370 



NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



At the Port, the first business is to put round each package two 

 girders, with loops attached to them, at such a distance from each other 

 as the knobs of the pannel or pack-saddle may require. These are also 

 made of raw hide, but soaked in water, that they may admit of greater 

 tension, and bind the more closely ; they are indeed the cords of the 

 package ; in loading, the loops are put over the knobs of the pack-saddle, 

 so that one bale is suspended on each side of the mule, and made to 

 balance its companion ; other smaller packages, or articles useful for the 

 cattle or their drivers, are placed between the bales over the saddle, and 

 the weight of the whole is adjusted to the strength of the beast. Over 

 all is thrown a dried bide, doubled and bound on with a wanty, to keep 

 the load dry. The average weight of each load is estimated at two 

 hundred and fifty-six pounds ; but among the packages consigned to our 

 troop was one of tea-boards, which weighed six arrobas and a half, and 

 this must be balanced on the saddle by an equal weight, so that one poor 

 beast carried four hundred and sixteen pounds. 



It is owing to this mode of conveying goods, that small packages 

 are so much esteemed in the South American trade. Those which exceed 

 in weight half the burden of a mule, must undergo some change at the 

 Port, and on that account are frequently saleable only there, or to 

 people who can dispose of large quantities of goods. Hence for 

 large packages the number of customers is diminished, and the price 

 proportionally lower ; hence also pigs of lead, bars of iron, barrels of 

 nails, and a variety of other articles, which are conveyed with ease in 

 European waggons, must undergo an expensive process in Brazil, in order 

 to adapt them to the backs of mules. Bars of iron, v g must not only 

 be reduced to a proper weight, but be doubled into a proper form, about 

 two feet in length ; and a pig of lead, which weighed half a ton, was an 

 absolute incumbrance, when I first went to Brazil, for the people had not 

 the skill, nor the means, necessary for dividing it into smaller portions ; 

 besides, an article of this kind, when cut, is imperfect, and may be cut 

 again, and is therefore subject to a kind of plunder which cannot be 

 detected. 



