NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



pikes, 400 muskets, 22,000 cartouches, and what in that country is the 

 most important article of all, 24,000 gun-flints. On the Northern 

 Uruguay, a spirited affair occurred on the 15th of September following, 

 when the enemy's commanding officer was surprised and taken prisoner, 

 with his whole division and equipage, and brought in chains to Porto 

 Alegro; the severity being justified by the nature of the country 

 through which he marched, and the character of the prisoner. 



As the war advanced and became warmer, the country was 

 improved, a better discipline and submission to rule was introduced 

 among its wild inhabitants ; new land had been cultivated, for the armies 

 on both sides depended upon native produce for supplies, and a number 

 of blacksmiths and other useful artizans had been introduced; but it 

 does not yet appear that the inhabitants are reconciled to their new 

 rulers. 



While these things were going on in the South of Brazil, a most 

 extraordinary insurrection broke out in Pernambuco, fostered, most 

 certainly, by the negligence of the Governor, if not, as has been 

 frequently stated, encouraged by his avarice. He had remained in office 

 there a very unusual length of time, and therefore could not be insen- 

 sible of the changes which had taken place, and ought to have been 

 aware of their consequences. Many years before it had been found 

 necessary, for the supply of that province, to enjoin that every planter 

 should produce, with his cotton, sugar, and coffee, a certain proportion 

 of provisions. To this the planters were naturally averse, because cotton 

 always paid the cultivator better than mandioca and pulse, and the 

 regulation had been permitted to fall into disuse. The merchants, too, 

 found a profit in importing edible articles from other ports, where they 

 naturally became dearer, from the rapidly increasing population of Rio 

 de Janeiro, which had now become the surest and best market along the 

 coast. There also the state of things had been affected by the dangers 

 which threatened hard upon the side of Rio Grande, and which, in fact, 

 at one time had raised the price of bread in Rio, (calculating the 

 exchange as it then was) to the rate of two shillings per pound. In 



