl fol* 

 dinner at the venda, and while it was preparing, strolled into the town, 

 intending to sail for the city with the evening tide. As we returned, 

 we were accosted by a man of pleasant appearance and genteel manners, 

 who informed us that he had ordered our dinner to be set out in his 

 apartments, and that it was quite ready. We ascended to a good suite 

 of rooms, in the upper part of the venda, where we found a family of 

 ten or a dozen people, some of whom were recently arrived from Oporto* 

 The dinner, consisting of upwards of twenty dishes, was divided into 

 courses, and men and women sate mixed at table. As strangers, we 

 were placed at the head of it, the host seating himself at our left, and 

 an elderly lady doing me the honour to sit on my right. The meal was 

 a hearty and cheerful one, much less ceremonious than we expected, and 



