472 



NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



fond of dancing, friendly and kind. The lower orders are said to be 

 here, as in most other places, idle and profligate, yet there are no beg- 

 gars, except a few to wdiom a licejice of mendicity is given for a certain 

 time, as a mitigation of honest poverty or unusual distress. The families 

 are, for the most part, patriarchal. Slaves are generally born in the 

 houses of their masters, and the evils of their condition are mitigated as 

 much as possible ; even the purchased negroes have as much indulgence 

 as their minds and their tempers will allow of 



The Military of this Comarca, as in every other part of Brazil, 

 consists chiefly of JMilitia, formed here into a corps of Cavalry, of which 

 every free man is expected to become a member. Hence every principal 

 person in St. John holds a commission, as colonel, lieutenant, captain, 

 tenent^, or ensign, which is the order of their rank, and is remarkably 

 tenacious of his military distinctions, even in the common concerns of 

 business. Herein we trace the remains of institutions which were neces- 

 sary when their ancestors obtained and preserved their possessions by 

 the sword ; but which are now become, from the quiet state of the 

 country, with respect to miners and merchants at least, little more than 

 honorary appellations. Soldiers of the line are pressed into the service 

 from among the poorer classes of peasantry ; the whole is under the 

 command of a lieutenant, but seldom called together, and are ill discip- 

 lined — soldiers in little more than name. In 1815 and 1816, Government 

 adopted the plan of drawing regular troops from this part of the 

 Continent, to supply the armies of Hio Grande do Sul and Monte Video ; 

 but the men always marched with reluctance, deserted when they found 

 an opportunity, and were sometimes mutinous. Nevertheless in 1817, 

 during the insurrection at Pernambuco, a very valuable body of these 

 troops did duty in Rio. 



Many of the merchants in St. John have houses out of town, at 

 which they spend a great part of their time. These are pleasantly 

 situated on eminences, commanding fine views of the country, or in 

 deep valleys which intersect it : the vale of St. Joze contains the greatest 

 number of them, and is undoubtedly the most delightful. At that of 



